Sangonomiya Kokomi had originally wanted to send Arataki Itto and the other two to a safe place before going to investigate the situation on Yashiori Island. However, after Kuki Shinobu and Thoma discussed it, they decided not to waste time and would go to Yashiori Island with Sangonomiya Kokomi.
Although Sangonomiya Kokomi tried to persuade them otherwise, after all, no one knew the situation on Yashiori Island right now, and there was a chance they would never return. This was also why Sangonomiya Kokomi was unwilling to bring Gorou along.
But the three of them insisted on going to Yashiori Island with Sangonomiya Kokomi. They did not want her to risk going alone.
Besides, their mission itself was to help Watatsumi Island. They had also been saved by Sangonomiya Kokomi, so they naturally would not back down just because there was great danger.
In the end, Sangonomiya Kokomi had no choice. After expressing her gratitude to the group and instructing them to retreat quickly if it became dangerous, she boarded the boat with them and traveled to Yashiori Island.
As soon as they landed on the island, the group felt that the environment was very wrong. The Electro Element permeating the air was so dense it was frightening.
Because the Shogunate and Watatsumi Island were jointly managing the environment on Yashiori Island, Sangonomiya Kokomi had visited the current Musoujin Gorge.
Yet, the Electro Elemental Power radiating from the air on Yashiori Island now had almost reached one-third of the level of Musoujin Gorge, which was simply terrifying.
If this situation were artificially created, then the being who had transformed Yashiori Island into such an environment would have to be frighteningly powerful.
And if this was the influence of some abnormal environment, it meant the mastermind possessed the means to overturn Inazuma!
"This feels so uncomfortable."
Arataki Itto rubbed his arm and spoke with some irritation.
As he approached Yashiori Island, he had already felt a tingling sensation in the air, and now this feeling was even stronger, even bringing a sense of crisis that made him wary.
"It's really strange. My body is telling me that the current environment on Yashiori Island seems to have become extremely harsh."
"Boss, your feeling is correct."
Kuki Shinobu stepped forward two steps with a serious expression and then spoke.
"The concentration of the Electro Element in the air here is about more than thirty times that of other places. Living under such a terrifying concentration of Electro Element, an ordinary person's body would completely fall ill before long."
"It has actually increased by so much?"
Thoma was a bit surprised after hearing these words, then spoke to himself.
"No wonder the seawater was purple when we docked earlier. I thought I had seen it wrong because the sky was too dark."
"Wait a minute, this situation seems a bit like Musoujin Gorge."
Sangonomiya Kokomi nodded.
"Mr. Thoma, you are right. However, the Electro Element within Musoujin Gorge is even denser and more terrifying. That place has basically become a Forbidden Zone for life."
"Even after a thousand years, the power it radiates remains almost completely undiminished."
Upon hearing Sangonomiya Kokomi's words, Arataki Itto and the other two also sighed with emotion. The power of a god was indeed unimaginably immense.
Even without considering Musoujin Gorge left behind by Raiden Ei, the divine remains left behind after the death of God Orobashi still made Yashiori Island an extremely unsuitable place for people to live.
Suddenly, Kuki Shinobu's heart jumped, and she immediately asked the others:
"Does everyone remember how far the purple seawater was from Yashiori Island before?"
Hearing Kuki Shinobu's words, everyone was slightly stunned.
"Shinobu, why are you concerned about this..."
Arataki Itto scratched his head in confusion, only to find that Sangonomiya Kokomi and Thoma's expressions had also become solemn.
"At least a hundred meters."
"It's only been a few days!"
Except for Arataki Itto, the rest of the group realized a terrifying truth: the enemy had taken only a few days to turn the entire Yashiori Island into a Forbidden Zone where ordinary life was difficult to sustain, and this area was still gradually expanding.
At this moment, Sangonomiya Kokomi finally understood why the Shogunate Army's will to attack Watatsumi Island had not been strong. She had originally thought it was because the enemy had no good way to break through the barriers built of coral, or that they were being cautious and not continuing the attack because they didn't know the specific situation of Enkanomiya, but now it seemed the enemy's goal was just to limit the movement range of the Watatsumi Army, so they wouldn't know the current situation on Yashiori Island.
If the harsh environment on Yashiori Island continued to expand further, the entire Inazuma might become a Forbidden Zone for all life one day!
What a vicious plan!
They first launched separate attacks on the Shogunate and Watatsumi Island to make them think the mastermind wanted to restart the war between them, while secretly planning a terrifying plot to overturn all of Inazuma!
"Why would the enemy do this? Do they have a blood feud with Inazuma, or do they simply enjoy slaughter?"
Thoma muttered to himself with a grim expression. If such a harsh environment could expand further through the seawater, the water of the entire Teyvat continent might get contaminated one day, and in the end, a large area nearby would also become a place where it is difficult to survive.
Of course, before that, Inazuma would be the first to be destroyed. For the sake of their own country, they had to stop this from happening!
"Lady Sangonomiya, what should we do next?"
Kuki Shinobu turned her gaze to Sangonomiya Kokomi, waiting for her decision.
Sangonomiya Kokomi did not hesitate for long before speaking directly to everyone.
"We must stop them, otherwise, who knows how many people will die in Inazuma."
"I'm sorry, everyone. I originally wanted to do my best to ensure everyone's safety, but now that I know such a thing has happened, I can no longer spare the extra energy to protect you."
"Emotionally, I do not wish for you to continue taking risks, as the next course of action will likely be very dangerous."
"But rationally, I need some help... I don't know how much time we have left."
After hearing Sangonomiya Kokomi's words, Kuki Shinobu and Thoma immediately nodded to her and spoke.
"Lady Sangonomiya, please assign us as you wish."
Kuki Shinobu paused before speaking again.
"Liyue has an old saying, 'When the nest is overturned, can there be any whole eggs?' Even if we flee out of fear now, we won't be able to escape when the disaster strikes later."
After hearing Kuki Shinobu's words, Thoma nodded in agreement, then turned his gaze back to Sangonomiya Kokomi.
"What are you guys even talking about? Why did you suddenly get so serious?"
At this moment, Arataki Itto approached, asking with a face full of confusion, his eyes radiating a clear kind of foolishness.
Arataki Itto's sudden appearance completely ruined the grim atmosphere, making Kuki Shinobu wish she could find a hole to crawl into.
It took a good while before Arataki Itto finally understood what they were about to face, and the expression on his face turned serious.
"That really does sound dangerous!"
Seeing Arataki Itto pretending he understood when he clearly didn't, Kuki Shinobu restrained her urge to roll her eyes and gave him an extremely simple example.
"Your Onikabuto will be gone."
"What?! How could that happen?!"
"Does that mean we can never hold the Onikabuto Battle anymore?!"
Arataki Itto felt like his world was collapsing.
"How despicable! To ruin the childhoods of all these kids! The great Itto will deliver his fists straight to his face!"
Hearing Arataki Itto's words, no one else felt fired up.
After all, this was originally a mission to save Inazuma—even the whole world—but now it had turned into an Onikabuto Protection Operation. No matter how they thought about it, it just felt wrong.
It seemed only Arataki Itto would be this fired up over such a reason for battle.
Finally, Sangonomiya Kokomi decided to get back to the main topic.
"In any case, we need to figure out how they did it. If necessary, we can also try to interrogate a few soldiers, but if you aren't absolutely certain, please do not tip them off."
"Though it is very dangerous, we need to split up."
Sangonomiya Kokomi looked at Kuki Shinobu and Thoma, asking for their agreement, and the two quickly nodded.
As for Arataki Itto, no one dared to let him act alone, so it was understood that Kuki Shinobu would take him along.
After sketching out a brief plan, the group immediately split into three routes and began investigating the current situation on Yashiori Island.
-
In Liyue, the post-disaster reconstruction work was nearly complete.
For those who could wield Elemental Power, basic construction posed no problem at all, let alone with the hundreds of thousands of Liyue people who had thrown themselves into the reconstruction efforts.
Looking at the brand-new houses, the people of Liyue seemed to have emerged from their previous grief, yet the lingering gloom hidden in their eyes revealed they were only pretending to be strong.
Because the buildings in southwest Liyue had been almost completely destroyed and Mt. Tianheng had collapsed, the Liyue Qixing, after a meeting, decided to use this opportunity to double the size of Liyue Harbor to dilute the people's sorrow, once the rubble had been cleared away. Now, the faint outlines of buildings were already emerging in those areas, and many people, seeing those grand and magnificent structures, seemed to glimpse a new future.
They could also take this opportunity to properly carry out urban planning. Previously, Liyue Harbor had expanded outward from its original foundation, meaning the buildings and layout of the central area were basically impossible to change. Even if there were places that seemed unreasonable by today's standards, they could only be compensated for in other ways.
However, this time these drawbacks were completely resolved. It could be expected that in the future, Liyue Harbor's development would become incredibly rapid.
Right now, the biggest problem facing Liyue was the growing number of souls who unexpectedly arrived in this world every day. Liyue Harbor was fine since its military forces were ample, but considerable chaos had already erupted in other places, and the Millelith were busily running back and forth between various villages every day.
In addition, the people of Liyue were no longer as fervently devoted to their faith in Rex Lapis as they had been before. After all, that previous disaster had happened right before his eyes. For the first time, the people of Liyue discovered that even someone as strong as Rex Lapis had moments when his power fell short. The aura of invincibility surrounding Rex Lapis was shattered, and the people had to accept this reality.
And just at this moment, the Liyue Qixing timely released the news of Liyue and Fontaine's alliance and revealed some information about Fontaine Technology.
When the people of Liyue heard the contents of the news, they simply couldn't believe their ears. When did Fontaine Technology become so outrageous?!
The people of Liyue's impression of Fontaine still stopped at firearms and Gardemechs that were not even as good as the Ruin Machines. In everyone's opinion, the Ruin Drakes from Sumeru were still stronger.
But what did they hear this time? A Gardemek squad could face over a hundred monsters head-on and completely suppress them. This was just too exaggerated!
Even for the most elite Millelith units, casualties would be significant when encountering a monster attack of this scale. This was also why the Millelith had to regularly clear monsters along the roads.
Five hundred years ago, when thousands of monsters emerged, Liyue was nearly completely overthrown.
If the Fontaine side wasn't boasting, then the combat power of the Gardemeks would probably far exceed their imagination.
And the Fontaine side had also sent a team to support Liyue, which would arrive in a few days. At that time, whether it was true or false would be clear.
It was precisely because of this news that the people of Liyue gradually settled down. Otherwise, a considerable number of people would have chosen to emigrate to other countries during this period.
The only problem currently troubling the Liyue Qixing was the recovery of Mora.
That's right. After Zhongli realized that with his current strength he couldn't possibly be Persephone's opponent, he decided to withdraw his power and visited the Liyue Qixing in their dreams at night.
This was a huge headache for the Liyue Qixing. Mora was easy to issue, but recalling it was another matter entirely.
If they could have easily accomplished this, they wouldn't have viewed the Northland Bank as a threat in the first place.
But the reality was that they couldn't. They couldn't even solve the problems brought about by the Northland Bank, let alone the matter of recalling Mora.
Still, they had to carry out Zhongli's arrangements, no matter how difficult it was.
Moreover, as those who had experienced it firsthand, they understood the reasons behind Zhongli's decision, so they did their utmost to find a solution.
As Fontaine was Liyue's ally, Neuvillette naturally learned about this matter and offered some very sound advice.
When Ningguang heard that the Fortress of Meropide in Fontaine used another currency called Credit Coupons instead of Mora, she immediately began to consider its feasibility, but soon shook her head.
It couldn't be replicated. The situation in the Fortress of Meropide was a unique case.
Because the moment prisoners entered the Fortress of Meropide, they essentially lost everything, which was why they accepted the existence of Credit Coupons so easily.
But Liyue's situation was different. Many families might have savings accumulated over several generations. How could they bear to exchange their hard-earned Mora for a few pieces of paper that, in their eyes, were useless?
However, it wasn't completely impossible. As long as the Liyue Qixing took the lead and offered some benefits, they could still recall some Mora.
Since there were no better alternatives at the moment, Ningguang ultimately adopted this plan.
Ningguang's execution was swift. She immediately established the Liyue Bank, whose only business was the exchange service between Mora and the new currency. At the same time, she ordered the shops under her ownership to accept this new currency directly, offering some discounts for exchanges between the two currencies. Not long after the news broke, people began to try it out.
But this first batch of people almost exclusively exchanged only as much as they intended to spend, and they used it on the spot.
They treated this as a promotional tactic by the shops and did not view the exchanged pieces of paper as actual currency.
Even when Ningguang's staff explained that this new currency had already been recognized by the Liyue Qixing and was more convenient to carry and store after the exchange, very few people were willing to exchange large sums of money for the new currency.
However, as time passed and with the support provided by policies, she believed that more and more people would accept the new currency in the future.
Of course, Ningguang would not pin all her hopes on this. This method could only allow her to recover a small portion of Mora; it would take a few decades for it to be even slightly effective, but time was exactly what they lacked most.
Ningguang thought of another method. Neuvillette had previously given a comprehensive introduction to the functions of the mobile phone, and with Ningguang's outstanding vision, she could immediately realize that this was a revolutionary product. As long as the price was appropriate, it could become wildly popular across the entire Teyvat continent in the shortest period of time.
If the price was not too expensive, mobile phones would become an essential tool for everyone in the future.
Since that tool called a "mobile phone" could make calls, take photos, chat with text, and even record videos... could transactions be carried out on it as well?
If transactions could be carried out on it, then the currency used for trading would clearly no longer need to be Mora.
Ningguang felt that she had found a way to recover Mora in the shortest amount of time.