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Paimon scanned the surroundings and asked, "So… are we setting off right now?"
"Sorry," Tighnari declined. "Haypasia's condition can't be left unattended, so I can't go with you to the desert. But if there's anything I can help with, you can come find me here."
"You left Avidya Forest because of Haypasia, right?" Lumine asked.
"Yes. According to Akademiya regulations, the Matra would exile all mad scholars to Aaru Village in the desert. But I noticed that Haypasia's mental abnormality was rather unique, so before the Matra took action, I secretly brought her to Chinvat Ravine, hoping I might be able to help her recover."
"That's understandable."
The remaining trio—Victor Wang, Lumine, and Nahida—followed Paimon out of Chinvat Ravine with heavy hearts. Everyone knew that Nahida's time acting freely outside might be running out, and they all wanted to move as quickly as possible.
But after they had barely taken two steps, Nahida's expression suddenly changed without warning.
"The Doctor has already found a way to restrain my consciousness. He's putting it into effect right now—the Akasha is losing responsiveness in large patches. I won't be able to travel with you any longer."
"So fast?! It's been less than three hours since we encountered The Doctor!" Paimon exclaimed.
"The Doctor lives up to his title as the Second of the Harbingers. That the Akasha held out until now is already impressive. You don't need to rush your actions anymore—no matter how grim the situation is, you still need proper rest. Don't ruin your health."
"But Nahida… you'll be right beside those people the whole time. Won't that be dangerous?" Lumine asked.
"Next, I'll seal my own consciousness to prevent The Doctor and the others from obtaining more information from me. As for my personal safety, you don't need to worry. No matter what, I'm still a god. Even if I were to truly die… they wouldn't dare."
Paimon was left speechless.
"Goodbye."
With that farewell, the air fell silent—until Katheryne's consciousness awakened.
"Could someone tell me why, one moment ago, I had just returned to the Adventurers' Guild from the Akademiya gates, and the next moment I'm suddenly here in Chinvat Ravine?"
Her gaze slowly swept across the group, finally settling on Victor Wang—the last person she remembered speaking to, and thus the prime suspect.
Paimon blurted out without thinking, "Sleepwalking."
"Oh my…" Katheryne glanced at the moon's position and roughly estimated the time. "Such a long distance—could it be that my secret of teleportation accidentally got exposed while I was sleepwalking?"
Paimon snapped back to her senses. "You can teleport?!"
After sleepwalking several times and waking up each time to see the same familiar faces, Katheryne laughed in exasperation. "Hehe, of course I can't teleport. But perhaps I can when I'm sleepwalking."
Victor Wang stepped in to smooth things over. "It really was sleepwalking. You said you wanted to come here to see the scenery, so I brought you along. If you want to head back, I can take you back too."
"Then I'll trouble you. My job doesn't exactly come with breaks—those adventurers are probably waiting anxiously."
No, no, no, Victor Wang denied inwardly. Even Keqing says that balancing work and rest is important. After working for a while, you're supposed to slack off for a bit.
Just like him—he'd worked hard for some time now, so it was time to slack off.
He pulled Lumine and Paimon aside and whispered, "Neither the Akademiya nor The Doctor has noticed me yet. So, I'm thinking of going back to Sumeru City to look for Dehya. She's from the desert and a mercenary—she definitely understands the desert folk better than we do."
"That makes sense," Lumine agreed.
"Then let's set a time and place… Caravan Ribat, the desert entrance. Tomorrow at six in the afternoon."
Lumine and Paimon both admired Victor Wang's thorough planning, unaware that he was also delighted at the thought of getting a whole day to take it easy. With that, they parted ways—one group heading toward the desert, the other returning to Sumeru City.
On the way back, Victor Wang casually asked Katheryne, "Do you know where Dunyarzad's family lives?"
"Dunyarzad… you mean the young lady of the Homayani family?" Katheryne replied.
"That's right."
"I've heard of it. How about I help you find the place first?"
Victor Wang naturally had no objections. But when they actually arrived at Dunyarzad's residence, it was already deep into the night, and the entire estate was mostly dark. So, after memorizing the location, he escorted Katheryne back to the Adventurers' Guild.
Unfortunately…
There was already someone at the counter.
A young man stood there.
The Young Doctor.
"I heard Katheryne had gone missing again, so I thought I'd try my luck here. Seems I didn't wait in vain. But I didn't expect it to be you. You all… chose to ally with Lesser Lord Kusanali?"
The Young Doctor stepped out from behind the counter, returning the position to Katheryne, muttering to himself as he carefully examined Victor Wang.
Victor Wang was also studying this segment of The Doctor, who didn't look particularly powerful on the surface. From The Young Doctor's words, it seemed he had already assumed Victor Wang and the Southern Wing were on the same side—which conveniently saved Victor Wang the trouble of pulling out a mirror and putting on a show.
"You should know our true objective," Victor Wang said calmly.
"Then why not choose us?" The Young Doctor replied. "At Lesser Lord Kusanali's level, she simply can't heal Irminsul."
"And the god you're creating can?" Victor Wang shot back.
The Young Doctor spread his hands slightly. "No need to put it so harshly. I've already voluntarily abandoned my research on the Withering Zones. I'd say we don't have a conflict of interests, do we?"
Victor Wang answered bluntly, "Drop the act. Your god-creation research has already entered its final stage—practically wrapping up, hasn't it?"
"Tch…"
Ignoring The Young Doctor's irritated expression, Victor Wang continued:
"You know full well that the god you create will ultimately be destroyed, because the Tsaritsa intends to collect the Gnoses. Yet you intercepted one halfway and used it for research. Once the experiment ends, you'll have to reclaim that Electro Gnosis.
But you want The Balladeer to grow as much as possible, so you can obtain more complete data on god creation. At the same time, you don't want to expend extra effort reclaiming the Gnosis—especially since The Balladeer is growing stronger by the day and gradually slipping out of your control.
So, you chose to kill with a borrowed blade.
Lesser Lord Kusanali and us—we're that blade, aren't we?
That's why, when you tried to stop us, you only sent some Eremite mercenaries. Compared to the Fatui's own forces, they're nowhere close, right?
Of course, the Mirrormaster can divine the future but not the human heart. All of this is just speculation based on what will happen in the future. If I'm mistaken… my apologies."
The stage had changed.
Before the Sabzeruz Festival, The Doctor cared more about the research itself—about creating a god.
After the Sabzeruz Festival, he cared more about how to wrap things up. Perhaps the most selfish version of The Doctor didn't care—but the versions who might actually have to face a fully divine The Balladeer, or even the Tsaritsa's wrath if they failed to reclaim the Gnosis, certainly did.
The Young Doctor snorted coldly and, as expected, stopped pursuing the topic. He simply asked, "Tell me—will the Heavenly Principles awaken?"
"You'll face that question again someday," Victor Wang replied. "When the time comes, your own choice will give you the answer. And that moment… isn't far off."
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