"What should I do?"
Now that she trusted Su Han,
Nahida was ready to begin her plan.
But she still wanted to hear Su Han's opinion. After all, he was full of clever ideas.
"At the moment, there are only three things you need to do."
"What are they?"
"Gather followers, build your forces, and expand your influence."
Although Su Han's suggestions were brief,
Nahida immediately understood his meaning.
The first point was to gather followers, bringing together people like Tighnari who believed in her.
There is strength in numbers.
As long as she gathered enough followers, Nahida would no longer be fighting alone.
Of course, she also feared that spies might infiltrate them.
To this, Su Han explained that everything carried risks, but as long as secrecy was handled well, there would be no problems in the short term.
The second point was to build her forces.
In essence, it was similar to the first.
If Nahida wanted to oppose the Grand Sage Azar, she naturally needed allies. Otherwise, even if she won, she would not be able to change the current situation.
Therefore, establishing a new organization was necessary.
"So, should we think of a name first? The title 'Sage' is no longer suitable for Sumeru."
"How about: 'The Awakening Society'?"
Nahida felt that Sumeru needed to awaken.
Whether those who awakened themselves or those who helped others awaken, both were necessary.
"The Awakening Society" represented those reborn from illusion.
Su Han smiled and said, "As long as you like it, any name is fine. In any case, this needs to be done quickly. As for funding, I can provide some ideas."
"Really? But selling manga would easily be traced back to Liyue."
"There's more than one way to make money."
As someone from Earth,
Su Han had no shortage of ways to earn money.
Especially in a place like Sumeru, where countless fungi grew, along with precious herbs and spices. With proper management,
they could definitely make a fortune.
After listening to Su Han's explanation, Nahida praised him repeatedly.
As for the third point,
it was actually what Nahida feared the most.
"Expanding influence… is that really a good idea? If Azar or the Fatui become suspicious of me, I might never be able to act again."
"But have you considered that threats go both ways?"
"Hmm?"
"What I mean is, you're afraid of being trapped. Then what is Azar afraid of?"
Nahida's eyes lit up, and she smiled.
"He's afraid of being overthrown!"
"Exactly."
Sumeru was a nation of scholars.
In terms of knowledge, it was undoubtedly the best in Teyvat. But that also brought a problem.
Since the people devoted their time to study, their military strength was inevitably weak.
Once a resistance force grew strong enough, the one who would fear it would be Azar.
Because if a rebellion broke into Sumeru City, he would have no way to fight back.
This was exactly the issue Su Han had mentioned before.
If even the nation's defense relied on mercenaries, then the country was fundamentally weak and unable to withstand any real impact.
"So your earlier idea was meant for this kind of situation, wasn't it?"
"Exactly. Only after tasting the fear of national destruction will these people truly wake up. Too much of anything becomes harmful, that's the principle."
If one overly worshiped strength,
they would become like Natlan,
where everyone was all muscle and no one used their brain.
But if, like Sumeru, they abandoned strength entirely, their defenses would be empty, making it easy for the nation to be destroyed.
The reason this had not happened yet
was because Sumeru maintained a delicate balance.
Additionally, Sumeru City was located in a remote area.
If the main city had been built in the desert, it would have likely been conquered long ago.
The conversation came to a perfect end.
Nahida no longer felt lost.
"Thank you so much, Su Han. If I hadn't gathered the courage, I might have remained lost. But now I won't. I will keep moving forward until I set Sumeru back on the right path."
"Then do your best. It's getting late. I should get some rest as well."
After a long day,
Su Han was already yawning repeatedly. If he stayed up any longer, he might end up pulling an all-nighter like Ganyu.
Nahida smiled.
"Alright, good night. If you ever need anything in the future, I will do my best to help you. And there's one more thing I want to say. Su Han, you really are a good person."
Ding. Received a "good person" card.
Su Han smiled and hung up the Den Den Mushi.
After lying down on the bed,
he still found it a bit unbelievable.
"I didn't expect that little girl could eavesdrop on the Den Den Mushi. Looks like next time I'll need an anti-eavesdropping version."
Since it happened once, it could happen again.
Su Han made many calls daily.
If someone monitored them, it would cause serious trouble.
Meanwhile, at Sumeru's port,
a bird flew into the sky.
It headed toward Gandharva Ville at incredible speed.
Morning.
Tighnari woke from his sleep and stretched. He had intended to go out and check on Collei, but as soon as he got out of bed, he saw a bird fly in through the window.
"Hm? Why is there a bird—"
Faced with the forest ranger's confusion,
Nahida did not hide anything and directly revealed her identity.
"Hello, Tighnari. I am the Little Lucky Grass King." (TL/N: For anyone who's confused, that her name in mandarin (translated to English.))
That simple sentence
shocked Tighnari to the core.
What was going on?
The Dendro Archon, who had not appeared for many years, was now in front of him.
Was this real or fake?
After hesitating for a moment, Tighnari asked, "You say you are the Little Lucky Grass King. How do you prove it?"
"It's simple. I know everything about you."
A green light enveloped Tighnari, and countless pieces of knowledge flooded into his mind.
At that moment, the scholar understood everything.
He dropped to one knee, his face filled with sorrow.
"How could this happen… My teacher and the Grand Sage, how could they do such things? Don't they realize this is a crime?"
Imprisoning a god.
Persecuting the people of Sumeru.
Because the current god did not meet their expectations, they attempted to create a god, even cooperating with the Fatui.
If all of this was true,
then just how chaotic had Sumeru become?
Nahida used her divine power, but her consciousness could no longer be maintained. She said to Tighnari,
"All the information is within. I can no longer maintain my consciousness. If I want to appear again, it will have to wait until tomorrow. Go verify it. We will meet at Vanarana tomorrow."
"No problem."
The situation was sudden and of great importance.
Tighnari had no choice but to temporarily set aside his patrol duties. After entrusting matters to his assistant, he took his longbow and disappeared into the forest.
Several hours later,
the forest ranger arrived at a hidden location.
When he saw Sumeru scholars mixed together with the Fatui,
the anger in his heart completely erupted.
"Damn it, they actually dare to traffic people!"
Tighnari knew Azar and the others were not good people, but he had never imagined that they would secretly traffic children.
Moreover, the laboratory was not in the rainforest of Sumeru,
but built in the desert.
In other words, these children were secretly transported to the desert
to undergo all kinds of cruel experiments.
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