When the trio rushed over, following the sound of the explosion, the scene before them collectively turned them to stone—
Elliot, covered in ash, crawled out of a pit, cradling a brown-haired girl who was sound asleep.
The little girl's dragon horns on her head still glowed faintly, and she was gnawing on a corner of Elliot's cape, occasionally making a smacking sound.
The air solidified for three seconds.
"Holy crap!"
Jesse's mask snapped open in shock.
"Elliot, when did you switch to human trafficking?!"
"???"
A row of question marks visibly appeared above Elliot's head, almost materializing into physical objects that would crash to the ground.
Zane remained silent, merely pulling out a thunder hammer three times larger than usual.
Matt's Electro Lawachurl mask cracked: "Oh no! Elliot took Azhdaha... Azhdaha she..."
As he spoke, he somehow pulled out a megaphone and shouted towards Liyue Harbor: "Hurry, everyone! There's a beast here!"
"You guys, listen to my explanation!"
Elliot stomped his feet in exasperation, which woke up the Dragon girl in his arms. She rubbed her eyes groggily.
When she saw the strangely dressed Hilichurls—
"Eat this Miss! Bah! Eat this Master's tail!"
Little Azhdaha suddenly sprang from Elliot's arms, her seemingly harmless dragon tail lashing out with a 'thwack', leaving a blur and squarely hitting Elliot's mask.
With a crisp 'crack', Elliot was launched backward like a projectile from a trebuchet, leaving a human-shaped dent in the rock wall.
"Pfft ah—!!"
Elliot's miserable cry echoed three times in the cave before stopping.
Azhdaha (or perhaps now, Azhdaha girl) stomped her feet indignantly, her dragon horns crackling with electricity: "Hilichurls! What did you do to this Miss! Bah! What did you do to me!"
She tried to stand on her tiptoes, but she still didn't reach Jesse's knees, a discovery that made her even more irritable.
"I only cured your erode..."
Elliot, from the pit, weakly raised one hand, a crack running through his mask.
"How was I supposed to know the side effect was this..."
After saying that, his hand dropped, and he completely fainted.
Matt's mask tilted: "This way of speaking... isn't it a bit familiar?"
Jesse suddenly slapped his thigh: "Holy crap! Isn't that Bailu's classic verbal tic from Honkai: Star Rail!"
His mask almost fell off due to his excitement.
"What the hell did Elliot add to that potion?!"
Zane silently took off his mask, wiped it, and then silently put it back on.
Then he swung his thunder hammer—
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
After three muffled thuds, the unconscious Elliot was perfectly folded into a 'Z' shape and thoughtfully stuffed into a rock crevice.
Little Azhdaha's dragon eyes lit up: "Fun! I want to play too!"
Saying that, she reached for Zane's hammer.
"No!"
The three of them retreated in unison.
Her personality completely changed!
Just then, a recipe note floated out from the folds of Elliot's body.
Jesse picked it up with a twig and read:
[Anti-Erosion Potion Recipe]
Basic Ingredients: Violetgrass x 3, Qingxin x 2
Special Additive: Scales powder stolen from a certain white-haired dragon girl (Note: She chased me for eight streets!)
Side effect: May cause... (The rest of the words were obscured by bloodstains)
The trio collectively gasped.
— — — — — —
When the quartet swaggered into Chihu Rock with a brown-haired Dragon girl, the entire Liyue Harbor seemed to have been put on pause—
"Clatter!"
Zhongli's teacup suddenly fell to the ground, shattering into eight pieces, hot tea splashing everywhere.
Tartaglia's tongue tied itself in knots.
The old woman selling candied haws trembled, and the entire stick of candied haws scattered to the ground with a 'whoosh'.
The topmost hawthorn berry landed squarely on Little Azhdaha's head, leaving a strand of sugar stuck in her hair.
"Sweet!"
Little Azhdaha happily grabbed the sugar strand and stuffed it into her mouth, her dragon tail cheerfully thumping the ground.
The entire Liyue Harbor seemed to be under a time-stopping spell:
Ningguang, who was calculating accounts, snapped the brush in her hand;
Keqing stumbled and sat down in a flowerpot at the entrance of Wang Sheng Funeral Parlor;
The Millelith's spears clattered to the ground;
Workers transporting goods let go of their ropes, and entire boxes of porcelain fell in slow motion... "Lord Rex Lapis has a daughter?!"
A fishmonger's cry of surprise broke the silence.
"Holy crap! Isn't that the Imperial Daughter!"
A scream erupted from Wanmin Restaurant, and Guoba, startled, spat out a string of sparks.
Jesse's mask cracked: "Wait! Don't misunderstand! She is Azhdaha! We just helped her cure her erode!"
The air solidified for three seconds.
"Oh, she's not the Imperial Daughter..."
Everyone collectively breathed a sigh of relief.
"She's Azhdaha..."
Someone unconsciously chimed in.
Immediately after, the entire dock exploded into chaos:
"Azhdaha?!"
"The one personally carved by Rex Lapis?"
"From the legend of the Dragon's Eye?"
"The one who fought the God War with Rex Lapis?!"
Everyone's gaze darted back and forth between the little girl gnawing on sugar strands and the quartet behind her.
"Wait..."
A Ritual Master Sister from Wang Sheng Funeral Parlor weakly raised her hand.
"Azhdaha... shouldn't she be..."
She made a huge gesture.
Hundreds of gazes shot towards the four of them.
Elliot's Hydro Ranger mask started dripping, and he silently shuffled his feet, hiding his massive body behind Matt.
Little Azhdaha suddenly sneezed, 'boom', spitting out a small flame that burned the roadside sign to ashes.
"Ah haha..."
Jesse chuckled dryly, backing away.
"Side effects... all side effects..."
"Ah, I feel a bit tired..."
From a teahouse in the distance, Zhongli's hand, supporting his forehead, trembled slightly. The teacup in his other hand had, at some point, been crushed into powder.
"consultant! What's wrong?"
Hu Tao skipped over, looking in Zhongli's direction.
"Wow! What a cute little dragon girl! Do you want to consider our Wang Sheng Funeral Parlor parent-child package..."
"Smash!"
Zhongli's teapot also shattered.
On the other side, Lumine and Paimon stood on a rooftop, staring blankly at the grand spectacle.
"I thought they'd do something explosive when they returned..."
Lumine's ahoge was already standing upright like an exclamation mark.
"But I didn't expect it to be so explosive that it would reshape Liyue's worldview."
"Should we... pretend we don't know them?"
Paimon's small hands clutched Lumine's clothes tightly, her voice trembling.
Lumine slowly turned to look at the stunned courtesy staff (courtesy staff) beside her; they were the ones sent by Liyue to welcome them.
"At this moment..."
Lumine's ahoge drooped weakly.
"Are you perhaps joking?"