After the few adepti disappeared one by one, only Ganyu and Moon Carver remained. In truth, as long as there were no casualties in Liyue, they wouldn't care too much about the rest.
Ganyu stayed behind because he knew that Rex Lapis was still alive, and Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei should know who Rex Lapis was.
As for Moon Carver, she stayed because her new mechanical apparatus was almost complete, and she just intended to have Lumine and Paimon come over to take a good look at it.
"little blue bird, is your new mechanical invention finished? I think it's called something like a mechanical cooking apparatus?" Raiden Ei was somewhat curious about Moon Carver's invention; her own inventions were inspired by Moon Carver, and she could take this opportunity to exchange ideas with her.
"???"
"little blue bird?" Moon Carver was stunned, and her tone soon became incredulous. "This immortal does not change her name when she walks, nor her surname when she sits."
"I am Moon Carver. little blue bird... who are you calling that?" However, because she now knew Raiden Ei's true identity, Moon Carver couldn't get angry like Lord Cloud Retainer would—though, of course, she couldn't get angry even if she wanted to.
"The mechanical cooking apparatus only has one last step left... it will be finished soon." Moon Carver said somewhat tsundere-ly, "Once it's successfully developed, it will definitely shock the world."
"My mechanical cooking apparatus..."
"Why did Rex Lapis specifically not tell me?" Ganyu was still immersed in the fact that Rex Lapis had told others that he was still alive, but not him. After all, that was a huge blow.
"Actually, Rex Lapis didn't tell me either..." Keqing added, "I didn't know Rex Lapis was still alive... I thought he had truly passed away."
"Keqing, you didn't know either?" Ganyu looked at Keqing thoughtfully, then remained puzzled. Weren't he and Keqing clearly very diligent in their work? Why would Rex Lapis specifically not tell him and Keqing about it?
"Keqing, why don't you know either? Aren't you also very diligent in your work?" Ganyu was a bit confused.
"little blue bird, when you finish the mechanical cooking apparatus, bring it out to show me. It would be a perfect opportunity for us to exchange ideas; I have some new inventions as well." Raiden Ei said quite seriously.
She was certainly serious. She now believed that conducting research was a very interesting thing. Although it wasn't as fun as fighting, it still had its own joys. She should have done this five hundred years ago in the Plane of Euthymia.
"I've already said it: this immortal does not change her name when she walks, nor her surname when she sits. I am Moon Carver." Moon Carver said somewhat helplessly, "You'd be better off calling me Moon Carver than calling me little blue bird."
"Don't you also call Ganyu 'Little Fatty'?" Raiden Ei blinked. However, Raiden Ei's words made Moon Carver lose face, and she coughed twice.
"That's just because it rolls off the tongue!" Seeing that everyone was looking at her, Moon Carver then feigned composure and said, "This immortal will head back first. The mechanical cooking apparatus is at its final stage; I'll bring it to show you all when it's done."
"Is Moon Carver feeling embarrassed? It's rare; I didn't know that woman could even feel embarrassed." Paimon said with some surprise, "That really is very rare."
Ganyu looked at Raiden Ei with some gratitude. Raiden Ei's behavior just now must have been to speak up for him. "Ei... thank you... Moon Carver always likes to..."
"Moon Carver just loves to talk about people's embarrassing moments behind their backs... No other adeptus is like her." Seeing Ganyu's expression, Keqing knew that Ganyu had definitely been persecuted by Moon Carver.
Although he didn't know what Ganyu was like when he was young, out of politeness, he wasn't too curious about those things.
Even if he were curious about those matters, he wouldn't ask.
"Hmm..." Ganyu lowered his head slightly. Those things were completely his dark history. He didn't know why Moon Carver had to tell everyone about those dark moments; they were truly too embarrassing.
Ganyu then looked at Keqing and asked earnestly, "Keqing... did Rex Lapis... did he really not send you a dream either?"
"Yeah." Keqing nodded. "So they all knew Rex Lapis was still alive... only the two of us didn't know."
"Ningguang and the others must know too... judging by her appearance..." Keqing was also struck by the blow; he even began to doubt himself a little.
For a moment, he and Ganyu felt a sense of mutual sympathy. His intuition told him that the others among the Liyue Seven Stars definitely knew the news that Rex Lapis was still alive.
Among the Liyue Seven Stars, he was likely the only one who didn't know the news that Rex Lapis was still alive; everyone else knew.
"Rex Lapis must be targeting me... does he think I..." Keqing wasn't someone who feared Rex Lapis. He wouldn't allow others to speak ill of Rex Lapis, yet he himself had said plenty of bad things about him.
"Keqing... I think it might be because you bad-mouthed Rex Lapis too much... that's why he didn't tell you." Ganyu reached that conclusion after a moment of contemplation.
"And..." Ganyu knew just how much Keqing admired Rex Lapis. If Keqing knew that Rex Lapis was still alive, wouldn't he turn the world upside down looking for him?
That was definitely not something Rex Lapis would want to see.
He wasn't curious about where Rex Lapis was now; knowing that he was still alive was enough to put his mind at ease.
"Ei... did you really just go a little too hard?" Ganyu then looked at Raiden Ei. Mt. Tianheng had now become Tianheng Gorge, so the workload would definitely increase significantly, and that work would have to be completed by him and Keqing.
Keqing happened to be in charge of land management, so it was Keqing and him who would be troubled.
"Hmm..." Raiden Ei nodded. "Wasn't it just a little heavy? I didn't mean to..."
"Alright." Seeing Raiden Ei's slightly innocent expression, Ganyu knew that Raiden Ei had probably really just gone a little too hard.
Besides, he wouldn't mind such things; anyway, as long as he worked diligently, it would be fine.
"Then I'll be going first..."
"See you next time..." After saying this, Ganyu disappeared directly, leaving only their group behind.
"Master... you really are the Raiden Shogun... that's... that's amazing." Xiangling's gaze toward Raiden Makoto was increasingly filled with admiration; his master was actually the Raiden Shogun of Inazuma.
"What's wrong? Do you not believe it?" Raiden Makoto looked at Xiangling's expression and said with a smile, "It wasn't easy to tell you all about those things before. After all, even if I told you, you might not have believed it, and we had important matters to attend to."
"No... I just find it too incredible." Xiangling scratched his head. He didn't disbelieve it, he just found it very magical; his Grand Master was an adeptus, and the master he recognized now was the Raiden Shogun of Inazuma.
"There must be a reason why Master didn't tell us, and I wouldn't blame Master." Xiangling blinked. "But that strike from Sister Ei just now was really amazing!"
A single strike cleaved Mt. Tianheng.
That scene remained in his mind, and his gaze toward Raiden Ei was filled with a few more expressions of admiration.
"Guoba looks very happy." Guoba had been acting very happy; he was jumping around next to Raiden Ei, constantly making "gibberish" sounds, though it was unclear what he was saying.
After thinking for a moment, Keqing looked at Raiden Makoto quite seriously. "Makoto, there's something; could we go over there and talk?"
"Hmm?"
"Sure." Raiden Makoto roughly knew what Keqing wanted to ask her. She nodded and walked to the side with Keqing.
"It's about Morax, right?" Raiden Makoto looked at Keqing's somewhat embarrassed expression; she had completely guessed what Keqing wanted to ask her.
"Yes..." Keqing nodded somewhat embarrassedly. "Rex Lapis... is he Mr. Zhongli?"
Raiden Makoto knew Zhongli. As the Raiden Shogun of Inazuma, it was impossible for her old friend in Liyue to be an ordinary person, right? Especially when she saw Zhongli, she would treat Zhongli as Rex Lapis...
To some extent, Zhongli was truly too much like Rex Lapis; she knew all too well what kind of person Rex Lapis was.
"Whether he is Morax or not, that is something you must ask him yourself. I cannot tell you those things too directly." Raiden Makoto smiled. "Some things cannot be said by me."
"After all, he has his own reasons for not telling you all his current identity."
Morax hiding his identity was definitely to prevent others from disturbing his life.
Only a small number of people in Liyue knew that Zhongli was Rex Lapis; most people had no idea at all.
"Yeah."
In fact, there was no need for Raiden Makoto to answer; Keqing had already judged that Zhongli was Rex Lapis through Raiden Makoto's words and reactions.
"Makoto, then tell me... how should I go find Rex Lapis?" Keqing had a headache. Rex Lapis had sent dreams to others about him still being alive, but only he and Ganyu were left in the dark.
As for why Ganyu didn't know, as the Yuheng, he certainly knew the reason. Ganyu himself didn't know the reason, but he knew it was because Ganyu was too diligent in his work, to the point that Rex Lapis simply couldn't tell him.
But him... why didn't Rex Lapis tell him? Was it because he used to always go against Rex Lapis, so he didn't like him?
"Rex Lapis not telling me that he is alive... does it mean he doesn't like me? Makoto..." Keqing's mood was somewhat complicated at the moment; those things had dealt him quite a blow.
"You are quite similar to Sara." Raiden Makoto smiled. Keqing and Kujou Sara were actually quite similar; they were both people who pursued their own beliefs, almost to the point of being fanatical believers.
"Sara?" Keqing was slightly stunned. He naturally had never heard of Sara. He then looked at Raiden Makoto with some curiosity. "Am I a bit like her?"
"Sara, you two should have a common language." Raiden Makoto smiled. She didn't know Keqing particularly well, but she could see how similar Keqing and Kujou Sara were.
"Perhaps you will meet in the future." Raiden Makoto said with a smile. Now that Inazuma had lifted the sakoku decree, the Shogunate would inevitably have to carry out diplomatic work with other countries.
It was possible for Keqing to meet Kujou Sara.
"How could Morax not like you? There's no need to belittle yourself." Raiden Makoto roughly knew why Zhongli didn't tell Keqing those things. With Keqing's personality, if Zhongli had told him those things at the time, Keqing would probably have gone straight to question him, right?
After all, if she had told Kujou Sara about the "faked death", Kujou Sara would definitely have come to find her.
Given Kujou Sara's personality, that was something she would do.
"Then do you think I should go find Rex Lapis?" Keqing didn't know how to handle this matter and looked at Raiden Makoto earnestly.
"Whether you go find him or not is your own business; it has nothing to do with me. Just consider it well yourself."
"However, I think that with Morax's personality, he probably wouldn't mind." Raiden Makoto knew that she didn't need to help Morax hide the fact that Zhongli was his mortal identity anymore.
Keqing seemed to have already guessed that Zhongli was Morax, and he had completely settled on that.
If she were to help Morax hide it further, it would be a bit too much.
"Mm-hmm."
"Makoto, are you free this afternoon?" Keqing's expression held a hint of anticipation. Standing before him was the Raiden Shogun of Inazuma, but he now treated Raiden Makoto as an ordinary friend.
"I'd like to invite you to go shopping with me... is that okay?" Keqing was very embarrassed when saying those words; his voice even became much quieter.
And because there were quite a few people present, his face even became a little flushed.
"Shopping?" Raiden Makoto was stunned for a moment. She then nodded and said, "Sure, shopping is not out of the question. I'm free."
"Mm-hmm."
Keqing intended to pick out a gift for Zhongli. After all, going to find Zhongli empty-handed seemed a bit inappropriate, but he didn't know what Zhongli liked.
And as an old friend of Zhongli's, Raiden Makoto should know what Rex Lapis liked, right?
Keqing was also a bit embarrassed to say it now. As a subordinate of Rex Lapis, he actually didn't even know what Rex Lapis liked...
Could he really call himself a follower of Rex Lapis?
"Sister, are you going shopping with Keqing this afternoon?" Raiden Ei glanced at Keqing thoughtfully. "Then you two go have a good time shopping; I plan to continue my in-depth research..."
"And by the way, I'll prepare for tomorrow's Culinary King Competition finals... I must defeat Xiangling!" Raiden Ei said very seriously. While Xiangling was competing with Yan Xiao, she had snuck in some practice for a few dishes, so she should be able to make a table full of sumptuous dishes for her sister by then.
She was actually looking forward to seeing her sister's expression tomorrow when she made those dishes.
Seeing Raiden Ei's confident expression, Xiangling said with a smile, "Then Sister Ei, you must do your best. Tomorrow's finals will have a limited theme."
However, he also had to prepare well for tomorrow's Culinary King Competition; when it was time to be serious, he had to be serious.
"Shall we go then?"
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