Otto: He May Have Lost His Father

[Stelle: Do you know him?]

[Stelle: Image]

Bai Tang saw the picture Stelle had sent. It looked so familiar: blond hair, green eyes, and no smile. Otto's words of wisdom came to mind, along with his smiling face:

"I only killed his father because certain circumstances left me no choice... Yet he's held a grudge to this day, persistently opposing me for decades on end.

"How should I put this? He may have lost his father, but he still has me, doesn't he? I could certainly be his guide in life, couldn't I? Just as I raised all of you."

Back when she played Honkai Impact 3rd, Otto's words had shocked her so much that she felt hostile when she saw Luocha, immediately assuming he was no good.

As it turned out, he really was no good.

The moment he raised his hand, in particular, Bai Tang had an immediate stress reaction.

Still, he could be considered a gentle person.

In Luocha's promotional video, he saved a little girl from danger and hid his sword behind his back while comforting her.

[Bai Tang: You could say I know him.]

[Bai Tang: Don't trust a single word he says. You have to be on guard. But sometimes you can trust him. When you're on the same side, you can trust him without worrying, but you should still keep your guard up. What he does might not be what we want.]

Stelle: What's all that gibberish? Don't trust him, right? Got it!

Stelle had gone with March 7th and Welt to investigate the case. They should have gotten the Alliance Jade Abacus by now, right? Who had it now?

Bai Tang: Hopefully it's not with Dan Heng. He'd want to use the Alliance Jade Abacus as a basic attack.

Dan Heng: I want to use it! (Extremely loudly)

Dan Heng's companion mission should be next. Now was the best time to find a Dragon Preceptor from the faction protecting the dragon lady.

Having decided what to do next, Bai Tang got ready and went to a Dragon Preceptor's house. After confirming his name, she rummaged through the place and found a list.

It was clearly not a list of the Vidyadhara population. Dan Feng wasn't on it, nor was Dan Heng, much less Bailu.

Tao Ran was at the very top, and the owner of the house was on it too.

Well, that had taken no effort at all.

Bai Tang copied the list, put everything back as it had been, and went to the Alchemy Commission, where she coaxed Bailu into giving her a list of all the Vidyadhara.

She looked for the names of high-ranking Vidyadhara who weren't on the list of culprits and found several. Then she asked Bailu which ones she liked and chose the one with the highest standing among those Bailu pointed out.

That settled it. Time to find him.

She found him and observed him from the sidelines for a day, confirming that he was one of those who supported Bailu. Then she checked on Tao Ran's situation. Only after confirming seven times that this man wasn't part of someone else's scheme did she lie down in his house and wait for him to return.

When the lucky man came home, Bai Tang, pretending to be a ghost, gave him a terrible fright.

Once Bai Tang left, thoroughly satisfied, she deliberately used The Permanence to put sacks over certain Dragon Preceptors and give them a sound beating. Only then did she return to the Express to wait for Dan Heng's companion mission to begin.

As for when the companion mission would begin, Dan Heng came to discuss it with her first. Bai Tang said she wouldn't go with him, but she would find some help just in case and deal with a few problems among the Vidyadhara while she was at it.

Dan Heng: "Jing Yuan is still the general, right?"

Bai Tang: "I'm just helping out a little."

What was so good about being a general? There was a mountain of work, and on top of that, you had to deal with those old undying bastards above making things difficult.

After confirming that Dan Heng had asked Stelle to go with him, she immediately notified the second elder to come watch the livestream. It also took her some effort to find Jing Yuan, who was "recovering from his injuries."

Jing Yuan was sitting leisurely on a sofa, playing with a chess piece. He had learned of the news long ago and guessed what those people would do. He was just getting ready to follow them secretly.

And so the group sneaked along behind Dan Heng and the others. Bai Tang hid in a corner and took out her phone to record evidence of the attempt to kill Bailu. She had no intention of joining the fight, leaving it all to Jing Yuanyuan.

Jing Yuan: Sigh, I'm no good at fighting.

"Allow me to thank Dan Heng and the general for protecting the dragon lady. As agreed, I will give my full support to the Divine General."

Fire practically blazed in the Vidyadhara elder's eyes. He forced down his anger and tried to keep his voice calm, while also restraining his restless heart as he continued speaking with Bai Tang.

His fists were clenched tightly in his sleeves, his knuckles slightly white from the pressure. Clearly, he was burning with rage inside.

He knew that if they hadn't intervened in time, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

How dare they harm the dragon lady! Did they really think they alone held all the power?

"Until our Trailblaze journey to Penacony is over, I'll leave him to you. If I'm not satisfied, I don't know what I'll do when I get back."

Bai Tang said she preferred fighting and killing, so that kind of discussion should naturally be left to someone who understood it. Those words weren't a threat. They weren't!

"Forgive me for asking, but I sensed a very familiar aura within you. Is it what I think it is?"

"You sensed it? Then how come Dan Heng didn't? That's not right."

Even the elder had sensed it, so how come Dan Heng hadn't?

That wasn't right.

"Haha, word has recently spread among the Vidyadhara that the former High Elder Dan Feng manifested his spirit. When I saw you, I had my suspicions."

Seeing Bai Tang looking a little dazed, the old man simply brought the subject into the open, a meaningful smile appearing on his face.

Bai Tang: "..."

This was why she wasn't suited to negotiations. As soon as someone asked her a question, she would give herself away, and she always focused on the strangest things.

So whenever she noticed something was wrong, she would start playing dumb and acting crazy, and that would get her through it. At worst, she could beat everyone up and use the physical amnesia method.

That was Bai Tang's usual strategy: when a situation slipped beyond her control, she chose the most direct way to solve it. Either she played the fool and bluffed her way through, or she used force to make the other party lose their memory.

"Would you like me to add your name to the register?"

There was another Vidyadhara now. Who cared where she had come from? He was happy to have one more. There weren't many Vidyadhara to begin with, and every death meant one fewer. Didn't having one more mean the future looked promising?

It was undoubtedly a good thing for the whole race.

With more and more Vidyadhara, couldn't the infertility problem be considered solved?

"Aren't you going to ask about my dragon form?"

Bai Tang still looked like a fox spirit right now. It wasn't as though she didn't have a dragon form, though she looked like a grown-up Bailu when she revealed it.

"You're Vidyadhara. That's enough."

The second elder waved a hand, unconcerned with Bai Tang's appearance. In his view, it was enough that she was a member of the Vidyadhara.

Vidyadhara generally looked like ordinary people and were hard to distinguish when mixed in with the Xianzhou natives. Having one more who looked like a Foxian was no problem.

He was a very open-minded elder.

It was precisely because of his open-mindedness that he had supported Bailu becoming High Elder without hesitation.

Though those bastards had kept him completely in the dark, and he hadn't even known that something had nearly happened to Bailu right under his nose.