Investigating with Ganyu

After leaving the Jade Chamber, Bai Ye parted ways with Yelan.

Yelan continued investigating the Fatui, especially the clue Bai Ye had provided about the Hundred-Binding Scroll. Naturally, she needed to look into it thoroughly.

Bai Ye, meanwhile, returned home to prepare before meeting Ganyu.

As soon as he got home, Bai Ye stripped down until he was wearing only a pair of shorts.

He quickly said to Hagintos,

"Master, let's carefully check which things on me were made using the Art of Automata I learned from you. It would be bad if Ganyu recognized them."

"Mm-hmm."

Hagintos hurriedly agreed.

Master and apprentice began searching through Bai Ye's belongings.

Many devices, such as handheld crossbows, were common among users of the Art of Automata, so Bai Ye did not need to remove those.

What Bai Ye took off were mainly devices unique to Hagintos's Art of Automata.

He also brought over that automaton diagram.

He hung it at his waist.

At the same time, following the design of the diagram, he installed defensive automaton mechanisms into his clothes.

Only after their defensive power was roughly equal to that of his previous mechanisms did Bai Ye nod in satisfaction.

Now that I've replaced most of these mechanisms, if Ganyu sees me using the Art of Automata during the investigation, I'll just say I learned it all from things left behind by this Adeptus.

That would give me a pretty good excuse.

Stretching, Bai Ye muttered, "Mm, time to sleep. Then tomorrow, I'll go meet Miss Ganyu."

With that, he lay stiffly down on the bed.

Good night. Sweet dreams.

The next day.

Bai Ye arrived at Yujing Terrace early to wait for Ganyu.

He had not waited long before he heard the crisp tap-tap of heels against the ground.

When he turned around, he saw a young woman walking toward him.

She had long blue hair, gathered into a ponytail at the back of her head that fell naturally down her back.

A single ahoge stood atop her head, while two small black-and-red horns grew from either side of it.

She wore a white, colored-patterned short qipao—or rather, it could only be called half a qipao. Beneath it was a backless, skin-tight bodysuit, with black stockings covering her legs, their bands decorated with patterns.

Bai Ye recognized at a glance that she was Ganyu.

The secretary of the Seven Stars, and Cloud Retainer's disciple, Ganyu.

Bai Ye wanted his master to take a look and see whether she recognized her, but he was worried about being discovered, so he decided to play it safe for now.

At that moment,

Ganyu walked up to Bai Ye and asked,

"Are you Mr. Bai Ye?"

"Mm-hmm, that's me."

Bai Ye nodded.

Seeing his confirmation, Ganyu covered her mouth, looking somewhat surprised.

Although she had known on her way here that he was a young man, seeing that this exquisitely handsome youth was the person who wanted to develop roads with Ningguang was still rather unexpected.

But her long years as a secretary allowed her to quickly regain her composure.

At the same time, she sensed an exceptionally comfortable feeling coming from Bai Ye.

It almost made her want to sleep.

No, no. The work isn't finished yet. I can't sleep now.

This must be because I was too busy working last night and got tired.

But looking at Bai Ye really made her feel close to him, as if they had met somewhere before.

After thinking it over, Ganyu felt that it was probably a resonance between people who both practiced Adeptal Arts.

The fact that Bai Ye knew Adeptal Arts was not much of a secret in Liyue Harbor.

But what kind of Adeptal Arts did he practice, to make her feel so comfortable?

Ganyu wondered inwardly.

"Then, Mr. Bai Ye..."

"Just call me Bai Ye."

"Mm." Ganyu nodded and continued, "We'll be investigating the roads north of Liyue together. Shall we set off now?"

"I'm ready. Are you ready too, Sister Ganyu?"

Bai Ye pulled a handheld crossbow from his sleeve as he spoke to Ganyu.

"Of course."

Ganyu also took out her own bow.

Naturally, it was not the Amos' Bow,

but Bai Ye could tell it was a famous weapon of the Adepti.

The two set off north from Liyue Harbor.

"What are we investigating?"

As they walked, Bai Ye asked Ganyu again,

"Sister Ganyu, where exactly are we investigating?"

"It's like this. Miss Ningguang plans to repair the first road running from northern Liyue, passing through Guili Plains, crossing Wangshu Inn, and finally reaching Mondstadt. We'll investigate the monsters in that area, how much repair the road needs, and whether we might encounter remnants of ancient gods. But we probably needn't worry about the last point. After several thousand years, there should not be any remnants of ancient gods on the main road."

Although there were still occasionally some in Guili Plains, Xiao had surely cleared nearly all of them from the main road.

"Mm-hmm."

Bai Ye nodded.

Then, he assigned their tasks.

"Then, Sister Ganyu, you can handle the monsters and ancient god remnants. I'll take care of the road conditions."

"Mm-hmm."

Ganyu nodded.

The two walked north out of Liyue Harbor, gazing at the official road stretching ahead.

"Let's go!"

Bai Ye took the lead, with Ganyu following closely behind.

In order to study Liyue's roads, the two measured them entirely on foot.

Ganyu walked with graceful poise, while Bai Ye strolled casually, looking utterly carefree.

Perhaps to guard against danger on the road, Ganyu remained alert and inspected their surroundings constantly. Bai Ye, with his hands behind his head, said unconcernedly, "Sister Ganyu, we've only just left Liyue Harbor. There's no way we'll run into any danger."

"Some problems arise from the smallest details. We absolutely cannot let our guard down."

Ganyu shook her head.

"Even so, there's no need to..."

Before Bai Ye could finish, they passed a large boulder, and more than ten masked people wielding machetes and shovels emerged from behind it.

"You people of Liyue have an old saying: 'This mountain was opened by us, this road was...'"

Looking at the obviously foreign Treasure Hoarders, Bai Ye slowly raised his handheld crossbow.

He was furious!

He had just told Ganyu there would be no trouble here, and then these people appeared.

And they were the Treasure Hoarders he had farmed most often.

At that moment, the Treasure Hoarders sensed that something was wrong.

One of them said nervously, "I remember the Liyue people in our line telling us before we came that we should watch out for a short white-haired kid carrying a handheld crossbow. Boss, do you think that's him?"

Hearing that, Bai Ye's face darkened even further.

You have chosen death.