"Bai Ye, I'm going to take a look around the maze. Keep an eye on those Fatui here."
Inside the escape maze map, Hu Tao looked at the mazes with great interest, ready to explore them properly.
Even if she got lost, Bai Ye could pull her out in time.
"Mm."
Bai Ye nodded.
Their entry had gone rather smoothly.
Although they conducted a thorough investigation into the sudden explosion, they did not have much suspicion toward this suddenly appearing Adeptal artifact.
They were all Debt Collectors, and their education levels were generally not high. They knew nothing at all about Adeptal abodes. When one or two Adeptal artifacts suddenly appeared, not only did they not become suspicious, they were instead delighted to have discovered another treasure.
When the time came to hand it over to Lord Childe, they would earn quite a bit of merit.
The Fatui Debt Collectors sent the maze map deep into the base.
This made Bai Ye ecstatic.
He had thought he would be inspected and had been ready to launch a surprise attack at any moment, but he ended up infiltrating the place directly.
Especially since the Adeptal abode consisted of islands linked together by Art of Automata.
As long as he reached the island where the Adeptal treasures were stored and then used Art of Automata to sever the passageways—
He would be utterly invincible.
Then he only needed to wait quietly for Ganyu to charge in and wipe out every enemy.
Bai Ye watched as the Debt Collectors delivered him to where the treasures were kept, then turned and left to continue their patrol.
"This..."
Bai Ye swallowed hard.
It felt like a man who had starved for three days walking into an all-you-can-eat buffet, Xiangling entering a cooking competition, or Hu Tao seeing rows upon rows of clients.
No one was guarding this place?
All of this was mine?
Bai Ye looked around once more and saw that there was indeed no one here.
He stepped out of the maze map.
"Mine, mine, it's all mine!"
Bai Ye picked up one Adeptal artifact after another, his mouth splitting into a grin.
Hagintos's voice rang out beside Bai Ye's ear.
"I swear, this is the first time I've seen someone go from adorable to lecherous in a single second."
After Bai Ye and Hu Tao entered the maze map, she had quietly lifted her hidden state. Only Hu Tao would fail to notice her presence. Seeing her disciple wear such a money-grubbing expression at the sight of those Adeptal artifacts, she could not help but speak up to remind Bai Ye.
After all, he was Hagintos's only student. He had to mind his image somehow.
"With you acting like this, I don't even dare restore my true form. If one day I do restore it and someone asks, 'Where is your student?' do I have to say, 'He's currently swimming through Mora'?"
How could an elegant and adorable god like me have such a money-grubbing student?
I must have been bewitched by his handsome face back then.
"It's fine. Forget a god's disciple—even some of the Seven Archons are more embarrassing than I am. I'm stingy with Mora over here, while over there, they simply have no Mora at all."
As Bai Ye rummaged through the Adeptal treasures and books, he spoke to Hagintos.
Luckily, his teacher's identity as a god probably meant she had had some "minor friction" with at least Morax during the Archon War. That meant he did not need to worry about Morax mooching off his Mora.
He first put away all the treasures, planning to ask Yelan whether she could help him sell them after returning. Then he continued searching through the Adeptal texts, hoping to find a way to help his teacher recover.
Bai Ye began picking up the books and reading them one by one.
As he read, he learned.
But when he reached the final book, he got stuck.
From the outside, it looked like an ordinary thread-bound book. But when Bai Ye reached out to open it, every page seemed tightly glued together. No matter how hard he tried, he could not pry it open.
"This..."
Even using his Art of Automata, Bai Ye could not open this text.
At that moment, Hagintos said, "This isn't something Art of Automata can solve."
She had been leisurely observing the scenery filled with Adeptal energy through Bai Ye's mind. But when she turned and saw that her student had been stopped by a book, Hagintos instinctively spoke upon seeing the text in his hands.
"Hmm? Teacher, you recognize this text?"
"Yes, I recognize it," Hagintos said with certainty.
"Put your hand on it. Leave the rest to me."
Bai Ye placed his hand on the book.
Hagintos acted, using her soul to touch the text.
When she saw this book, she had the feeling that she herself had made the mechanism upon it.
Other than herself and that Adepti, no one could open this text.
"I made this thing!"
Bai Ye felt a click come from the book in his hand.
When he opened it again, he could see the words written inside.
"Teacher, I didn't expect you to make mechanisms for an Adepti."
Bai Ye read the text with relish as he spoke.
Then Bai Ye sensed that something was off.
"Teacher, why did you make mechanisms for an Adepti?"
"I don't know either."
Hagintos began to think about why she had done such a thing.
After thinking for a while, an idea flashed through her mind.
"Maybe this Adepti was an undercover agent I sent out?"
I'm so clever. Secretly training an undercover agent shouldn't be a problem, right?
During the Archon War, sending an undercover agent to infiltrate Rex Lapis's side to deal with him seemed perfectly reasonable, didn't it?
Hearing Hagintos say that, Bai Ye felt it made a little sense, yet something about it also felt wrong.
Was his teacher really the kind of person who played undercover games?
Forget it.
No need to think too much about it for now.
He would just assume this Adepti had been his teacher's undercover agent.
Then this Adepti was his teacher's subordinate. Now that he was gone, his property should belong to his teacher, and wasn't his teacher's property his own?
Perfectly reasonable.
Bai Ye now felt even more justified in taking the Adeptal artifacts.
Continuing to search through the Adeptal texts, Bai Ye wanted to see what this one contained.
It was a text on cultivating soul-based Adeptal Arts. It recorded how to cultivate Adeptal Arts for soul attacks.
When Bai Ye saw it, he felt as if he had found a priceless treasure.
It was not that he wanted to use soul attacks against anyone. Rather, he thought that since these Adeptal Arts could affect people, they could likewise affect objects.
Using the soul to control mechanisms...
Just imagining it made Bai Ye salivate.
As for repairing souls—
Bai Ye flipped to the end.
He actually found something.
"Teacher, I found a method to restore a soul."
The moment he said that, before he could explain, Hagintos said to Bai Ye, "Wait, it seems someone is coming over there."
Upon hearing that, Bai Ye immediately put the text away.
He also prepared to set an ambush and cut off the connection between this island and the others.
"Is that the thing The Doctor left for me over there?"
"Yes, Lord Childe."
The Debt Collector Viktor wore a fawning smile as he spoke to the young man walking ahead of him.
An official one rank higher could crush you to death, let alone someone at the highest rank beneath the Tsaritsa.
Before you continue