The Treasure Hoarders' Plot

On a small island somewhere off Liyue Harbor.

A group of dejected Treasure Hoarders lingered there.

Pulling down the scarves wrapped around their faces revealed that every one of them looked like a Liyue native.

They were Treasure Hoarders who had fled Liyue.

During the month Bai Ye had gone wild as a bounty hunter, he had practically wiped out every large-scale Treasure Hoarder group in Liyue.

But even a centipede remained alive after death; quite a few Treasure Hoarders had still escaped. On top of that, many captured Treasure Hoarders had committed relatively minor crimes, so the Ministry of Civil Affairs had replaced their sentences with other forms of punishment before releasing them.

The problem was that these Treasure Hoarders had long grown accustomed to their lazy way of life. Asking them to get regular jobs was simply impossible.

So after discussing it among themselves, these Treasure Hoarders fled Liyue Harbor one after another. Some went to Nantianmen, while most of the rest came to these overseas islands.

They did not dare return to Liyue lightly.

Toward Bai Ye, they felt both hatred and fear.

More precisely, it was two parts hatred and eight parts fear.

They hated his coldhearted cruelty and brutality;

yet they were also frightened by his ingenious methods.

As a result, they had no desire to return to Liyue. They survived on the island by robbing foreign merchant ships.

They did not dare rob too often, nor did they dare target Liyue merchant ships.

Under such circumstances, their lives were unimaginably miserable.

Going hungry one meal and eating their fill the next was normal. Most of the time, they had to fish while carrying out robberies.

They lived like moles underground.

This left many Treasure Hoarders increasingly resentful.

We came here so we wouldn't have to work, yet now we still have to work as Treasure Hoarders.

We might as well have honestly stayed in Liyue Harbor and become fishermen!

One day,

a hooded female Treasure Hoarder arrived on the island.

Some Treasure Hoarders showed surprise when they saw Yan'er.

"Boss Yan'er?"

"That's right, it's me."

The female Treasure Hoarder named Yan'er smiled and nodded.

She was also highly renowned within the Treasure Hoarders. At the height of her power, she had commanded many Treasure Hoarder groups and possessed great prestige among them.

"You actually weren't captured?"

"I'm not that easy to catch."

Yan'er sounded nonchalant on the surface.

But whenever she thought of Bai Ye in private, she could not help feeling lingering fear.

If she had not happened to be in Mondstadt on business at the time, then returned in disguise to inspect her subordinates, only to catch Bai Ye just as he came looking for her Treasure Hoarders, she probably would have been swept up by Bai Ye in one go as well.

Just like the leaders of all those other Treasure Hoarders.

But this time,

things might be different.

Yan'er thought of the Snezhnayan she had met that day.

As long as she properly completed the task they had assigned and finalized the deal with them,

she could switch countries and become someone above others.

Excitement filled Yan'er's heart as she looked at the Treasure Hoarders currently gathered on the island.

"I came to help you break free from your current predicament."

She shouted to the Treasure Hoarders on the island.

Her prestige was still considerable.

Besides, these Treasure Hoarders had long been deeply dissatisfied with their current situation and desperately wanted change. Hearing that someone could help them, they had to come take a look whether it was true or not.

At her call, the Treasure Hoarders on the island gathered one after another.

"Xiao Yu, are you planning to apply for a permanent post here? All right. Once I return, I'll order people to begin construction."

At Liyue Harbor, Ganyu listened attentively to Xiao Yu from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, considered her request, then nodded in agreement.

Hearing Ganyu agree, Xiao Yu's eyes lit up with joy.

There were barely any Treasure Hoarders left now, so she no longer had to wait for Bai Ye to deliver batches of them. Yet standing by the Ministry of Civil Affairs notice board every day had only become more boring and harder to endure.

Fortunately, she had met Miss Ganyu this time and successfully applied for a booth. From now on, she could finally sit instead of standing all day.

She had Bai Ye to thank for all of this.

Thinking that, she looked toward Bai Ye, who was sitting on a railing and gazing in every direction beyond Liyue Harbor.

Ganyu also turned to look at Bai Ye.

"Bai Ye, we've finished inspecting this area. Next, we'll inspect the next section."

"Mm, all right."

Bai Ye turned around and jumped down from the railing.

"We're leaving. See you, Sister Xiao Yu."

Bai Ye waved to Xiao Yu.

"See you."

Bai Ye and Ganyu were currently patrolling Liyue Harbor.

They were responsible for the security of the Rite of Descension, with many Millelith and Ministry of Civil Affairs personnel placed under their command.

Of course, Ganyu was the one mainly giving orders.

To catch any oversights, on the first day Bai Ye came to find Ganyu, she decided that the two of them should first make a round of Liyue Harbor and inspect it for potential problems.

Naturally, Bai Ye had no objections.

Thus, the two began touring Liyue Harbor together.

The troublesome part was that Ganyu was far too popular in Liyue Harbor, and many people came to her with problems that needed resolving.

Although Liyue did not have people everywhere who needed to be coddled like Mondstadt, its port had many merchants, and matters there were far more complicated.

Even Ganyu had to expend considerable energy dealing with them.

Bai Ye and Ganyu's inspection progressed slowly.

Which areas needed stronger patrols and which buildings needed repairs were matters both of them had to worry about.

During the inspection, Ganyu also taught Bai Ye about deployment experience.

"Bai Ye, look. This corner is hard to notice, so we need to send more Millelith patrols through it. If you're the one deploying people, remember to pay extra attention to places like this."

Bai Ye listened carefully.

These were all experiences Ganyu had accumulated in Liyue over thousands of years.

They were all things he needed to learn.

After finishing, Ganyu said to Bai Ye, "We may encounter even more issues this time than before, so we need to be extra careful. Future Rite of Descension ceremonies can be much more relaxed."

"There won't be any future Rite of Descension ceremonies..."

Bai Ye muttered softly.

Hearing that, Ganyu immediately looked around. Seeing that no one had heard, she quickly lowered her voice and said to Bai Ye,

"Bai Ye, what are you saying!?"

"Ah, no, no. I just meant I only plan to handle security for this Rite of Descension. I won't be responsible for future ones."

There would not be any in the future anyway.

"Oh, don't say things that could be misunderstood in front of others next time." Ganyu sighed in relief.

Then, hearing Bai Ye say he would not be responsible for future Rite of Descension ceremonies, she revealed a faint smile.

"As for whether you'll be responsible or not, that isn't up to you."

"Hey! Are you kidnapping people now?"

Bai Ye raised a brow.

"Of course not." Ganyu shook her head.

"But what if there's enough Mora?"

"I..." Bai Ye's momentum instantly vanished.

"Well, that isn't something we can't discuss."

Ganyu snickered.

At that moment, she remembered the letter she had written to her master.

"Bai Ye, how is your Adeptal Arts training going?"

She had to urge her junior brother to cultivate.

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