Once Zhong Baiye and the others saw who it was, Zhong Baiye exclaimed in surprise.
"One-and-a-Half-Meter Adeptus? What are you doing here?"
Xiao's face instantly darkened at Zhong Baiye's words. He turned and knocked Zhong Baiye on the forehead with his spear, declaring,
"Show respect for the adepti!"
Zhong Baiye rubbed the large bump on his forehead and asked Xiao seriously,
"Xiao, what exactly happened? Did that person get away?"
Xiao surveyed their surroundings, pointed at a large hole in the ground, and told them,
"Those figures were all fake. The real Demon God had already tunneled away."
Zhong Baiye and the others looked into the bottomless hole and carefully recalled how those illusory doubles had moved. It was just as Xiao had said: not one of them had seemed to possess a mind of its own.
Thinking back on how well those doubles had fought, Zhong Baiye sighed in admiration.
"As expected of a Demon God. Even those fake doubles had such impressive combat skills."
Something suddenly occurred to Keqing, and she hurriedly asked Xiao,
"Xiao, why are you here? Have the monsters around Liyue Harbor returned to normal?"
Hearing Keqing's question, Xiao answered without hesitation.
"The number of monsters in Liyue has dropped sharply over the past few days. I couldn't find any, so I wandered over here. I never expected to sense a Demon God's presence as soon as I approached."
Only then did Zhong Baiye and the others understand that Xiao had come to help because he had sensed the Demon God's presence.
They were also grateful that Xiao had been nearby. Otherwise, Ceng Yuan alone might have wiped them all out.
Then Zhong Baiye remembered Ceng Yuan's earlier boasts and hurriedly asked Xiao whether he knew anything about them.
Xiao listened as Zhong Baiye repeated