Seeing this, Keqing and Lumine finally understood why such dangerous monsters inhabited an adeptus's abode.
It turned out these Slimes were merely robot vacuums raised by the adeptus. No wonder they were so powerful that even Keqing couldn't deal with them.
When Zhong Baiye and the others looked at the Slimes now, every one of them was perfectly docile. It was impossible to connect these little cuties with the creatures that had swallowed people alive just moments ago.
"Pah! They're just Slimes! I, the great Paimon, simply wasn't using my full strength. Otherwise, I would've taken care of them all by myself ages ago."
As she spoke, Paimon even kicked the blue Slime.
The blue Slime wouldn't obey anyone who didn't have a Sigil of Permission.
It sensed that Paimon was a large piece of "trash" that needed immediate disposal and promptly chased after her.
"Aaaah!! Keqing, save me! It's going to kill Paimon!"
The moment Paimon saw that the Slime still wanted to attack her, all her earlier bravado vanished, and she darted behind Keqing to hide.
"All right, all right. Let's clean this place up first."
Holding the Sigil of Permission, Keqing calmed the blue Slime down again.
"Thank goodness these Slimes can help. This place is so huge. How long would it take the few of us to clean it ourselves?"
Zhong Baiye looked around. The place was practically a small town, with several enormous floating islands. Without the Slimes' help, cleaning it all would have been almost impossible.
"Let's start here and work through the floating islands one by one."
With that, Keqing ordered the Anemo Slime to gather its strength and form a small tornado.
The small tornado drew in all the trash and dust nearby.
Next, the Pyro and Electro Slimes shot sparks and lightning at the trash.
Before long, all the trash had been burned away.
The Hydro Slimes lined up again and mopped their way across the entire floating island.
Before long, with the Slimes' help, every floating island had been cleaned until it was spotless.
Even Noelle, the cleaning expert, would have been thoroughly satisfied.
Keqing was stunned. She had never imagined mere Slimes could do something like this.
Watching this, Paimon thought that perhaps they could sell these Slimes as complete sets. They would surely become bestsellers across all of Teyvat.
Then she would be able to eat delicious food every day, without ever having the same dish twice.
Seeing Keqing standing there in a daze, with drool almost dripping onto the freshly cleaned floor, Zhong Baiye and the others instantly understood what Paimon was thinking.
At the sight of Paimon, everyone raised a hand to their forehead in unison.
"Forget Paimon. Let's hurry up and divide the treasure chests we found earlier."
Zhong Baiye laid out the treasure chests they had found, one by one.
These chests were rather different from those in the game, which were about as big as Paimon.
But the largest chest Zhong Baiye and the others had found was only the size of a shoebox.
They also looked much the same on the outside, differing only in their materials.
Some were wooden, some were made of refined iron, and others were gold.
Zhong Baiye and the others weren't worried that these chests might contain the private savings of the adeptus who was so very good at chatting, because there had been a message beside each place where they found a chest.
The gist of the messages was that the chests had been left for those fated to find them, and anyone could take them.
Paimon had been eyeing these chests hungrily for ages. The instant she heard they were dividing the treasure, she snapped out of her daydream.
Without even wiping the drool from the corner of her mouth, she ran over and hugged the largest golden chest.
"This one's mine! None of you are allowed to take it!"
Seeing Paimon clutch the golden chest tightly to her chest, everyone looked helpless.
"Big brother, just give me a smaller share later. Count Paimon's share as part of mine."
Seeing how Paimon was behaving, Lumine spoke apologetically.
"It's fine. It's only one chest, and there are more here. Let's split the others between us."
Zhong Baiye didn't mind Paimon's behavior at all, nor did he agree to Lumine's suggestion.
As a member of the Liyue Qixing, Keqing had never lacked such resources, so she certainly didn't mind either.
The chests contained only some Primogems and Mora. There wasn't a single weapon or artifact in sight.
Still, after looking at the size of the chests, Zhong Baiye understood. Chests this small couldn't possibly hold weapons.
As for artifacts, in all his time in Teyvat, the only one he had seen was hanging from Ningguang's waist. Even Keqing didn't have one.
"Let's split these Primogems and Mora."
Zhong Baiye counted all the Primogems and Mora.
Divided equally among the three of them, each would receive over a hundred Primogems and tens of thousands of Mora. It was already a very generous haul.
"Wha... Where's my treasure?"
Just then, Paimon suddenly cried out beside them.
Zhong Baiye and the others looked over to find her frozen in the act of opening the chest, her face full of disbelief.
On closer inspection, they discovered that the golden chest was actually empty. Engraved on the bottom were the words, "The most splendid things often conceal danger!"
Looking more closely at the chest's material, they realized it wasn't gold at all. It was clearly a solid wooden box coated in gold paint.
Zhong Baiye and the others immediately understood. This wasn't a treasure chest at all, but a warning Cloud Retainer had left for whoever found it.
To them, the lesson was far more valuable than the supposed golden treasure chest.
Paimon, however, didn't think so. All she cared about was the treasure inside the chest. Nothing else interested her.
After discovering that the golden chest was a fake, she stood stunned for a while before clinging to Lumine's arm and wheedling.
"Traveler, you're the nicest to me. What's yours is mine, and what's mine is still mine."
Although Lumine felt a little softhearted, remembering Paimon's selfish behavior earlier made her simply turn away, deciding that what she couldn't see wouldn't bother her.
Seeing that even the Traveler wouldn't give her any Mora, Paimon immediately sat down on the ground and burst into tears.
She wailed things like, "I was the one who was with the Traveler first! How did things end up like this...?"
"Traveler, you heartless cheat..."
Seeing Paimon like this, even Keqing and Zhong Baiye began to soften.
After all, although Paimon could be a little brat, she was awfully adorable.
Naturally, Lumine also succumbed to Paimon's assault and handed over some of the Mora and Primogems she had just received.
Zhong Baiye and Keqing felt sorry for Paimon as well, and each gave her a portion too.
But to their surprise, the moment Paimon got her hands on the Primogems and Mora, she stopped crying.
Instead, a sly expression spread across her face.
Before you continue