First meeting with Tartaglia

"Stop it. There aren't any classes today. Let me sleep a little longer!"

Keqing had woken Zhong Baiye up first thing in the morning.

"Zhong Baiye! Do you even remember where you are?"

Seeing him refuse to get out of bed, Keqing yanked off his blanket and shouted at him.

"Huh? Why is Keqing here? I must be dreaming again."

Zhong Baiye gave Keqing a bleary look, cupped her face in both hands, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

Keqing's face turned bright red. No one had ever dared treat her like that before.

Shing!

She patted her cheeks, then drew the Lion's Roar with a piercing scrape. She was about to bring the sword down on Zhong Baiye as he lay there.

The sharp sound of the sword being drawn instantly snapped Zhong Baiye awake. Remembering what he had just done to Keqing, he darted out of the way of her strike.

Fortunately, Keqing hadn't actually meant to hurt him. She had only swung the flat of her blade at him, so even if he hadn't dodged, he wouldn't have been badly hurt.

Seeing Keqing looking both flustered and furious, Zhong Baiye promptly tossed her the can of Cola he had drawn yesterday.

"Keqing, that was my fault. Consider this can of Cola a gift to make it up to you."

With the Cola in her hands, the anger on Keqing's face gradually faded.

"Cola? What is this?"

"It's a drink from my hometown. It's delicious. Let me show you how to open it."

Zhong Baiye showed Keqing how to pull the tab.

After opening it, Keqing looked at the dark, bubbling liquid inside and hesitated to drink it.

"It's really good. Go on, try it. You're going to love how it feels."

Beside her, Zhong Baiye kept coaxing Keqing into drinking the Cola, looking for all the world like a villain luring away an innocent girl.

Glug, glug, glug!

Keqing drained the entire can in one go.

Burp!

Looking at the empty can, Keqing smiled at Zhong Baiye. "For the Cola's sake, I'll forgive you this time. Hurry up and get washed. We have a case to investigate."

The sight of Keqing's adorable expression sent Zhong Baiye's heart soaring.

After washing up, Zhong Baiye followed Keqing back to Liyue Harbor.

The brilliant sun rose into the sky, accompanied by birdsong and the fragrance of flowers.

On the bridge at the entrance to Liyue Harbor, a girl dressed in purple walked beside a white-haired boy.

"You told Ningguang you had a plan. Where do you think we should go first?"

At Keqing's question, Zhong Baiye thought for a moment.

"Do you know the Northland Bank? Take me there first so I can have a look."

Zhong Baiye hadn't originally planned to have Keqing guide him, but the real Liyue Harbor was far too different from the one in the game.

The game's Liyue Harbor had only a few landmark buildings, while the real Liyue Harbor looked every bit like a vast ancient city.

People bustled through the streets, and Yujing Terrace towered into the sky. Zhong Baiye estimated that the distance from this bridge to the waterfront was roughly five or six kilometers.

Here, relying on his knowledge of the game really would get him lost.

Keqing thought about where the Northland Bank was.

"Let me think. I believe it's this way. Follow me."

The people of Liyue they met along the way all greeted Keqing with smiles.

"Good morning, Lady Yuheng."

"Hello, Keqing!"

"Thank you for helping me find my cat a few days ago, Lady Yuheng."

On the bustling streets, every person of Liyue seemed to brim with happiness as they went about their lives.

At that moment, Zhong Baiye understood that this truly was a real world, not a game anymore.

Yesterday, he had still treated these people as NPCs. Now, he would never do that again. Every one of them was a living, breathing person.

Remembering how the God of the Vortex had nearly destroyed Liyue Harbor in the story, and how so many living people would be swept away by the tsunami, Zhong Baiye couldn't help clenching his fists.

"We're here. This is the Northland Bank."

Keqing interrupted Zhong Baiye's thoughts.

He looked up and saw a sign bearing the name Northland Bank hanging above them.

The entrance was magnificent, its doorframe gleaming gold.

This was quite different from the game.

But on second thought, it made sense that a bank would need an impressive facade to attract customers.

When the guards at the entrance saw that the Yuheng herself had arrived, one of them immediately went inside to report it.

The other led Keqing and Zhong Baiye into a small room.

"Please wait a moment, honored guests. Lady Ekaterina will be here shortly."

Keqing and Zhong Baiye didn't have to wait long before a brown-haired woman wearing a black mask entered.

"I'm Ekaterina, the manager of the Northland Bank. How may I help you, honored guests?"

Keqing turned to look at Zhong Baiye.

After a moment's thought, Zhong Baiye said, "We're looking for Tartaglia. Do you know where he is?"

Just then, a familiar voice suddenly came from outside the door.

"It sounds like someone's looking for me, Tartaglia. What can I do for you?"

The door opened, and a handsome man dressed in white with short brown hair walked in. His signature red scarf told Zhong Baiye at a glance that he was Tartaglia.

Zhong Baiye thought to himself, He really is better-looking than in the game. Luckily, he's still not as handsome as me.

"Lady Yuheng, and this... friend. What brings you here?"

Keqing spoke without expression.

"I have no fondness for you people from Snezhnaya. I'm not the one looking for you. He is."

Tartaglia turned to Zhong Baiye with an apologetic look.

"Tartag... Tartaglia, you know about Rex Lapis's murder, right? I've heard Snezhnaya has an excellent intelligence network, so I wanted to ask if you know anything."

At that, Tartaglia waved his hands with a helpless expression.

"I'm afraid you've got me stumped. The Northland Bank is a legitimate bank. We don't know who would be bold enough to attack Rex Lapis either."

Zhong Baiye glanced at Keqing, then walked over to Tartaglia and whispered in his ear, "Sigil of Permission."

Hearing those words, Tartaglia could only answer helplessly, "All right. Although I don't know who the culprit is, you can seek out the Three-Eyed Five-Manifestation Immortal. He may have a way to help."

With that, Tartaglia took out a yellow talisman covered in patterns and handed it to Zhong Baiye.

"This is a Sigil of Permission. Take it to the Three-Eyed Five-Manifestation Immortal, and he'll help you."

Looking at the Sigil of Permission in his hand, Zhong Baiye thanked Tartaglia.

Then he left the Northland Bank with Keqing.

Once they were outside, Keqing asked Zhong Baiye a question.

"What now? Do we go straight to Jueyun Karst to find the Three-Eyed Five-Manifestation Immortal?"

He carefully thought back over the game's story before answering Keqing.

"No. We're going to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor to find someone. If he's willing, we won't need to seek out the immortal."