"Hahaha! I didn't think you'd recognize me even like this."
Tartaglia laughed as he took off his mask.
"This suits me much better. How could I hide this handsome face behind a mask?"
Watching Tartaglia laugh and joke, Zhong Baiye felt anger rise inside him. He had no idea how many people of Liyue would die horribly in this crisis, or how many would lose their homes.
And the man responsible for it all-Childe-could still laugh.
Childe noticed Zhong Baiye's angry expression and spoke helplessly.
"I didn't have a choice either. No one would have been hurt if we'd done things my way, but your arrival completely derailed my plan. Now I'm just an employee carrying out someone else's plan."
Only then did Zhong Baiye realize that he himself was the source of all these changes. His existence had already broken the original story's plot.
From the moment he arrived in this world, everything had begun to change, just like the well-known butterfly effect.
A single flap of a butterfly's wings in a subtropical rainforest in South America could cause a tornado thousands of miles away in the Americas.
Every action Zhong Baiye took was another flap of those wings. All of Teyvat had already been affected by him.
While Zhong Baiye was thinking about this, Tartaglia offered him another glimmer of hope.
"I don't agree with this plan either. I'll give you a chance. If you can defeat me, I'll take them and retreat."
Hearing this, Zhong Baiye and Ningguang looked at the Fatui beside Tartaglia.
The Fatui showed no doubt whatsoever about Childe's decision. Apparently, whatever he chose to do, they would follow his orders.
Tartaglia noticed Zhong Baiye and Ningguang's hesitation and immediately added something else.
"Relax. You don't need to worry about these Fatui. If even