Faced with Childe Tartaglia's enlightened remark, as though he had suddenly spotted the crucial detail, the Harbingers still in Snezhnaya neither blushed nor flinched. Without a teacher, they mastered the Anemo Archon's signature skill and began bluffing Tartaglia with perfect confidence.
[The Jester: You're overthinking it. We simply made a few deductions based on the available information and everyone's reactions. Mr. Zhongli's spending must be enough to shake heaven and earth and move ghosts and gods.]
[Childe: Uh, I can't really argue with that.]
[Xingqiu: Uh, well, even I...]
[Chongyun: Can't argue with that.]
[Hu Tao: Just look at me. Our Wangsheng Funeral Parlor has an exclusive business in Liyue Harbor, and now our books are nearly in the red. As the esteemed seventy-seventh director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, I even have to go through the streets and alleys personally, calling out to drum up business. Ah, life never goes your way.]
[Ningguang: Hiss, I was even thinking of recruiting Mr. Zhongli!]
[Keqing: Encouraging spending is good, but you still need to live within your means.]
[Paimon: Wow, does this person have absolutely no concept of Mora?!]
[Xianyun: ...]
[Mountain Shaper: ...]
[Xiao: ...]
[Moon Carver: ...]
[A Ping: Hohoho, sometimes children can hit the nail on the head and point out the most important thing.]
[Zhongli: My apologies for making a spectacle of myself.]
Paimon's words, the adepti's subtle reactions afterward, and the way Zhongli had enough clout to end the topic simply by speaking up made quite a few clever people in Liyue immediately think of certain possibilities, their pupils trembling in shock.
"No way?"
Even Ningguang in the Jade Chamber high above Liyue Harbor, and Uncle Tian, the Tianshu, who had forgone fishing for once today and was waiting here for a meeting, were somewhat shocked when they considered that possibility.
But on closer thought, it was not impossible.
After all, legend had it that Rex Lapis had countless incarnations. Never mind appearing as men and women, old and young-in quite a few myths, he had even taken nonhuman forms. Taking the form of a dignified, handsome man like Zhongli now could hardly have been more normal.
But since Rex Lapis was maintaining this alternate identity, clever people like them naturally would not be so tactless as to expose him. They all remained silent.
That said, Ningguang had already decided that over the next three months, she would assign more people to find subtle ways to put more supposedly precious collectibles in front of Mr. Zhongli-things that were outrageously expensive yet had little practical use.
Someone else was footing the bill anyway. Why pass up the profit?
Having risen from a barefoot little girl selling fruit from a cart to the Tianquan, who owned a private weapon of mass destruction like the Jade Chamber looming over the Seven Nations, Ningguang could certainly handle this much.
[Yae Miko: Oh my, before I knew it, two people have already answered incorrectly. That means the reward for this question has dropped quite a bit too, hasn't it?]
[Arataki Itto: Hmph, a question that's gotten so much easier is beneath me, Arataki "The One and Oni" Itto.]
[Kuki Shinobu: Boss (facepalm), are you sure the last two punishments didn't just scare you off?]
[Arataki Itto: H-how could they?! Is Arataki Itto the sort to get scared?!]
[Paimon: Then hurry up and answer, bean eater!]
[Arataki Itto: I already told you, this question is beneath me now. Neither the reward nor the punishment interests me anymore.]
Arataki Itto's words were not entirely without reason.
After all, look at La Signora, the first to answer incorrectly. She had to relive twenty-four hours of mental hell.
Then look at Childe, the second to answer incorrectly. He had merely been saddled with a debt he could never repay in his lifetime.
The severity of the punishments had clearly dropped.
With the severity of the punishments falling off a cliff like that, one could imagine that this question was now of little value. Though the next punishment might no longer strike fear into people's hearts, the reward would not be as miraculous as those for the earlier questions either.
In that case...
[Yae Miko: Then I'll choose B~. Even if I'm wrong, I should be able to grit my teeth and accept the next punishment.]
[Kirara: Wow, Lady Miko is amazing! You really are the most knowledgeable great youkai around here!]
[Arataki Itto: That's not certain yet-]
[System: Correct answer!]
[Yae Miko: Hehehe (smug), it seems my luck is rather good~.]
[Gorou: Ugh, that fox!]
[Arataki Itto: Uh, ahem, not bad. Giving up this question was worth it.]
[Kirara: Wow, Lady Miko really is amazing.]
[Sangonomiya Kokomi: Congratulations, Lady Guuji.]
[Raiden Ei: If it's a reward that threatens eternity... Hmm, never mind.]
[Yae Miko: Haha, don't worry. I know the rules.]
Still, with two wrong answers already, the reward for this question probably would not reach the level of bringing someone from the past back to life, would it?
As a fox immortal who had thoroughly studied people's hearts, how could she not know what her far-too-simple-minded god truly wanted?
Come to think of it, if there really were an item that could resurrect people, Lady Raiden Makoto would certainly be the first to be brought back. Only the second could be used on that cunning woman.
[System: Correct answer. Esteemed five-star user Yae Miko is awarded an individual piece from the five-star artifact set Thundersoother, originating from the world of Genshin Impact: the Goblet of Eonothem, Thundersoother's Goblet. Main stat: Electro DMG Bonus +46.6%. Substats: ATK +14, HP +13.4%, Energy Recharge +10.4%, Elemental Mastery +40.] [System: The wine goblet used by the sage who quelled the thunder disaster. Perhaps its former master once drank violet lightning from it. The sage who slaughtered monsters was also mortal, rejoicing at gain and grieving at loss. Fury and ecstasy were like roaring thunder and flashing lightning, arriving abruptly and departing swiftly. The amethyst goblet that witnessed this man quell the fearsome thunder held all his joy, anger, sorrow, and grief. Whether it was the sacrificial wine when his loved ones were offered as tribute, the courage he drew from the cup to venture deep into the monsters' lair by night, or the lonely final days of the sage who quelled the thunder.] [System: The goblet of the thunder-quelling warrior. It is said that the hero who subdued the beast of thunder once filled this goblet with violet lightning and drank it.]
[Lumine: Although I've only just come into contact with our world of Teyvat, do artifacts in reality, uh, have stats too?]
[Yae Miko: Normally they don't, but this one in my hand certainly does.]
[Lumine: Then are these stats good or bad?]
[Yae Miko: I don't know either. After all, the other artifacts I have don't come with such numerical stats.]
[Yae Miko: Still, hmm, compared to the Goblet of Eonothem Ei gave me six hundred years ago, judging purely by what I can sense, this artifact from the system is far, far ahead of Ei's gift.]