Reactions after the second day

[System: Today's video quiz and distribution of rewards and punishments have all concluded. Esteemed users, see you tomorrow.]

With the system's final notification, the screen in the sky went completely black. Just like yesterday, however, the discussion section remained open for the star-rated users who still wanted more to talk to their hearts' content.

Compared with their somewhat reserved behavior yesterday, after two days of videos and being forced to absorb a great deal of information about the future, the star-rated users now had an urgent desire to communicate.

Never mind the star-rated users-even ordinary passersby, whom the screen had mocked as having no rights, were keen to discuss such juicy gossip.

Beside the pitch-black screen, messages flashed through the discussion section one after another, far faster than when the videos were playing.

Snezhnaya's representatives urgently called on everyone in the discussion section not to blindly trust the videos. Snezhnaya had always been friendly toward the other six nations, had even been clearing out monsters and ruins free of charge at its own expense all along, and everyone mustn't fall for the screen's schemes, blah, blah, blah.

Naturally, the representatives of the other nations smiled and humored them on the surface while secretly raising their vigilance toward the Fatui to the highest level.

Of the other six nations, Natlan was already in turmoil. On top of that, out of the ten videos the screen had shown over these two days, only yesterday's Footprint promotional video had mentioned their nation once. At every other moment, Natlan might as well have been invisible.

Although this left some battle-crazed lunatics in Natlan grumbling that even the screen practiced international discrimination, quite a few people actually breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, looking at the chaos in the other nations, having nothing exposed about their own while still getting opportunities to buzz in with answers in the discussion section was actually pretty good.

After all, Natlan had its own national circumstances. If some bombshell really did drop about the Pyro Dragon Sovereign suddenly dying or the Pyro Archon smashing the divine throne...

Then the situation in which humans and dragons finally managed to "coexist harmoniously" after years of struggle would instantly shatter.

So they were actually quite happy that no videos about Natlan had played.

As for the other five nations, following today's videos-especially with the videos clearly playing in the order of Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, Sumeru, and Fontaine-they each took their own actions.

The first thing Mondstadt did was have Acting Grand Master Jean step forward, nursing an enormous headache, to halt Sister Barbara of the Church of Favonius's spontaneous efforts to organize an Anemo Archon honor guard. Looking so aggrieved that she was almost in tears, Sister Barbara secured permission to visit the Angel's Share and bring Venti food and drink whenever she wished. All in all, everyone was happy.

Meanwhile, the plan to save Dvalin continued to progress steadily. Through the heroic sacrifices of the motley crew in the Knights of Favonius, three teardrops had now been found throughout Mondstadt and purified by the Traveler. Together with the previous two, they restored the Holy Lyre der Himmel to its former glory.

However, Dvalin was now holed up in Stormterror's Lair, refusing to leave or play Stormterror anymore. At that very moment, he was watching Barbatos get beaten up on the screen in Stormterror's Lair, torn between anger and laughter.

Thus, Venti decisively chose to execute plan B.

Namely, march on Stormterror's Lair first thing tomorrow morning, kick down the door, capture the dragon, and give Dvalin a round of compulsory treatment.

As Acting Grand Master Jean and the other Knights of Favonius exchanged looks, the Traveler was the first to raise both hands and feet in support of this plan, which suited her tastes perfectly.

Things in Liyue were rather strange. On the one hand, ordinary citizens were devastated to learn through the screen that Rex Lapis would die in the future. On the other, they thought that since the screen was broadcasting across the entire continent, Rex Lapis would surely see it too and might be able to avert that future, giving them a sliver of hope. In short, their feelings were deeply conflicted.

Meanwhile, much like the adepti, most of the Liyue Qixing's leadership now knew that Rex Lapis had not truly passed on to the heavens. Staging something like the scene in the video was most likely his way of laying down his burdens and handing the administration of Liyue Harbor entirely over to mortals.

His supposed faked death was probably one final test for them, the Liyue Qixing.

Upon realizing this, Keqing was the most excited of all the Qixing.

Rex Lapis wasn't dead, and they could usher in an era of human rule.

These were two dreams come true that she had yearned for in the past-even speaking "treasonously" of them directly to Rex Lapis at the Rite of Descension-yet had hardly dared imagine would actually happen.

She still didn't know whether, in the future, the Qixing and the Traveler would successfully pass Rex Lapis's test together or whether their performance would earn his approval.

But now, brimming with enthusiasm, Keqing dragged the other members of the Qixing into an all-night session to draw up all manner of emergency management plans.

Having "seen" this, Zhongli expressed his deep satisfaction, then promptly followed Hu Tao off to The Chasm.

Alas, after watching yesterday's video, his girl insisted on coming here to find Bosacius's final traces. Knowing full well how strange this place was, how could Zhongli possibly leave her unsupervised?

It was just that Hu Tao and Xiao were both here now. Hopefully, the famous scene of "Little Zhong, come on, kowtow to Conqueror of Demons Xiao" wouldn't play out ahead of schedule.

Over in Inazuma, Raiden Ei fought her way from Inazuma's main island all the way to Watatsumi Island without finding any trace of Scaramouche. All she could do was bring back an ornamental fish along the way to show she hadn't come back empty-handed.

With the Raiden Shogun appearing in person, Watatsumi Island's newly formed Resistance collapsed on the spot, without putting up the slightest resistance.

This was different from the original story, in which the Traveler had already wreaked havoc in Tenshukaku, while Kazuha blocking the Electro Archon's slash had boosted morale.

Furthermore, by then, the Resistance and the Shogunate had been fighting for many years, and deep resentment had accumulated between them. Only then had a small number of elite Resistance soldiers dared draw their blades against the Raiden Shogun under Gorou's leadership.

Now, with neither the Traveler nor Kazuha present, and the Resistance only just formed, most of its members had still been law-abiding subjects of the Shogunate until recently. How much courage could watching Kazuha block a blade in a single video give them to face the Raiden Shogun?

Seeing the Raiden Shogun arrive in person, apart from Gorou and a handful of other diehard Watatsumi Islanders, the others didn't even have the courage to draw their swords.

And after Sangonomiya Kokomi was picked up by the Raiden Shogun at their very first encounter, even Gorou could only reluctantly lower his weapon and bow once more to the Shogunate-no, to the Raiden Shogun.

Of course, although Raiden Ei wasn't good at such things, Yae Miko had at least offered a reminder before she left. The Raiden Shogun ordered that Watatsumi Island would henceforth fall under her direct jurisdiction, the Vision Hunt Decree would be suspended, and everything else-including worship of Orobashi-would remain unchanged. This was the most crucial factor in breaking Watatsumi Island's will to resist.

Returning to Tenshukaku with her five-star ornamental fish in hand, Raiden Ei had absolutely no interest in Yae Miko enthusiastically dressing a thoroughly listless Sangonomiya Kokomi in a Grand Narukami Shrine maiden's outfit. What concerned her most was still reviving her older sister.

"I searched everywhere, but I couldn't find him."

Yae Miko didn't even look up. "That's normal. I told you ages ago that boy is a real problem now."

Raiden Ei currently felt somewhat indebted to Scaramouche, whereas Yae Miko simply thought about how to get rid of him.

Thus, unlike Yae Miko, who had actively proposed using Scaramouche as a sacrifice, although Raiden Ei put her older sister first and everyone else second...

Since she hadn't found him on this trip, for various reasons, Raiden Ei had no intention of making a special trip abroad and insisting on finding Scaramouche.

Having failed to find Scaramouche, Raiden Ei took the opportunity to propose her own plan B.

"It's fine. I wasn't counting entirely on this anyway. I have other backup plans."

Only then did Yae Miko look up, frowning. "You mean you want to make another puppet?"

Raiden Ei nodded. "That's right. Although I don't have materials from beyond this world, and I've already used my own body, substitute materials aren't out of the question."

Yae Miko knew what substitute materials Raiden Ei meant. All those defeated dogs in the Dark Sea were excellent materials. As long as they could catch one, they could just about resolve the issue of materials for a god-level vessel for a soul.

But that would be much more troublesome than catching a puppet that hadn't even reached the level of a god. Still, after looking at Raiden Ei's expression, Yae Miko ultimately said nothing.

Her dear friend was just so awkward. What she, a fox, considered trouble, that girl Ei instead felt indebted to.

Alas, did Ei have any idea just how many tragedies this puppet she felt indebted to had already caused in Inazuma?

Although she didn't know the full details, Yae Miko had sensed that Scaramouche was definitely behind, at the very least, the decline of all the Raiden Gokaden, with some even having their families destroyed.

But compared with other people, Yae Miko valued Ei's feelings more. Since Ei wanted to lure over and capture a defeated god from the Dark Sea, she could only give her full support.

Besides, perhaps the screen would hand out a similar reward next. Nothing was certain.

As for Orobashi's remains already lying on Yashiori Island...

Uh, they had better put in a little more effort and catch one from the Dark Sea.

"Oh dear, it looks like I'll need to take stock of the Grand Narukami Shrine's assets~."

After saying that, Yae Miko continued dressing Kokomi, who rolled her eyes, as though she were playing with a doll.

Creating a god-level puppet was no small expense.

One only had to look at Sumeru's creation of the god-level Shouki no Kami to see that. They had marshaled all of Sumeru's strength and even squeezed dreams and intellect out of their own people, yet that still hadn't been enough. Only with support from the Fatui had they finally completed it.

Of course, there was a difference between Sumeru creating a complete artificial god and Raiden Ei currently only wanting to create a puppet with a god-level shell.

Even so, this expenditure was truly a little beyond Inazuma's means, when its current state could charitably be described as everything awaiting revival, or less charitably as its people struggling to survive.

"Hopefully, the screen can offer some support later."

Even Miko, who owned Yae Publishing House, felt somewhat intimidated by the enormous expense.

While Yae Miko was nursing a headache over the immense cost of creating a puppet to serve as a god-level soul vessel, over in Sumeru, Nahida, who was currently maintaining her second-stage transformation into a dreamlike version of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, released the Gnosis in her hand, somewhat exhausted.

Beads of sweat dripped from her forehead and struck the ground, causing flowers to bloom impossibly from the tightly fitted floor under the influence of high-quality Dendro.

"Lesser Lord Kusanali, are you all right?"

Cyno, who had been urgently summoned back from the desert, wasn't in the mood for dry jokes now. From Nahida's frown, he could tell that things probably weren't going smoothly.

"I'm fine. I just didn't expect the corruption to have penetrated so deeply into Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's dream."

Nahida knew that Greater Lord Rukkhadevata had been corrupted by forbidden knowledge, but she hadn't expected to encounter those Rifthounds in her dream.

That made things troublesome. Although she had milk capable of removing all negative effects, she only had one chance to use it, and that certainly had to be on Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.

And to use it on Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, she first had to break through the blockade of all those packs of Rifthounds.

This was a little too thrilling for a God of Wisdom who wasn't good at fighting.

If there had only been one or two Rifthounds, or even a dozen or so, Nahida could actually have fought them herself with her Catalyze reaction transformation wand.

But there were far more than a dozen Rifthounds roaming Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's dream now.

"Hmm. In that case, could you let us accompany you and witness Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's dream?"

Standing nearby, Alhaitham, who had been urgently appointed to office after the Grand Sage's faction went down, thought for a moment and calmly offered a suggestion.

"No. God-level canned knowledge-no, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's dream-would put too much strain on you. I can't guarantee I could keep your consciousnesses from being corrupted in an emergency."

Hearing the reply from Nahida, who had already returned to her young maiden form, Alhaitham nodded without any change in expression, then began packing his things.

Beside him, Kaveh watched in bewilderment as Alhaitham turned to leave. "Where are you going?"

"Home. The workday is already over. This already counts as overtime for me."

"Huh? Wait, you're just clocking out like that?"

Kaveh was somewhat dumbfounded by Alhaitham's reply, especially when he saw Cyno calmly start packing his things as well.

"What else can we do? Our time is precious, and we can't waste a single moment of it. Lesser Lord Kusanali probably thinks so too. I'm simply taking the optimal approach."

Hearing this, Nahida nodded. "That's indeed the case. Thank you all for your efforts today. Don't worry. We've already gathered most of the keys to resolving the problem. Over the next few days, as long as we can invite the Traveler Lumine to visit Sumeru first, we can completely resolve the issue that has been troubling us all this time."

As she spoke, Nahida stretched languidly and decided to find a restroom in a bit so she could properly relax.