"Mr. Tang Wang, it looks like someone's lying over there!"
Just then, one of the rookie adventurers spoke up in surprise.
"This young lady in black silk clothes from head to toe looks really unfamiliar. She isn't from Liyue, is she?"
"Ahem." Tang Wang cleared his throat. "Everyone, this is your first lesson as adventurers."
"When you see someone injured and unconscious right in front of you, but you haven't finished your commission yet, what should you do?"
"Shouldn't we save them?"
"We should finish the commission first, then save them!"
While they were arguing over one another, Tang Wang had already stepped forward and picked up Ronava, who lay unconscious on the ground.
"The correct answer is to act within your means, but put people first." With that, he started walking toward Liyue Harbor. "If you're capable enough, you can take care of both without neglecting either."
"But if you aren't, you should still save the person first."
"But what about the commission fee...?" One of the adventurers looked a little embarrassed.
"Don't worry. I'll pay each of you your share of the commission fee in a moment-because this was a decision I made on my own."
Hearing Tang Wang say that, the others all cheered.
"But I still don't understand." Only one rookie adventurer remained puzzled. "With your strength, you could have left us to look after this lady and fought your way into the domain alone..."
"Whoa, hold on. I'm not that capable." Tang Wang shook his head repeatedly. "As the saying goes, never fight an unprepared battle. That's Wuwang Hill we're talking about. Monsters could pop out of the ley lines at any moment."
"If a whole horde of monsters suddenly appeared while I was deep inside the domain, what would you do?"
"That's true." The adventurer finally dropped the argument.
"Phew, I'm drenched in sweat." Without his noticing, cold sweat had soaked Tang Wang's back. Everything he had just said was an excuse.
He had only one goal: to keep the rookie adventurers from suspecting his motives.
After all, the woman lying in his arms was one of the Four Shades of the Heavenly Principles, Ronava, the Ruler of Death.
For some reason, the floating ornament behind her that looked remarkably like the Staff of Homa had disappeared. And when he touched her body, Tang Wang felt no discomfort.
Could this be Ronava after she lost the Power of Death at the end of A Requiem to the Land of the Dead?
Recalling the main storyline he had seen, Tang Wang roughly pieced together the current timeline.
But as soon as he did, he noticed three problems:
First, and the biggest problem of all-the Genshin Impact main storyline hadn't even started yet, so where on earth had Ronava come from?
Come to think of it, that was also Tang Wang's biggest regret. He had arrived so late in the timeline that there was nothing he could do about many tragedies: Niwa in Inazuma, Rustam in Mondstadt...
Second, Zhongli's attitude toward this was too strange. Given what he knew of that old geezer, if he could really find Ronava on this trip, how could Zhongli have mentioned it so casually?
What he meant was, if Ronava really could be found, that old geezer would most likely have come himself.
"Forget it. I'd better not think about it too much for now." By the time they returned to Liyue Harbor, it was late at night.
Unfortunately, with the Rite of Descension only two months away, the Bai Ju Inn, which was usually empty, didn't have a single room to spare. With no other choice, he made a somewhat bold decision:
He would let the unconscious Ruler of Death sleep in the bed while he lay on the floor.
If she still hadn't woken up by the next day... Though he didn't really want to drag Dr. Bai into something like this, he would probably have no choice but to go find Baizhu.
After making do for the night, he found that Ronava still showed no signs of waking the next morning.
And so Tang Wang found himself in an agonizing dilemma.
"She's the Ruler of Death. If I don't change her clothes and one of Liyue's randomly spawned experts recognizes her, we'll have a huge problem."
"But if I change her clothes while she's like this... uh, that's a bit much."
"What should I do? Ask Dr. Bai to come to the Bai Ju Inn himself? He's so busy, that doesn't seem very appropriate either, does it?"
While he was agonizing over it, a faint rustling came from the bed across the room.
Tang Wang immediately turned his head and saw Ronava, lying on the bed, lifting her eyelids slightly.
In her world, Celestia had just stripped her of the Power of Death. Then the Jester had beaten her with the Eye of the Fatui, which he had created using the Crimson Moon's authority reproduced with the Abyss.
Her memories stopped just before she destroyed the Celestial Nail. So when she woke up, what she felt most was-confusion.
"Where... is this?" She pressed a palm to her face in pain. "A human inn? And where did this blanket come from?"
Then she raised her eyes slightly and saw Tang Wang across the room.
This is bad! Her instincts, honed by years of work, made her raise her hand at once. Mortals must not see the true forms of the Four Rulers. For her, that "rule" was practically "base code" by now.
Then Tang Wang saw the newly awakened Ronava raise her arm toward him for some reason. Judging by her solemn expression, she seemed to be doing something.
But more than ten seconds passed, and nothing happened.
"My Power of Death..." Only then did Ronava, as though waking from a dream, "sense" that Celestia had stripped her of the Power of Death. She was no longer the Ruler of Death.
"Um, well, esteemed Lady Ronava, are you all right now?" Tang Wang asked tentatively. "Have you... lost the Power of Death?"
Tang Wang had meant nothing by his seemingly mild remark, but Ronava heard it as outright mockery:
"That's right! I've lost the Power of Death!" Her voice carried a hint of resignation. "Isn't that the result you wanted?"
"The most terrifying, most dreadful Ruler of Death has lost her power. If you want to kill me, you can do it now."
"I don't know anything about some weight or other. If you don't intend to act, I wouldn't mind killing you either."
Aside from resignation and a clear note of threat, Tang Wang could hear no emotion in her voice.
As the Jester had said, for a being who had presided over death for so long, even a genuine brush with death was unlikely to reverse habits built up over time.
"Hey, hey, wait a moment." Tang Wang waved his hands. "Lady Ronava, you've got it wrong. I'm not your enemy. If possible, I'd even like to help you within my means."
"How ridiculous." Her body curled up. "Do you pity me?"
"Human, even without the Power of Death, I have no need for your so-called pity!"
"...Miss, I'm begging you. Could you let me finish?" Tang Wang helplessly pressed a hand to his forehead. "First, let me introduce myself. My name is Tang Wang, an S-rank adventurer with the Liyue Adventurers' Guild."
"I know what you've been through, and I know exactly what Snezhnaya did."
"Let me start by saying what I think: I don't believe you did anything wrong."
"There's a saying I particularly like: one thing has nothing to do with another. You do look down on life, but that doesn't stop you from being a good person by worldly standards."