The moment Klee finished describing what a Jumpy Dumpty could do, Tartaglia went cold all over.
If this went wrong, blowing up the Northland Bank would be the least of it — the real disaster would be shattering the peace agreement with Liyue!
And if that old man took it for a Snezhnayan terror attack on Liyue, wouldn't Zhongli carve a path of slaughter all the way to Snezhnaya? By then, once the Tsaritsa heard about it, there would be hell to pay!
No. Under no circumstances could this bomb be allowed to go off.
Watching the Jumpy Dumpty begin to flash with white light, Tartaglia already had his answer.
"Klee, how long until it blows?"
That was an easy one for Klee. She glanced at the rhythm of the flashing light and answered at once, "A little less than a minute, I think!"
"That's enough time!"
Tartaglia snatched out a crystal stone, clear and luminous.
It was a beautiful thing, as though cool seawater rippled somewhere inside it.
Look closely, and it bore a strong resemblance to the Teleport Crystals Ye Xi had once handed to Amber and Eula.
This was a Teleport Crystal too, of a sort — except it could only carry its user back within Snezhnaya's borders. Nowhere else.
The art of spatial teleportation was vanishingly rare. What Ye Xi did — pulling out a portal whenever the mood struck him, able to travel at any hour of any day — no one else in the world could match.
Still, forging a brief spatial link was barely achievable, so long as one was willing to burn through an enormous amount of elemental energy.
And so, after the death of the Fair Lady Rosalyne, the Tsaritsa — fearing her Harbingers might fall one by one — had these Teleport Crystals made.
They couldn't whisk a man out of danger on the instant, but they offered a chance at a rapid escape.
Provided enough elemental energy was poured into them.
The Eye of God at Tartaglia's waist blazed to life, and a torrent of elemental energy flooded into the crystal.
The stone answered, its glow swelling brighter and brighter.
"Big brother Tartaglia, hurry up, it's gonna blow!"
Sweat beaded across Tartaglia's forehead.
The Teleport Crystal's pulse had already matched the Jumpy Dumpty's.
At this rate, the bomb would detonate the very instant the teleport triggered.
He needed more power.
In the next breath, the Delusion on his body began pouring out elemental energy as well.
The crystal's flicker quickened, edging just past the bomb's.
Crystal and Jumpy Dumpty both strobed furiously now, flash answering flash, light and dark trading places.
Then the bomb's white glare grew brighter still — and stopped going dark at all.
"Uh-oh! It's gonna explode—!"
Klee's little face went pale. She dropped to the ground at Tartaglia's feet and clamped both arms over her head.
At that hair's-breadth instant, a burst of ice-blue light flared across the courtyard — and all at once the whole yard fell silent.
Liyue Harbor, Northland Bank.
Ye Xi arrived at the front gate with Keqing and Ningguang.
The Fatui stationed there had long since received Tartaglia's orders, and the moment they saw Ye Xi they moved to usher him inside.
One of them hurried forward with an ingratiating smile. "Master Ye Xi, Lady Tianquan, Lady Yuheng — please, come in!"
"Our Lord Childe is out back blowing up fish with little Klee right now!"
"Blowing up fish?"
Ningguang and Keqing exchanged a blank look.
"If anything has happened to Klee, not one of you Fatui is walking away from it."
Keqing was genuinely worried about the girl. Her brows drew together as she leveled the warning at this pack of bandits who had once brought so much grief to Liyue.
The greeter rushed to placate her. "Lady Yuheng, please, set your mind at ease — we wouldn't dare lay a finger on little Klee!"
"To keep her happy, the fish our Lord Childe let her blow up are koi. Each one is worth a hundred and fifty thousand Mora!"
"Huh?"
Ningguang's and Keqing's brows both twitched. Neither of them could make sense of that.
Ye Xi, by comparison, was perfectly calm.
He knew Tartaglia wouldn't hurt Klee.
Following their guide, they made their way to the rear courtyard.
Ye Xi pushed open the door, swept his gaze around the yard, and frowned slightly. "So — where is everyone?"
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