Barbara: "Lord Barbatos!"
Barbara was extremely worried, but she didn't rashly interrupt the gods' "gathering."
She could only pray in her heart for the Anemo Archon to bless Lord Barbatos and keep him safe.
Kujou Sara: "General... is truly gentle."
That was food personally handed over by the General—Kujou Sara's eyes were filled only with envy.
Passing out? Passing out was just from being filled too full with happiness!
Dunyarzad said nothing; she and Nilou simply wore sweet smiles as they watched Nahida's adorable appearance while eating.
Nahida's slightly babyish little face chewed like a guinea pig—extremely cute, simply the best mukbang.
Meanwhile, Keqing's eyes were on the dish made by Raiden Ei—tea-flavored shrimp.
Keqing loved eating shrimp and was a bit curious about the taste of this dish. They were sitting far away and hadn't heard the details clearly, and because of her busy work, she wasn't aware of Raiden Ei's peak cooking skills.
So at this moment, Keqing's eyes held only longing for gourmet food—she wanted to try it.
Yae Miko saw Keqing's longing and whispered beside her about how excellent Ei's cooking was, how deliciously the Dendro Archon and Hydro Archon were eating, and the like—truly the devil's whispers.
"Oh? Quite different from the rumors. Interesting." Xianyun grew interested.
"Is it that the rumors are wrong, or has the Electro Archon's cooking improved? It makes one curious." Xianyun stood up. "Let this adeptus go and taste it."
Hu Tao: One client~!
Fortunately, Guizhong grabbed her in time. "Hey, where are you going? The film is about to start."
That's right—the film was about to start. After everyone's warm and friendly interactions and waiting, the film welcomed its opening.
Navia was a bit puzzled. Why is the screen so dark? It looks so uncomfortable.
"Why is the screen so dark?"
Lucian reached out and removed her sunglasses: "How about now?"
Navia smiled awkwardly. She was used to wearing them and forgot.
This was also now, or else Mavuika hadn't arrived yet; otherwise, the two of them could exchange notes on wearing sunglasses.
Cyno suddenly wanted to tell a "dark humor" joke about "sunglasses and movies."
Unfortunately, Tighnari beside him seemed to have predicted it and timely stopped Cyno from performing.
Albedo shook his head secretly. What a pity.
Venti was also shaking his head—he had woken up.
"Mm~—" Venti stretched lazily. "That was a really comfortable nap. Has the film started?"
"Ehey, good thing I didn't miss the main feature."
His timing of waking up was a bit too clever—clever enough that everyone suspected whether he had woken up early or perhaps he hadn't fainted at all?
No one knew if Venti had really fainted. Maybe he hadn't been fooled at all—"eating" was just acting, and in reality, he hadn't eaten anything.
Performing like this to tease others was indeed something Venti would do. Without listening to the character voice lines, how would one know he really tasted it?
Anyway, the film was more important, because it was the final convergence of the Sumeru storyline.
So many foreshadowings and plot lines buried before would all explode in this story.
The opening scene was Paimon, happily waving her hand and saying:
["Candace—! We're here!"]
This was right after everyone had returned from the Mausoleum of King Deshret, and they were now planning to discuss the plan to attack the Akademiya.
Candace was not participating in this plan discussion because she wouldn't leave Aaru Village.
But she had one small request for the plan:
["I want you to promise me that when making the plan, don't be too reckless."]
Clearly, Candace cared more about everyone's safety—she didn't want anyone to get hurt.
From her previous statements, it was easy to see that she wanted to maintain this current "warmth."
Everyone had already suffered enough; she didn't want death to add another stroke.
For this request, the Traveler didn't dare make a promise, only saying they'd try their best.
To be reasonable, hadn't the Traveler's experiences along the way been "reckless" enough?
Dvalin, Osial, Raiden Shogun—being reckless was just the Traveler's daily routine.
She could clearly beat ninety-nine percent of Teyvat's people, yet every time she challenged that one percent.
Moreover, this was a plan to counterattack the Akademiya—if not bold, it would be hard to succeed, because their numbers were too few. If it turned into a protracted war, they had almost no chance of winning.
This wasn't like in reality where Lucian could widely post a hero recruitment video; in the story, there was no "denunciation edict."
Their numbers weren't many—even including Rahman's mercenary group, facing the Akademiya and the Fatui was still somewhat insufficient.
Unless they could persuade all the Eremite brigades in the desert, the numerical gap would be hard to bridge. In this situation, they had to use unconventional tactics.
Alhaitham: I have twelve ingenious strategies to resolve this situation.
Alhaitham's plan was extremely bold—even Dehya couldn't help but admire:
["That's a big gamble. I'm a bit impressed."]
But in the story, the specific plan wasn't revealed; it just said that everyone told the Traveler what they had discussed earlier, and then Dehya made this summary.
This summary was said by Dehya—that person who dared to bet with her own arm.
Even she said it was a big gamble, so for ordinary people, this plan was likely "insane."
What exactly the plan was—even Dehya herself, as a voice actor participant, didn't know; she could only watch curiously from the audience.
Alhaitham knew—even without voice acting or reading the script, he could figure it out—but when Kaveh asked him, he didn't say, just quietly watching.
The film didn't mention the plan's content; it only used changes in the sky to show the passage of time, then everyone walked out of the room.
Candace was waiting at the door; Dehya waved and left first—it seemed she had other arrangements.
[Traveler said: "We'll act on the next 'Jnagarbha Day.'"]
Now, the audience who had been kept in the dark finally received a bit of information—the plan was on the next "Jnagarbha Day"!
Nothing else was known. In the story, Alhaitham had even told the plan to Rahman, but the audience still didn't know.
The audience realized: After all this, we're from the Akademiya's perspective?
Whose perspective it was aside—in Paimon's view, the "great decisive battle" was about to happen, so she should say something to boost morale.
But she chose the wrong person; she wanted to hear Alhaitham say something encouraging.
This would be fine if it were Kaveh, but Alhaitham, as a realist, gave a very realistic answer.
[Alhaitham: "Candace is responsible for treating you gently, while I'm responsible for making everyone aware of the severity of the problem."]
["Just like some handle logistics and some fight on the front lines. Division of labor—should be fine, right."]
Clearly, Alhaitham meant that he couldn't say encouraging words.