The five of them looked in the direction of the sound, and a green figure appeared in their line of sight.
The newcomer was none other than the God of freedom—Venti.
Unlike Furina, he didn't have diplomatic permission; he had snuck in.
"Shouldn't we be the ones who are surprised? Why are you here?" Furina asked.
You're both gods, why are you so free?
"I'm a Roving Bard, of course I have to travel all over the world," Venti said, as if it were obvious.
"Oh, a poet friend! What a coincidence!" Hu Tao greeted him directly.
Lin Qiu wasn't surprised; although Venti didn't come in the original plot.
But with his personality, knowing about this incident would definitely make him want to see it, Lin Qiu had guessed as much.
Lin Qiu just thought that the other party had already been exposed, and would probably be worried about being recognized, then hide in the shadows to watch.
He didn't expect him to not care at all, and just strutted right to the scene.
He introduced him to Navia and Shenhe; Navia guessed Venti's identity, but Shenhe couldn't recognize him.
"Greetings, Sir Poet," Navia said.
"Don't be so serious, I'm just an ordinary Roving Bard," Venti smiled.
The few of them had gotten acquainted and stood together, waiting for the scene of Rex Lapis's death.
"Just waiting is quite boring, want some wine?" Venti pulled out a wine bottle from who knows where.
Lin Qiu blocked the women behind him, "Minors cannot drink alcohol."
"Eh?" Furina was stunned, "Me too?"
Shenhe and Navia didn't react much; they didn't like drinking anyway.
"How boring, then I'll drink by myself," Venti didn't insist.
"You look like a minor too," Shenhe said indifferently, reaching out to grab Venti's wine.
Junior Brother said minors cannot drink alcohol.
However, strangely, her hand seemed to grasp the wine bottle, but it only caught air.
"I'm not a minor, I just happen to be short," Venti immediately explained.
Shenhe gave Venti a strange look; she had already realized that Venti was not ordinary.
Then she looked at Lin Qiu again, meaning to ask if he was really an adult.
Apparently, Shenhe still trusted Lin Qiu more.
Shenhe was a rather single-minded person, or rather, she didn't quite understand these things.
If Venti really wasn't an adult, then Shenhe would still try to take the wine, even if the other party was unusual.
"He is indeed an adult," Lin Qiu said.
Not only was he an adult, he was almost marinated in wine; the wind around him carried the scent of alcohol.
Shenhe nodded, saying nothing more.
Venti breathed a sigh of relief; he wasn't good at dealing with people who meant well but caused trouble.
Speaking of which, Venti hadn't deliberately hidden his tracks when he arrived, so Xiao had already noticed him.
At this moment, Xiao was conflicted: the Anemo God was his benefactor, should he go say hello?
But Rex Lapis had instructed him to play his part well.
In this situation, if he were to casually go say hello now, would it reveal something?
But if he noticed the other party and didn't go say hello, wouldn't that be a slight to the Anemo God?
"..." Now Xiao didn't know what to do.
"Alatus, what's wrong? Did you find something?" Lishui saw Xiao seemingly staring at something and looked over curiously.
Look what I found, a wild Anemo God!
This isn't right, why would the Anemo God be in Liyue? And precisely during this sensitive period?
Because Furina was blocked behind Lin Qiu, Lishui hadn't noticed the Hydro God.
"This... this Anemo God... sigh," Lishui sighed softly.
So many years, and this Anemo God is still so free.
But fortunately, this Anemo God is most likely not the culprit, otherwise he wouldn't be so brazenly showing himself to them.
One might even think someone invited him to a feast; the person isn't even dead yet and he's already drinking.
And wouldn't you know, this wine was indeed pilfered from Zhongli, so it might actually count as feast wine.
Zhongli didn't like drinking, so he gave all the leftover wine to him.
Just as they were talking, Ningguang walked to the front of the stage, and Charlotte in the distance picked up her camera and started taking photos.
It turned out she had arrived early, just standing on a high vantage point to take a panoramic shot, a bit far from Lin Qiu and the others.
The Adepti and the Qixing were highly focused, and the Millelith were subtly preparing to form a formation.
An existence capable of killing Rex Lapis—even if they all went together, they might not be a match.
But even if it meant sacrificing their lives, they had to save Rex Lapis! They absolutely could not abandon Rex Lapis!
"The auspicious time has arrived!" Ningguang began to summon Rex Lapis.
The sky changed dramatically, covered in dark clouds, so thick that even the Adepti's eyesight couldn't penetrate them.
A half-Qilin, half-dragon immortal body fell from the sky.
Ningguang was startled for a moment; despite all the preparations, the future hadn't changed even a bit?
Looking up at the sky, the dark clouds hadn't completely dispersed, and nothing could be seen in the sky.
The person who killed Rex Lapis didn't even leave a trace of movement?
Why does it feel a bit off...
In the original story, no movement might have been detected because they were all unprepared and didn't notice.
Now, with everyone's attention so focused and still no movement detected, the culprit is quite intriguing.
Ningguang felt somewhat confirmed about a possibility.
Lishui and Dieshan had already flown into the sky; they seemed to want to pursue the 'culprit'.
"Rex Lapis has been harmed, seal off the entire area!" Ningguang ordered.
The blockade was very fast because the surroundings were full of Millelith.
But in fact, there was no need for a special blockade; no one present wanted to leave.
"Lord Rex Lapis!"
"Rex Lapis! Waaahhh!"
The surrounding Liyue people cried, called out, and wanted to move forward.
Crying, anger, disbelief—the people around were filled with various emotions.
Fortunately, the Millelith stood in front, preventing them from getting close.
Seeing this scene, a phrase popped into Lin Qiu's mind, "Sister Yelan, quickly call the police."
It was just a meme, thinking no one would understand or care, but someone actually responded.
"Sister Yelan? Are you calling me?" Yelan spoke.
It turned out she had been mingling in the crowd, watching Lin Qiu and the others, disguised very well; at least Lin Qiu hadn't noticed.
"Truly worthy of a Prophet, I thought I was hidden very well. When did you discover me?" Yelan asked.
"?" What did I discover? Where did you come from?
"Ahem, from the beginning?" Lin Qiu probed.
"So it was then... I thought you just casually glanced over me, but I didn't expect you had already noticed me at that time."
Yelan couldn't help but sigh that her skills were still lacking; only when she could deceive a Prophet would she be qualified.
But it was good that the Prophet gave her face and didn't expose her directly.
No, did he deliberately not expose her because he wanted her to monitor them, thereby proving he wasn't the culprit?
The Prophet is truly not simple...
"Mr. Lin Qiu, you are even more formidable than I imagined," Yelan said with some admiration.
"..." Lin Qiu was silent.
Yelan said nothing more and turned to leave.
Lin Qiu and his group indeed made no moves; the culprit wasn't them, so there was no need to keep monitoring.
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Character Voice Line · Yelan: About Lin Qiu
"Excellent eyesight. I wonder when I'll be able to deceive a Prophet?"