"I never thought you'd be so easy to talk to," Heuria said with a smile.
During the Archon War, Liyue's strongest God, the God of War Morax, was actually such an approachable character.
Zhongli didn't answer; he was only easy to talk to after the war ended. In those days, he was not someone who was easy to talk to.
More often than not, Zhongli chose to act rather than speak.
Heuria was his cautionary tale; talking nicely to other Gods would only lead to her current fate. Only through force could he protect a corner of this mortal realm.
Although Heuria was gentle and weak, she wasn't foolish. Seeing Zhongli's silence, she understood that his title as the God of War wasn't earned because of a good temper.
Heuria changed the subject, "I really have to thank Qiu Qiu for allowing me to 'resurrect' in this era."
This era is wonderful. Compared to previous times, it's truly peaceful, though I don't know how long this peace will last.
"Qiu Qiu?" Zhongli smiled faintly. Isn't that the Hall Master's favorite nickname? Has it been taken too?
"Lin Xiaoyou is indeed interesting, making even this stubborn stone of mine interested in carving some more content," Zhongli said.
Heuria nodded. She had severe amnesia after her revival, and the closest people to her currently were Hu Tao and Lin Qiu, who were present at the time.
Or rather, even if she hadn't lost her memory, it would be the same, because unlike Guizhong, she had never had any friends... even her own people had betrayed her...
Speaking of Guizhong, she was still sitting diagonally on the ground, just as she had been in the morning. It was unclear if she had changed her posture at all that day.
Currently, Aping was in front of her. They weren't with Heuria, as some stories weren't convenient to tell her.
"The Yakshas… so it's true," Guizhong sighed softly.
When she saw that only Xiao had arrived earlier, she had already guessed this possibility.
It was only when Gecheng spoke that her last shred of hope for everyone's safety vanished.
There was naturally sadness, but Guizhong's memory was damaged, and her memories of the Yakshas felt distant. Her current state of mind was similar to that of the other Adepti.
Guizhong's mood was a bit low, and she softly said, "Aping, can you play the old tune? I want to hear it."
"…" Gecheng was silent for a moment. It had been a long time since she played the qin.
But the reason she didn't play was that her confidante was gone. Now that Guizhong had returned, she naturally had no reason not to play.
"Alright," Gecheng smiled, took out her qin, and began to play softly.
Guizhong listened attentively, understood the meaning in the music, and said with a smile, "It seems, Aping, you are also very grateful to Lin Qiu."
Gecheng was startled, even playing a wrong note. Guizhong could still perceive her emotions, just like before...
Lin Qiu, who was playing mahjong, received emotional value from breaking down, but he strongly suspected it was because he had lost too much, and he was the one breaking down.
However, 'resurrecting' the dead and then telling them stories of what happened after their death to make them break down—this operation is truly unparalleled.
Now it's really come to not even letting the dead go. Don't even think about reincarnating~!
"Two of bamboos!" Lin Qiu played a tile.
"Hu!" Furina cheered happily.
"Huh!? You won on the very first tile!?" Lin Qiu couldn't accept it.
He got completely dominated by Navia in fishing, and now he's getting completely dominated by Furina in mahjong too!
"Hehehe, Qiu, come here!" Furina waved to Lin Qiu.
Lin Qiu walked over helplessly, and then Furina drew a mark on his face.
This was the penalty for shooting. Currently, Lin Qiu had the most marks on his face. He wasn't losing on purpose though.
It could only be said that, although he taught these people, their luck was simply better than his.
It was just entertainment, and Lin Qiu was too lazy to use his invincible memory to think of a solution, so he lost terribly.
"That's really good," Furina admired her masterpiece. She also had two marks drawn on her face, adding a small mustache.
"Oh, come on, let's play again, Hall Master's turtle is almost finished!" Hu Tao urged.
While these few were having fun, Lumine, on the other side, met Dainsleif in a Mondstadt tavern.
"You're saying that Prophet told you the Abyss Order was causing trouble in the 'Temple of the Falcon of the West'?" Dainsleif asked.
Lumine nodded, and Paimon said, "Yeah, yeah, Lin Qiu said exactly that, and that we should go together after meeting you."
Dainsleif was silent. This Prophet was truly amazing, able to predict even the movements of the Abyss. This level of skill...
"I can certainly accompany you, but I have three questions I want to ask you."
...
A few days later, Guizhong and Heuria had already grown accustomed to their current lives. The two of them often strolled together in Liyue Harbor.
They hadn't left Liyue Harbor much, because both of these Gods were quite weak at the moment.
Guizhong was a bit better; Heuria couldn't even control her clearance over salt without holding her magical artifact.
The good news was that Heuria successfully joined the 'Silver Chamber' thanks to her 'understanding' of salt.
Guizhong also started inventing and creating with Xianyun, finding something to do.
Lin Qiu greatly appreciated Guizhong's mechanical skills, as he would often ask Guizhong to create strange inventions in his free time.
Lin Qiu himself didn't understand mechanisms. He just asked Guizhong to make some 'Handmade Geng' inventions, and found that Guizhong could actually make them, and with some Adeptal arts, they even became a little useful.
"Pfft, Lin Qiu, where do you get all these strange invention ideas?" Guizhong asked with a laugh.
Although Lin Qiu's 'inventions' were mostly useless, Guizhong was still very happy to make them for Lin Qiu to play with.
"Hmph, not telling this adeptus these ideas, are you looking down on this adeptus's mechanical prowess?" Xianyun said, displeased.
"I just thought you wouldn't be interested, Xianyun," Lin Qiu said, shrugging.
In the past few days, Cloud Retainer had specifically told Lin Qiu to call her 'Xianyun' in the mortal world from now on.
"Speaking of which, my new book should be released soon. Let Shenhe buy it for us."
Lin Qiu was too lazy to go out, so he used a communication device exchanged from the system to notify Shenhe.
"New book? What kind of story is it?" Guizhong was very much looking forward to it.
Lin Qiu smiled, "Isn't the Moonchase Festival coming soon? It's a story about the Moonchase Festival."
"Moonchase Festival!? I love it!" Guizhong was very happy. She loved such lively festivals.
"This adeptus remembers, isn't there going to be a Chef Showdown this time? This adeptus has already made an automatic rice cooker and is ready to participate," Xianyun interjected.
"Hehehe, that's right, that's the competition, you'll like it," Lin Qiu said with a smile.
Leaving Lin Qiu aside, after Shenhe received Lin Qiu's message, she used Adeptal arts to quickly finish her current delivery.
Then she arrived at Wanwen Bookhouse and started queuing. Her junior brother's book had a higher priority.
Shenhe stood expressionlessly at the end of the line. By now, she had some understanding of human society; at least, she no longer had the thought of eliminating everyone in front of her while queuing.
"Miss Shenhe?" A slightly lively voice called out to Shenhe.
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Character Voice Line · Guizhong: About Festivals
"I love celebrating festivals! Isn't the feeling of everyone celebrating together also a kind of 'peace' and