"Huh!?" At that moment, Eula's gaze shot toward the bedroom, landing on Ganyu's soft bed.
"It's really her!"
Eula recognized the little fox at a glance. She immediately turned to Ganyu, puzzled. "The fox Ganyu picked up in the mountains—is that Nana? Sleeping in your trinket box?"
Oh no, oh no...
Lin Mo's heart sank in dismay.
"I... I don't know..."
With the little fox exposed, Ganyu stammered, at a loss for words.
Just then, Yae Miko hopped down from the soft couch, padding step by step toward Eula and the others. With a light leap, she landed right in Klee's arms.
"Ah~"
Klee tensed up, clutching the fox close. Seeing the little fox just curl up and keep sleeping in her embrace, Klee tilted her head in confusion. "Little fox, do you know where Brother Gan Qing is?"
But Yae Miko didn't respond, merely letting out a long, lazy yawn in Klee's arms.
"Strange... Yesterday when I ran into Mr. Gan Qing, I didn't see him with this fox," Keqing remarked, unable to hide her bewilderment. "Maybe... she got separated from him in the chaos of the Rite of Descension?"
Keqing's offhand remark gave Ganyu the perfect opening. She jumped in quickly. "Yeah... I found her near Yujing Terrace back then. I had no idea she already had an owner..."
"I see..."
Eula still harbored some doubts, but she let it drop.
"With Mr. Gan Qing's strength, no one in Liyue Harbor could possibly harm him," Keqing added, urging them on. "Come on, let's head to the Jade Chamber. We might catch some news about him just in time."
A false alarm over, Lin Mo shifted back from pillow form to his human shape. Now sprawled on the soft couch, he burrowed into the covers, still catching faint traces of Ganyu's lingering scent.
"Strange... If the plot's speeding up like this... then where's Lumine?" Lin Mo muttered to himself, brow furrowed in thought.
Keqing had mentioned it herself—they'd spent yesterday and this morning handling preparations for the Rite of Descension, showing Eula and Klee around Liyue all the while.
So why wasn't the main storyline's key player, Lumine, anywhere in the mix?
Lin Mo racked his brain, replaying what Lumine might be up to in this arc.
The fall of the Geo Archon, fleeing the Rite of Descension.
Childe's rescue, her first glimpse into Liyue's secrets.
Seeking out the adepti, spreading word of the Archon's demise.
Bidding farewell to the ancient remains, rallying for the Rite's renewal.
Chaos brewing, the Millelith cracking down on the Fatui.
...
"Wait a second—could it be...?"
Lin Mo's eyes snapped to the window. His gaze fixed on the southeast edge of Liyue Harbor: the Golden House.
"Lumine's probably clashing with Childe in the Golden House right about now?"
Unease gnawed at him. He rose from Ganyu's bed and slipped out of the Yuehai Pavilion.
He'd meant to head straight to the Golden House and watch the plot unfold from the shadows.
But as Lin Mo actually set off down the path, his mind wandered again.
What if he inserted himself into this main storyline?
Would Childe and Lumine call off their fight because of him?
Lin Mo figured, more likely than not, they would.
And if the fight fizzled out...
Would Childe still fly into a rage over the missing Gnosis in the Geo Archon's remains, unleashing the ancient god Osial like in the original plot?
To keep from derailing things further, Lin Mo decided he needed to check in with Rosalyn first.
The question: the plan to release Osial.
See how she'd laid it out.
And while he was at it, check on her recovery after the surgery.
Lin Mo kept walking, lost in thought.
Until he suddenly collided with someone hurrying the other way.
Thud~
"Sorry, sorry!"
The ordinary-looking man who'd bumped into him apologized profusely.
"It's fine," Lin Mo said with a shrug, ready to press on toward the Northland Bank.
But he'd only taken a few steps when—
"Hey, wait—Father...?"
The unexpected call stopped Lin Mo dead in his tracks.
Someone claiming him as dad right there on the street?
What kind of weird kink was this?
Lin Mo turned slowly, sizing up the man.
Nothing special about him. Black medium-length hair, black-framed glasses, clean-cut and unassuming.
He didn't strike Lin Mo as the type to pick random dads off the pavement.
"Sorry, I don't make a habit of adopting strays."
With that, Lin Mo turned and kept heading for the Northland Bank.
"Father, it's me..."
The man darted in front of him, blocking the way, his face alight with emotion as he pointed at his own features.
Lin Mo cocked his head, utterly baffled.
In Eternal Invitation, sure, he had a kid.
But his flesh-and-blood child was just Klee.
Dulin might count too, even if he wasn't blood. Lin Mo was dead certain he didn't have a son this bland-looking.
Seeing the confusion on Lin Mo's face, the man's expression turned pained as he prompted, "Father, it's me... Ruotuo!"
"Ruotuo!?"
Lin Mo's eyes went wide.
Right—that was it!
There was one other being in this world who called him Father.
The Geo Dragon Ruotuo, moved to redemption deep beneath the earth alongside Guizhong all those years ago.
Seeing this ordinary man claim to be Ruotuo jogged Lin Mo's memory of the game's second act lore: the legend of the "Bandit Stone."
The man before him was Ruotuo's benevolent human incarnation, Kunjun.
Spotting him stirred up years of lingering questions in Lin Mo's mind.
Why had Ruotuo Dragon King—the mighty guardian of Liyue's southern campaigns—ended up sealed beneath the great tree in Huaguang Stone Forest?
"Look, this isn't the place to talk. Come with me."
Lin Mo's gaze grew solemn. He needed answers.
He led Ruotuo to a secluded pavilion near Wangshu Inn.
Once he was sure no one was around, Kunjun couldn't hold back. "Father, you didn't... back then..."
"Yeah, this is my reincarnated body. Long story," Lin Mo nodded, brushing it off. He didn't want to dwell and pivoted instead. "What are you doing here?"
Kunjun met his eyes, his gaze softening as he explained, "I knew Father had passed three thousand years ago. But last night... I felt a presence so much like yours."
"It left me restless, so I followed the trace all the way to near Yuehai Pavilion."
"That's not what I meant."
Lin Mo shook his head. "I've heard you were sealed by the Archon. What I'm seeing now must be your human form, right?"
"Tell me—after I passed, what the hell happened?"
"You were the Archon's staunchest general. How'd you wind up imprisoned like that?"
"This... it's a shameful tale."
Kunjun's eyes clouded with bitterness. "After you and Mother both left us, my temper grew wilder by the day."
"I never went so far as to harm Liyue's people, but I started barring humans from the lands I called home."
Ruotuo's territory—that had to mean the Nantianmen region.
Kunjun went on, "You know how I struggled to control my power, Father. Even the fragments that chipped off me turned into fierce, battle-hungry rock lizards."
"I sensed it then—a dark grudge taking root in my heart, twisting my mind into something volatile."
"If it kept going, it would've endangered all of Liyue."
"So I begged the Archon to seal me away."
Lin Mo listened in silence, Kunjun's words hanging heavy.
That downcast look—it carried a weight of self-reproach.
Of course...
Back then, drawing close to Ruotuo Dragon King had started with ulterior motives—to earn his trust, bend him to Liyue's cause.
But in Ruotuo's eyes, he and Guizhong had been his closest kin, filling the roles of father and mother.
When they passed...
Ruotuo's mind had been that of a three- or four-year-old child.
For a kid like that, losing both parents one after the other? It would carve deep scars.
"Ruotuo."
Lin Mo placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, voice thick with regret. "I'm sorry. For not being there to see you grow."
"I know it's not your fault, Father."
Kunjun managed a faint smile. "Just knowing you've returned in a new life—and that I can stay by your side again—that's more than enough for me."
"You're the benevolent side talking to me now, right?" Lin Mo asked.
"Yes, the one named Kunjun."
Kunjun nodded, a wry chuckle escaping. "Before laying eyes on you, I even fooled myself into thinking I was just some ordinary soul in Liyue."
"And the malicious half? What's eating at him?"
Lin Mo couldn't help pressing. Ruotuo wasn't his by blood, but benevolent or malignant—both halves were his son.
"He's... nursing a grudge against the Archon..."
Kunjun's bitterness deepened. "He blames the seal on him—and Mother's early death, too. All of it, pinned on the Archon."
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T/N:
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