Grand Sage Azar was bewildered.
Today, as usual, he was squatting in the experimental base, making preliminary preparations for Project Fawkes.
Suddenly, the entire base exploded.
Or rather, it was attacked by something.
If not for the Gnosis he carried with him saving his life, he would surely have ended up like those unfortunate researchers.
Exploding into a bloody mist and vanishing without a trace.
But now, living was worse than dying.
All data from the God-Making Base was destroyed, and all participating researchers were dead.
Project Fawkes, which had just reached a certain stage of development, was utterly ruined.
The only acceptable news was that.
Il Dottore, a Fatui Harbinger and former Sumeru Akademiya outcast, who was with him at the base, had also managed to survive somehow.
Azar had to admit that Il Dottore was far superior to him, the Grand Sage, when it came to Project Fawkes.
With him, it would just be starting over from scratch.
But...
Thinking of the lost data, the materials...
The thought made Azar distraught.
"What on earth..."
A roar filled with surging anger sounded, but before he could finish, a growl full of inexplicable malice erupted.
In the darkness, something eerie seemed to be rushing towards them.
Azar stared blankly, and the next moment, a hideous-faced zombie tore through the mist and pounced on him.
The terrifying and ferocious aura instantly suffocated him.
The Grand Sage, who prided himself as Sumeru's foremost intellectual, was merely an ordinary person without a Vision.
He hadn't died in the explosion, but now he was to die in the mouth of this creature?
Azar had no doubt that this thing ate people.
However, just as the opponent's sharp claws were about to strike him, an unpredictable torrent of Elemental Power swept over him overwhelmingly.
Directly blasting the zombie away.
Footsteps sounded, and the Doctor, with long, choppy blue hair and wearing a strange mask, strolled over leisurely.
"It seems you've provoked a powerful entity."
"Impossible!"
Azar vehemently denied it, saying gravely:
"Project Fawkes is still in its preparatory phase, and only we know about it. Furthermore, such a malicious attack hasn't occurred in all of Teyvat for nearly five hundred years!"
Hearing this, Il Dottore seemed to find something incredibly amusing.
His voice also carried a hint of coldness.
"Do you really think the news of the Akademiya imprisoning the Dendro Archon is flawless?"
"Do you think this was just an explosion caused by experimental error?"
"Confidence is good, but excessive confidence is ignorant arrogance."
"I don't care who you provoked, nor if your plan was leaked."
"This time, you made me suffer an undeserved calamity with you. If you can't provide satisfactory experimental materials..."
"I'll let you know why my research was so feared by the Sages and the Akademiya back then."
"Prepare everything, choose a new hidden location to set up the experiment. If there's another time..."
Il Dottore's eyes behind his mask were chillingly cold.
Making Azar feel a chill deep in his heart.
But before he could say anything, Il Dottore vanished silently.
This time, to preserve this peak-period segment that was to participate in the most important experiment.
He had paid an unimaginable price.
Such a price, even a madman like Il Dottore, who was only interested in experiments, felt pained by.
He didn't want to stay in this place that he found repulsive.
As he left, he casually grabbed the strange creature that had just attacked Azar.
Unfortunately, before Il Dottore could meet up with the Fatui and leave with the zombie, the zombie immediately self-immolated upon seeing the sun.
It vanished without a trace right before Il Dottore's eyes, leaving behind only a piece of rotten flesh.
Il Dottore's expression grew even uglier.
When the vanguard for modification arrived, Il Dottore said nothing, picked up the rotten flesh, and left.
This was a huge loss!
In the ruins, Azar clenched his fists tightly. He resented Il Dottore's arrogance and disdain.
He also resented this unexpected attack.
This attack had ruined half of his life's work.
Now, everything had to start over.
"Who on earth... was it!"
Azar gritted his teeth, his clenched fists bleeding, the dripping sound on the ground exceptionally clear.
But then, Azar slumped dejectedly in the ruins.
Even if he knew, what could he do?
Sumeru imprisoned the Dendro Archon; the entire Sumeru couldn't produce an Archon-level combat power.
In a world full of schemes and powerful individuals, this was the most fatal flaw.
Among the Seven Nations, even Snezhnaya, which now needed to collect Gnoses, had no interest in invasion.
Otherwise, what Sumeru would have become was truly hard to say.
But just because other nations didn't act, didn't mean other forces wouldn't.
The only acceptable thing was that at least Lesser Lord Kusanali was still there.
This was his last resort, one he was most unwilling to use.
But there was no other way, the opponent was the only Archon-level combat power.
Suddenly, growls sounded again in the darkness.
Two zombies tore through the dust and lunged at Azar.
"Damn it!"
Azar was greatly alarmed and immediately took off running.
But in these ruins covered with rubble, how could he outrun the zombies?
Before long, he was caught.
One zombie's claw scratched him, instantly tearing a bloody wound.
More seriously, the zombie seemed to carry some kind of poison.
Making his body feel unwell.
But these weren't things to consider now; whether he could survive was still in question.
In the previous explosion, the Gnosis had automatically emitted a field to block some of the impact.
Now, the Gnosis was incredibly dim, clearly out of power.
Just as he was about to die in the zombies' mouths.
Two torrents of Elemental Power descended with a roar.
Lightning and the radiance of flora shone.
Sending the two zombies flying.
Sumeru Akademiya's two top combatants, Cyno and Alhaitham, arrived.
Both had countless questions in their hearts.
They didn't know why the Akademiya had been attacked.
Nor did they understand why there was such a space beneath the Akademiya, and why the Grand Sage was also there.
But now was clearly not the time to think about such things.
The terrifying creatures had not died in that attack.
Without time for further words, the two continued forward to fight.
The zombies could casually smash giant rocks several times their height, so they naturally dared not confront them head-on.
But thankfully, these things seemed clumsy.
And Cyno and Alhaitham were both very agile.
After some effort, they dealt with these two creatures they had never seen before.
Cyno and Alhaitham exchanged glances, their confusion deepening.
But now was not the time to ponder this, so they quickly turned back to Azar.
His wound was still bleeding, but the blood seemed to be turning black.
He appeared to be poisoned.
But strangely, Azar's mental state was still alright.
He merely gritted his teeth, bound his wound with his clothes, and said in a deep voice:
"Do you know who attacked the Akademiya?"
Cyno shook his head, saying gravely:
"The attack came from above. To this extent, it must have been caused by at least an Archon's familiar."
"There were no Elemental Power attacks, and in fact..."
Cyno paused, his tone enigmatic:
"Only this place was destroyed, while all of Sumeru, even the entire Akademiya, only experienced a tremor."
"The attacker seemed to be deliberately restraining the attack's range and power. If so, the attacker should be an Archon."
"Currently, there are no casualties within the Akademiya, only you..."
Azar's pupils constricted. The situation he most dreaded had occurred.
The attacker wasn't targeting Sumeru, nor the Akademiya, but only his base here.
Or, to put it bluntly, the attacker was after Project Fawkes.
An Archon-level, unreasonable formidable foe.
He had to admit, although Azar disdained beings with only brute force, he found that...
The wisdom he championed, or rather, his own wisdom, was clearly insufficient to deal with such an unreasonable powerhouse.
If the opponent knew he was still alive, would they attack again?
How could Project Fawkes proceed?
Azar's head throbbed, not just psychologically, but the after-effects of the zombie attack also surged through him.
Gritting his teeth, Azar said:
"I understand. This matter must not be divulged. Announce that it was caused by an earthquake."
Cyno and Alhaitham inwardly stirred, seemingly realizing that Azar was conducting an unknown experiment.
The two remained silent, not replying.
Azar at this point had no mind to care about their thoughts.
A moment later, his own guard队rushed in and whispered a few words to him. Azar's face changed drastically, and he urged them to carry him away.
This series of strange behaviors made Cyno and Alhaitham even more suspicious.
The unknown experimental base beneath the Akademiya, the Grand Sage's secretive attitude, the sudden, unannounced Archon attack...
Everything that happened was beyond their imagination.
"What experiment is he hiding from everyone?"
Cyno looked at Alhaitham with a cold face.
"As the Scribe, you should have some information."
Alhaitham did have some suspicions, but he couldn't tell Cyno.
He wasn't sure of the Great General Mahamatra's stance or his subsequent choices.
He merely said indifferently:
"I don't know. As the Great General Mahamatra, you should find the answers yourself."
The two fell silent, standing in the ruins, trying their best to observe the surroundings.
But the explosion had left nothing.
After a long while, the two could only leave helplessly.
Just as they parted, Alhaitham suddenly hinted:
"What if... you find that the Akademiya, the Sages, are not what you imagined, and their wisdom has already decayed? What will you do?"
Cyno paused, didn't answer, and continued walking forward.
But Alhaitham seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted, a slight smile playing on his lips as he reminded:
"If possible, try to look in the Archive Room. You might find more information."
"Also... be careful."
With that, Alhaitham turned and walked in the other direction.
Cyno quietly looked back, gazed deeply at Alhaitham, and left without another word.
The strange interaction and exploration that should have happened much later between the two was accelerated at this moment by a sudden butterfly that stirred up a storm.
However, this interaction, which Azar should have cared deeply about, was now irrelevant.
Because...
Lesser Lord Kusanali had vanished!
"Useless!"
Lying on a stretcher, Azar glared furiously at the two guards watching the Sanctuary of Surasthana.
The two lowered their heads, not daring to reply.
"You don't even remember what the assailant looked like?!"
"Grand Sage, the assailant seemed to have used strange powers to erase our memories..."
One guard replied in a low, ashamed voice.
Azar nearly fainted from anger.
A moment later, he said coldly:
"Deploy all forces, search for and apprehend Lesser Lord Kusanali! Also, immediately find a sufficiently hidden location and rebuild the laboratory!"
"Yes, sir!"
The two quickly responded and hurried away.
Azar's gaze was profound, and his physical discomfort made it difficult for him to concentrate.
After staring blankly for a long time, the secretary outside the door knocked again.
"Lord Azar, we have received a letter from our merchants stationed in Liyue; it's urgent..."
"What urgent commercial trade could be more important than apprehending Lesser Lord Kusanali! Get out! If such matters trouble the Akademiya, then don't do them!"
The enraged Azar lost all sage-like composure, casually picking up a book from the table and throwing it.
The secretary quickly lowered his head, took the items, and left.
This day was the unluckiest day of Azar's life...
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