"I really want to make money… but I don't want to become a villain."
After struggling internally for a while, Ningguang finally voiced her thoughts to Su Ran.
Making money was a good thing—but making money against her conscience?
She couldn't get past that.
"Relax," Su Ran replied calmly.
"At worst, our methods are a bit extreme. We're nowhere near cruel. Compared to the Company, I'm practically a saint."
Even so, those words alone weren't enough to fully dispel Ningguang's unease.
"Do we really have to compare ourselves to the Company?"
She didn't know just how dark the Company's inner workings truly were, but she understood one thing very clearly—
The larger an organization was, the larger its shadow would be.
She knew the Interastral Peace Corporation was dark, but the reality was probably even worse than she imagined.
Still, being less bad than the Company didn't automatically make them good people.
"Don't worry. Even in Teyvat, I've accumulated more merit than sin."
In Teyvat, although Su Ran had caused quite a stir, he really hadn't committed many truly heinous acts.
In Inazuma, the incident had indeed been massive—
but no innocent civilians were harmed.
His time in Liyue had been even more restrained.
And in Sumeru, aside from briefly controlling Alhaitham, he hadn't caused any obvious large-scale destruction.
As for using Dottore as a lab rat—that didn't count as evil at all.
That was clearly eliminating a menace for the greater good.
A great act of merit.
Among all the Fatui Harbingers, he might very well be the one with the least blood on his hands.
"…I hope so."
Ningguang didn't know everything Su Ran had done.
But since he claimed his merits outweighed his sins, she could only choose to believe him.
After all, even if she didn't want to make money against her conscience—could she really afford to throw away the opportunity right in front of her?
Listening to their conversation, Nahida felt her worldview shatter.
This Fatui Harbinger called Genius—every single thing he talked about sounded utterly terrifying.
He had imprisoned the Geo Archon.
And yet this woman, who was clearly from Liyue at a glance—was willingly standing by his side?
Did she not revere her own god either?
Nahida was deeply confused.
"But… isn't it dangerous to keep a God of Wisdom here?"
Even though her inner worries had eased somewhat, Ningguang was still uneasy about Nahida's presence.
This wasn't an ordinary intruder.
This was the God of Wisdom.
Even if the Seven combined might not rival Su Ran—
if Su Ran wasn't present, the people here simply didn't have the ability to deal with Nahida.
"Do you really think the knowledge stored in Teyvat can compare to my space station, powered by Nous's computational capacity?"
This place could instantly calculate vast regions of the galaxy.
Even if Nahida fully took control of Irminsul, she wouldn't be able to do anything here.
The whitelist merely ensured she wouldn't be purged by the station's firewall.
It didn't mean she was free to act.
She didn't even have read-only access to the station's data.
"And besides—she's just a kid who hasn't left her cage for five hundred years."
"You're not seriously afraid of a child who hasn't stepped outside her prison in five centuries, are you?"
Knowledge needed accumulation.
Wisdom required experience.
For five hundred years, Nahida had been isolated from the outside world, able only to passively receive fragments of information through the Akasha.
No matter how wise she was, her experience was still limited.
Ningguang, on the other hand, had clawed her way up over many years.
She had faced far more dangers than Nahida ever had.
In terms of scheming and experience, Su Ran believed Ningguang was clearly superior.
The only reason Ningguang hesitated was because Nahida was a god.
As a mortal, Ningguang understood the gap between gods and humans.
If Su Ran were present, a mere Dendro Archon posed no threat.
But if he were absent?
Among everyone on this station, who could truly reach the realm of a god?
Yet if Ningguang knew what Nahida had actually gone through in those five hundred years in Sumeru—
she wouldn't be worried at all.
A god who could be coerced and imprisoned by mortals…
was, in truth, nothing to fear.
"A child who hasn't left her cage for five hundred years…"
Looking at the small Dendro Archon, her face full of defiance despite her size, Ningguang felt a faint stir of maternal instinct.
But the moment that feeling appeared—
it was cut off.
Compared to a demon god who had lived for five hundred years, Ningguang herself was the one who seemed more like a child.
"Nahida is still a child," Ningguang said.
"Don't bully her."
She immediately turned and glared at Su Ran.
"That line suits me better. You're the one who's been bullying her this whole time!"
"Let's talk about it next time."
After Su Ran left, Nahida finally found the chance to speak.
Her gaze was filled with concern.
It made Ningguang feel… uncomfortable.
Being looked at with such eyes by someone who looked young enough to be her daughter felt deeply strange—
even though, in terms of age, Nahida could practically be her ancestor.
"I can see the kindness in your heart," Nahida said softly.
"So why would you associate yourself with someone so utterly evil?"
Someone as clearly wealthy and powerful as Ningguang—why would she work with a Fatui Harbinger?
Or was her position also gained through relying on someone like him?
"'Associate' isn't quite accurate, Lesser Lord Kusanali," Ningguang replied calmly.
"I'm simply working for him. Unilaterally."
At the beginning, calling it cooperation wouldn't have felt wrong.
But the more time she spent around Su Ran, the more she realized how insignificant she truly was.
Without even noticing, she had lowered her own position.
"But he's a Fatui Harbinger."
"Yes—but that's actually his least noteworthy identity."
Compared to being one of the eighty-five geniuses that appeared only once every tens of thousands of years—what was a Fatui Harbinger, really?
"Does he have other identities?"
Nahida felt a chill run through her.
That man was becoming more and more unfathomable.
Even being a Fatui Harbinger was merely his least impressive identity…?
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