"I woke up because I was hungry and came to find something to eat. I'm going back to sleep afterward."
"Stelle and March 7th are still sleeping soundly."
"Oh, wait!"
Kiana took a sip of water. Hearing the noise coming from Stelle's room, she tried hard not to laugh.
"Stelle definitely isn't sleeping well now!"
From the sound of it, she was full of resentment.
If she still couldn't fall asleep after lying in bed for another ten minutes, she might run over and fight Levi.
[Levi: ...]
[Levi: Lazy dog.]
[Kiana: I'd suggest you don't provoke her...]
She had been woken up by Levi's bombardment, then the chat group had muted her on its own. She was practically boiling with anger.
It wouldn't take much to set her off.
When that happened...
Levi would have to deal with two furious people in the group.
After finishing her food, Kiana yawned and went back to bed.
The noise from Stelle's room gradually died down after Levi stopped barking.
The chat group became quiet.
Kiana and Stelle both went back to sleep, while Lumine disappeared from the chat group for some unknown reason.
With nothing else to do, Levi sat on a chair and browsed his jade communicator.
Watching foxian girls dance.
But even that couldn't wake him up.
Unless a foxian girl slapped him across the face with her big fluffy tail.
Only then would he feel awake.
Unfortunately, that wish couldn't come true for now.
The foxian girl at home...
Putting away his jade communicator, Levi also decided to get some sleep.
He shoved Qingque, whose sleeping position was a complete mess, farther inside the bed.
Then he lay down, looked at the ceiling, closed his eyes, and slowly relaxed his breathing.
"In... out..."
"..."
[Ding ding ding ding ding ding...]
[Lumine: @Levi!]
[Lumine: @Levi!]
[Lumine: @Levi!]
Lumine, who had disappeared from the chat group earlier, suddenly seemed to go crazy and kept tagging Levi over and over.
He finally got to experience exactly how Stelle had felt earlier.
Staring with wide eyes at the endless stream of new messages...
With the system notifications practically blasting his ears apart, Levi hurriedly stopped her.
"Enough! Stop tagging me. Just tell me what you want."
You're about to make me go deaf.
Seeing Levi respond, Lumine finally stopped the bombardment.
Then she let out a miserable cry in the group.
"Help me! I've been kidnapped!"
[Ding! Quest detected: Watch the Rite of Parting!]
[...]
Levi didn't pay much attention to the quest.
Instead, he found Lumine's claim of being kidnapped much more interesting.
Judging by the timeline...
She had most likely already arrived at Liyue Harbor.
In other words, she had been kidnapped in Liyue Harbor.
Who was bold enough to do that?
Someone actually dared to kidnap people right under Morax's rule?
]Levi: Tell me honestly. Were the people who kidnapped you dressed like Millelith soldiers?]
If they were, he wasn't taking this quest.
As a law-abiding citizen, he absolutely wouldn't help the criminal Lumine escape.
[Lumine: No!]
Although she didn't know exactly who the Millelith were, judging from the name...
There was a good chance they were soldiers of Liyue.
Lumine struggled to look around and confirmed that no one nearby was dressed like that.
Besides, based on what Paimon had shouted earlier, these people were most likely all from an organization called the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
'Wangsheng... Funeral... Parlor!'
'Oh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no!'
Could this be some assassin organization that specialized in sending people to the afterlife?!
Tied up on the wagon, Lumine's eyes widened.
She couldn't understand why Paimon would contact an organization like this to deal with her.
Was this revenge for everything she'd done before?
But all she'd done was steal Paimon's food, threaten to eat her, make her work, and secretly take her savings.
Surely those little things weren't enough for Paimon to hire the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor to kill her, right?
'That couldn't be it!'
"It absolutely is! More than enough!"
Paimon's voice came from the front of the wagon.
Lumine's expression froze, and her eyes lost all hope.
'My life is over~'
[Lumine: Hurry and save me! These people are trying to kill me!]
If Levi came even one second too late, she might get chopped down in a single strike.
But girls as young and beautiful as her usually suffered inhuman torture before getting chopped up.
Lumine cautiously swept her eyes over the faces of the people around her.
She frowned slightly.
She didn't see any suspicious looks.
Could it be that her beauty wasn't enough to attract them?
Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
She was a peerless beauty.
There was no way she couldn't attract people.
They had to be eunuchs!
Or born incapable!
"Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, trying to kill you?"
Seeing those words, Levi couldn't help laughing.
The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor usually didn't kill people themselves.
They left that to heaven.
Their main job was burying people.
Looking at Lumine, who was still urging him in the chat group, Levi looked at his system panel and silently chose, "Accept."
———
[Teyvat]
A wagon surrounded by people slowly traveled across the wilderness outside Liyue Harbor toward Wangshu Inn.
"Is it really necessary? Taking her to Wuwang Hill for an exorcism will take several days back and forth. It'll be expensive."
"I can perform the exorcism right here in Liyue Harbor. It'll work about the same."
'Wouldn't it be better to save that Mora and spend it on good food?'
"It is! It's absolutely necessary!"
Seeing Paimon's determined expression, Hu Tao scratched her head.
She hadn't expected that after casually mentioning Wuwang Hill...
The little fellow would insist on holding the exorcism there.
Hu Tao felt it wasn't really necessary, but...
She looked back at Lumine, who was tied to the wagon.
"I hope the evil spirit possessing her will reveal itself there."
Ghosts liked places with heavy yin energy.
It should show itself.
"But no matter how I look at her, she doesn't seem like someone possessed by an evil spirit..."
Among the people Hu Tao had seen who were haunted by ghosts...
Every one of them had yellowish faces, thin bodies, and looked exhausted.
Although Lumine, tied to the wagon, did look a little tired, her complexion was perfectly healthy.
"Little Paimon, are you sure you didn't get it wrong?", Hu Tao asked.
"No way!"
Paimon was completely certain.
Seeing that Hu Tao still looked doubtful, she explained everything that had happened.
"Especially recently. She suddenly became like a completely different person."
"Mhm." Hu Tao nodded. "That does sound a bit like possession..."
"Hah!"
A sudden noise came from the wagon behind them.
Paimon and Hu Tao turned around.
They discovered that Lumine had somehow escaped.
She was standing a short distance from the wagon.
The ropes around her body had all been torn apart.
Only her hands were still tied behind her back.
She faced their direction with her head lowered.
Seeing her posture, Hu Tao drew her weapon and walked forward.
"Who are you?"
Looking at the spear pointed at him...
A deep voice came from Levi's mouth.
"Thirty years of hard training... and today I can finally put it to use..."
Hearing that, the guards behind Hu Tao all raised their weapons at him as well.
Seeing this, Levi let out two cold laughs.
'A mere number one assassin organization in Liyue wants to kill me?'
'It won't be that easy!'
"..."