Genshin Impact: I Am a Slime

In the private room of Yuehaiting, in Ningguang's office, the lights were dim, and wisps of smoke, like thin gauze, drifted slowly between the two people.

Ningguang and Yelan sat facing each other across the table, the air thick with tension, the only sound the faint flickering of embers from their pipes.

The silence was like a heavy curtain, making it hard to breathe.

In the end, Ye Lan tensed her shoulders and broke the suffocating silence first. She leaned forward slightly, her voice not loud, but clear and distinct, as she recounted to Ning Guang the details of the investigation that could not be put on paper and could only be spoken orally in late-night conversations.

The hidden point of contact between the Knowing One and the Fools, Famas's unsettling brief appearance and strange attitude, and the Traveler's final appearance, with speculation that he may have had a dispute with Famas...

Ningguang listened silently, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the warm, smooth pipe, occasionally nodding very slightly to indicate that she was listening.

"...That's all the news."

After Ye Lan finished speaking, she leaned back in her chair, her emerald eyes, which appeared particularly deep in the smoke, fixed firmly on Ning Guang. "Ning Guang, what should we do next? Zhi Yi... and that Your Majesty?"

Ye Lan deliberately added a subtle, almost imperceptible force to the words "Your Majesty".

Ningguang raised her hand, pressed her knuckles against her throbbing temples, and gently massaged them.

She placed the pipe on the jade tray on the table, making a soft rustling sound.

"According to your investigation, FAMAS's intentions are unclear and its whereabouts are a mystery. To make a move against Zhiyi at this time would be tantamount to stirring up trouble."

Ningguang's voice was slightly hoarse from staying up all night, but it was clear and coherent. She paused for a moment and looked up at Yelan.

"But we can't let Zhiyi do whatever he wants in Liyue. Keep a close eye on him and use your most secretive network. I need to know Zhiyi's every move, to find out what he... and what the person behind him is up to."

Mentioning FAMAS caused Ningguang's brows to furrow deeply once more, as if bound by invisible chains. She looked at the file on the table bearing FAMAS's name, but ultimately remained silent.

Ye Lan took in Ning Guang's unusual solemnity and hesitation.

She leaned back in her chair, her fingertips lightly tapping the armrest, as if recalling a distant scene. Her face gradually darkened, as if covered with a layer of frost.

"Ningguang, is Liyue truly helpless against a demon god now?"

"Is there nothing under the Seven Stars' rule that would make Famas have any reservations?"

Ye Lan's emerald green eyes pierced through the heart with a sharpness that seemed to see right through Ning Guang.

Ningguang was slightly startled by the sharp question. Almost subconsciously, a figure as steady as a mountain flashed through her mind, followed by the dream shrouded in thick white fog. In the dream, Morax's crystal-clear words pressed down on the depths of her consciousness like a boulder.

"I am not dead yet."

Ye Lan immediately noticed the momentary lapse in Ning Guang's eyes, and the deeper, more complex emotions that followed.

A barely perceptible curve appeared at the corner of her mouth, not a smile, but an almost cruel understanding.

"It seems that Liyue is not entirely without support... but Ningguang is unwilling to tell me what it is."

Ye Lan's voice returned to its usual calmness, with a hint of teasing.

There was no complaint in her words, but rather a statement. As the hidden blade of Liyue, Yelan knew that Ningguang, as the one in power, was destined to keep many secrets buried deep within her heart.

Ningguang met Yelan's gaze, slowly shaking her head, the pipe unconsciously spinning between her fingers. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, Yelan, but once this last resort is used, the one that will be the first to suffer severe damage might not be Famas."

Ningguang paused for a moment, her gaze sweeping across the sleeping silhouette of Liyue Harbor outside the window, her voice as soft as a sigh.

"...but rather the people of Liyue themselves, and the era of human rule that we have entered after countless generations."

Ye Lan sat up abruptly, her emerald green pupils contracting sharply as if she had heard a thunderclap in her ears.

The heavy weight in Ningguang's words, and the overly clear reference to the era of rule by man, successfully led Yelan to a seemingly absurd yet instantly enlightening conjecture. She stared intently at Ningguang, lowered her voice, and asked, enunciating each word clearly:
"Liyue has a new Geo Archon?"

Ningguang's fingers, which were holding the pipe, paused almost imperceptibly for a moment.

Tianquanxing raised his head, his deep red eyes, reflecting the lamplight, were as unfathomable as he calmly met Yelan's shocked and inquiring gaze.

She neither nodded nor shook her head; only the smoke silently rose and swirled in the room.

"Yelan, in your opinion, why has Famas stayed in Liyue for so long?"

Ningguang did not respond to Yelan's follow-up question about the new Rock God. She subtly changed the subject, her expression behind the smoke appearing unfathomable.

Ye Lan leaned back, her fingertips lightly tapping twice on the smooth, fragrant wood armrest. After a brief moment of thought, she spoke, her voice carrying the calm analytical quality characteristic of an intelligence officer:

"Restoration of the kingdom, that's the most reasonable explanation. He is the fire god of ancient Munata, and the embers of the past still burn brightly in the ashes of the past."

"If Nata's Vulcan receives Famas' message now, he will certainly not sit idly by and let him make a comeback and reignite the flames of war."

Ningguang nodded slightly, the pipe in her fingertips slowly rotating on the edge of the jade holder, the tobacco making a soft hissing sound.

“According to your investigation, Famas’s decision to recruit Zhiyi was clearly not a spur-of-the-moment decision. He is accumulating strength, and his goal is most likely to cross the sea to the west, return to the land of Nata, and reclaim his throne.”

Ningguang paused, then leaned back in the wide chair, tilting her head slightly to one side, her gaze falling on Yelan's face.

"Furthermore, I remember that your mole within the Fools also sent word that the relationship between Famas and the Fools is far closer than ordinary cooperation."

She deliberately slowed her speech, emphasizing the significance of this piece of information.

Despite Ningguang's previous strict orders for Yelan's people to stay away from Famas, Yelan's infiltration and surveillance of the Fatui, an intelligence network and dangerous organization that spans Teyvat, has never ceased.

These fragments come together and point to the same core: all of FAMAS's actions in Liyue were aimed at accumulating resources and finding allies for their return to Nata.

After listening to Ningguang's supplementary analysis, Yelan's brows did not relax.

Her body leaned slightly forward, her emerald eyes fixed on Ningguang, a hint of barely perceptible confusion and questioning in them:
"What exactly are Ningguang and Liyue's attitudes toward this?"

"Should we maintain the status quo, turn a blind eye to FAMAS's schemes in Liyue?"

Hearing Ye Lan's question, Ning Guang shook her head.

"Of course not... We have other ways to make him leave Liyue on his own." (End of Chapter)