People in Xumi: I am really not the Dragon King

Chapter 585 The Arrival of the "Servant" and the Imminent All-Out Offensive
"."

"Grandpa, have you been to some strange place like deep mountains and forests recently?"

"Oh? Why do you ask such a question, young friend?"

"Because generally speaking, it's only in those kinds of places that you're more likely to encounter tanuki."

Ahead at the fork in the road, under a cherry blossom tree adorned with lanterns.

From the direction of Hanamizaka, Zhongli and Wendy, who had arrived earlier, took the initiative to step forward and greet Lin Feng in front of them.

Putting aside thoughts of watching his little friend's progress, his and Wendy's main purpose in coming to Inazuma was simply to have fun. They had already encountered the Grass God more than once in the past two days.

"."

He could sense that Lin Feng's words seemed to have a hidden meaning.
Realizing something, Zhongli and Wendy followed Lin Feng's finger and turned to look at the two figures lingering in front of the apple candy stall on the other side of the fork in the road.

"This"

They were speechless for a moment, then looked at each other in bewilderment.

It was obvious that those two guys were imposters.
But very few people dared to impersonate gods; such a situation was extremely rare, even in their thousands of years of life.
"."

"Hey? Why are you looking at me like that, old man?"

"I wasn't the one who dragged you out to the mountains to look for evil spirits the other day. I just went there to freeload some food and drinks."

"Maybe we were spotted by some monsters in the mountains while we were picnicking. Although I do like to make a little joke sometimes, this kind of trick that would be exposed so easily doesn't seem like something I would have planned, right?"

Full of questions, he tried to prove his innocence, but the green-skinned drunkard firmly denied any connection to the matter.

Although he did have the idea of ​​becoming an old man someday and then pretending to be one,
"Heh, that's interesting."

"I've long heard that there are yokai in Inatsume who can transform into humans, so seeing one now is quite a novel experience."

"It seems these little guys just see us as ordinary tourists who came here to participate in the festival."

Unaware of what Wendy was thinking, he barely managed to save the green-skinned drunkard from being knocked away.

The gods do not distinguish identities by appearance alone, but rather by their unique authority and aura of power. Apart from their own little friend, it is almost impossible for others to disguise their identities.

It was clear that such an easily exposed trick couldn't possibly be something his old friend would do.
Because the imitation was so crude, Zhongli felt a strange sense of novelty when he saw someone using his face as a prop.

"."

"Phew, Grandpa, I'm glad you didn't misunderstand. I knew it! If I had done it, how could such a basic mistake of both sides colliding have happened?"

With the trust crisis resolved, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Wendy almost thought the old man next to her would use this as an excuse to settle scores with her for stealing alcohol before.
"Is that a raccoon dog?"

"Hmm, although it's recorded in the void, actually seeing it is still quite amazing, like something out of a fairy tale."

On the other side, while the two senior deities were discussing things...
Seeing the fox spirit disguised as someone close to her for the first time, Nasita, who had almost never seen a monster in person before, also cast a curious glance in that direction.

"Yes, it is indeed a tanuki."

"Inazuma's tanuki are very talented at transformation; they can imitate not only living people, but also inanimate objects."
However, I remember that according to Hana Sanri, if a leaf grows on its head, it's usually because its transformation skills are not up to par.

Looking from afar at the candy apple stand, Lin Feng immediately spotted "Zhongli" and the conspicuous green leaf in "Wendy's" hair.

Because it was so easy to distinguish the real from the fake, the people here didn't feel any panic about their identities being stolen.
Even judging from the old man's behavior, he seemed to be enjoying it and wasn't in a hurry to go up and dismantle it.

???

"Hey? Grandpa! Wait for me!! What's wrong?"

"—Didn't you just say that watching them do that was novel? Why are you suddenly so eager to expose me?"

Lin Feng's thoughts were interrupted by Wendy's movements beside him.

The green-skinned drunkard, who had been jogging after Zhongli with a head full of questions, looked ahead and visibly noticed that Zhongli, who had just seemed relaxed, had suddenly become tense, as if...
"."

Realizing something, he looked up into the distance.
Before Lin Feng could find that familiar, lively girl, a cheerful voice reached his ears:

"—Guest Elder! So you were here?!"

"—You waited for me here on purpose? Could it be that you've changed your mind, and are now planning to accompany me to Inazuma's Adventurers' Guild to discuss a collaboration?"

"—Oh dear, I knew my judgment of people was spot on. You, my guest elder, are definitely right."

Lin Feng: "."

Well, this is definitely not something to be happy about. How come the old man keeps running into Master Hu no matter where he goes?
!!!

"Hey! I've run into someone I know! Kinkaku, what do we do?!"

"—Ginkaku! Remember our way as fox spirits! No matter what we encounter while disguised, we must not be afraid! If all else fails, we can just run away!"

"—But we clearly chose outsiders to disguise ourselves, so we shouldn't be easily recognized. Waaah, my candied apples aren't ready yet!"

I've been craving all the delicious food at the festival for a long time.
A couple of days ago, when I was having a meeting with other tanuki in the mountains, we all agreed that if we wanted to participate in the festival, it would be best to disguise ourselves as an outsider that nobody knew, so as to prevent people we knew from approaching us. But now...
"Ginkaku! Don't be afraid! Boss Goyakuzo said that when encountering unexpected situations while disguising yourself, just nod!"

"No matter what the other party says, we just need to..."

？ ！！

"Whoa! Where did this rope come from? Have we been discovered?!"

"—How can we not escape?! Don't capture us and use us as substitutes for the demon foxes! We were wrong!"

Before the words were even finished, golden elemental energy instantly gathered around the two "Zhongli" and "Wenty".

With a softness that seemed out of place with its nature, it bound the two imposters tightly under the watchful eyes of the crowd.

!!!

Originally, they only wanted to transform into humans and trade the herbs and fruits they had collected for some snacks, but they never expected to be exposed so soon after entering. They were inexplicably forced back into their original forms, and when the Golden Pavilion and Silver Pavilion discovered that the golden elemental forces binding them were completely inescapable...
As the crowd slowly gathered from afar, the two little fox demons, who had initially only wanted to eat some candied apples, looked around and began to tremble in fear.

The noise gradually subsided.

A moment later, in front of the apple candy stall.

Hana Sanri, dressed in a pure white shrine maiden outfit, with fox ears on her head and a fox mask hanging on her side, rushed over upon hearing the news. After explaining the situation to the people, she reluctantly took the two little tanuki away.

In my memory, "she" had always had a good relationship with the fox demon clan. In addition, she had disguised herself as Fox Maiden in order to deceive Wu Baizang into not interfering with the invasion of the Abyss.

Since a certain pink-haired fox hasn't left the castle tower for a long time, she's now temporarily in charge of the daily management of the group of tanuki in the Guardian Forest.
"I'm sorry to have caused you all trouble. I will take good care of them when I get back."

"The festival actually invited the fox spirits to participate, but unexpectedly they chose to transform into humans, and what's more, their targets are..."

Completely at a loss for words, Hana Sanri felt utterly helpless about what was happening before her eyes, wondering how to judge the two little guys' choice of targets.

He just wanted to eat a candied apple; he could have easily transformed into any ordinary person without causing much trouble. How did he end up transforming into a god?
"."

"It's alright, it was just a coincidence."

"Now that the situation has been explained to the public, we should let them go back."

After making his move from afar and witnessing his master turn and leave, Zhong Li had recovered from his earlier worry about an accident.

I had no intention of making things difficult for these two little guys, since they just wanted to trade their collection for some snacks.

Having their changes pointed out in public, and then being observed by their own patriarch, who was half-believing and half-doubting, for a long time, was enough of a shock.

"Thank you for your understanding. I will explain the situation to them when I get back."

"Change and disguise are in the nature of the fox demon, but we can't cause trouble for others."

Nodding, he grabbed the two little raccoons by the scruff of their necks and lifted them up from the ground, their senses temporarily blocked by magic.

Hana Sanri turned slightly to the side, bowed to Lin Feng and the gods in front of her, then turned to take her leave, deciding to have Wu Baizang teach them how to choose the object of their transformation.

"The employee that my friend chose is quite extraordinary. Not only is his lineage unusual, but he is also quite experienced in handling tricky problems."

After seeing the "Hana Sanri" in front of them buy a large pile of candied apples, she left the scene with two tanuki demons.

The series of actions—controlling the demon fox, appeasing the people, and offering apologies—showed some resemblance to Gan Yu.
Zhongli was also surprised that his little friend had managed to find such an experienced employee.

"Hmm, her situation is rather complicated, but in terms of problem-solving ability, she should be no less than the current Yaezakura. With her in charge of Inazuma, she might be able to alleviate a lot of the workload of the Order of the Monarch in the future."

I also approve of Hana Sanri's approach of absorbing those memories and applying them flexibly.
After receiving unanimous praise from the employees at the Inazuma branch, Lin Feng felt that this was probably a pleasant surprise.

"."

"Phew, my master is good in every way, it would be great if he could tone down his tendency to promote things everywhere."

"Fortunately, your secret realm is about to open. Once she sees the resurrected people, she should stop trying to persuade people to order funeral services."

He fell silent for a moment, then thought of his own patriarch.

Zhongli never questioned the professional competence of his own hall master. He knew very well that even though the child was still very young, he was already a fully qualified hall master of the Hall of Rebirth.

The only problem is that Hu Tao has given the position of hall master too many responsibilities beyond the necessary duties, and he also happens to have inexhaustible energy.
"The time to launch the operation will be in two days."

"Regarding that secret realm outside the city, I have another question to ask you, young friend."

"Oh? Please go ahead, sir."

Nasida next to him stuffed an apple candy into his mouth, but he had no desire to eat it for the time being. Lin Feng looked up at Zhong Li in front of him.

"To be honest, my boss insisted on dragging me along to sign up for the operation. Judging from her behavior these past few days, I'm not comfortable letting her go alone."

"The local people all say that the secret realm is not very stable and cannot withstand the entry of the God of Thunder. They don't know."

Zhongli glanced at the castle tower and then at himself; his meaning was quite clear.

"Heh, you can rest assured, old man. Although I didn't specifically increase the carrying capacity of that secret realm when I designed it, there shouldn't be any major problems just going in. Just don't go all out."

"The significance of this secret realm is more about preventing the people of Inazuma from immediately returning to their original state after the war, giving them more opportunities for cooperation, and a little time to recover from the state of war. If Master Hu is curious, it wouldn't hurt to go in and take a look."

Thanks to the tireless efforts of all the residents of Inazuma, the progress of the secret realm now only requires one boss battle.
Entering the secret realm itself is not too dangerous, but this last level is a bit more difficult and requires everyone to work together.

"That's good. Hopefully, after witnessing this scene, the child will realize that Inazuma's situation is different from Liyue's, and will stop being so obsessed with selling things everywhere."

He sighed, feeling somewhat weary. He had been getting quite a bit of trouble from his own sect leader lately.

Although, according to the usual practice of the Wangsheng Hall, there was absolutely no problem with the head of the hall showing concern.
But there are always exceptions in this world, and Zhongli hopes that after this incident, Hu Tao can classify all situations related to her little friend as "exceptions".

The next day, we arrived at the island, at the newly repaired border crossing.

News has emerged that the lockdown order has been lifted and Inazuma has begun to allow travel.

Due to the distance, only a small number of ships departing from Liyue Harbor have arrived so far.

The ship docked.

As if adapting to local customs, a tall woman in a white dress stepped out of the cabin, followed by a plain-looking boy with light gray hair from Fontainebleau.

"."

"I heard that the final battle is about to begin, right? I wonder if it will be successfully completed."

"So many people sacrificed themselves before, and a large part of the houses were left empty. Fortunately, that god from Sumeru stepped in to help. As long as we defeat that strange black sphere, everyone should be able to be resurrected."

Near the port, soldiers on duty were quietly discussing the most pressing issue for the entire Inazuma region, in a location far from the passenger ship reception area.

But at this very moment, at a distance they believed no one could possibly hear them,

Arecino paused as she stepped off the deck, precisely noticing the extremely glaring word "resurrection" in the intelligence report.

(End of this chapter)