Original God Zhongli BG Xiao Qinglong traveled through time

As dusk soaked through the eaves of the wooden teahouse, Xizhi was curled up in the shadow of the reef on the beach. The waves washed the cat toy between her claws again and again, and the mottled rock pattern underneath was revealed where the gold paint peeled off - that was the "souvenir" that the Son of God stuffed into her fur last night, which was now swollen by the sea water, like a festering old wound.

“So it’s here!”

The sound of Thomas's clogs mixed with the sea breeze hit her eardrums. Xizhi instinctively jumped up, but her claws slipped and she fell into the wet gravel. The crisp sound of the golden bell startled a few seagulls. She looked at her paw pads covered with sand and suddenly remembered the embarrassment she had when she was dug out of the rocky black mud by Rong Zhao five hundred years ago.

"It's been very difficult for us to find you, little ancestor." Thomas squatted down, half a tri-colored dumpling lying in his palm. "Miss Linghua sent people to search half of Inazuma Castle, and even the ninjas of the final mission were dispatched." His sleeves were still stained with the smell of kitchen fumes, mixed with the smell of sea salt to form a gentle net. "Ying and Paimon prepared spicy shrimp balls in the tea room, saying that they wanted to make amends for the 'runaway greedy cat'."

Xizhi turned his head away and rolled the cat toy into his arms. The gilded bell that Lingren gave him the day before swayed slightly with his movements, and the word "Lin" engraved on the bell tongue shone coldly in the twilight.

The paper door of the tea room was pushed open, and Paimon rushed out like a cannonball: "Look! Thomas found the stupid cat!" There were still a few cat hairs on her head, obviously the result of rolling on the tea room carpet just now. Ying followed closely behind with a lunch box, and the spicy smell mixed with the sweet aroma of the cherry cake filled the corridor.

"Why is your paw broken?" Ying suddenly pinched her front paw. Xizhi then noticed that the pad of her paw was oozing blood - perhaps it was scratched by the reef just now, or it was injured when she tore up a secret letter from the Fatui last night. She wanted to pull her paw out, but Paimon hugged her tightly: "Don't move! The "Fairy Jumping Wall Flavor" wound medicine made by Paimon will be used immediately... Hey, what are you licking!"

When Linghua arrived, she saw her brother standing in the corridor, staring at something. Following his gaze, she saw tiny pieces of gold lacquer scattered on the faded tatami, vaguely forming the word "Return" in the ancient Liyue script.

"This cat..." Ayato tapped the gold lacquer with his folding fan, and the silver needle hidden in the fan bone shone faintly. "When you knocked over my inkstone yesterday, the ink just happened to cover the red ink of Kanjo Bugyo; the day before yesterday, you tore through the gift list of the Kujo family, and the damaged part was the forged seal." He bent down to pick up the fluff that fell when Xizhi struggled, and the rock elemental force flowed through it like star sand. "Brother, do you think this is a coincidence?"

The tea room suddenly went silent. Xizhi froze in Ying's arms, and Paimon's hand holding the ointment froze in midair. The cloth Thomas used to wipe the teacup fell to the ground with a "thump". Amid the splashing water, everyone heard Ayato sigh softly, "Traveler, your 'friend' always seems to be cleaning up the invisible dust for us."

Xizhi suddenly broke free from his embrace and jumped onto the beam, knocking the spicy shrimp balls to the ground. The sauce snaked on the tatami into a leyline map of the rocky abyss. She squatted in the shadow of the beam and licked her front paws frantically, as if this could erase the panic of being seen through.

"Little rascal." Linghua took off the camellia flower silk handkerchief on her chest, "This is the white camellia scent that was freshly fumigated this morning, do you want one..." Before she finished her words, Xizhi suddenly pounced on the lightning element lantern by the window, and the wick that was hooked off by his claws happened to fall on the file of the "Off-Island Smuggling Case", covering the most crucial name.

Ayato's folding fan swung open: "Looks like we'll have to ask the last officer to step up coastal patrols tomorrow, don't you think?" He smiled at the cat pretending to sleep, "After all, even a 'cat passing by by chance' can smell the scent of conspiracy."

When the night wind rushed into the tea room with the sound of waves, Xizhi was already wrapped in Linghua's sleeves. The girl's body temperature came through the silk, bringing the tranquility of white camellia flowers and the scent of ink. She listened to Linghua and her brother discussing "the sudden failure of the evil eye workshop" and "the unexpected collapse of the Fatui stronghold", and her claws unconsciously drew the pattern of the Return to the End on the other's sleeves.

"I'm glad you found me." On the return carriage, Linghua buried her face in her fluffy fur. "When the traveler entrusted you to the Kamisato family, I made a promise that you would never be lost." The wheels rolled over the gravel, and the jade bracelet on her wrist tapped the cat's ears. "I don't know what you're running away from..."

Xizhi suddenly looked up and saw the moonlight leaking in through the gap in the curtains just illuminating Linghua's eyes - the eyes were not filled with awe for the "fairy beast", but the expression she had often seen in Qingce Manor four hundred years ago. The one holding her paw at that time was Hu Xingzhi holding the windmill chrysanthemum.

"But next time you sneak out, at least take this with you." The silk tied around Linghua's neck flashed with rock patterns, and the secret pocket was filled with almond tofu candies and miniature talismans. "My brother said this is called the 'Kamizato Family Special Cat Playing Set'."

When Thomas entered Kamisato's residence with the pretending-to-sleep Xizhi in his arms, the last ninja who had been guarding all night fell from the beam. Ayato leaned against the door frame and chuckled, "Tomorrow we should put more gold-painted toys in the courtyard to prevent a certain "distinguished guest" from always destroying the general's roof."

Linghua was combing the cat's tangled fur, and suddenly she exclaimed, "Huh?" "Why are there lady's ice crystal fragments here?" She pinched the ice fragments hidden behind Xizhi's ear with her fingertips. Those were the spoils of the confrontation with Rosaline last night.

"Maybe it's the icing on the dango when I stole it." Ayato brewed fresh tea, and the secret information slipped from his sleeves "just happened" to cover the traces of ice element left. "What do you think, little greedy cat?"

Xizhi buried her face in her tail and let Linghua wipe her paw pads with cherry dew. The eaves swayed with alarm bells. She listened to the brother and sister discussing the list of cakes for tomorrow's tea party, and suddenly hoped that the rain would never stop - at least at this moment, she could be just the "lost and found cat" of the Kamisato family, rather than an immortal who had been carrying five hundred years of pain.

(As the morning light flooded the courtyard, Thomas found half a piece of almond tofu on the roof where Xizhi often squatted. The small rock-patterned characters made of icing sugar were melting, and the outline of "Thank you" could be vaguely seen, with a crooked cat's paw print next to it - that was the last stubbornness of a runaway criminal.)