Genshin Impact: Pool Character, Nirvana of the Demon God

Hearing Elhesen's calm and restrained reply, Paimon tilted his head, his voice tinged with a hint of probing: "Also a scholar? The kind who goes to the woods to meditate and cultivate?"

Elhesen nodded slightly, then shook his head gently, his tone low but carrying undeniable weight: "No. This—is precisely the problem."

He turned to look at Razak, who was huddled in the corner, his clothes disheveled and his eyes unfocused. His gaze was sharp and cold, like a blade: "Razak never practices that kind of thing."

"He never stepped into the woods, let alone reached the so-called 'wooden madness period'."

"Then how did he become like this?" Ying asked in a low voice, her fingertips unconsciously clenching her sleeves, a thin layer of worry rising between her brows.

Al-Hysen shook his head slightly, his lips pursed: "Regardless of the cause... the fact that he appeared here alone already shows that we are too late."

His voice was deep and resolute: "Without a doubt, the mastermind has already fled. As for this person... he was probably left behind here by accident, or perhaps—he simply didn't have time to move with them."

Before he finished speaking, he had already quietly taken a step, his gaze sweeping across the entire empty warehouse like a probe: the mottled mud walls, the toppled wooden shelves, the scattered scrolls of paper, and finally, his eyes slowly landed on the ground—

There, several deep and shallow drag marks meandered outwards, deepening abruptly at the entrance, with churned soil and jagged ruts, as if several carts loaded with heavy loads had been roughly and hastily dragged out.

“Hmm…” He bent down to examine it closely, his fingertips hovering above the marks without touching them, yet he seemed to have seen through everything. “There are drag marks on the ground. The closer to the door, the deeper the marks are—meaning someone was trying their best to drag those carts full of heavy things, even resorting to brute force.”

Paimon tiptoed closer and whispered, guessing, "...Could it be...that there are people on it? But if the culprit is in a hurry to leave, why not just run away? Why go through all this trouble and use a cart to transport people?"

Ying gazed at the several glaring marks, her eyes darkening, her voice soft yet clear: "Indeed. If the only goal is to escape, walking is far faster and more discreet than pushing a cart."

She paused briefly, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes: "But if we're going to use a cart to transport people... I can think of one possibility—when they leave, the village guards who were lured there haven't been rescued yet."

Paimon nodded in sudden realization: "That's right! Only this explanation makes sense..."

Ying shook her head slightly, her expression growing increasingly solemn: "No, there is another contradiction—Sino followed the trail of the village guardian; and in the end, he did indeed bring the person back."

She raised her eyes, her gaze sharp as a blade, pointing straight to the heart of the matter: "Then here's the question: if the culprit really did kidnap the village guards and move them all the way, how come Seno never encountered them even once while tracking them along the way?"

Al-Hysen nodded silently, acknowledging the meticulous deduction.

A moment later, he lowered his gaze to Razak, who was still sobbing and trembling in the corner, his tone calm, yet each word as firm as stone:

“They walked in a great hurry—as if hounds were chasing them, not even having the chance to look back… In their haste, they naturally overlooked Razak, who was huddled in the shadows.”

"Ah... Waaah, waaah..."

A broken wail rolled from Razak's throat, like the sobbing of the wind through withered branches, or the lingering sound of a soul being torn apart.

El-Heisen stood quietly for a moment before finally speaking. His voice was not loud, but it was as resounding as a falling stone: "Why didn't Sino detect the mastermind's whereabouts during the investigation? This matter will be put on hold for now."

“The most conclusive evidence right now is Razak himself – he is not a victim, but living proof.”

"Evidence?" Paimon's eyes widened, his voice rising. "You mean...this matter, is it related to the Council of the Order?"

El-Hysen nodded, his gaze calm as an ancient well: "Please recall—what did you hear in Port Ormos?"

He paused briefly, his tone gentle yet undeniably familiar: "His current state... doesn't it sound strangely familiar?"

The pupils constricted, and memories flooded back like a tide—

In the damp alleys of Ormos Harbor, the tavern owner whispered in hushed tones, the scholars sighed with unspoken shrewdness, and there was that taboo rumor, repeatedly smeared yet quietly circulating:

Once you come into contact with "divine knowledge," it's like a poisonous vine entwining your heart, eventually leading to a breakdown of reason, incoherent speech, and utter madness...

She looked up abruptly, her voice trembling slightly but resolute: "You mean... he's gone mad because he came into contact with 'divine knowledge'?"

"But isn't that thing on you?"

“Exactly.” Elhesen’s eyes were deep and dark, like a dense forest in the dark night. “As for these symptoms, it is indeed correct. As for where the knowledge of the divine jar came from, let’s leave that aside for now.”

"In short, everything that is happening to us right now proves one thing: the Council of the Church is the real instigator of this storm."

"And their logic for action... is not difficult to deduce."

He walked slowly to the window, where the wind and sand swirled outside. His back was straight as a blade, and he began to dissipate the fog layer by layer.

"Initially, the Church quietly spread rumors that the Red King was about to be resurrected, deliberately emphasizing that the 'village guardians,' namely the mad scholars exiled to Aru Village, would become the key."

"The news spread like wildfire, quickly igniting the fervor of radicals in various places. Inside Aru Village, there were already inside agents secretly working to send the village guards into the trap that the Church had already set up."

"Spreading rumors is certainly intended to incite public opinion;"

"But its brilliance lies in the fact that it subtly shifts all the risks onto the shoulders of the Red King's followers."

He turned around, his gaze sharp: "The Red King has been gone for a long time, and the people of the desert have suffered for many years, their pent-up emotions like an impending sandstorm. Their emotions are like a powder keg ready to ignite at any moment."

"And all the Council of the Order did was give it a gentle push—to let the wild horse run wild and the rage burn the fields. It was easy."

Even if it happens, what the world will see is merely a riot fueled by religious fanaticism;

"If we investigate further, the only targets will be the Red King's remaining followers—ostensibly a religious conflict, but in reality, it has become a scar that tears the community apart."

"No one will look up at the tower, at that academy that calls itself 'wisdom' but quietly distorts the definition of 'knowledge'."

"The methods seem crude, but they precisely strike at the most vulnerable nerves of Sumeru at this moment—this is their sharpest knife at this moment."

[Hai Ge's whimsical metaphor.]

This method actually works very well in today's world.

[miHoYo, is this something I can say?]

The current political situation in the Middle East.

[The feeling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back then.]

Once a rumor spreads, its source becomes less important.

Listening to Al Heisenberg's calm and logical explanation, Paimon nodded slightly, his voice carrying a hint of realization and hesitation:

“So that’s how it is… That makes a lot of sense. Even the village chief’s earlier speculation matches this statement.”

But she quickly frowned, her tone shifting to one of confusion and urgency: "But there's still one crucial question—"

"Wasn't it the Instructional Council that personally sent those scholars to Aru Village in the first place? Why are they now so eager to 'snatch' them back?"

Al-Hysen lowered his gaze slightly, his tone calm yet undeniable: "The key is—in these events, what has quietly changed is not their circumstances, but their 'identity'."

He said, word by word, "Initially, they were respected 'scholars'; then, they were labeled 'madmen'; later, they became 'exiles' banished to the wilderness; and finally... they were reduced to a blurry ink mark in the archives—'missing persons'."

Ying's eyes narrowed, her fingertips paused slightly, then she nodded, her voice soft yet firm: "I understand... I see."

Only Paimon remained rooted to the spot, her small hands unconsciously clutching the hem of her skirt, a thin layer of mist rising in her eyes—seemingly understanding yet not quite, hesitant to speak.

Al-Hysen saw through her confusion at a glance, and then added in a slow voice, his words sharp and cutting, dissecting the surface:

“An exiled mad scholar is still a living human being; but a ‘missing person’... may no longer be a ‘person’.”

He paused slightly, and even the rustling of palm leaves in the wind outside the window seemed to quiet down for a moment: "If you can't find him, you can't be sure if he still exists."

"If you cannot confirm his existence, you cannot trace everything he experienced. In other words, the 'disappeared person' is precisely the most ideal resource."

Scholars remain scholars; their minds have not changed, and their knowledge has not vanished. What has truly been erased is the attention from the outside world, the traces of records, and the right to question.

As resources dwindle and taboos loosen, "disappearance" becomes the most respectable, discreet, and irreproachable excuse—without exception.

Paimon pressed, his voice slightly strained: "Resources...? They...are still useful?"

Al-Hysen lowered his eyes, his tone still calm, yet like a stone thrown into a deep pool, it stirred up a silent tidal wave: "There is a possibility—their brains are being used to extract 'canned knowledge'."

“Extract…extract?” Paimon’s voice suddenly rose, then abruptly stopped, his face drained of color. “That canned knowledge…is extracted…from the brains of living people?!”

Shock swept through her pupils like a chilling tide, followed by an incredulous tremor, and finally settled into a heavy, almost suffocating sorrow—

It was as if one could hear the long-suppressed sobs echoing from the mountain valley in the dead of night, with no one to answer.

Elhesen nodded slowly, his expression solemn: "With the current technological level of the Sumeru Church, it is indeed possible."

"But as far as I know, this technology was explicitly forbidden by the wise man Caesar hundreds of years ago."

"The ban is a ban... but the knowledge about canned goods that is still circulating in the market today has already silently shown that: under the ban, the undercurrents have never stopped."

He looked up at the deep shadows of the forest in the distance, his voice lowered: "The process of stripping knowledge from the brain is by no means gentle and painless."

"Perhaps that is why, when the night is quiet and the guards are lax, those people can let out such a cold and broken cry between nightmare and wakefulness."

Paimon instinctively took a half step back, covering his ears tightly with his hands, his voice trembling: "The human brain... no, no, I can't bear to think about it... it's too terrifying..."

Ying turned to the side, her gaze clear and sharp: "Since it has been explicitly forbidden, how did you know these details?"

Al-Hysen's expression remained unchanged, and he simply said in a calm voice, "After all, I am the scribe of the Order of the Church."

"Having seen the relevant files, it's not surprising. Besides—the faction I belong to is nominally a royalist faction."

“I have the right to access certain dusty archives, encrypted experimental logs, and even research projects that teeter on the edge of ethics.”

He paused briefly, his tone growing serious: "In conclusion, Razak's symptoms most likely stem from the failed extraction of 'divine-level canned knowledge';"

"Or perhaps—he failed to suppress his scholarly curiosity and, without permission, accessed and used that forbidden knowledge."

Paimon tilted his head, his brows furrowed, his voice filled with confusion and unease: "So... what kind of person can be chosen? Is it... that anyone's brain can be used to extract canned knowledge?"

Nasita's voice echoed in her mind: "If it's about creating a divine jar of knowledge, then it should involve contact with the will of the gods."

"Of course, in the eyes of the royalists, the scholars I have come into contact with do not seem to be considered as nourishment for making divine jars of knowledge, perhaps because in their eyes I am not a god?"

"So, as it stands, those who are currently being used to create divine jars containing knowledge are all scholars who have come into contact with forbidden knowledge."

Ying responded in her mind: "Speaking of which, the collusion between the royalists and the fools seems to be creating a god."

"I suppose that's related to that."

Nasita replied affirmatively, "That's right, they probably want to use the forbidden knowledge these scholars have come into contact with to create new gods."

Is this still the same simple Genshin Impact? Actually, I like it even more now!

Sometimes, the protagonist is smarter than us.

[While not all canned knowledge is extracted from the human brain, the only way for deities to mass-produce canned knowledge is through this method.]

[To indirectly extract divine knowledge through those who have had contact with deities... these royalists don't even know if what they're extracting is divine knowledge at all; it's truly hard to judge them.]

Looking at their thoughtful expressions, Elhesen said, "Judging from your expressions, you must have figured it out."

Ying said, "The Order of the Church requires people who have had contact with 'divine consciousness'."

Al-Hysen nodded: "That's right. For some scholars, knowledge about the gods is their life's pursuit. Extracting and packaging knowledge is just one of their radical methods."

"But I've always been curious: what exactly do they gain from knowledge related to deities?"

"What is the Church of Christ so determined to do by pursuing these forbidden things at all costs?"

"After acquiring the knowledge of the divine canister, I spent a lot of effort studying and analyzing it, but unfortunately, I didn't gain any significant results. It seems that my way of thinking is too different from those people."