frightfiction Chapter 291 Who is the mastermind behind this?
Chapter 291 Who is the mastermind behind this?
Beidou's greatsword was fierce in its strikes, but it was devoid of any elemental power.
Manyo had even sheathed his drawn sword, and his slashes, devoid of any murderous intent, were no more dangerous than a falling maple leaf.
Xu Ning was naturally unafraid. He stepped aside to avoid the greatsword and flicked Beidou's forehead with his finger. "I don't remember my family being so short of money. Are you so desperate that you have to sell me?"
Beidou Zhan Kong's greatsword slammed into the ground, snatched the gourd of wine from Xu Ning's hand, gulped down two mouthfuls, and then huffed, "A whole ship of people depend on me for their livelihood, braving wind and rain to make a living. And what do you do? You just throw away tens of millions of Mora at the execution ground. Now the whole of Inazuma is saying that Liyue is the real land of gold, and they've even given you the title 'Golden... Envoy'..."
The word "使" was pronounced heavily and long by Beidou, filled with endless resentment towards the spendthrift old man.
Xu Ning touched his nose and smiled wryly, explaining, "I didn't spend any of my family's money. The money in that bag was given to me by the Fools at the Iwakami Tea House. Besides, I earned several million Mora from the old man of the Hiiragi family on the island!"
Upon hearing that Xu Ning had made money off the Hiiragi family, Beidou patted Xu Ning on the shoulder and then praised him, saying, "Well done! That old dog is always trying to squeeze every last drop out of the ground. It's only right to bleed him a little."
The two were chatting happily when a gentle voice sounded from their side.
"This must be the Lord Xu Ning you mentioned to me last time, right?"
Coral Palace Heart Sea said this to Beidou, but her eyes were fixed on Xu Ning's face.
Xu Ning knew that this strategist from Haizhi Island, renowned for his wisdom, was probably still bothered by his earlier comment about "meaningless war," so he smiled slightly as a greeting.
"I wonder which mastermind Xu Ning was referring to earlier?"
"Hmph, who else could it be? In Liyue, even the kids know that whenever something bad happens, it's always the Fools who do it!"
Coral Palace Heart Sea smiled slightly upon hearing Beidou's words, but her eyes remained fixed on Xu Ning, as if she was determined to get an answer from him.
Fearing that Beidou would get drunk, Xu Ning snatched the gourd from her hand, took a sip, and then said, "Just now I heard Brother Kong say that recently someone suddenly donated a large amount of supplies to the resistance army so that you can get through this difficult time of food and equipment shortages. Do you know the identities and intentions of those people?"
Coral Palace Heart Sea pondered for a moment and said, "They didn't show themselves, nor did they make any excessive demands. They just hoped that we would do our best to deal with the Shogunate army. Our goals are the same, so their identities and intentions are actually not important."
Xu Ning glanced at Coral Palace Heart Sea. He didn't believe that with the wisdom of this strategist, he wouldn't have missed the poison hidden in the wine glass.
Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the resistance forces were truly at their wits' end, and even knowing it was poison, they had no choice but to drink it to quench their thirst.
"From the perspective of the rebels, the enemy's purpose may not be important, but in the eyes of us bystanders, this supply allows the war, which is about to end, to continue. In the end, neither side of the conflict will benefit. So whoever will be the biggest winner in this war is the mastermind behind it all."
As soon as Xu Ning finished speaking, he saw Coral Palace Xin Hai turn his gaze to Bei Dou beside him.
Beidou chuckled somewhat awkwardly, "Ah, the mineral deposits I traded with you for supplies aren't actually worth much. You know, Liyue, as the Land of Rock, isn't exactly short of these things, haha..."
Holy crap, it turns out my precious baby is the biggest beneficiary of this war?
How much did you extract from the depths of my heart with grain, making people remember it like this?
Xu Ning coughed lightly, explaining to his comrades, "I'm not talking about that kind of profit, but something similar to the authority of a demon god. For example, the power of the vengeful spirit passed down through Inazuma, and the gift from the great serpent Orobas—crystallized bone marrow..."
"Cough cough..." Beidou suddenly coughed a few times, and Xu Ning was immediately taken aback.
Coral Palace Heart Sea bluntly pointed out: "The item you exchange for the most is crystallized bone marrow."
Xu Ning was getting anxious. He had just been sitting in the judge's seat, and now he was about to be moved to the defendant's seat.
No, I have to shift the blame onto the Fools.
“I discovered traces of the Fatui Clan at the Tassa Sands just two days ago. They seem to be coveting the evil spirit power there, and perhaps even the loss of control over the Mikage's furnace core was their doing…”
Coral Palace Heart Sea shook her head slightly and said leisurely, "I do know a little about how the Mikage Furnace malfunctioned. After all, a lady once traveled through Bayun Island and left behind a travelogue that recorded some things about the Mikage Furnace."
Just as Xu Ning was speechless, Coral Palace Heart Sea suddenly smiled, "No matter what, Hokuto has helped us a lot, and I should indeed thank you for your reminder. However, given that you just helped the Shogunate army thwart our carefully designed plan, let's consider our grudges evened out. But, Goro..."
Coral Palace Heart Sea called out to Goro, who was organizing the troops in preparation for retreat, "Bring me the 'Teyvat Travel Guide' from my military satchel."
After Goro took it, Coral Palace Heart Sea handed the book to Xu Ning.
"You can look it up yourself. Of course, it wouldn't be wrong for you to tell the Shogunate army what it contains, since we don't want to see that dangerous furnace blow up the entire Hachiyū Island."
After saying this, Coral Palace Heart Sea prepared to lead the resistance army back to Sea Island.
"Kong, please wait a moment."
Seeing that Kong was also about to take Paimon and set off with the group, Xu Ning quickly stopped him.
Xu Ning carried out a large pile of snacks and meat dishes from the Dust-Hidden Cave, including two large jars of "Tianlu", and let Kong stuff them into his Dust Song Pot.
Xu Ning specifically instructed, "The snacks are for Paimon, make sure she doesn't finish them all in one sitting. You can also share the wine and food with your friends, especially the wine, it's very good for your health."
Paimon was moved to tears, "You big drunkard, you're such a good person!"
Kong responded with a wry smile, but out of consideration for Brother Xu's good intentions, he didn't mention that drinking was strictly prohibited in the rebel camp.
After the rebels had all left, Xu Ning opened the "Teyvat Travel Guide" in his hand.
Compared to the book Miss Mondlisa gave me back then, this book includes several interesting anecdotes about Liyue and Inazuma.
Especially when writing about things related to "Mikage Furnace Core", it can be clearly seen that: "I modified the parameters of Mikage Furnace Core without authorization, casually dismantled some valves and panels and threw them into the sea, and incidentally improved the originally almost useless protective shield. Maybe it will give the engineers of Fontaine some surprises!"
Xu Ning slammed the book shut, finally finding the culprit. He never expected that the root of all this would ultimately fall on that great demon king.
It seems I'll have to make another trip to Tasha and deliver this message to that unlucky guy named Xavier as soon as possible.