"Su Bai, is Uncle Tian really going to be alright? He respects the adepti, but that doesn't mean he should have eaten all of Cloud Retainer's dishes. Now he's got food poisoning. Good thing Bubu Pharmacy isn't far, or else..."
Keqing watched her subordinates carry Uncle Tian off to Bubu Pharmacy and sighed. It seemed the adepti weren't good at everything after all. Liyue truly needed humans to govern it. That was the right path.
Su Bai smiled bitterly. He had discreetly tried to warn Uncle Tian earlier, but the old man wouldn't listen. At least it wasn't a total loss. When Cloud Retainer realized something was wrong, she had infused Uncle Tian with a large amount of adeptal energy. Once he recovered, he'd probably be in better health than before.
"Now your director finally knows what the adepti eat every day. No wonder Shenhe always eats so heartily. She's been living on this stuff up in the mountains. Poor thing."
Hu Tao grumbled after Cloud Retainer flew off with her three machines. But the moment the words left her mouth, a sudden gust of wind swept her hat away.
"Hey, hey, hey! My hat!"
Watching Hu Tao chase after her hat, the others exchanged glances and silently swallowed their own complaints. It seemed Cloud Retainer hadn't gone far yet.
"Wait, look! The stone that represents the Stove God has a crack in it!"
"Guoba, you didn't break it, did you?!"
"Lulu lulu???"
Guoba tilted his head, looking confused. Seeing that he was denying it, Xiangling breathed a sigh of relief. Good. It wasn't him. She had noticed Guoba always hovering around that stone and worried his fire had cracked it.
"Wait, something's off about this stone. I don't know why, but I can feel something inside it."
Su Bai walked up to the enshrined stone. His adeptal energy slowly seeped into it. The cracks on the stone's surface grew larger. The Millelith soldiers nearby wanted to stop him, but when they saw it was Su Bai, an adeptus, they returned to their posts. Only the adepti truly understood the adepti's artifacts.
In the distance, Madame Ping had been about to join the crowd around the stone. But seeing Su Bai and his friends already there, she stopped. Liyue's future belonged to these youngsters. An old woman like her didn't need to join the fun. She remembered Rex Lapis was drinking tea nearby. She'd go chat with him instead.
"It's cracking! Huh?? Wait, how is this Guoba?!"
"Lulu lulu!"
Guoba looked at the statue before him and felt an inexplicable joy. He scurried around the stone statue on his little legs, chirping "Lulu lulu" over and over.
Unlike the shocked crowd, Su Bai's expression was calm. After asking Cloud Retainer about the Stove God yesterday, he had a feeling that Guoba, the one he always teased, might actually be the Stove God. He had sensed a unique power in Guoba before.
"I never expected it. Goofy little Guoba is actually the revered Stove God from history."
Lumine picked Guoba up and pinched his cheeks. Guoba gave her a big smile. He didn't seem any different from usual.
"Su Bai, are you going to take Guoba with you?"
"Huh? Xiangling, why do you ask?"
"Nothing. I just thought about you taking Guoba to see the other adepti. It made me a little sad."
Xiangling looked down, stroking Guoba's head reluctantly. Su Bai was confused. When did he say he was taking Guoba? Had Xiangling been spending too much time with Hu Tao and caught her wild imagination?
"Good grief, Xiangling, you're overthinking it. Even if I am an adeptus, I wouldn't interfere with Guoba's choices."
"Cloud Retainer told me the Stove God used up his power to help people in the early days and fell into a deep sleep. Now that he's been awakened by you, you're his destined person. I wouldn't take him from you."
"Also, Xiangling, I understand you're reluctant to let go of Guoba, but if you don't stop what you're doing, he's going to go bald."
Seeing Xiangling absentmindedly plucking the fur on Guoba's head without stopping, Su Bai had to remind her. Xiangling looked at the clump of fur in her hand and finally snapped out of it.
"Ah! Sorry, sorry, Guoba! I wasn't paying attention."
"Lulu lulu~"
Guoba scratched his now-cooler head, not bothered by the plucking. Perhaps because his power was depleted, compared to the approachable Stove God Cloud Retainer described, Guoba seemed even more simple and honest.
"By the way, Lumine, you're heading to Inazuma soon, right?"
"Yep. Do you need me to deliver a phone to Yae Miko? Or maybe one for each of your lady friends?"
Lumine put her hands on her hips, looking as smug as ever. Su Bai's mouth twitched. What happened? She was fine this morning. After one cooking competition, she had become this smug. Had her true nature finally surfaced?
"What are you talking about? I just wanted to say I'm heading to Inazuma too. If you want to come along, meet me at the port in three days. We'll take Beidou's ship."
"Cough, cough. Lumine was just joking, Su Bai. Hehe. Um, about the ticket price, since you know Captain Beidou, could you ask her for a discount?"
The moment Paimon heard Su Bai knew Beidou, she immediately sidled up to him, trying to cash in on the connection. Her money-grubbing demeanor embarrassed Lumine. This was it. This emergency food was too embarrassing. She should have cooked her long ago. If she'd known Paimon would be this embarrassing, she would have brought her to the cooking competition as an ingredient.
"Alright, alright, stop fooling around. Madame Ping posted the Stove God's story in the group chat. If you're interested, go take a look. Speaking of which, who gave Madame Ping a phone? Was it Ganyu?"
As Su Bai wondered, in a pavilion at Yuehai Pavilion, Azhdaha was showing Madame Ping how to use her phone. Zhongli, meanwhile, looked troubled.
You could show A-Ping how to use a phone, but why did you have to take his? Great. Looked like he'd have to visit Xiao at Wangshu Inn later.
"I remember that young man Albedo said the latest version of the phone has been developed. Since that's the case, I'll pick one up on the way."
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Translator's Note
I'm choosing a new work to translate. You guys can vote for it on my Ko-Fi profile. The link to it is in my bio.
The choices include 1 work related to Arknights, 1 work related to HSR and Undertale, 1 work related to HI3, and 2 works unrelated to any gacha.
The poll lasts 2 days.