"Hello, Miss Aether, just call me Yelan," Yelan extended her hand to Aether, a charming smile on her face.
Aether was slightly stunned at the sight, but quickly extended her own hand and shook Yelan's.
"H-hello…" Aether inexplicably felt a bit nervous, perhaps because of Yelan's voice.
So similar, so very similar.
How could it be so similar? If it weren't for the very obvious difference in appearance, Aether would have almost thought Kafka had also come to this world.
"So, what exactly happened?" Paimon asked anxiously. Her sudden outburst finally brought Aether back to her senses.
Shaking her head, she slowly recounted everything she and Hu Tao had come to investigate, in full detail.
"Oh? So it was those two who did it," Yelan nodded. She had guessed that the culprits might be those two, but she hadn't expected the reason to be like this.
Lumine, standing on the other side, pinched her chin, deep in thought.
However, what she was thinking about wasn't this case. To be honest, the matter of Hua Chu was already quite clear; those two definitely had something to hide, which was why they ran when they saw people.
She was more focused on Yelan and Aether now.
Aether had been stunned the moment she saw Yelan, and the look in her eyes had changed, indicating that Yelan must be special to Aether in some way.
She needed to think carefully about how to create some space for Yelan and Aether, so Aether could win her over.
One must know that Yelan is not simple; although she said she was in charge of this incident, from her observations, Yelan does not belong to the Millelith, and her actions do not quite resemble someone from the General Affairs Department…
She looks like someone who was parachuted in, yet the Millelith treat Yelan with great respect.
So, does this indicate that Yelan's identity is definitely not as simple as it appears on the surface?
Regardless, Yelan is an official of Liyue, and if Star can apprehend her, it would be a huge step forward for them.
"I will immediately have the Millelith stationed near Stone Gate take action to search for those two people's movements." Yelan nodded, then waved her hand to call over the Millelith who were controlling the situation.
"I can't believe that Hua Chu is actually not dead!" Paimon couldn't help but exclaim. When they first investigated, they only suspected whether the body was Hua Chu's.
Although they had a hunch that Hua Chu might still be alive, they were still very surprised to hear news of her.
"So, she really faked her death to elope with that poor teacher… But why did she run when she saw you?" Lumine looked at them with some confusion.
"I accidentally called out…" Hu Tao awkwardly rubbed her head, then sighed helplessly: "And they might have recognized me. If it was just Star alone, those two might not have been so wary."
After all, Hu Tao is considered a celebrity in Liyue Harbor, and she spends all day… *cough*, all day promoting Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's package services on the streets.
She didn't recognize Hua Chu, but Hua Chu and the man beside her were very likely to recognize Hu Tao.
"No need to worry, those two won't get away." Yelan didn't seem to care much about this. Neither of those two even possessed a Vision, so they basically posed no threat.
Moreover, although this is already Stone Gate, one can cross the border with one foot and hide in the neighboring Mondstadt.
But Mondstadt and Liyue have always been friendly neighbors, and their people crossing the border to search will not be a problem.
Furthermore, due to a shortage of manpower, Mondstadt's Knights of Favonius are basically completely undefended at the border between the two countries, so no one will interfere.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's hurry and catch up." Paimon said impatiently.
"Don't rush, Paimon… Did you see where those two ran?" Lumine turned her head and asked the two.
"It was pitch black at the time, I didn't pay attention. What about you?" Hu Tao looked at Star.
All her attention at the time was on Star; she didn't notice anything else at all.
"Hmm, it seems to be over there." Star recalled for a moment, then pointed in the direction of Wuwang Slope.
"Eh? It's actually there?" Paimon was a little surprised.
Because that was not the direction to Mondstadt; instead, it was heading further into Liyue territory.
"Oh?" Yelan also raised an eyebrow, not understanding why these two would do that.
Are they planning to play a trick by hiding in plain sight? Or do they think the road ahead is too flat and they'll be caught soon, so they plan to run into the deep mountains of Wuwang Slope…
"Objectively speaking, it would indeed be harder to find them in such a place." Yelan looked around, then offered her suggestion.
"Let's gather everyone here, divide into pairs, and search together, how about that?"
A team of Millelith, plus the four of them here—oh no, plus half of Paimon—it would be perfect for two people per group.
By spreading out like this and conducting a carpet search of Wuwang Slope, those two should have nowhere to run.
-
Star silently followed behind Yelan, wanting to speak but hesitating for a long time.
She didn't know if Lumine did it on purpose… No, it must have been on purpose, as she actually chose to team up with Hu Tao when dividing into groups.
She didn't know what she whispered into Hu Tao's ear, but Hu Tao also nodded immediately.
Then, Star was naturally assigned to Yelan's side.
But to be honest, she still felt a bit uncomfortable facing Yelan.
"Miss Star."
"Just call me Star." Star snapped back to attention and quickly said.
"Alright, then Star can just call me Yelan." Yelan nodded, looking at Star sideways.
Her suggestion of two people per group wasn't actually because it was more efficient for searching. She had cooperated with Ningguang for so many years and had a lot of experience in searching; in fact, if she were to do it alone, the efficiency might be the highest.
She had originally wanted to take this opportunity to get to know Star. This Damselette was very unique; she had felt it since she received the news from Ningguang a few days ago and started watching this Damselette.
Therefore, she was very interested in some basic information about this Grey-haired girl.
She had originally thought Lumine would choose to be with this Damselette, but she didn't expect Lumine to actively pull Hu Tao away.
This meant she didn't even need to use the excuse she had thought of.
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