Looking at the girl in the yellow dress standing amidst the crowd, staring at him, Ji An was taken aback.
Eh, could this little girl be...
"Ji An, she is the person you need to meet on this dream journey."
At that moment, a voice suddenly sounded in his ear.
Ji An was slightly startled. "Xiao? You can talk to me from outside the dream?"
Although the voice was distant, as if separated by several thick walls, he could still make out who was speaking.
"Mm. I have my methods." Xiao's reply was as concise as ever.
Ji An looked at the little girl. Though he had some doubts, he nodded. "Alright. Then what do you need me to do?"
"...Wait a moment."
Xiao left these words and then fell silent.
Ji An had no choice but to offer the little girl a friendly smile. Unexpectedly, this only made her more nervous.
---
At that moment, in reality.
The camp outside The Chasm.
Everyone had gathered, watching somewhat nervously as Ji An slept soundly within the circle of Seven-Star Lamps, with Xiao standing beside him.
"...Wait a moment."
After speaking these words through his spell, Xiao stepped out of the lamp circle and walked over to the Adepti.
A faint light appeared at his fingertip. He pressed it to his brow, seemingly speaking to someone.
"...Rex Lapis, Ji An has entered the dream and met with that divided will of Azhdaha. What should he do next..."
"...Mm... like that... just fulfill her wish within the dream, is that it?"
"...Then how should he go about fulfilling it...?"
"Wh— what? You say... let me decide?"
"...But, for something like this..."
Whatever had come from the other side made Xiao's stern face take on a rare look of difficulty.
But in the end, he gave a stiff nod.
"...I understand. I'll figure something out."
Cloud Retainer, Mountain Shaper, and Moon Carver stared at him. "What did Rex Lapis instruct?"
Xiao was silent for a long moment, then spoke slowly. "Rex Lapis said to leave it to me to guide Ji An — to fulfill the wish of that little girl, the manifestation of Azhdaha's will, over the next few days within the dream."
Although his tone was calm, those who knew Xiao could sense the conflict beneath it.
Given the choice, Xiao would sooner go and exterminate several hundred more demons than take on a task like planning someone's date.
"To ask the Conqueror of Demons to figure out something like this... Rex Lapis must know that you..."
The Adepti fell into silence for a while.
Finally, Cloud Retainer spoke. "Rex Lapis must have his profound reasons for this."
Mountain Shaper and Moon Carver nodded slightly. "Indeed."
"However, this matter is of great importance."
Cloud Retainer said, "There is no need for you to bear it alone. Why not draw on the wisdom of the others here?"
Xiao breathed a quiet sigh of relief and nodded. "If possible, that would certainly be for the best."
---
The Adepti went to find Keqing and gathered everyone in the camp.
Amidst puzzled gazes all around, Xiao stood with his arms crossed, looking composed, while beside him Cloud Retainer raised her head and spoke.
"There is a matter on which this Adeptus wishes to ask everyone's opinion."
"Suppose — this Adeptus is speaking purely hypothetically — suppose you had a very dear friend. In the coming days, you would be spending several days together with that friend."
"If it were any of you, what would you hope to do with them?"
Everyone looked at one another in bewilderment.
The Adepti hadn't disclosed any details about the Oneiric Shallows, only saying that Ji An had entered a dream to seek a way to resolve the current incident. So Cloud Retainer's question seemed both ill-timed and baffling.
Finally, Keqing spoke up.
"Everyone — since Cloud Retainer has asked, she must have her reasons. Why not share your thoughts?"
"Question: is that friend male or female?"
The ever-diligent Xiangling eagerly raised her hand.
Xiao replied, "By human concepts of gender — female."
Xiangling put her hand down obediently. "Understood!"
"Second question!"
Up went her hand again. "What is their relationship?"
Xiao answered according to what Rex Lapis had told him. "A friendship that transcends ordinary friendship."
Transcends ordinary friendship?
"Hey — why is everyone looking at me?" Feeling everyone's eyes settle on her, Hu Tao couldn't help but cry out.
---
Cloud Retainer turned first to Xiangling. "Little girl, what is your answer?"
"Hehe." Xiangling said, "If I were spending a few days with a close friend, I'd want to take them and Guoba out hunting for rare ingredients, then cook a great feast!"
"Hmm, cooking a feast for that friend — not a bad suggestion — but I'm afraid it wouldn't suit her."
Cloud Retainer shook her head, rejecting the proposal. "Next."
Yanfei stepped forward. "For me, I'd hope we could study the legal code together. And if they couldn't keep up, I'd just recite it in their ear until they could."
"A date spent studying the legal code... I'm afraid that would only suit you, Yanfei."
Cloud Retainer shook her head. "Next."
Guoba: "!"
Cloud Retainer: "Hmm... wrong call. Next."
The two from Bubu Pharmacy stepped forward.
Baizhu smiled. "Mm... spending a few days together? Studying the effects of my medicinal formulas on them sounds like a fine choice."
Qiqi bit her finger. "Qiqi thinks... Qiqi would want that friend to take Qiqi to drink coconut milk."
"...Next."
Ganyu, who had only just arrived after working overtime, stepped forward, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"I... for me, I'd hope they could keep me company while I work. Being able to look after the welfare of Liyue's people is a very happy thing."
"..."
Even the relatively patient Cloud Retainer was beginning to realize that on this particular matter, these people were each more unreliable than the last.
Was there truly no one sensible among them?
Well — come to think of it, there really wasn't an ordinary person in this group. After all, every single one of them had a gleaming Vision on prominent display.
Next were Keqing and Hu Tao.
Keqing, as someone long accustomed to a position of responsibility, clearly thought more carefully — she was visibly trying to work out what Cloud Retainer was actually looking for, rather than simply saying whatever came to mind.
She offered some moderately reasonable suggestions: viewing the scenery from the Yujing Terrace, inviting them to dinner at a fine restaurant, enjoying the sea breeze at the wharf.
These were the limits of what she could imagine. A workaholic with few leisure pursuits, she was still a step above Ganyu, if not by much.
Hu Tao was pleasantly surprising, proposing a whole string of charming little activities — making sugar figurines, drawing fortune slips together, watching fireworks, floating river lanterns, guessing riddles at lantern festivals...
Added to these were suggestions from some of the Millelith soldiers and accompanying logistics staff.
Before long, Cloud Retainer had compiled quite a collection of ideas and selected the best of them.
"With all of this... her wish should surely be fulfilled."
Cloud Retainer took the notebook she had been writing in and passed it to Xiao.
"Oh — wait just a moment. This Adeptus will be right back."
She spread her wings and flew out of the camp.
A moment later, she landed beside a patch of grass, out of sight of the others.
"Disciple. I sensed a familiar aura just now, and I didn't expect it to really be you."
Cloud Retainer looked at the slender, white-haired woman standing by the trees.
"Why did you follow from a distance without coming out to meet everyone?"
"Master... I only came to see if I could help," Shenhe said hesitantly.
"Heh, Disciple. The fact that you had this thought of your own accord makes your master very glad indeed."
Cloud Retainer said with feeling, "I have told you before — the day you find yourself wanting to use your strength for others is the day you can truly begin to find your place among people..."
She paused, then added, "Though of course, using that strength for someone who doesn't exist doesn't count."
Shenhe: "..."
Cloud Retainer studied her expression for a moment and, finding it composed, breathed a small sigh of relief.
"Disciple, would you like to come over and meet everyone?"
Shenhe's heart jumped. She quickly shook her head. "Master, there's no need! Besides, it doesn't seem like my help is needed at this point."
"Oh, you observed quite carefully from your distance, Disciple. You're right — the key to resolving things now rests not with the others, but with young Ji An."
Cloud Retainer said, "Since you don't wish to come over, your master won't force you. That is your nature, after all — not something easily changed in a short time."
Before leaving, she asked offhandedly, "Oh — one more thing, Disciple. If you had the chance to spend a few days with a long-lost friend, what would you hope to do with them?"
"...A long-lost friend?!"
Shenhe's whole body stiffened.
"Ah, your master shouldn't have asked that. You have so few friends left, let alone one you'd hold so dear."
Cloud Retainer realized she had asked the wrong question and was about to leave it there.
She had just begun to spread her wings when Shenhe spoke.
"...I would want to be alone with them. Just sit quietly together, and talk."
"Oh?"
Cloud Retainer paused, then said thoughtfully, "At first glance, your suggestion seems modest. But on reflection — while filling their time with activities is well and good, perhaps what they truly need most is some quiet time together..."
Yes — she would save that for the end of the itinerary.
Satisfied, Cloud Retainer flew back and added a few more lines to the notebook Xiao was holding.
Xiao looked over the planned activities, gave a slight nod, and walked back toward Ji An, still sleeping within the circle of Seven-Star Lamps.
---
Inside the dream.
While Xiao and the others were outside strategizing and arranging the schedule for the two of them, Ji An had taken the opportunity to chat a little with the girl.
Their conversation went surprisingly smoothly. Although she was very shy, she answered nearly everything he asked.
Even so, he was careful not to ask carelessly — he hadn't forgotten that this dream journey had a purpose, and the last thing he wanted was to say the wrong thing.
But at the very least, it put his mind at ease.
He had mentally prepared himself to face a fearsome enemy upon entering the dream.
Instead, he had walked in and found a harmless little girl.
Of course, Ji An didn't truly believe she was just an ordinary girl. Those two horns on her head didn't exactly look decorative.
He had seen horned people before — the lawyer Yanfei, for instance, and Lady Ganyu, the secretary from Yujing Terrace, whom he had encountered in passing. It was said they carried the blood of adeptal beasts.
And this girl before him — who was she, really? Why could meeting her in a dream resolve the crisis at The Chasm?
It had something to do with the Geovishaps...
Could it be that she was the rock dragon king Kun Jun had spoken of?
The thought flashed through his mind.
But looking at her shy, uncertain demeanor, he dismissed the idea as absurd.
Ha... how could that be?
If a delicate little girl like her were the rock dragon king, then his good friend Zhongli would have to be the Geo Archon himself.
Ji An shook his head.
Forget it. I'll find out when the time comes. No point guessing now.
At that moment, Xiao's voice came to him, explaining what he needed to do with the girl.
Make sugar figurines, draw fortune slips, watch fireworks, float river lanterns...
He naturally asked Xiao, with some confusion, why they were doing all of this.
Xiao's answer was: "Trust us. Just do as you're told."
Fair enough. It wasn't exactly a hardship.
Though, for some reason, he had a strange sense of déjà vu — as if he had done most of these things with someone before.
A faintly complicated look crossed his face.
Though the difference, of course, was that when he had done those things with Hu Tao, there had been a certain ambiguous warmth between them. Doing them with this little girl felt nothing like that.
It was more like taking a younger sister out for the day.
The ancient city built within the dream was vivid and bustling, filled with pedestrians and vendors.
Earlier, Ji An had been struck by how real the people looked — utterly indistinguishable from the living — and had asked Xiao about it out of curiosity. The answer had surprised him considerably.
"These are all spirits. When exorcising demons, I sometimes encounter those who have never harmed anyone but are difficult to release. I have always entrusted them to the innkeeper at Wangshu Inn for shelter. Since they could be of use within the Oneiric Shallows, I brought them in."
Ji An looked out at the crowd of pedestrians filling the street and bit back what he wanted to say.
He wanted to ask just how many spirits Xiao had crammed into that inn, and whether the living guests ever felt an inexplicable chill.
As he spent time with the girl, he gradually began to suspect she was not quite as shy and retiring as she first appeared.
For instance, when they came to an old man's stall to have sugar figurines made.
The old man — who had clearly been a lively, joke-loving soul in life — patted his chest and said it would be no trouble at all.
But when he finished and handed the figurines to Ji An and the girl, the girl looked down at hers and asked, in a blank voice, why it was a pig's head.
Only then did the old man break into a grin of gleeful mischief and burst out laughing.
He managed only a few laughs before he froze.
He had caught sight of the girl's expression darkening. In an instant, a faint but unmistakable pressure radiated from her — subtle, unintentional, and utterly terrifying. The old man shuddered, very nearly frightened out of his wits.
"Haha — he's quite the character, isn't he?"
Fortunately, Ji An glanced over at just that moment.
By the time he looked, the girl had dropped her gaze again, the picture of shy composure.
-------
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