He changed Tiwat

Paimon shook his head: "No, no, if what you're saying is true, then Aqi is cooperating with you... then why did she save those Haiqi Island soldiers, and why did she help us hold the 'Triangle Road Sacrifice'? Isn't that just ruining her own life?"

"Haha... Lord Paimon is truly naive, oh no, innocent and kind." Yuan Shang chuckled, then quickly corrected himself when he saw Paimon's glare: "Not to brag, but I'm actually the most marginalized apostle in the 'Abyss Order,' the one who's least good at fighting..."

"...You're even proud of being the worst student," Ying muttered to herself.

Yuan Shang hesitated for a moment, then decided to swallow his pride: "In short, even with my help, the dragon lizards still can't defeat the humans on the ground. Seriously, Princess Ying alone is strong enough to suppress the entire Yuanxia Palace. Those two 'evil dragons' were already the strongest dragon lizards in Yuanxia Palace, and you still managed to defeat them, didn't you?"

"Even if all the dragon lizards in the entire Abyss Palace, plus me and my subordinates, could not possibly be your match."

"Mmm." Ying unconsciously straightened her chest and raised her head, as did Paimon.

Although it sounds like flattery, it is the truth. Yingmei was very pleased, and her best friend Paimon was also very pleased.

Yuan Shang lowered his voice: "I guess... the dragon lizards are actually using a 'self-inflicted injury' ruse to send spies into the Coral Palace."

"Think about it, that dragon lizard woman, Aqi, disguised herself as a human and, under the guise of being a 'Sea God Envoy,' helped the soldiers of the Coral Palace infiltrate the palace. Then, she used the excuse of bringing her 'kinsmen' from the seabed to the surface, gradually and secretly replacing the original Coral Palace priestess and seizing the position of power..."

"Finally, we will wipe out all the bloodlines of the White Night Kingdom, complete our revenge, and take control of the Sea God Island!"

"!"

Ying and Paimon both stared wide-eyed.

If what Yuan Shang said is true, then it really is a shocking conspiracy!

Moreover, according to this explanation, many of Agi's seemingly contradictory behaviors can be explained.

Both of them remembered the help A-Chi had given them before, and A-Chi's concern when she worried about their injuries...

They will definitely expose the dragon lizard's conspiracy to Xin Hai.

They were friends with A-Qi, but Xin-Hai was their best friend. They didn't want to see A-Qi hurt, but they didn't want to see Xin-Hai hurt either; relationships always have degrees of closeness...

But if that happens, I won't be able to be friends with A-Chi anymore, right?

"Don't worry, because of my betrayal, they have already failed." Yuan Shang's voice became even more smug. "Didn't I say before that she was taking revenge on me? She was taking revenge on my betrayal, hehe."

"Huh? What did you do?" Paimon asked, puzzled.

"Of course I'm saying there's something wrong with those abyssal black mists."

The goddess, who was translating the experimental records, saw the smug look on Fuchigami's face and interrupted irritably.

"The black mist of the abyss is highly poisonous to any creature in Teyvat, especially the dragon lizards, which are elemental beings. Their bodies are rich in the power of the Light Realm, and they may be able to resist the abyss's corruption at first, but once their power is exhausted, they will be corrupted by the abyss, go mad, lose their sense of self, and become monsters..."

"The dragon lizards certainly didn't expect that if the 'Abyss Order' wanted to seize the Abyss Palace and turn this place where the three realms meet into the abyss, they would definitely not leave any dragon lizards alive. After all, if the dragon lizards could frolic and jump around under the power of the abyss, wouldn't the 'Abyss Order' lose face?"

“Uh, um.” Yuan Shang was embarrassed to continue boasting after being exposed by the Divine Child, and said hesitantly, “That’s how it is. The dragon lizards have now realized the betrayal of the ‘Abyss Order’, so that’s why Agi brought you to find me.”

"Her intention was to rescue the dragon lizard that was sealed in this 'experimental field'."

“The seal set up by the White Night Kingdom here is very strong. I, as an ‘Apostle of the Abyss,’ can use the ley lines to teleport in, but those dragon lizards don’t have that ability.”

"As a dragon lizard, she is not qualified to be the 'hero' of the Coral Palace. She can only use you to hold the 'Triangle Road Sacrifice' ceremony, and then enter here with you in the last step of the ceremony to wait for an opportunity to liberate her people."

He looked at the underground river surrounding the platform: "Besides the two dragon lizards you just defeated, this underground water area is actually home to many juvenile dragon lizards that have been transplanted with 'blood coral'. They are the source of 'blood coral'. If you release them, Haiqi Island will lose the power of 'blood coral' and will be unable to reverse the 'holy land transformation'."

“In this way, even if the dragon lizards’ plot to ‘sacreden’ fails this time, it will surely succeed next time. That Aqi must be guiding those dragon lizards to escape underwater. There is an underwater passage used by the White Night Kingdom researchers back then at the bottom of the dark river. Without the seal blocking the way, they can escape through that passage.”

"If you go down now, you might still be able to stop her... Ah, don't worry, I'll stay here obediently and won't run away. One of you can stay and watch over me, just hurry up and stop her, or Haiqi Island will really be destroyed!"

What Yuanshang said sounded quite sincere, and his suggestions seemed genuinely for their benefit...

Ying and Paimon hesitated, unsure whether they should dive down immediately to stop Aqi.

Han Fulai, however, remained unmoved, continuing to flip through the stack of "Experimental Records of Deep-Sea Dragon Lizards".

He didn't speak until he had turned to the last few pages: "Yuanshang, have you finished reading these experimental records?"

Awaki replied somewhat awkwardly, "I... well, I came to Awaki Palace with a mission. You see, it's about modifying the 'Void Realm Tower,' letting the black mist permeate Awaki Palace, and also finding 'The Past of the Sun and Moon.' It's a lot of work... I don't have time to read the book all the time, so I've only read some of the key parts."

"But I can guarantee that everything I said is the truth!"

Han Fulai sighed: "However, what you called the 'dragon lizard people's' conspiracy, such as turning into human form, 'self-inflicted injury'... it's all fake."

"How could that be? There are historical records to prove it. This isn't the first time they've done something like this!" Yuan Shang protested. "The records mention that the dragon lizards disguised themselves as the lab personnel and sneaked out..."

"...Well, the protagonist of the story, Miss Akasha, the 'Dragon Lizardwoman,' even fell in love with a kind-hearted lab technician, right?"

"She later evolved a mind control ability called 'Code Geass,' which allowed her to defeat enemies with the 'Sword of Akasha,' didn't it...?"

Han Fulai gave a helpless twitch of his lips. "Divine Child, read the last part to him."

The divine child nodded with a smile and read aloud the last paragraph of the "Akasha Record":

"...From this day forward, the experimental project for the Dragon Heir will be changed to one personally designated by the Great God of the Sea. All files prior to the first year of the Sea God Era will be destroyed. The file numbering system of Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon ancient Sea God language will be abolished, and the new classification system of Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Ether, and Void (Akasha) will be adopted."

"Also: Do ​​not write diaries, love letters, or fantasy novels in your lab logs!"

Chapter 329 Shouldn't colleagues be more honest with each other? [4k]

"...The 'Akasha Chronicles' you're looking at is actually a fantasy novel written by researchers from the ancient White Night Kingdom. You're a 'scripture reader' yourself, so you should understand—after spending so much time in the lab, even a female dragon lizard will seem pretty..."

Han Fulai looked at Yuan Shang with a sorrowful expression.

The other three girls had the same expression.

Yuan Shang seemed to have been struck a heavy blow, and instantly knelt down on the ground.

Compared to the physical harm, the psychological attacks he suffered were particularly severe—especially since the person who revealed the cruel truth to him seemed to be very popular with girls…

Han Fulai ignored the dejected Yuan Shang and turned to the Divine Child, saying, "Divine Child, please explain the experimental records of the White Night Kingdom regarding the dragon lizard to everyone."

The Divine Child nodded and began selecting key experimental records to explain to Ying and Paimon: "Number [Water Scroll - 101 - Evolution of the Dragon Heir - Part 1]."

"The evolutionary ability of the dragon offspring (hereinafter referred to as deep-sea dragon lizard or dragon lizard) is obvious to all."

"We tried lowering the temperature of the living space for juvenile heat-resistant dragon lizards. They weakened after reaching adulthood, likely because they lacked the 'seeds' in their bodies to withstand such environments. However, their offspring all possessed the characteristics of high body fat, excessive sleep, and an affinity for ice. (See the experimental data behind the main text. The unusual data in sample three was due to my assistant secretly feeding the subjects in the starvation-resistant control group out of sympathy.)"

"If their offspring are then placed in a hot environment, they will, like their great-grandparents, develop heat-resistant traits as adults. However, they have not yet exhibited fire-element characteristics."

"It's not enough to draw a conclusion yet, but it can confirm the hypothesis. Deep-sea dragons can freely awaken their own 'seeds' before adulthood. And when the dragon mother encounters a harsh environment she has never seen before, she can create new 'seeds' to leave for her offspring."

"Before the Deep Sea Dragon Lizard encountered us, the people of Yuanxia Palace, it already had an entire arsenal hidden inside its body."

"..."

“Number [Void - 207 - Research on the Intelligence of the Dragon Lizard]”.

"The results of the intelligence experiment are surprising. By using a mechanism of punishment and reward in parallel (in fact, according to previous research, selection is not necessary. Each individual lizard is a perfect fit), the language comprehension ability of the lizards after four generations has approached that of a human schoolchild with the intelligence level of a twelve-year-old. Or to be more precise, the lizards already have their own way of communicating, and they have demonstrated the ability to learn in this experiment."

"We think this research should be stopped. Otherwise, the last guy who wrote the dragon-man fantasy story might make us look short-sighted."

"According to the prophecy, the Water Dragon King will be born in human form. We must not let this happen in the Abyss Palace."

"..."

“Number [Void-907-Sea Goddess Special Order · One]”.

"Previous transplants all failed. The dragon lizard's body would experience various adverse reactions because it couldn't accommodate the blood of the sea spirit. I don't know if it's because it's still not strong enough. By planning the dragon lizard's evolutionary path, we have theoretically bred the strongest dragon lizard."

"..."

“Number [Void-907-Sea Goddess Special Order · Three]”.

"The transplant was basically successful. The rejection was actually due to the dragon lizard, as a creature of the light realm (or elemental creature), fighting against the human forces of the Great God and the Coral Familiar."

"All experimental records are now complete. The experiment is now finished. None of the dragon offspring recorded here died as a result of the experiment; all of them lived to a ripe old age."

"Praise be to the compassionate heart of the sea god Ōmikami".

The goddess concluded, "Based on the experimental records we have, we can confirm that the dragon lizard is indeed an intelligent life form, possessing an intelligence equivalent to or even higher than that of a human school-aged child, and exhibiting a strong learning ability."

"At the same time, it also has a special 'seed' weaving function, which can change the genetic characteristics of offspring to adapt to the environment. It is not unreasonable to say that the dragon lizard is a higher organism that can continuously 'evolve'."

"But things like 'dragon lizard people' are just the product of ancient researchers' imaginations. Evolutionary experiments on dragon lizards stopped two thousand years ago. Moreover, the people of the White Night Kingdom seem to be very wary of the possibility of the ancient 'elemental dragon king' being resurrected, so they consciously prohibit so-called 'intelligence research'."

"Later, their research on dragon lizards completely shifted to experiments on the 'practicality' of cultivating 'blood coral'."

"These experimental records mention that the White Night Kingdom attempted to fuse the power of the dragon lizard with the bloodline of the sea spirits during the experiment of cultivating 'blood branch coral,' which is an experiment to 'transform' people into 'elemental life.' And such 'experimental subjects' are 'sea spirit envoys.'"

“Aqi’s special characteristics—such as her vertical pupils and her marine-like vocalizations—are all due to the fact that her bloodline as a ‘Sea God Envoy’ possesses some characteristics of a dragon lizard. In addition, she has always lived in the ‘Dragon Lizard World’ and has a certain degree of elemental life form, so her lifestyle is likely to be similar to that of the dragon lizard population.”

"If the characteristics of elemental life are 'dragon lizard people'... then Yuan Shang, you may possess the bloodline of a fire elemental dragon lizard, so you are also a 'dragon lizard person'?"

Yuan Shang was completely speechless.

The divine child smiled and said, "Actually, there was a bit of blind luck in what he just said—Aki's real purpose in bringing us here might really be to save the dragon lizards imprisoned in this 'Dragon Lizard Arena'."

“From her perspective, these dragon lizards that feed the ‘Blood Branch Coral’ with their own flesh and blood are clearly ‘people’ who are enslaved and suffering in the White Night Kingdom. One of the reasons Coral Palace established the ‘Resistance Army’ is to liberate the people who are forced into hard labor in Tasha by the Heavenly Commander… In this respect, what Aqi did is no different from what Coral Palace did.”

"As for the 'Blood Branch Coral,' we have obtained enough. Once this 'Triangle Road Sacrifice' is over, the 'sanctification' of the Abyss Palace can be resolved once and for all. There is no point in keeping those dragon lizards here any longer."

Her implication was clear: she wouldn't stop Aki from releasing the baby dragon lizards hiding underwater. Moreover, in the eyes of the High Priest, this was tantamount to doing Aki a favor, which would be more conducive to future peace with the "Dragon Lizard World."

Han Fulai clearly shared the same view, so he did not suggest stopping Aji.

Ying and Paimeng were neither in a position to object nor to object.

...Thus, Aqi, who was guiding the baby dragon lizard to escape underwater, successfully rescued his "tribe".

Only Yuan Shang looked dejected—this time, he came to Yuanxia Palace only to have his subordinate die, be beaten, and even tied up and mocked face-to-face. It seemed he hadn't accomplished a single task he was supposed to complete…

The upgrade from "Scripture Reader" to "Priest of the Deep" is a no-brainer.

It is foreseeable that if he manages to return to the cult, he will at least receive a severe punishment.

The good news is that Lord Ed, the "Guardian of Secrets" who was previously in charge of punishing the apostles and was known as the "Apostle of Destiny," recently sacrificed himself in the Abyss of Layered Rocks.

Otherwise, by the standards of that "secret envoy," he would have been doomed if he had gone back.

Of course, Yuan Shang didn't know that the "Secret Envoy" had actually died indirectly at Han Fulai's hands; otherwise, he would be thanking the man who tied him up and gave him a beating...

Yuan Shang was dejected for a short while before putting on a fawning face again, pleading with Ying in a hesitant voice, "Well, Your Highness Ying, I've told you everything I needed to tell you, and I've learned my lesson... Please, considering how cooperative I've been, could you let me off the hook?"

As a scholar, Yuan Shang was always very flexible, but his pride was always even more fragile than his physical appearance... It's better to live a miserable life than to die a good death.

Licking the "prince" is licking, licking the "princess" is also licking!

If he goes back and tells the "Prince" that he helped the "Princess" this time, the "Prince" will probably take care of him secretly, even if he doesn't say it.

To be honest, purely from a personal perspective, he actually quite liked "Princess." Well, not in a romantic way, but more like the kind of liking one has for an easy-going boss… Keeping "Princess" happy is a merit in itself!

Ying was actually in a bit of a dilemma.

Logically speaking, it's despicable that Yuan Shang released black mist to interfere with the "Sea Spirit Festival" and even tried to use her as a tool to destroy the peace between humans and dragon lizards... Even putting all that aside, the "Abyss Apostle" is definitely a bad guy. Adhering to the principle of eliminating evil completely, cutting him down with a single sword is the simplest thing to do.

But then again, Yuan Shang's appearance really doesn't qualify him to be a villain—really, doing bad things requires talent.

The worst thing someone like Yuan Shang could do is probably steal books from the library without paying... and he'd most likely get caught and beaten up.

Although the Abyss Order is a villainous group, her own brother is also in this villainous group, which makes it impossible for her to say "the entire Abyss Order deserves to die" in the same way she says "the Fools deserve to die".

Thinking about Yuan Shang, it seems he has always been quite cooperative, sending him "imperial reins" and books, and not daring to fight back even after being beaten. It seems there is no reason to completely eliminate him.

But to just let him go like that feels like a waste...

Ying looked at Han Fulai and Shenzi with some hesitation, wanting to ask for their opinions.

Han Fulai slowly put away the stack of "Deep Sea Dragon Lizard Experiment Records," then squatted down, stretched out his hand to Yuan Shang, and said, "Letting you go is certainly possible, but not now—because you still have something to give me."

"Wh-what?" Yuan Shang looked blank, as if he didn't understand what he was saying.

Han Fulai gently shook his head: "Yuanshang, what you just said was a classic case of 'nine parts truth and one part falsehood.' You can fool others, but you can't fool me..."

“We’re all clerical workers, all doing the grunt work for our bosses, so we’re practically colleagues. Shouldn’t we be a little more honest with each other? Otherwise, you get beaten up for nothing, I waste my time, and nobody’s happy.”

Yuan Shang was still bewildered: "I...I don't understand what you're saying..."

Han Fulai pulled something directly from his pocket—

That piece of jewelry that the sea of ​​his heart gave him.

He held the fragments of the ornament up to Yuan Shang and shook them.

"I want that fragment you have, the 'key item' used to control Aru's 'ritual images' and the entire 'Triangle Road Sacrifice' process. If you don't hand it over, I'm afraid I'll let you go, and then you'll set me up for trouble."

"..."

Yuan Shang, who was usually very talkative, suddenly fell silent.

Han Fulai smiled and said, "I know you don't have the authority to decide this, and I understand your difficulties. I won't make things difficult for you. How about I talk to your boss directly?"

The abyss remained silent.

Han Fulai turned to the Divine Child: "Divine Child, Aqi and her 'clan' should have left by now, right?"

The divine child nodded: "Don't worry, I've checked. There are only a few of us here now. Oh, and those two paralyzed dragon lizards too."