He changed Tiwat

Nasita, you're too easy to bully! Why do you always think the best of people?

Damn it, what that guy said seems to be true. Nasita, in her current state, may really not be suitable to be a god who rules a country.

Although Paimon doesn't understand anything about governing a country, she does know three of the "Seven Rulers of the Mortal World".

Wendy, the "drunkard," may seem unreliable at first glance, but when she gets serious, she can turn "Pointed Hat Peak" into "Musk Reef." And don't let her usual carefree attitude fool you; she's got a lot of tricks up her sleeve.

Needless to say, Zhongli, the "street hustler," even though he has now "passed away," his title of "Rock King Emperor" still influences the entire Teyvat continent. Isn't Han Fulai's most frightening title "Successor of the Emperor"?

And then there's "country bumpkin" Aying... no, I mean General Thunder. Her "Unthinking Slash," and the red bean rice that rivals it, Paimon never wants to experience again.

To put it bluntly, in Paimon's simple values, these three are all "not to be trifled with." Any one of them could turn her into "emergency food." Paimon, a small company, can't afford to offend them.

As for Nasita... offending her is like offending cotton.

If Paimon were to give Nasita a nickname, it would probably be—"Silly Boy"? Because Nasita really does give off a "silly" vibe...

While Paimon was lost in thought, Nasita seemed to have made up her mind about something.

She suddenly said, "I... am very curious."

"Huh?" Paimon was taken aback. "What are you curious about?"

Nasida looked up, her eyes filled with a strange light: "I'm very curious about what method Mr. Han will use to break the cycle of reincarnation... This may be new knowledge that I have never seen before, and I want to learn from him."

"Huh?" Paimon's mouth dropped open.

This kid seems a bit silly. He was scolded like that, yet he still wants to "learn" from others?

Nasita nodded seriously and said, "Let's go and see. If Mr. Han can solve this 'reincarnation of the Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival,' then I should learn this method even more, so that I can better protect Dina Zede and the others in the future."

“You…I…this…” Paimon stammered, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time.

She really didn't know how to evaluate Nasita's peculiar thought process.

After a brief pause of about half a minute, Paimon finally stamped his foot: "Alright, since you've put it that way, I'll go with you to find them... but..."

She glanced around the outside of the "Temple of Maya" a few times.

During that brief delay, those two people had already vanished without a trace, and Paimon had no idea where they had gone.

Nasita stretched out her small hand to the ground not far away, and a green light flashed in her hand, as if she had picked something up from the ground.

Paimon realized that what Narcida had picked up was the "Void Terminal" that she had recently discarded.

Chapter 82 Leaving the City

Nasita wrapped her hands around the "Void Terminal" and slowly floated into the air, as if she were casting some kind of spell. A moment later, the "Void Terminal" suddenly flashed a deep green light.

“I just used some of the powers of ‘Void’ to modify this ‘Void Terminal’ and unlock its communication and positioning functions. Now we can use it to connect to the ‘Void Terminal’ on Ying’s body. Although I can’t completely control ‘Void’, I can still do this little thing.”

As she said this, Naxida's little face showed a childlike sense of pride.

Paimon blinked, staring at the "Void Terminal" in her hand.

Soon, Ying's voice came from the "Void Terminal": "Where are we going next?"

Han Fulai's voice followed, and he only replied with two words: "Leave the city."

"Leave the city?" Yingmei looked around in confusion. "I thought you wanted to go to the Order House."

Han Fulai walked quite fast, and his destination seemed very clear. In less than fifteen minutes, he went from the Grand Bazaar to Baoshang Street.

Baoshang Street is the only way to reach the Church of Jesus.

"The Order of the Sages?" Han Fulai continued walking, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Are you trying to eliminate the Great Sage? Or are you trying to find the 'Void'?"

“Uh…” Ying hadn’t really thought that much about it, but since Han Fulai said so, she went along with it and said, “Yes, we all know that the Great Sage is the culprit. Finding him might force him to stop this ‘cycle of the Flower Goddess’s Birthday Festival.’ In addition, this dream was created using ‘void.’ Destroying ‘void’ might also stop the ‘cycle.’”

Han Fulai's attitude towards Ying was quite good, which could be described as "patient and persuasive," a stark contrast to his attitude towards Naxida: "Hmm, although it's not the correct answer, the idea is quite good. If you can't solve the problem, you can solve the person who created it. That is indeed a solution."

"Unfortunately, if we can think of this, Hazard certainly can too. Do you think a schemer like Hazard would leave such an obvious flaw? If capturing Hazard could stop the 'cycle,' then Hazard would definitely be hiding somewhere we can't catch him. Similarly, the 'Void' wouldn't be placed where we can reach it."

“The Hazard we saw in the previous two ‘cycles’ was not the real Hazard. He went to the Grand Bazaar, where public resentment was boiling, to announce an ‘art ban,’ but he risked being beaten to a pulp by the people of the Grand Bazaar. In addition, if he were in this ‘cycle,’ he would also have to bear the ‘wear and tear’ of the ‘cycle.’”

"Hazard would never allow himself to be in such a dangerous place."

"Furthermore, the 'Void' has the ability to create 'dolls' using memories. A great sage who controls the 'Void' should be able to actively use the 'Void' to create 'dolls'. The great sage Hazard we met the first two times was just a 'doll Hazard' created using Hazard's memories."

"Moreover, the Sumeru City in the dream is just a 'setup,' just like the stage set in the Zuber Theater. How could there be a real 'void' in a fake Sumeru City?"

Ying recalled the Great Sage who was scolded by Han Fulai to the point of vomiting blood and collapsing in the first "reincarnation"... Hmm, indeed, if that was the real Hazard, then the "mastermind" was far too weak to handle...

As for the "Void," Ying didn't even know what it looked like. Even if she were to break into the Church of Heaven in reality and search it upside down, she might not be able to find it.

"But the road out of the city isn't this way, is it? Isn't this...?"

Looking at Han Fulai's face, Ying had another question.

The building before them was the place they had visited during their first "reincarnation"—the headquarters of the "Thirty-Person Group," the "Gathering Sand Hall."

This place is basically equivalent to the General Affairs Office of Liyue Harbor. The mercenaries who maintain order in Sumeru City are stationed here, making it arguably the most heavily guarded place in Sumeru City.

The mercenaries in the "thirty-man group" are mostly Azar's lackeys, and coming here would easily lead to conflict with them. With Ying and Han Fulai's strength, they certainly aren't afraid of those mercenaries, but there's no need for them to specifically come to this place to invite trouble, is there?

Han Fulai gestured with his eyes: "This is the road out of the city. I noticed it during the first 'reincarnation'. Now is the time when there are the fewest people in the 'Gathering Sand Hall'—don't forget, early this morning, almost all the mercenaries were dispatched by the Great Sage to 'lock down the city'."

“As long as we climb over the wall of the ‘Gathering Sand Hall’, we can reach the outside of Sumeru City.”

"Moreover, the three 'cycles' we have experienced, including this one, have one thing in common: the Great Sage will definitely order a 'city lockdown'."

After he mentioned it, Ying remembered it too.

Indeed, the content of the "Flora Festival" may change in various ways due to their actions—for example, the choice of Yalda candies, the process of the kidnapping, and even the repertoire of the theatrical performances... but the "lockdown" is the only thing that is beyond their control.

That was the command of the great sage Hazard, or rather, the will of Hazard.

Ying instantly understood Han Fulai's reason for leaving the city: "Hazar ordered the 'city lockdown' because there must be some secret hidden outside Sumeru City that he doesn't want others to discover!"

“That’s right,” Han Fulai said with a smile. “The more Hazard doesn’t want us to leave the city, the more we should go out and take a look. Moreover, from a practical point of view, the farther away from the city, the worse the signal from the ‘Void’ will be. Outside the city, there should be areas that the ‘Void’ cannot cover.”

"In other words, there may be variables that the 'void' cannot control."

“The phase is going on longer than expected. If this continues, there may be casualties…” Setare’s voice sounded a bit tense.

Since the “secret project” officially began, Setare has been monitoring the data of “reincarnation”.

In theory, this "secret project" that integrates the "wisdom" of the entire Sumeru City should not have any possibility of failure.

But reality is not theory.

Humans are not machines.

...Therefore, people who could not bear the "reincarnation" began to appear.

Setare's monitoring screen showed several missing nodes, indicating that someone had lost consciousness in the "reincarnation," and this number was slowly increasing as the "reincarnation" progressed.

The great sage behind the desk also stared up at the monitor screen. After a long while, he finally spoke: "But we... can no longer accept that all our previous efforts have been in vain."

“Continue to ‘harvest,’ these are insignificant costs compared to the results.”

Chapter 83 Awakening Dixia [4k]

As Han Fulai said, today's "Jusha Hall" is perhaps the weakest point in the entire Xumi City.

The mercenaries of the "Thirty-Man Group" received orders from the Great Sage to set up checkpoints at various city gates and major transportation routes in Sumeru City. In addition, many more people were assigned to patrol the city. Only a small team of a few dozen people remained at the "Gathering Sand Hall" headquarters.

With such a small staff, they're already too busy handling routine cases and trivial neighborhood disputes to keep track of the two foreign tourists.

Han Fulai and Yingmei made their way to the backyard of "Jusha Hall" without alerting anyone. From there, they climbed over the wall and went to the western suburbs of Xumi City.

The western suburbs farm has no city walls for protection; it is surrounded by fields and rainforest. You can easily find a small path and wander into the rainforest to completely leave the area of ​​Sumeru City.

However, just as the two were about to climb over the wall and leave, an uninvited guest appeared—

"Hey, what are you doing at 'Gathering Sand Hall'?"

The one who raised the question was Desia, who clearly hadn't expected them to meet here.

Han Fulai didn't answer immediately, but frowned and asked, "Why are you here? Did something happen to Dina Zedai?"

As Dina Zede's personal bodyguard, Dixia would never be separated from her young lady under normal circumstances, unless Dina Zede also came to the "Gathering Sand Hall".

But today's Dina Zede is a "doll" created out of thin air, only acting according to Dina Zede's past memories, even when visiting the "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival" she acts like "clocking in for work"... It's impossible for such a Dina Zede to "suddenly have a whim" and run to the "Gathering Sand Hall".

“We did encounter an unexpected turn of events. We were kidnapped on our way out of the Grand Bazaar.” Dixia’s expression was grave. “It was the ‘Remnants of the God-King.’ They ambushed us on our way home, intending to kidnap Miss and demand a ransom from the Huma’s family… Of course, I dealt with them.”

"The patrol of the 'thirty-man squad' arrived shortly afterward, and the young lady and I followed them back to the 'Gathering Sand Hall.' The young lady was frightened and was resting inside."

She then pointed to the room behind her.

"This is Asfard's residence. He's an old acquaintance of mine. I just used some of my connections to ask him to use the 'Thirty-Man Group's' network of relationships to thoroughly investigate who the mastermind is... The 'Legend of the God-King' was able to track down Miss's whereabouts and set up an ambush in advance, so someone must have been providing information behind the scenes."

Asfard is an advisor to the "Thirty-Man Group" and a veteran mercenary with high prestige and extensive connections in the industry. When they first arrived in Sumeru City, Ying and Paimon made a special trip to the "Gathering Sand Hall" to ask this advisor for information about the Little Lucky Grass King. Desia also consults Asfard when she needs information.

Han Fulai wasn't surprised at all, but rather sighed, "Is that so... we still couldn't avoid it. It seems that 'kidnapping' is an 'inevitable event.' The process and the outcome can be changed, but the event will definitely happen."

His previous request for Dixia to take Dina Zede away was part of a test, to see if the "kidnapping" could be avoided by changing Dina Zede's movements.

In retrospect, this was an "inevitable event" orchestrated by Hazard himself, a "main plot" within the dream, and absolutely unavoidable.

Of course, this was not unexpected for him. He now fully understood why Hazard would orchestrate the kidnapping. This kidnapping simply confirmed his previous suspicions once again.

Ying noticed the blood-stained bandage on Dixia's arm: "Dixia, are you injured?"

Dixia grinned and nonchalantly moved her injured arm: "It's just a scratch, it's nothing."

In reality, the battle was far more dangerous than Desia described so casually.

The enemy consisted of five people lying in ambush, all of them highly skilled, and possessed the strange "divine knowledge in a jar" that enhanced their power. Desia had to fight while protecting Dinazede. The wound on her arm was from when Dinazede was attacked by Boji and managed to withstand the enemy's attack.

Dixia quickly changed the subject: "Speaking of which, I have another question for you, Mr. Jiang Xue. Where did you learn about the movements of the 'Relics of the God-King'? I know the rules of the trade. It's normal for people in our line of work to keep some secret sources of information. I understand if you don't want to reveal it..."

"But if possible, I hope you can help me find the mastermind behind this. I will make them understand that the people protected by the 'Blazing Beast Hunter' are not to be trifled with. In addition, both I and Master Huma are willing to pay for this. Name your price."

Han Fulai remained silent for a short while.

He wasn't thinking about the reward; he was wondering whether or not to tell Dixia the truth.

He quickly made a decision.

According to Nasita, the truth about "reincarnation" can only be discovered by the person involved. Telling the truth to others will have a mental impact on the person involved and may even cause great harm... But Han Fulai decided to tell Dixia the truth.

There are two reasons.

First, they were in a hurry and didn't have much time to slowly guide others to discover the truth. A short, sharp pain was better than a long, drawn-out one. Forcibly waking up Dixia might harm her, and the continued "reincarnation" would also "wear down" Dixia's spirit. In comparison, if he personally woke up Dixia, he could protect her nearby, and he could control any danger that might arise in time.

Secondly, it seems that Desia herself also sensed something. This morning, when he asked Desia to take Dina Zede away from the Grand Bazaar, the name "Legacy of the God-King" inexplicably came out of Desia's mouth. Although she didn't have specific memories of the kidnapping, it was clear that some "déjà vu" remained in her subconscious.

Moreover, Dixia possesses the Eye of God, making her physical condition far superior to that of ordinary people. A slight mental shock should not cause her much harm—and even if there is any harm, Han Fulai is confident in his ability to treat it.

Having made up his mind, Han Fulai no longer hesitated and said directly, "Dishia, what I'm about to say may seem unbelievable to you at first, but I hope you can believe me. This isn't the first time Dina Zede has been kidnapped, and it's not the first time we've faced kidnappers from the 'Legacy of the God-King'."

“We are now in an incredibly real dream, going through an endless cycle of the ‘Flower Goddess’s Birthday Festival’. Before this, we have spent two ‘Flower Goddess’s Birthday Festivals’ together, and the kidnapping has already happened twice. This is the third time. That’s why I was able to ‘foresee’ the kidnapping and try to help you avoid it.”

Dixia's first reaction was disbelief: "Huh? What are you talking about? Three 'Flower Goddess's Birthday Festivals,' three kidnappings... Why don't I have any recollection of this?"

Honestly, if Dixia hadn't witnessed Han Jiangxue's abilities firsthand and known his identity as a "disciple of immortals," she would definitely have asked him if he had encountered some strange missionary—

There are indeed many such missionaries in the desert. Some are spreading the belief in the "resurrection of the Red King," while others are missionaries from the Fools of Winter Kingdom... What these missionaries have in common is that they all like to talk about the word "reincarnation."

The desert missionaries believed that the "Red King" would be reborn in "reincarnation" and restore the glory of the Great Red Sand Sea, while the missionaries of the Fools advocated that the whole world was in a certain cycle, and only by believing in their god could one break out of this cycle and go to a new world.

...Well, anyway, Dixia didn't believe a single word of it.

Ying nervously whispered to Han Fulai, "Isn't it a bad idea to tell her the truth directly? What if it really has a psychological impact on Dixia?"

"It's alright." Han Fulai had already secretly prepared a "Binding Spirit True Dharma Seal" in his hand.

Although this is a dreamlike illusion, the talismans of the Liyue Clan are a type of "Word of Power," capable of affecting the spiritual world, and thus useful to Deshia in the dream. If Deshia shows symptoms of mental shock, Han Fulai will simply slap the talisman onto her forehead.

While preparing his hands, Han Fulai's mouth didn't stop either, still prompting Dixia: "Dixia, think carefully, do you have any 'déjà vu' about this kidnapping case? Or have you noticed anything unusual about the people and things around you recently, for example, the unusual things about Dina Zede?"

"Déjà vu...unusual...?" Dixia's expression was still puzzled, but she could tell that Han Fulai was not joking with her, and Ying seemed to agree with his statement.

These two couldn't possibly be conspiring to mess with me, could they?

So Desia tried very hard to recall what had happened recently.

A strange sense of déjà vu began to appear in her mind.

The reason why "Blazing Lion" Dixia has earned such a great reputation is not only because of her formidable martial prowess, but also because of the keen intuition she has honed in the face of life and death.

Although she did not retain the memories of the previous two "reincarnations," her intuition did detect some anomalies in her life, but because those anomalies did not seem dangerous, Dixia subconsciously ignored them.

However, some unusual phenomena, especially one related to Miss Dina Zede, alerted Dixia's intuition.

“Speaking of which… there’s something that’s been bothering me.” She looked down at her injured arm. “When I was injured protecting Miss, her reaction was a bit strange… she seemed terrified, very scared, and even tried to push me away and run away. After I dealt with those people, she didn’t even ask about my injury…”