Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

They might as well just change the name of their business...

"Can't you do it?" Diluc asked, somewhat disappointed.

"No, it was just a surprise. However, in accordance with the client's professional ethics, I will not pry into their privacy. We will strictly fulfill the client's request for funeral arrangements as stated in the contract."

Jiang Bai emphasized the words "what happens after death".

Their funeral parlor is for ceremonies, not for any weird or strange things!

What happens after his death, this is what happens after his death.

Diluc didn't miss the point either.

"Okay, I'll talk to you again after this is over." Diluc nodded, not intending to say anything more here.

Hearing his words, Kaiya couldn't help but feel a little helpless. "Is it really necessary? You're so young, and you're already thinking about what happens after you die..."

"Is Diluc going to a dangerous place?" Klee asked, looking at him.

Diluc didn't react to Kaeya's words, but he comforted Klee with a remark, "No, it's just a precaution."

Klee didn't quite understand, but since everyone seemed unconcerned, she didn't ask any further questions.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't ignore me so openly!" Kaeya was very annoyed that Diluc had repeatedly treated him like he was invisible.

Diluc's gaze finally fell on him again, but his tone was not very friendly.

"What, the Knights want to fight me?"

Kaeya chuckled awkwardly and changed the subject, "How should we deal with this abyss mage?"

He looked at the Ice Abyss Mage who was still unconscious, and his expression turned serious.

"I have a feeling that this Stormterror rampage is inextricably linked to the Cult of the Abyss!"

Jiang Bai curiously walked up to the abyss mage, squatted down, and poked the strange abyss mage with his finger.

Klee also wanted to go see the strange, furry creature, but Kaeya stopped her.

Abyss mages are dangerous, and Klee is too young to be exposed to them.

Jiang Bai had encountered several Abyss Mages, but the three he remembered most vividly were the ones at Lonely Cloud Pavilion.

However, he didn't really know much about Abyss Mages.

Diluc struck just right, stunning it without killing it outright. Even when Jiang Bai poked it with his finger, the abyss mage didn't wake up.

Looking at the mask on the Abyss Mage's face, which seemed to be integrated with the furry headgear, Jiang Bai grabbed the two ears on the hat and tugged at them.

The Abyss Mage's hat was pulled off, revealing his true face hidden beneath the mask.

how to say?

The Abyss Mage without clothes is ugly, very ugly.

Like an ice-blue stick figure, its body was completely hairless, and its face, which could barely be called a face, consisted of two dark holes and a mouth below for speaking.

It has two limp tentacles on its head that can barely be called ears.

After seeing his true appearance, Jiang Bai quickly put the hood back on him.

No wonder they wear masks; they definitely look better in masks.

However, judging from the abyss mage's clothing, the patterns are exquisite, the colors are bright, and it has a certain aesthetic appeal, which doesn't seem to be something that ordinary monsters could make.

"The Abyss Mage is quite different from the monsters I've encountered before."

The only monsters he has encountered so far are Hilichurls, dragon lizards, slimes, and Spellflowers, but Abyss Mages are completely different from these low-intelligence monsters. They possess higher intelligence than these monsters, can use elemental power more skillfully, and can even manipulate lower-level Hilichurls.

Diluc walked over, looking at the short abyss mage with a cold expression.

"Abyss mages are the lowest-ranking executors of the Abyss Order. They can manipulate the minds of Hilichurls. Even though they are not strong themselves, their intelligence makes them much more difficult to deal with."

This was the second time Jiang Bai had heard them mention the [Abyss Order], and he couldn't help but ask:

What exactly is the Abyss Order?

He had never heard of this level of strength before, and even the hall master probably didn't know about it.

"This is a very large force, spread throughout Teyvat, engaged in all sorts of conspiracies and sabotage, and these abyss mages are their low-level enforcers."

Jiang Bai seemed thoughtful. "So, the Hilichurls' equipment and weapons were actually provided by the Abyss Order. Even the use of crossbows was taught to them by these Abyss mages. They use Hilichurls, manipulating these low-level monsters, to commit various acts of destruction..."

Diluc nodded, his expression showing approval.

He didn't mention that the crossbows used by the Hilichurls were standard weapons, but Jiang Bai was able to realize the anomaly of the Hilichurls possessing standard weapons and quickly connected the two.

That's a pretty good reaction time.

Jiang Bai was squatting down and didn't see Diluc's expression.

He rested his chin on his hand, his thoughts drifting further and further away.

"But what is their purpose? Is it simply that the two races are incompatible? Or do they have other motives?"

Although humans and monsters belong to two different races, he had friendly contact with Hilichurls. By standing further away, he was able to transcend human aversion and look at the conflict between the two races from the most fundamental perspective.

Human activities require territory, and so do the activities of Hilichurls. When the areas of activity of the two sides conflict, they will drive each other away and attack each other.

This applies to different races, and also to those within the same race.

This is the most fundamental conflict between humans and Hilichurls.

These most basic contradictions gradually evolved into more contradictions: the loss of loved ones and friends, the pain of lost homes, accumulated over countless years, hatred seeped into their very bones, the two sides were hostile to each other, and peace was never possible.

However, if neither side interferes, humans will not actively attack the Hilichurls living deep in the mountains and forests.

Hilichurls rarely approach human cities on their own initiative, and only a few venture near human activity areas.

Abyss mages have transcended the category of low-level monsters and possess intelligence equivalent to that of humans. To say that such creatures would lay down such schemes and tricks simply because of a grudge between humans and monsters, and only to harm a small group of people, would be far too simplistic.

Unless, of course, they want to completely annihilate humanity and make Teyvat entirely their monster territory.

However, for humans protected by gods, this is destined to be impossible, unless the Abyss Order possesses power comparable to that of the gods.

But if that's the case, is it necessary to resort to such sneaky tricks?

Is it because they know they cannot achieve these goals, so they resort to second best and disturb the peace of humankind?

Chapter 199 I have high hopes for you

Jiang Bai couldn't guess, but that didn't stop him from being extremely wary of this organization.

Regardless of the Abyss Order's motives, we must not let our guard down.

Think about it, these abyss mages can control Hilichurls, and if there are enough of them, a monster siege could easily break out if you're not careful.

No wonder Mondstadt has such high walls; this kind of thing has probably happened many times before.

In comparison, Liyue is incredibly peaceful under the protection of the immortals.

“No one knows what these monsters’ true purpose is, but the Stormterror’s attack on Mondstadt must have been orchestrated by them!” Kaeya stepped forward and answered Jiang Bai’s question.

The Knights have never let their guard down against the Abyss Order.

"Anyway, you guys go back and find Qin first. I need to interrogate this abyss mage to see if I can get any information."

"Huh, could it be that you can understand what the Abyss Mage is saying?" Jiang Bai discovered the blind spot.

He couldn't understand a word the Abyss Mage usually spoke; the strange language was comparable to Hilichurls.

Kaeya looked at him speechlessly, "You don't know that Abyss Mages can speak our human language, do you?"

“Liyue is very peaceful. I only work in the funeral industry, how could I have the opportunity to come into contact with these things? It’s normal that I don’t know.” Jiang Bai put his hands on his hips and said it with a straight face.

When he encounters an Abyss Mage, he either kills them or gets beaten up; the game always starts immediately, so there's never an option to communicate.

If the Abyss Mage could speak human language and understand Hilichurls, wouldn't it be possible to capture an Abyss Mage and have it act as a translator in the Hilichurl camp in the snowy mountain cave, thus enabling him to understand the Hilichurls' language?

But then he thought again that it wouldn't work.

The Abyss Mage is capable of manipulating Hilichurls, and his act of bringing the Abyss Mage there was likely a case of inviting trouble.

If the translation fails and the Hilichurls are controlled instead, it will be a net loss.

Furthermore, it's unknown whether there are special ways for Abyss Mages to communicate. If an Abyss Mage didn't know about the camp before, but he took it there and all the Abyss Mages found out, that would be terrible.

"If you want to do this job well, you'd better read more books," Diluc said, arms crossed.

The current soul transferee is still far from meeting his requirements.

“My Dawn Winery has a large collection of books. You are welcome to come and sit down if you have time.”

Jiang Bai would certainly not refuse an invitation from Mondstadt's richest man to come to his home to read books.

He nodded and then asked, "This kind of common-sense information that ordinary people don't come into contact with wouldn't be recorded in normal books, would it?"

He had also read many books in the Wangsheng Hall collection, but he had never seen any of these contents recorded in any of them.

"Having the Eye of God means you can no longer be considered an ordinary person," Diluc corrected Jiang Bai's statement.

“I have a notebook at home that I wrote, which contains a lot of this kind of common sense content, and it should be helpful to you.”

Diluc has high hopes for Jiang Bai; to be precise, he has high hopes for Jiang Bai's future.

The ability to accurately locate the remains of Katis in the vast snow-covered mountains and to work with Abedo to destroy the giant Frost Spike is exceptional.

After the matter was over, he also perfectly fulfilled Katis's last wish, handed over his belongings, and published the story buried in the snow mountain as a book, which can be described as fulfilling his duties.

Since he had this idea, he had investigated Jiang Bai and Wangshengtang.

The Hall of Rebirth is a prestigious name in Liyue, with an excellent reputation.

Jiang Bai, the only soul-ferryman at the Hall of Rebirth, also had a very strange experience.

The fact that Jiang Bai woke up from the coffin was not hidden. Anyone who wanted to investigate could find out, including the fact that he had lost his memory.

In Diluc's eyes, this was not a bad thing.

Although his true identity is unknown, he has lost his past memories. The time after his awakening is equivalent to the reconstruction of his memories, and his understanding of the world is completely new.

To some extent, his background is very clean.

A soul-ferryman with divine vision, extraordinary abilities, a strong sense of duty, and who frequently needs to travel around, perfectly suits his needs and is also very suitable for their intelligence organization.

However, although he had the idea of ​​inviting the other person to join the organization, he still needed to see for himself what kind of person they were and whether it was worth inviting them.

This is also why his attitude towards Jiang Bai is different.

Jiang Bai naturally noticed that Diluc's attitude towards him was different, a bit too friendly.

However, he didn't really care. Whatever Diluc's reasons for being friendly to him, it wouldn't do him any harm.

"Then I shall respectfully accept your offer."

Speaking of books, Jiang Bai also remembered something he had forgotten for a long time: "Do you know anyone who understands the Hilichurl language? Or any books on the subject?"

"Why are you suddenly asking this?" Kaiya asked.

"I find the Hilichurls' language quite interesting, but I can't understand it and want to study it."

He had originally intended to do this when he left the snow mountain, but he forgot about it and only remembered it now.

“There is indeed a scholar in Mondstadt who studies the language of the Hilichurls. I’ll introduce you to him once this matter is resolved.”

After Kaiya finished speaking, he picked up Keli and placed her in Jiang Bai's arms. "Now, let's take Keli and leave! We need to get down to business."

“Okay…” Holding Keli, Jiang Bai looked back and felt a little puzzled.

He felt that the relationship between Kaeya and Diluc was strange.

Even though Diluc wasn't a member of the Knights of Favonius, Kaeya planned to join him in interrogating the Abyss Mage.

Since they kicked him and Klee out, it means that these internal affairs of the Knights of Favonius are not suitable for them to know, but Diluc happens to be outside this scope.

After leaving the temple, Jiang Bai put Klee down. "Klee, what do you think is the relationship between Kaeya and Diluc?"

Klee shook her head. "Klee doesn't know."

On his way from the temple to Mondstadt, Jiang Bai encountered Amber and Kong, who had also finished dealing with the power nodes.

Paimon also saw Jiang Bai. Floating in the sky, she crossed her arms and muttered something.

"He's a weirdo who just hands out flyers randomly."

“What weirdo? I have a name too.” Jiang Bai reached out and tapped her headdress, which made a crisp sound.