Meanwhile...
Once Yelan realized she'd been discovered, she didn't dare linger. Memories of Luo Qing taking control of her body and forcing her to sing that humiliating song were still fresh in her mind.
Her first instinct was to get as far away from him as possible.
Just as she was starting to relax, thinking that Luo Qing hadn't followed, she saw a figure dart through the shadows, rapidly closing in on her.
"He's... so fast."
Yelan's brow furrowed as she watched Luo Qing's speed, a trace of shock flickering in her eyes.
He doesn't even have a Vision! How can he be this strong?!
In just a few moments, Luo Qing was right in front of her.
"Well, well, what a coincidence, huh? I even catch you sneaking around here," he said with a casual smile. With his power vastly increased, Yelan didn't stand a chance. Unlike before, he no longer had to stay on high alert.
Only with the strength of a special forces soldier can one smile while reasoning with a rogue.
That's exactly how Luo Qing felt now.
"Hmph..."
Yelan's eyes narrowed. She suddenly drew a longbow from seemingly nowhere, and water elemental energy condensed into an arrow as she pulled back the string.
What happened next left her stunned.
Just as the water arrow was about to hit him, Luo Qing's eyes flashed with a golden light. In the blink of an eye, his figure blurred, and he was suddenly right in front of her.
At that moment, Yelan got a clear look at the golden glow in Luo Qing's eyes.
Golden vertical pupils, burning like a fierce flame.
They looked like...
A dragon's eyes!
"I've let you go twice already, and this is how you repay me?" Luo Qing said calmly as he snatched the bow from her grasp and tossed it aside.
"Can we have a proper conversation now?"
In the Time Zero domain, every movement Yelan made slowed down to a crawl—25 times slower than normal.
If Luo Qing wanted to, he could... well, let's just say he could do a lot very quickly.
"You... you're the new trainee Harbinger from Snezhnaya, aren't you?" Yelan asked. She knew she was at a disadvantage and stopped resisting. Instead, she focused on figuring out his identity.
That flash of golden dragon-like eyes made her suspect Luo Qing might not be human at all, but some kind of ancient creature.
"So, your intelligence is pretty solid. Does that mean you've got someone inside Snezhnaya?" Luo Qing said, no longer hiding his identity.
He was going to be the Twelfth Harbinger, after all. Time to go all in!
As for his code name...
Still working on that.
"What are you planning to do with the replica Sigil of Permission?" Yelan's gaze was cold as she stared him down, acting as if she were the one in control.
"Come on, don't act like you don't know," Luo Qing chuckled. "Are you seriously interrogating me right now?"
"Besides, you're smart. You should already have some idea what we're going to do with it, right? Fate isn't something that changes just because you resist it. So here's a tip—rather than investigating, you might want to think about how you'll deal with the situation if it's unleashed."
That was all Luo Qing was willing to reveal. After all, he was still part of the Snezhnayan faction, and he wasn't quite ready to fully betray them.
Plus, he did want to officially become the Twelfth Harbinger. There was the matter of being presented to the Tsaritsa herself... and he was curious to see her "glorious beauty" in person. Was her hair really a pale shade of grey? Did she have a flat chest? Were her legs truly over a meter long and smooth to the touch?
All those unanswered questions from the game—the things he never got to see—were now right in front of him in Teyvat. He had to find out!
"..."
Yelan fell silent, unable to come up with a response.
Just then, footsteps echoed behind them. Luo Qing turned to see Igor and his two companions approaching.
"Lord Luo Qing, Oviro and the others wanted to come and help you capture her, but we managed to hold them back. Still, you'd better hurry—they might come out again soon," Igor said, giving Yelan a quick glance.
"Well, aren't you guys smart?" Luo Qing laughed, secretly impressed. He didn't expect the trio to realize he was deliberately letting Yelan go and even cover for him.
"You're... letting me go?" Yelan asked, her suspicion growing. She couldn't understand why he was doing this.
"What else? Or would you rather be captured, used, and then discarded?" Luo Qing's tone was casual, but there was a hint of something more.
After all, she was one of his favorite characters... well, maybe not quite his favorite, but still one he had enjoyed using in his previous life.
"..."
Yelan didn't know what "used and discarded" meant, but she grasped the gist. She picked up her discarded bow, glanced back at Luo Qing, and asked softly:
"So, are you our enemy?"
"That," Luo Qing said with a faint smile, "depends on you."
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