Chapter 371: Ch 371 : A new day — is there a traitor among the teammates?
Su Yuan returned to Zhongli and Ganyu’s side, took out the ore from the ornate box, and showed it to them to confirm whether it was truly Smaragdus Jadeite.
Zhongli examined the ore carefully and then nodded.
"There’s no doubt about it—this is indeed genuine Smaragdus Jadeite, and of exceptionally high quality."
"Now that we have the Smaragdus Jadeite," Ganyu said, "I suppose the Conqueror of Demons in Dihua Marsh shouldn’t have much trouble finding the Shimmersoil either, right?"
"Mm, I naturally believe Xiao will be able to find the Shimmersoil," Su Yuan nodded, though he still looked troubled.
"But the key issue now is—how do we locate the Traveler?"
"And even if we do find him, what if he’s in some distant foreign land and can’t make it back within the three-day time limit?"
"Sure, the Traveler can use teleport waypoints," Su Yuan added, "but many of them have been corrupted or destroyed by the Eerie power. We don’t even know if he can use them anymore..."
"Then Su Yuan," Ganyu asked, "could you do what you did at the Northland Bank earlier—disguise yourself as the Traveler and go apologize to Madame Ping?"
"Madame Ping is incredibly perceptive," Su Yuan replied, frowning slightly in thought.
"Trying to perfectly impersonate the Traveler without her noticing—it feels nearly impossible."
"And besides, if someone is to impersonate him, it definitely can’t be me..."
"After all, I’m the one who made the contract with Madame Ping. I must be present when it’s fulfilled."
"But regardless," he continued, "we still have three days..."
"In that time, let’s each use our networks and connections to do our best to locate the Traveler’s whereabouts."
"If we still haven’t found the Traveler by the final day," Su Yuan said, "then we’ll think of another solution..."
In the time that followed, even though he knew the chances were slim, Su Yuan still searched around Liyue Harbor, hoping to find some clue or trace of the Traveler.
But after searching for most of the day, he came up completely empty-handed, and evening had already arrived...
Su Yuan returned to his guest room at Yuelai Pavilion, thinking perhaps he should just rest early tonight.
Maybe, after making it through the night, some new intel or hint might come his way—something that could offer a useful lead.
With that thought in mind, Su Yuan lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted into sleep...
..............
Early the next morning, Su Yuan suddenly jolted awake from his sleep, sitting straight up in bed.
He was gasping for air, drenched in cold sweat, and muttered, "Damn it, how did I not think of this yesterday?!"
Last night, Su Yuan had a nightmare—he dreamt that Furina was brutally dismembered and murdered by Madame Ping.
Then, her severed body parts began to squirm and crawl back into his room, demanding to know why he hadn’t saved her...
But the important part wasn’t the nightmare itself—what mattered was that Su Yuan suddenly remembered something: two days ago, he had merely looked at a painting of Furina, and she immediately fell into a state of eerie state.
From Fontaine, she chased him all the way to Liyue and appeared at his side.
So it’s simple—at night, if he looked at a picture of Furina again, she should once again enter an eerie state, break free from Madame Ping’s control, and appear before him.
But soon, Su Yuan realized a potential problem...
Furina hadn’t exactly been forcefully taken by Madame Ping—she had volunteered to become a hostage.
Strictly speaking, their group’s ultimate goal wasn’t to "rescue" Furina from Madame Ping, but rather to cure Madame Ping of her eerie transformation and return her to normal.
Still, Su Yuan felt the idea had value.
If they ultimately failed to locate the Traveler and have him apologize to Madame Ping, it would mean the contract couldn’t be fulfilled—and conflict with Madame Ping would be inevitable.
In that case, of course, they couldn’t just stand by and let her harm Furina.
They’d have no choice but to use this method to bring Furina back.
However, because Furina’s eerie corruption is only triggered at night...
That meant if they couldn’t find the Traveler today or tomorrow, they would have to use this plan tomorrow night to rescue Furina.
If this method really had to be used, Su Yuan knew he needed to make sure Zhongli stayed far away—he mustn’t appear in front of her under any circumstances...
Also, it likely meant Su Yuan would have to suffer a bit himself.
Although those insects could strengthen his powers, their taste was... beyond awful.
Su Yuan took a deep breath, adjusting and calming his thoughts...
Feeling a sting in the palm of his right hand, Su Yuan raised it and looked at it:
[First of all, congratulations on surviving your fifteenth night]
[Omitting details...]
[Current publicly accessible intel]
[43. Among your teammates, one person has already fallen into a state of eerie corruption. Please proceed with caution.]
Su Yuan frowned slightly at this new intel...
Why did this message seem so familiar?
Didn’t a similar one appear back when he was in Fontaine?
No—wait, it’s not exactly the same.
There’s a subtle difference!
Back in Fontaine, the message mentioned "someone you know," whereas this one says "someone among your teammates"...
The former includes himself, while the latter clearly does not...
Also, the old message said "has always been in a state of eerie corruption," while this one says "has already fallen into it"—there’s a big difference in meaning.
Come to think of it, back in Fontaine, the one who was "always" corrupted—he still had no concrete idea who that person actually was.
But this current intel was implying that someone who wasn’t previously corrupted had now fallen into an eerie state...
It seemed he’d need to stay alert after all.
There was a mole among his teammates...
However, that traitor likely didn’t know that Su Yuan had already caught on.
For now, he decided it was best not to share this piece of intel with the others—no need to alert the snake by scaring the grass...
Su Yuan nodded to himself, then continued reading:
[44. Xingqiu, as a disciple of the Guhua Clan, loves reading martial arts novels and possesses a chivalrous heart... In front of Xingqiu, do not act against the principles of justice and righteousness, or something bad will happen...]
Xingqiu? That Second son of the Feiyun Commerce Guild?
This must be the condition related to him becoming corrupted by the Eerie.
Xingqiu was close friends with Chongyun, and just yesterday, Chongyun had gone to the Feiyun Commerce Guild specifically to ask Xingqiu for help—hoping to use their network and influence across Teyvat to search for the Traveler...
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