The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

She chose to transmit her consciousness at this time to avoid revealing too many flaws.

Because it's time to leave work right now. Although Catherine is a doll, they still have get off work hours.

Catherines typically use this time after get off work to pamper themselves or simply daydream.

"Miss Catherine is off work?"

"You've worked so hard, Miss Catherine."

"Miss Catherine, when are you coming over for dinner? I've bought some special winter ingredients!"

……

As the puppet was about to leave, the people in the archives greeted him.

Although everyone knows that Catherine is a doll, they subconsciously overlook this fact about her identity.

After all, Catherine is so human-like in every way that she doesn't feel mechanical at all.

Not only that, Catherine is the first to arrive at work and the last to leave. She is beautiful, kind-hearted, and sincere.

Almost everyone who has worked with Catherine speaks highly of her, so it's no wonder she's so popular.

The puppet responded somewhat awkwardly to each question; among the Fools, she had no need to do so. Once she assumed the role of the executor, others were the ones who bowed to her.

She emerged from the General Affairs Department with some difficulty, her puppet now adorned with numerous bottles and jars—gifts from everyone in the department to Catherine.

"Is it that popular?" The puppet looked at the items in her arms, most of which were unique to Liyue, and many of them were things she had never seen before.

"Is having inexplicable feelings for a doll a sign of passion or foolishness?" The puppet casually tossed these things into a trash can by the street and walked towards Catherine's usual residence without looking back.

Catherines from each country live together in the same room, as this makes it easier for them to maintain and repair each other.

Similarly, it also makes it easier to do what follows.

"Puppet Master." Catherine from the Adventurers' Guild bowed and greeted him.

The puppet nodded. Liyue only had two Catherines in total. Although they were puppets, making them as lifelike as Catherines came at a considerable cost. Therefore, Winterfell didn't produce many Catherines.

"Is that guy still in Liyue?" Wood asked, staring at Catherine.

“Reporting to you, my lord, Mr. Ember went to sea with the Southern Cross fleet a while ago,” Catherine replied, bowing her head and remaining silent for a moment.

"When will you be back?" The puppet frowned. It would be ridiculous if everything was ready but the main character disappeared.

“They should be back soon,” Catherine said. It had been some time since the Southern Cross fleet set sail, and under normal circumstances, they should be back soon.

The puppet felt somewhat reassured upon hearing this, and she instructed, "For the next period of time, you will go to the General Affairs Department, and I will go to the Adventurers' Guild."

"Understood." Catherine lowered her head even further.

"Alright, that's all for you. Get ready and don't give yourself away tomorrow." The puppet felt there was nothing more to do, so he dismissed Catherine.

Upon hearing this, Catherine retreated to her room.

Catherine's room was rather cramped, filled with all sorts of strange and unusual things. These were all things that adventurers from Liyue had found somewhere and somehow ended up in her hands.

Catherine sat upright on the bed, glanced at the darkness outside the window, and then turned off her phone to wait for tomorrow.

Chapter 88 Chance Encounter

2023-08-28

"Hey, finally back." On a beach, the corpse-lying Ember stood up, finally back on land.

He glanced at the still bustling Liyue in the distance and nodded in satisfaction. It seemed his course of navigation had been quite accurate.

So, Ember rushed off to Liyue. Liyue was vast, and there were still many places he hadn't explored.

Staggering along, Ember returned to Tiger Rock and arrived at the Adventurers' Guild in Liyue.

There was no other way; without any purpose, Ember always felt like a street urchin. He felt this wouldn't do, so subconsciously, he came to the Adventurers' Guild.

Anyway, the Adventurers' Guild is never short of commissions, so just take any one in the city and you can do your business while also going shopping.

"Miss Catherine, do you have any good commissions to recommend? Preferably from the city." Ember asked Catherine at the front desk of the Adventurers' Guild.

"Towards the stars and the abyss." The puppet first uttered Catherine's classic line, then began to ponder.

She looked at the embers in front of her. She had waited for several days, and she couldn't let him get away like this.

"Any good commissions in the city..." The puppet turned around and rummaged through the filing cabinet.

Then she took out a commission form and explained to Yu Jin, "Most of the commissions in the city aren't very good, but I have a commission here that looks pretty good."

"Tell me about it?" Yu Jin wasn't too discouraged. Liyue was more than just Liyue Harbor. He hadn't been to other places either, so it wouldn't hurt to take a trip there.

"It's a request from Tianqiu Valley. It seems there are many more demons there, and the Thousand Rock Army can't spare any manpower."

"Well? Will Mr. Ember accept?" The puppet finished speaking and looked at Ember with a smile.

"Is that so? Of course I'll accept." Yu Jin took the commission form and accepted the commission. He hadn't been to Tianqiu Valley yet.

He then looked at the puppet. This person was quite something. If she hadn't talked a bit more than Catherine, he really wouldn't have been able to tell that Catherine had been replaced.

However, before leaving, Yu Jin seemed to remember something and said meaningfully to Catherine behind him, "Miss Catherine is in good spirits today, she should be even better in the future, right?"

The puppet watched the departing embers, somewhat surprised. Was that a warning? But when did he realize something was wrong?

……

Tianqiu Valley is a depression in the heart of Liyue. Legend has it that it was once very prosperous in ancient times, but was later destroyed by the "Dragon Plague".

However, these are all folk sayings passed down from generation to generation, and their authenticity can no longer be verified.

At this moment, the embers arrived at the edge of Tianqiu Valley.

Tianqiu Valley is surrounded by mountains, with a huge lake at its lowest point. The towering buildings beside the lake and the scattered fragments in Tianqiu Valley all tell the story of its former glory.

Yu Jin unfolded the commission form and looked at the location marked on it. Then he was pulled behind a large rock by a blue thread.

"you……"

"Ye Lan." This time it was Ye Lan's turn to speak first. She looked at the slightly bewildered Yu Jin and quietly asked, "What are you doing here?"

This is a truly remote place, she came here because she discovered a trade route hidden by the rich, but why is this guy here?

Ye Lan sensed something unusual about it.

"The client said there are a lot of monsters gathered here, so I'm here to clean it up." Although Ember didn't know why he was speaking so furtively, he had no choice but to cooperate, considering that Night Orchid had done so.

"Monsters?" Ye Lan looked around and found that there were hardly any monsters present. Even if there were, they were in normal numbers, not enough to warrant special cleaning.

Ember realized this too, and he now felt that the guy who replaced Catherine was truly unreliable. A mistake in the commission? This was a mistake Catherine had never made before.

"My lord, there are four guys lying in ambush nearby. Two are very strong, and the other two are weaker," Black Knife said to Ember.

Ember didn't say anything. As long as he didn't speak, Black Knife wouldn't make any rash moves.

However, he was still somewhat disappointed. He had initially held goodwill towards the guy who had replaced Catherine. But now it seemed that goodwill was somewhat unnecessary.

"Be careful later, there might be an ambush," Yu Jin reminded Ye Lan.

Upon hearing this, Ye Lan's eyes narrowed. She had been puzzled by how easily the wealthy had discovered their trade routes, but now, after Yu Jin's explanation, she was even more certain of her thoughts.

After all, Ember had an extremely formidable intelligence organization under his command.

However, she wasn't too worried. Anyway, with the embers still there, since the rich man had decided to expose this trade route, she would just take advantage of it!

Soon, several carriages and a group of cloaked figures appeared before the two on the distant grassland.

"Who are those people?" Ember asked, puzzled. Why would there be a caravan in this desolate wilderness? Could they be doing business with Hilichurls?

"Be careful, they might be the henchmen of a rich man!" Ye Lan watched the slowly advancing caravan and clenched Ruoshui in her hand.

Fools? Or the rich? Ember suddenly understood what was going on; it turned out they wanted revenge.

He was highly skilled and daring, and was the first to jump off the large rock.

"When the Adventurers' Guild is handling business, put your hands behind your head and squat down, or you'll get a good beating!" Ye Lan only saw a black shadow flash before her eyes, and then Ember appeared directly in front of the caravan.

Its speed left her speechless.

However, she quickly realized what was happening and immediately activated the Eye of God at her waist, transforming into a blue phantom and rushing over.

"Subdue them first!" The blue shadow weaved through the caravan, and the life-binding silk immediately wrapped around them, rendering them unable to move.

"Bang!" The water shadow shattered, and Ye Lan stepped out from within it. "Prevent them from destroying the evidence!"

She seemed to be speaking to both the embers and the black blade lurking in the shadows.

However, Yu Jin scratched his head upon hearing this. He hadn't thought that far ahead at all; if you wanted to mess with him, you had to be prepared to be messed with in return. There weren't many twists and turns involved.

While Yelan was busy collecting evidence and Yujin was busy giving ideological education to the caravan members.

On a high point, a group of executives were watching everything below with great interest.

"Hehe, your technique is quite good, it's a pity it can only be used once." The rich man stretched the puppet's body slightly and said admiringly.

"That's Yelan, Tianquan's special intelligence officer?" The puppet didn't reply to the rich man. She controlled Catherine's body and also came to Tianqiu Valley.

"Yes, that woman is incredibly powerful; she ruined many of my plans." A flat, mechanical voice came from the doll's body; the rich man had now adapted to it.

"Oh? Between her and Ember, who caused you more damage?" the Doctor asked, looking at the rich man beside him. Actually, the rich man had the biggest conflict with these two, while he and the puppet were just doing things for money.

As for the young master, he was just tricked into coming to fight.

"Pretty much. He managed to turn Mora of the Northern Bank into that state. Heh, quite a strong guy." The rich man looked at the incessantly chattering Ember below, a hint of hatred in his eyes.

The money lost by Ember was no small sum, and even if he were rich, it wouldn't be something he could earn back quickly.

……

"Hey, answer me!" Yu Jin tapped the person in front of him on the head, but found that he didn't react at all.

"Hmm? Something's not right!" Yu Jin immediately noticed the abnormality of these "people." He lifted the cloak and was shocked to find that this guy was actually a puppet!

Moreover, Yu Jin suddenly noticed that the coats beneath these puppets began to shake. Then, mechanical birds emitting black energy flew out from under the coats of the caravan members.

They stood on carriages or leaped from treetops, and large swaths of black mist rose up, as if attracting something.

"Tsk, I didn't expect you guys to be so cautious. It seems we'll have to watch a boring drama before the actual battle." The young master looked at the monsters gathering from all directions, somewhat displeased.

Chapter 89 Monster Manipulator