Genshin Impact: Watch me turn the tables and kill my servants at the start!

When Fanes pushed open the door to the Liyue branch of the Northern Bank, the hinges made a short, dry turning sound. The person behind the counter looked up at him, then lowered their head again to continue flipping through the ledgers.

The hall was filled with the distinctive scent of aged paper and brass lamps, mixed with the aroma of oil from the street pancake stalls wafting in from outside the window.

D'Artagnan was leaning against a pillar next to the counter, twirling a coin in her hand, letting it roll back and forth along the back of her finger before falling back into her palm. She put the coin in her pocket as he walked in. "Is the matter in Mondstadt resolved?"

Fanes took off his coat and hung it on the coat rack in the corner of the hall, then walked over to the sofa and sat down. "It's resolved. Dvalin has been purified, and the Stormterror's scourge is officially over. Mondstadt's tourism industry should recover soon."

D'Artagnan sat down next to him: "What about Yakoda? She's been staying in Jueyun Pass for a while now, apparently to find her master."

D'Artagnan thought for a moment, "But I heard that Lord Liuyun recently went to Mondstadt, so she'll probably have to make another wasted trip."

Fanes leaned back on the sofa: "It wasn't a wasted trip. At least her arrow saved us a lot of follow-up coordination work. If the purification of Dvalin had been delayed for a few more days, the Knights might have turned their attention to us, which would have increased unnecessary negotiation costs. Moreover, her arrow also made Jean realize the level of precision and range that the Fatui's ranged attack capabilities had reached."

D'Artagnan leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on a corner of the ceiling. "Indeed. I never imagined her strength had reached that level. To be able to pierce a heart with an arrow from thousands of kilometers away. When will I have power like her?"

Fanes stood up from the sofa, walked to the table, and flipped himself onto it with one hand. Standing on the table, he looked down at D'Artagnan, reached out and patted him on the shoulder, a gesture as natural as if he had done it many times before: "Actually, you did very well."

D'Artagnan looked up at him, her expression shifting from "What are you talking about?" to "Are you kidding me?": "What are you doing standing on the table? And why are you acting like my dad?"

Fanes jumped off the table, bending his knees slightly as he landed to absorb the impact, then casually dusted off the dust on his clothes: "Oh, it's nothing, it's just a minor issue."

Fanes straightened his coat collar and sat down again: "By the way, how's the Liyue plan going? I remember you mentioned before that the Seven Stars seemed to be researching something."

D'Artagnan sat back on the sofa, took out the coin again, and flipped it between her fingers: "The Seven Stars side is almost done. Due to the development of the Winter's armed forces, Liyue has begun researching weapons of mass destruction, and it's almost in the final stages. Their first experimental destination seems to be Guyun Pavilion."

Fanes leaned back in the sofa, his gaze falling on the reflection on the edge of the coin: "Then it's alright."

D'Artagnan turned to look at him: "Aren't you worried they'll actually build it?"

Fanes leaned back on the sofa, his hands behind his head: "If Liyue were to put in all their effort, they could definitely build it. But they clearly didn't."

D'Artagnan stopped moving. "How did you know?"

Fanes did not answer directly; his gaze shifted from the coin to a corner of the ceiling.

"Think about it, if Liyue were truly investing heavily in developing weapons of that caliber, their research and development plans wouldn't have been so easily obtained by us. Furthermore, their choice of Guyun Pavilion as their testing ground is strategically placed; it's far enough from Liyue Harbor to avoid disrupting daily life in the city, while remaining within Liyue's territorial waters. This suggests they don't want us to know they're actually developing such a thing. They simply need the outside world to know they possess the capability to do so."

D'Artagnan put the coin in his pocket. "I don't quite understand what you're talking about, but as an executor under the Queen, you wouldn't try to scam me, would you?"

Fanes stood up, walked to the coat rack, took off his coat and draped it over his shoulders, then turned and walked towards the door: "Don't worry, why would we cheat you? Just stay here and don't move. I'm going to buy some oranges, I'll be right back."

D'Artagnan sat on the sofa watching him push open the door and walk out, his figure gradually narrowing in the crack of the door until it was finally hidden by the closed door.

D'Artagnan's gaze lingered on the door for a moment, as if he were re-examining every turn and conclusion of the conversation over that interval, feeling that something was amiss—Fanes' tone and manner of speaking were indeed quite different from his usual self.

But he couldn't quite put his finger on what was different. He looked down at the edge of the coin in his hand: "Strange... something feels off? Oh well, it shouldn't be a big deal!"

Fanes walked about half a block along the streets of Liyue Harbor, stopped in front of a fruit stand, and picked out a few oranges to put into a paper bag.

The stall owner was an elderly woman with gray hair. While weighing the oranges, she asked him, "Are you from out of town? These oranges are from my own garden. They have thin skins and are very juicy, sweeter than those shipped from the port."

Fanes paid, picked up the paper bag, and turned to walk back. After a few steps, he slowed down, stopped by the roadside, took an orange out of the bag, peeled it, broke off a segment, put it in his mouth, chewed it twice, swallowed it, and then continued walking.

When Fanes returned to the Northern Bank, D'Artagnan was still sitting on the sofa, slowly tracing the edge of a coin with his fingernail. The coin flipped between his fingers again and again, landing perfectly in the center of his palm each time.

D'Artagnan looked up when she heard the door open and saw Fanes walking in carrying the paper bag. "You're back? You really went to buy oranges?"

Fanes placed the paper bag on the table, took out two oranges from it, and put them in front of him: "Try them, they're very sweet."

D'Artagnan looked down at the two oranges on the table, then looked up at Fanes, picked one up, peeled it, broke off a segment, put it in his mouth, and chewed it a couple of times: "It is indeed quite sweet."

Fanes picked up an orange, peeled it, and leaned back in his chair to eat it slowly, his gaze falling on the coin that Tartaglia was spinning again: "By the way, you just said that Liyue's experimental site is located at Guyun Pavilion—do you have any records of the exact location?"

D'Artagnan put the coin away: "Yes. I looked through a patrol log of the waters near Liyue Harbor before, which marked the geological information of several deep-sea areas. One of them is right on the edge of Lonely Cloud Pavilion, and the water depth is just right."

D'Artagnan paused for a moment, "However, that record is from several months ago and may have been updated several times. If we need to reconfirm the location, we may need to retrieve the latest survey data again."

Fanes thought for a moment: "Then let's pull up the latest data another day. If the location is suitable, we can also make a record and backup for future use."

D'Artagnan looked at Fanes's still composed, unreadable face: "What do you want to do?"

Fanes broke off another segment of orange and popped it into his mouth: "I haven't decided yet. Let's gather all the information first."

D'Artagnan didn't press him further, seeing his expression. She simply picked up another orange and began peeling it: "Then I'll wait and see what you're up to."

"It's nothing, just simply completing the mission! But I don't want to be the bad guy, so I guess I'll have to make Liyue suffer a bit."