Lu Bu, the Thunder General, is my adoptive father in Genshin Impact.

Paimon, unable to contain his curiosity, struck up a conversation with Xiao Yi: "The general is quite difficult to deal with. How did you manage to convince her to make you her adopted son?"

Having found a breakthrough, Xiao Yi replied happily, "That's a long story..."

Chapter 104 Xiao Yi Prepares for the Show

Xiao Yi had a natural affinity for Ying and Paimon. Compared to others, he trusted these two seasoned adventurers more. After all, before his transmigration, his perspective on the story came from them, and he could say that he was a Teyvat adventurer who followed them.

Therefore, Xiao Yi told Paimon everything he had experienced since his transmigration, including the system's abilities and functions—just like when he explained the truth to Thor.

The long story took an hour to narrate, which Paimon listened to with great interest. The young traveler seemed indifferent, sitting on the sofa quietly reading a book, but in reality, she was secretly eavesdropping.

Ying was also a time traveler, so she understood these things very quickly. Paimon was like a blank sheet of paper; whatever was told to her, she would accept it with incredible speed.

"Wow, so this is what happened in Inazuma while we were celebrating the Moon Festival." Paimon exclaimed in amazement at the evil spirit's calamity, while also admiring Xiao Yi's courage. "And I never imagined you would go to such lengths to resolve the Inazuma calamity..."

"From the outbreak of the evil spirits to its end, only a little over a day has passed, and Inazuma has blocked the news again, so it's normal that you don't know." Xiao Yi shrugged nonchalantly.

"So it seems you're a good person, and you probably wouldn't do something as heinous as destroying the Jade Pavilion." The white floating object blinked its small eyes and clasped its hands together in apology. "Paimon, I'm sorry for always doubting and fearing you."

Xiao Yi felt gratified.

Although Paimon is naive to the point of being simple-minded, he is at least the first person to trust me.

He then defended Qixing, saying:

"Arresting me was a last resort. For example, there was a bomb-making expert who could create unique bombs. He went to another country for tourism, and that very night, important government buildings were destroyed, and even a seventh of the king was killed..."

"After investigation, it was found that the bomb was thrown from the expert's hotel. The blast marks indicated that he made the bomb. Apart from that expert, only his father, who lives far away in another country, could make the same bomb. Therefore, he was the only suspect."

That's pretty much the truth. A large amount of lightning element surged out from the ground of his room and was aimed directly at the Jade Pavilion. Moreover, ordinary people cannot drive such a large amount of energy. No matter how you look at it, the matter is inextricably linked to Naruto.

"Even so, arresting you without even knowing the facts is going too far," Paimon said, speaking up for Xiao Yi.

“Little Paimon, never forget how we were deceived during our trip,” said the blonde girl, who was still reading. “What he said may not be the truth, and I don’t think Seven Stars did anything wrong.”

"Back then, Tartaglia almost destroyed Liyue Harbor, yet he still walked peacefully through the city streets. That was the mistake."

D'Artagnan, the executive officer of the Fools, the "diplomatic agency" of the Winter Kingdom, codenamed Prince.

In an attempt to force the Geo Archon to intervene, Tartaglia unleashed the Demon God Oser, plunging Liyue Harbor into a crisis teetering on the brink of destruction.

Afterwards, Ningguang wanted to earn a large amount of compensation from Winterlands to replenish the national treasury and repair the losses caused by the Daedric calamity. She promised not to arrest or try Dardaria, and at the same time allowed Winterlands' banks and businesses to continue operating in Liyue Harbor.

Most of the Seven Stars disagreed, but Tianquan Ningguang was the biggest contributor to the victory over Osel. At that time, she had a great deal of influence, and her colleagues opposed her but did not say so openly.

Aside from Yuheng Keqing, who confronted Ningguang head-on at the meeting, it was all to no avail.

Now that Tianquan Star has disappeared and similar troubles have occurred, the other seven stars have adopted an overcorrection attitude, directly taking rather extreme measures.

Of course, this is related to the inherent danger of Xiao Yi himself.

"Hmph, Traveler, you actually dare to use Tartaglia as an example now..." Paimon revealed a very disdainful expression, "Let Paimon think, not long after this matter ended, which kind person helped 'Young Master' take care of the child? Heh heh heh!"

Judging from his tone, Paimon was completely on Xiao Yi's side regarding this matter. Even though Ying used the young master as an example, Paimon still confronted the Traveler Girl head-on.

Upon realizing that her friend had "betrayed" her, Ying was initially shocked, but then she realized that Paimon was making fun of her.

"Little Paimon!"

She gently put down the book, sat on the sofa with her hands on her hips, and squinted her beautiful golden eyes.

Xiao Yi stood between them: "Alright, alright, don't fight over me."

Ying glanced at him, then picked up her book and continued reading.

“So what do we do now? You need to find a way to prove your innocence,” Paimon suggested.

"It's alright, the system is already running automatically," Xiao Yi reassured mysteriously. "We'll all be out of prison soon, trust me."

The method he mentioned is also the reason why he has remained so calm since the incident occurred.

His name is: Yan Wang Di Jun.

The Seven Stars are human beings, and humans have limitations. Naturally, they are easily blinded by a single leaf and misled by false clues. However, Emperor Morax is different. He is a god and can perceive the truth of abnormal events more objectively.

Although Zhongli is no longer involved in affairs, he is still an old acquaintance of General Leidian. It is only right and proper to help an acquaintance's child who is in dire straits. Moreover, the murder of Tianquan is no small matter, so he should at least join in the fun.

After all, when the Dragon King Ruotu was reborn, he personally led an expedition to seal him away again.

Even if Rock God doesn't help, Xiao Yi still has a backup hidden energy source—Barbatos—not Gundam.

The mischievous young bard always gets involved in most interesting things, and now that he's traveling in Liyue, he'll probably drag Zhongli along to investigate the truth.

In short, just lie down.

(Xiao Yi: Miss Ying, the diplomats from Liyue have arrived. You should try to squeeze some money out of them.)

(Shadow: Knock? Knock with what?)

(Xiao Yi: Of course, it's not about using dreams to force a deal, but about using what the people of Liyue love most: a contract. You firmly tell the messenger that if I am ultimately proven innocent, the compensation will be calculated based on the time I was unjustly detained by Liyue, at 8 Mora per minute.)

If the Liyue leadership readily agrees, it could at least fill the economic void left by the Inazuma civil war.

(Voiceover: If you really did it...)

(Xiao Yi: Hey, hey, hey, what about trust? Can't we still be friends?!)

Suddenly, unidentified marks resembling spatial rifts appeared on the walls of the room, and the rifts then expanded to form circular windows.

Through the window, Xiao Yi saw the purple cat head standing outside, holding a food tray with three steaming bowls of pork chop rice on it.

Xiao Yi thought it was time for someone to come and talk to him.

He was quite pleased to find that the visitor was a familiar face and the beautiful girl Keqing. Of course, it would have been even better to see the normal Gan Yu.

To avoid suspicion, Xiao Yi did not go to the window. The traveler girl put down her book and went over to take half of the food tray that had passed through the teleportation window.

At the same time, Paimon reached out to touch the window, only to find that it was as if he had hit a wall and he could not pass through. The only thing that was allowed to pass through was the food that Keqing brought.

Ke Qing looked at Xiao Yi, who was already sitting on the sofa.

"Lord Narukami, I am very sorry for what happened. In order to get you out of here as soon as possible, I would like to ask you a few questions. Please answer them truthfully."

Xiao Yi thought for a moment and decided that he shouldn't act like he was in a hurry to leave, otherwise he would be playing right into Qi Xing's hands. It would be best to throw a tantrum and make them feel that he was in a difficult position, or show his displeasure at being misunderstood and clear himself of some suspicion.

The key is that only by doing this can we make more money afterward.

With this in mind, Xiao Yi prepared for the performance.

Chapter 105 Gan Yu's Prison Break

Xiao Yi decided to put pressure on Qi Xing in order to earn more money in the future. Therefore, even though he heard Ke Qing's attempt to communicate, he didn't even glance at the teleportation window.

"Your Excellency, I truly want to help you." Yuheng was getting anxious, and his voice gradually grew louder.

Even so, Xiao Yi remained unmoved. His gaze was unfocused, and he muttered words that were incomprehensible to ordinary people, as if he were pondering philosophical questions.

"The scenery of this world remains unchanged for hundreds and thousands of years, yet human existence is as fleeting as dew and bubbles. Nothingness..."

The traveler placed three bowls of pork chop rice on the coffee table, turned to Keqing outside the window, and asked, "Do you need my help?"

Ke Qing didn't know what help Ying could provide, probably just to drag Xiao Yi to the window and force him to talk to her. But what she needed to do now was not to anger Ming Shenzi, but to comply with his wishes and obtain clues about last night's events. Whether the information was completely true or not, it would be helpful for the investigation.

Moreover, Keqing had heard from the soldiers that Xiao Yi could cut through a metal cauldron with a single stroke, proving that even though he had lost his power, he was still quite strong. If Ying really wanted to use force, it might end up with the two of them wrestling in a closed room, and she could only stand at the window and watch without being able to intervene.

That's just... terrible.

If the hard approach doesn't work, we have to try the soft one.

Since helping him out of his predicament didn't pique his interest, we should try other approaches.

“After a few days of rest, Gan Yu’s condition has improved a lot. Don’t you want to see her?” Ke Qing said earnestly. “As long as you tell me what happened last night, we can solve the case sooner and you will be free to visit her.”

Xiao Yi got up from the sofa and slowly walked to the window: "Let's sign a contract."

"A contract?" Ke Qing on the other side didn't understand.

“As the adopted son of Mikage Naruto, the lord of the palace, my time is extremely valuable.” Xiao Yi rubbed his index, middle, and thumb together. “The living environment here is quite nice, my roommate Paimon is very nice to talk to, and the matter of being imprisoned is forgiven.”

"So what do you want?" Ke Qing asked, even more puzzled.

"First of all, I am not a criminal, and all subsequent conversations will be based on this premise; secondly, the conversations will begin with a time-based payment of 80,000 Mora per second, whether you or Yujingtai reimburse you is irrelevant."

Yuhengxing's eyes widened.

Although his family was extremely wealthy, 80,000 per second was still a considerable sum. Yet the other party shamelessly made such an outrageous demand, quoting such a figure.

Judging from Xiao Yi's posture, he didn't seem to be joking.

Ke Qing waved her hand, and Qian Yanjun behind her handed her paper and pen. She quickly drafted a contract, and after finishing, she decisively signed and affixed her seal, replacing the official seal.

She handed the contract and pen through the window.

Xiao Yi glanced at the contract and discovered that she was conducting the conversation in a private capacity, and the 80,000 per second fee was paid by Ke Qing's family rather than reimbursed by the state.

This means that if she deliberately procrastinates and talks on and on, the Keqing family business might go bankrupt, and she might have to work as her maid to pay off her debts...

That's enough of my random thoughts.

The Seven Stars are seven of Liyue's top merchants, whose assets and wealth far exceed the imagination of ordinary people. I would probably have to talk until my throat is dry before I could shake Yuheng's family business.

Furthermore, the contract clearly states that Keqing has the right to interrupt the conversation.

"Good courage." Xiao Yi signed his name.

The contract consisted of two sheets of paper stacked together, the ink seeping in to form two copies. Xiao Yi returned one copy to Ke Qing and folded the other into his sleeve.

“Then let’s begin,” Keqing said.

"Whatever." Xiao Yi said with a wry smile.

Ke Qing was certain that even if Xiao Yi did it, he wouldn't admit it. Therefore, there was no need to ask stupid questions like "Are you the murderer?" Instead, she would try to get clues indirectly.

"What's with the lightning elemental energy under your room?" Keqing asked very quickly.

“I don’t know the specifics,” Xiao Yi said slowly. “I guess it’s a natural phenomenon.”

"When the guards brought you food, they saw your room floor covered with magical arrays, but when we arrested you, the arrays were nowhere to be found." Keqing spoke quickly but logically. "Tell me, is this related to the collapse of the Ningguang Jade Pavilion?"

Xiao Yi then remembered the matter of the Eightfold Divine Child Formation. From Li Yue's perspective, it was indeed suspicious that it opened a door for someone else—it was suspicious to the extreme!

"There is a relationship, but it's not a causal relationship," Xiao Yi explained, as if telling a riddle.

"Explain it more clearly," Ke Qing frowned.