Morax is dead, Liyue will fall into my hands.

Zhongli said, "From a general theoretical point of view, this is impossible."

"Really? That's such a shame." Li Ye didn't have high hopes.

From the very beginning of his conversation with Wendy, Li Ye could tell that she longed for unrestrained freedom and probably had little interest in starting a business with him.

The reason he agreed to help him promote his work in Mondstadt was because it was indeed his original profession, something that just happened by chance in his life.

Inside the private room, Wendy saw Mona's murderous glare and quickly apologized, "Sorry, sorry, I choked just now. Please continue eating."

He now seems to understand why Zhong Li and Li Ye know each other.

This Mr. Li is no ordinary person; now it's impossible not to be interested in him.

As for that team, they seem to be quite fun?

Just as Wendy was thinking, Li Ye and Zhong Li entered.

After sitting down, Mona continued to eat, seemingly trying to make up for all the nutrients she had lost recently.

Wendy looked at Zhongli with a half-smile, which made Zhongli very uncomfortable. He even wanted to kick Wendy in the butt and send him straight back to Mondstadt.

It's obvious that Wendy must have heard what Li Ye just said.

Wendy raised her glass and said, "I really didn't expect that Mr. Li was Zhong Li's friend. If I had known about this relationship beforehand, I would have agreed to what you asked for a long time ago."

Upon hearing this, Li Ye asked, "Huh? What does that mean?"

Mr. Wendy doesn't seem to be too opposed to cooperation; Mr. Zhongli certainly has a lot of influence.

It seems that Mr. Zhongli is still too modest. Although modesty is a fine quality of Liyue, one should not be overly modest.

Seeing that Wendy's side actually had a good chance of success, Li Ye immediately became enthusiastic and said, "You're too kind. We're all brothers."

To be honest, I only just found out that Mr. Wendy and Mr. Zhongli know each other; otherwise, we wouldn't have been chatting about those useless things before.

It's just alcohol, right? Come to Liyue, drink as much as you want!

Drink as much as you want, and you can even take the leftovers home.

Wendy smiled. This Mr. Li was really fun; he took the bait so easily.

"Hehe, thank you, Mr. Li." Wendy said, taking out the harp from her back and gently plucking the strings. "Zhongli and I are old friends. From now on, anything that concerns Mr. Li is my business."

Li Ye was taken aback when he heard Wendy's words. He hadn't expected Wendy to be so easy to talk to. It seemed that he had entered the wrong password before.

It's true what they say, connections make things easier; the ancients were right.

Li Ye felt it was time to strike hard, and he asked earnestly, "Mr. Wendy, what are your thoughts on the current situation in Mondstadt?"

Without a second thought, Wendy replied, "I think it's great."

Seeing Wendy's unmoved expression, Li Ye said with great distress, "Mr. Wendy is sorely mistaken. Mondstadt is now on the verge of destruction, and could be wiped out at any moment!"

Wendy was shocked. Was this guy just trying to fool her?

Chapter Ten: Deception, and More Deception

Mona, who was standing next to Li Ye, quickly pulled her face up from the plate when she heard Li Ye's shocking words, and stared at him in astonishment.

What? Mondstadt is facing a life-or-death crisis?

Li Ye said to Wendy, "Mr. Wendy, don't think I'm exaggerating. These are the results I've derived from numerous simulations. If you don't believe me, let me analyze them for you slowly."

Wendy nodded, thinking to herself: Hmm, no problem, I'll let you keep bluffing me. I don't believe you can fool me into being crippled.

Zhongli silently drank a cup of tea. He wondered if, as a longtime friend, he should advise Wendy to run away while he still could.

If you really fool them, they won't be able to run away even if they want to.

Li Ye analyzed seriously, "Mr. Wendy, let me ask you, what has allowed Mondstadt to continue to this day? Is it the wind god? No!"

"That Anemo Archon is a complete waste; Mondstadt is the same whether he's there or not."

Zhongli supported this, saying, "Indeed, from a general theoretical perspective."

Mona also raised her hand in vote: "That's right, the boss is right."

Wendy glanced at Li Ye, then at Zhong Li who was drinking tea, then at Mona who was waiting for the rest of the story, and finally said with righteous indignation, "To be fair, it's true."

Anyway, it's Barbatos who's slacking off, what does it have to do with me, Wendy?

After everyone had expressed their opinions, Li Ye continued, "What does Mondstadt truly rely on? Freedom? What a Teyvat joke! If Mondstadt truly relies on freedom to function, then what's the point of laws?"

Why would anyone need to use Mora when everyone can freely shop for free every day?

Ultimately, Mondstadt's ability to stand strong to this day is thanks to the Knights of Favonius.

Now that the main force of the Knights of Favonius has gone on expeditions, only one-fifth of their fighting strength remains in Mondstadt, leaving the city's defenses unprecedentedly weak.

Even slimes dared to attack Mondstadt, and the Knights of Favonius were held back by a group of slimes at the side gate. The Hilichurls at the main gate were left unattended, and in the end, it was the so-called "Night Heroes" who stepped in to stop them.

If this happened in Liyue, would you believe it?

Wendy wasn't about to be easily fooled. He explained, "Things are definitely not as simple as Mr. Li makes them out to be. No matter how weak the Knights of Favonius are, they can't possibly be unable to stop slimes and Hilichurls. There must be more to the story."

When Zhongli heard Wendy mention that there was another hidden story, he nodded repeatedly. Yes, yes, that's exactly it.

Shall we begin?

Upon hearing Wendy's explanation, Li Ye slammed his hand on the table and said, "That's right, the problem lies in this hidden story!"

Why did the Knights of Favonius leave the main gate unattended? Was it because they wanted to find the "Night Hero"? But what if the "Night Hero" didn't come out? Would they just let the Hilichurls rampage through and massacre Mondstadt?

I know what Mr. Wendy is trying to say. The Knights of Favonius must have a backup plan. Even if the Night Hero doesn't intervene, the Knights of Favonius will appear in time to block the Hilichurls, right?

Would these "night heroes" not be able to tell as participants?

Why did he still take action? There are only two explanations.

Firstly, if he doesn't intervene, the Knights of Favonius might really let these Hilichurls invade, so he has no choice but to take action.

Secondly, he distrusted the Knights of Favonius, believing that if he didn't intervene, the Hilichurls might actually storm the city.

The former means that the Knights of Favonius, for some purpose, have reached the point of disregarding the safety of Mondstadt's residents; the latter indicates that the "Night Heroes" have lost their most basic trust in the Knights of Favonius.

Mr. Wendy, what do you think it is? Or is there a better explanation?

Wendy scratched his head. He knew Li Ye was lying to him, but for a moment he couldn't really find a reason to refute it.

In this matter, the Knights of Favonius's actions were indeed outrageous—their son's mourning was outrageous, and he died a bizarre death.

Li Ye then added, "To put it another way, what exactly does the Knights of Favonius want to do? Do they want to find out the identity of the 'Hero of the Night' and protect him?"

They call it protection, but I doubt it. They're probably just planning to monitor me.

Zhongli said, "Be more confident, and you'll succeed."

Wendy could only bite the bullet and explain on behalf of the Knights of Favonius: "The Knights of Favonius should not encourage this kind of individual heroism, right? Doing so would indeed affect the authority of the Knights."

Li Ye had been waiting for Wendy to say this. He slammed his hand on the table and said loudly, "The Knights of Favonius are already worried that their authority is being threatened by a so-called 'Hero of the Night.' What does that mean?"

This shows that the authority of the Knights of Favonius is already shaky!

I'd like to ask Mr. Zhongli, if there were a "Night Hero" in Liyue Harbor hiding his identity, and he broke Liyue's laws while upholding justice, what would the Liyue Septuagenarians do?

Zhongli answered without hesitation: "Wanted."

Li Ye then asked, "What if we haven't violated any of Liyue's laws from beginning to end?"

Zhongli continued, "Let it be."

"That's right!" Li Ye slammed his hand on the table again and said, "What 'Dark Night Heroes'? If they've broken the law, arrest them; if they haven't, why make such a fuss? Why all this trouble!"

It even affected the authority of the Knights, which is simply a joke.

If the authority of a ruler is so easily threatened, doesn't that just show that the ruler's authority can no longer withstand any challenge?

Taking a step back, it's difficult for the law to be all-encompassing, and there may even be cases of wrongful or missed judgments.

If the law is found to be incomplete or has loopholes, new laws should be drafted to fill the gaps.

If a wrong judgment or omission is found, appeals should be filed to seek a fair outcome.

If that doesn't work, then in extreme circumstances, it is indeed possible to punish evil and promote good through illegal means, but one must also bear the consequences of breaking the law.

Otherwise, it would be to throw the law to the ground and trample on it, encouraging more people to use the guise of punishing evil and promoting good to openly engage in illegal activities!

If the Knights of Favonius discover that the "Hero of the Night" has committed illegal acts while punishing evil and promoting good, but is afraid that arresting him will cause dissatisfaction among the people of Mondstadt, they dare not issue a public arrest warrant.

So, if they, as rulers, trample on the law, how can they expect to maintain their ridiculous authority in Mondstadt?

Li Ye became more and more impassioned as he spoke, and the more Wendy felt that he was clearly trying to fool her, yet she still felt that what he said made a lot of sense.

Has the Knights of Favonius really deteriorated to this extent after their main force was taken away on expeditions?

No! It hasn't gotten to that point yet.

Wendy said, "Mr. Li, the Knights of Favonius also have Master Jean."

Li Ye said with a forced smile, "Isn't it precisely because the Knights of Favonius are currently being held up by Commander Jean that the Knights of Favonius are already in a precarious situation?"

Chapter 11: Not lame yet, just a little numb in the foot.

Mondstadt is currently being maintained by Jean Valjean and a few other helpers.

This situation may seem similar to "strongman politics" on the surface, but it is actually completely different.

Strongman politics is characterized by the ruler using strong tactics and prestige to integrate all available forces in a near-dictatorial manner, thereby covering up the country's existing problems and confronting more powerful opponents.

But the current "ruler" of Mondstadt, Jean, is not a dictator at all; she's practically a nanny in an orphanage.

Taking care of a group of overgrown children every day, and tolerating all sorts of brainless behavior from these orphans—as for integrating existing resources?

Just kidding, your dictatorial style doesn't look very free!

This is not in line with Mondstadt's political correctness.

Therefore, Li Ye felt that Mondstadt's current internal and external troubles were not just a bluff to scare Wendy.

As long as the leader of the troupe is holding on, Mondstadt hasn't fallen yet.

But if she encounters problems she can't solve and can't hold on any longer, then the entire Mondstadt will collapse.

Yes, Mondstadt still has some other talented people.

Klee is so young yet she can create powerful bouncing bombs; even Li Ye would be drooling over them.

However, her bombs are only used to blast fish, and currently do not provide any help to people's livelihoods.