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They even accidentally heard Catherine saying "maintenance" and "restart" in a very mechanical tone when no one was around!

Some people believed this statement, while others did not. In short, there were many different opinions, but it never affected Catherine.

Yu Qi had been in Liyue Harbor for some time. Every time he passed by Chihuyan, he would see Catherine standing guard at the counter of the Adventurer's Association regardless of rain or shine.

Whether it is early morning or dusk, noon or late night, it is open all year round.

This also seems to confirm Catherine's "inhuman" statement.

In short, having said so much, almost no one has ever seen Catherine leave the Adventurer's Guild and go out.

Naturally, one can imagine how shocked Yu Qi was to see Miss Catherine appear in his own store so suddenly.

"How will you be here?"

In response to Yu Qi's question, Catherine pursed her lips, revealing a gentle but not at all businesslike smile, and said softly: "This must be Boss Yu Qi, I have heard of you for a long time."

"I'm here this time on behalf of the Adventurer's Association to discuss cooperation with you regarding the 'Blood Recovery Pill'."

"The Adventurer's Association also wants to discuss the 'Blood Restoration Pill' with me?" Yu Qi frowned and looked at Catherine in confusion.

It wasn't that he was wondering why she came, or why she came to discuss cooperation with him.

What really surprised Yu Qi was that as he took two steps closer to Catherine, he actually felt a... somewhat familiar power fluctuation from her.

A faint fluctuation of grass elemental power came from her body, with a faint familiar aura, that kind of obscure power fluctuation...

After feeling it again and again, Yu Qi finally confirmed his guess.

Giving Catherine a strange look, he asked tentatively: "Are you, Nashida?!"

"Huh?" Seeing the boss coming, Zhu Zi, who had taken the initiative to make way for him, was stunned for a moment, then came over and reminded him in a low voice: "Boss, this is Miss Catherine? Did you recognize the wrong person?!"

Looking at the girl who was carefully reminding him, as if she was afraid of angering Catherine and causing this big business to run away, Yu Qi smiled and shook his head, "Well, I know."

"By the way, Zhuzi, please make me some cups of honey water."

"Yes, boss." Zhu Zi looked around at Yu Qi and Catherine who were also smiling and looking into each other's eyes. His mind turned and he seemed to understand something.

After answering loudly, he ran into the kitchen with small steps, leaving the space in the store to Yu Qi and Catherine.

"By the way, don't forget to make yourself a cup too. You've been busy all morning, take a break."

Looking at Zhu Zi's back, Yu Qi casually gave a warning, then turned to look at 'Catherine? ' who was looking at him with interest, and asked in a more casual manner, "Nashida, why did you come to Liyue? And how did you find me?"

If Yu Qi remembered correctly, he didn't seem to explain his detailed situation to Nashida yesterday?

At least, he certainly did not tell Nashida the location of his shop in Liyue Harbor.

"Oh, this." The voice that came out of her mouth was no longer Catherine's mature and elegant voice. Nashida smiled and said in her crisp natural voice: "It was actually an accident."

At Yu Qi's signal, she turned around and sat on a chair beside her. Nashida supported her chin with her hand, shook Catherine's neat short hair, and watched Yu Qi casually close half of the door, indicating that the store was now closed.

"After we parted last night, I couldn't help but feel curious because I experienced the 'outside' world for the first time. I wanted to go to other countries to have a look."

"The country closest to Xumi is Liyue, so I tried to find a way to transfer my consciousness to Liyue Harbor through the earth veins."

"I originally planned to take a good stroll in Liyue Harbor, but I didn't expect that as soon as I arrived at Liyue Harbor, I suddenly saw your name on the documents at hand."

"my name?"

"Yes, that's what I just said. The Adventurer's Association is planning to discuss cooperation with you on distributing 'blood recovery pills' to adventurers."

"Originally, it should have been Sister Lan, oh, the branch president of the Adventurer's Association, who came to talk to you; but I saw your name, and out of curiosity I took the initiative to take on this task."

"I didn't expect it to be you! I thought it was just a coincidence!"

Looking at Catherine, whose eyebrows were curved and whose smile was particularly bright, Yu Qi pursed his lips and felt a little surprised.

Of course, there are some weird ones.

After all, Catherine herself looked like a very mature "big sister", and it looked extremely awkward to see her suddenly making such a childish expression.

"Is that so? That's really a coincidence." Nodding, Yu Qi looked Nashida up and down, and finally couldn't help asking: "By the way, why do you look like Catherine? It feels like you have invaded her consciousness with a dream?"

"No." Shaking her head, Nashida swung her legs leisurely, her eyes occasionally sweeping over the crowd outside the door: "I simply invaded Catherine's body through the earth veins, or in other words, through the power of the void."

"Um...can you explain it in more detail?"

"To be more specific, well, it has to start a long time ago." Nashida nodded her chin, thought for a while, and said, "You should also know about the disaster that happened five hundred years ago, right?"

"During the incident in the ancient underground kingdom of Kanreya, forbidden knowledge from the depths of the abyss, belonging to the world beyond, polluted the World Tree."

"Although the Great Compassion Tree King was still there at the time, he was unable to expel the forbidden knowledge from the World Tree due to his lack of power."

"And this has to do with the forbidden knowledge disaster caused by the Scarlet King thousands of years ago."

"Thousands of years ago, the Scarlet King brought knowledge that did not belong to the Teyvat continent to Xumi. Ever since the "forbidden knowledge" came to this world, it has spread like a plague. The Death Realm and Demon Scale Disease spread rapidly in Xumi. Even the earth seemed to have been deprived of its life, leaving only desperate silence."

"In order to save Xumi and the people, the Great Compassion Tree King joined hands with the Red King to fight against the forbidden knowledge. In the end, the Red King chose to sacrifice himself and send the forbidden knowledge back to the outside world."

"And the Great Compassion Tree King, in order to cooperate with the Scarlet King in eradicating forbidden knowledge, overdrew his strength and wisdom, and his body became as small as a child."

"This also led to the fact that during the Kanreya incident five hundred years ago, when faced with forbidden knowledge that also came from outside the world, the Great Compassion Tree King was completely powerless and unable to expel the forbidden knowledge."

"So, she created a device to integrate human wisdom and named it "Void". Through the Void, the Great Compassion Tree King borrowed the wisdom crystallization of Xumi's people, that is, dreams, and almost all the taboo knowledge was cleared from the World Tree."

“But she also exhausted all her strength and wisdom because of this, and even lost her divine body. All that was left was… only a newborn baby like me!”

"Nacita..."

"I'm fine, sorry."

Taking a deep breath, Nashida calmed down and continued, "After the Great Compassion Tree King left, the system called 'Void' was left behind and was studied and used by the then Ministry of Education."

"It eventually became a device operated by the Heart of God to manage knowledge as a resource."

"The void is the legacy of the Great Kindness Tree King, and I am both the Little Auspicious Grass King and the "Original Void Terminal". My consciousness has always been connected to the void."

"So..." Nashida looked up at Yu Qi nervously and continued, "As long as they are wearing a void terminal, theoretically I can "enter" their brains."

Before she finished speaking, she quickly explained: "Of course, I have always respected the self-will of the people of Xumi, and have never really invaded their consciousness. I only occasionally enter their dreams, or borrow their bodies when necessary."

"Um...all of a sudden, I feel like I got to know a lot of valuable information." Rubbing his head and sorting out the clues from Nashida's nesting doll-like story, Yu Qi looked up at Catherine and asked.

"But, this Miss Catherine is from Liyue, right? And she didn't bring a Void Terminal with her. How did you manage to take over her body?"

"This!" Seeing that Yu Qi didn't seem to mind her behavior, Nashida breathed a sigh of relief and her tone became cheerful: "Actually, it's not a secret. Each individual of this bionic doll of Winter has a unique connection."

"It was through this connection, relying on the power of the earth veins, that I transferred my consciousness from Catherine in Xumi to Catherine in Liyue."

"Wait?!" Yu Qi raised his eyebrows and looked at Nashida strangely: "Are you saying that Miss Catherine is a puppet?"

"Yes."

"Well, it seems that the rumors are not all unreliable." Sighing, Yu Qi silently mourned for a second for those adventurers who had a crush on Catherine and even confessed to her.

Their love is destined to be in vain.

"By the way, Nashida, have you always used this method to travel around the world? Why don't you go out and walk around in person? I remember that the Jingshan Palace where you live is not far from Xumi City, right?"

When Nashida heard Yu Qi's question, her expression froze slightly. Fortunately, she was now controlling Catherine's body movements, and there was no expression of abnormality on her face.

"This is a long story." After hesitating for a moment, as if she was organizing her words, Nashida tried to speak in a calm tone and began to speak.

"After the Great Compassion Tree King disappeared, the wise men found me when I was just born and took me back to Xumi."

"I was indeed young and weak at the time, so the sages locked me up in the Jingshan Palace in the name of 'protection' and hardly cared about me anymore."

"But I know very well how much the sages hope they find King Daci Tree, not me, who almost symbolizes the fact that King Daci Tree has passed away."

"So, you mean that for the past five hundred years, you have been kept under house arrest by the humans who were supposed to be your people?"

Yu Qi did not show any anger because of Nashida's experience. He pondered for a moment, looked up at Nashida seriously, and asked: "Why did you voluntarily let them "house arrest"?"

Voluntary house arrest?

Yes, although he had only been in contact with Nashida for one night, Yu Qi thought that he had a relatively good understanding of Nashida.

He was well aware of the power that Nashida possessed. It was not difficult for her to break free from the seemingly indestructible "cage" or to completely take down the sages of the Order who had imprisoned her.

The only reason that allowed Nashida to stay in the Jingshan Palace for five hundred years and to go out was through the dreams of the people of Xumi...

"No matter how I think about it, there is only this possibility!" Yu Qi spread his hands and asked in a very calm tone: "Can you tell me what you think?"

"Because..." She raised her head and looked at Yu Qi seriously. As if because of his understanding, Catherine showed a very bright smile on her face.

"From a certain perspective, they are not wrong. The Great Compassionate Tree King is omniscient and omnipotent. Even after his death, the void is still giving power to this country."

"And I... am far from being worthy of the title of "God of Wisdom". The Ministry of Education is more familiar with the governance of the country. My existence does not have that much significance."

"So, I don't mind letting those children take charge of Xumi themselves. Compared to this, saving the World Tree is my mission and top priority."

Speaking of this, Nashida's tone became a little serious: "You should have noticed that the World Tree is already sick and polluted by knowledge that does not belong to this world."

"The Demonic Scale Disease and the Death Domain are spreading rapidly. I can clearly feel that the power of the World Tree is shrinking. It is being polluted and eroded by the power outside the world, and is slowly withering!"

"You mean the filth wrapped around the World Tree?" Recalling the scene he had seen through the earth veins, Yu Qi couldn't help but frown.

"Sure enough, you saw it too!" Nashida nodded, her tone somewhat inexplicable: "Then you should have heard that voice, right? The key words are "world" and "forgetfulness"? "

"Do you know what that voice said?"

"No, I don't know either!" Shaking her head regretfully, Nashida sighed, "That was a message left by the remaining consciousness of the Great Compassionate Tree King in the World Tree. Perhaps it was her last memory before she died."

"I can't decipher it yet, even with my current abilities, but I believe that the way to save the World Tree is hidden in that message, so I have never given up on deciphering it."

“But didn’t you say before that the Great Compassion Tree King had already cleared all the pollution of forbidden knowledge from the World Tree through the void?”

"This... I don't know. Perhaps it was because the Great Compassion Tree King was no longer able to completely eliminate all the forbidden knowledge at that time, and the remaining pollution revived after five hundred years; or perhaps..."

After a pause, Nashida's expression became particularly complicated: "Also, you should be able to feel that the consciousness of the Great Compassion Tree King remaining in the World Tree seems to be "contaminated" and contains a very dangerous aura."

"Really~" Nodding silently, Yu Qi already understood what Nashida might have meant.

As the incarnation of the World Tree, if the Great Compassionate Tree King is really polluted, it will be an immeasurable blow to Sumeru, Nashida, and the World Tree itself.

The current situation of the World Tree is most likely caused by this.

Thinking of this, even Yu Qi's mood began to become complicated. He still remembered the sacred and pure aura when the Great Compassion Tree King first appeared two days ago.

That feeling of being similar and compatible with himself has been deeply engraved in Yu Qi's heart and is difficult to forget.

In the shop, both of them were silent for a while, and the atmosphere gradually became depressing. At this moment, a burst of brisk footsteps suddenly came from the kitchen not far away.

"Boss, here's the honey water you ordered!" Zhu Zi came out of the kitchen late, holding a few cups of honey water.

It's not that she was being lazy on purpose, but she understood that Yu Qi had deliberately asked her to pour water in order to get her away and talk to "Miss Catherine" alone.

As an employee who could understand what the boss meant, Zhu Zi naturally chose to have a good rest in the kitchen for a while. When he heard that there seemed to be no sound outside, he slowly came out with honey water.

'Hehe, the boss should be quite satisfied with this! Well, Zhuzi, come on!'

"Come on, when did I ever ask you to avoid me on purpose?" Feeling the smugness in Zhu Zi's heart, Yu Qi's mouth twitched, and he couldn't help but secretly complain.

He asked Zhuzi to pour water at first because he really wanted to drink some water. Besides, it was Nashida's first visit, so he had to pour her a glass of water to entertain her.

Who knew that Zhuzi would come up with such an 'implied meaning'.

However, considering what he and Nashida had just discussed, Yu Qi did not say much.

After all, those things were indeed not suitable for Zhu Zi to hear. Even if she did not take the initiative to avoid them, Yu Qi would probably take the initiative to block the sound so that Zhu Zi would not hear it.

Holding the honey water in front of her, Nashida looked vaguely conflicted and looked up at Yu Qi.

As soon as the thought came to his mind, Nashida's troubled voice rang in Yu Qi's heart: "Well, this doll's body doesn't seem to have a digestive system..."

"Hmm?" After a moment's pause, Yu Qi subconsciously glanced at Catherine in front of him.

"Then..." Just as he was about to reply in his heart, the sound of footsteps suddenly came from the stairs not far away. Then, Alicia pulled Lei Dianzhen down from the second floor.

"boss!"

Hearing Alicia's voice, Yu Qi looked over, and then, looking at the young and beautiful figure beside Alicia, he couldn't help but feel a little dazed for a moment.

On the other side, Nashida looked at Alicia and Lei Dianzhen who suddenly appeared, and her expression gradually became a little confused.

"Boss...who is this?" Zhu Zi couldn't help but ask, looking at Lei Dianzhen with a complicated expression.

To be honest, when Zhuzi saw General Lei Dian just now, he was almost scared to death; who in Inazuma doesn't recognize the face of General Lei Dian!

Her reputation is so great that it can almost make children stop crying among Inazuma!

In this foreign country, when he suddenly saw the 'Thunder General' appear before his 'fugitive', the fact that Zhu Zi was not frightened out of his wits could be considered as a man of firm character!

Of course, after calming down a little and looking at Lei Dianzhen again, Zhu Zi relaxed a little again.