Man in Xumi: I can copy the authority of the seven gods

The people around the campfire were not surprised. They turned around and found that the person who spoke was indeed the green-clad bard from Mondstadt.

The leader of the treasure-stealing group could no longer dislike the naive young man in the cage after spending the past few days with him.

Hearing the praise for his "trophy", he just shook his head.

Standing up from his spot, he poured out half of the wine in his flagon as he had done in the past few days, and handed it to the expectant bard in a bowl through the gap in the wooden cage.

After seeing the other party catch it firmly, he said helplessly:

"Ah, I really don't understand you Mond people. You sing and drink all day long. Where do you get the money for your daily expenses?"

"Little kid, you are just too young. If you were my age, you would probably be thinking about trivial matters like food, clothing, housing and transportation all day long."

The middle-aged leader of the treasure-stealing group shook his head and sighed deeply.

Thinking of the heavy pressure on himself, he suddenly envied the young man in front of him.

"Hehe, thank you uncle, your homemade rice wine is really good. Would you like to consider going to Mondstadt with me?"

"I am willing to use my identity as a bard to guarantee that with your winemaking skills, you will definitely have no worries about food in Mondstadt. So, you should not take the risk of smuggling ore and jade, right?"

Wendy took a sip of the wine the middle-aged man gave her, her green eyes narrowed slightly in satisfaction, and she was obviously very satisfied with the taste of the wine.

"Haha, you are a good talker. If I were the only one in this camp, I might go to Mondstadt with you."

"But I still have some spare money, but if these old friends around me continue to live off their savings, then our family will not be able to make ends meet."

The uncle drank and chatted with the young man from Mond in front of him as a pastime.

Seeing the depressed look of the other young man in the cage, he smiled and comforted the two "unexpected gains":

"You two don't have to worry. We just need money at home, so we picked up some scraps from the mine and processed them to earn some money for firewood. We don't have the intention of stealing money and killing people."

"You two were simply given to us brothers because the 'superiors' thought it was troublesome to take care of you. I guarantee in my name, Lao Zhao, that we brothers will release you safely after we leave here."

"As for the daily meals, just make do with what we have. Even though it's not the best food, you won't starve to death anyway."

Old Zhao, who looked like a middle-aged man, saw the scholar in the cage with a skeptical look on his face. He recalled the original purpose of his group's visit and felt as if he was in another world.

The dozen or so treasure-stealing groups here are actually miners in the Layered Rock Chasm area.

As experienced miners who had never seen the sun for most of their lives, Lao Zhao and several of his brothers had a harder life in the past, but in terms of income, they could still make ends meet.

But since the closure of the Chasm, the mines have closed down and the miners have lost their jobs.

As the days go by, many workers who have been mining since they were just adults and have no skills to make a living are becoming more and more restless when faced with the mouths waiting for food and drink at home.

Although for some foremen, the subsidies issued by the General Affairs Department are enough for them to start over and operate honestly.

——But such people are only a minority after all.

It is unrealistic to expect the General Affairs Department to be able to afford the layoff subsidies for thousands of miners.

The compensation most people receive can barely guarantee that they will not starve to death in the short term, and their daily expenses must also be reduced.

——This is just a lonely person.

If there are children or elderly people at home, it will be completely insufficient.

As the days go by, all the miners who can change careers and find jobs have already filled various industries.

But since they can only do hard labor, the demand for them in Liyue’s labor market is ultimately limited.

More and more people are changing jobs, wages for hard labor are getting lower and lower, and job opportunities are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

Many laid-off miners are exhausted all day long, fighting fiercely with their colleagues, but in the end they can hardly earn enough to make a living.

The dozen or so guys under Lao Zhao, who had no skills to make a living, finally couldn't bear it anymore a few days ago.

They united together and found the former foreman Lao Zhao in private.

They sincerely requested this reliable elder brother who had always taken care of them in the past to be the leader of their treasure-stealing group.

Like their smuggling counterparts, these old friends joined the treasure-stealing group in order to take advantage of the convenient channels of this transnational illegal organization.

By picking up some scraps in the mining area, and processing them into jewelry roughly, they sell them to tourists who come to Liyue or merchants from other countries at a low price.

As a foreman, Lao Zhao received a lot of compensation. Compared with joining the treasure-stealing group, he naturally had other better options.

Whether you want to set up a small stall or use the money to look for opportunities in other countries,

In any case, as long as it is a legitimate livelihood, it is much better than risking being caught for breaking the law and becoming the boss of this group of former co-workers.

But when I see these old friends, their faces looking extremely tired due to the heavy work, I think of the days we spent together in the past.

Old Zhao, who was a sentimental man, got excited and finally nodded and agreed to their request in the face of more than ten pairs of pleading eyes.

Wake up from memories,

Old Zhao felt the evening breeze blowing towards him, which was slightly smelled of alcohol.

I feel that I am old after all, and I have become sentimental.

Although he and his brothers were only responsible for the rough processing of the mined jade from the beginning to the end, and finally delivered the semi-finished products to the treasure-stealing team members who were responsible for the next link,

Other than that, I haven't done anything harmful.

Even because he was unwilling to participate in activities such as kidnapping and theft, he was thrown a lot of difficult tasks by his superiors, such as taking care of these two unlucky guys who had nothing left to gain.

But looking at the somewhat frightened eyes of the Sumeru scholar in the cage, although the reason they came here had nothing to do with them, he still felt that this was quite a deviation from the original plan of his group of guys.

——In any case, when you release them in two days, leave some extra travel expenses and food for these two young people.

Knowing that once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back, it is too late to quit the treasure-hunting group now.

Old Zhao shook his head and decided to provide some compensation to the two unlucky guys who were captured as much as possible within his ability.

Return to the fire.

He looked at the workers in front of him who were chatting and laughing because they had hope for the future, threw away all the distracting thoughts in his mind, and said:

"Brothers, after dinner, give the two extra blankets in our camp to the two guys in the cage. It's really cold today, and the little straw inside could easily freeze them."

A strong man with gray hair beside him quickly agreed after hearing this:

"Okay, Foreman Zhao, I'll do as you say."

"I'll deliver the food to them after they finish eating with the rest of us. Don't worry."

"They are not much older than my silly boy. Even if you hadn't told me, I would have sent them something to cover them. We can't let the young people get frozen."

The uncle had been staring at that place for a long time, and seemed to have had this idea for a long time. After hearing the boss's arrangement, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and agreed to it without hesitation.

"Wow, I'm so full, I can't even eat the fruit after dinner..."

In the cage in the center of the camp, Wendy, who had no sense of urgency, patted her round belly and made a satisfied sound.

After drinking the last sip of wine brought by the uncle, the green bard looked at his "cellmate" and kindly reminded him:

"By the way, my friend from Xumi, why don't you eat more now? The quality of today's food is very good~"

"If you don't eat now, I won't have anything to share with you if you get hungry later."

"."

After hearing what Wendy said, Gazari looked at the large bowl of potato stew with ham and the two flatbreads on the side and couldn't help but remain silent for a moment.

For a long time,

Seeing that the senior beside him seemed very experienced, he asked hesitantly:

"Why are they different from the treasure-stealing group I remember? Shouldn't we just give them some food so they won't starve to death?"

"A sumptuous dinner for the treasure-stealing group. A tradition in Liyue."

Putting these factors together, Ghazali thought of a possibility and shook with some fear.

“——Could this be Liyue’s last meal?!”

"Is it the kind of hospice care that's recorded in books, where they give people a good meal before sending them on their way, to prevent them from going hungry?!"

"."

"."

"puff--"

Ghazali was shivering when he suddenly heard a leaking sound coming from the side.

His emotions were interrupted, and when he turned around, he saw a bard who was covering his mouth to hold back his laughter, his whole body shaking.

"Haha. Hahaha., brother, you are so funny!"

"Is this something recorded in a novel? How can a treasure-hunting group have such a tradition?! Hahahaha..."

Wendy was still savoring the delicious meal she had just had, but when she saw this interesting junior of hers, she was so frightened that she trembled in the corner.

He was feeling very uncomfortable trying to hold back his laughter, but after being asked by the other party, he really couldn't help laughing.

After a while, he finally recovered from what happened just now. He took a deep breath and then spoke:

"Ahem, forget it, stop laughing and get back to business."

Wendy looked at the scholar's uniform on Gazari and thought for a moment. She pointed at the young man's clothes and explained:

"Look at your clothes, young man. You should be a scholar from Xumi, right?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Then you should know that there are always exceptions in any group, right?"

"Like a sweet flower that's super sweet, a sour and astringent raspberry that looks pretty, and a giant slime that's much bigger than the others."

Wendy paused, and after confirming that the other party understood, she continued:

"After all, the Treasure Stealing Group is just a general term. The members of the group are very complex."

"Whether it's an ordinary person with nowhere to go, an explorer who longs for ancient treasures, or the most simple thief who wants to get something for nothing."

"Since the identities and purposes before joining were different, how can there be any unified standards of behavior?"

"But I think all the treasure-stealing groups that were caught are pretty much the same."

Ghazali tried to retort.

"That's because any individual in a group will be like a wisp of wind in a thousand winds, and will be slowly assimilated. The longer they join, the more their actions will become irreversibly unified."

Wendy explained.

"——We are actually quite lucky. The treasure-stealing group here has not been established for long. They haven't done anything wrong that would cross the bottom line. Even their mentality is still the same as when they lived by the rules in the past."

"As long as there is a suitable opportunity, whether it is a change in the overall environment or an adjustment in policies, they are actually like the prodigal son who left home, and there is still a way back."

Wendy looked at the honest workers who were talking and laughing after their meal, just like ordinary people, and said meaningfully.

"But no matter how friendly they are, they are still a group of treasure hunters. So, don't you want to leave, senior?"

Ghazali asked.

"Ah? Leave? Why leave? Isn't it good to just eat and drink here peacefully?"

Wendy responded to his words with a matter-of-fact attitude that shocked Ghazali.

"To be honest, the living conditions here are much better than when I was in Mondstadt."

"If I could, I would really like to stay like this forever."

Wendy burped, and the satisfaction in her words didn't seem fake.

"."

After a moment of silence, the young man in green did not look at the scholar in front of him.

Instead, he looked up at the cold full moon in the sky and said as if talking to himself:

"——But everything must move forward, they do, and so do I."

"The traveling Liu Feng has brought back the answer, so don't worry. The opportunity for us to leave here should be today."

"."

Gazari did not respond to Wendy's words. He was already in a sweet dream and it was impossible for him to respond.

"."

Wendy also stopped talking, raised her head slightly, and looked at the camp in front of her, which had fallen into a deep sleep without her noticing.

In the evening breeze that flowed like water, the green bard keenly sensed the greetings brought by the elements.