"Hey... Su Yuan, Yelan, look over there—is that Xingqiu?"
Chongyun poked Su Yuan and Yelan anxiously as he spoke.
"He finished writing his crime novel and came looking for me this quickly?"
"I remember you once said, Su Yuan, that while Eerie beings may disguise themselves in front of ordinary people, once pushed into a corner, they'll start killing without hesitation..."
Yelan said seriously, "We should probably get out of this crowded area first and then figure out how to deal with Xingqiu."
"Mm." Su Yuan nodded and took off running with the others.
Su Yuan and his group dashed out of Liyue Harbor, with "Xingqiu" relentlessly chasing after them.
"Xingqiu" seemed to be intentionally maintaining this exact distance—not too close, not too far, just right...
Finally, after they had run to a place with no one around, "Xingqiu" slowly spoke:
"Chongyun, why are you running? Aren't we good friends? Haven't you always wanted to see me?"
"It used to be me who avoided meeting you, but now, look at us—roles reversed. It's you who's avoiding me now..."
"Chongyun, why are you running? I came here to make up with you..."
Hearing Xingqiu's clearly abnormal words, Su Yuan and the others knew that Xingqiu was still under the control of an Eerie.
"Miss Yelan, and this unfamiliar young man—could I trouble you to step away for a moment?"
Xingqiu turned to look at Su Yuan and Yelan and slowly said:
"Right now, I have a few private words I want to share with my good friend Chongyun..."
Su Yuan was a little confused.
If Xingqiu's eerie transformation had a condition, shouldn't it be something related to chivalry or his novels...?
Why was Xingqiu now displaying such a clear sense of purpose, as if he was desperately targeting Chongyun?
"Could it be... Chongyun, the reason you've been avoiding me is because you've made two new friends, and decided to abandon me?"
"Xingqiu" revealed a pained expression.
His face began to twist and distort, and an eerie power began to emanate from his body...
"In that case, although this deviates from the plot I had planned in my novel, I suppose I'll have to add a special side story..."
"I'll annihilate all of you..."
"Chongyun... can only belong to me alone..."
Xingqiu slowly advanced toward the group, but before long, a sudden burst of eerie power exploded from Chongyun as well!
"I can smell it... I can see it... the scent of the Eerie!!!"
Then, "Chongyun" drew his greatsword and charged straight toward "Xingqiu"...
"One and a half hours..."
Yelan glanced at "Chongyun" and said,
"Su Yuan, you once told us that when Chongyun witnesses someone else undergoing eerie transformation, he himself can also transform — but it seems there's a cooldown period for that..."
"If the cooldown had already ended, then when Xingqiu fully revealed himself just a few seconds ago, Chongyun should've immediately entered his eerie state."
"But right now, it's only now that Chongyun is transforming..."
"And it just so happens to be exactly one and a half hours since I fed him the Jueyun Chilis back at the Chen Xiang residence..."
Although Su Yuan really wanted to comment, "Come on, Yelan, you're not even wearing a watch. How do you know the time that precisely?"
"The cooldown is one and a half hours, huh?" Su Yuan nodded, filing away another valuable piece of intel...
Su Yuan had originally thought that the cooldown period would be even longer.
After all, back when he coordinated with Neuvillette, they could only use that ability once a day...
But this made sense too—after all, Chongyun's eerie-transformed strength wasn't particularly powerful.
Su Yuan had been wondering how they were going to deal with the eerified "Xingqiu," but now that "Chongyun" had made the first move, he finally had a chance to witness the outcome of the clash he'd missed last time...
Su Yuan's head throbbed again.
Those blurry, fragmented images... it was probably his unusually good memory playing tricks on him once more...
With a furious roar, "Chongyun" slammed his greatsword down onto the ground in front of "Xingqiu," instantly creating a circular domain!
Su Yuan figured this must be "Chongyun" activating his Elemental Skill—Spirit Blade: Chonghua's Layered Frost!
Only now, due to the influence of the eerie energy, the originally ice-blue domain had turned into a deep, blood-red black...
Within the bounds of the domain, "Xingqiu" seemed to be heavily affected—his expression grew unnatural, and his movements became sluggish...
But "Xingqiu" wasn't about to back down either.
He immediately unleashed the Guhua Sword Technique: Raincutter, summoning four blood-red Rain Swords to orbit protectively around him...
What followed was a one-sided battle—"Chongyun" relentlessly suppressed "Xingqiu," leaving him with no choice but to defend.
He didn't even have a chance to counterattack...
This outcome was a bit beyond what Su Yuan and Yelan had expected...
Chongyun and Xingqiu are around the same age, and their strength is fairly evenly matched.
Even if one were eventually to win, it shouldn't be such a one-sided beatdown from the very start...
"Could it be... that Xingqiu didn't undergo eerie transformation due to some internal reason, but rather an external, incomplete transformation?"
Su Yuan muttered, voicing the possibility.
"An external eerie transformation, huh..."
Hearing Su Yuan's words, Yelan's expression also turned serious.
"Su Yuan, based on what you told me before, the only one right now capable of causing this kind of external transformation... is that Fatui Harbinger, Il Dottore, 'The Doctor'..."
"If Xingqiu really is an incomplete eerie... then it very likely means that Dottore is already in Liyue..."
"But my entire intelligence network hasn't caught even the slightest trace of anything like that..."
"That's not surprising. Back in Fontaine, no one detected Dottore's presence either."
Su Yuan furrowed his brow as well and said,
"When it comes to hiding his tracks... he really is a master at it..."
"Also, the way Xingqiu is targeting Chongyun so specifically... his intent is too clear. It really does feel like someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes..."
"Yelan, be ready. If that's the case, then once Xingqiu's eerie energy runs out, we'll need to stop Chongyun immediately."
"Got it." Yelan nodded, though she added with a hint of concern, "But in the middle of a battle ... trying to stuff a Jueyun Chili into Chongyun's mouth might be a bit tricky..."
"If only Hu Tao were here," Su Yuan sighed.
"She has a Pyro Vision, after all..."
"To trigger Chongyun's Pure Yang Body, it doesn't necessarily have to be spicy food..."
"Just splashing hot water on him would have the same effect—his body would go into overdrive all the same..."
"If I'd known earlier, I should've asked Arlecchino for a Delusion with a Pyro element..."
"Or at least brought a thermos of hot water from Master Mao's place back there..."
Yelan said, "It's just... Xingqiu showed up so suddenly, we didn't have time to think that far ahead."
But, as it turned out, Xingqiu's defeat came far quicker than either Su Yuan or Yelan had expected...
As the final blood-red Rain Sword surrounding Xingqiu shattered, a flicker of clarity seemed to return to his eyes—he appeared to have regained his sanity.
Xingqiu shouted, but Chongyun's greatsword still came swinging down—straight toward Xingqiu's head...
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