Su Yuan looked at Lumine and Zhongli—so the two of them were old acquaintances?
Well, that made sense.
Lumine had embarked on her journey in Teyvat centuries ago, and Zhongli was one of the original Seven Archons who had never been replaced, so it was only natural that they knew each other...
However, the relationship between Lumine and Zhongli seemed... a little strained.
But that, too, was understandable. Lumine and the Abyss Order were in direct opposition to the "Heavenly Principles," while Zhongli, at least on the surface, was still one of the Seven Archons under their rule...
Even though Zhongli had already faked his death and retired...
"Ahem, let's get back to business..."
Su Yuan coughed a couple of times to ease the awkward atmosphere, then spoke, giving Zhongli a brief summary of the current situation.
"I believe Guoba was already corrupted by the Eerie on the day he went missing..."
"And now both Guoba and Xiangling... it seems they're eating people. If we don't stop them soon, it'll definitely lead to more casualties..."
"Eating... people..."
Upon hearing Su Yuan's words, Zhongli murmured to himself, as if his thoughts had drifted back to a time long ago...
"Liyue once endured an age of ceaseless war and rampant Archon conflict. Countless people were displaced, their homes and farmlands destroyed, harvests lost, and famine claiming lives by the thousands..."
"In those years of starvation and chaos, the land was plagued by calamities and disease."
"It was Marchosius—who is now Guoba—who poured all of his power into the land to quell these disasters..."
"And only because of that sacrifice has today's Liyue become a place where everyone can live in peace and plenty..."
Zhongli looked at Su Yuan with calm and profound eyes and slowly spoke:
"So I was thinking, in the past, Guoba exhausted all of his power just to ensure that people could live in a world where they were well-fed..."
"And now that people no longer worry about having enough to eat, it's inevitable that some will become wasteful and extravagant..."
"Could it be that the condition for Guoba's eerie transformation was witnessing someone wasting food right in front of him?"
Su Yuan nodded in agreement, thinking to himself that as Guoba's old friend, Zhongli truly understood him.
He then said, "That's definitely a possibility..."
"Everyone... I've finished my investigation."
Just then, a sudden voice rang out behind Su Yuan—it was Yelan:
"On the day Guoba went missing, two merchants from Snezhnaya were dining at Wanmin Restaurant."
"According to Chef Mao, the two merchants originally wanted to eat at Liyue Pavilion or Xinyue Kiosk, but since they didn't make reservations in advance, they couldn't get a table..."
"By their own admission, they only came to Wanmin Restaurant because they had no other choice..."
"They criticized the food and made all sorts of picky comments—they were clearly dissatisfied."
"As a result, they barely touched the dishes. Most of the food ended up being wasted..."
"Not long after, the Ministry of Civil Affairs received a report from their attendants that the two Snezhnayan merchants had gone missing..."
"While we weren't able to locate them, we did find some of their torn clothing scattered in the wilderness..."
"Judging by the nature of the tears, it looked like they had been attacked by a wild beast..."
"And Guoba, in a certain sense, does count as a beast—he fits the description perfectly..."
"Given that, and based on your earlier deductions, we can basically confirm..."
"The condition for Guoba's eerie transformation is witnessing someone wasting food in front of him—and he then targets those who waste food..."
After hearing Yelan's explanation, Su Yuan also nodded and began to think.
If that's the case, let's piece together the current situation.
First, Guoba saw the two Snezhnayan merchants wasting food, then fell into an eerie transformation, killed them, and possibly even ate them...
Xiangling must have found the transformed Guoba.
Then something happened that caused Xiangling to fall into an eerie transformation as well.
Xiangling is now obsessed with cooking human meat—could it be that her condition for transforming was eating human flesh?
No, Su Yuan suddenly had a new thought.
What if Xiangling's condition for becoming Eerie was tasting an ingredient she had never eaten before?
After all, Xiangling is a chef who loves experimenting with new things and often adds all kinds of strange ingredients into her dishes...
If that's the case, it all makes sense.
"Everyone, I just had a thought—what if Xiangling's condition for becoming eerie was tasting a food she had never eaten before?" Su Yuan looked at everyone and voiced his idea.
"That does sound like a real possibility," Yelan said thoughtfully, nodding in agreement.
"If that's true, then do you all remember what I told you about Wriothesley, the prison warden of Meropide Fortress in Fontaine?"
"Like Xiangling, he also falls into an eerie transformation after consuming something."
"For him, it's tea. But as long as he metabolizes all the tea from his body, he can return to normal."
"So if we follow the same logic—if we can get Xiangling to metabolize and expel all those strange ingredients she ate, maybe she can recover too?"
"That is indeed a method worth trying," Zhongli nodded.
"But that Wriothesley warden only drank some tea," Yelan said worriedly.
"It's a liquid, so he could just sweat it out to metabolize it..."
"But Xiangling—she probably ate a lot of solid food. That method won't work for her..."
"Isn't that an easy fix? Let's just go find Baizhu!"
After thinking it through, Su Yuan slapped his forehead and immediately said, "We'll ask Baizhu to give us some medicine that induces nausea and vomiting, plus some strong laxatives or purgatives..."
"As long as we can get Xiangling to take it, and get her to completely empty her stomach and intestines, she should be able to return to normal!"
"Su Yuan, that's really... an ingenious and daring idea," Lumine couldn't help but comment.
Then, the group headed to Bubu Pharmacy.
Seeing them arrive, Baizhu stood up and greeted them. "Everyone—what brings you here?"
"It's nothing much. We just came to ask for a few medicinal ingredients," Su Yuan replied.
"By the way, Baizhu, we haven't seen you in a day or two. How are the patients doing?"
At that, Baizhu showed a sorrowful expression and let out a small sigh.
"I did everything I could to treat them... but nearly ten people, whose bodies were too weak and had lost too much vitality, unfortunately passed away..."
"Well, let's not talk about that anymore. It was my fault..."
"Tell me—who's sick? And what kind of medicine do you need?"
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