The round ended, and unsurprisingly, Unknown God claimed victory.
Unknown God glanced at the woman sitting outside in the main hall, let out a cheeky laugh, and typed in the chat box:
Unbeatable Unknown God: Hehe, rookie~ That all you got? Just this? Just this?
The woman saw it and was furious. He actually dared to taunt her! She had to win this back!
She immediately hit the ready button.
Unknown God saw that and grinned.
"Oho~ This is getting interesting. Another easy win? I'm loving this~"
She clicked Start Game.
Hu Tao played for a while, then stood up to leave the internet café. She planned to find Keqing and ask for a plot of land.
She was planning to lease a space next to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor to build a proper internet café.
She had bought a voucher from Stelle that could redeem up to 1,000 computers.
Obviously, that many computers would never fit inside the funeral parlor.
"Hey, you keep playing, I'm stepping out for a bit."
Unknown God took off her headset. "Where you going?"
Hu Tao replied, "Got a few things to take care of. Want me to bring you back some food?"
Unknown God instantly agreed, "Of course! Bring lots!"
Hu Tao nodded and headed out.
She left Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and made her way to Yujing Terrace.
As she arrived, she spotted Ganyu.
"Ganyu~!" Hu Tao waved in greeting.
Hearing someone call her, Ganyu looked around and saw Hu Tao waving at her.
"Hu Tao? What brings you to Yujing Terrace? Do you need something?"
Hu Tao nodded eagerly. "Yup~ I'm looking for Keqing to buy some land. Have you seen her around?"
Ganyu thought for a moment. "She's probably on the Jade Chamber, talking business with Ningguang."
Hu Tao frowned.That was tricky. She couldn't get up to the Jade Chamber on her own.
Ganyu saw Hu Tao's troubled expression and offered, "I can take you up there."
Hu Tao was surprised and delighted. "Really?"
Ganyu smiled and nodded. "Really. Come on."
Hu Tao instantly brightened. "Awesome! Thank you, Ganyu!" She grabbed Ganyu's hand and gave it a playful shake.
Ganyu wasn't used to such close gestures and got a little flustered.
"N-no need to thank me."
Following Ganyu, Hu Tao stepped onto the floating platform leading to the Jade Chamber.
Ganyu glanced at Hu Tao, surprised at how calm she looked.
Most people would be at least a little awestruck the first time they rode this platform—it was practically flying, after all.
"Hu Tao, have you been to the Jade Chamber before?"
Hu Tao shook her head. "Nope~ Why do you ask, Ganyu?"
Ganyu said, "You just seem really calm. Most people are really curious the first time they ride this thing."
Hu Tao replied, "What's so special about it? I've got a flying motorcycle, flying's no big deal to me anymore~"
Ganyu chuckled, remembering seeing Hu Tao flying over Liyue Harbor on that very bike.
Soon, the two reached the Jade Chamber and entered Ningguang's office.
"Ningguang, Keqing—Hu Tao's here to see you."
Ningguang and Keqing, who had been discussing what to buy from Ye Yun's shop later, looked up at Hu Tao.
"Ningguang~ Keqing~" Hu Tao waved.
Ever since their first visit to Ye Yun's, Ningguang and Keqing had told Hu Tao to drop the formal titles and just call them casually.
Ningguang smiled and set down her pipe. "Hu Tao, what brings you here today?"
Hu Tao grinned. "I'm here to see Keqing. I want to buy some land."
Keqing looked puzzled. "Why do you want to buy land?"
Hu Tao replied, "You've heard about my internet café, right?"
Ningguang and Keqing nodded. Of course they had. The hottest topic in Liyue lately was none other than Hu Tao's Wangsheng Internet Café.
There, not only could people play incredible computer games, but even Fatui Harbingers had ended up embarrassed there.
Ningguang thought for a moment. "You want to expand the café?"
Hu Tao nodded and gave her a thumbs-up. "Exactly~ I bought 1,000 computers from Xing, and I want to set them all up. There's no way Wangsheng Funeral Parlor has enough space."
Ningguang instantly understood Hu Tao's plan.
She began to consider investing.
The internet café business had explosive growth potential—it was practically guaranteed profit.
Plus, being a partner of Wangsheng Parlor would give her more chances to meet Zhongli.
"Hu Tao, would you like a little investment from your big sis? That commercial building next to the Parlor is mine, you know."
Hu Tao's eyes widened in shock. "Whoa! That huge building next door is yours?!"
It was massive—more than enough space for 1,000 computers.
"Ningguang, you serious?"
Ningguang propped her chin on one hand and smiled. "Of course I'm serious. So? Want to accept your big sister's investment? You just give me a 30% cut of the profits."
Hu Tao agreed on the spot—no need to think twice! "Deal! Ningguang-Sis, it's a deal!"
Ningguang smiled. "Pleasure doing business."
With everything settled, Hu Tao got ready to leave—she still wanted to stop by Ye Yun's shop.
"Ningguang-Sis, Keqing, Ganyu—I'm heading out. Gonna stop by Ye Yun's. It's almost mealtime, I might even mooch a meal off them."
Ningguang raised an eyebrow. "You're heading to Ye Yun's? We're going too. Keqing and I were just about to pick up a few things."
Hu Tao grinned. "Even better! Let's go!"
Ningguang turned to Ganyu. "Ganyu, come with us too."
Ganyu hadn't expected to be invited.
She already knew about the otherworldly store—Zhongli had briefed all the Adepti.
Ganyu nodded in agreement.
And so, the four of them walked together toward Wanmin Restaurant, chatting and laughing along the way.
Meanwhile, near the reservoir outside the train station—
The four little ones were having a blast blowing up fish.
Unbeknownst to them, a battle was brewing nearby.
A group of Dragon Clan enforcers who had been dispatched to find Bailu had finally spotted her by the reservoir.
"We finally found the dragon girl. Move quick—grab her and bring her back."
The leader pulled out a dagger and was about to charge.
But after waiting a moment, none of his men moved.
"What are you all doing?! Didn't you hear me?!" he turned around—
Only to see a cold-eyed woman in an eyepatch, standing in the middle of the bodies of his men, an ice sword in hand.
"You said… you're here to capture the dragon girl?"
Before he could respond, a wave of sword energy surged straight toward him—
***
After Jingliu killed the last person, she sheathed her Ice Sword.
Behind her, Rios slowly stepped forward.
Rios glanced coldly at the several corpses on the ground and lightly stepped forward.
A few flames suddenly appeared out of nowhere, incinerating the bodies.
"This is already the 12th batch. The first time it happened, Ye Yun dealt with it. Since then, I've killed 10 more batches of people who came to capture Hu Tao. Do you know where these people come from?"
Jingliu's expression immediately turned cold upon hearing this.
"12 batches?"
Rios nodded.
"Right. Do you know who sent them? It should be your people from the Xianzhou, right?"
Jingliu nodded.
"It should be. The people just now were definitely from Xianzhou."
Miru looked towards Hu Tao in the distance.
"It looks like I need to ask Jing Yuan properly about who exactly wants to capture Bailu."
Rios looked up at the sky and noticed it was almost time for dinner.
"Let's head back first. Dinner's about to be ready. We can talk about this later."
Jingliu nodded in agreement and followed Rios back onto the train.
At Ye Yun's shop.
Ye Yun and Xiangling were cooking.
Stelle and March 7th walked out of the portal.
As soon as they returned, they rushed straight to the small bar and opened the fridge. Each grabbed a can of ice-cold Cola and gulped it down.
Stelle shivered all over, with a look of enjoyment.
"Ah, so good! I was dying of thirst!"
March 7th also shivered, sighing happily.
"Exactly, there's nothing better than a cold Cola when you're really thirsty!"
Himeko, who was nearby, asked curiously.
"Didn't you bring any water with you?"
Stelle grinned.
"Nope, we purposely didn't bring any, just for the thrill of this moment!"
March 7th nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, yeah, we didn't bring anything on purpose!"
Himeko shook her head, unable to say anything in reply.
In the kitchen, Ye Yun shouted to Stelle and March 7th.
"Stelle, March, come help with the vegetables."
Stelle made a face of reluctance and pouted.
"No way—don't we have the all-powerful Noelle here? We don't need me, the useless one~"
March 7th agreed.
"Exactly, Noelle can handle it. She's way better than us!"
Noelle, who had been holding cleaning tools and preparing to clean the reception room, immediately blushed upon hearing this.
"P-Please don't say that. I still have many things I need to improve on…"
Stelle shrugged.
"How could you be lacking? Noelle is amazing! She cleaned the whole train by herself!"
March 7th put down her Coke and added, "Yeah, yeah, Noelle, you're awesome! Way better than us two useless people!"
Noelle's face turned even redder, and Ye Yun quickly stepped in to smooth things over.
"Alright, alright, Noelle, you go clean the reception room. You two, hurry up and come help with the vegetables."
Reluctantly, Stelle and March 7th took two small stools and entered the kitchen to help.
Noelle arrived at the reception room, and as soon as she entered, she saw Topaz still working.
Noelle softly asked.
"Um… Topaz, do you need me to clean here?"
Topaz looked up from her work.
"Noelle, you're just in time. I do need this area cleaned. Thank you for your help."
Noelle shook her head.
"It's no problem, it's my duty."
Topaz stood up, and Noelle began to clean her workspace.
Soon, Noelle finished cleaning.
"All done, Topaz. I'll go clean elsewhere now."
After saying that, Noelle moved on to clean other areas.
Topaz looked at Noelle and decided that she couldn't let her work for free.
So, after some thought, she purchased a gift for Noelle through the company's internal network.
Not long after.
Hu Tao, Ningguang, Keqing, and Ganyu arrived at Ye Yun's shop.
Stelle waved and greeted them.
"Hu Tao! Ningguang! Keqing! Ganyu!"
Hu Tao saw Stelle, who was picking vegetables in the kitchen, and rushed over.
"Stelle, where did you two go to play today?"
Stelle replied.
"We went to Belobog to check out the ice deer ranch that Bronya set up. What about you?"
Hu Tao replied.
"I was at the internet café for a bit. Now I'm busy expanding my business. I bought a computer voucher from you last time, remember?"
Stelle recalled the event.
"Oh, I remember now."
"That's right, I was actually thinking of inviting you to play tomorrow. March and I were planning to visit the Fyxestroll Garden."
Hu Tao was a bit confused.
"Fyxestroll Garden? Where's that?"
Stelle suddenly smiled mysteriously, draped her arm around Hu Tao's shoulders, and pulled out her phone to open a live stream app.
The phone displayed a live broadcast of Guinaifen and Sushang exploring the Fyxestroll Garden.
"Hey, everyone! Today, we've come to the legendary haunted place, the Fyxestroll Garden!"
As soon as Guinaifen finished her intro, Sushang suddenly screamed as if she had seen something terrifying.
"Ah!!!"
Guinaifen quickly followed with a scream.
"Huh!!! A ghost!!!"
The live stream ended.
Stelle mischievously grinned at Hu Tao and raised an eyebrow.
"So, what do you think? Want to go?"
Hu Tao's eyes lit up with excitement.
"Ghosts! Ha! This place has ghosts! I'm in!"
She looked around and spotted Zhongli, who was drinking tea and listening to opera on a recorder.
Hu Tao dashed over to him.
"Consultant! Ningguang and I have reached an agreement with the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, and the building next door is going to be turned into an internet café. You'll go to the site tomorrow and keep an eye on things."
Without giving Zhongli a chance to refuse, Hu Tao said decisively.
"That's settled then! Tomorrow, just watching the vendors move out. Bye-bye~ Fyxestroll Garden, here I come!"
Zhongli sighed.
"Ah, I really can't handle dealing with the Director."
Welt, who was nearby, spoke up.
"Tomorrow, I'll go with you. Let's invite Jing Yuan. We can play chess at your place, the environment is better."
Zhongli agreed after hearing this.
"Alright, I'll contact General Jing Yuan."
Zhongli took out his phone and sent a message to Jing Yuan. Soon, Jing Yuan replied, saying it was fine.
Ningguang and Keqing greeted everyone and then headed to the small bar to pick out some items.
Ganyu stood still, curiously observing the surroundings.
It's so beautiful here… What's this? Why is it so shiny?
Ye Yun noticed Ganyu.
"Hello, miss, I'm Ye Yun, the owner of this shop."
Ganyu heard Ye Yun call her and quickly greeted him.
"Hello, Ye Yun. My name is Ganyu."
Ye Yun smiled.
"No need to be so formal. Feel free to make yourself at home. We're all friends here."
Xiangling, noticing Ganyu, was delighted.
"Ah! It's you, Ganyu! You're here too!"
Ganyu nodded.
"Long time no see, Xiangling."
Ganyu thought about how every time she went to Wanmin Hall for a meal, Xiangling always secretly gave her extra portions.
Well, she gave extra, but the problem was, Xiangling always watched her finish eating.