He told Xia Lin to play in the room, and if she got sleepy, to go ahead and sleep.
She agreed obediently.
Xia Zhi left and went to Cloud Retainer's door.
He knocked lightly.
The door opened immediately.
She must have been waiting for him right there.
"Mr. Xia, come in."
"Alright."
He entered. Only Cloud Retainer was inside.
Like him, she lived alone.
Xia Zhi went over to the table.
The beautifying mirror lay there, now shattered into several pieces—no doubt the cost of her research.
She lingered by the door a moment, peeking outside. Seeing no one suspicious, she shut it and walked over.
As she came to his side, catching the faint warmth of his scent, she took a quiet breath, steadied herself, and began explaining her findings.
Xia Zhi listened in silence, occasionally asking a question or two.
Some she could answer. Others puzzled her as well, sparking discussion between them.
At one point, he seemed bothered by his bangs, repeatedly brushing them aside with his fingers.
At first she didn't think much of it, but then she realized and asked, "Mr. Xia… is your hair getting long?"
He sighed. "Yeah, it's a bit annoying. Haven't had a trim in a while—last time, my cousin did it."
"Since it's bothering you, why not cut it shorter now?" she suggested.
"It's late. I won't trouble my cousin tonight. I'll wait until tomorrow."
She thought for a moment. "Tomorrow… actually, I can cut hair too."
"Oh?"
"I used to cut Ganyu's and Shenhe's hair when they were little. I'm not an expert, but I'm not bad either."
"…Are you offering?"
"If you don't mind, I can do it for you."
"I wouldn't say I mind… I believe in your skills."
"Then…"
"I'll trouble you to give me a trim."
"Good!"
She fetched scissors and a comb.
Xia Zhi sat down, removed his sunglasses, and closed his eyes.
Looking at him so still, her heart stirred faintly, but she forced it down and began cutting with care.
The moment her fingers touched his hair, the system spoke in his mind.
"New animal touched. Gained [Immortal Crane's Blessing]: +1 Intelligence, +1 Agility."
"New animal touched. All attributes increased by 0.0001%."
As expected, her true form counted for a [Blessing] too.
The stats were similar to Xia Lin's blessing, though without the special damage and resistance bonuses.
After a while, she said softly, "Mr. Xia, it's done."
"Thanks."
"There's loose hair everywhere—want to wash it in the Serenitea Pot?"
"No need."
He raised his hand, summoning a breeze that blew all the stray hairs off his head and clothes.
She quietly put away the scissors and comb.
His phone buzzed again.
A quick god's-eye glance showed it was the internet café urging him to open up.
He stood. "It's late, Cloud Retainer. I'll head back to sleep. We can discuss the mirror research later."
"Alright."
She saw him to the door, closing it only after he was gone.
Then she looked down at the pile of hair on the floor, lost in thought.
This…
She'd been worrying over the sachet problem for a while now—yes, the thing could help her enter dreams, but every time she did, it would consume all the hair inside. And getting hold of Mr. Xia's hair… that was nearly impossible.
She hadn't expected him to walk right into her room of his own accord, much less agree to let her cut his hair—handing her enough precious material to last for months of dreams in one go.
But… wasn't it a little too easy?
Cloud Retainer found herself lost in thought.
She wasn't Ganyu—how could she possibly have such good luck that her wish would just fall into her lap?
And if it wasn't luck, there was only one possibility left: Mr. Xia had done it on purpose.
With Shenhe and Ganyu around, of course he knew she could cut hair. The rest was just a matter of prompting her—like deliberately brushing his bangs aside several times so she'd notice and ask…
Once the haircut was done, there'd naturally be plenty of fallen hair left behind.
And since the sachets she made required hair as material, Mr. Xia would know exactly what that meant. After all, the sachet's effects were something he had described to her in the first place.
Realizing this, Cloud Retainer's cheeks warmed faintly.
Did this mean Mr. Xia knew what she wanted, knew the bind she was in… and chose to help her in this way?
If so… wasn't this basically laying his cards on the table?
—
Xia Zhi returned to his room.
The little girl stared blankly at his freshly cut hair.
"Papa, where's your hair?"
"I cut it."
"Why did Papa cut it?"
"Because it was getting in the way."
"Oh… I want to cut mine too!"
"Girls don't need to cut their hair as often. Long hair looks prettier."
"Does Papa like girls with long hair more?"
"Mm."
"Then I won't cut it!"
Xia Zhi chuckled, ruffling her hair.
"But you can't let it get too long—your hair can't be trailing on the floor, right?"
"Oh, right."
"Alright, it's about time. Let's go to sleep."
"Okay, Papa!"
He turned off the lights and lay down with her.
As always, she wrapped herself around his arm like a koala.
"Go to sleep. No competitions tomorrow—let's go to the library, get the treasure marked on that map you found last time, and then I'll take you to find the real treasure it points to."
"Okay!"
She really did light up at anything treasure-related.
—
Dreamscape.
While everyone else was playing a canyon game together, Xia Zhi strolled over, glanced at their screens, and casually rested his hand on the back of their chairs—just enough to brush against them.
Sure enough, the system triggers went off.
"New animal touched. Gained [Azhdaha's Blessing]: +1 Strength, +1 Constitution, +20% Geo DMG, +20% Geo RES."
"New animal touched. All attributes increased by 0.0001%."
…
"New animal touched. Gained [Immortal Deer's Blessing]: +1 Intelligence, +1 Strength."
"New animal touched. All attributes increased by 0.0001%."
…
"New animal touched. Gained [Qilin's Blessing]: +1 Luck, +1 Charm."
"New animal touched. All attributes increased by 0.0001%."
…
That left only Madame Ping.
But since she never liked to come over at night for massages and clearly disliked physical contact, Xia Zhi didn't bother forcing an affectionate gesture on her.
There'd be other chances, eventually.
—
Three a.m.
The night outside was pitch-black.
The Cryo nun woke right on time.
Sitting at the head of her bed, she glanced at the white cat beside her. The coldness in her eyes softened just a little.
Quietly, she got up, brewed herself a cup of coffee, drank it, changed clothes, and went out.
The door's old hinges creaked shut a little too loudly, jolting the white cat awake. It looked around in confusion but found no sign of the nun.
It searched the room carefully. Nothing.
She'd gone out this early?
The cat returned to bed and curled up to sleep.
—
Diluc slipped back into the tavern without a sound.
There was a faint scent of blood on him.
Whatever he'd been doing outside had clearly been violent.
The tavern was still open, but business wasn't as good as before—thanks to that wine Venti had been handing out, making the old drunks feel like nothing else tasted right anymore.
Diluc entered, exchanged a brief greeting with the bartenders, and headed upstairs.
The first floor was for business; the second had his private quarters.
He was planning to take a bath.
A few minutes after he went up, another young man walked into the tavern.
The bartender spotted him instantly. "Captain Kaeya!"
Kaeya nodded with a smile. "Tell me—have you seen anyone pass by out front?"
"What kind of person?"
"Goes by 'Darknight Hero.' In reality, a Pyro Vision holder. About my height. Seems to use a claymore…"
The bartender fell silent, lowering his voice. "Haven't seen anyone."
"Anyone like that come in to drink?"
"Still no!"
"What about Diluc?"
"Boss is upstairs. Taking a bath."
"A bath?"
At that, Kaeya's lips curved in the faintest smirk.
"…Just as I thought."