"Achoo, who's talking about me again?"
Furina subconsciously glanced around, then quickly calmed herself. Well, it's perfectly normal for people to talk about her.
"Neuvillette, hasn't Ye returned yet? Why is it taking so long?"
"Lady Furina, you're being too impatient," Neuvillette said calmly, sipping his tea. "Isn't he already here?"
As Neuvillette spoke, Ye pushed open the door and entered the tea room.
"Ye, you're finally back."
Although she had already received news from Inazuma, Furina only felt relieved when she saw Ye in person, a smile spreading across her face.
"I heard you defeated Sen'emon? As expected of my Supreme Bishop, you didn't let me down."
"Well, I've lived for so long. If I lost to a girl barely twenty years old, I'd be utterly embarrassed."
Ye sat down, took a sip of soda, and casually remarked:
"Though I won by sheer luck. Sen'emon's strength is truly remarkable. With the Raiden Shogun wielding that sword, she might one day even cut through the sky."
If she can really do that, I hope she does it quickly.
Furina twitched her lips but didn't voice that thought. Instead, she asked, "Did you achieve your goal in Inazuma this time?"
"I did," Ye nodded. "Inazuma has lifted the Vision Hunt Decree, and the Sakoku Decree will likely be abolished soon too."
"Who's asking about that? I mean your real goal."
"My real goal?"
Ye looked at Furina, puzzled.
"What other goal could there be?"
"...Forget it if you don't want to say."
Furina, feeling bored, took off her hat and placed it on the table.
"By the way, while you were away, Rhinedottir applied for another 50 billion in funding. I approved it for you."
"She's really slow. I shouldn't have expected too much from her."
Ye was slightly displeased. Despite her reputation, getting her to do any research was such a hassle. Ye couldn't help but regret letting her reduce her sentence through merit.
Rhinedottir, the "Gold," was a woman who had once committed grave sins. Over a hundred years ago, she was caught wandering into Fontaine with her disciple. Based on her crimes, she was sentenced to a thousand years in prison.
But about thirty years ago, Ye felt that the Fontaine Research Institute had hit a bottleneck and was unlikely to make any breakthroughs in the short term. So, he released Rhinedottir and had her join a research team to atone for her crimes.
As a traveler who had journeyed through many worlds—well, that sounded a bit like stealing the Traveler's line—but the point was, Ye possessed knowledge from beyond this world.
However, Ye never dumped all that knowledge onto the Fontaine Research Institute for them to follow verbatim. The knowledge he held might not be what Fontaine needed, nor the path Fontaine should take.
Ye didn't like the idea of forcing growth. Each world had its own unique civilization and technology, and they were all different. Ye believed that the knowledge he possessed only needed to serve as a reference for the Fontaine Research Institute.
—But even as a reference, sometimes the people at the Fontaine Research Institute struggled to understand the knowledge Ye provided.
This obviously wouldn't do.
Ye didn't like forcing growth, but he also didn't want Fontaine to develop entirely on its own. Otherwise, what was the point of him being the Supreme Bishop?
That's why Ye approved Rhinedottir's release from the Fortress of Meropide, allowing her to join the research team and atone for her crimes.
And Rhinedottir, true to her title of "Gold," lived up to her reputation. Her involvement led to rapid breakthroughs in the research team's work. The more she researched, the more excited she became, and soon she came up with a major invention: she wanted to revive Elynas, turning him from a disaster into Fontaine's guardian deity.
According to Rhinedottir, if her research succeeded, when the day of prophecy arrived, Elynas could protect all of Fontaine's people within his body. This was a "possible" way to counter the prophecy.
It had to be admitted, her idea was clever.
Furina wasn't unaware of the "possible" in Rhinedottir's words. Fontaine's prophecy wasn't something that could be solved just by thinking of a solution—it was an inevitable future. But she was still deeply moved by Rhinedottir's vision.
In a reality of utter despair, even the tiniest glimmer of hope was something Furina would choose to pursue.
Thus, under Furina's orders, Ye approved a direct funding of 100 billion for Rhinedottir... and within a few years, Furina regretted it.
Rhinedottir spent Mora like water. The 100 billion Mora vanished as if thrown into a bottomless pit, with no results to show for it. Furina increasingly suspected that Rhinedottir was using the funding to get back at Fontaine for imprisoning her for a hundred years.
Of course, Ye didn't share that suspicion. He thought the woman wouldn't want to experience the Fortress of Meropide's high-security cells again.
But Ye was indeed growing increasingly dissatisfied with Rhinedottir's efficiency.
With the Fontaine storyline approaching, if Elynas wasn't revived by then, wouldn't the hundreds of billions of Mora be completely wasted?
After all, Ye had originally planned for Elynas to make good use of his massive size when the waters submerged Fontaine.
Reality wasn't a game. Genshin Impact was rated 12+, so certain storylines couldn't be fully expressed.
For example, in the game, after a disaster, Fontaine seemed to recover completely, as if nothing had happened. After all, the game needed to continue with event storylines, so having a post-disaster Fontaine wasn't feasible. But in reality?
Moreover, the game's map was a scaled-down version of the real Teyvat. The actual population of Fontaine alone was far larger than what the game depicted.
So, if Elynas could be revived before then, he could indeed be of great use.
—But now, Rhinedottir was still asking for more funding, with no results in sight.
Ye began seriously considering whether it was time to send her back to prison to cut their losses.
...Though cutting losses after losing over 500 billion Mora was a bit late.
But Ye strongly suspected that the woman was taking advantage of this to act so recklessly.
"Forget it, I'll give her one last chance. If she can't produce results within two years, she's going back to prison."
On Earth, Big Brother Ma's analysis video was finally released.
Many players who had been waiting eagerly clicked on the video immediately.
Among them was Xuanyuan, the general manager of miHoYo, who also dragged Kiana along to watch.
In the realm of Genshin Impact analysis, Big Brother Ma was already quite famous.
In the gaming world, Genshin Impact was an over-the-top game that excelled in multiple areas and topped various charts. But if there was one factor that truly made Genshin Impact a global sensation, it was undoubtedly the game's writing.
In terms of writing, Genshin Impact was truly world-class.
And this writing... was of course done by Kiana.
In fact, what the miHoYo girls found most astonishing was that Kiana's writing for Genshin Impact was incredibly strong. Whether it was the storyline, character dialogues, character stories, or the hidden information scattered throughout the texts, every aspect could only be described as flawless.
Writing was all about the details—seemingly unimportant yet crucial, as only the details could determine the ultimate height of a story-driven game.
From the players' perspective, they never doubted that Genshin Impact's storyline might collapse. Why? Because the writing was simply too strong. Players could see all sorts of interconnected foreshadowing, information, settings, and history... Anyone who seriously read Genshin Impact's writing would firmly believe that the game's storyline was meticulously planned from start to finish.
Genshin Impact's details were completely sound.
That's why a group of people called "Primogem Scholars" had emerged in the world. They analyzed Genshin Impact's writing and details to speculate on the game's storyline and historical background.
Of course, these Primogem Scholars mostly conducted their research independently. While their attention to detail was commendable, they were also prone to errors, which was inevitable since they rarely collaborated to fill in each other's gaps.
Big Brother Ma was no exception.
But he was considered one of the best Primogem Scholars when it came to analyzing Genshin Impact—at least within miHoYo, his analysis of the writing was far superior to Kiana's, who only wrote without considering why she wrote what she did.
The strange thing was, even though Kiana's writing seemed haphazard, with her just going with the flow and trying to be mysterious, all these seemingly random writings actually connected seamlessly. The foreshadowing, information, and settings all held up under scrutiny and analysis, even giving rise to the Primogem Scholars. It was truly miraculous.
Was this what they called being born with a silver spoon?
Xuanyuan thought this but still pressed Kiana to sit beside her and watch how the Primogem Scholars analyzed Genshin Impact's storyline.
"Before we dive into this video, I want to say something to those asking me to analyze the Supreme Bishop's combat power: stop. There's too little information right now, and I can't analyze it. You don't want to hear me ramble aimlessly, do you? So, this video won't touch on combat power. The focus is on the upcoming storyline."
"Inazuma is quite interesting. You've probably noticed that after the Mondstadt and Liyue storylines, there's always a segment where you talk to the Archon and ask them questions. But after the Inazuma storyline, that segment is missing."
"Or rather, it's not missing, but replaced with conversations with Yae Miko and the Supreme Bishop, where you ask them questions instead."
"And in these conversations, the amount of information revealed is massive."
"First, do you remember in Ayaka's story quest, the Supreme Bishop told her that his true purpose in coming to Inazuma was for 'Makoto,' that what he truly wanted was 'Makoto'?"
"What is 'Makoto'? We didn't know the answer before, but in the conversation with Yae Miko, we finally learned that 'Makoto' was the previous Electro Archon, the twin sister of the current Electro Archon, 'Ei.'"
"It's very clear that what the Supreme Bishop wants is the previous Electro Archon."
"—But she's already dead, isn't she?"
"What does that mean?"
"Does it mean the Supreme Bishop came for nothing?"
"No! It means that in the upcoming storyline, the previous Electro Archon might be making a comeback!"
"Although we don't know yet how Kiana will arrange this storyline, it's easy to imagine that the Supreme Bishop wanting a dead Electro Archon is meaningless. He's definitely planning to revive 'Makoto'... Don't doubt whether the Supreme Bishop can do such a thing. Even though we don't know the extent of his combat power yet, his mystique is undoubtedly the greatest in Genshin Impact. At this point, nothing he does would surprise me."
"Now I'm just waiting for the second half of version 2.2, when the Supreme Bishop enters the gacha, to see how much information his character stories and voice lines will reveal."
"I've gone off-topic. In any case, the Inazuma storyline is far from over. The Supreme Bishop may seem to have left, but he might still be lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment. As for when that moment will come... you'll have to ask Kiana."
"After that, let's talk about the Sumeru storyline."
"Some might wonder, why bring up Sumeru all of a sudden? Isn't Inazuma still ongoing?"
"While Inazuma isn't over yet, we can already catch glimpses of the Sumeru storyline."
"Both Yae Miko and the Supreme Bishop recommend that the Traveler head to Sumeru next."
"Yae Miko aside, she probably doesn't have any special motives. The important one is the Supreme Bishop."
"In version 2.1's storyline, the Supreme Bishop has already started laying the groundwork for Sumeru."
"In his conversation with the Supreme Bishop, he explicitly states that Scaramouche has gone to Sumeru and that the Dendro Archon is in crisis."
"And in the conversation with Yae Miko, she confirms a theory I've long suspected: that Scaramouche is indeed a puppet created by the Electro Archon."
"At the same time, we've finally more or less figured out the Doctor's 'slices.' Themis mentioned that the Doctor spent decades studying Scaramouche to successfully create his own 'slices,' and those so-called 'slices' are likely based on the same principles as the Raiden Shogun puppet, just with different purposes."
"Of course, let's not get into the Doctor for now. The focus is still on Scaramouche."
"The Supreme Bishop sees Scaramouche as a useful tool, which is why he gave him the Electro Archon's Gnosis. His goal is to fully bring Scaramouche under his control in Sumeru."
"So, how will he bring Scaramouche under his control?"
At this point, Big Brother Ma played a clip of the Supreme Bishop's conversation with Scaramouche.
「The Wanderer, do you want to take revenge on the Doctor?」
「How do you know that name? And what do you mean by that? What revenge do I have against the Doctor?!」
"This is it! The Wanderer is clearly Scaramouche's former name, and the Supreme Bishop is asking him if he wants to take revenge on the Doctor."
"But Scaramouche has no idea what grudge he has against the Doctor."
"The Supreme Bishop wouldn't bring this up without reason. This likely indicates that Scaramouche and the Doctor do have a grudge, and it's very possible that it's something like 'mistaking the enemy for a father.'"
"Of course, the Doctor isn't Scaramouche's adoptive father, but it's very possible that Scaramouche was deceived by the Doctor, his enemy, into joining the Fatui. And now that the Supreme Bishop has taken an interest in Scaramouche, he's definitely planning to reveal the truth and make Scaramouche defect from the Fatui!"
"And this storyline will undoubtedly play out in the main storyline of the Sumeru version."