In the scenic Sea of Clouds, green grass and flower seas swayed with the breeze.
But in the Fatui camp ahead, a group of Treasure Hoarders appeared, confronting the Fatui aggressively, on the verge of fighting.
"Ah ha?"
Ken blinked, looking at the scene a bit surprised.
Though the Treasure Hoarders were spread across the continent, their organization was loose, with low overall quality—mostly scattered groups wandering. Even in Liyue, they didn't band together; they mostly played solo.
With weak cohesion, they hadn't formed a major threat; they were mostly small-time robbers, so they shouldn't have much interest conflict with the Fatui.
"Hmph... When I arrived, I saw this scene, so I stayed here to observe quietly."
Keqing rubbed her butt, still feeling some strange lingering sensation inside. Her pink face hadn't lost its shy fury, her pale purple eyes shimmering with a resentful look at Ken.
"Don't look at me like that; with your posture just now, if it was someone else, they might have kicked you right away." Ken said casually, his ears twitching slightly, using the breeze to listen to the activity over there.
Keqing snorted lightly, not denying Ken's words, her beautiful eyes looking at the camp ahead.
Normally, if Treasure Hoarders encountered notorious "bandits" like the Fatui without major interests at stake, they wouldn't openly fight them.
When things are abnormal, there must be a demon.
Ken had a feeling there might be something slightly valuable in the camp; otherwise, the Treasure Hoarders wouldn't provoke the Fatui.
...
The large camp was fully equipped, a simple small factory. Originally, the Fatui were secretly producing, but the Treasure Hoarders suddenly showed up and were rude, making the two sides increasingly tense.
"You Fatui are really bullying too much! Not only occupying our Treasure Hoarders' camp but also taking our treasure chests. Hand over the chests quickly, or I'll show you why flowers are so red!"
The Treasure Hoarder leader shouted aggressively.
This camp originally belonged to the Treasure Hoarders; the Fatui used force to suppress and seize it, even taking the treasures they had painstakingly collected.
This was intolerable.
Though they didn't want to provoke the Fatui unless necessary, if they didn't even speak up after their camp was taken, what kind of Treasure Hoarders would they be?
They were bad guys, so naturally, they played arrogantly.
So the remaining small group gathered people around and came back to fight.
"Retreat at once!"
From the depths of the Fatui camp, a tall figure wielding a purple hammer slowly emerged, body flashing with thunderous purple light, walking out arrogantly.
It was clearly a Fatui Skirmisher - Electrohammer Vanguard.
Reaching the camp entrance, the Electrohammer Vanguard domineered: "We are the Fatui of Snezhnaya. Requisitioning your camp is your honor; it's Her Majesty the Tsaritsa's mercy upon you. You should be grateful..."
"Screw you!" Before the Electrohammer Vanguard could finish, the Treasure Hoarder leader swung his shovel, smashing it right at the Electrohammer Vanguard: "What the... I don't understand a word. Brothers, get him!"
With this shovel smash, the Electrohammer Vanguard staggered unprepared; he hadn't activated his shield, and the shovel hit his face, collapsing half his nose bridge.
Ken: "..."
Keqing: "..."
Both weren't ordinary people and could hear the activity; seeing this scene now, their expressions were complex.
Ah, this...
What exactly were the Treasure Hoarders after to be so fierce, not even giving a chance to negotiate?
Keqing gripped her sword, watching this comical scene. Though her expression was serious, her brows twitched constantly.
At that moment, Ken suddenly used wind transmission to shout: "When did my Hammer Bro become so pathetic? Ice Fatty, Water Fatty, aren't you coming out to protect? Just watching Hammer Bro get hammered?"
Keqing: "???"
The wind carried Ken's deliberately lowered voice, echoing through the entire camp.
Like pouring oil on boiling water, it made the already arrogant Fatui even more intolerable. The voice dissipated with the wind, untraceable to its source, and was ultimately pinned on the Treasure Hoarders.
The Fatui thought it was the Treasure Hoarders humiliating them. Humiliation was one thing, but even saying insulting words like "Ice Fatty, Water Fatty"—was being fat a crime?!
The always domineering Fatui couldn't tolerate this, picking up weapons and clashing with the Treasure Hoarders.
"What... were you doing just now?" Keqing's mouth twitched, unable to help glancing at Ken.
Through these two days of interaction, Keqing had always thought Ken was elegant and steady, a rare gentleman.
But today's Ken changed her view a lot.
She felt Ken was completely different from her imagination—elegant and handsome on the outside, but bad inside.
But because of that, without the previous elegant distance and indifferent gentleman style, it made Keqing feel easier to get along with; her speech became more casual, less rigid than before, more like between friends.
"Of course, watching the show and not minding if it gets bigger."
Ken watched the increasingly fierce fight between the two groups; now was the perfect time to fish in troubled waters. He stood up: "Let's go; while they're at it, check the camp's stuff. The Sigils of Permission are yours; everything else is mine."
Keqing followed with her sword, her pink-purple eyes suspiciously looking at Ken: "You came here just for the treasures collected by the Fatui and Treasure Hoarders, didn't you?"
Ken was frank: "Why not?"
"???" Keqing's eyes widened slightly: "You shouldn't be short on money, right?"
"What does this have to do with being short on money?" Ken said, his figure like a breeze, silently appearing at the Fatui's rear camp.
Keqing stomped: "Wait for me!"
...
In the Treasure Hoarders' camp, many discarded talismans were scattered.
Ken glanced roughly, not interested, and headed straight for the many boxes in the warehouse.
These boxes had the Treasure Hoarders' logo; probably the treasures the outside Treasure Hoarders were demanding.
Ken waved his sleeve, storing all the chests in the system space.
After the chests were taken, he discovered a huge iron cage hidden beneath them.
Inside the cage were over a hundred Treasure Hoarders.
"Hm?"
Ken's eyes lit up; this was the real treasure. No wonder the Treasure Hoarders were clamoring outside. Over a hundred Treasure Hoarders, wherever placed, were a substantial "treasure."
Even for Liyue's Qixing, the appearance of over a hundred Treasure Hoarders would demand their attention.
Before Keqing arrived, Ken decisively stored the Treasure Hoarders in the system space.
This trip wasn't in vain; freeloading so many Treasure Hoarders—later, casually releasing a few daily at Northland Bank and Golden House entrances would yield full harvests.
"Hm?"
Keqing hurried over and saw the empty warehouse.
Instead, the discarded talismans on the ground caught her attention: "Indeed Sigils of Permission... The Archon's incident is definitely connected to the Fatui."
At this point.
Keqing narrowed her eyes: "What did you just take?"
"Anyway, something you're not interested in." Ken looked at the talismans, raising an eyebrow: "Miss Yuheng should think about what to do next. I'll take my leave first; got things at home."
Keqing: "..."
Though... Ken was right.
The information the Qixing received was that the Fatui were researching Sigils of Permission. Relatively, the treasures here were external things, not worth much attention.
Now that they found the factory location, it should be destroyed. Looking at the factory still producing talismans, Keqing pulled out the exquisite hairpin from her bun and slowly infused it with electro elements.
The hairpin turned into a streak of light, destroying the surrounding machines.
"Hey, start a fire before leaving!"
Keqing shouted at Ken's back, pouting.
Though destroyed, the factory here was always a hidden danger; better to burn it clean.
"Snap."
Ken, walking ahead, didn't turn back but snapped his fingers.
Then, in Keqing's surprised eyes, a super fireball condensed from elemental power descended from the sky, its shadow covering half the Fatui camp.
"This guy..."
Keqing rolled out of the camp, then heard the light explosion of the fireball landing behind her.
"Bang!!"
The exploding elemental bomb carried flames, instantly engulfing the entire Fatui camp.
The Fatui, who were fighting intensely with the Treasure Hoarders ahead, only then realized their home was raided.
Looking at the raging fire behind, the Fatui's hearts were filled with curses.
Damn!
Which sneaky bastard raided their home while they fought the Treasure Hoarders?
"It's that woman!"
A sharp-eyed Fatui saw Keqing's figure and immediately shouted.
The Fatui Skirmisher raged: "Stop her!"
If the talisman production base was destroyed and Lord Childe found out, they would be severely punished.
They couldn't let the culprit go!
But before the Fatui could step forward, they were blocked again by the Treasure Hoarders: "Damn it, still trying to leave?!"
The Treasure Hoarder leader glared, starting to dig soil with his shovel; other members followed, stirring up dust and blurring the Fatui's vision.
"Assholes! Your stuff was also burned by that woman... Now we should catch her first, not block us, idiots!" The Fatui Skirmisher roared.
The Treasure Hoarder leader's voice was louder: "Dead fatty, yelling what? Trying to outshout grandpa? The camp was taken by you Fatui, the stuff occupied by you Fatui; debts have owners. Today, grandpas are here to beat you!"
Treasure Hoarders were mostly greedy or uneducated vagrants, especially the lower members, without much education.
Talking reason with them was useless; they only knew to find whoever took the stuff.
Seeing the dust rising and the culprit disappearing from sight, the Fatui Skirmisher was instantly furious.
Bastards!
As elite soldiers of Snezhnaya, they had no common language with these greedy petty people!
But the Treasure Hoarders had numbers; they couldn't break free quickly and could only watch the culprit leave swaggeringly.
...
On a nearby mountain peak.
Ken looked down at the war between Treasure Hoarders and Fatui, decisively taking out his phone to record a video.
In his previous life, Facebook was full of godly fan creations, but no one had done Fatui vs. Treasure Hoarders.
My Hammer Bro can't be without face; even in fan creation, it must dominate headlines... Ken silently recorded a segment, deciding to post it on the official account later.
"This is what you call things at home?"
Keqing's voice came from behind; she looked at the thing in Ken's hand, a flash of surprise in her pink eyes.
Ken raised an eyebrow: "Hm... Isn't watching them dogfight important?"
"Uh..." Keqing was stumped for a moment before saying: "Thanks for earlier, burning their camp with one fire."
Ken put away his phone, turning to look at the video: "Miss Yuheng really wants to thank me?"
"Hm?" Keqing blinked.
"Then learn to meow like a cat twice." Ken showed an elegant and pure smile. For some reason... seeing Keqing's serious look made him want to tease her.
Keqing: "???"