Chapter Text
Ever since she was a child, Ningguang has always been forgotten.
Daughters of wealthy families like hers were often flower vases, born to sit and be pretty, waiting for the day they would be noticed by a son of another family, married off and used for relations.
Especially that she had an abundance of brothers, and her mother was not the official wife.
She shed away the innocence of childhood quickly, learning to manipulate. Learning the ways of the human heart, all the weaknesses and loopholes to get what she wanted and fly under the radar at the same time.
She listened in on her brothers’ lessons. Pried information from their loose mouths, unaware of her schemes. Built relations with other young masters, with half-truths and facades of innocence and purity.
Baby steps, Ningguang. Baby steps.
It would be a path of no return, and a single misstep would be fatal.
But at least when she looked back, she could say she lived her life to the fullest.
~~~~~~~~~~
She let her prowess be known when she was seventeen, pulling strings to aid her brother in a quest. A small repayment for all the things she had gotten from him.
Just as expected, Father called her in for a chat.
“Ningguang.” His voice was stern, but she sensed no malice. This might go better than expected. “What is all of this?” He gestured to the report on his desk, no doubt about a smoother success than expected.
“Pulling a few relations to help brother succeed, Father.”
“And how?”
“Ah... brother spoke to me of his worries, and I contacted a few related people at the gathering before the mission to aid him. We do not owe them anything, though; payment has already been settled.”
“You sure they won’t be traced to us?”
“No, Father.” She leaned down, whispering of her ways. As she pulled back, she was met with a look of surprise.
“Interesting. You are better than I expected. Perhaps I should consider...” he trailed off, turning to his computer. “You are dismissed. I wish to see what more you can offer, Ningguang.”
“Yes, Father.” She bowed and left the study.
~~~~~~~~~~
Two months later, a select group of her brothers were called to the study along with Ningguang herself.
“Sit.” Father gestured to the chairs. Ningguang chose a seat at the edge, turning a blind eye to her brothers fighting for the seat in the middle right in front of Father.
“I am getting old,” he said, after all the siblings had taken a seat. “And it is time I choose a successor. All of you are able young adults, yet there can only be one who will continue the legacy of our family.”
“Hold on. Then what is she doing here?” Third brother pointed to Ningguang, disbelief in his eyes. He had always looked down on her, seeing her as weak and incapable.
Whispers sounded among the brothers, discussing among themselves. Indeed, Ningguang stuck out like a sore thumb among the males, but she held her head high. Their opinion did not matter as long as Father supported her.
“Silence.” Father slammed his fist on the table, making the siblings jump. “Ningguang is just as capable as any of you are— perhaps even more so.” The brothers eyed each other warily, stealing glances at Ningguang. Fear is the most effective when you don’t know your enemy. She had the element of surprise by her side, and she had to use it well.
“Each of you will be assigned to a sector. This will spread you out far and wide, so there will be no overlapping of interests. What you need to do is to run your sector to the best of your abilities— I will be watching. Foul play is banned— get caught and you are automatically disqualified. Details will be sent by tonight; the test starts after three months, for you to be associated with the workings of the sectors. Dismissed.”
Ningguang rose first, saluting before she opened the door to leave. Her brothers were quick to catch up to her, bombarding her with questions.
One stuck out amongst all. “Who do you think you are, fighting with us for the heir?”
“Being a daughter does not make me any lesser than you are.” She turned, looking into their eyes directly. “And I will prove that with this test.”
~~~~~~~~~~
It did not go well.
The sector she was assigned to was riddled with problems, spies and much much more— all that could possibly prove to be fatally destructive. It took her a year to narrow down all the possible areas that had the most problems, and another five just to weed them out and crush them before they destroyed the very foundations of the whole operation.
“Archons above, finally we’re done!” Keqing sighed in relief, slumping in her chair, the documents scattered all over the round table in front of her.
Next to Keqing, Beidou pulled out yet another bottle of wine— how she had a never-ending stash of them even in the Jade Chamber, Ningguang would rather not ask— taking a swig from it. “At least the foundations have been built. After this we’ll just have to manage it and wait for it to flourish.”
“Indeed, the seeds have been planted. Yet, this is only the beginning.” Ganyu was still diligently going through the reports despite the laid-back atmosphere. That workaholic.
Ningguang gently pulled the papers out of Ganyu’s hands, setting them aside. “You all have done well. I cannot thank you enough for the past six years. This is still much work to do— but please, enjoy this moment of respite while it lasts.”
“Can I offer you wine?”
“Alcoholic. It’s a miracle you haven’t gotten alcohol poisoning yet.”
“Ahaha! Normally I control my intake. But today, I’m feeling in the mood to get tipsy. Anyone in?”
“You know what? I could use some...”
Ningguang smiled at the lighthearted scene in front of her, seven friends celebrating success over wine. How long had it been since she last felt this young and vibrant?
“Cheers to the Qixing! May it be smooth sailing from here!”
“Cheers!” The seven clinked glasses before downing it all in one go.
Surrounded by her friends, Ningguang felt like she could take on the world.
~~~~~~~~~~
The atmosphere in the meeting room of the Jade Chamber was suffocating as the Qixing tried to process the conclusion they had come to. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife, so silent that you could hear a pin drop.
“Please tell me this isn’t real...” Keqing whispered, her voice shivering.
“But all the clues... they line up. It all makes sense now...” Ganyu sifted through the documents, creasing a few in her rush.
Ningguang was silent as she assessed the huge pinboard at the end of the room, filled all over with photos, papers— files of all sorts, with lines drawn between them, linking them up. The bottom sheet of white cardboard was riddled with red lines and messy markings, question marks and crossed-out notes from very frustrated people.
“Three years... no, even before we had fully taken control, I had always suspected.” She grabbed a photo from the pile of documents, smoothing it out on the table. Taking it to the board, she positioned it right in the middle, stabbing a pin way too viciously through the center. “And this one makes the cut.”
“Well then, how do we counter this?” Beidou was uncharacteristically not drinking, her wine bottle nowhere to be seen.
“We can only fight fire with fire.” Ganyu spoke up after a minute of silence. “If we can get hold of it— dissect it and refine— perhaps we will be able to create a weapon to counter it. Our weapon.”
“It’s too risky...”
“What if they notice?”
“There is no time to waste.” Ningguang silenced the murmurs. “If we are to act, we will do so with haste. Are you all with me?”
The Qixing’s backs straightened, their faces solemn.
“Good. Let us begin with setting the plan.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Our funds...”
“No worries— we have enough funds for the project with our past deals... if not, there are also other ways to procure more...”
“The information...”
“It will take some time to crack the code— even before that there are definitely a few weak chains we can make use of...”
“The expertise...”
“We have a few relations that would be willing to lend us the manpower— adequate payment will be settled, no problems there...”
“Is there anything else we have missed...?”
“We’ll just have to figure out as we go...”
~~~~~~~~~~
Ganyu swung open the door to Ningguang’s study with a bang, so uncharacteristic of the mild woman that it shocked the Tianquan for a moment.
“I have good news and bad news.”
“Just go on...”
“The good news is prototype ‘Morax’ has been successfully created!”
“And the bad news?”
“He will not be able to survive outside the liquid chamber due to the immense amount of input needed to sustain his life.” Her posture was rigid, as if worrying over the fact.
Ningguang raised an eyebrow. That was already better than she expected. “To say I didn’t expect this to happen would be a lie.” She rose from the chair, calling up her driver to take her to the laboratory outside of town. “We are no god— we cannot simply breathe life into a vessel.”
Ganyu audibly exhaled behind her, her rigid posture relaxing. “But then—”
“That does not mean we cannot grow a life to be like him, have continuous input over his life until he is complete. Nevertheless, this is a huge milestone. Let’s have the researchers rest for a week or two. The path ahead is still long.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“What do you mean, ‘failed’? Literally everything has been taken into account!” Beidou’s irritated voice bounced off the walls of the laboratory.
“Get some chill,” Ningguang chastised, tutting. “We cannot expect to succeed at first trial.”
Beside her, Ganyu checked and re-checked the reports. “What could possibly go wrong...?”
A researcher gently cleared his throat, stepping forward. “May i give my two cents...?”
Ningguang nodded, gesturing for him to continue. He stood a little taller, bolder. “I suspect it is because of life experience. These cultivated children have not yet experienced life— even with input it is just not the same. They do not have any semblance of feeling or emotion, which combined with the target input can make them go the wrong way.”
“A weapon does not, and cannot have feelings. And if we let them go outside, the memories could make them have second thoughts about their loyalty.”
“Feelings and memories can be killed off— what matters is the impression, a small underlying semblance that keeps their sanity.”
“Very well. We can try that— with half of the next batch. We’ll see if your suggestion really will improve our chances.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Turns out, that researcher’s suggestion did work— there was a bit of a wrench and a (not-so) small surprise thrown in, but it was a success nonetheless.
“Morax-471 is now completed.” Beidou grinned, giddy with excitement. “I can’t wait to see what he can achieve.”
Ningguang traced a clawed finger down the sleeping figure’s jawline, smiling softly. “Beautiful, isn’t he?”
“What about... a name?” Ganyu suggested.
Ideas were thrown about within the Qixing. Some were genuinely good, some were just crack— but among all the names, one stood out to Ningguang.
“Zhongli. That sounds like a fitting name.”
“I like the sound of that,” Keqing commented, leaning against the wall.
“Zhongli. Code name: Morax. The Qixing’s S-rank agent.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Zhongli worked well on the field despite minimal additional training— too good, even, surpassing all of their expectations. Tartaglia’s assassination would be his last test before they told him the full truth. Hints were dropped here and there, small ones that would have him thinking so the shock would be dampened a bit by then.
Ningguang watched closely as the red dot moved on the map projected onto the wall, moving within a building of sorts. So far, so good. Judging by the movements Zhongli should have met Tartaglia, maybe left an impression or two—
A blink, and the dot was gone.
Wait a second—
Ningguang looked again. The map hadn’t moved, yet the red dot was nowhere to be seen.
Impossible! Their devices had never failed them—
Her desk phone rang, confirming her fears.
“We lost all contact with Morax. All of his life signs— frozen. Unsure whether dead or alive.”
It’s over.