Chapter Text
Rex lapis, a name known all across Teyvat, as he managed to be one of the strongest and most fearful opponents for those who declared themselves enemies with Liyue, someone respected among mortals and gods alike, for the long time of rulership he had endured, and of course, for how well he has been able to preserve what it’s of his own
Or well, that’s how he looked like for the ones that only knew him by name.
“Heeey Morax!! Here here! It’s me!” Said a known bard with a bottle of wine in his hands a few meters away at the other side of the little lake on the Adepti abode, where on the center, a stone table with three seats rested, Rex Lapis was alone in one of these seats, pretty much focused on papers and graphics of some sort that the bard wouldn’t like to pay attention to
“Morax!!” the bard tried once again to get the other god’s attention “It’s this how you receive guests to your abode? Would you mind looking to this direction??”
No response, not that it surprised the bard.
With a sigh, the bard made a little wind current, merely strong enough to lift him up and push him to cross to the other side of the lake, without actually swimming across it
Without much words, he sat in front of Rex Lapis and rested his head on his hand, putting his elbow and the bottle of wine on the table
The Liyuan god finally looked up from his papers in favor to notice the bard “May I know the reason for your visit, Barbatos?” Rex Lapis said with a tone not different from the one he would use with strangers or formal meetings
“Leave the formalities aside Morax! Is it that a friend cannot visit another friend time to time?”
Rex lapis lifted a brow, expecting some sort of favor from the person in front of him
“I haven’t visited like in a decade by how hard the times have been and you know that! Don’t look at me like that!”
“Barbatos, you are aware of how occupied I have been and that these times are certainly not the proper for visits, even you, shouldn’t you be watching over Mondstadt rather than making up a trip of miles to arrive to my place??”
The bard snorted at him, “May I remind you, Mondstadt is completely stable by now! Since the idea of re-building the city around Cider lake emerged, times haven’t been better!! The fronts of the city have been enhanced and now it’s easier for us to predict ambushes, It has also been a great while since anyone has dared to put a foot in mondstadt’s territory and I am pretty sure your Liyue hasn’t been any different!”
“And may I know what you are pointing at with that fact?”
“That you should rest! At least for a day, to get rid of all the stress upon yourself” at the face Rex Lapis throwed him he re-made his sentence “at least…rest for a couple of hours? Minutes?”
“You know that at times like this I can’t give myself such luxury” Morax stood up from his seat, carrying his papers with him ready to leave, in his perspective, such conversation was pointless
“When was the last time Liyue was attacked again?”
The Liyuan god rolled his eyes “Six months ago”
“Deaths?”
“None”
“Injured people?”
“Four or five, they didn’t had any serious wounds”
“See? Your Guili assembly is in its golden times, you’ve done an excellent job on protecting your city and training your adepti! If anything happens, Liyue will be more than prepared for calamity. It won’t hurt to get your warrior mask off for a little while and enjoy how far you’ve come, would it?”
Rex Lapis looked aside, he knew that Barbatos was not wrong with his assumptions. Guizhong had told him thousands of times to take breaks and allow the adepti do their part to protect Liyue as well, after all, it was Guizhong who went with the Yakshas in the morning out to patrol the surroundings, telling Rex Lapis that he should relax for a while, as he had already done enough.
That’s probably also why he is alone, in the middle of Mt. Aocang, trying to find something productive to do while the others came back
Even Cloud Retainer, who had always been strict, went out to make sure everything was in order just to give Rex Lapis some peace of mind
Now defeated, Rex Lapis went back to his seat, in front of the other god; the latter smiled at the sweet victory, quickly served the wine of his bottle (That by the way, was Rex Lapis favorite, Osmanthus) in the square cups and so they started talking.
About what? Anything really, about their nations, the last updates in their lives, anything that had catched their attentions in their past years…talking to barbatos wasn’t difficult at all, and even if Rex Lapis found him way too carefree at times, deep inside he couldn’t deny that he was good at putting the mood at ease, even in the most difficult times.
“You know, is good talking to you after this long, and that…you are sort of trying to get along with your people”
At this Rex Lapis arched a brow yet again
“I’ll be honest, when I first met you, you kind of reminded me of Decarabian, trying to find the best for their people but failing at understanding them…(This being the why he met his doom) I’m…glad you’ve come this far in that aspect as well”
“If there is someone you have to be glad with then it has to be Guizhong” Rex Lapis says, taking a low sip of his wine. “although she also says there is still room for improvement”
“I’ll have to agree with her” Venti takes a shot of the wine, different from his friend, he gulps half of the liquid in that sip (He is on his third cup already)
“In other news! Do tell, is it true that not long ago Rex Lapis went to the harbor disguised as a woman??” The bard quickly changed the subject, carried away by the vibe and the alcohol
“Maybe yes maybe not…there is a lot of histories and versions the folk around like to make up, may I know who told you about it??”
“Ah you know…same old, the birds around telling me different histories of the happenings around Teyvat”
“Was it Cloud Retainer?” He knew how his adeptus friend was, once one encouraged her to talk, she would do so giving the most scrumptious details, and there was no way to shut her up until she did so by herself
“Maybe yes, maybe not…there could be countless histories and versions these birds could make up!”
At that both laughed, the vibe now way much lighter and smoother, as if a burden had been lifted of Rex Lapis’ shoulders, as if his mind felt clearer, as if a cold freezing breeze hit upon him–
Wait
Wait…
Cold freezing breeze?
He frowned his brows, bewildered
But its summer…and the wind was not blowing
He opened his eyes
The upper window was open, Zhongli quickly got up from the desk where he was sleeping and pushed the chair as near as possible to the wall, in order to stand up on it and so close the rusty window with force.
Once closed, he sighed, some snow had managed its way inside the room.
Another snow storm, it was the second in the week and they were merely in the half of it.
He hopes that the ones who are outside are okay…
He quickly shakes his head, keeping his brain occupied with those thoughts won’t solve a thing
Quickly, he gets to the ground again and then walks to the nearby shelf at the other corner of the room, looking for something in particular across the countless books…
Radio engineering? No
Semiconductor theory? No
Circuits? No
He wanders and wanders until he finally finds what he is looking for in the farthest and highest corner of the bookshelf: A notebook
A simple notebook, the type you would find in any stationary
What it had of special were the things written in it
Zhongli goes back to his desk, sits, opens the notebook and with the ink he has by his corner starts writing with rich detail everything he saw in that dream; it had become quite the habit of his to record everything he dreamed since he was confined in those 4 walls, since he found himself with the desire of escaping his current reality. Even, Zhongli would dare to say, his dreams became quite special in their own way.
The more he wrote about them…the more peculiar they seemed to be.
This said dreams would (always, oddly enough) retail the life of a peculiar character, a god, who would go by different names across history (or that is what Zhongli would find out) being his most popular title: Rex Lapis.
The more he dreamed, the clearer the picture Zhongli would get of this character and the world he lived in: a realm that was completely fantacious, where dragons, witches, beasts, fairies and further-more magic creatures existed. More dreams and he would start recognizing characters, as the adepti, gods as Guizhong and Osial, and that peculiar bard that visited Rex Lapis time to time. Zhongli would also at some point figure out that some dreams, even if they were shown in disorder, were connected with each other.
Although it doesn’t mean these weird dreams were not odd from the start nor that the series of peculiarities ended there, as by the couple of months he started dreaming, he found himself feeling different in reality as well.
He remembers that eventful night, when he had the luxury of being in the comfort of his home sleeping, the dream of that time blurry and disoriented for some reason, the landscape filled with red, and his heart with a feeling he wouldn’t be able to fully describe.
Out of the sudden, he felt that strange prickle around his body, strong enough to wake him up from his bed
His first thought was going to the bathroom, trying to figure out anything that was physically annoying him
He looked at himself in the mirror, everything seemed in order, no irritated skin or strange marks aside of the big scar at the left side of his face, which had been already there
And then he looked down to his hands and his eyes shoot open
A gold light emanated from them, they were actually…glowing
Of course after that night the oddities did not stop, the strange glow manifested time to time at stressing, dreadful or irritating situations, at times, Zhongli would even have to cover himself head to toe to make sure that it didn’t happened in front of actual people
That’s why, not much time after, he started investigating about his strange condition, as he didn’t believe in anyone around to help him, conventionally speaking.
By practice, he knew that this strange glow was not harmful, and didn’t affect the activities he would usually do in his daily life (aside of the the uncomfortable situations he had to endure time to time to hide it) such glow did not only manifested as mere light inside his body but an actual force, with this glow he could move his surroundings a little, by faint vibrations that he could send across the walls or the floor; not much time after he would be able to actually make that glow…that energy to manifest into something, actual stones.
By theory, he looked into books of all sorts, anatomy, alchemy, legends, myths, anything at all that could have information of a case similar to his, and even if he found countless knowledge about culture, science and even medicine at a point…he failed on his mission on finding something that actually helped him sort out or at least understand what was happening to him, where did that strange glow came from? Where did the dreams came from? How could those things be related?
He never found a coherent answer. He surrendered on his mission to find out a why; to question the inexplicable
Even if that left a deep, empty and unfulfilled hole in his chest
A harsh knock on his door was the thing that sent Zhongli back to reality, making him close and save his notebook at an inhuman speed. Then, he quickly went for the door and opened it
A man, approximately his same height stood in front of him, his position was completely straight. He was dressed in a Military suit and was using heavy black boots, special for the snow and cold environments
A soldier from the northland Military, people Zhongli would get to know…better than he would have liked after so much days and nights of suffering, specially that gaze, that was looking to petrify the Southlander in front of him.
Nonetheless, Zhongli was not one to back down to anyone, and merely looked at him with a calm gaze.
“The paperwork of today, it should be ready.” Said the soldier, with a cold and indifferent tone, but with a look of a hunter looking down his prey, ready to strike at any moment
“Yes sir” He quickly went to the drawer in his desk and got the papers out giving them to the soldier, the latter quickly snatching them out
“The graphics”
“Those are there inside the papers”
“What about the manuals?”
“I’m working on them”
“Working on them?” The soldier scoffed a laugh, filled with venom “You knew that the deadline was until today, do you want to get yourself killed? You know that at any time I can fucking kick you out of this place and let you root in the froze with the rest of your kind.” The soldier took Zhongli by the collar, looking for anything that would shackle the other man in order to put him to work.
Nonetheless, Zhongli didn’t budge at all, keeping his gaze fierceful and brave, matching the look of the soldier.
He knew that the soldier couldn’t physically harm him, at last, not anymore with the name Zhongli has built across camp, his inventions (even if Zhongli himself would like for it to not be the case) have served really useful for the military forces, enhancing the communication between nearby bases and the efficiency when it came to planning and socializing ideas. Such soldier was not of any important rank, there were stronger forces above him that would punish him if he ever dared to cross his own line of authority.
“Yes, the deadline is until today, and the day hasn’t ended yet” Zhongli almost hissed, his unyielding expression yet present.
“You are fucking lucky you got Captain Childe covering up your filthy southlander ass for the time being, otherwise I would have already diggen a hole into your head long ago” He pointed his gun at Zhongli’s head, not a hint of hesitation in his eyes, the southlander merely looked back “Though it might actually happen if you don’t have those prepared by midnight.”
The soldier did not say anything else, and so he slammed the door shut, the papers tightly secured in his hand, leaving Zhongli alone once again inside those 4 cold walls
Though, today Zhongli has completely different plans. He won’t get killed, at least, not today.
He won’t submit the manuals of usage of the machines either.
Even if he didn’t know much (at all) about the origins of his dreams or the odd abilities he beared, such did not stop him from at least using the last one to his advantage.
Today, after months of planning, he’ll finally have his opportunity to escape those gruesome walls and go back where he belongs, to his home, and luckily, he will also find a way to get the people who are already in the camp to the south as well, or atleast, a place save enough
Well, those are his goals on long term–
Being optimistic, Zhongli is aware…
Just because the chances were low it didn't mean it was not worth a shot. He had always been stubborn.
When the moon was high on the sky, Zhongli started his scheme; he opened the last box of his drawer, and then pluck out the square piece of wood that made the bottom of this box. Below, it was what he was looking for, a map of the camp and the surrounding places, a gun and fragmentary orders regarding patrolling
The map had signaled all the camp’s main areas and sewers, as well as the area around the place and other nearby settlements, all pointed out in high detail, and the papers of the orders contained the patrolling scheme for the week, made by the captain himself, as for the Gun, it was a new model, small enough for him to keep it in his belt if he wished, and had 8 rounds at his disposal to fire.
He will try to not use it, but if times come to worse, he will make sure to use it wisely
As how he got all that? He is aware that amongst the soldiers, there are ones that instead of being driven by hate to attack others; were driven by greed, looking out to get in the high ranks to get a higher income and status
Zhongli had grown a like to those
Not minding much his race or the situations they were in, the soldier had accepted the pieces of gold Zhongli gave him, surely worth a good amount of money. It also served well the soldier didn’t ask where he had gotten those from.
Personally, Zhongli was not really fond of the ability of making gold and other precious jewels, he found pretty much unethical and inmoral to actually make wealth out of thin air, and hadn’t used that ability since he got aware of its existence
Though the Northlander soldiers had kidnapped Southlander civilians and given them cruel treatment, Zhongli didn’t have any reasons to be “ethical” at all.
In the map, there was also a route Zhongli himself had written in order to get out swiftly. The trek according to his calculations shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours at a good pace to arrive at his first destination, well, if it didn’t happen he found unwanted obstacles and had to make some unwanted turn.
And after getting out of the sewers…well…
The trek to the nearest village could take days, walking across the cold mountains of the Northland with its harsh climbs and downs included, counting only breaks to sleep and stops to eat for half hour.
It would be difficult, he could run out of food even way before he was any close to his earliest destination, after all, he couldn’t bring himself to carry much on his bag either.
But it didn’t matter, it was still worth a shot.
He went to his shelf again and loaped to the last section, there wasn’t particularly much there, as what really mattered was what was below the ground of that section
With force on the right point, Zhongli lifted one of the wooden boards, below it, there was a bag, everything he needed was inside: some bottles of water, food rations enough for 6 days, a change of clothes for the cold, a lighter, some manuals, and a little metal pot
The last thing was in his drawer, so he went there again and got his map and the other tools, only to notice that his notebook was in the other corner of the box
He…got thoughtful for a while, looking at the notebook yet again and the countless things and fantasies he had written there in order of letting his mind rest
After looking at it for a moment he decided. He grabbed the notebook, a pencil, an eraser and packed them up in the bag with the map, the order papers and the rest of things.
As for the gun, he left it at the bottom of the bag, near a little hole he had made himself, if anything, he could get it with ease, just in case.
Now with that first step settled, it was time to start the scheme
Zhongli hadn’t picked up this night just because he felt like so, but because he knew some of the patterns of the Soldiers schedules as well as of the notice of the special event for the night.
A party, a big party. Apparently, they had a big victory in battle and wanted to celebrate it somehow, such information seemed implied in the order’s papers, that information also aligned well with what Smiley Yanxiao had told him, as he had overheard one day he was working near the soldier’s dormitories
Which meant that the security inside and around the whole camp will be lowered, more reason for the heavy snow storms that have been going for the past few weeks, Zhongli was sure that by common sense, the last thing they will expect is anyone wanting to enter or leave the place for the time being.
He had also built up a good reputation for himself, so at least, he didn’t need to worry about any soldier making any vigilance just outside his room, nor his door being locked
And so, he opened his door, the hallway in his front was deserted, the other rooms of the floor where he was were mostly of files and archives needed to save the information of the machinery of the place, as well as the papers that contained Southlander’s relevant information.
That particular building had 2 floors, the old walls cracked, its poor state hidden helplessly by the worn paint, every step Zhongli made ended in a distorted squeak from the wooden floor, it was rattled and surely needed an adequate maintenance, the soldiers didn’t check out such files as much, plus the fact the place was located in the farthest corner of the camp, so the place neither got much security nor attention
According to the fragmentary orders, the nearest soldier was in the building just at the left side of the archive building, that stored different assortments of things regarding Soldier’s personal information, the soldier was armed and probably was responsible to patrol the surroundings, just to be sure any Southlander trespassed boundaries, though that wouldn’t stop Zhongli.
Now in the door of the archive building,Zhongli felt the freeze embracing his body, little snowflakes falling down until meeting the surface filled with at least 20 centimeters of pure snow. He looked to his left, a smaller building with a soldier on its door making patrol, he was sitting in a chair just outside the facility.
The Southlander leaped hushedly across the snow, making footprints that more snow would soon cover, he approached the soldier, and when he got close enough, the soldier immediately straightened, by how he acted and how he looked, Zhongli assumed he hadn´t had more than a few months doing simple tasks, he must be a recruit.
Although the other recruit seemed to recognize him judging by his gaze, he must be well informed of what the Southlander has done for the camp
“I came here to deliver the remaining papers about the Engineering development that were lacking this evening” Zhongli announced not waiting for a response from the soldier, he then showed him the manuals he had saved in his bag, the ones the other soldier had asked for earlier.
However, Zhongli didn´t make any gesture that pin pointed he was planning on giving such papers to the soldier.
The recruit must know that pretty well, even if Zhongli was a southlander, the papers and the inventions he carried with himself hold way too much value and were highly confidential, so he couldn´t exclaim or make any objections, he merely pointed to the black office back Zhongli had at his side “And what about the rest?”
“This is only a part of the documents, the rest is inside”
Without waiting further, the soldier went to look inside the back, to find it filled with papers, just as he was about to dig his hands in them for good measure, Zhongli intervened: “I already organized them” he looked at the soldier, not a hint of doubt in his gaze
The recruit, without much objections and with the fear of getting involved with classified information, merely made a vague gesture to Zhongli to follow him to the important quarters, and so deliver the papers. Having an acknowledged name around had its perks.
The trek to the main quarters was eerily quiet, the only sound coming far away from the cheering soldiers that were in the training area, enjoying their delightful celebration. The recruit at Zhongli’s side did not talked, asked, or object for anything, probably tired for looking out half evening to this hour, and merely focused on the minimum he had to do.
Zhongli did not say anything, merely getting an opportunity to get a good glance at the soldier.
He was young, probably not older than 25, his eyes were dull and tired, his attention somehow on another space
Even if Zhongli didn’t know him at all, it was clever that man didn´t wanted to be in that place. Forced recruitment of civilian people had become something common in the Northland, specially in times of war where a lot of military force was needed
But even if that was the case and Zhongli could even pity the soldier, he couldn´t do anything for him, his people needed him too, Zhongli had a role and so had the Recruit.
Before the main storage building of important archives, two settlements made of pinewood were on front, the one of the right side was for personal gear and the one on the left for gear cache; each with a single entrance. In the middle, there was a fence and a door with the message “only authorized staff”. That one was the door that passed down the narrow alley made by the two buildings, that finally ended in the settlement at the end which was the one where they were supposedly leading.
The recruit then got out of his pocket a two way radio. One of the inventions Zhongli himself had done, he was forced to work in them if he didn´t want to go across a worse path, having to give the military instructions and information to create the radios and use them. Currently, they wanted to get a vaster reach and so were giving Zhongli all the necessary materials to upgrade those inventions, the deadline he had to submit that knowledge regarding the high reach radio was until today, so he had come to “deliver” the last thing they needed to start making the graphics come true: The manuals with the instructions of use.
The recruiter was only getting familiarized with the object, so he pressed various buttons trying to find the right one to start the call. That was way more than enough time for Zhongli to make his move
With a swift shift, Zhongli positions himself behind the soldier and sends a really low kick to his ankles, making the recruit lose balance and dropping the radio, almost hissing at the pain, but the southlander quickly got a hold of him and shut him up with his right hand, the left one tightly secured on the recruiter’s neck.
The man struggled, trying to free himself from the Southlander’s grasp, but his efforts were futile, as the more he struggled, the more his lungs were left without air, the grasp Zhongli had on his neck becoming tighter every second
Little by little, his desperate efforts were faded away, until he laid unconscious in Zhongli´s grasp.
At this, the southlander quickly got the radio and made some changes upon it, some that he had practiced for a while ago, then he dragged the recruiter to the building of the gear cache and laid him on the ground, then without losing a beat, Zhongli started looking for other materials.
With the first rope he found he proceeded tying up the Recruiter at his side, also getting grasp of the weapon he had with him. Zhongli feeling a tad guilty for him, but he quickly shook his head and kept on his task, even if he knocked the soldier out, the recruiter must not have any sort of problems once he wakes up
Zhongli got everything and anything that could help him bear the harsh trek he had yet to surpass, ropes, hooks, pitons…and packed what he could on the stuffed office bag, not minding wrinkling the papers
When he felt he had the sufficient gear, he leaped to the other room in a haste before anyone could pass by. In the other room he got a change of clothes, getting on the military winter gear, making sure it was not new and that his face was covered well, his bag hidden on the stuffy clothes, such made him look bigger than he actually was.
Now with the tools and the equipment, Zhongli took one of the push carts used to transport different goods, usually located in any building that stored tools; He put his bag and his equipment there alongside other things that might occupy space. And so, with the cart, Zhongli rounded the main building, way to the closest entrance to the sewers, the weapon he just stole in hand, the gear in his shoulder.
he tried to keep his pace straight, alike to the one of a soldier, trying his best on not alerting anyone passing by.
Behind the storage room, were the other facilities of the camp, Where people would be located. At the left side, were the big barracks for soldiers to sleep in, near them, were little fighting places, where the big party seemed to be held, just some paces after, were the training areas, that occupied most of the space in the camp, and last but not least…the other “dormitories” where Southlanders would be locked up, and of course near those, were the tight closed sewers.
And this, is the part of the plan Zhongli dislikes the most.
He walks quietly across the sidewalks of the camp taking a glance at some drunk soldiers, chatting things Zhongli didn’t mind to focus on, the important thing was that all of them seemed unalerted and clueless
His path to the right side of the camp was smooth without more further trouble, just as he had planned, and yet, he felt his limbs trembling more and more as he approached the Southlander’s location, not of cold, but of fear.
After some minutes, Zhongli finally arrives the facility, a good amount of people waking up by merely feeling the presence of a soldier approaching, and it was…heart wretching.
Zhongli was acquainted with a lot of them, back in his nation, he had his own business and his contacts were vast, needless to say that he had arrived this gruesome place with some that fateful day…a lot of those now departed. He always liked to walk by the harbor, chat with the merchants, go share ideas and legends with the historians and have glorious meals with friends and acquaintances at different restaurants in the country as he could.
But now, only a shadow of that remained, the distressed mother that was caught with his child, the poor husband that waits for the day he could see his wife and kids again, the merchant that left unfinished business and a dream unpursued…all of them were shadows of the bright people Zhongli once knew, and now those happy memories seemed a fallacy, shards of a mere fantasy that was impossible to reach .
He felt…he didn’t wanted to see this people his people suffering again, he didnt wanted to count how much more were gone, he didnt wanted to know how much more had arrived to this hell, and he didnt wanted to see their horrorized faces upon seeing him with that Military suit.
Zhongli quickly took off his mask to clear misunderstandments, and signals everyone to keep quiet. Smiley Yanxiao’s eyes lit up upon seeing his golden eyes and the scar at his left, and a hopeful smile makes its way to his face, gesturing thumbs up to give him luck, the rest also calmed, and aware of his scheming (probably thanks to Yanxiao) cheered up quietly as well; maybe just maybe, they have a little chance to get out of the place, after months, for some people like Zhongli even years; they get their faith once again, being able to dream and vouch for a better outcome.
Zhongli was not doing this journey alone, even if he had schemed everything by himself and couldn't bring anyone to escape with him, his people’s faith was enough, their hope was enough, and now it was Zhongli’s job to make sure everyone could actually live on once again
The greeting couldn’t last long, once he made sure everyone were aware it was him, he put on his mask once more, and then went path one of the main sewers, which was at the west part of the refugee, just a few paces after it. It was neatly closed with a metal manhole cover.
He had prepared this quite the hefty times, so he shouldn’t present any problems. He put his hand on the cover and closed his eyes, trying to catalyze his energy to put pressure on the thick metal. One, two, three golden pulses appeared, starting to reach with the metal, making it shake lightly
But such was not enough to break the metal
He tried again, putting more pressure on the mineral, and little by little, cracks that shone like molten gold started appearing in the cover, making a metallic sound every time a crack was made anew.
It was not until he heard steps softened by the snow, that his concentration broke.
“Hey, did you hear a sound just now? It seemed to be coming from the rear…” One of the soldiers responsible for the patrol of the area told his companion, he then looked to the southlanders in the refuge, they didn’t seemed different from usual at last
“Maybe some animal making a ruckus?” His companion responded
“Animal? Unlikely. In this area and this time of the year? Surely not. The climate wouldn’t allow” He then raised his head, talking to the air “Whoever is hiding there, show yourself.”
Zhongli quickly looked up, a tight grip on the weapon he had stolen earlier , they would soon suspect him as he wasn’t part of the patrol team and his position as third party didn’t appear on the orders information.
Currently, he only had two options, either show himself and come up with something to trick those two soldiers, or haste his pace to open the manhole cover and escape in a rush.
However, the soldiers wouldn’t sit idly to wait for the second to happen.
“Whoever is there, show yourself” The soldier repeated, this time his tone was higher and more demanding.
Zhongli quickly got the two way radio out of his things, and in a really hushed manner, gave it to Smiley Yanxiao who was by the window, in the farthest left corner of the refugee, taking advantage of the darkness in the room.
He made sure to leave the push cart in some spot where the soldiers wouldn’t see it by their perspective. With silence, the soldiers lighted the room, its glow faint across the big room, showing the scared and anticipated faces of the rest of the Southlanders
Zhongli got out of his spot, appearing at the right side of the building, and waved the soldiers with a gesture that they would use to greet each other.
The soldier scoffed upon seeing one of them, he didn't seem to doubt the man in front of him covered head to toe, as the colds these days were rather harsh and not all soldiers had a good resistance against such chilly environment; he then asked “We were supposed to be the ones patrolling this area, what are you doing here?”
Zhongli goes quietly, and with signs, tries to explain the supposed situation, he would come up with something vague, as his supposed “superiors” had putted him additional work, which was something really common to happen when someone got penalized, specially for young recruiters who were only getting familiarized with the rules of the place (The soldier supposed this, noticing the pattern of the uniform Zhongli was using). It was actually a common situation, nothing too suspicious.
The other soldier felt quite intrigued by Zhongli’s demeanor, but didn’t ask either, as it was common for a soldiers to also lose their voice for a lot of reasons, specially in this last 4 years of war where the conditions hadn't been the best, respiratory infections common, specially to inexperienced young recruiters, who would even die with ease in the field. Most of the soldiers had learned to be respectful enough to not stick their noses in other’s affairs…or disgraces.
Zhongli then makes more gestures, implying he would like to “patrol” the zone, so the others could go at the other corner of the camp and celebrate with their comrades the big party that was being held
Even if tempting, the second soldier was not convinced, as the fellow soldier in front of them seemed a mere recruiter.
“We will take care of the situation, we don’t know how much time you’ve been here but surely a rest wouldn’t do bad for you, if something, we will explain to the superiors the situation so you don’t get a worse sanction” the second soldier said, putting his hand on Zhongli’s shoulder in a way of a friendly pat
Zhongli then tried to retort by making some sort of gesture to convince them, but they seemed unwavering.
Then it was time for the plan b.
Smiley Yanxiao was watching everything in the shadows, even if he and Zhongli were not very close back in the Southland, they had managed to know each other better the past 2 years, the yellow eyed man had managed to tell him about his plan way much before hand, and the things that could be possible to achieve in case of not so wanted turns.
For this case, what he had to do was very simple, he got one of the sides of his not so comfortable blanket, and rubbed it against the harsh cement of the floor, as he turned tha radio on.
Quickly, a sound was heard outside the refugee, on the main quarters, it was…not understandable at all, as if the system was still trying to get signal, almost as if… a transmission was about to take place.
The two soldiers, now worried for upcoming news went to the main quarters, immediately locked the refugees with padlock before departing
Zhongli made his move and went to the opposite direction, passing across the wall of the refugee, where most southlanders were giving him thumbs up at the inside of the building.
“Thank you for all this, Mr. Zhongli, you don’t know how much i…we all appreciate this…” Said smiley Yanxiao as Zhongli approached, giving him back the two way radio
“I should be the one thanking you, friend” Replied Zhongli, a smile long hidden in such mask.
“If you hadn’t told me what to do or program that radio to make a transmission in the main quarters i couldn’t have done anything, really, you are the real hero here”
Zhongli took the praise humbly, nodding this time “I’ll make sure most get out of this mess and we can get our way home again…I…wish i could make promises” Zhongli was then glad of the mask he had on, avoiding the slight saddened faces of his people, everyone knew not all would get out alive, at this point, a lot were already gone “But at least, take my word, and have faith for a brighter future” Even his voice had been almost a whisper, most of the people got the message, a lot of civilians with hint of optimism
Without any more words, Zhongli went back to the sewer, took a deep breath and tried breaking it again
Meanwhile, the two soldiers were going to the main quarters…only to find that the recruit with them in the camp was not following.
Of course one of them turned back to the refugee, shouting if he could catch the attention of the supposedly amateur one, but once he turned back…only a broken sewer was left behind with a half stuffed push cart, while the rest of the southlanders made their own celebration quietly, smiles and soft almost inaudible giggles across themselves.
Zhongli ran and ran, panting heavily with each step he made with such heavy boots. His big office bag in one of his shoulders and the rest of equipment in the other, he knew before hand that no soldier would come after him, as it was unconventional to go alone, and calling more soldiers to catch him would take more time.
At least, he felt that was enough for him to get sufficiently far away, no one from the north would be looking for him, it was way more probable that they believed him dying in the frozen outside.
As he ran across obscure nasty hallways filled with horrendous smell, he got out of his bag the map he had saved earlier, he had to do multiple turns to get out, the first one to the right, then go down to the left path, and so on, as if it was labyrinth itself.
There was a path which led to the exit, the path ended in a water ravine, not really hollow, that had a way to get out easily. as he climbed to the firm snow of the plains, the frosty air filled his nostrils, and for the first time, such feeling was pleasant.
When he was out of the ravine he catalyzed his powers again, this part was the most difficult one to pull out when it came to his powers, but he tried to concentrate, thinking on what he wanted to do.
He closed his eyes and all those dreams of countless nights came out to his head, how Rex Lapis managed with such ease his powers and how he made countless big inventions with them, he thought about the architecture precisely, and so, what Zhongli wanted to do started taking form in reality.
He thought about how he could recreate the wood in his own way, and how he could give shape to his creation, how he could make it smooth in the snow, how he could make it strong enough to hold his weight.
After what seemed an eternity to Zhongli, he finally managed to make a sled, it glowed just as his powers did, and seemed to be carved out of smooth stone and mixed minerals.
It was just perfect, Zhongli smiled to himself and then put his things there, making a torch with his powers too, setting it on fire with the lighter, and so he started the second plan of his journey, getting to his first destination to pass on the night.
Zhongli went calmly by the snowplains, the taste of freedom deeply getting into his core after being confined for almost two years, pulling such out was not easy, as his powers were not always as advanced nor as reactive. He was…somehow glad of the progress he had made.
Such thoughts invaded his mind, thinking once again the usual: what would have happened if he didn’t get such an advantage from that golden light? If he didn't had such a “resource” as he liked to phrase it recently, he wouldn't have gotten any opportunity of getting the map in first place, less breaking the hard metal sewer all by himself.
He didn’t like how that looked in his reality at times, to have such a mysterious advantage unable to be explained by any logic seen in the human kind, such energy, even if most of the time asleep, was always present in himself, he could always sense it, feel it, trace it…
Zhongli then halted suddenly, his eyes lost in the nowhere.
Sense, feel, trace that energy…there was something wrong.
He looked around, the darkness of the night stopping most of his field of view
But it…it was still there, somewhere around him in his area, Zhongli closed his eyes, his reason telling him to push forward and ignore absolutely anything that could be around his path but his heart differed from that plan.
On an impulse, without knowing exactly why, he followed the latter and changed his direction, looking for something he couldn’t even name.
Zhongli went straight in that direction for a few meters, until he saw him.
A man with strange auburn hair laid the snow, unmoving, Zhongli looked to the sides if he found anyone or anything nearby, but all was deserted…he approached, his eyes grew astonished, and he couldn’t help but gape at such scene
That man, he was wearing military suit. And Zhongli was sure he knew him.