Xiao hunts Childe for sport

2

Fortunately, beings such as Adepti (and apparently Aether?) can use the Statue of the Seven for travel. They arrive safely near Zhongli's hidden residence.

The house is hidden, only accessible if you know about its location beforehand. The barrier around it ensures that only those with Rex Lapis' blessing may enter. It's one of the safest places Xiao knows of.

It has a beautiful view of Liyue - truly, Morax had chosen the location well.

Xiao sprints through the quickest route to the house. What he finds is Aether dutifully giving the place a glow up.

What was once a mediocre-looking, dust-filled, moldy house is now in the modern style of Liyue houses. It's clean, it's modernized and most importantly, it lacks the mold. Xiao has no idea how Aether did this in this short time-space but he won't question it.

The house isn't exactly small. It's an impressive feat.

"Huh, you really are cleaning this place up." Xiao is the first to arrive. He left Zhongli and his pet behind to check the house out himself.

"Oh! Xiao!" Aether turns around with a smile on their face. "You're in on this too now?"

"Unfortunately." It's been some time since Xiao saw the traveler. The last time Xiao had saved them from falling to their death. "Tell me, how exactly did it happen? I only know about Zhongli's temporary insanity."

"Zhongli's temporary insanity does fit." Aether laughs as he dusts off a couch. Xiao didn't even know Zhongli owns one. "Well, you know that those two are friends, right?"

Xiao nods. As much as he hates to admit it, the emotions Zhongli displayed are genuine. Childe better appreciates them or Xiao will... take care of him.

"Apparently, they still talk a lot after the whole..." Aether trails off, looking slightly uncomfortable.  Xiao can't blame them. He doesn't quite know what he feels about the whole mess himself. "So that's probably where the idea comes from. They must have talked about it in a joking way but Zhongli took it seriously."

"I hate that I can believe that." Xiao decides to sit down on the surprisingly comfortable couch. Xiao closes his eyes and sighs. "Tell me more about Childe and why I shouldn't gut him."

"Childe may be a bad guy but he's not manipulative or anything. He's also not exactly... smart." Aether admits, scratching his head with a smile. "He couldn't even tell that Zhongli is Rex Lapis."

"...I see." That's pathetic. "Wasn't he sent to get the Gnosis? That's..." Zhongli never truly hides who he is, even when he's in disguise. To fail at that... maybe he can keep Childe alive for now, just to witness his lack of brain cells himself.

"Yeah. Yeah, I know. Instead, he became Zhongli's wallet and got scammed out of 3 million mora." Xiao isn't surprised about this. That's a very Zhongli thing to do. Xiao isn't the best with mora either but...

Oblivious to Xiao's mental monologue, Aether continues. "He's a very simple guy. He just likes fighting a lot... and his little brother told me he would quit his job and travel with me if he could."

At that Xiao raises his brow. "So the desire to leave the Fatui is there? Interesting. I will refrain from gutting him for now."

Aether laughs and sits down next to him. "He's not that bad of a guy... I think. He clearly loves his family a lot- oh shit." Aether's face darkens so quickly that Xiao grows concerned.

Xiao tilts his head, "Hm? What's wrong?"

"His family. They're gonna think he's dead." Oh. Well. Thankfully this isn't Xiao's problem.