Chapter Text
“Yeah, sure I suppose.” Hu Tao says, accidentally sounding more tired than she wanted to.
“You alright?” The girl asked her. “You sound really tired.”
Hu Tao shrugged. “Not much I can do about it. Homework’s exhausting, and it’s not like I can just skip it.”
The detective sighed. “Yeah, but you should at least look out for your own health. We can’t just make our entire lives revolve around school, can we?”
Hu Tao laughed in response. “I’m pretty sure our lives already do.” Hu Tao’s life didn’t really, considering her ‘night job’, but she wasn’t going to implicate herself as Ghost in her school’s lunchroom of all places. “What’s your name, anyways?”
“I’m Yanfei, nice to meet you.” Yanfei extended her hand out to shake Hu Tao’s. She reciprocated- what was it that Zhongli said to her?
Ah, right. ‘I understand that you want to be your own person, Hu Tao, but it may be best for you to try and become friends with someone.’
Well, why not start here? Worst comes down to it… you know what, maybe she won’t think about the what-if’s.
“I’m Hu Tao, nice to meet you.”
——————
Zhongli sighed as he cleaned up the funeral parlor. After the thousands of years he had lived, so much had changed, but it wasn’t seeing what changed that hurt him the most. What hurt the most was seeing what faded out over time- the respect for the ancient lands, the magic that flowed through Liyue, and the Visions- where had they all gone? The last time he had seen one was when he went to see Xiao, but Adepti weren’t exactly like mortals.
Perhaps that was why he was so inclined to take care of Hu Tao- it had been a long time since he had witnessed one who earned Murata’s praise, and with Vision bearers being so far and few between, he felt an obligation as the Archon to protect her.
He wished that they could be more open with each other- that he could be more truthful about himself and that Hu Tao could be honest about her Vision. However, their relationship was rather… undefined, and he didn’t wish to lose it all by making a mistake.
Zhongli sighed. Nothing was ever easy, was it?
——————
Hu Tao was taking another run across the rooftops, keeping her eyes peeled for anything suspicious or dangerous. Her priority was stopping crimes that others would take too long to help with, or that some just turned a blind eye too.
However, she also tended to stalk people who were… interesting, for lack of a better word. Sometimes it was just a foreigner making social mistakes, other times she could find a way into the rat’s nest of crime. Tonight, her quarry was a woman with white hair who wore an outfit that reminded her of some of the things Zhongli had shown her in museums before.
She didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the looks that others seemed to be giving her, nor the two men following her. Well, that couldn’t be good, could it? Hu Tao decided that this might end poorly, so she decided to follow and listen in to make sure she had her facts straight.
“Look, all I’m saying is that we can give you a place to stay, alright?” Yikes, that set off red flags fast. “So, just come with us.”
“As I have said before, I’m not interested.” The woman replied, her tone dismissive. “So it’s in your best interest to leave me alone.”
“Look, lady-” And that’s when Hu Tao prepared to intervene. “We’re not asking.”
One of the men tried to make a move on the woman, giving Hu Tao enough reason to try and stop them. However, before she could jump down, the woman spun around and hit one of the men hard enough to knock him to the ground, and kicked the other hard enough to make him collapse. Before she could continue, Hu Tao jumped out from the shadows and blocked the woman’s dangerous follow-up blow. “Look, ma’am, I get that they tried to get you first, but last I checked, murder is a crime.”
The woman looked confused. “I was simply defending myself. Is that not allowed in Liyue?”
Hu Tao was just as confused. Where was this woman from that she didn’t know about the law, of all things? “Well sure, it may be okay to defend yourself, but not lethally. Even then, where the hell did you come from if you don’t know about self-defense laws?”
“I live in Jueyun Karst with my master, Cloud Retainer.” The woman answered. Another mystery for later- who was Cloud Retainer? Were they the actual Adeptus of legend, or someone taking on a name? “Is that of importance?”
Hu Tao nodded. “Yeah, a little. You got a name, or should I just keep calling you lady?”
The woman stared blankly. “Call me Shenhe. And you?”
“Call me Ghost, for now at least.” Hu Tao answered. “Can’t exactly protect the Harbor if everyone knows my name, yeah?”
Shenhe nodded. “Well then, I’ll be off now. I’ll find you if I need to talk to you.” She promptly walked away, and Hu Tao had no reason to follow her. For now, at least. She decided to get back to her patrol of the Harbor- the questions could come later.
——————
After a fairly smooth night of vigilantism, aside from her encounter with Shenhe, Hu Tao returned home and changed into something more comfortable. After some unfruitful research of the Adepti, she decided to fold and ask Zhongli some questions.
While she was stepping rather noticeably, it was almost uncanny how Zhongli was aware of his surroundings. “Is there something you need, Hu Tao?”
Hu Tao nodded. “I’m curious, what do you know about the Adepti? I wanted to do some research, but couldn’t find consistent stories about them.”
Zhongli paused for a moment, then answered. “Where would you like to begin? I know much about them, some more than others, but I will need to know where to start to give you a better understanding.”
“What do you know about Cloud Retainer?” While her question was rather broad, she hoped it would yield answers.
Zhongli’s face was almost reminiscent. Of exactly what, Hu Tao didn’t know. “Ah, Cloud Retainer. She was always described as a free spirit, and it’s rumored that many of her machines and creations still exist, scattered in the mountains of Jueyun Karst.”
Hu Tao started mentally jotting this down. So, there was a chance that this Cloud Retainer that Shenhe mentioned was the real one, but that was still just going off location alone.
“… and it’s been a good amount of time since I’ve ventured around there, in fact.” Zhongli continued to talk while she was thinking. “Would you be interested in joining me when I travel there, soon?”
Hu Tao perked up. This could be a great way to try and learn more about Shenhe and who Cloud Retainer exactly was. “Sure!”
Jackpot.