The Goth Grand Hotel is one of the largest and most luxurious hotels in Mondstadt. During the Windblume Festival, it would usually be filled with tourists and merchants from various nations.
But in recent years, the hotel has been devoid of tourists because it has been entirely taken over by the Fatui.
Three years ago, Anastasia, the Fatui envoy's attaché, leased the hotel indefinitely in the name of Harbinger Pantalone, turning it into an embassy.
From the guards at the entrance to the cleaning staff, everyone had been replaced by Fatui members.
This made many people sigh in amazement—only the Fatui, with their immense wealth, could pull off something like this.
"Instructor!"
Seeing the black-clad figure approaching from a distance, Luke immediately stood at attention.
Originally, Luke had been the captain in charge of security at the Goth Grand Hotel. Unfortunately, he had leaked too much information to Kaeya, and as a result, Attaché Anastasia had stripped him of all his positions and assigned him to guard the entrance, effectively demoting him to a doorman.
But he had no complaints, because Klober, who had committed a similar offense, had yet to have his body recovered from Cider Lake.
"Open the door."
Even though his face was hidden behind a mask, no one dared to question his identity.
"Yes!"
Luke immediately opened the hotel door for him and watched as he entered.
As for the girl on his back...
Who cared? His job was to guard the entrance. If he angered the Instructor, the next demotion would be to cleaning toilets.
Bai Luo didn't ask for anyone's help. He carried Collei back to his room alone.
After all, Collei's plague hadn't been fully cured yet.
He could ignore it, but that didn't mean others could.
Placing the still-unconscious Collei on the pristine bed, Bai Luo went into the bathroom to fill the bathtub.
Perhaps because she had been tormented by the whispers of the demon god for too long, the sudden silence allowed her tightly wound nerves to finally relax.
The exhaustion from her long journey, combined with the mental torment, had finally overwhelmed her, causing her to pass out.
When the bathtub was nearly full, there was a knock on Bai Luo's door.
It was Lyudmila, the female Fatui envoy who often whispered with her companion near the teleport waypoint.
After returning, Bai Luo had asked her to fetch some medicine.
While this medicine couldn't cure Collei's illness, it could alleviate some of her pain.
After pouring the medicinal solution into the bathtub in the right proportions, Bai Luo returned to Collei's side.
The stench of sweat from her long journey, combined with the marks left by the plague on her skin, gave her a strange, unpleasant odor.
Bai Luo didn't mind. He removed her tattered clothes and unwrapped the bandages covering her body.
The bandages had turned yellow and were even stuck to her skin in some places. Removing them tore off bits of flesh, releasing a foul odor.
"Mmm..."
Collei's eyelids twitched slightly. The pain was enough to rouse her from her unconscious state.
Seeing this, Bai Luo slowly raised his arm.
Over the years, he had developed a method of knocking someone out without causing injury.
He called it the "Bai Family Physical Deep Hypnosis Technique."
And now, he used it on Collei.
With a muffled groan, Collei's head tilted to the side, and she lost consciousness again.
After confirming that she was truly unconscious, Bai Luo carefully continued to remove the bandages.
Once all the bandages were off, Bai Luo couldn't help but sigh.
Compared to when he had last seen her, this child had grown so much.
Carefully picking her up, Bai Luo carried her into the bathroom and placed her in the bathtub filled with medicinal solution. Except for her head, her entire body was submerged in the liquid.
The medicine worked quickly. Collei's furrowed brow gradually relaxed, and she even began to snore softly.
After enough time had passed, Bai Luo took her out, applied ointment, and re-wrapped her in fresh bandages.
But before he could dress her, a series of urgent knocks interrupted him.
Opening the door, he found Anastasia standing outside. She was the highest-ranking Fatui member in Mondstadt, aside from Bai Luo.
"Instructor, Mr. Garifra was assassinated before leaving Mondstadt. It seems..."
Anastasia didn't continue. As a Fatui attaché, she knew exactly what that flame represented.
She even suspected that the method used to make those materials and people disappear might have been the work of the man standing before her.
"Leave the matter of pressuring Mondstadt to you. You're good at that kind of thing. Let me know if something beyond your control happens."
"Understood!"
With Bai Luo's permission, Anastasia immediately agreed.
She liked superiors who delegated authority, and Bai Luo liked subordinates who took initiative.
The two were a perfect match... or rather, a match made in heaven.
Speaking of which, he needed to hurry up with his own plans. After all, this was a mission personally assigned by the Tsaritsa. He couldn't afford to slack off.
But before that, he needed to get the girl into some new clothes.
The old set... could barely be called clothing anymore.
Grabbing a fresh set of clothes, Bai Luo returned to the room.
But as soon as he opened the door, he was met with a sharp fruit knife.
Collei's attack was precise and unexpected. Anyone caught off guard would have been struck.
The reason she had been able to travel across the seven nations for so long without incident, aside from the natural protection of her plague and the power of the demon god's remnants, was her mastery of assassination techniques.
Unfortunately... she had chosen the wrong opponent.
The person who had taught her these assassination techniques was none other than Bai Luo.
And Bai Luo would never be hurt by his own techniques.
Avoiding the wound on her wrist, Bai Luo grabbed her arm, disarmed her, and then tossed her back onto the bed.
Collei sat up immediately, ready to use her trump card—the power of the demon god's remnants.
But the whispers that had always tempted her to use this power were now silent.
The power was no longer accessible.
"W-why?"
"Because it's just the remnants of a demon god, while I... carry the aura of a living demon god!"
Tossing the clothes to Collei, Bai Luo explained.
So far, he was quite satisfied with this child.
She was vigilant, ruthless, and every strike aimed for his neck.
She was far better than the Debt Collectors he had trained back in the day.
If he had known, he would have taken her with him back then. Maybe she could have formed a duo with K423 or something.
"Then... who are you?"
Staring intently at Bai Luo, Collei didn't immediately put on the clothes he had thrown to her. Instead, she asked warily.