Temporary Command Post of the Qixing Emergency State Committee.
The atmosphere was as heavy as lead. Cyno placed a brief surveillance report in front of Keqing, his crimson eyes icy: "Target: Fontaine merchant Lepont, Snezhnayan mercenary Prigozhin. Location: behind the abandoned wooden crates in District C1. Behavior: abnormal contact, no exchange of goods, Lepont nervous and sweating, Prigozhin on high alert, repeatedly scanning the surroundings. Suspicious points: the inside of Lepont's collar bears the barely perceptible insignia of the small Fontaine merchant guild 'Silver Shuttle'; the web of Prigozhin's right hand features a deep scar suspected to be a recent frostbite injury. Conclusion: behavior highly suspicious, but no direct evidence of poisoning."
Keqing's amethyst eyes swept over the report, her fingertips tapping unconsciously on the tabletop. The vague clues brought back by Jingyi from the Akasha Terminal—"secret Fontaine alchemical family," "minerals co-occurring with ores in the northern peaks of Snezhnaya"—rolled like dark clouds in her heart. That glaring patch of withered marks in Experimental Field B concerned the food security of hundreds of thousands of people in the Serenitea Pot! The burning anxiety twined around her heart like vines, tightening with every second. The urgent fear of losing control over the situation overwhelmed everything else.
Chapter 82