Okay, here's the second chapter. I worked on this the day after I published the chapter, so, yeah, it seems like this might be done in less than 6 months, depending on how I pace myself. Also, search for the meaning of the numbers I put in for the last chapter. Namely, 10, 12, 60, 72, and 178.

As I ran through the destroyed city, I came across many people buried by the destruction. I found a family in particular, the older woman buried under a pillar while they were struggling to lift it.

"Hey, it's alright, I'm here to help. Let me get it." The boy lifted his hands, looking confused and even scared of me.

With relative ease, I lifted the pillar off the mother's legs and saw how damaged she was, from her legs downward. The children were fine, physically at least, just agitated.

"I'll carry you to someone else." I quickly lifted her, carrying her on my side, as I brought it to the first responders who were still alive.

"Thank you…" she spoke, quietly, as I carried her to the next person.

I looked back at the kids, who followed me quietly. They looked still afraid.

"Your mom will be alright. She'll take some time, but she'll be okay."

I smiled to reassure them. I didn't know how bright that smile was, but they seemed to be at ease with my smile.

"Thank… you." The young boy said.

"Go to your mom. I'm sure she'll want you to be with her."

I tapped him and the young girl next to him on their shoulders.

"She'll not be alone with you two." I gave a more genuine smile there, though it was softer.

The boy got excited and ran off a long distance. He stopped before turning around and yelling, "Thank you, Hero!" He ran off again, and I looked back to get the rest of the survivors.

Many more people were trapped in their homes, unable or unwilling to go outside. They were afraid, even as I knocked on their doors.

"Hey, I'm here. The Ruin Guards are gone, I promise…"

I heard a child cry as a man opened the door, and revealed several people staying in their quarters.

"They're gone?"

I nodded. "Every last one of them,"

The man almost broke down in front of my knees, collapsing to my feet.

"Thank you… hero." The man cried. The children and women did too.

"It's no issue. But for now, are you guys able to walk?"

The man who collapsed in front of me stood up immediately. "Yes, why?"

"Well, I need you to help the first responders." I looked around. "Anyone who can walk and move and carry people, you'll need to explore Liyue harbor for anyone who died, as well as anyone who could survive. We need to give the deceased proper burials."

"Yeah…" The crying stopped, and I heard everyone swallow their tears, with them in incredible pain.

"I'm sorry for those you may have lost. You've lost children, men, and women. Brothers. Family members. Who knows who lived and who died?"

I sighed, as I still stood in the doorway and looked at all of them.

"But we need to give them the burial they deserve. That will come when every woman, man, and child is accounted for."

They all silently stood, and even the child stopped crying.

"We must give those who died meaning. By remembering, we give those lives meaning!" I looked down, for a second as I spoke, before looking up at them.

"We must live, to the end, to bring meaning to these people's lives. Our memories of them will stay with us, as we justify their deaths to the day we die. And maybe, till after we die."

All of them took a serious face, but one with a slight amount of hope.

"You must go on, to search for them. To help the people who need it."

Everyone nodded, and I led them out, as they continued their search, and people started to escape the cramped walls they were staying in.

"Thank you." I heard from a young woman.

She was crying as she held her child, who cried earlier.

"I… lost my husband in this. I don't know where he went. If he's even alive." She choked up, and I felt sorry for her.

But before I could do anything, she held her hand out.

"But if he's dead… I'll remember his memories. I'll make sure we'll never forget him."

She swallowed and looked unshakable as she walked past me, with her child falling asleep in her arms.

'We'll have to rebuild here too.' I held my hand on my chin.

Eventually, I went to the Yuehai Pavilion, where the remaining people stayed.

I opened the door, and they were there, still. Many of the Linyue Qixing was there, tending to Ganyu and the rest of the people around her.

"I've always wanted to care for Ganyu as she has for us…" She muttered before noticing me.

"Oh, Traveler! You've taken down the Ruin Guards, I assume?"

I nodded, and everyone looked at me as I walked to Ganyu, with everyone looking at me with hopeful eyes.

"Thank you, Traveler!" All of them said at the same time.

"Oh… it was my pleasure, as the hero of Liyue."

Despite how awkwardly I spoke, they all looked at me in awe, revealing me as a hero.

"How's Ganyu doing?" I looked at Huixin, who was tending to her still.

"She's passed out. She's alright. She just needs a full night's sleep."

She looked over back at Ganyu and muttered.

"If she wasn't half Qilin, I'd be concerned because people who've stayed awake as long as she has to deal with hallucinations and mental impairment. It's a miracle she was still fighting strongly against the Ruin Guards…"

I looked grimly at her, sleeping peacefully, knowing how much she had gone through.

"I need to talk to her when she wakes up. In the meantime, I'll carry her to the Jade Chamber."

"Yes, Aether."

"In the meantime, Huixin, I'm assuming you're setting up with the other Qixing to turn this into a safe house while we're rebuilding the city, right?"

She nodded. "I am doing what I can to coordinate with them."

"Okay, for the record." I pulled out as much of the food I had made in Sumeru, Mondstadt, and Inazuma from my inventory.

"I have enough food for 300 people for three days with me. That should be enough to tide over the people here.."

She looked shocked as I pulled out a ton of food and laid everything on a table. Everyone also looked shocked, as I continued to pull out more food.

"Everyone, here! These dishes will feed you all tonight!" Everyone cheered, though Ganyu didn't wake up with that sound.

"Thank you so much!" Everyone stopped individually to thank me personally as they rushed to eat and get food for others who couldn't get it. They were being generous, surprisingly, as they shared it around. They all were facing hardships, but at least they'd be prepared for it.

"Let me get Ganyu out of here." I nodded as I held Ganyu delicately. She was light to me, almost too light.

"Take care of her, alright?" She looked like she was winking at me as if she knew my feelings for her.

I turned around and opened the door as I left the building. As I walked out, I saw Ningguang at the bottom of the stairs. She crossed her arms and lacked any sort of smile.

"The fact that you're still standing is quite a miracle." I heard Ningguang talk to me seriously. She sounded concerned, and her eyes were softer than I remembered.

"Well, I took them all down. The Ruin Guards…"

"That wasn't what I was saying." She closed the distance between us and looked me straight in the eyes. She was close, but it didn't make me blush.

"A hero can only do so much before he tires himself out. You've taken down almost 200 Ruin Guards single-handedly. No matter how powerful you are…" she looked… angry. "You're going to tire."

I wasn't sure which was more surprising: that Ninguang was telling me this while Ganyu was working overtime for her in my arms or that she was angry at me because of it.

"There are people who need to get saved here. They'll be the first." I was about to walk past her, but she stopped me.

"They can handle it. I've coordinated plans to have safe houses and to take care of the people here. I've also gotten Mondstadt to agree to send many of their workers here for temporary help. They will all arrive in less than a day."

'They must be less overwhelmed if they're going to send so many people here…' I shook that thought away.

"That's not going to save the people now. I've still got to help people." I walked past her, but she touched my shoulder, which was a chilling sensation.

"But we will replace that which is lost here." She looked through me as I turned back at her.

"What about the people lost?" I looked pained, and I noticed she was too.

"That's what I'm here to ask you." She looked grim but she waved for me to come with her toward the Jade Chamber. I agreed reluctantly and walked with her as I carried Ganyu.

I went to the top of the building, eventually using Anemo to carry myself to the top, with Ganyu barely making a noise as I lifted her.

"Quite the interesting powers you've gained since coming here." She held a wry smile for the first time as if she knew where I had gotten that power.

"Well, I've been gone for a while," I explained away, not wanting to explain it fully, as I walked through the Jade Chamber.

"Huh… what happened to everyone?"

"We've been working to make safe houses outside the Jade Chamber. As much as this is a marvel of technology and human engineering, we cannot trust that hundreds can stay here for more than a day. It was already sinking when you came to Liyue, after all."

"Oh… I see." I didn't realize that, but they weren't as high as I remembered when so much of Liyue's harbor population was on the Chamber.

"So far, we've rooms and buildings for only a couple of people—the servant's quarters, the guest quarters, my bedroom, and the servant's bedrooms. There are also the 7 Qixing's bedrooms, but besides Keqing, they have not come to the Jade Chamber yet. The Qixing have all agreed to relocate within the Jade Chamber so their work won't be interfered with by external pressures.."

"So you can influence and oversee them."

She looked at me mischievously but didn't say anything.

"Ganyu, her room is right here." She pointed her hand towards room 4, which I opened the door, and saw her room.

It was nice, with a window on the outside, a small desk for work, and a small, sparsely decorated bed. A pot of flowers sat on her desk, but only the stems were left. I laid Ganyu down to rest in her bed, and she seemed at peace with her expression. I removed her shoes and tucked her into her bed.

"Sleep well, Ganyu."

I thought I saw a blush on her face as I turned away. But I walked out and met face-to-face with Ningguang again.

"Come with me." She walked again with me to the front of the Jade Chamber, overlooking the entire Liyue harbor.

"You know, quite a few things have changed since you've last come. Two years ago, when you had celebrated a lantern rite with us?" She looked over the Harbor, with it in its destroyed state.

"Yeah, I didn't expect the Jade Chamber to be so big in comparison."

"That wasn't what I was discussing." She seemed harsh in her words, and it felt like I touched a nerve.

A bit of awkwardness struck me.

"If it came to saving this city, I would have destroyed this Jade Chamber once more, even if it would cost me." She looked deadly serious into my eyes.

"... Sorry." I looked down.

"It's quite alright." She looked beyond as she spoke.

"But, what you said earlier about those who were lost, you're right. People have lost their lives, over three days. Even with our resources at our disposal, if we rebuild everything, we will not give hope to the people here." She sounded depressed.

"Hope?"

She sighed. "As I've learned with time as a Tianquan, Mora isn't an absolute power. People are losing hope, unfortunately."

She breathed quietly as she looked down towards the city.

"We are the center for Mora, and we've lost all capacity to increase our Mora, which has led to rapid deflation. So more people were selfish within Liyue, and Mora was being hoarded thanks to the rapid deflation. Our economy, despite our power, was close to collapsing."

She walked ahead of me before looking back.

"Until your speech." She chuckled as she looked around, women, men, and children helping each other. "This is the first time I've seen people not caring about Mora. Something… alien to me."

"Alien? About someone not caring about Mora, or others not caring about it?"

"Both." She didn't turn toward me.

"But, getting back to hope, we need to have their trust in someone to get them to stimulate the economy. Right now, while we were able to evacuate, who knows how long we would have lasted without you… and no amount of Mora would have gotten human soldiers to fight this threat off." She murmured.

"But they believe in you. You saved them. You're their hero." She turned to me, inspired, and held her hand out as she explained.

"But… I can't possibly stay here."

She looked disappointed, but she nodded. "I understand that. But there is something I think you'd like to do."

I looked at her, fully expecting what was coming next.

"Well, some information has come to light. Namely, you are currently married to 7 other women. They've also been achieving feats far beyond even the strongest Vision users. Quite a few theories include you copulating with each vision user and them having magical tattoos over their womb."

Despite her stating the fact, I didn't feel at all shaken by it, nor did I deny it.

"No worries, this information is only circumstantial. No one would possibly think otherwise." I saw her wryly smile as she moved around. "And I know you have a captivation to me. You seemed to be quite interested in Beidou as well."

"Yes, I do." Before I could say anything, she started to walk inside and lead me inside the large chamber.

"Well, I can offer you-"

"Are you interested in me, though?" I crossed my arms, and she froze. She seemed shocked that I asked her.

"What?"

"Do you have any attraction to me? Or are you doing this for your gain? Because if it's the former, forget about it. I'd never do that." I sounded genuinely frustrated with the possibility of being used.

She genuinely was distraught by what I said and swallowed, having her plan unfolded, and she even looked down, saddened by what I had said.

"Well…" she looked away, and I saw her blush for the first time as she looked off, still keeping eye contact.

"Yes. I do see you in that… form." She was shy, something I felt blessed to see from her, her rosy blush on her pale skin as she tried to hide.

"And you're not saying that for the reason you gave?"

"No, heaven's no. I'd… love for you to make me yours. In the family way so to speak, to be your wife.." She held a smile, but it wasn't mischievous. It was honest, but it was also slightly nervous like she was afraid I wouldn't believe her for telling the truth.

"You would?" I tried to look through her, but she clawed back some confidence.

"Yes. I'd love nothing more to belong to you and your desires." She suddenly acted mischievously and smiled as she came closer."However, I recognize there are other women, and I can understand that." She whispered in my ear.

"If within three days, you can impregnate 5 of the women here, Shenhe, Ganyu, Yanfei, Hu Tao, and Keqing, because I've seen them share some feelings with them, you will be able to have a, what is it called, threesome with Beidou and I. By then, if all goes well-"

Before she spoke, she interrupted herself. She chuckled but didn't say anything.

"Well, I'll keep it a mystery for now."

I stared at her blankly, even if I processed what she said. I wasn't surprised by her finding out who I loved.

"Well, I accept that challenge. But I will have a condition."

"What is that?" She had her hand at her chin, just under her soft lips.

"To kiss you before and touch you before."

She wasn't particularly expecting that either, but she did seem to conceal her happiness from me with me asking that.

"You'd like to embrace and fondle this body of mine and demonstrate your affection?" She touched her breasts, emphasizing them in front of me.

"Well, go ahead." She sat down on the couch of her chamber and leaned back. "You'll have my permission to take my first kiss with a man."

I engaged with her a fiery first kiss, not caring about my breath or hers, as I felt her lips against mine, exchanging our fluids, and I touched her breasts and stomach, feeling her body from the top down.

Eventually, I removed my lips and my hands from her. After over 2 minutes of feeling her up and making her blush with my intensity, she looked pleased.

"That was… very enjoyable." She kept her mischievous smile, as well as her blush.

"And that's what you will enjoy in 3 days." I smiled back mischievously.

I headed to what looked to be Yanfei's room, which was labeled number 1.

"Come in!" She said quickly, and I opened the door.

"Have fun, Aether." Ningguang waved as I entered Yanfei's room

Okay, now I'm done, and this was also a hard one to balance for tone and shifts. I hope you enjoyed it.