"Many thanks for the help, Conqueror of Demons."
Xiao felt a little unnatural; he had almost messed up the task Barbatos entrusted to him.
"No matter. I am the Adeptus, Xiao. If you encounter difficulties within Liyue, simply call my name."
After speaking, Xiao leaped up and transformed into a breeze, disappearing.
Diluc once again surveyed his surroundings, and seeing no abnormalities, he carefully took out the purplish-black jade ring that contained his sister's soul.
"Ruola…"
He called out to the jade ring, his voice trembling.
The jade ring flickered almost imperceptibly, but Diluc saw it clearly. He called out a few more times.
But this time, the jade ring gave no response.
Diluc carefully placed the jade ring close to his body and turned to leave in the direction he came from.
He had to return to Mondstadt to find Venti and see if he had any solutions.
In the face of his sister's soul's safety, revenge no longer seemed so urgent.
---
Guili Plains.
Traveler and Paimon had just teleported from the snowy mountains. Seeing that Lumine was not very happy, Paimon proactively suggested heading to Inazuma.
"Traveler, Inazuma is separated by a huge expanse of sea, and Inazuma is currently in a state of self-imposed isolation, with thunderous storms unleashed by the Electro Archon over the sea."
"If we want to go to Inazuma, why don't we go ask Zhongli first? He knows so much, maybe he knows a way to Inazuma?"
Lumine also nodded, putting aside what had just happened in the snowy mountains.
Just as she was about to teleport using a Teleport Waypoint, she heard Paimon's exclamation.
"Oh, it's Master Diluc!"
Lumine looked around and indeed saw a fiery red figure on the path a few hundred meters away from them.
"Traveler, let's go say hello."
The two ran towards Diluc's location.
As the two ran over, Diluc also noticed Lumine and Paimon.
His eyes suddenly lit up, and he also jogged towards the two.
Upon nearing them, before Lumine and Paimon could speak, Diluc spoke first:
"I didn't expect to meet you here. I heard Lumine, that you can use those ancient devices to teleport back and forth. Is that true?"
Lumine was stunned by Diluc's somewhat anxious tone. She immediately nodded.
"Very good. Can I ask you for a favor?"
"Diluc, what are you saying? We are friends, I will definitely help!"
Diluc took out the purplish-black jade ring from his embrace and handed it to Lumine.
"This is…"
"This contains Ruola's soul!"
Paimon was shocked and stumbled backward, covering her small mouth: "What, this is actually…"
Diluc explained:
"The Abyss creature that attacked Mondstadt… when he killed Ruola, he also took her soul. I came all the way here, encountered that monster, and snatched back this jade ring containing Ruola's soul…"
Diluc had not finished speaking when Lumine asked:
"You encountered that bastard?!"
"Yes, thanks to Liyue's Conqueror of Demons."
Hearing that Xiao had also taken action, Lumine quickly continued to ask:
"Was it apprehended?"
"No, that creature's stealth skills are very powerful; he escaped."
"Traveler, I hope you take this jade ring and immediately teleport back to Mondstadt to find Barbatos. This jade ring is an Abyss item, and the longer Ruola stays inside, the more danger she is in!"
Lumine's face was solemn. Diluc entrusting such an important matter to her was entirely out of trust. Moreover, this was Ruola's soul; no matter what, there could be no mistakes!
"Don't worry, I will definitely do it!"
Paimon stared at the jade ring, her small eyes turning red again.
"Hey, Ruola, Ruola, can you hear me?"
The jade ring flickered again.
Paimon excitedly said:
"Ruola responded to me! She's really in there, boo hoo, Traveler, let's go find Venti quickly!"
---
Player's World.
Chen Xiyao had just been climbing the snowy mountain, and due to lack of experience, she froze to death several times while climbing.
The audience in the live stream also had headaches watching, and many came forward to guide her to the correct path.
But whether it was due to poor sense of direction or the heavy fog in the snowy mountains, she somehow ended up on an extremely bizarre path that no normal person would take.
"It's so cold here, family, it feels like my HP is dropping faster than in other places!"
"Let me see where I can go down, this way seems… oh my god! I fell!"
She didn't know why she walked and walked and fell into a crevice. After one character fell and died, her new character, Diluc, began to lose HP rapidly.
In a panic, Chen Xiyao suddenly saw a pile of firewood here. She immediately used Diluc's skill to ignite it.
She finally relaxed after seeing that her character was no longer losing HP.
: "My heavens, the streamer's moves are making my scalp tingle!"
: "I don't understand why she can stray from such a straight path!"
: "Diagnosis complete, the streamer is a terrible navigator, not just in the game, but probably in the real world too."
: "Little Fruit, look, there's a wooden sign behind you, it's glowing. Go check it out quickly."
: "This ghostly place actually has an easter egg? The streamer is probably the first to see it, after all, no one else has her kind of navigation skills~"
Chen Xiyao was quite indignant when everyone called her a terrible navigator. What did they mean by 'straying while walking'?
There was clearly a treasure chest there, wasn't there? It was perfectly normal for her to go open the treasure chest and then take the wrong path, wasn't it?
"Wooden sign?"
Chen Xiyao controlled her character to the wooden sign's location. The screen showed that it could be interacted with, and she immediately clicked on it.
The wooden board read:
"Great Heroes of Mondstadt, Ruola and Noelle, were here!"
There was also an explanation: (The charcoal writing has faded a lot, it must have been written a long time ago.)
The back of the wooden sign also had:
"Diluc of Mondstadt, was here…"
(The charcoal writing is still very clear, it must have been written in the last two days.)
Chen Xiyao fell silent.
The previously lively barrage of comments also stopped.
The audience: "…"
: "Damn it, I just came out of there! MHY, you're not human!!!"
: "Yes, the great hero, Ruola, she truly is a great hero of Mondstadt, boo hoo…"
: "All of us players are like this, I can't imagine how sad Master Diluc must have been when he saw this scene, and what kind of feelings he had when he added that sentence afterwards."
: "Sigh, streamer, you go on, I'm going to have a cigarette first…"
: "This wooden sign must have been put up by Amber when she said Ruola and Noelle went into the snowy mountains to save people, right? At that time, they were heroes to those they saved, and now they are heroes to all of Mondstadt!"
Chen Xiyao's mood also became low.
Damn MHY!
She looked at the naive handwriting on the wooden sign, and the drawing that couldn't even compare to her three-year-old sister's artistic skills, and felt her eyes moisten again.
"Sigh, I'm really speechless. I'm even using Master Diluc. This really is fitting, isn't it?"
Exiting the wooden sign's screen, the display suddenly showed that a new quest could be accepted, and it was a golden quest.
Chen Xiyao, who had originally started exploring the big world after finishing her quests, immediately perked up.
There was no 'Moon Mom' in China yet, and with the super large, super realistic map, it was very difficult to explore everything, so when this quest appeared, the live stream immediately erupted.
: "What? There's actually such a hidden quest here?"
: "I admit I spoke a bit loudly just now, the streamer's choice to take this path was truly brilliant!"
: "Streamer first!"
: "Forgot to turn off the gas in the Serenitea Pot, I'm off too!"
.
.
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_