Hiding inside the Mondstadt Department Store, everyone worried about the storm outside, unsure when it would end, and idled away their time.
Shao Yun sat beside Noelle, not knowing what to do. After comforting her, all that was left was to wait for Lumine to drive away the giant dragon.
Suddenly, his vision blurred slightly. He pulled up his attribute panel and saw that his Core HP was almost depleted; he was now hallucinating from hunger.
Thankfully, he was in the Mondstadt Department Store; it would have been troublesome if he were in With Wind Comes Glory.
Looking at the goods on the nearby shelf, he raised his hand to signal the saleswoman, Blanche.
"Um, boss?"
"Ah? What is it?" Blanche heard someone call her, quickly walked over, and asked Shao Yun what he needed.
"Do you have any food for sale?" Shao Yun smiled innocently at Blanche, rubbing his empty stomach.
As soon as he spoke, everyone stared at Shao Yun in shock, as if to say, 'At a time like this, you're still thinking about eating?'
Blanche was also taken aback, not expecting Shao Yun to ask if she had food for sale.
"Food?" Blanche pursed her lips slightly, gently cupping her chin with her hand, quickly recalling the items in the store.
"Yes, preferably something ready to eat. I'm a bit hungry." The roasted fish he ate by the sea earlier only restored a small amount of stats. Even with a God's Eye reducing his own consumption, it wasn't enough after all that commotion. Now he felt ravenous.
"Customer, our store has many things, but ready-to-eat items, well, there aren't many." Blanche looked apologetically at Shao Yun.
"There are plenty of cooking ingredients, alcohol, and seasonings, though. Good Hunter did send a batch of roasted round bread, but it sold out."
Most of what the Mondstadt Department Store sold were raw ingredients. Some things could be eaten raw, like fruit.
Shao Yun's gaze fell on the bamboo baskets of apples and sunset fruit piled in the corner.
apple: Restores a small amount of Core HP and Core Stamina.
sunset fruit: Restores a small amount of Core HP and a moderate amount of Core Stamina.
"What about those fruits?" He pointed casually to the baskets of fruit.
Blanche suddenly realized. How could she have forgotten about these?
"Oh, customer, I forgot until you mentioned it. We still have some fruits."
She walked to the fruit baskets and picked out two apples that looked good.
"How much are these two apples?"
"Ten mora each," Blanche said. "They should be fifty mora each, but considering how long that basket of apples has been here, let's just count it as cost price."
After hearing the price, Shao Yun no longer wanted to complain about why Teyvat's prices were so high and inflation was severe.
But then again, mora? Hmm, did he have mora?
He was currently using the red dead redemption character template, and it seemed he only had money from the red dead redemption world in his pocket. Perhaps the gold bars he found could be settled, but spending gold bars? Could gold bars be used in Teyvat? He hadn't seen them in the game.
"System, can you check how much mora I have?"
"Querying…"
Current mora: 0
…
Transmigrating to Genshin Impact and becoming a pauper, I'm even worse off than Klee; at least she has fifty mora. My economic status is comparable to the Four Archons.
He checked his attribute panel. Although his Core HP was empty, his Outer HP was not. He was, at most, in a weakened state; he wouldn't die.
Knowing he wouldn't die was enough. Shao Yun sighed. Just as he was about to say never mind, the system popped up another notification.
Current Host Currency: $42187.26; 0 mora.
Calculating currency exchange rate.
Exchange Rate: 1:50000.
A sudden pleasant surprise! He could exchange money, excellent. Why was his money in such odd, specific amounts? Oh, he remembered, this was his money from red dead redemption. When he adopted the character's template, the money came along too.
One dollar for fifty thousand mora.
Looking at his $42187.26, Shao Yun did some mental math.
This meant he had over two billion. In other words, he became a billionaire without doing any tasks first.
He went from a pauper in Teyvat to a Teyvat billionaire in one fell swoop. Money really was just a number.
Having struck it rich, he suppressed his inner joy. Shao Yun first exchanged fifty thousand mora to quickly buy the apples; he was starving.
"Converting…"
"Conversion complete."
Shao Yun reached into his eastern legend backpack again and pulled out twenty mora. The golden mora wasn't as large as he imagined; it was an ordinary size. He just wondered about the material—was it gold?
His backpack was like a four-dimensional pocket; it could hold anything and easily carry a huge amount of stuff, including tens of thousands of mora. But it was hard to imagine how people in Teyvat carried thousands of mora when they went out. Wasn't it heavy?
Never mind the strange feeling that Teyvat residents were all strongmen; he needed to give the money to Blanche first, as he was starving.
"Here."
He handed Blanche twenty mora and took two apples.
Returning to Noelle's side, he looked at the young girl, then at the apples in his hand.
"Here, these are for you. You've been busy for so long, have something to eat." Shao Yun put an apple into Noelle's hand. "Don't be shy, just eat it."
He gave Noelle no chance to refuse, then took large bites of his own apple.
Noelle looked at Shao Yun, then at the apple in her hand, and opened her cherry-red mouth to eat.
The other people taking refuge in the Mondstadt Department Store saw Shao Yun so leisurely, even having the mood to buy things, and also took out mora to shop.
Since they couldn't do anything else, they might as well buy what they needed for home now.
Outside, the storm raged, but inside the Mondstadt Department Store, it was business as usual, with everyone buying ingredients for cooking and seasonings.
"Aren't you worried?" Noelle asked Shao Yun, her face full of concern, after finishing her apple.
"What good is worrying? Better to rest well," Shao Yun swallowed the apple in his mouth, looking at the still anxious Noelle. "Don't worry, I feel this storm will pass quickly, and no one will get hurt."
"How can you be so sure?" Noelle was very skeptical. How could such a big storm not cause any harm?
Shao Yun pointed to his head, smiling as he replied, "A hunch."
Although Dvalin had temporarily lost himself due to the Abyss's curse, he was essentially a familiar of the Anemo Archon, the Dvalin, an existence that protected Mondstadt. How could he possibly kill the residents within Mondstadt City?
Although Noelle didn't believe him, she couldn't go outside now, so she could only pray inwardly for the storm to disappear quickly.
Shao Yun watched Noelle close her eyes and pray, saying nothing. He lowered his head, preparing to take a nap, and dozed off for a while.
After all, resting could reduce the consumption of Core stats.
…
"Mr. Shao Yun, the storm outside seems to be weakening." Noelle nudged Shao Yun's shoulder, waking him up.
"Huh?" Shao Yun opened his eyes, shaking his still somewhat dizzy head. "Has the storm ended?"
He stood up from the chair and followed the others out of the Mondstadt Department Store.
Although the storm in Mondstadt City hadn't stopped, it was no longer as violent as before. The sky was still gray, and gusts of wind still blew through the city.
However, there was some good news: although the city had been attacked, most of the houses were fine.
"No!"
A mournful cry erupted, and a figure came tumbling and scrambling past them.
"Mr. Timaeus, you… Oh, I see."
Noelle looked at the alchemy shop next to the Mondstadt Department Store and understood why Timaeus was so desperate.
The alchemy shop's awning was gone, the alchemy table had been blown into the fountain, and the potion cabinet had completely fallen apart. The potion bottles were shattered into glass shards, and the potions inside spilled onto the ground, all mixed together, making recovery impossible. All the potions were completely ruined.
Timaeus knelt in despair before the ruined alchemy shop; all his potions were gone.
Noelle walked to Timaeus's side and patted his shoulder.
"Mr. Timaeus, I'll help you clean up."
"Thank you, Miss Noelle, boohoohoo…" Timaeus was on the verge of tears. He regretted not going to the shelter earlier.
Shao Yun grabbed him by the back of his collar and "gently" patted his shoulder, comforting him: "Don't be so dejected. If your potions are gone, just make more. If you die, no potion can bring you back."
Timaeus was startled, but Shao Yun's pat made him stumble, and his body involuntarily moved forward.
"Thank you… for your comfort, sir."
Shao Yun and Noelle helped Timaeus clean up the alchemy shop, which was close to becoming a ruin.
Noelle retrieved the crafting bench from the fountain, while Shao Yun cleared the debris and disposed of the waste residue and liquids.
It took some time, but they finished the job.
Now, the alchemy shop had no awning and no potions, with only the crafting bench standing there all by itself.
Timaeus wore a bitter expression and thanked Noelle and Shao Yun.
"Thank you, Miss Noelle. Without you, I wouldn't know how to get this crafting bench out of the fountain." Timaeus was extremely grateful, grasping Noelle's hand and shaking it vigorously.
"You're welcome, it's only right," Noelle awkwardly pulled her hand away.
Timaeus turned to look at the unfamiliar Shao Yun, his emotions not as fervent as they were for Noelle. He looked up at the man with a slight embarrassment.
"My name is Shao Yun, no need to be so polite." Shao Yun smiled, simply shaking his hand.
"Thank you, Mr. Shao Yun. If you ever have any alchemy needs in the future, just come here," Timaeus said with a hint of excitement.
"I'll let you know if I need anything in the future." He wiped his hands, not forgetting to tease before leaving: "Remember to get a sturdier cabinet and potion bottles, otherwise they'll shatter with a gust of wind, haha."
After helping at the alchemy shop, Noelle began to help out elsewhere. Shao Yun originally wanted to leave, but his task had not updated.
His current task was still to follow Noelle.
So, Shao Yun followed Noelle, rushing around, helping the affected residents everywhere.