Death is a pain that hurts for someone.
But for Ryu, that pain emerged again.
There was a sensation of falling—not from a bridge, but being thrown into a gravity-less tunnel, spinning among fragments of light and sound. Sora's shriek, the tinkle of glass, the roar of an engine, and then… the rustle of wind, unfamiliar bird calls, and the scent of damp earth and wild grass.
Thud.
Pain hit him brutally, far more real and personal than the crushing impact of metal. His bones creaked, his skin tore, and the warmth of flowing blood felt so distinct.
Ryu sobbed, air trapped in his aching lungs. He opened his eyes—the same blue eyes—and what he saw was not the polluted city skyline, but a clear blue sky adorned with bright white clouds, and the edges of lush green leaves.
'Where…?'
He tried to move, but his entire body screamed. He was lying on a steep slope, on rocky ground slippery with moss and his own blood. His clothes—strange attire not from the world of his birth—were already tattered. In the distance, the gentle gurgle of water could be heard.
Qingce Village. The name surfaced in his head suddenly, like an intrinsic, implanted memory. But this was impossible. This was the name of a village in the Liyue region, in the world of Genshin Impact. The game world he had just left.
With great effort, Ryu tried to push himself up to sit. Dizziness and nausea assaulted him. He looked down. On his right wrist, his black smartwatch was gone. In its place was a wide, bleeding wound.
His heartbeat… he could feel it, beating fast and irregular, familiar yet strange because it was the first time he could feel a racing heart without side effects.
"My arrhythmia… it's gone?"
Suddenly, the ground beneath his weak feet gave way. Small stones and gravel scattered. Ryu had no strength to hold on. He slipped, his body falling again, tumbling down the sharp cliff slope. Rocks tore his skin, small branches hit him. He screamed, but his voice was lost in the rush of wind.
Finally, his fall stopped on a smaller, gentler flatland, near a small stream. His breathing was ragged, each inhale felt like a knife in his ribs.
His vision began to blur. Blood flowed from wounds on his head and shoulder, soaking the reddish-brown earth.
'Is this… my second death?' he thought bitterly.
'What's the point of being brought here only to die again?'
The world around him began to fade. The sound of the stream and bird calls grew softer. On the brink of his fading consciousness, he heard the sound of swift, light footsteps approaching from behind the bushes.
"Is someone there?"
The voice was female, young, and full of concern.
Before Ryu could process it, a woman was already kneeling beside him. He shifted his blurring gaze towards her.
She had short, deep blue hair, like the color of the deep sea at night. The cut was simple, following her jawline. Her eyes were a sharp amber, but currently filled with worry.
She wore practical Liyue-style clothing—a short-sleeved blouse with folded sleeves, long pants, and sturdy boots—all in dark blue hues.
"Oh no, his wounds are severe!" the woman muttered, her clean hands quickly examining the wounds on Ryu's body. Her touch was skilled, yet trembled slightly. "How could he fall from up there? Wait here, don't move!"
'Can't move… even if I wanted to…' Ryu thought in the fog of his mind.
The dark-blue-haired woman stood and whistled sharply. Moments later, another, heavier set of footsteps approached. A middle-aged man with a sturdy build appeared carrying an emergency stretcher made of wood and cloth.
"Yelan, you found someone?" the man asked in a deep voice.
"Yes, Uncle Luo! Quickly, help me take him to Granny Ruoxin! He's lost a lot of blood and his breathing is irregular!"
Carefully but efficiently, Yelan and Uncle Luo lifted Ryu's limp body onto the stretcher. Every movement felt torturous to Ryu, but he no longer had the energy to complain. He could only stare at the blue sky starting to be obscured by the shadows of tree leaves as they carried him along a path.
"He's… a male," whispered Uncle Luo with a strange tone, his low voice full of bewilderment and… caution?
"I know," Yelan answered shortly, her focus still on her patient. "But he's injured. First rule: help those in need, regardless of… gender."
The journey felt long. Ryu drifted in and out of consciousness, hearing the rustle of leaves, fragmented conversations, and feeling strange gazes from some villagers they passed.
Those gazes weren't hostile, but more like a deep bewilderment, as if they were seeing something very rare and foreign.
Finally, they arrived at a house larger than most others in the village, made of sturdy wood and bricks, with a front yard planted with various fragrant herbs. This was the clinic and home of Granny Ruoxin, the village healer and elder.
The door opened before they knocked. An elderly woman with neatly tied white hair, eyes as sharp as a hawk's, and a still-upright posture stood in the doorway. Her eyes immediately fixed on Ryu on the stretcher.
"Take him to the back room, near the fireplace," commanded Granny Ruoxin, her voice authoritative yet calm.
"Yelan, prepare clean water, gauze, and my blood-staunching herbs. Luo, guard the front door. Inform anyone who asks that we are treating a… very ill traveler."
"Understood, Granny Ruoxin."
Ryu was carried into the warm house, filled with the mixed aroma of various herbs, wood, and a hint of incense. He was placed on a simple cotton-padded bed near a small, lit fireplace. The fire gave him a warmth that seeped into his bones.
Granny Ruoxin immediately took over. Her wrinkled yet deft fingers checked the pulse on Ryu's neck. Her eyebrows immediately furrowed.
"His heartbeat… somewhat stable. But not his wounds." she murmured. "Yelan, after cleaning the wounds, give him three drops of the 'Orange Elixir' on his tongue. It will stabilize his heart temporarily."
"But Granny Ruoxin, the 'Orange Elixir' is rare and…"
"Do it. A life is more valuable."
Yelan nodded obediently.
The treatment process was a blur to Ryu. He felt warm cloths cleaning his wounds, herbal liquids that stung but then soothed, and bandages tightly wrapped. Then, a drop of thick, bitter liquid was placed on his tongue, which immediately spread a gentle warmth throughout his chest, making his wild heartbeat slowly begin to calm, as if controlled by an external force.
After everything was done, Granny Ruoxin sat on a wooden chair by the bed, looking at Ryu who had fainted but whose breathing was now more regular.
"He is not from here," Granny Ruoxin said suddenly, not as a question.
"His clothes are strange, and… he's male," added Yelan, sitting on the floor near the fireplace, her face tired but curious.
"Yes. Male." Granny Ruoxin sighed, a shadow of concern crossing her face. "Yelan, you know the unwritten rule in Teyvat, especially in Liyue and rural areas like ours."
Yelan bowed her head. "Of course I know. 'Males are rare buds that must be protected.' Because their numbers are far fewer since… the ancient event. They are considered more physically and elementally vulnerable. Many live in large cities like Liyue Harbor under the protection of clan heads or the Qixing, surrounded by guards, or live hidden. A young male, alone, severely injured on a cliff… this is very unusual. Dangerous, even."
"Exactly," said Granny Ruoxin. "If the villagers or—worse—bandits or spies from other regions learn that there is an unprotected young male here, it will attract trouble. Not just for him, but for all of Qingce Village."
She gazed at Ryu's pale face, his young and foreign features. "He has blue eyes. Rare. And there's… a strange aura about him. As if he is not entirely from this world."
"What should we do, Granny Ruoxin?"
"We care for him until he wakes. Then, we must find out his origins and return him to a safe place, under proper protection. Meanwhile, keep his presence a secret. Only the three of us—you, me, and Luo—know. Tell the others he is a very ill female traveler who needs absolute quiet."
"I understand."
"And Yelan," added Granny Ruoxin, her voice softer, "You did the right thing by saving him. The principle of humanity must remain above all. But now, we must also protect him from the consequences of our world, which is… different."
Night fell. Ryu lay unconscious, unaware that the world of Teyvat he had entered was not the Teyvat he knew from his smartphone screen.
In this world, the gender balance had shifted dramatically since a mysterious event in the distant past. Males had become a rare and protected minority—often to the extent of restricting their freedom. A male wandering alone was an anomaly, a magnet for danger and intrigue.
In Ryu's restless dreams, he still saw golden stars falling from the sky, heard Sora's voice, and felt the car crash. Yet, beneath all that, there was the gurgle of the Qingce stream, the scent of Granny Ruoxin's herbs, and the curious gleam in Yelan's eyes.
His journey in Teyvat had almost ended before it began. Now, under the secret protection of an old healer's house, his second life began to pulse.
But when he finally opens his eyes later, he will find that surviving in this new world requires more than just knowledge of artifacts and character rotations. He must understand unfamiliar social rules, hide his true identity, and find his place in a world where his very existence is a valuable—and dangerous—secret.
Outside the window, the moon of Teyvat hung high, illuminating the quiet village that now held a new secret behind the walls of Granny Ruoxin's clinic. A secret named Ryu, a young man from another world, who had unwittingly fallen into the vortex of a world vastly different from anything he had ever imagined.