238: Slender Man – The Massacre of the Extraordinary Realms

"So, the matter was resolved before it even reached Liyue Harbor?"

Ningguang looked at the report in his hand and asked Yelan.

They were in a tea room atop the Jade Chamber. Ningguang was drinking tea with Keqing when Yelan brought news of the situation's resolution.

"It's resolved, and very quickly," Yelan said. "With Lumine and the others taking action, along with the Five Great Yakshas, the Hexenzirkel, and even the Lord Anemo Archon and the Dragon of the East Wind—the Dragon of the East Wind Wind—reportedly intervening."

Keqing took a sip of tea unhurriedly. "The speed is to be expected; if such a great disaster dragged on, all of Liyue would likely suffer. Besides, since it was a commotion caused by my comrade, I'm afraid he had already prepared a back-up plan!" As he spoke, Keqing actually started laughing.

Yelan couldn't bring himself to laugh. A back-up plan? Did he... did he really leave one?

If the command spells counted, then that should be considered a back-up plan.

Ningguang's phoenix-like eyes lowered slightly. "Regardless of whether a back-up plan was left, this matter did break out in Liyue. The two Sovereigns intended to clear the Abyss pollution and guide the souls of Enkanomiya, and now, thanks to the assistance of many parties, this matter is concluded. Liyue should invite all those who helped to express our gratitude."

“Yelan, please have someone draft invitations to be sent to the Church of Favonius in Mondstadt. Is Ms. Alice currently in Liyue?”

“Yes, she is with her daughter. The little girl is very lively, just like her mother.”

“Then please invite them as well. As for the WangSheng Funeral Parlor... is that Mr. Zhongli truly...”

“Yes, he has no intention of hiding it himself. Thinking back, there were already signs during the subjugation of Azhdaha, but Huo Xi's prominence was so great that it ended up covering it up.”

“Then... no, a great sage hides in the city. Since the Sovereign acts this way, he must have his reasons. Hereafter, Yuheng, change into casual clothes and accompany me to the WangSheng Funeral Parlor.”

“It shall be so.” Keqing pulled out a Sovereign doll and a Giant Spider doll from behind him—both were limited editions. He looked from one to the other: “Now that I think about it, the two of them always loved to sit together and drink tea; it turns out they knew each other all along. Eh?”

Keqing looked at Yelan again: “By the way, where did my comrade run off to? He caused such a big scene but didn't even come to see us.”

Yelan shrugged and said with a smile: “He'll come, but he can't attend to us for the time being.”

“After he fixed The Chasm, he was snatched away by Lumine and the others. They even brought a forged commission for me to stamp, saying they wanted to discipline him.”

“Think about it, a monster even more powerful than Osial—how much effort did they have to put in to settle it?”

“There's no need to wonder; Lumine's group is surely holding a denunciation meeting for Huo Xi right now.”

Keqing wanted to say something, but eventually sighed: “I hope he's alright.”

...“You mustn't be hurt! Lumine! Wake up!” Paimon lay on Lumine's body, trying hard to shake him, but no matter how he called, Lumine didn't move at all.

Tears the size of beans fell from the corners of his eyes, and Paimon cried so hard his words were incoherent: “Lumine, did you forget we were going to keep traveling together? You... didn't you say you'd never leave Paimon alone?”

Paimon had never seen such a scene before. Usually, before Lumine and the others did anything, they would find a way to send Paimon away or have someone coax him to sleep first.

Today, Paimon was simply too curious and sneaked out, only to see this terrifying sight as soon as he arrived.

Lumine, Griseo, Clara, and for some reason, a child-sized Mobius, were all lying on the ground, their fates unknown.

But if their fates were unknown, that meant they were dead. How could Paimon endure such a shock?

Pressing hard on Lumine's chest, Paimon looked toward the door from time to time.

There stood a tall, straight figure—it was Skirk.

He still maintained a standing posture, refusing to fall, but Paimon had already checked; he no longer responded to any calls... with saliva trickling from his mouth and the light gone from his eyes, he was actually standing there like that... he must have been the first to stand in front of everyone after 'that thing' escaped from the laboratory.

He died like a hero... The corridor was pitch black now, with only green lights flashing here and there; those were the things Huo Xi insisted on adding called 'Emergency Evacuation Signs'.

However, the quiet corridor paired with the eerie green light made the Realm of a Thousand Stars even more terrifying at this moment.

Even—

"Ah——————!"

Suddenly! A sharp scream came from the distance, making Paimon shrink his neck. Weak and helpless alone, he could only huddle as much as possible behind the unconscious Lumine.

This figure usually looked after him and protected him.

And now, he was still the only harbor for the fear in his heart... In a dark room, a silver-haired girl was huddled together with a blue-haired girl.

This room was Mobius's experimental item storage room. The entrance was a glass door that they had locked from the inside. Next to the glass door was a half-height glass window with a wall about ninety centimeters high beneath it; Griseo and Noelle were hiding right here.

Outside the glass door, the corridor was pitch black, but a slight friction sound made it seem as if some slimy object was crawling.

It was Eunectes; she was currently being persecuted.

Inside the room, various jars and bottles were arranged on several walls, containing various biological organs that Mobius had collected herself after coming to Teyvat.

Hearts, lungs, brains, eyeballs—they were all soaked in eerie green formalin, rotating slowly.

One eye turned and happened to look at the two of them, creating a truly bizarre atmosphere.

Outside the room, low sobs could be heard; it was the sound of Eunectes's unwillingness after failing to levitate and being forcibly suppressed onto the ground.

Shortly after, the sobbing vanished, and Eunectes had also fallen.

“Senior... they all... everyone was...”

Noelle's shoulders trembled as he sobbed quietly, adding a touch of desolation to the already oppressive atmosphere.

Big Griseo hugged Noelle tightly in her arms, patting his trembling back with her hand.

“Noelle, they will be fine. We must be very quiet, absolutely do not—”

“Thud!”

The sudden sound of skin colliding with tempered glass made both of them stop moving; even Noelle's sobbing ceased!

The two slowly turned to look; on that front glass door, there was actually a pale palm print!

No, wait, this palm was slender and delicate, like a girl's hand?

Sure enough, that palm tried to push the door but couldn't open it, then grabbed the door handle and tried to pull it outward. As the petite body pressed closer, the two finally saw the figure clearly.

It was Hyacine.

Hyacine wanted to open the door and hide inside, but heard the clicking of the lock. This sound was very piercing in the silent corridor.

This door usually wouldn't be locked; Hyacine quickly realized that people were likely already hiding inside.

She tried hard to look inside, and sure enough, right below the low wall by the door, Griseo and Noelle were looking her way.

“Tap, tap.”

Behind her, footsteps approached from afar. Hyacine knew her movements had drawn him.

Looking at the tears in Noelle's eyes, Hyacine went silent for a moment and gave Noelle a smile.

“A hero cannot desert the battlefield!”

She was a Fire-Chasing Chrysos Heir, one of the heroes of Amphoreus; how could she lead the danger here?

Hyacine's gaze became increasingly firm; for their sake, she would lead the danger elsewhere!

But two hands reaching out from the darkness suddenly covered her mouth and grabbed her slender waist.

He came faster than imagined.

Hyacine was terrified, struggling and pleading, but was dragged bit by bit into the darkness.

That delicate wail was the proof of the Saintess of Dawn and Dusk being "Gusah-ed."

The two girls in the room could only hug each other tightly once more... How much time had passed?

How long did the delicate screams last?

How long had it been since Hyacine was dragged away?

No one knew, and no one would ever know.

But those audible pleas for mercy still made the two girls tremble, torturing their eardrums.

Finally, when everything became quiet again, the two waited for a long time before gathering the courage to peek outside.

In the middle of the corridor lay the "corpse" of Hyacine, whose eyes were vacant with tears, but whose face was tinged with gold.

She had been defeated by the Hundred-fold Special Attack; the golden hue on her face was the proof.

Because Hyacine was a Chrysos Heir, the blood in her body was golden. Thus, when she blushed, it would manifest on her skin as shimmering golden light, like a goddess descending to earth.

“Has Senior Huo Xi... already left?” Noelle asked fearfully.

Griseo looked around and didn't see anyone. He should be gone, right?

She was about to answer that way, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pair of legs standing right there, by the low wall outside the door, right next to their faces.

The legs were straight at the calves; they were a man's legs.

The two girls slowly looked up, and through the glass window on the wall, a smiling face was looking at them.

“Mitsuketa~”

...“Did you hear that sound just now?”

“I heard it. It was Big Griseo and Noelle, right?”

Inside a wardrobe, a twin-tailed girl and a blonde girl had taken off their shoes and were sitting face to face.

The twin-tailed girl wore a pair of small white cotton socks, with a red plum blossom embroidered on the cuff.

The blonde girl wore torn black stockings on one side and bubble socks on the other.

They were Hu Tao and Yakoda.

Yakoda held up her fingers and counted: “Four, then two, then one... the whole army has been wiped out.”

Hu Tao hugged her legs and suddenly looked up with an 'eh': “Why is the whole army wiped out? I didn't hear the voices of Guizhong, Clervie, and the others.”

“They ran away!” Yakoda put a hand next to her mouth: “They are inexperienced. You know Xiangling's eyes; they're like rulers! Just now, she saw Huo Xi's Hundred-fold Special Attack multiplier and realized at a glance that the four of them definitely couldn't last a single round, so she took them and fled the Realm of a Thousand Stars!”

Hu Tao was speechless, then asked in confusion after a moment: “Then why didn't the two of us run out?”

“...Ah.”

The two realized their mistake. Just as they were about to move, the wardrobe door was suddenly opened.

Their whispers had drawn Huo Xi.

Huo Xi was about to reach out and grab them, but upon closer look—whoa, landmines!

He couldn't deal with that. After thinking for a moment, he turned around and left directly.

Hu Tao lunged forward and wrapped her legs around Huo Xi's neck: “What do you mean?! Why do you turn and run the moment you see this Director?!”

“Ouch, ouch, let go!” Huo Xi patted her fleshy legs, and fearing she might fall, he could only hunch slightly and use his hands to support her small feet: “Neither of you has experienced such a big event. I was afraid you wouldn't be able to take it. You can go ask Sanzomon about the effect of her Tightening Fillet.”

“I won't accept that! That look in your eyes was clearly looking down on us!”

Just as Hu Tao finished, Yakoda also suddenly pounced over.

“Right! Sister Tao is right! The look you just gave us was full of contempt!”

“I—I didn't. I respect you both very much.”

“Do you like them big or small?”

“(Thinking rapidly) Definitely those that can be held in one hand are the best.” Huo Xi thought his answer was a masterpiece of high emotional intelligence, but he didn't expect the two girls to become even more irritable.

“Ours don't even reach that level!”

“Why do you say that so proudly?!”

“Compensate me for mental distress!”

“Compensate! This Director was also hurt!”

“I'll compensate, I'll compensate! I'll give you a few hundred million, alright?”

Noisy and bickering.

When the sun rose, Huo Xi picked up a white sock from his face and tossed it aside, then picked up a triangular piece of clothing and tossed it aside, then tossed aside a bra that had no curvature, then... After finishing all these actions, Hu Tao and Yakoda, who were resting on his arms, only moved their bodies slightly, finding a comfortable position to continue sleeping.

Huo Xi sighed, pulled out his arms, and pulled the quilt over to cover the three of them.

“I told you you wouldn't be able to endure it...”

He appropriately adjusted the two girls' sleeping positions to ensure they wouldn't roll elsewhere.

Just as he pushed Hu Tao, Hu Tao suddenly closed her eyes and frowned: “Hmm! Where are you touching?!”

Huo Xi: ?

Didn't I just push your back?