[Genshin Impact] A world where only travelers are alone

The scene in my memory reappears before my eyes, as clear as if I had seen it yesterday.

——In fact, I saw him just yesterday.

The dreams that have been bothering Zhongli recently are all about this, a story he almost thought he had forgotten.

He did not answer Xun Ming, just as Morax did not answer the girl who had the same appearance as Xun Ming a thousand years ago. However, the demon god at that time was not good at speaking, and finally chose to answer with actions.

He left with the girl and re-opened a place to take in the displaced people. The girl became the tribe's priest as the god's first believer.

But Zhongli doesn’t want to do that now.

He gently but unyieldingly pulled away Xun Ming's hand that was holding his sleeve.

"First, sir?"

She didn't seem to expect to be rejected and looked up at him blankly.

Zhongli's fingertips moved, this action was completely subconscious. In fact, he himself had not yet figured out what he was going to do.

This shouldn't be the case. My mind is too involved, he thought.

But before he could really figure out what to do next, the black fog around him dissipated.

Walnut was holding the missing box in one hand and a pitch-black monster in the other, walking over the gate. "Oh, what a coincidence that you're here too! Come and see what I caught—"

She stopped talking abruptly, obviously having noticed the strange atmosphere.

Xun Ming lowered his head hurriedly, not wanting her to see the remaining tear marks on his face.

It's just that the marks on the face are blocked, and the clues on the body cannot be removed in a short time.

It was summer now, and she was wearing Chen Yugu's most fashionable style. The green skirt barely covered her knees, and the marks on her calves from previous bumps were completely exposed, which immediately caught Hu Tao's attention.

Her eyes were too passionate, and Xun Ming pulled at the hem of his skirt uncomfortably.

Walnut came back to his senses, eyebrows raised: "What happened? How did you get the wound on your body? Are there other monsters here?"

Without waiting for Xun Ming to reply, she turned to Zhongli angrily and said, "Guest, guest, were you with Miss Xun Ming just now? Why didn't you protect her?"

Putting aside the fact that Xun Ming himself is lovable enough, it is their duty to protect every customer who comes to Wangsheng Hall for help. As a result, someone has been injured under their noses. If this gets out, how will Wangsheng Hall still have face?
The Wangsheng Hall is already deserted. If it continues like this, I'm afraid it will start to become covered with cobwebs!

Hu Tao was so angry that her teeth were itching, and she swore that after Xun Ming told her who hurt her, she would teach those bad guys a lesson!
Xun Ming couldn't stand her enthusiasm and lowered the gauze curtain on his hat. After he was completely covered, he spoke softly, "Don't be angry, Master Hu. I bumped into these things because I was afraid to run around. I just met Mr. Zhongli. He took good care of me. Don't blame him."

Through the veil, her voice sounded hazy, with an indescribable meaning.

Hu Tao couldn't figure it out, but Zhong Li glanced at her calmly.

Since the parties involved had said so, Hu Tao couldn't make a fuss about it anymore and could only let it go.

She thought about it and simply took out what she had just found.

Of course, the box was given to Xun Ming, and the monster was handed over to Zhongli, who was always knowledgeable.

"Keqing, take a look, what on earth is this?"

In fact, there was no need for Zhongli to come and see. After all, the monster was still trying to escape with its fangs and claws, and it was spitting out the black mist that the three people were familiar with from its mouth and trying to repeat the same trick.

Unfortunately, the previous layout had exhausted its strength. It spit out several times with great effort, but only a small ball of black mist came out.

Zhongli then explained the function of the black fog: "It blocks the five senses and creates illusions."

Blocking the five senses was easy to understand, after all, they had just experienced it, but creating illusions...

Hu Tao didn't think that Zhongli would say something irrelevant. Since he mentioned the effect of the black fog, it must have happened before.

Her eyes moved between Xun Ming and Zhong Li, finally landing on the former.

Before coming to find the two people, she wandered around here for a while, but she didn't hear the voice shouting "Morax" that Xun Ming mentioned before.

Could it be that Xun Ming was hallucinating?
She looked at Zhongli again, her eyes curious.

Zhongli nodded: "The hallucinations caused by the black fog mostly come from oneself. Different people see different things. If you pursue something persistently, you may see it in the hallucination."

Xun Ming seemed to be thinking about something and didn't say anything.

Hu Tao didn't plan to dig deeper into what she was thinking. Seeing that Zhongli had finished speaking, she quickly dealt with this restless monster.

But she didn't expect that this simple thing would actually trigger a series of unexpected situations.

When the sound of wood breaking rang out beside his ears, Zhongli was the first to look up.

Xun Ming is the second one.

Her perception seemed to be far beyond that of ordinary people. Before Hu Tao looked back in confusion because of Zhong Li's sudden action, she had already pulled Hu Tao and Zhong Li out.

The house behind him collapsed.

Hu Tao stared at the scene in front of her in a daze. Her legs moved faster than her brain and she subconsciously started to run wildly. Xun Ming was the one being dragged by her and even tripped over his own feet because he couldn't keep up with her speed.

"Well!"

She fell heavily to the ground.

The broken wood from the eaves fell down, but just before it landed on her, a flash of golden light appeared before her eyes, and a jade shield unfolded around the three of them, blocking the flying debris.

When everything calmed down and the flying dust settled, Xun Ming, with tears in his eyes, had already been hugged by Hu Tao.

Hu Tao patted his chest in fear: "I was so scared! You pulled me to run like this, I forgot Ke Qing had this trick. I almost thought you were really going to get hit!"

Xun Ming still had a bit of shock in his eyes. Hearing this, he stupidly looked up at the only guy still standing there, and uttered a few words with his lips moving: "Thank you, sir..."

Zhongli shook his head, indicating that she shouldn't worry about it.

Hu Tao wanted to help her up, but Xun Ming had already bruised his leg from running around, and now he was bleeding from the fall, so his legs were shaking so badly that he could barely stand.

Seeing this, Hu Tao bent down and tried to carry her on her back, but she was stopped by Zhongli just as she moved. The man said, "The hall master just spent some time to deal with the monsters, so you should take a rest for a while. I will take care of Miss Xun Ming."

He leaned over and picked the man up easily.

Although she really wanted to refute his statement that he "took some effort", after all, it was easy for her to deal with such low-level monsters, but Walnut always felt that it was better not to say anything at this time.

She scratched her head, puzzled, but never mind, she was happy to have some free time anyway.

The monster was caught and the old house collapsed. From a certain perspective, this commission was successfully completed. At Walnut's suggestion, the three of them went directly back to the Hall of Rebirth.

At this moment, Xun Ming was sitting on a mahogany chair in the Wangsheng Hall that was specially used to entertain guests, watching Zhongli apply medicine to the wound on her knee without blinking.

Hu Tao was watching from the side, and seemed to be very idle because he had nothing to do, but his mouth was not idle at all: "In short, since everything is just our speculation and there is no actual evidence, if you still hear that voice in the future, Miss Xun Ming, please remember to come back to us. Our Wangsheng Hall always provides after-sales service!"

Xun Ming finally stopped looking at Zhong Li and smiled softly at her: "Thank you, Master Hu, I will pay attention."

Since they were only superficial injuries, they didn't take long to treat. After a while, Xun Ming was able to move around freely again.

She held the box, took off the jade bracelet on her hand and handed it to Hu Tao.

"What is this?" asked Walnut.

"It's a reward." Xun Ming smiled embarrassedly, "I don't have Mora with me, so I have to use this thing as a reward."

The jade bracelet was of very beautiful quality. Even though Hu Tao didn't know much about this kind of thing, she could tell that it was very expensive. And Zhongli's next words further confirmed her guess.

Zhongli took the bracelet from her hand and looked at it: "The water quality of this bracelet is very good. If I sell it in Xiguju, it will cost at least 200,000 Mora."

"Two hundred thousand Mora!?" Walnut was stunned and hurriedly pushed the bracelet back, "No, no, no! You'd better take it back! I can't afford such a valuable thing!"

Xun Ming did not answer. "Master Hu, you are joking. Before Prince Yan created the world's first Mora as a medium of exchange, barter was the basis of transactions. It is only natural that I am willing to entrust you with my bracelet. You don't have to refuse."

What she said was so righteous that Hu Tao couldn't find any reason to refuse. She just stood there with a frown on her face, feeling awkward.

In the end, Zhongli stepped forward and made the decision: "Miss Xun Ming, you should take back the bracelet. Just consider it as compensation from Wangsheng Hall for your injuries during this commission. The original commission fee will be waived."

Hu Tao suddenly had an epiphany and slapped his head: "Good idea! Let's do it!"

So the bracelet went around and around and ended up back in Xun Ming's hands.

She put it on reluctantly: "I really can't win the argument with you two alone, so I can only accept it. Thank you, Master Hu."

Walnut waved his hands majestically.

Xun Ming picked up the box on the table and prepared to go back, but before leaving, Hu Tao asked her curiously what was in the box.

"This," Xun Ming thought for a moment, "when I accidentally knocked the box to the ground, that was the first time I knew what was inside. If I'm not mistaken, it should be a gold necklace."

"Gold...face chain?" Zhongli's breathing paused.

Although he quickly returned to normal, this momentary loss of composure still made both Xun Ming and Hu Tao look at him sideways.

Zhongli whispered, "Could Miss Xun Ming please open the box and let me see it?"

Of course, Xun Ming would not be stingy with such a small matter. He immediately opened the box and revealed the contents to the two of them.

The gold chain is made of fine craftsmanship, with long tassels hanging down, occasionally dotted with brightly colored turquoise. Just a glance at it makes you feel that it is extremely valuable. I don’t know which famous artist made it.

*
"You're back!"

A girl in white priest clothes came out from the temple, with a smile of surprise on her face, but when she saw that he was covered in blood, she turned into panic.

She walked up to him quickly and held his hand. Tears fell as she looked at the bloody scar on his chest caused by the sharp blade. "How did you get hurt? Before we left, didn't you say that the guy we were going to deal with this time was not strong and could be dealt with quickly, and that you didn't need me to accompany you?"

Morax felt guilty for a rare moment and looked away.

All I can say is that a demon is still a demon after all. Even a small demon will still fight for his life when death comes. This time he was careless and failed to notice what that guy did behind his back.

The girl was still crying, as if she was feeling sorry for the injuries he had suffered during this expedition.

Morax's gaze drifted back quietly and fell on her face.

I have to say, she cried really beautifully. Except for the occasional sob, it was almost silent. Only big tears rolled down from her eyes and fell to the ground with a plop.

The corners of the eyes and the tip of the nose are all red, which makes people think of something soft at first glance, like the pink pads of a cat.

There was just one thing that made Morax very dissatisfied.

His eyes fell on the face chain the girl used to decorate her face.

This was the one that had been broken because of his rudeness. The girl had picked it up at some point, repaired it with her clumsy craftsmanship, and put it on again.

She used to be a priest of that tribe, responsible for all matters concerning worshiping the gods. This noodle chain was the only thing the poor tribe could afford, and it even became a token of exchange between priests.

As beings who may face the gods directly, priests cannot be disrespectful in decoration, and can only maintain their only bit of decency in this way.

Perhaps because of this, the girl would bring this with her every time she saw him. Even though it was very worn and tattered, it was still the most valuable thing on her.

But Morax didn't like it very much. After all, in a sense, this was something that belonged to another demon god, but this was just his idea. After all, this was just the most common face chain, and the priests in every tribe used this style.

He didn't know how to describe his inner feelings, and was afraid that the girl would find it strange if he told her, so he simply said evasively: "Take this off, the cracks on it are ugly."

It is not obvious from a distance, but it is obvious when you look closely and many cracks really affect the appearance.

As expected, the girl had no objection. She said "sorry" and then obediently took off the noodle chain and put it aside.

But Morax took the gold chain and threw it away casually the next second: "You don't need to use this anymore. There's no need to keep it."

He would personally build a better one for her.

And it's not just the face chain. As a priestess of the God of Precious Gold, she should be covered in gorgeous gold jewelry made by him.

(End of this chapter)