I, from the Celestial Empire, have parachuted into Teyvat.

No one understood why Ivan would suddenly ask such an unrelated question, but Abedo believed that Ivan wouldn't speak without reason, so he replied, "It's a mutated lizard solution."

"Did you retrieve it? Can I see it?"

"Oh, of course."

As Abedo spoke, he took out a glass alchemical container from his pocket. It was the same container that Abedo had taken from the logistics department before setting off that morning. At this moment, the container was filled with the liquid of the mutated lizard solution.

Ivan said nothing and turned to look at Quan Shi.

"Team, which military region do you belong to?"

Quan Shi was also taken aback for a moment before replying, "Eastern Theater Command..."

Ivan nodded. "Alright, you two. The few simple questions I asked were just to confirm your identities, and so far, it seems you've both been fine. Now, I need you to clear out everyone else in the vicinity and switch the communication channel to encrypted mode. This conversation we're about to have must be kept absolutely confidential..."

......

At 8 p.m. that day, the team members, who had been busy all day, returned to their tents to rest after having dinner to replenish their energy.

Unlike the outside world, the snow-capped mountains are home to a large number of monsters. To prevent accidents at night, four team members take turns on night watch every two hours.

The first night watch team consisted of four members from Mondstadt, one of whom was Anna, who had nearly fallen off a cliff earlier that day but was rescued by Quan Shi.

As night fell, the camp quieted down. The four night watch team members, having nothing else to do, started chatting around the campfire.

"Did you see those bodies?"

"You mean the bodies of the missing people? I saw them, it was horrific..."

"Why would they kill each other? It's really strange."

"Perhaps some irreconcilable conflict occurred while waiting for rescue. But to be honest, in a place like Longji Snow Mountain, encountering a blizzard, I wouldn't be surprised if they died for whatever reason... Now we have found the missing personnel, and the mission is half completed. I hope we can complete the remaining half as soon as possible and return. Although it has only been a day, I am already starting to miss the poultry soup from the logistics department of the headquarters."

"Speaking of accidents, Anna, it seems you almost got into trouble today, didn't you?"

As everyone chatted, the topic shifted to Anna.

Anna nodded and said, "Yes, I slipped and fell. If it weren't for Leader Jeon Seok, I might be a cold corpse lying in the valley right now. But I haven't had a chance to properly thank Leader Jeon Seok today because I was too busy."

Her companion said, "That won't do, Anna. How can you not thank us for saving your life? If you ask me, you wouldn't be too much to repay us with your body."

Amidst her companions' teasing, Anna said somewhat shyly, "What...what are you talking about?"

Your companion laughed, "Come on, Anna, everyone can see that you fell in love with Jeon Seok at first sight after he saved you today. The way you looked at him during dinner tonight... tsk tsk tsk... Oh right, Jeon Seok should still be awake in his tent right now. It would be perfect if you went over there. Are you sure you don't want to go and say goodnight to him?"

Anna lowered her head, her face flushed, hesitated for a moment, and then stood up as if she had made up her mind amidst the good-natured laughter of her companions.

"Um, I have something to take care of, I'll be leaving for a bit..."

"Haha, we know, we understand. Go ahead and get busy. The three of us will cover your shift. It's okay if you don't come back for two hours in shifts. Oh, by the way, just a reminder, Team Leader Quan Shi's tent is on the west side of the camp."

"Who said we were going to Leader Quan Shi's tent? Never mind, I'm not talking to you guys anymore..."

After saying that, Anna blushed and ran towards the west side of the camp amidst her companions' laughter.

Inside the tent, Quan Shi was organizing the mountaineering equipment when Anna's voice rang out from outside.

"Um... is Team Leader Jeon Seok here?"

"Yes, come in."

Anna lifted the curtain and walked in. Quan Shi looked up and said, "Anna? It's you. What do you need me for?"

Anna bit her lip, then bowed shyly to Quan Shi: "Um, thank you so much to the city team leader for saving me this morning. Without you, I might be dead. I was too busy during the day to properly thank you..."

Quan Shi smiled and didn't mind. While continuing to pack up his equipment, he said, "You're too kind. As the team leader, I can't just stand by and watch my team members die. You should go and rest too. We still need to find a way to get to the top of the mountain. Conserve your energy so that there won't be another accident like today."

Watching Jeon Seok's retreating figure, Anna raised an eyebrow and quickly walked towards him.

"I can't forget to repay your life-saving kindness, even if it's just helping with odd jobs... What are you doing, leader? Are you organizing your gear? Let me help you, do you need to sharpen these axe?"

As she spoke, Anna began to help Jeon Seok tidy up.

At that moment, while Jeon Seok was still facing away from her, Anna's eyes suddenly flashed with a sharp light. She reached out and picked up the camping knife that Jeon Seok had placed on the table, pointed the blade at her chest, and stabbed it down.

But the next second, a large, steel-like hand suddenly grabbed her arm, just like the hand that had pulled her from the edge of the cliff earlier that day.

Anna paused for a moment, then looked up slightly, meeting Quan Shi's somewhat chilling gaze.

"Your acting was quite good. We have a prestigious acting award called the 'Little Golden Man' where you're from. Would you be interested in applying?"

Before Anna could react, Quan Shi suddenly kicked her in the abdomen, sending her flying. Before she even landed, she was struck head-on by a longsword from the west that flew in from outside the tent.

The longsword pierced Anna's chest the instant it struck, and the next second, the golden rock elemental power shimmering on the blade erupted, instantly condensing into a large amount of rock crystals that enveloped Anna.

At that moment, the curtain was lifted, and Abedo's figure appeared at the tent entrance.

Abedo narrowed his eyes as he looked at Anna, whose movements were completely restricted by the rock crystals.

"Gotcha."

Chapter 338 Molting

Inside the entire stone camp.

A golden, translucent rock formation, taller than a person, completely enveloped and imprisoned Anna, like a giant piece of amber.

Watching this scene, Quan Shi's mind was once again filled with the closed-door, confidential online meeting he and Ivan had held that afternoon...

......

"What? Disguise?"

Looking at Jeon Seok's shocked expression on the other end of the communicator, Ivan nodded and said, "That's right, disguise. To be precise, it's not just disguise, but transformation. He has become someone who is almost exactly the same as him in appearance and body."

Hearing Ivan say this, everyone in the main tent was somewhat bewildered.

Ningguang pondered, "Mr. Ivan, are you saying that the body of Bandari, the supposed captain of the missing adventurer's team, found in the Starlight Cave, was an imposter?"

Ivan snapped his fingers: "Yes. And to be more precise, it was a monster in disguise. When Kizawa Nagahiro and I went to the Salt Land during the Culinary Competition to search for the remnants of the Salt God, we encountered a mutated Waffle Flower monster at the foot of the snow mountain that had been enhanced by alchemy. Ordinary Waffle Flower monsters can mimic plants or other inanimate objects, but the one we encountered could mimic other living things, even humans."

The story about the Salt of the Earth encountering the mutated Phantom Flower monster was naturally fabricated by Ivan. His purpose was to use an excuse to explain the existence of the mutated Phantom Flower, which can mimic humans, to everyone. After all, Ivan's information about this mutated Phantom Flower mainly came from the game plot and settings he remembered.

Anyway, since Muzawa Nagahiro isn't here, no one will doubt what he says.

Jean asked in surprise, "Enhancing a creature to cause such a massive mutation... As the acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, I have some understanding of the alchemy of the Teyvat continent, but I have never heard of any alchemy that can do this..."

Abedo paused for a moment on the other end of the communicator, then said, "The mainstream alchemy on the Teyvat continent can't do it now, but I know of a nearly lost bio-alchemy that can... Its creator came from ancient Kanria and was an alchemist known as the Gold Alchemist."

"Ancient alchemy..."

Everyone present was somewhat surprised, except for Ivan, who was familiar with the plot and was not particularly surprised.

Jean looked at Ivan with some surprise: "Did you already determine that the Bandari in the Starry Cave was a person in disguise when you heard the contents of the diary?"

Ivan shook his head slightly and said, "Not entirely. A massive upheaval is often ignited by a crucial element, and Bandari's death was that element. I didn't immediately connect Bandari with the humanoid 'Flirting Flower' at the time. Asking you to re-identify the bodies of the missing persons found in various locations was partly a gamble, as I couldn't guarantee that the real Bandari's body was among them. But it seems I was lucky. I think Bandari was actually poisoned before the time recorded in the diary, his body abandoned on the snow-capped mountains, and eventually transported outside by that teleportation force. Then the real killer controlled the mutated Flirting Flower to transform into Bandari's likeness, taking his place and using that as the starting point to create this chaos. As for the so-called Bandari's body in the cave, with the body dried out, it would be difficult to identify it without professional equipment and just by looking at the clothes. I think you only judged one of them to be Bandari based on the diary's records, the location of the body, and the cause of death, right?"

Quan Shi nodded.

Indeed, given the limited equipment and facilities they carried up the mountain, coupled with the lack of professional criminal investigators in the team, there was a high probability that they were misled by the contents of the diary and mistook another person who died from the same cause as Bandari for Bandari's body.

Having understood this, Jeon Seok asked, "But Commander Yi, what is the purpose of the person behind this chaos?"

Ivan raised an eyebrow: "The answer to this question can probably only be told to us by the person behind the scenes. Why don't you go and ask him yourselves?"

Abedo frowned slightly: "Mr. Ivan, what do you mean?"

Ivan said, “Yes. Whatever the mastermind’s purpose is, all his actions seem to be to cover up something or something in the snow mountain. Eliminating everyone who enters the snow mountain is one step in that process. It’s very possible that his influence has already infiltrated the action team. As the saying goes, one trick is enough to get by. If there really is a mutant charlatan disguised as a team member who has entered the action team, then his first step will definitely be the same as before: to create an accident or a murder to cause chaos within the action team. Then the person who caused this accident will most likely be the target you are looking for.”

Upon hearing this, Jeon Seok suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "It's her..."

......

Looking at Anna, whose expression was frozen in shock inside the amber crystal, Quan Shi said, "Half an hour ago, headquarters sent word that they found Anna, a member of the team, who was on the verge of death from poisoning, in a mountain ravine near the snow mountain. Fortunately, she was found in time and can be saved. It seems that she was switched at the first communication base station construction site."

As he spoke, Quan Shi stepped forward and tapped the outer wall of the crystal, asking with some doubt, "Is this the one Commander Yi was talking about? But from any angle, she looks like a normal human being."

Abedo pulled the longsword out of the crystal and said, "This is a change produced by a special kind of bio-alchemy combined with the characteristics of the monster itself. It is difficult to tell from its appearance."

As he spoke, Abedo took out the bottle of mutated lizard solution that he always kept on his person.

"It's quite a coincidence that this mutated lizard solution has the effect of removing the transformation of monsters, and the effect is even stronger after the mutated lizard solution. I never thought that the alchemical materials that I originally just wanted to take down the mountain for research would suddenly come in handy here."

After speaking, Abedo poured a small portion of the solution from the top of the rock crystal. Then, Abedo covered the rock crystal with his palm, and the rock elemental energy flickered. The rock crystal then melted back into rock elemental energy and dissipated into the air. The mutated lizard solution also splashed onto Anna's head as the rock crystal disappeared.

Like an ordinary person being doused with sulfuric acid, a layer of white smoke instantly rose from Anna's entire body, and Anna lay on the ground, writhing and howling.

As the smoke from the mutated lizard's body burned by the solution grew thicker, Anna's skin, like a shed snakeskin, began to peel away as her body twisted, revealing her true face beneath the mask.

Chapter 339 Transporting the Corpse Down the Mountain

There is an ancient saying: "a beautiful woman with a painted skin."

However, Quan Shi can guarantee that the true face beneath this "painted skin" is definitely not beautiful.

Unlike the common liar plants found in Teyvat, this is a large monster that is entirely gray, resembles a Venus flytrap from Blue Star, but is over a meter tall.

The burning of the mutated lizard solution continued. The large "man-eating flower," now revealing its true form, opened its mouth wide, which was covered with countless serrated teeth. It emitted a nauseating stench, and the howl it emitted gradually changed from a female voice to an extremely shrill one.

Quan Shi instinctively covered his ears and mouth and nose. Abedo, standing to the side, frowned slightly. Then he raised his longsword and severed the corolla of the man-eating flower, ending its life.

"This thing is really weird..."

Quan Shi waved his hand and fanned himself, dispelling the stench emanating from the mouth of the charlatan.

Looking at the corpse of the con artist, Abedo suddenly raised an eyebrow.

Something's not right.

Quan Shi asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

"Something's wrong with the body; it hasn't disappeared."

On the continent of Teyvat, when monsters die, their corpses dissipate into particles within a short time. However, this Deceitful Flower's corpse is clearly different. At this moment, its two severed pieces lie on the ground, showing no signs of dissipating.

Quan Shi has been in Teyvat for quite some time now, having fought against various monsters there. He naturally knows some of the characteristics of monsters. He hadn't been paying attention to them earlier, but now, after Abedo's reminder, he has noticed this point and is slightly surprised.

Are there any monsters in Teyvat whose corpses don't dissipate after they die?

Abedo shook his head: "It never happened. Teyvat itself is a cycle of elemental power, and the disappearance of monster corpses is simply returning to this cycle, but now..."

Just as Abedo and Quan Shi were examining the mutated Deceitful Flower corpse before them, a large number of footsteps were heard outside the tent. Then the curtain was lifted, and several night watch team members rushed in.

"Team Leader Jeon Seok! Team Leader Jeon Seok! We just heard screams over here, has something happened?"