"It's been a long time since I've felt this kind of atmosphere, it really makes me nostalgic... Back then, I was quite the heartthrob, hehe..."
Lu Ze quietly watched the lake. A few ducks were paddling on its surface, their cheerful movements making one think of the past, how they were also so cheerful, living in happiness every day, residing in St. Freya...
His hands slowly found their way to the guitar. His right hand rested on the strings, ready to compose himself before beginning to sing.
"If skyscrapers were to collapse,"
"Then don't cling to the cliff edge,"
"Goodbye is merely an expression,"
"Don't be afraid."
...
"In dreams, mirages and rosy clouds,"
"Outside dreams, she transforms into her true form,"
"Pavilions on the sea, the moon, flowers in the mirror,"
"In the end, who loves whom, hates whom, fears whom?"
...
The song ended. Lu Ze sat by the lake, his emotions unsettled. This song reminded him of everyone from Honkai Impact 3rd. However, he was in Teyvat now. If he worked hard, he should be able to bring everyone from Honkai Impact 3rd over. Then, he could enjoy a world without Honkai.
With this thought, his heart was filled with renewed vigor. He decided to take a nap. Was he not supposed to be motivated? Come on, it was night already. Working overtime was impossible, absolutely impossible in this life.
He had never worked overtime when he was with Schicksal, let alone here. There was no profit to be made, why would he work?
Returning to his shop, he lay down and slept, his mood light and cheerful.
All bad moods were unrelated to him.
After sleeping, he woke up feeling a bit lost in the morning. All the drive from last night had vanished. Now, all he wanted was a good sleep. But alas, someone was knocking at his door. He couldn't just ignore it, they were customers, after all.
"Coming, coming! Just a moment, I'll be right out."
After a few perfunctory words, Lu Ze quickly tidied himself up, washing his face thoroughly before opening the door and turning on the lights.
"What can I get for you gentlemen?"
The visitors were Zhongli and Hu Tao. These two had rushed all the way here since yesterday afternoon, just to get an explanation from the boss. Zhongli looked almost exhausted, though that might have been an act.
After all, he was a god, how could he possibly feel tired? A little pretense was enough to prevent Hu Tao from suspecting.
"You're the boss of the Honkai Impact 3rd offline experience store? Tell me quickly, how is Wendy doing?!"
Hu Tao's face was etched with anxiety, as if the young girl who appeared in the PV was her friend, causing her immense concern.
"How is she doing? You mean the follow-up, right? If you want to experience the follow-up, you can go to the Honkai world through this machine. Honkai Impact 3rd is currently in version 1.0, and the game chapters have even reached the fourth chapter. If you want to know more, you can try it out first."
Lu Ze once again explained the shop's rules, leaving Hu Tao completely bewildered. After all, her little brain couldn't possibly hold all this information.
She could only ask Zhongli beside her. And our Geo Archon had an excellent memory, answering all questions fluently.
"Is that so! So, can we get a free one-hour trial?"
Hu Tao looked at the machine in front of her, immediately lying down, putting on the helmet, and impatiently preparing to enter.
Just then, a leaderboard appeared on the mission board next to them. Venti, in first place with 10325 points, had a week to maintain his position. If no one surpassed him within that week, he would receive the first-place reward.
Zhongli looked at the leaderboard with curiosity. The boss had introduced it earlier, and it seemed like a good thing. Venti had actually taken first place. Even though the second and third positions were empty, with his abilities, he could only achieve a score of one hundred thousand. This showed how difficult the challenge was. Perhaps he should try it himself? Not for any other reason than to surpass Venti.
"I remember this is on Dragonspine, right?"
Lu Ze nodded. It was indeed on Dragonspine. But Venti was fast, finding the location and updating the leaderboard so quickly.
He was right. The system only gave a general location. Finding the exact challenge spot required personal effort, and it wasn't fixed. Once someone triggered a challenge, the next one would refresh elsewhere. It was quite time-consuming.
Zhongli nodded. For now, he would experience this game. As for the leaderboard, there was a week to climb it, so surpassing Venti would be easy.
Thus, he also lay down on a chair, put on a helmet, and entered Honkai Impact 3rd.
Meanwhile, Hu Tao, looking at her voluptuous figure, suddenly had an idea. If her figure were this good, would she no longer be called a 'great philanthropist' by others?
The game continued. Lu Ze was boredly working on helmets. Another person arrived at the door. This time, it was Venti. He rushed to the leaderboard and, seeing his name, breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Who knew how long he had searched? Who knew how difficult that monster was to deal with? All the enemies were ones he had never seen before, although some were from the game Honkai Impact 3rd, which was quite realistic.
And in the real Honkai Impact 3rd world, a batch of newly born Honkai Beasts were killed, all of them covered in wounds, shallow and deep, as if swept by a storm. Everyone had been scraped to death, and some had even been beheaded.
Kiana Kaslana looked at the Honkai Beasts before her. Who was responsible for this? The formation of such wide-ranging damage was something she could only attribute to the Wind-type Herrscher, Venti. However, he was recuperating in New Zealand and couldn't have possibly appeared near World Serpent so quickly.
But there was no choice. Even with a heart full of doubts, her current mission was not this. It was to escape World Serpent and return to everyone. However, she had no face to meet Kiana...
"Lu Ze, I'll see you then. I'll erect a grave for you at the place of your death..."
"You're gone too, and so is Professor Himeko. Kiana has matured, Bronya no longer bothers me. Everything has changed. Everything has become something I no longer recognize..."
"It's good that you're gone. You don't have to bear the name of betrayal anymore. I understand you. I only learned the truth from World Serpent. I never expected Otto to use Silver Bullet to threaten you, truly unexpected!"
"I deliberately distanced myself from you back then because you betrayed us. Thinking back, how foolish it was! It must have caused you quite a burden! Even in death, you couldn't explain yourself."
"It's alright. I will reveal the truth and let your innocence remain in the world. This is probably my final redemption..."