"I have found traces of the Abyss."
Dainsleif's voice, as cold as ice, fell upon the bustling background of the tea house—where the sounds of vendors hawking their wares and tea cups clinking mingled together—like a giant boulder crashing into a calm lake, sending up layers of towering waves.
"What?!" Lumine and Paimon exclaimed in unison, their voices filled with disbelief.
"How could you get here so fast? Even if we took Venti's wind, it would take us ages to travel from Mondstadt to Liyue!" Paimon directly flapped her wings and flew into mid-air, her eyes wide and round. "Not only did you make it here, but you also found our exact location. This is just too outrageous!"
Lumine also nodded repeatedly, her eyes full of surprise and confusion: "That's right, Dainsleif, have you been following us all along? But when we left Mondstadt, we clearly didn't see any sign of you..."
Lydia remained seated, her gaze fixed on the black-clad knight before her, her eyes narrowing under her snow-white eyelashes.
She parted her lips, her voice carrying a faint, barely perceptible tremble: "Dainsleif, you should..."
Before she could even finish her sentence, Dainsleif seemed to sense something and glanced over sharply.
His eyes gleamed coldly in the dim light, a hint of scrutiny in his gaze. His tone was flat yet carried an underlying pressure: "What is it?"
Lydia's heart gave a violent thud, and the fragments of thoughts that had just surfaced were suddenly scattered like dust in the wind.
She froze for a moment, then shook her head.
"No, it's nothing." A faint, forced smile touched Lydia's lips as she tried to hide her momentary loss of composure. "You've always had your reasons for what you do, and you never act without a purpose. I trust you."
These words made Venti, who had been about to speak, swallow his words right back down.
He had wanted to warn Lydia to be wary of Dainsleif's sudden appearance.
But the girl's trust in Dainsleif clearly exceeded the bounds of ordinary companions, which stirred a flicker of doubt in his heart.
"There's no time to lose. Let's go." Dainsleif didn't waste another word, turning immediately to walk out of the tea house.
Lumine and Paimon had always harbored a deep hatred for the Abyss, and at this moment, they followed without hesitation, immediately getting to their feet.
Paimon flew beside Dainsleif, chattering away as she pressed him with questions, "Dainsleif, Dainsleif! Where exactly is the Abyss hidden? Are there a lot of Abyss monsters?"
Venti did not set off immediately. He glanced at Lydia beside him. The girl was staring blankly at the empty teacup in her hand, her gaze unfocused as if she were recalling something.
Only when the figures of Dainsleif and the other two were about to disappear did Lydia suddenly snap back to her senses and drain the last of the tea at the bottom of the cup.
The warm liquid sliding down her throat seemed to clear her muddled thoughts a little.
"Let's go." Lydia stood up.
Venti nodded and followed.
But the inexplicable sense of foreboding in his heart grew stronger and stronger, making his breathing feel heavy.
He subconsciously glanced back at the depths of the tea house.
"What's wrong, Venti?" Lydia noticed his pause, stopped walking, and turned to ask.
"It's nothing." Venti quickly withdrew his gaze and hurried to catch up with the others. "I just feel that this matter might be more complicated than we think."
-
Meanwhile, in the System Space that no one could perceive, a completely different and lively scene was unfolding.
Lu Qiuyun stood before the floating light screen, her brow furrowed into a "川" shape.
Beside the screen, Xiao Qin and Yunqin were sitting cross-legged, with a deck of playing cards printed with Teyvat scenery spread out before them.
Beside them sat a pile of snacks exchanged with Emotion Points, and even a small pot of wine, showing they were clearly having a grand time.
"You two still have the heart to play cards?" Lu Qiuyun finally couldn't hold back and turned around, her tone full of helplessness.
Xiao Qin, munching on a sugar-coated candied hawthorn, waved her hand indistinctly upon hearing this: "Calm down, calm down. Have you forgotten the puny abilities of the Abyss Order?"
"They're just borrowing some scraps of Abyssal power, playing house. We are the genuine 'Abyss natives'; they aren't even on our level, so there's no need to worry about them."
Yunqin also nodded along, still clutching a card printed with a "Statue of the Seven," and said with a giggle: "Exactly! Lydia is so powerful, and Yunxuan has Osial and Beisht protecting her; nothing will definitely go wrong."
"As for us, it's more important to manage the cards in our hands first!" As she spoke, she slammed the "2" in her hand onto the table, raised an eyebrow at Xiao Qin, and looked at her with triumph all over her eyes: "I play a 2, let's see how you'll match it! Haven't you already played all your big cards?"
Xiao Qin glanced at Yunqin's cards, then looked down at the only two cards remaining in her own hand, a cunning smile suddenly playing on her lips.
"Match it? Of course, I'll use this to match it!" Before her words even finished, she slapped the two cards onto the table with a loud "thwack," the sound so forceful that it even shook the snack bags on the table. "A royal bomb!"
Yunqin was instantly stunned, her cheeks puffed out like a little squirrel.
She shot to her feet, pointing at Xiao Qin's nose and shouting, "You're cheating! The jokers were clearly already drawn out when we shuffled, so how could you still have a royal bomb?!"
Xiao Qin unhurriedly collected her cards and crossed her legs with a look of absolute righteousness. "Who made a rule that drawn cards can't be taken back?"
"What's a little trick like that when victory is on the line?" She reached out to ruffle Yunqin's hair, her tone tinged with a hint of playfulness. "This is what you call 'stopping at nothing for victory.' Learn from this, kid, instead of always acting like a little dummy."
"You're the dummy!" Yunqin stomped her feet in anger, lunging to grab the cards from Xiao Qin's hands as the two immediately broke into a scuffle.
Watching the two "wildcards" creating such a ruckus before her, Lu Qiuyun helplessly pressed a hand to her forehead.
Without Lydia and Yunxuan, these two would be completely useless for anything other than tearing things down and making a mess.
But just then, Xiao Qin's words about "stopping at nothing for victory" suddenly flashed through her mind like a bolt of lightning.
She subconsciously turned her head to look at the light screen, which displayed the Emotion Points contributed by players during the Abyss's invasion of Liyue some time ago.
The long string of numbers was so dazzling that it was impossible to look away, and small numbers continued to tick up behind them, clearly showing that players were still excited about the plot at the time.
"That's right, Emotion Points..." Lu Qiuyun murmured to herself, a look of understanding gradually flashing in her eyes, even carrying a hint of excitement. "Since the Abyss Order could stir up a storm using the name of the Abyss, why can't I use that momentum to push things even further?"
"The Mondstadt arc... maybe I can arrange an even more spectacular 'show.' When that happens, won't the Emotion Points skyrocket?"
Her gaze slowly shifted to the corner of the space, where a lifelike Rex Lapis statue stood, carved by Yunqin a few days ago when she was bored.
And leaning against the base of the statue was a set of armor constructed from jet-black ice and a dense Abyssal aura.