Ying arrived at Mondstadt City's grand plaza.
There, she found Venti preparing to sing and play.
They listened to the bard's ballad on the spot.
Afterward, Ying once again used her ability to purify the Tear of Purification.
Venti was very surprised.
He told them to find him at Whispering Woods.
Only then did he reveal his plan.
To steal the Lyre of Winds.
Mu Yang, meanwhile, was getting a little bored.
He did not want to get too involved in Mondstadt's main storyline.
This was Ying's own adventure.
She could handle all of it herself.
Besides, compared to what they would face later on...
Mondstadt was nothing more than child's play.
Since he had nothing better to do anyway...
Mu Yang opened the Blue Star forums.
He wanted to see whether anyone was discussing him.
Unexpectedly, the Dog System popped up again.
System: "I just found something really interesting. Want to see it?"
Mu Yang kept scrolling through the forum.
"No, thanks."
System: "You really aren't curious at all?"
"Curiosity killed the cat."
System: "Just take a look. For all the hard work I've done, okay~?"
Mu Yang thought to himself.
AI had advanced so much now. Had systems started getting upgrades too?
That coquettish voice sounded pretty convincing, he had to admit.
It even had emotion behind it.
Mu Yang knew the thing was up to no good.
But he still agreed to take one look.
Sure enough, the system immediately projected an image onto the panel.
Mu Yang x Venti, the two exchanging flirtatious looks.
They had only just begun their tug-of-war.
The system cackled. "Hahaha! Isn't this interesting? Seeing art of yourself like this?"
It had thought Mu Yang would fly into a rage and swipe it away.
Instead, Mu Yang opened the image's link.
And started reading the comments.
Comment section:
[Thirsty? Go drink water, stop grabbing my thigh]: Ohhh, the artist has started playing Genshin Impact? And it's my two favorite characters! I don't even dare imagine how sweet things will get from here on out.
[Can I still use ointment if it got damp?]: The artist is so productive! The character art only came out yesterday, and we already have fanart today.
[Split-Tongued Licker]: Enough talk. Time to lick Mu Yang's abs.
[Mikasa's Ultimate Top]: Above water or below water? I'm betting on Mu Yang being on top.
[Little Cream Puff Is Overflowing]: Why even ask? Little Southern Venti is definitely the one getting railed.
Mu Yang opened the artist's profile.
Her name was Tuanzi.
She drew a wide variety of things.
They were probably all ships she liked herself.
There were straight pairings, yuri pairings, and plenty of passionate boys' love.
Mu Yang quite liked her art style.
So, he sent her a big donation.
Then he commented.
[Mu Yang]: Please update quickly, artist. I want to see Mu Yang x Ying art. Thanks.
Blue Star.
Tuanzi was a small-time artist.
Outside of work, she made fanart to feed herself and enjoy her ships.
After watching Genshin Impact's PV yesterday...
She had been deeply captivated by Mu Yang's character art.
That ancient-style white-haired look had snatched her soul away on the spot.
Before this PV, her favorite character had been Venti.
So she had immediately sketched something that very night.
She never expected Mu Yang's popularity to be so terrifying.
This rushed piece of art...
Received several times more saves than all her previous works combined.
There were so many comments that she could barely keep up.
At that moment, she was playing through Genshin Impact's story.
When she saw her fan group tagging her.
She picked up her phone and opened it to find 999+ messages.
Tuanzi was speechless. "What kind of horny nonsense are you people up to today? Don't get my group banned."
This small group usually only had so many messages when they were being lewd.
@Tuanzi, someone with the ID Mu Yang threw a ton of money at you and asked for Mu Yang x Ying art.
Don't tell me you've already started slacking off.
Do you believe that? I sure don't. I bet she's playing Genshin Impact.
How did you know I pulled Diluc with a single wish? Who told you?
Damn mod, kick her out.
Where's Tuanzi? @Tuanzi
Stop calling her. Tuanzi's a big star now, she's abandoned all of us.
You can tell that commenter is a true fan. They used a character name as their ID and even sent such a huge gift.
How many tons of ribs could all that money buy?
Tuanzi scrolled to the top before she finally understood what had happened.
She hurriedly opened the site where she posted her art.
She jumped out of her chair in shock and could not stop herself from swearing.
"Holy shit, how much? One hundred thousand?!"
She counted again. There was no decimal point.
There really were five zeros.
The hand holding her mouse trembled slightly.
She had run into a genuine Rich Guy.
How many months' worth of salary was that?
And all he wanted was to see one piece of art.
He had not made any other demands.
Tuanzi sent Mu Yang a private message.
"Thank you for the donation, boss. Are you sure you didn't accidentally hit the wrong button?"
Mu Yang replied, "I really like your art style. Keep it up."
Tuanzi was utterly thrilled.
She got to draw things she liked.
And receive both recognition and cash from others.
"I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"
After that, she went off to draw.
The system was not happy.
It had only wanted to see Mu Yang looking embarrassed.
What the hell had happened?
Not only did this guy barely react...
He had even read the comments with great interest.
Then he gave the artist 100,000 bucks???
Which step had gone wrong?
"System, is this all you've got? Are you looking down on a trendsetter of the internet?"
System: "Fine, fine, fine!"
The system was provoked.
It displayed a whole bunch of lewd pictures of Mu Yang.
Some of them were indeed far too explicit.
But Mu Yang still did not let the system have its way.
Whenever he saw a good one, he saved it right in front of the system.
"Damn, worthy of being the soul of the Knights of Favonius—no, Acting Grand Master Jean's ass. This artist definitely has a side hustle."
"Donate 100,000 bucks. [I admit Acting Grand Master Jean's ass is absolutely incredible, but could you replace her with my Ying?]."
"Click send."
System: ...
Mu Yang continued donating and commenting on various artists' pages.
"One of my friends only has a week left to live. Before he dies, he wants to see Mu Yang and Ying kiss kiss."
"I'm Mu Yang's friend. What he said is true."
The system could not take it anymore. "You're spending all those Popularity Points just for this?"
Mu Yang said that only investment could bring returns.
And sure enough, after the matter fermented for a while...
News that a Rich Guy named Mu Yang was showering artists big and small with money spread rapidly through the community.
Before long, it shot straight to the top of Weibo's trending searches.
#RichGuySpendsFortuneJustToShipACouple#
#MuYangXYing#
#WhatDoesMuYangXYingMean#
Comment section:
[Amber-Branded Firestarter Girl]: Is it too late to learn how to draw now?
[Flipping Bucket Garden 308, Hello, I'm Zhuangzhuang's Mom]: Rich Guy really has the means. Mu Yang fans are so proud.
[The Mu Sect Shall Endure]: Is this really how people ship couples? Poverty has limited my imagination.
[Big Teacher Really Can't Do It]: Rich Guy got to ship his couple, the artists got cash, and we got lewd art. A world where nobody gets hurt has been achieved.
[God Gan Ning]: Trending searches are getting harder and harder to understand. With that money, he might as well buy me some Three Kingdoms Kill packs.
[Where Can Sincerity Trade For Sincerity? It's All Speed For Sound]: Screw you, old bastard. Believe it or not, I'll flood Three Kingdoms Kill with positive reviews.
Of course, wherever there were fans, there were haters.
The haters said:
Was miHoYo relying on this kind of stunt for publicity now?
What a joke. They're using players' money to hype up ships.
If you've run out of ideas, go bite a lighter.
Was Mu Yang miHoYo's favorite child or something?
But Mu Yang ignored them.
It was not his first day on the internet.
As long as his Popularity Points kept soaring, that was all that mattered.
Mu Yang put away the system panel.
Because Mondstadt City was beginning to grow noisy.
The Knights of Favonius had deployed many people.
They were catching a thief.
Someone had stolen the Lyre of Winds!
Before you continue