Original God, But Chat Group

Li Yue was still smiling at Eriri. Eriri looked at his smile, her heart full of conflict, but in the end, she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.

"I... I understand. I'll do as you say."

Saying those words seemed to drain all her strength. She slumped back in her chair, deflated, and lowered her head.

"But at least... please, not here..."

In the dessert shop, the only possible place was the restroom—the same place Kasumigaoka had once experienced.

Li Yue still didn't speak. Instead, he stood up and walked straight out of the shop. Eriri quickly grabbed her laptop and followed him out.

Probably a hotel, Eriri thought as she trailed behind him, having completely given up on resistance.

No, her heart hadn't given up yet. As she followed him, she cried out inwardly.

Anyone, please, save me. Save me!

Though she had outwardly stopped struggling, deep down, she still longed to be rescued.

Unfortunately, no one came to save her. She followed Li Yue for a while until she saw him walk into a shop.

Eriri stopped outside and looked up at the sign.

Manga Cafe? He chose this place? He won't even spring for a hotel?

This was a place that showed up in doujinshi—tiny cubicles separated by thin boards with almost no soundproofing. In a place like this, it was just too...

But Li Yue had already gone in. Eriri stared at the entrance of the Manga Cafe as if it were a dark abyss ready to swallow everything. She didn't want to go in. She wanted to turn and leave, to find someone who could save her.

Move, Eriri. Aren't you the best at running away? Run away this time too!

But just as she tried to step back, a large hand grabbed her arm and yanked her inside.

The girl had finally lost her chance to escape.

Eriri was dragged straight into the Manga Cafe and pulled into a cubicle.

"Wait, this is too fast!"

Pulled into the cubicle, Eriri saw how eager Li Yue was and cried out in alarm, but then quickly covered her mouth. That was too loud—people in the other cubicles might hear!

"No choice. If we don't hurry, it'll get dark."

Huh? What time is it now? You're planning to take that long? I'll die!

Li Yue snatched the laptop from her arms, set it on the cubicle's table, and pressed the power button.

"Take off the mask and sunglasses first. No need for them in here."

"Ah... okay!"

Eriri obediently removed her mask, sunglasses, and hat, letting her golden hair fall loose.

"What's the login password?"

"Huh?"

He wasn't going for her first, but for her computer?

"Forget it, you do it."

Li Yue pushed the laptop in front of Eriri. She was a bit dazed but still reached out and tapped in the password. The laptop booted up.

"Alright, let's start. Open Office. I'll talk, you write—no, you type."

"Huh? Type?"

Eriri didn't quite catch on. She replayed what Li Yue had just said in her mind: open an Office file, and she was supposed to type.

"Type... type what?"

Was he making her write some kind of pledge? Or what?

"A light novel."

Li Yue's expression was dead serious, then he looked at Eriri with confusion.

"What else did you think I brought you out here for?"

Eriri stared at Li Yue, her mouth opening and closing. Finally, she lowered her head and placed her hands on the keyboard.

65. Was this a new kind of humiliation play?

In the evening, Eriri walked home unsteadily, clutching her laptop.

When she pushed open the door, her mother was standing at the entrance, arms crossed, waiting for her.

"Mom?"

"Eriri, where have you been? Coming back this late?"

Sawamura Sayuri looked at Eriri and asked.

"Did you go see Tomoya?"

Wearing casual sportswear, Eriri must have gone to meet someone she knew well. And in Sayuri's eyes, the only familiar person Eriri would meet like that was Akise Tomoya.

"No..."

Eriri wanted to say no, but then she thought of Li Yue's blond hair and changed her answer.

"Yes, I went to see Tomoya."

Hearing that Eriri had gone to see Akise Tomoya, Sawamura Sayuri let out a helpless sigh.

"Eriri, did you fight with Tomoya again?"

With Eriri acting like this, Sayuri could tell at a glance that she'd had another quarrel with Tomoya. This child's personality was still so stubborn—if she kept being this way, what would become of her?

"Alright, Mom, I'm going to my room now."

Eriri changed her shoes, lowered her head, and tried to slip past Sayuri to get back to her room.

But halfway there, she stopped and turned to ask her mother.

"Mom, do you know what it means to record someone's life and then have them write it as a light novel?"

"What's that? Some new humiliation play you thought up?"

Sayuri's first instinct was that her daughter had come up with a new doujin plot. She even immediately imagined a scenario where a girl was humiliated and then forced to draw the process into a doujin to sell. As Eriri's mother, her imagination was just as sharp.

"Nothing. I'm going to my room now."

Back in her room, Eriri opened her laptop on the desk and stared at the Office file still open on the screen, her expression complicated.

She'd thought Li Yue calling her out would mean he'd make a move directly, but he hadn't. Instead, he'd chosen to train her—no, that was exactly it, training!

All afternoon, she'd been typing! She hadn't even left the booth to use the bathroom!

"Do you want to take a break, like go to the restroom?"

"Can... can I wait a bit longer?"

That was clearly a hint for her to do that in the bathroom!

And throughout the whole process, Li Yue even bought her a glass of juice!

"Come on, you must be thirsty from all that typing. I ordered you a juice."

"I... I... thanks..."

There must have been something added to the juice! Definitely!

And he kept urging her to drink it, making her, who was already holding it in and too scared to go to the bathroom, even more miserable!

"Finished? Want another one? I think they have refills here."

"No thanks... I've had enough..."

What kind of new game was this? Knowing I'd put off going to the bathroom, he deliberately made me drink more water just to watch me suffer through holding it in!? And then wait for me to break down and beg to go to the bathroom? This was a humiliation routine I'd never even thought of!!

But that wasn't all. What had she typed? A genius piano girl from an ordinary family, Touma Kazusa? A rich young lady who secretly loved playing guitar, Ogiso Setsuna? A girl with almost no presence but a nice voice, A-karing? And a guy wanting to form the best band, Kitahara Haruki?

Even Eriri could tell these four characters were clearly stand-ins for Kasumigaoka, Kato Megumi, herself, and Akise Tomoya!

And if you're going to do that, why did you have to say Ogiso Setsuna was flat-chested!

All afternoon, Eriri had typed out an entire volume's worth of content according to Li Yue's demands, her fingers sore from pressing keys, before she could finally rest. But she didn't dare relax at all, not even go to the bathroom, because she couldn't guarantee that if she went in, Li Yue wouldn't follow and start some kind of play!

It wasn't until Li Yue left with the first volume's content sent to his phone email that she finally dared to go to the bathroom.

Even though Li Yue hadn't laid a hand on her all afternoon, Eriri understood that this was his interest. He would slowly train her. This kind of blond was a high-level blond—he wouldn't make a direct move. What he loved most was slowly training others, molding a girl into the shape he wanted!

Kasumigaoka must have gone through this kind of training too, which was why she'd followed him away that day—it was a memory etched into her body!

The holding it in this afternoon, and this light novel that mirrored her life from a few days ago, was all a clear message to her!

This was humiliation! A completely different, new method of humiliation! The blond had investigated everything about her, knew she was a humiliation-style artist, so he deliberately used this kind of humiliation method to train her! He wouldn't make a move until he'd trained her into the shape he liked, only patiently watching her struggle with delighted eyes until she finally gave in!

Over the next period, Li Yue would keep coming to her and subjecting her to all kinds of humiliation plays! Thinking about the dark days ahead, Eriri's heart was filled with despair.

While Eriri was despairing over her future, Li Yue, who had obtained the first volume's content, had already returned to Teyvat. The first volume that Eriri had written was saved in his phone.

Since Albedo had already started drawing illustrations and character designs, Li Yue figured he needed to arrange the text too. So he'd come to the world of Saekano to find someone to help him type, which was also why he wanted to avoid Kasumigaoka—after all, the plot of the novel was basically a rehash of Saekano's story.

Because of the Chat Group, he could read Japanese, understand spoken Japanese, and when he spoke, others could understand him. And most likely, the Chinese characters he wrote would automatically translate into Japanese in others' eyes. But that didn't stop him from being too lazy to write the novel himself—typing was exhausting, you know.

So he came up with an idea: have Eriri ghostwrite for him! It was just like when he was in Liyue and had Hu Tao ghostwrite—he'd dictate, and she'd write! And throughout the whole process, Li Yue deliberately activated the rarely-used Heart Listening ability from his dream domain to hear Eriri's thoughts, then said things that sounded normal but would trigger unnecessary misunderstandings in Eriri's little head, making her constantly fight with thin air!

Watching all the various play scenarios Eriri imagined in her head, even including images of her own eyes rolling back, Li Yue thought this was way more exciting than reading a doujin! It was like watching Eriri live-stream herself!

As expected of Kashiwagi Eri-sensei—she really knew how to humiliate herself!

"With this, the first volume's content is done, and Albedo is working on the illustrations. Now I just need to wait for Albedo to finish the drawings, then find a publisher to submit it."

"As for the publisher, I'll go with senpai's. When she sees it, she'll definitely be thrilled, hehehehe~~"

66. Subway, Zhongli, Question Mark

After leaving a deep impression on Eriri, Li Yue didn't go back to the Saekano world for a while, nor did he run around. Instead, he brought Nahida back to Liyue, because the appliances he'd asked Kasumigaoka to buy had arrived, and he needed to go back to Liyue to install them.

At the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Zhongli watched Li Yue busily installing all sorts of unfamiliar gadgets, then looked at Nahida, who was tilting her head back, eyes wide open, staring intently at him. Zhongli fell into thought.

Faced with those bright, staring eyes, after a moment of consideration, Zhongli chose to strike first to prevent his identity from being exposed.

"Hello, I am Zhongli, a consultant at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor."

"Hello, I'm Nahida."

Nahida rested both hands on the table.

"She's Li Yue's daughter."

???

A string of question marks involuntarily popped up in Zhongli's mind.

The moment he laid eyes on Nahida, Zhongli recognized her identity—the current Dendro Archon.

But why was the Dendro Archon not in Sumeru, instead sticking by Li Yue's side? Now he had his answer, but it left him looking like an old man staring at his phone on the subway.

What the hell?

From Nahida's self-introduction, it was clear she, like him, had chosen to conceal her identity. As for why she hid it—he hadn't been to Sumeru in five hundred years, so he had no idea. Gods had their own reasons, after all. But how did she end up becoming Li Yue's daughter?

"Li Yue's daughter?"

Zhongli tried to confirm this identity once more.

"Yes. Li Yue said I was an orphan, so he decided to adopt me."

Nahida repeated the words Li Yue had used when he first took her in, telling Zhongli that she was now thrilled. She had met the most ancient, most experienced, and oldest of the Seven Archons—the Vago Monarch himself! And from what Li Yue said, he and the Vago Monarch were close friends, even living together like family. How astonishing for a god—Li Yue actually had such a relationship with the Vago Monarch!

With such an ancient deity by her side, she was sure to learn rich experience in being a god! And then become a qualified one!

Nahida looked at Zhongli with boundless anticipation, while Zhongli, after hearing her words, fell into a successful silence.

He couldn't help but turn his head again to look at Li Yue, who was outside installing solar panels. How the hell did this happen?

He remembered Li Yue saying he'd taken a trip to Mondstadt. Why, after one trip to Mondstadt, did he come back with a Dendro Archon from Sumeru? Was the Dendro Archon of Sumeru vacationing in Mondstadt?

"Li Yue approached me without knowing who I was."

As if sensing Zhongli's confusion, Nahida kindly offered another explanation.

"Mm. That's the same for me."

Zhongli understood Nahida's meaning. He turned back and gave her a reply in kind.