Hilichurls Appear!

"Finally, we're out..."

Youyu panted as she touched up her makeup in her manager's car.

It was spring, after all, and the temperature had risen somewhat. Having been surrounded by the crowd earlier, she had sweated a little and had no choice but to freshen up her makeup.

The young man sat in the passenger seat, watching the scenery rush backward outside the window. After a bumpy ride, they arrived at a park.

As far as the eye could see, lush green trees provided shade. The lake shimmered in the sunlight, reflecting the peach and cherry blossoms blooming on the surrounding trees.

The manager took out the camera she had prepared beforehand and asked Lin Yiyi to help take pictures.

"You know how, right? You know how to find a good angle, right?"

Faced with the expectant eyes of "Kamisato Ayaka," Lin Yiyi nodded.

"Raise your hand. Yeah, that's it."

Click, click—

Lin Yiyi took a series of photos he was quite satisfied with. The composition and angles were just right, and Youyu's expressions were very natural as well.

Unfortunately, it was not an instant camera, so the young man could only add Youyu on WeChat and send them to her later.

Why not add the manager? Because that was what Youyu wanted.

Lin Yiyi looked at Ei and Yae Miko, then said, "You two should take some pictures too."

"It wouldn't be a bad thing to leave something behind in this world. Besides, the moment captured in a photograph is 'eternity.'"

His words seemed to touch Ei's heart. Under Lin Yiyi's guidance, she and Miko took photographs that symbolized eternity in this world.

As well as group photos with Youyu.

"Come on, let's record some videos. Honestly, Youyu, stop doing those embarrassing things. Try being serious once in a while..."

Lin Yiyi did not know whether to laugh or cry as he watched Youyu cross her eyes, quickly stopping her.

He first recorded the backs of Ei and Yae Miko, then guided them through a few other poses. Perhaps because of who they were, every movement Ei and Yae Miko made carried an air of noble elegance.

After that, he pulled Youyu in to film together with them.

Then Lin Yiyi returned the camera to Youyu's manager and let them handle the editing themselves.

"Do you have accounts on Note, Kuaishou, or Bilibili? I'll tag you when the time comes." Youyu looked at Ei and Yae Miko, and the two of them looked back at Lin Yiyi.

"I do. Tag me then," the young man said. The two had only just arrived from another world and did not even have phones. How could they use social media apps?

The temperature in Guo City gradually rose with the arrival of spring. The glaring sunlight shone down upon the earth, forcing people to seek shade.

Beneath a towering tree, the group sat in silence.

Lin Yiyi scrolled through his Teyvat app. It still showed no new changes.

The young man had no idea where this app had come from, nor why it had chosen him.

Was it because he possessed some special means? Or because he played Genshin Impact too?

Although being able to summon his wives was a good thing, the saying about the old man who lost his horse told him that perhaps it was not entirely a good thing.

After fiddling with the app over and over without figuring it out, Lin Yiyi simply stared at his absurdly high character stats and profiles, chuckling foolishly.

My stats are fucking awesome, hehehehe.

Everyone beside him looked at him with disgust.

The group sat beneath the tree, not knowing what to talk about. The atmosphere became awkward to the extreme.

"Um..."

"Ah—help—!"

A sudden scream made Lin Yiyi's expression change.

"It's a monster."

Ei frowned. With her immense divine power, she could naturally sense the aura of evil nearby.

Lin Yiyi and Ei immediately stood up. The young man instructed, "Miko, stay here and watch the two of them. Ei and I will go take a look."

"Hey, you two just sit here. If you run into danger, we won't be able to look after you."

Lin Yiyi held down the eager Youyu, making her and her manager stay where they were.

Yae Miko nodded, then lay back on the grass even more lazily.

With her god beside her, she could relax anytime and anywhere. Besides, with her strength, dealing with a few wandering souls and vicious ghosts would be effortless.

"Judging by the sound, it should be over there, right?" Lin Yiyi and Ei raced toward an open stretch of grass, where they discovered several girls surrounded by a group of short, strange creatures.

"Those are...? How is that possible? Hilichurls?"

Lin Yiyi stared at the monsters with jet-black bodies, brown hair growing from their heads, and masks over their faces, utterly shocked.

"Why would there be Hilichurls here?"

The young man could hardly believe it, but the situation gave him no time to think. The purple braid of the God of Thunder beside him began to glow faintly again.

"Wait, Ei! If they see you, you'll be exposed!"

Lin Yiyi hurriedly stopped her. Hearing this, Ei could only withdraw her divine power, conjure a naginata in her hand, and charge toward the monsters.

Whether in Inazuma, another nation, or even another world, as a god, she had every reason to act without hesitation.

Protecting her people and driving away evil were duties she had to fulfill as the god of a nation.

Even without her divine power, her formidable martial skill was more than enough to cut such low-level monsters to pieces.

Come on, it was not like in the game, where she had to slowly chip away at them...

Lin Yiyi ran in front of the girls and shielded them, just in case.

"Are you all right? Feeling sleepy? Then go to sleep. Nothing happened today. Everything in your lives has been normal, very normal, very normal..."

The young man's magnetic voice entered the girls' ears, seemingly carrying some kind of magic. The fear in their eyes gradually faded, and they soon lay down on the grass and fell into a deep sleep.

Five seconds earlier, Ei held her naginata and delivered a powerful horizontal slash, its tyrannical force cutting the first Hilichurl cleanly in half at the waist.

Four seconds earlier, she spun her weapon in a flourish before bringing it down in a heavy strike, slicing the second Hilichurl in half from above, just as she had cut down Kaedehara Kazuha's friend.

Two seconds earlier, the Narukami who commanded Electro endured the last Hilichurl's claw swipe head-on, then used the momentum of her turn to sever its head.

At zero seconds, the young man's deep voice rang out, and those girls collapsed onto the ground.

"I used a secret technique to erase that part of their memories."

"Since the whole process was so short, it won't harm them at all."

Looking at the Hilichurl corpses on the ground as they gradually vanished, Lin Yiyi still frowned.

"How did these monsters come to this world? Logically speaking, I only invited people like you. There shouldn't have been any monsters."

Ei put away her naginata and looked around. Perhaps because the weather was a little hot, there was not a single person in the vast park.

"Perhaps someone else, like you, has obtained the ability to open dimensional rifts and wishes to destroy this world."

"Your future must be protected by yourselves. Don't worry. If you encounter danger, Miko and I will come help you."

Looking at the young man, who stood half a head taller than her, Ei patted his shoulder. At least in this world, they could be considered good friends.