Zhong Baiye's "Battle" with Paimon

Zhong Baiye turned to look at Paimon, his eyes utterly calm.

But Paimon could tell it was the calm before the storm.

Paimon looked at the Sigil of Permission in her arms, then saw Zhong Baiye walking toward her with a smile.

As if making up her mind, Paimon squeezed her eyes shut and flung the Sigil of Permission at Zhong Baiye's feet.

Paimon watched Zhong Baiye bend down to pick up the Sigil of Permission, then continue toward her with that same smile.

"Zhong Baiye, I was wrong! Don't come any closer!"

This time, she was truly scared. As she begged Zhong Baiye for mercy, she checked where Keqing and Lumine were, ready to hide behind them.

But Keqing and Lumine both believed Paimon really was at fault this time and had no intention of helping her. They turned their heads away, afraid to watch what would happen next.

"Hehehe! Now you've got nowhere to run, Paimon."

Seeing that Paimon wanted to flee, Zhong Baiye immediately waved his hand and formed a cage out of Geo, trapping her inside.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

As Paimon listened to Zhong Baiye's footsteps drawing closer, her expression grew increasingly frantic.

"Zhong Baiye, don't get violent! We're civilized people! Nobody likes a man who resorts to violence!"

Paimon frantically pounded on the cage's bars, so frightened she was on the verge of tears.

"Go ahead and scream. Even if you scream yourself hoarse, nobody will come to save you. Hehehe!"

Zhong Baiye paid no heed to Paimon's struggles. In fact, the more she struggled, the more excited he became.

At that moment, Zhong Baiye looked no different from a pervert to Lumine and Keqing.

Lumine and Keqing were too embarrassed to keep watching and covered their eyes with their hands.

But curiosity drove both of them to leave a gap between their fingers, just wide enough to see what was about to happen.

After an exceptionally wild "battle," Paimon's eyes were vacant, as though she had lost all hope in the world. She could no longer even fly and could only lie draped over Lumine's shoulder.

Lumine and Keqing's cheeks were bright red. They simply could not forget what had just happened.

Zhong Baiye felt thoroughly refreshed and was rather puzzled by Lumine and Keqing's expressions.

"I didn't even do anything!"

Just as Zhong Baiye and the others finished packing their things and prepared to leave, something happened.

Zhong Baiye discovered that the great door they had entered through was locked. From what they had observed while cleaning yesterday, this door was the only passage connecting the Domain to the outside world.

If this door truly was sealed shut, they would have no way to return to the outside world.

"Let me try."

Keqing looked at the door, which stood well over ten meters tall, and drew the Lion's Roar.

"Phew..."

Keqing took a deep breath, her expression solemn.

"With swordlight as my guide, I shall cut through all obstacles!"

As Keqing's signature words rang out, she instantly transformed into dozens of streaks of violet light that slammed into the Domain's great door.

Rumble!

After a cloud of dust billowed up, Keqing reappeared before Zhong Baiye and the others.

"Cough, cough, cough! Let me see if it worked."

Zhong Baiye covered his mouth and nose and coughed several times.

Once the dust cleared, the door appeared before them, looking exactly as it had before, completely intact. The only difference was a few extra scratches on its surface.

Given Keqing's strength, even a door forged from refined iron should not have been able to withstand her swordlight completely.

"It looks like we can't break this door by brute force. Let's see if there are any other mechanisms."

Keqing carefully examined the depth of the scratches on the door and spoke gravely.

"True. This was an Adeptus's home, after all. There must be some mechanism left behind that can open it."

Zhong Baiye immediately agreed with Keqing's suggestion.

"All right, let's split up and search. It'll be faster that way."

Lumine agreed as well, then chose a direction with Paimon and began searching carefully.

Zhong Baiye recalled that situations like this in the game usually involved an Elemental Monument.

He examined the door carefully. It was pentagonal, with a circular mark at each corner, each containing a distinctive pattern.

Then he looked at the center of the plaza. There was a round table with a pattern exactly matching one of the circular marks, and it also bore a Geo symbol.

He studied the symbol, then thought about the Elemental Monuments in the game.

Without hesitation, he gathered a little Geo energy and spread it over the entire round table.

Suddenly, the table shone with golden light, and one of the circular marks on the door lit up as well.

Keqing and Lumine noticed what was happening near Zhong Baiye and immediately hurried over to ask him about it.

Zhong Baiye explained his theory to Keqing and Lumine.

"I figured there must be something corresponding to the patterns in those circles on the door. Then I noticed that the pattern on this round table looked very similar to one of them."

Zhong Baiye pointed at the glowing mark on the door and the pattern on the round table.

Keqing and Lumine took a closer look and found that the pattern in the circle did indeed resemble the one on the table.

"Then I examined this table and found a Geo symbol on it, so I tried using Geo. This is what happened."

Keqing and Lumine also spotted the Geo symbol on the round table and understood what had happened.

Just then, the circular mark on the door suddenly went dark, and the round table returned to its original state.

At this, both Keqing and Zhong Baiye looked thoughtful.

After a moment's thought, Zhong Baiye continued, "Each of the five circles on this door probably corresponds to an object..."

Before Zhong Baiye could finish, Keqing added her own explanation.

"Those objects should each have a corresponding elemental symbol. If we light them up with the matching elements, we should be able to open the door."

At the mention of solving a puzzle, Paimon's dejection vanished. She asked curiously, "Then why did this round table go out just now?"

After listening to Zhong Baiye and Keqing's explanation, Lumine also grasped the key to the puzzle and answered Paimon with a smug look.

"Those objects probably have a time limit. Most likely, we need to light them all up within a set amount of time."

Paimon's interest was piqued, and she said excitedly, "Then what are we waiting for? There might be treasure once we activate these mechanisms! Let's go look!"

With that, Paimon tugged at Lumine, ready to search for objects resembling the circular marks on the door.

"Let's split up, then, and try to find them as quickly as we can."

Lumine finished speaking with a smile before Paimon dragged her away.

Keqing and Zhong Baiye exchanged a glance, then set off in different directions as well.

Soon, they found corresponding markings on the four other largest floating islands.

Together with the round table on the floating island where the door stood, they matched the circular marks on the door one for one.

But they discovered that even after finding these objects, they still had no way to open the door.