Early the next morning, Zhong Baiye and Keqing said goodbye to the little boy and left.
It was worth mentioning that the Electro Vision Zhong Baiye had obtained was different from the previous one.
This time, it had only given him the power to control Electro, without granting him any techniques.
Finally, after a day of traveling, Keqing and Zhong Baiye arrived at Jueyun Karst around noon.
Looking out from here, they saw peaks towering into the clouds throughout Jueyun Karst. Not only were they incredibly steep, their slopes were almost vertical.
Even cranes could only fly halfway up the mountains, unable to reach the summits piercing the clouds.
It truly was a sight of "rugged ridges and waters stretching into the haze, with two or three ranks of geese sweeping across the sky."
Anyone seeing this landscape for the first time would feel how insignificant humanity was before nature.
The sight of Jueyun Karst left Zhong Baiye awestruck.
Only when Keqing prompted him did he snap out of it.
"Ahem! Jueyun Karst is so huge. Where are we supposed to look for the adepti?"
Zhong Baiye could clearly tell that Keqing's attitude toward him had improved. On second thought, perhaps what had happened yesterday had changed her opinion of him for the better.
Zhong Baiye surveyed the distant paths and, drawing on his memories of the game, found the route to Qingyun Peak.
At the foot of Qingyun Peak, Zhong Baiye and Keqing heard the sounds of fighting from far away.
"Quick, someone's fighting up ahead. Let's go stop them."
Keqing quickened her pace the moment she heard the sounds. Naturally, Zhong Baiye couldn't fall behind, so he followed her.
Thinking back to the original storyline, Zhong Baiye figured the Millelith must be trying to arrest the Traveler up ahead. He wasn't too worried and simply followed behind Keqing.
"What do you want?"
"What do we want? To rob you, of course. Hand over that adeptal treasure you got!"
A little while later, Zhong Baiye finally got a clear view of the situation.
These weren't the Millelith at all. They were Treasure Hoarders robbing a blond girl.
The girl had short golden hair, and a little white creature floated beside her.
Zhong Baiye recognized them at a glance. They were clearly Lumine and Paimon.
Although this was different from the game, the Treasure Hoarders had already surrounded Lumine. There was no time to worry about that.
Before Keqing could charge forward, Zhong Baiye drew the Harbinger of Dawn, put a Geo shield around himself, and rushed in.
The Treasure Hoarder leading the group spotted Zhong Baiye and Keqing, and his expression changed.
"Oh no, it's Keqing, the Yuheng! They're too tough for us. Run, boys!"
With that, he abandoned the Treasure Hoarders surrounding Lumine and fled out of sight on his own.
Seeing their boss flee, the remaining Treasure Hoarders wished they had an extra pair of legs as they raced off in the same direction.
Only one slow-footed fellow was caught in a cage Zhong Baiye created with Geo.
Zhong Baiye still didn't know why the plot had turned out this way, so he wanted to capture a Treasure Hoarder and question him.
Seeing that the Treasure Hoarders had all been driven away, Lumine and Paimon let out deep sighs of relief.
But when Lumine recovered and looked at Zhong Baiye, she froze, her face filled with shock.
"Brother... is that you?"
Zhong Baiye didn't understand why Lumine would call him her brother, but he knew perfectly well that he wasn't.
So he immediately replied, "My name is Zhong Baiye. I'm not your brother."
Seeing Lumine staring blankly at Zhong Baiye, Paimon quickly called out to her.
"Traveler, snap out of it! This guy isn't your brother. His hair is the wrong color."
Paimon's reminder made Lumine realize that she had been staring at a complete stranger.
Her lovely cheeks instantly flushed bright red, and she said bashfully to Zhong Baiye,
"I'm sorry ＞人＜. Thank you for saving me. My name is Lumine, and I'm a traveler. This is my companion, Paimon."
Zhong Baiye immediately voiced his confusion.
"Why did you call me your brother just now?"
Lumine met Zhong Baiye's eyes, and her flushed cheeks grew even redder. Embarrassed, she answered, "Sorry, you just look so much like my brother. Here's a picture of us."
Paimon chimed in beside her, "Yeah, yeah! You and Aether look like the exact same person. If your hair weren't a different color, I'd suspect you were Aether in disguise."
At the same time, Lumine took a photograph out of her bag and handed it to Zhong Baiye.
"Let me see, too."
Keqing squeezed in beside him, looking unhappy.
Zhong Baiye stared at the photograph in disbelief.
Keqing was surprised when she saw it, too.
"You really do look alike. Are you sure you aren't the same person?"
There were only two people in the photograph: Lumine and someone else. By all rights, that other person should have looked exactly like Aether from the original game.
But the other person in the photograph looked exactly like Zhong Baiye. Apart from his blond hair, as opposed to Zhong Baiye's white hair, everything about them-even their expressions-was identical.
Moreover, the instant Zhong Baiye saw the photograph, he felt as though some memory was about to surface in his mind. In the end, though, he couldn't remember anything.
Forget it. This is the real world, after all. It makes sense for some things to be different from the game.
Zhong Baiye shook his head. Since he didn't feel anything unusual, he decided not to dwell on it.
Zhong Baiye returned the photograph to Lumine and asked,
"Why are you here? And why were the Treasure Hoarders after you?"
By now, Lumine's complexion had returned to normal, but before she could speak, Paimon jumped in with an answer.
"The Traveler and I came here to find the adepti. We heard they have incredible powers. The Traveler's brother is missing, so the adepti must have a way to find him."
Lumine added, "We don't know why the Treasure Hoarders were making trouble for us, either."
At that, everyone turned to look at the Treasure Hoarder Zhong Baiye had captured.
He was trying to break the Geo construct with the short sword in his hand when he felt everyone's eyes on him.
He immediately dropped to his knees and begged for mercy, tears pouring from his eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry ＞人＜. We only came because we heard someone here had an adeptal treasure. I won't be a Treasure Hoarder anymore. Please let me go!"
They hadn't expected this Treasure Hoarder to be so spineless. Before they had even begun questioning him, he had spilled everything.
Lumine heard his answer as well. After a moment's thought, she tried to take a talisman from Paimon.
"Traveler, what are you doing? This is mine! You can't have it!"
Seeing what Lumine was doing, Paimon clung tightly to the talisman.
At Paimon's reaction, Lumine let go with both hands.
Fortunately, the Sigil of Permission was well made. Otherwise, the two of them might really have torn it.
Indeed, Zhong Baiye and Keqing had recognized the talisman as a Sigil of Permission at a glance.
Before you continue