Why is it you again?

The group took some time to rest on the ground. Tony's iron armor was now a heap of scrap, its pieces scattered everywhere, but it had served its purpose. Carrying so many people out of the encirclement had already exceeded his expectations.

The daytime desert heat could roast a person alive. Lin Ze and Tony agreed that they had better not linger, and Yinsen felt the same. After all, they had only destroyed one of the terrorists' bases. As long as they remained in the area, they were not completely safe.

Lin Ze had intended to escort everyone out of the desert together with Tony and Yinsen, but just as they settled on a direction, they heard Paimon's excited voice.

"Traveler! Look over there!"

Following Paimon's pointing finger, Lin Ze looked toward what had been a flat stretch of sand. Now, however, he saw a very familiar stone gate.

The instant the stone gate formed, magnificent pillars rose around it, their surfaces engraved with strange patterns. The sight felt oddly familiar to Lin Ze.

Only when the sand beneath them turned into drifting clouds and a long path stretched toward them from the stone gate did Lin Ze finally realize what it was.

Wasn't this the opening login screen from Genshin Impact?

The gate on Celestia?

What was going on?

Meanwhile, Tony and Yinsen were baffled by the astonished expressions on Paimon and the Traveler's faces as they stared at the empty sand ahead.

"What's wrong? I don't see anything."

Tony even took a few steps forward and crouched down to examine the ground. There was nothing but sand, with nothing unusual about it. He could not understand why the two little ones looked so surprised.

But from Lin Ze and Paimon's perspective, Tony had stepped onto a cloud and was floating in midair. It was quite a strange sight.

"Ah!! Tony! Be careful! Don't fall!" Just before Tony raised his foot, Paimon flew to his side and clung desperately to his hand, refusing to let him move.

The sight frightened Paimon. She genuinely feared that Tony would fall off the cloud at any moment. In her eyes, there was an enormous drop beneath him.

"..." Paimon's expression and voice both made it clear that his surroundings looked completely different to her. To calm her down, Tony obediently stayed where he was.

Yinsen had the same impression. At first, he had thought Paimon was seeing a mirage. After all, the air, sunlight, and temperature in a desert could make scenes several miles, or even dozens of miles, away visible to the naked eye.

But it was so close, and Paimon had also described clouds forming around them. That pretty much ruled out a mirage.

"Can either of you tell us what exactly you're seeing?" Tony asked.

Lin Ze seemed to have figured out why this was happening. "A gate. A stone gate."

"A gate?"

Paimon nodded too. She pointed to a spot roughly five steps away from Tony, traced its outline with her hands, and asked in confusion:

"The gate is right here. Can't you see it?"

They both sounded so certain that Tony did not think they were lying. Being a hands-on kind of man, he immediately took action.

"Ah! Be careful!"

Ignoring Paimon's startled cry, Tony estimated the number of steps in the direction she had pointed. After all, as far as he could see, he was merely walking a few paces.

One, two, three, four, five.

Step by step, he reached the spot where the "gate" stood.

Lin Ze had an idea, and this was the perfect opportunity to have Tony help him test it.

"Tony, try taking half a step at a forty-five-degree angle to your left."

Tony stood right in the center of the stone gate. He only needed to move a little to pass through it.

"Mm... okay."

Tony seemed to understand something. First, he took a small step to the left. When nothing happened, he took a larger one. Finally, he playfully started jumping around on the spot.

"..."

Watching Tony bounce around the stone gate, sometimes with half his body embedded in it and sometimes passing through a pillar, Lin Ze got his answer.

He brought up the mission interface.

Sure enough, it showed that the prerequisite mission had been completed.

The Birth of Iron Man (Completed: mission rating B)

After all, this was his first mission since joining the External Transmigration Department, so it had not been particularly difficult. Despite a few unexpected developments, it had gone fairly well overall.

"I think it's time for us to say goodbye."

Lin Ze addressed Tony and Yinsen.

"Is it because of this gate?" Tony was the first to catch on. He looked toward the stone gate with curiosity, but being unable to see anything left him rather discouraged.

"Travelers from another world, huh... so you're going back now?"

Yinsen felt downcast. Though his time with Paimon and the Traveler had been brief, they had faced life and death together, and the Traveler had saved his life. He had not expected their farewell to come so soon, and he could not help feeling sad.

"That's right. Our journey has to continue. Tony, Yinsen, I'm really glad we met you."

Lin Ze hugged Yinsen. Paimon flew over and copied him, giving Yinsen a hug as well.

"Don't be sad, Yinsen. Paimon will miss you. Maybe we'll meet again someday!"

Yinsen's eyes reddened. Once again, he felt as though he were parting from family. He looked at the two little ones in his arms. They were so adorable, like children of his own. He wanted to spend more time with them too, but there was nothing to be done. They had to leave.

Tony had intended to invite them both to New York once they got out of the desert and treat them properly. He had not expected events to take such a sudden turn.

Still, perhaps it was for the best. Their situation remained dire, and they were not yet out of danger. A harsh environment like the desert was hardly a suitable place for children.

"Looks like it's time to say goodbye."

He had wanted to hug the two children as Yinsen had, but people named Stark were not particularly good at expressing their feelings.

Instead, Tony shook Aether's hand and brushed a finger over little Paimon's nose. "Take care."

Paimon was a little bashful. "You take care too."

After exchanging their farewells, Lin Ze led Paimon toward the stone gate.

From Tony and Yinsen's perspective, once Lin Ze and Paimon passed the spot where the stone gate stood, their bodies gradually became transparent. Finally, they broke apart into sparkling motes of light that scattered and vanished.

Lin Ze returned to the Transmigration Management Bureau, and Paimon reverted to her doll form.

"Very good, very good. A B rating on your very first mission."

Minister Wu was thoroughly pleased with Lin Ze's work. He took the mission report Lin Ze handed him, stamped it without even looking, and returned it. Then, in an exceptionally gentle and considerate manner, he asked whether Lin Ze was tired or needed a rest, showing his concern as a supervisor.

Lin Ze felt that the mission had gone fairly smoothly, and being the Traveler had been genuinely enjoyable. Honestly, he had not had enough of this real-life Genshin Impact experience yet, so he declined Minister Wu's kind offer.

He still remembered the young woman at reception saying that every completed mission came with rewarded pulls. How many 648-yuan top-ups would that save him?

The thought of pulling made Lin Ze impatient.

The young woman was somewhat surprised to see him. "That was fast. You're back in less than three days."

"I was lucky enough to get good teammates. Sorry for the trouble."

"No trouble at all."

The young woman took his mission report, registered it, put it away, and handed him a tablet.

"Here you go. You can do your pulls now."

Lin Ze had just been wondering how the Transmigration Management Bureau distributed its rewards. He had not expected something so plain and straightforward, but when he remembered the licensing fees the bureau paid every year, it made sense.

With unwavering devotion to Rex Lapis, Lin Ze widened his eyes and tapped the ten-pull button with a trembling hand.

Zhongli, Zhongli, Zhongli. Please let it be Zhongli!

How dazzling that golden meteor looked amid a sea of blue. His heart raced and his hand trembled as Lin Ze eagerly revealed the results one by one...

"I'm Qiqi. I'm a zombie."

"..."

His silence was deafening.

Sweetie! Why are you here again?!

The young woman took one look and burst into laughter. "It's fine, it's fine. She's still a five-star character, and she can heal too. Besides, isn't Qiqi adorable?"

Sis, if you'd laughed even a little less openly, I might have believed you.

"Same as last time?"

The blow had left Lin Ze in no mood to choose a mission. Only the mission setting would differ anyway, so it made no difference to him. He answered casually, "Yeah, same as last time."

Holding back her laughter, the young woman completed the paperwork.

With a look of utter despair, Lin Ze stepped into the Portal.

When he emerged, he suddenly felt as though time had turned backward.

Wait, why did the scenery outside this gate look so familiar?!

The same sun, the same sand-even the three large craters and one small one in the ground looked exactly as they had when they left.

Paimon scratched her head. "Traveler, how did we end up back here again?!"