Abyssal Monster

Lin Yi listened to the voice coming from deep inside the cave, utterly confused.

"What bullshit prophecy? I'm a god myself! The Geo Archon of Liyue! Quit playing these spooky games. Who the hell are you?"

Lin Yi shouted, seemingly hoping to provoke the other party into showing themselves sooner.

But when that alluring figure stepped into the light, even Lin Yi found himself a little dazzled.

The woman before him wore a hat that covered half her pink hair, with a visor concealing both eyes.

Her movements seemed entirely unaffected by her obscured vision.

Her skin was fair, her figure shapely and full, and her supple, slender waist was especially enticing.

Her beautiful legs were clad in stockings that faded from black to purple.

She held some unfamiliar mechanical device, and the aura she exuded was both seductive and sensual. Any ordinary person who saw her would surely find themselves unable to look away.

"Who exactly are you? Why did you use such dirty tricks to bring me here?"

As far as Lin Yi remembered, he had never seen a character like her.

Judging by her clothing, she looked somewhat like someone from Sumeru.

Perhaps because he had only experienced a limited number of game versions before transmigrating, there was still much about Teyvat he did not know.

Take the woman before him, for instance. A smile curved her red lips, enough to stir the lust buried in human nature.

"Allow me to introduce myself. Babel, the Eremite Desert Chronicler of the Eremites."

The Eremites?

Lin Yi was bewildered. Wasn't that an organization from Sumeru? What were they doing in Liyue?

Lin Yi did know a little about the Eremites.

Most of their members were gorgeous women and handsome men with model-worthy looks.

Of course, the Eremites were a bandit faction based in Sumeru, standing in opposition to all the Seven Nations.

The Eremite Desert Chronicler before him was probably a character HoYoverse had yet to release.

Still, getting to see her ahead of time left Lin Yi feeling rather impressed.

"HoYoverse really put their all into designing Abyssal Monster characters! They've almost made me want to join the Eremites and become an Abyssal Monster myself..."

Back to the matter at hand, Lin Yi could not understand why someone who spent her time roaming Sumeru would turn up in Liyue.

She had even abducted him, brought him to a place like this, and started spouting nonsense.

Babel approached slowly, her sensual allure almost impossible to resist.

Her slender hand reached to tilt Lin Yi's chin up, but he dodged it.

"Keep your hands to yourself. I'm a married man now, so stay away. If your scent gets on me, my wife might get the wrong idea."

Babel gave a disdainful smile at Lin Yi's nonsense.

She had not brought him here because she had a thing for married men.

"I hear that Liyue's Geo Archon's Gnosis is no longer in the Geo Archon's possession-in your possession, that is. Is that true?"

Lin Yi's heart lurched at her words.

Very few people knew that he had traded the Gnosis to the Fatui.

How could this Abyssal Monster he had never met before know such a secret?

Instantly, Lin Yi grew wary. Light flickered in his eyes, but he could not see through the woman before him.

At that moment, Lin Yi noticed that Babel held a magical implement resembling a triangular pendant, which shimmered with a strange light.

He could feel that light enveloping his body, an unfamiliar force invading him.

It was as though he had been laid completely bare in an instant, without a single secret left.

No! I have far too many secrets. Exposing even one of them would be enough to shake the entire continent. I can't let some minor character bring me down!

Before Lin Yi could focus his mind and resist, something happened.

The system in his mind triggered its protective mechanism.

Ding! Intrusion detected. Internal system protection activated. The opposing party's item has been blocked from scanning the host. Block duration: indefinite!

Babel smiled smugly, seemingly delighted that she could uncover the secrets of Liyue's New God so easily.

But in the next instant, her expression changed.

The light from the magical implement in her hand abruptly grew unstable. Before her eyes, a crack split the Elemental Spirit Crystal powering it.

Its scan of Lin Yi failed outright, and the device itself was damaged. It would never be able to perform another scan!

She had expected to complete her mission effortlessly. Instead, her device had been ruined before she could even get started.

Her gaze held a little more anger when she looked at Lin Yi again.

"Heh. I certainly didn't expect you to damage my device while tied up. Have you been playing weak to catch me off guard?"

Babel was actually deeply pained by the loss, but she was facing a god, after all. She could not allow too much emotion to show, lest it become a weakness he could exploit.

What was more, her magical implement had been crafted from a spiritually potent branch taken from Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's true form, the World Tree. Its value went without saying.

Now that it was damaged, repairing it was impossible!

As for how Babel knew about the Gnosis, she had no intention of explaining.

"Don't be impatient. Even if my magical implement doesn't work, I have other ways of getting what I want~"

"What exactly do you want? I can't stand women like you, who think being a little pretty gives them the right to overstep every boundary!"

Lin Yi kept struggling, forcing his mind to calm down as he searched for a way to respond.

He could barely gather any elemental power. Though the timing was far from ideal, the Rock-Cast Spear was the only thing he could use now.

Perhaps the system's level was still too low. Beyond the basic functions he already knew about, it could not help Lin Yi analyze his opponent's strength.

And Babel was an entirely new character about whom he had no information whatsoever.

Without knowing her personality, background, or anything else, Lin Yi had no idea whether immediately using his trump card would work.

His hands were tied behind the chair, conveniently out of Babel's sight.

Summoning the handgun directly from his system inventory would not produce any detectable elemental power, either.

He only needed to adjust his position and aim the muzzle at Babel.

An attack she had never seen before could at least help Lin Yi escape his current predicament.

He needed to buy a little time.

"Right, since you've already captured me, there's something I'm curious about... What did you mean when you said that bullshit prophecy foretold my arrival?"

Lin Yi tried to blaspheme the prophecy she believed in. Though displeased, she could hardly say much in response.

Babel had crossed the ocean to come here, but she had not come to blindly assassinate Liyue's New God.

Since the Gnosis was no longer in his possession, she could only collect some of Lin Yi's blood.

Among the Eremites, a god's blood was collectively known as the god factor, and this god factor had significant uses.

"Let's stop wasting each other's time. I only need a little of your blood. I'll let you go afterward."

"No. Forget my blood-you're not taking even a single strand of my hair!"

Babel was just about to act when an unsettling, terrifying aura suddenly spread toward her.