Venti Was in Danger

He realized something was wrong.

Zhongli had told Lin Yi that Venti would also be here.

Even Xiao had not known that this matter had anything to do with Venti, but since Zhongli had said it, it could not be a lie.

Since Venti was not here, he was probably out investigating the matter too.

But this dark, windy night was perfect for murder and arson. Lin Yi could not shake the feeling that the ghost of Guizhong would cause trouble.

"Xiao, can you contact that unreliable bard, Venti?"

Xiao shook his head.

"My Call of the Summoned only works for people born and raised in Liyue. Venti is Mondstadt's Anemo Archon. I cannot go directly to him."

Lin Yi stood and looked out the window. A faintly blood-red moon actually hung in the sky.

It bathed the land in the color of red wine.

"No, his Gnosis has been taken too, so his strength has dropped considerably. Besides, we still don't know how powerful this possible ghost is."

"We'd better go look for him. The Guili Plains aren't huge, but they're not small either. I'll go organize a search party right now!"

Whenever trouble arose, Lin Yi always showed excellent judgment and an ability to act.

He acted boldly and decisively.

Words like indecisive and hesitant had practically nothing to do with him.

Xiao and the others nodded. Cloud Retainer took Madame Ping ahead to search for traces of Venti.

Meanwhile.

Xiao took Lin Yi Riding the Wind and swiftly returned to camp.

Most of the workers had already gone to bed.

But Lin Yi wasted no time talking. A blast from a loudspeaker woke everyone.

They hurried outside and lined up before him.

"What happened?"

Keqing and Xiangling were also bleary-eyed, their clothes not even properly fastened.

Lin Yi draped two of his coats over them, then gave his orders clearly and concisely.

"Something has happened on the Guili Plains. I'll have to ask everyone to stay up another night. Thank you for your efforts."

"Everyone, form groups of ten and spread out in every direction to search. Your target is Venti from Mondstadt. He's currently dressed in Baroque-style clothing with a green cape and a Cecilia tucked into his hat brim. Report immediately if you find him or notice anything unusual. Is that clear?"

"Yes!"

Everyone shouted their answer. Searching for someone on a dark, windy night was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Although most of the monsters had been cleared out, danger could still arise.

The situation was urgent, leaving little time to worry about much else. Still, Lin Yi established a chain of sentry posts to prevent the teams from venturing too far and losing contact with the camp.

"Your own safety comes before completing the mission. If you run into danger, run back here as fast as your legs can carry you! Do you understand?"

"Understood!"

"Good. Form your teams and move out immediately!"

Lin Yi had already built tremendous authority and influence among the people of Liyue. His orders gave them direction.

Even if they had to risk their lives tonight, they would complete the task he had given them.

Liyue had never been home to spineless cowards!

"Keqing and Xiangling, stay here and watch over the materials and administrative staff."

Lin Yi's arrangements were thorough.

But with the enemy hidden while they were exposed, he kept reviewing every step, searching for anything he could improve.

"What about you, Lin Yi?"

"Don't worry. The Conqueror of Demons is with me. I'll be fine!"

Xiao nodded. With him there, nothing would happen to Lin Yi.

The Rock Ring appeared, and Lin Yi loaded a full magazine of compressed Geo bullets into his silenced pistol.

Two of them had even been formed from the elemental power within Zhongli's body, their power rivaling Heavenly Motion Ammunition.

It was plain to see that Lin Yi was furious.

"Whether you're a demon, a ghost, or someone playing tricks, if you cause trouble on the Guili Plains, I'll kill you!"

Time to move out and find him!

Somewhere deep within a secret underground space beneath the Guili Plains.

Venti was running without stopping, as though something was chasing him.

There was almost no light underground, and even elemental power was restricted to a degree.

Even as a Wind Sprite, Venti kept running into things in this space, leaving his whole body aching.

He had no suitable weapon at hand. His bedraggled, wary expression made it clear that his opponent was more than he could handle.

"Unbelievable. How did I run into something like this in the middle of the night? This is seriously creepy!"

For even the easygoing Venti to say that, the thing pursuing him, making strange noises behind him all the while, had to be anything but ordinary!

What was more, the entrance to this underground space was extremely well hidden. It would be difficult for anyone to discover he was here.

He might really have to get himself out of danger.

Because he had converted a great deal of his divine power into the power of wind to protect Mondstadt, Venti had long borne the title of the weakest god.

He had not even lasted three exchanges against La Signora before she took his Gnosis.

Although the title of weakest god in terms of raw strength had now fallen to Lin Yi.

Faced with danger like this, beyond anything ordinary imagination could conceive, even Venti's cunning and wisdom left him hard-pressed.

Rustle, rustle...

"I haven't even caught my breath, and it's caught up again? It really won't leave me alone!"

Helpless, Venti could only keep heading deeper.

Not long after he left.

A faintly glowing figure, its feet suspended in midair, slowly drifted into view. It followed Venti deeper inside, a sight that made one's hair stand on end.

Every so often, it also emitted an eerie mechanical clacking.

Aboveground.

As Zhongli's divine authority deepened, Lin Yi could faintly sense that there was another unusual Anemo life-form on the Guili Plains besides Xiao.

He looked up at the blood-red moon. It could not be in the sky.

But when he looked beneath his feet, Lin Yi fell into thought.

He suddenly remembered a random hidden quest he had stumbled upon while playing Genshin Impact.

It had mentioned that, like The Chasm, the Guili Plains had underground spaces of unfathomable depth.

Mineral deposits and even Ancient Relics might lie buried within.

He had not paid much attention while playing, of course, but recalling it today truly gave Lin Yi a lead.

"Xiao, do you think the ground beneath the Guili Plains is hollow?"

"You sensed it too, Lord Lin Yi?"

It seemed Xiao, who constantly traveled throughout Liyue, had also noticed something was wrong.

The two arrived at a relatively open stretch of low-lying ground.

Even when Xiao channeled the power of wind, he could not use resonance to determine whether the ground beneath them was hollow.

"Still no good. Rather than probing with elemental power, perhaps the dumbest method is the smartest."

"You mean digging?"

The first thing Lin Yi thought of was the Land Reclamation Device.

If it could fill, it could dig. Every device inherently had two entirely different yet interconnected functions.

Without wasting any more time, Xiao carried Lin Yi on the wind and raced back to camp.

Looking at the materials piled into little mountains all over the ground.

Lin Yi had no time for reservations. He conjured the Device Blueprint in front of everyone.

Although Keqing and the others were curious about this unfamiliar thing, they held their tongues.