Returning to Liyue Harbor

"The curse has been successfully cast, right."

"And who knows what will actually happen."

Qiu Xue smiled slyly to herself.

The Doctor pulled the limping Qiu Xue along, then turned her head to look at the Mirror Maiden.

"She is in your hands now."

With that, she handed Qiu Xue over to the Mirror Maiden, then stopped looking at Qiu Xue and walked forward alone.

"Understood, Lord Doctor."

The Mirror Maiden looked at the peerless beauty before her, her face turning slightly red as she hoisted Qiu Xue onto her back.

Qiu Xue's two jade legs and jade feet simply hung around the Mirror Maiden's waist, and her two arms hooked over the shoulders.

The nearby Pyro and Cryo skirmishers stared intently at those two legs.

Yet beneath the Mirror Maiden's icy glare, they quickly withdrew their lecherous gazes.

I have to admit, the Mirror Maiden has a really nice figure.

She's so tall, too, at least over one meter ninety, right?

Qiu Xue thought with a strange inward curiosity, are everyone in Snezhnaya this tall?

"Ding!"

"Host task completed!"

"Reward: one lottery chance!"

The system's voice rang out in Qiu Xue's mind.

"A lottery chance?"

Hanging behind the Mirror Maiden, Qiu Xue thought with mild puzzlement.

"Ding!"

"Replying to Host!"

"The Host may open the system's lottery page to draw a prize!"

Hearing the system's explanation, Qiu Xue's thoughts stirred.

"Open the lottery page!"

A flurry of golden items greeted her eyes, leaving Qiu Xue dazzled.

There were imitation Gnosis, multipliers for divine power, and all sorts of random things.

"Draw!"

Qiu Xue shouted inwardly.

"Ding! Congratulations to the Host for winning a pair of stockings condensed from the Law of Yang!"

"Pfft!"

Hanging on the Mirror Maiden's back, Qiu Xue lost her composure and spat.

The Mirror Maiden turned her head back with some confusion to look at Qiu Xue's delicate and pretty face.

"What is wrong, Miss?"

The Mirror Maiden asked in bewilderment.

"It's nothing, Sister!"

"I just remembered something happy."

Hanging behind the Mirror Maiden, Qiu Xue hurriedly spoke up.

"Oh..."

The Mirror Maiden turned back around and continued carrying Qiu Xue forward.

Qiu Xue's face flashed red and white as embarrassment surged into her heart.

"System! Did you do this on purpose!"

Qiu Xue shouted angrily and shyly at the system in her mind.

"The Host is truly wronging the system here!"

"These stockings are a fine treasure; wearing them will slowly nourish your divine power!"

Listening to the system's straight-faced nonsense made Qiu Xue furious.

"Hehe~"

"Besides, these stockings suit the Host so well!"

The system's mechanical voice took on a humanly lecherous tone.

"System, do you even hear yourself?"

Just as Qiu Xue was about to argue further with the system.

A thud sounded from up ahead!

"Lord Doctor, Lord Doctor!"

"How did you fall over?"

The voices of four or five Fatui pulled Qiu Xue's focus back.

Curious, she looked ahead.

Qiu Xue's mouth twitched.

She saw that the Doctor, not far ahead, had actually tripped over a stone.

Moreover, the ground was exceptionally damp, as if it had just rained yesterday.

Covered from head to toe in mud, the Doctor's crow mask was also smeared with a paste of dirt.

The nearby Fatui hurried forward to help the Doctor up.

The Doctor simply stretched out one hand to stop the Fatui, her expression unreadable.

Judging by the look of it, however, she was probably furious.

The Doctor kicked the offending stone far away with a single foot.

Then she turned her head to look at Qiu Xue, who was riding on the Mirror Maiden's back.

"Hahahaha, it seems one really does trip over things here."

"Miss, when you come here in the future, remember to watch the ground."

Unaccustomed to such awkward occurrences, the Doctor could only use laughter to mask her embarrassment.

A moment ago she had still been wondering whether this Qiu Xue might be an intelligence scout or the like from Liyue Harbor.

As she spoke, the Doctor walked onward once more.

Then... she face-planted into the mud again.

"Pfft~"

"Hahahaha!"

Hanging behind the Mirror Maiden, Qiu Xue lost her composure and laughed out loud.

The nearby Fatui covered their mouths; they wanted to laugh, but they dared not.

The Mirror Maiden also covered her mouth, sporting a deeply suppressed grin.

As for the Cryo Bracer...

"Lord Doctor is so funny."

"She fell down twice in a row."

The Cryo Bracer looked at the fallen Doctor and said with honest bluntness.

The Doctor shook her body, stood up, and glared at the Cryo Bracer behind her.

The urge to slice someone could not be concealed in that gaze.

So that's how this curse works.

Hahaha, seeing the deadpan Doctor take a tumble is just hilarious.

When the Doctor looked back, Qiu Xue covered her mouth and fought hard to hold back her laughter.

"Ding!"

"Replying to Host, the stronger the target's strength, the greater the curse's effect!"

"It causes a person to experience bad luck for an entire day!"

The system explained.

"I see."

"No wonder the Doctor has become this unlucky; she hasn't even used this authority herself yet."

Hearing the system's explanation, Qiu Xue nodded, then cast her beautiful eyes back toward the ill-fated Doctor.

The Doctor got to her feet, not caring whether her body was dirty, and continued walking forward.

"What is going on here?"

The Doctor muttered inwardly with a sense of strangeness.

This time she watched her footing, taking every step with utmost care for fear of tripping again.

Yet no matter how careful she was, she could never be more careful than the birds in the sky.

Indeed, a flock of birds circled directly above the Doctor's head, lingering in the sky right over her.

A moment later, it began to rain down upon the Doctor's head, dropping things that looked just like chocolate.

The Doctor looked up at the sky.

Even with all her composure.

She still couldn't help uttering: "What the hell!"

And so, all along the journey, the Fatui and Qiu Xue simply watched as the Doctor tripped every few steps and rained chocolate from above.

After a day of hurried travel, a ray of morning sunlight in Liyue illuminated a dense forest.

Indeed, after a night of travel, their party had finally reached a dense forest on the outskirts of Liyue Harbor.

At this moment, the Doctor, the Fatui, and Qiu Xue sat gathered around a campfire.

"As for today's events, I must ask this young lady not to speak of them."

The Doctor looked at Qiu Xue before her with a smiling face.

"Don't worry, milord, I haven't even thanked you for saving me yet."

"My foot is almost fully healed, and Liyue Harbor is close now, so let me walk back by myself."

Looking at the smiling Doctor, Qiu Xue nearly failed to hold back her laughter.

She never imagined the Doctor would show such an expression.

"Hehe, very well then."

"Then let us meet again if fate allows."

The Doctor gazed at Qiu Xue with a full smile, practically wishing the girl would leave faster.

"Sister Maiden, and you other brothers."

"I'll be on my way first, feel free to come find me in Liyue Harbor sometime!"

With that, Qiu Xue stood up, brushed off the dust, and headed in the direction of Liyue Harbor.

The Mirror Maiden watched Qiu Xue's retreating figure with a trace of sorrow.

For she did not know whether, after this matter, she would ever have the chance to see Qiu Xue again.

"The Lord Doctor is going to release the Demon God from the ocean floor."

"Who knows if this little sister will be all right."

The Mirror Maiden watched Qiu Xue's fading back, then lowered her gaze to the campfire, remaining silent for a long time.

The Cryo Bracer, who had been sitting by the campfire, also stood up.

He shouted toward Qiu Xue's retreating back: "Goodbye, Sister!"

Without looking back, Qiu Xue raised one hand and waved.

"Goodbye, Cryo Bracer!"

The Doctor watched Qiu Xue's back until it vanished entirely, at which point a chilling smile abruptly surfaced at the corner of her mouth.

"In any case, as a citizen of Liyue, you don't have long to live anyway."

"I'll let you live one more day."

The corners of the Doctor's mouth suddenly shifted back into a cordial smile as she turned to look at the Fatui behind her.

"Not a word of today's events is to leave your lips."

"Understood?"

The Fatui behind her nodded hastily, well aware of how twisted and perverse the Doctor before them truly was.