A Guide Will Show You the Way
So hot.
It was more than the pain of his flesh burning.
The Golden Bough clutched tightly in his palm now felt like a red-hot branding iron.
Through Wei Zhenzu's veins, it was forcibly pouring a vast, chaotic, terrifying energy that did not belong to this world deep into his soul.
Hah... I can't muster any strength.
Wei Zhenzu lifted his head with difficulty and looked through the holes in his mask, smeared with blood and tar, at the deformed monster hovering in the air, blocking out the sky over the entire ruin.
The Heavenly Demon swung its six wings wildly, their feathers hung with guillotine blades.
"...Kneel... before this absolute... power... and receive... your... judgment..."
Along the edges of its black wings, countless Judgement Bird eyes looked down coldly at the insects below.
The enormous scale on its chest, made of poisonous blood and bones, emitted a dry, grating sound that set the teeth on edge.
A destructive, corrosive pressure was rapidly gathering.
Damn it... am I really going to die here?
Feeling the energy inside him on the verge of exploding, Wei Zhenzu wore a grim smile, forced onto his lips by the backlash from his identity, that now looked unbearably stiff and ironic.
What the hell...
I just transmigrated, and I haven't enjoyed a single thing yet. Am I being forced offline already?
And worst of all... I haven't even gotten to pet Little Don yet...
If I could just pat her head, dying would be worth it.
Cough.
Wei Zhenzu suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs.
Is this... really the end?
The holy golden light, which had been on the verge of collapse under the corrosion of the Abyss's poisonous blood, finally unleashed a soul-piercing resonance when it touched that desperate madness deep in Wei Zhenzu's soul.
The resonance even drowned out the Heavenly Demon's roar and the howling storm.
The world before Wei Zhenzu's eyes turned dazzling white in an instant.
His vision was stripped away in an instant.
The raging wind, the dragon's roars, and the overpowering stench of blood all vanished at once.
The world fell utterly silent, and space was forcibly replaced.
A suffocating expanse of pure, immaculate white.
There was no up or down, no boundary.
Even pain and exhaustion seemed to have been stripped away by the stark whiteness.
In that deathly silence, a woman's gentle, compassionate voice, carrying a chillingly seductive allure, murmured in his ear.
"You're suffering, aren't you?"
"Your unrecognized dream of becoming a chef, the beliefs you've struggled to uphold..."
"You're powerless, aren't you? Just like you were back then..."
Wei Zhenzu's consciousness faltered.
"All this time, you've been struggling to live up to other people's expectations..."
Yes... in the end, even after coming here, I still couldn't protect the people around me...
"Why not put everything down and listen to the truest voice in your heart? Come, show your true form. You no longer need to suffer under those cold commands..."
But before Wei Zhenzu's overtaxed soul could respond,
a shrill system alarm abruptly tore through the whiteness.
A cascade of scarlet code streamed down across his vision, only to be completely covered by pure, overwhelming golden light, forcibly cutting off the woman's deadly enticement.
[High-level Distortion entity detected] [Golden Bough energy resonance rate has exceeded the threshold; core permissions forcibly unlocked]
Wei Zhenzu's eyes widened as he watched three dark gold icons light up one after another on the panel.
His heart, failing from overexertion, suddenly skipped a beat.
[Three highest-level permissions unlocked] [Abnormality Containment Unit], [Bus Projection], [Tree of Light Sapling Ability]
Meanwhile.
As the Golden Bough resonated violently, a spatial rift radiating dazzling golden light suddenly tore open inside the passenger compartment of Mephistopheles as it sped through The City.
The rift expanded rapidly, its distorted edges gradually stabilizing as it became a deep portal in the middle of the compartment.
From beyond the portal came the faint but deafening roars of a raging dragon and the desperate howl of a storm.
"Hey, hey, hey! What the hell is that now? Is there a draft in the bus?"
Heathcliff nearly jumped out of his seat in fright, instinctively tightening his grip on his bat.
"Everyone, back away. Now." Ishmael quickly raised her shield and stood at the very front, her expression wary.
"Don't go near that unknown void. It might suck us in."
"Whoa, that looks super exciting!" Rodya rubbed her hands together eagerly, her eyes sparkling, every bit the gambler.
"I wonder if there are any valuable spoils or big gold nuggets on the other side? If we could make a fortune, crossing over and taking a little risk might not be so bad~"
"U-um!" Sinclair stammered, shrinking back and clutching his halberd tightly, his face pale.
"We'd better not go near it."
"Faust knows." Faust crossed her legs elegantly, her tone perfectly calm.
"This is a cross-dimensional spatial rift caused by the Golden Bough's resonance. The battlefield the manager is currently on lies beyond the portal."
Gregor scratched his messy hair and held down his insectified right arm, which was twitching restlessly.
"The wind's making this arm of mine ache again. Guys, we'd better listen to Ishmael and keep our distance, right?"
"G.I.T.P. (Got it, that's the plan.)" Ryoshu blew out a smoke ring and drew the tachi at her waist, a dangerous gleam in her eyes.
"Such a phenomenon... like a shard that has torn through the mirror of everyday life." Yi Sang gazed quietly at the golden rift. "Truly... a spectacle."
"Oooh!"
A petite figure in yellow shoved Heathcliff aside.
Don Quixote's eyes shone as she gripped her lance tightly, trembling all over with excitement.
"The gateway to an adventure in another world has finally opened! Hark, the roars of a demon dragon! And the sounds of knights charging! Even the pressure of a giant!"
She thrust her lance toward the portal, striking an impeccably posed, over-the-top knight's charging stance, her cape snapping in the gale blowing out of the rift.
"What manner of injustice has this villain committed?"
"Master Manager, fear not! I come to your aid!"
Just as Don Quixote shouted her declaration and prepared to plunge headlong into the portal, heedless of everything else,
a foot came down on the shaft of her lance, its owner expressionless, pinning her in place.
The temperature in the compartment instantly dropped to freezing, and everyone was too frightened to breathe.
"One more rule." Vergilius's scarlet-glowing eyes swept coldly over everyone, his voice low enough to send chills down their spines.
"No entering portals on the bus without permission."
He casually pushed the still-struggling, protesting Don Quixote aside as though moving a piece of luggage.
He straightened the collar of his coat and strode past the dumbstruck sinners, his gaze cold as he watched the raging storm of Teyvat beyond the portal.
"The situation... doesn't seem very favorable."
"Can this situation be broken without turning back the clock?"
Deep within the pure white space.
Looking at the three permission icons lit up on his retina, especially the [Bus Projection] option flashing wildly and faintly reflecting a reassuring shade of scarlet,
Wei Zhenzu's lips curved into a weary yet utterly unrestrained smile deep within his consciousness.
His awareness returned.
The pure white space shattered like a fragile mirror.
The raging wind, the stench of blood, and the nauseating pressure of the Abyss flooded Wei Zhenzu's senses again like a tsunami.
He was still kneeling on one knee on the cold stone slabs of the ruins, but this time, the Final Judgment Heavenly Demon in the air had stopped its meaningless roaring.
The massive scale on its chest had tipped all the way to "punishment."
"...Nowhere... to run... burdened sinner... doomed to be... dragged into the Abyss..."
The three purple holes in the Heavenly Demon's pale mask began frantically devouring the surrounding light.
An enormous execution array spread rapidly across the sky over Mondstadt, centered on the demon, blotting out all the starlight.
Chains wreathed in black gas were taking shape at the center of the array.
It was a killing move that could easily crush even space itself, a final judgment powerful enough to wipe all of Stormterror's Lair, along with the knights and Wei Zhenzu below, completely off the face of Teyvat.
There was no escaping it, and no blocking it.
"...Listen... to the noose... tightening... that is the sinner's... final... rest..."
The chains twisted together into a spear of judgment and crashed down with the terrifying force of a falling meteor.
In the distance, Varka roared and tried to raise his swords, but the overwhelming pressure pinned him firmly to the ground. His knees sank deep into the stone slabs, and he could not move.
Through the blood-seeping holes in his mask, Wei Zhenzu quietly watched the light of destruction grow larger.
A sudden, incomparably sharp flash of scarlet light swept through the void behind Wei Zhenzu.
"When you cannot see the road ahead..."
Tap.
With a faint ripping sound,
the attack powerful enough to destroy everything was forcibly split in two down the middle in midair.
The raging Abyss energy instantly broke apart into two violent torrents that swept past either side of Wei Zhenzu and smashed the indestructible outer wall of the tower behind him.
The ruins fell deathly silent.
"Tap."
The crisp sound of a leather shoe striking the ground rang out behind Wei Zhenzu.
"When you do not know where to go..."
"Tap."
Wei Zhenzu did not turn around, but he could feel that a tall shadow had passed him and blocked out the suffocating gloom overhead.
The man turned his head slightly and looked across the battlefield, lowering his eyes to Wei Zhenzu, who knelt on one knee, covered in blood.
"A guide will show you the way, Dante."