Who Goes There? Wait, I Think I'm the One Who Came Here

He was going to use the Star of the City Ninth Door Identity to deliver a merciless dimensionality-reduction strike against this group of primitive creatures from Teyvat.

However, the familiar dark golden light did not appear on his retina.

A red warning box popped up with a cold electronic chime.

[Warning: insufficient Lunacy. This system does not support drawing a specified Identity.]

[Warning: target threat level too low.]

[System assessment: forcibly using an Identity against fodder-class targets such as "low-level Hilichurls" will cause severe energy overflow.]

[Conclusion: why use an ox cleaver to kill a chicken? This is a bad deal. The host is advised to improve his basic combat skills or make a strategic retreat.]

"Improve my ass, you stingy system!"

The Hilichurls weren't about to give him time to stand around in a daze.

"Gusha!"

A few Hilichurls had brought over two red Pyro Slime explosive barrels from who knew where and were rolling them down the grassy slope toward Wei Zhenzu.

The fuses were hissing and spitting sparks.

Wei Zhenzu watched the two explosive barrels draw closer, then looked at the Hilichurl formation waiting for him in the distance. The corners of his mouth twitched twice in despair.

He couldn't beat them.

Without an Identity, he was a modern man with only a chef's physique. He couldn't beat these monsters who understood military tactics.

"Things are looking bad! Let's scram!"

Wei Zhenzu decisively pulled out his bone-chopping knife and put it back in the system space.

He turned and ran, bursting into a full hundred-meter sprint.

As he passed the spot where Paimon had made the fire, he grabbed the little sprite by the back of her collar. She was holding the roasted Sunsettia and watching the show.

"Huh? Huh? Huh? Traveler? Are you done fighting? Can we eat now?"

Paimon kicked her short little legs in midair, looking utterly bewildered.

"Eat, my ass! Run! Any later and the Hilichurls will turn us both into meat skewers."

Carrying Paimon, Wei Zhenzu plunged deeper into the Whispering Woods without looking back.

Behind them, the sounds of a joyous dance erupted from the Hilichurl camp.

They raised their wooden clubs, celebrating their victory in this great war to defend their homeland.

Half an hour later.

Beside a clear stream deep in the Whispering Woods.

Wei Zhenzu lay sprawled on the grass by the stream, gasping for breath.

His suit, which hadn't fit him very well to begin with, had now been completely reduced to beggar's rags, covered in holes and scorch marks.

However, thanks to the system's enhancement, his suit would be restored to perfect condition whenever he slept.

Paimon sat on a rock, carefully cradling the roasted Sunsettia that had survived. She took a bite, then looked sympathetically at the man lying on the ground, who had lost all desire to live.

Wei Zhenzu struggled to his feet and walked over to the stream.

He looked down at the water.

The clear water reflected his current appearance: his hair was a mess, as if he'd been struck by lightning, there was a scrape on his left cheek, and he even had a black eye where a Hilichurl's wooden club had grazed him.

His face was bruised and swollen, a sorry sight.

Wei Zhenzu stared at himself in the water, sinking into deep self-doubt.

A chilly breeze blew past, as if mocking his arrogance.

"This is outrageous..."

Wei Zhenzu's lips trembled. He suddenly threw his head back and let out a long, anguished howl at the sky.

He slammed a fist into the grass beside him, overcome with grief and indignation.

"I! The illustrious Honorary Knight of the Knights of Favonius, got beaten up by a few Hilichurls with wooden clubs and broken shields! They even sent me running with my hands over my head!"

Wei Zhenzu covered his face in despair, his voice full of indescribable bitterness.

"If word gets out, how am I supposed to get by in Teyvat... My reputation is completely ruined!"

Paimon flew over and offered him the Sunsettia she'd bitten into, comforting him gently:

"Don't be sad, Traveler. Look on the bright side: at least you ran fast enough that you didn't actually get turned into a grilled steak. Here, have a bite of fruit to settle your nerves."

Wei Zhenzu looked at the fruit, wanting to cry but unable to shed a tear.

A fallen hero. Life in this other world was getting harder and harder.

Paimon struggled to pick the cockleburs out of her hair and tossed them into the stream.

She came closer and looked at the bruises on Wei Zhenzu's face with concern.

"Never mind your reputation. Our first problem right now is dinner."

Paimon rubbed her empty little belly and said pitifully, "I'm almost starving."

Wei Zhenzu let out a long sigh.

He wiped the droplets of water off his face and sat up straight, helpless.

A hero brought low by a lack of money for food: that was an eternal truth.

"All right. Take out all the money you have."

Wei Zhenzu patted the dust off his pant legs.

"Let's count our assets and see what we can still buy for a meal."

He began rummaging through everything.

His left pants pocket, his right pants pocket, the inside pocket of his suit.

He even checked the soles of his shoes.

In the end, he pulled out a few dusty coins.

He carefully placed the coins on a large, flat rock beside him.

Paimon hurriedly searched her little cape as well.

There was nothing in her little pocket except a few breadcrumbs.

She even shook her cape hard, as if hoping a coin would fall out.

In the end, she could only spread her hands in embarrassment.

Wei Zhenzu held out an index finger and began counting the coins on the rock.

"One, two, three... ten, fifteen."

When he reached the end, Wei Zhenzu's finger froze.

He counted them again in disbelief.

A pitiful fifteen Mora lay all alone on the large rock.

In the setting sun, the fifteen Mora reflected a bleak light called "poverty."

"We only have fifteen Mora left?"

Paimon innocently shrank back and nodded guiltily.

"Y-yes. We spent two hundred Mora on those two bags of coarse salt in the city. This is everything we have left."

"What can fifteen Mora buy?"

Wei Zhenzu clutched his messy hair in anguish, feeling his blood pressure soar.

"The cheapest mushroom chicken skewer at Good Hunter costs four hundred and fifty Mora, and even a bottle of the most ordinary spring water costs a hundred. We can't even afford a single uncooked mushroom stem now."

Paimon pouted pitifully, poking her index fingers together in front of her chest.

"Then... then we can only drink stream water tonight. Or, or I could go pick some Sweet Flowers by the road. They taste sweet when you chew them. If we chew a few, maybe we can fool our stomachs into thinking we've eaten."

Wei Zhenzu tilted his head back.

He looked at the great oak's lush branches and leaves, sinking into deep despair.

Life in another world without money was truly difficult at every turn.

If he'd known, he would have risked his life just now to chop up two Hilichurls and collect the bounty.

Just as Wei Zhenzu was preparing to accept his fate and considering whether to catch fish in the lake, a strange sound suddenly came from the other side of the great oak.

"Sigh..."

It was an exceptionally clear sigh.

The sigh was very long, lasting a full five seconds.

The sound was filled with melancholy, rising and falling, even carrying a touch of utter world-weariness, as though the speaker had seen through the mortal world.

Wei Zhenzu immediately pricked up his ears and turned his head alertly.

"Someone there?"

He made a "shh" gesture at Paimon.

He rose quietly, pressed himself against the thick trunk, and carefully crept around it like a thief.

A young man sat on the sheltered side of the great oak, the side facing Cider Lake.