Wu Yi whipped around.
But the moment he turned, the gaze vanished.
Behind him stood nothing but Bourou Village's low fishermen's cottages and some short bushes.
Then Wu Yi's gaze settled on a particular spot.
Centered on a point in front of the bushes, all the grass and shrubs had withered in an unusual manner. Even the soil had turned somewhat gray.
It was as though something had drained all the life from that place.
Wu Yi raised an eyebrow.
"Interesting."
Judging from his many years of experience roaming the sea of stars, the soil, grass, and bushes in that area had clearly all been given "death."
How strange. Was there a character connected to death in this part of Inazuma's story? Or was it another character added later?
Wu Yi fell into thought.
Unfortunately, in his previous life, a heartless company, a boss who passed the buck, coworkers who slacked off, and endless overtime had forced him to bid farewell to Genshin Impact. Although he had occasionally watched videos of it afterward, he had become a cloud gamer, and his understanding of the game had stopped at the point where the Hydro Dragon Sovereign's spinning attack was ridiculously overpowered...
So there was still plenty about Teyvat that he didn't know...
Shaking his head gently, Wu Yi turned his attention back to the Traveler and her companions. They exchanged brief introductions, and he simply described himself as a traveling doctor.
"Um... from what you were just saying, does that mean... I've already died once?"
Just then, Teppei finally understood the situation and raised his hand to ask.
"Generally speaking, yes." Wu Yi nodded. "You were supposed to die from exhausting too much of your vitality, but I infused you with a large amount of vitality and forcibly brought you back to life."
He knew a little about Teppei, too.
Teppei was a member of the Watatsumi Island Resistance. He was a perfectly ordinary person, but he was all too eager to be extraordinary and desperate to distinguish himself. So when the Fatui secretly concealed the side effects of the Delusion and gave it to him, the naive Teppei actually took it for something akin to a Vision. He activated it again and again in the battles that followed, exhausting his life in the process.
As a doctor, Wu Yi felt he really needed to say a few more words about that:
"I know a little about you," Wu Yi said, glaring at Teppei. "You keep saying you joined the Resistance to do something for Kokomi, Gorou, and everyone on Watatsumi Island. Naturally, there are plenty of ways to do that, so why insist on going to the battlefield to earn military honors? Don't you have any idea what you're capable of?"
"You say you want to distinguish yourself, but don't you just want to show off, play the hero, and bask in the spotlight?"
Teppei froze, but Wu Yi wasn't finished:
"Even a three-year-old knows not to eat candy from strangers. Yet you went and used a weapon someone gave you without even knowing where it came from. Didn't it ever occur to you that power might come at a price?"
"Let's be blunt. The Fatui did hide the side effects, but it was your own body. Your hair had turned so much whiter. Could you really have noticed nothing at all?"
"To put it plainly, you were just taking chances, trying to convince yourself the Delusion's side effects weren't that bad and that using it a little wouldn't kill you. That's why you kept using it, isn't it?"
"I..." Teppei mumbled a few words, but in the end, he couldn't argue. "You're right... I thought too highly of myself, and that's what brought me to this point..."
Teppei sighed.
"The gods really weren't watching over me..."
The people of Teyvat believed that anyone who drew the gaze of the gods could receive a Vision and become extraordinary.
"Whether the gods are watching you or not, what does that have to do with your life?"
Just then, Wu Yi spoke again:
"You've already taken up arms and stepped onto a battlefield to resist a god. Why should you still long for a god's blessing?"
Teppei was stunned. He seemed never to have considered the question.
Wu Yi continued:
"I've heard that there are all kinds of powerful people throughout Teyvat. Among them are those who have tempered themselves through nothing but hard training. Relying on bodies and skills honed through countless trials, they surpass most Vision holders using physical attacks alone."
"If you truly long to be extraordinary, then work hard with your feet on the ground. Strive to become someone like that. Even if you can't achieve it in the end, the process of striving itself can transform you."
"I..."
Looking at Teppei standing there, seemingly lost in thought, Wu Yi patted him on the shoulder and said:
"Think it over, kid."
Teppei pondered for a while longer before nodding earnestly. He seemed to have taken Wu Yi's words to heart:
"I think I understand... Thank you, Doctor. From now on, I'll work hard with my feet on the ground."
As he spoke, he seemed to have finally made a decision. He took the Delusion he had received from inside his clothes and held it out:
"Then I'll rely on my own efforts to get stronger from now on. This is my Delusion. I won't use it anymore, so please take it."
Lumine nodded and was about to reach for it, but Wu Yi reached out and took it first.
"Oh? This little thing seems rather interesting."
He held the Delusion up before his eyes and, with a thought, sent a little of the Power of Abundance into it. Soon, he had roughly figured out its internal structure and how it worked.
It was an artificial "external magical organ" that absorbed vitality and converted it into elemental power.
But... vitality?
That was the one thing his Abundance faction had in abundance.
At the thought, Wu Yi acted on a whim, drawing on a trace of vitality and injecting it directly into the Delusion.
The next instant, violet lightning leaped out of the Delusion. A powerful current of air burst outward from Wu Yi, forcing the people around him back several steps.
The Delusion had changed. Its once-dull purple glass orb now shone with a blinding light, and the Electro energy within it was so dense that it was almost overflowing. Lumine stared at the Delusion, instinctively tensing.
In her memory, this violent Electro energy had already far surpassed that of "Childe" in his Foul Legacy form.
But... she looked at Wu Yi's rather relaxed expression.
It seemed this was still far from his full strength?
"You don't mind giving me this little thing to play with, do you?"
Wu Yi tossed the Delusion in his hand and smiled.
With his abilities, he should be able to whip up a version of the Delusion without side effects in no time.
Lumine and Paimon exchanged a glance and were about to answer when a young woman's voice came from the other side:
"If it's just a Delusion, there's naturally no problem with you taking it, sir."
Wu Yi looked in the direction of the voice and saw a pink-haired girl walking gracefully toward them. It was Sangonomiya Kokomi, the leader of Watatsumi Island and the "Divine Priestess."
Wu Yi wasn't surprised by Kokomi's sudden appearance.
He had noticed that Kokomi had arrived nearby some time ago. She had simply been watching from a distance without approaching.
"However, before we hand the Delusion over to you, I have a question I would like to ask,"
Kokomi said, her expression serious:
"I've never seen you on Watatsumi Island, and your name isn't on the Resistance roster either."
"Mr. Wu Yi, who exactly are you?"
"Me?" Wu Yi smiled. "I'm just a doctor passing through."
In his answer, Wu Yi didn't reveal much about his origins. He merely said he was a doctor who had ended up here after being hunted all the way by a patient dissatisfied with his treatment plan.
Kokomi soon accepted that answer. Wu Yi's treatment of Teppei had earned her initial trust, and she readily told him he was free to come and go on Watatsumi Island.
Just as Kokomi was about to ask Wu Yi to treat the other soldiers on the island whose vitality had been damaged, he brought it up himself, even phrasing it as a request. He also hoped to treat all the other sick and injured people on the island.
There was no other reason than that his urge to practice medicine had flared up.
Kokomi knew nothing of that, however. Hearing Wu Yi's request, she could only think that he truly had a healer's compassionate heart, and she bowed to him earnestly in thanks.
Kokomi quickly gave orders for all the soldiers whose vitality had been damaged by Delusions to be gathered.
Before that, however, Kokomi stopped Wu Yi, who was rather eager to start treating them:
"Doctor Wu, before you begin, please allow me to have someone take you to bathe and change. It would be improper hospitality to have an honored guest like you help us in such a state."
Wu Yi was taken aback. He instinctively looked down at himself, then gave a somewhat awkward smile.
He had nearly forgotten that before crossing over to Teyvat, he had just survived a series of fierce battles by the skin of his teeth. His hair was disheveled, his face was dirty, and his clothes had long since been reduced to rags. He looked like a beggar from who knew where.
Only Lumine and Paimon were carefree enough to let him treat someone. Anyone else wouldn't have dared.
So, led by a maid Kokomi had sent, Wu Yi went to bathe in the hot spring inside Sangonomiya.
When Wu Yi emerged from Sangonomiya again, he had changed into a clean set of Inazuman clothes.
But when he came before everyone again, they all froze at the sight of him.
Paimon was the first to exclaim without a trace of restraint:
"My goodness! You're so handsome!"
The man standing before them looked as though he had stepped straight out of a Yae Publishing House martial arts novel. It would have been no exaggeration to describe him as sharp-eyed and bright-browed, strikingly handsome, and graceful as a jade tree in the wind. He stood straight as a pine, and his every movement carried some of a wandering swordsman's easy elegance.
Not just Paimon, but even the well-traveled Lumine and Kokomi couldn't help stealing a few extra glances.
Wu Yi wasn't surprised by their reactions.
After all, he had received a great deal of the Power of Abundance, and his level of life had long since undergone a transformation. Unlike ordinary Abominations, he hadn't grown out of control, and under the influence of the Power of Abundance, his appearance had reached the pinnacle for humanoid beings.
In all his years roaming the sea of stars, he had rarely seen anyone better-looking than himself. The only ones more handsome were the legendary supreme beings known as the esteemed readers.
"All right, stop staring." Wu Yi cleared his throat and reminded them, "Shouldn't you take me to help those soldiers who've lost their vitality?"
What followed was an unremarkable round of treatment.
After a bit of work, Wu Yi quickly healed all the patients, using the most conservative treatment plan to prevent any aftereffects later on.
A treatment with aftereffects the patient could not accept could not be called a proper treatment. That was a lesson he had learned from the Xianzhou natives.
After confirming that everyone had indeed been cured, Kokomi thanked Wu Yi once more:
"You truly have a healer's compassionate heart... I'm sorry, Doctor Wu. I was wary of someone like you. I judged a gentleman by my own petty standards."
Her next words, however, made Wu Yi lose his composure:
"I've never met anyone as good as you. You have a noble and kind soul, and a heart of gold."
Wu Yi couldn't help laughing aloud:
"...Sorry, but I don't think I could possibly deserve that description. Please take it back."
Wu Yi was at least self-aware. Even by the most lenient standards, he couldn't be considered a good person. Given the things he had done, someone like him would be called an Abomination of Abundance on the Xianzhou.
"Please don't misunderstand, Miss Kokomi."
He shook his head and said:
"I didn't treat them because I wanted to save them."
"I treat illnesses not to save people, but simply to treat illnesses. Healing patients and relieving suffering is how I put my own path into practice."
"So, Miss Kokomi, there's no need to thank me. We were simply each getting what we needed."
After all, his urge to practice medicine had simply flared up.
"Doctor Wu..."
After hearing him out, Kokomi fell silent for a while, then sighed. She tilted her head to look at Wu Yi, her gaze complicated.
Doctor Wu really isn't honest about his feelings.
She couldn't help thinking:
He saved so many people without asking for anything in return the whole time, and he isn't even willing to accept a little praise.
Going by the way Yae Publishing House novels describe it, could Doctor Wu be a tsundere?
After healing all the patients, Wu Yi returned to the guest room Kokomi had prepared for him in Sangonomiya and began studying the Delusion in his possession.
Time passed little by little, and soon it was late at night.
As the clock struck twelve, at the very moment midnight arrived, the sound of something heavy falling to the ground suddenly came from outside Wu Yi's room.
Wu Yi frowned.
He keenly sensed that something had just descended here.
Without much hesitation, Wu Yi quickly got up, opened his door, and stepped into the corridor.
There, unmistakably, was a Sangonomiya maid lying motionless on the floor.
Wu Yi frowned. With his keen eyes, he could naturally tell that although the maid had no external injuries, her soul was already gone. She had "died" without a sound.
"Oh dear..."
Just then, a faint sigh suddenly sounded through the corridor.
It was a woman's voice, languid and cold, unhurried, with a hint of lofty superiority:
"Mortals always think they can manipulate life and death, that they can snatch lives that no longer belong in the mortal world from the hands of 'Death.'"
"Unfortunately, they know nothing of the rules between life and death."
"'Death' has never been a domain mortals should touch."