What's Wrong with Your Candy?

Paimon turned to look at Dunyarzad, then gazed in the direction Xingsu had gone, his mind a jumble. "So... what do we do now? Should we continue exploring the festival?"

Ying gripped her Dull Blade tightly, glanced at the cheering crowd around her, and whispered:

"Let's stay with Dunyarzad first. If, according to Xingsu, this is a dream, then we can definitely wake up. There must be a way to escape this trap. Let's explore the area while searching for flaws in this dream."

"Okay, I believe you. So, what's next..."

"Good!"

"Perform one more!"

Cheers and enthusiastic applause rose and fell from not far away, instantly drowning out their conversation.

In the center of the crowd, Lyney, dressed as the Knight of Flowers Farris, once again performed a magic show. Her smooth and gorgeous techniques, along with the candy raining down from the sky, easily captured the hearts of all the children present.

"The Flower Knight is amazing!"

The children, their hands full of candy, looked up at the elegant figure on the stage with sparkling eyes and adoring expressions.

Lyney raised her hand to conclude, smiling gently, "Alright, brave little soldiers! With your loyalty to the Lesser Lord Kusanali in your hearts, disperse!"

"Loyalty! Honesty!" the children responded in unison, then skipped and hopped away in all directions.

Ying led the two forward and asked softly, "Hello, I saw a lot of people gathered here earlier. May I ask what kind of stall this is?"

"Let me introduce him!" Dunyarzad stepped forward and explained softly, "This is Knight of Flowers Fawaisi, one of the classic symbols of the Sabzeruz Festival, and he has always been very popular with children."

Lyney, who plays the Flower Knight, smiled at the group and said, "Oh, by the way, are you interested in Yalda Candies? I have a few boxes of candies here; feel free to choose."

Paimon flew around the neatly arranged candy boxes twice, looking puzzled. "These boxes look exactly the same. I can't tell them apart at all. How am I supposed to choose?"

"Haha, that's the fun part! Each box contains a random flavor, so what you get is purely based on luck."

The candy tastes like lizard tail, Onikabuto, Onikabuto tail, and even the Onikabuto flavor that a lizard has eaten...

"Ah! Stop, stop, stop! What kind of weird, hellish flavors are these?!" Paimon shuddered instantly.

"Don't worry, of course there's a regular flavor," Lyney added, suppressing a laugh, "Like the improved Sunsettia."

"Improved Sunsettia? I'd love to try it!" Paimon's interest was instantly piqued, and he immediately looked at Ying, "Traveler, help me choose! I want to eat the improved Sunsettia candy!"

"No problem." Lyney pointed to a row of gift boxes. "There are five boxes in total, numbered one to five from left to right. Which one would you like to choose?"

The next second, a strangely familiar memory flashed uncontrollably through Ying's mind, as if she had experienced the same scene countless times before.

Her pupils dilated slightly, and she almost instinctively blurted out, "Number Four."

"Haha, congratulations! Number four is a modified Sunsettia flavor!"

"I knew it! The Traveler is incredibly lucky!" Paimon swayed smugly, a sweet aroma wafting over. He couldn't wait to grab a candy and pop it into his mouth.

The moment the candy touches your mouth --

Paimon's movements suddenly froze.

"Well..."

"How is it? Delicious, isn't it?" Lyney asked with a smile.

"Good..."

Before he could finish speaking, Paimon's body went limp, his eyes rolled back, his head snapped to the side, and he collapsed to the ground.

Paimon died after eating them.

"Paimon! Paimon!"

Ying's heart tightened suddenly, and she rushed forward instantly. With one hand, she quickly supported Paimon's limp back, and with the other hand, she pinched Paimon's cheeks without hesitation, gently lifting them upwards to make her mouth open slightly.

Immediately afterwards, Ying's fingertips swiftly probed into Paimon's mouth, precisely pressing against the base of her tongue to gently induce vomiting, while simultaneously supporting her body and gently patting her back.

Cough cough cough!

The candy that had been vomited up rolled on the ground.

Ying breathed a sigh of relief, but was still worried. She quickly knelt down beside him and asked, "Paimon! Are you alright? Is anything bothering you?"

Seeing this, Lyney hurried over, her face showing concern.

"What's wrong? What happened? What's wrong?"

Without making a sound, he slipped his hand into his sleeve, his fingertips touching the hidden prop, and quickly considered various possible solutions in his mind.

Paimon floated in mid-air, swaying its head, and a faint, eerie voice drifted out. "So... sour... so sour..."

She frowned, her face contorted in fear, and looked at Ying with lingering apprehension. "Traveler, I think I can taste what Raiden Shogun's cooking tastes like..."

"Ah?"

Ying and Lyney both froze on the spot, stunned.

"How could it be sour? Did they add too much lemon juice? That's impossible..." Lyney peeled back the candy wrapper and examined the candy.

"Is it some kind of improved flavor? Let me try it." Dunyarzad smelled the sweet aroma and curiously picked one up and put it in her mouth.

Then... Sumeru stood at attention.

Dunyarzad fell straight backward, landing squarely on Paimon was still dazed and had just recovered.

On the other side, Ying picked up a pill with some skepticism, gently licked it, and then...

The travel girl also stood at attention.

With a thud, Ying fell straight to the ground.

"Traveler!" Paimon could only anxiously call her name as Dunyarzad was pinned down.

Lyney, who had originally planned to try one herself, stopped abruptly upon hearing the noise.

His hand, holding the candy, froze in mid-air. The smile on his face vanished, his Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and his tentative thoughts were instantly dispelled.

"Wait, no way?" He quickly squatted down and reached out to check Ying and Dunyarzad's breathing. Only after confirming that their breathing was steady did he secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

Lyney turned to Paimon, who was pinned at the bottom and kicking his legs, with a wry smile. "This... is it so sour it made someone faint? Is this candy really that acidic...?"

Paimon laboriously burrowed halfway out from under Dunyarzad: "It's more than just excessive! That sour taste rushed from the tip of my tongue to the top of my head, my mind went blank, and everything went black!"

"Uh..." Yingyou, who had only lightly licked herself, slowly woke up from the ground. "Paimon... I think I saw my brother. We traveled together, met Venti and Zhongli... and then Raiden Shogun warmly invited us to dinner..."

"That's a revolving lantern!"

"Oh my god, why didn't you say so earlier?"

"But I'm glad you're alright..."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Lyney scratched the back of his head sheepishly, his face full of guilt. "It seems there was a problem with the ingredient ratio of this batch of candy. I'll destroy the rest immediately."

He paused abruptly as soon as he finished speaking, "But it seems this Miss Dunyarzad just swallowed a whole candy..."

"Oh no!" ×2

In the room where they were resting, the Traveler and Paimon, who had been busy all day, were still occupied.

"Sigh, Traveler, Dunyarzad is alright now, it's just a pity I didn't get to take her to see Nilou's Dance of Sabzeruz."

"It's good that she's alright. According to Xingsu, if this was all a dream, then there will always be a chance."

"Traveler, how many times have we attended the Sabzeruz Festival? We'll probably forget everything that happened today when we wake up the next day."

Ying thought for a moment, "If we really are going to forget everything, then... trust Xingsu."