"Huh? It's you?"
Jiang Xiaofeng turned around. It was Lumine and Paimon, along with a girl in red who was hot, but not entirely hot.
It was the energetic girl, Amber.
Seemingly forgetting what he had said earlier, Jiang Xiaofeng raised a hand in greeting.
"Hello, Lumine, Paimon."
"And Amber."
Amber froze.
"You know me? But I don't think I've met you..."
"And you're wearing Fatui clothes..."
Amber looked at Jiang Xiaofeng's outfit, her tone unfriendly.
Jiang Xiaofeng spread his hands.
"You could say I know everyone of note in Mondstadt."
"And I'm not Fatui. You're overthinking it. It's just an outfit."
Although Amber did not confront him, she did not immediately let her guard down either, merely planning to observe his movements in secret...
"Uh, Miss Amber, is this an acquaintance of yours...?"
Lawrence asked somewhat hesitantly from beside them.
Amber glanced at Lawrence.
"No, I don't know him."
"But the two with me should know him, right, Lumine, Paimon?"
Paimon nodded.
"Of course we know him! We..."
"Only met him briefly just now."
Lumine interrupted Paimon, beating her to it.
"All right, since he's an acquaintance of Miss Amber's friends, that should be fine..."
"Don't forget to tell your Grand Master she doesn't need to come here."
Jiang Xiaofeng mentioned it in passing.
If he did not say something, Jiang Xiaofeng suspected Jean really would come to Mondstadt City's gates and end up making the trip for nothing.
"Oh, right. Okay..."
Jiang Xiaofeng followed Amber and the other two into Mondstadt City.
As soon as he entered, Jiang Xiaofeng habitually surveyed the surrounding buildings, comparing them with the Mondstadt City in his memories. His conclusion was that the real Mondstadt City was indeed not as small as it was in the game.
Many shops operated like street stalls, with residential buildings behind them. There were also bards singing on the second-floor balconies of some buildings...
Wagner was still hammering away at a piece of iron held in his tongs as always, while his apprentice Schulz was forever wandering idly around the smithy with nothing to do.
Little Flora's flower stall was still just as small, but more of her flowers were planted in pots set on the ground...
A man and a woman were forever arguing about discounts on fruit...
Looking at all these familiar sights, Jiang Xiaofeng could not help laughing.
"Haha... it really is the city of freedom. The ease here is nothing like the restrictions of all those rules in Liyue, the nation of contracts."
Although Jiang Xiaofeng had not stayed in Liyue for long and had only looked around a little, almost everyone he had heard or encountered had been thinking about how to swindle more money out of people, or simply running special businesses. Even the Liyue Qixing did not seem to do anything about it!
In short, the people of Liyue were too mercenary.
After all, even when playing the game in his previous life, Jiang Xiaofeng had not liked quite a few of Liyue's NPCs much.
Making money through petty cleverness-I can't control that, nor do I object;
Scheming against each other-I'll reserve judgment;
But how dare you open something like a casino right out on the street!
Does nobody in Liyue Harbor even do anything about it?!
Jiang Xiaofeng had barely encountered any of the pleasant events found in daily commissions.
Perhaps they existed, but he had not seen them. After all, he had only wandered around a little.
Jiang Xiaofeng was not good at all that scheming. All he wanted to do was smash those bastards' heads in.
If he had stayed in Liyue Harbor a little longer, he might really have done just that.
But now, looking at Mondstadt, with who knew how many dark sides of its own, Jiang Xiaofeng decided to relax first.
He could not carry Liyue's dark side over into Mondstadt.
As long as I don't discover it, I'll just pretend it isn't there...
Such things could never be completely eradicated. As long as there was profit to be had, someone would inevitably take desperate risks.
Where there was black, there was white. Neither could exist without the other.
With a golden spirit came a pitch-black resolve...
Beside him, Lumine noticed that something was off with Jiang Xiaofeng. A little worried, she gave him a pat.
Jiang Xiaofeng instantly snapped out of his mental storm.
He shook his head at Lumine, signaling that he was fine.
Lumine seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and said to Jiang Xiaofeng, "I'm going with Amber to see the Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius. Do you want to come?"
Jiang Xiaofeng shook his head.
For some reason, he felt a little agitated. Right now, he only wanted to find somewhere to rest for a while.
Any chair will do...
Jiang Xiaofeng said goodbye to Lumine and the others. Without even the urge to take out his previous system reward for a look, he slowly walked onward.
He slowly made his way near the Good Hunter Restaurant, spotted a chair, and sat straight down, burying his head.
Ever since entering Mondstadt, his mind had been somewhat muddled. Things he had almost completely forgotten had all been stirred up again.
Sara, the owner of the Good Hunter Restaurant, spotted Jiang Xiaofeng and had already come outside to serve him. But Jiang Xiaofeng waved her off and tossed her a small bag of Mora, so Sara could only return to the counter, waiting for customers while casting worried looks at him.
Jiang Xiaofeng lay over the table, clutching his head.
What's happening to me?
Am I going mad?
Jiang Xiaofeng thought.
Since I have another chance at life, I shouldn't live carrying my previous life's resentment!
Since I've already begun a new life, why am I still attached to the last one!
After comforting himself like this, Jiang Xiaofeng felt a little better.
If anyone knowledgeable had been there, they would have seen faintly flickering purple incantations on Jiang Xiaofeng's body...
While Jiang Xiaofeng was still trying to soothe himself, the sky had quietly changed color...
Then several enormous tornadoes descended from the sky, slammed into the ground, and began sweeping across all of Mondstadt!
Sara of the Good Hunter Restaurant had already shut the restaurant's doors and windows when she suddenly caught sight of Jiang Xiaofeng, still outside with his mind wandering, and wanted to go out and pull him inside too.
The moment Sara opened the door, a tornado rushed toward her!
"Ah!"
Sara screamed in terror and tried to close the door, but no matter what she did, it would not shut.
Watching the tornado rush toward her, Sara was just about to run farther inside when the door slammed shut with a loud clang.
Sara's eyes widened.
Jiang Xiaofeng, who had been slumped outside moments before, was already on his feet. His formerly yellow eyes had turned purple at some point.
"Huff..."
Breathing heavily, Jiang Xiaofeng spread his dragon wings and shot into the sky!
He rammed straight into Stormterror, who had inexplicably started going berserk again, sending the flying dragon staggering in midair.
Then Jiang Xiaofeng activated the Wings of the Crow, took out Acceptance, and charged toward the dragon's tail!
Looking at the three Abyss Mages of Hydro, Pyro, and Cryo casting curses there, Jiang Xiaofeng's eyes nearly turned red.
Jiang Xiaofeng charged over, immediately activated Tornadic Aura, and swung Acceptance!
Swish, swish, swish!
In an instant, all three Abyss Mages were skewered on Jiang Xiaofeng's Acceptance!
"Urgh..."
Before the three mages could even speak, they saw Jiang Xiaofeng launch his flying head, which latched onto them.
"Aaaaah-"
Jiang Xiaofeng had no intention of possessing them. He planned to devour these three Abyss Mages outright!
Jiang Xiaofeng flung the Abyss Mages upward. Extremely tall flames erupted from his head, instantly devouring the three dying Abyss Mages completely.
By then, Jiang Xiaofeng's eyes were nearly yellow again.
Then Jiang Xiaofeng's furious voice rang through the sky!
"Barbatos, where the hell have you gone!"