Ningguang watched this scene, her heart feeling as if it were being tightly gripped by an invisible hand, even making it difficult for her to breathe.
"Yunqin!" Cloud Retainer roared angrily.
Before her words had even fallen, a stream of air suddenly struck from the side!
Lumine's Anemo energy surged around her body, the Festering Desire gleaming coldly in her hand, its tip pointing straight at Yunqin's brow.
Yunqin's gaze fell upon the Festering Desire in Lumine's hand, and a very faint ripple flickered in her hollow eyes.
The Moonlight Strings at her fingertips suddenly tightened, and several silver threads shot out from the moonlight, weaving into a dense, impenetrable net that coiled toward Lumine's limbs.
"I don't care if you are the real Yunqin or a fake Yunqin..." Lumine sidestepped to dodge the threads.
The Festering Desire slashed through the air, creating a cold glint, and precisely severed the silver thread entwining around her ankle. Black sword qi spread along the silver thread, actually temporarily forcing back the surrounding dark energy.
"I only know that you are not this kind of person!"
"Those Millelith... that Zhongli, are all imposters used by the Abyss to bewitch you. Don't let them deceive you!"
Hearing this, Yunqin's body stiffened. The silver threads swayed in the air, ceasing their attack.
Gazing at the Festering Desire in Lumine's hand, fragmented memories suddenly flashed through her mind... they were the moments she had once spent in Liyue.
These memories were like fine needles, piercing the depths of her consciousness and causing a faint, clear light to flicker in her eyes.
But just then, a deafening roar erupted from the deep sea.
The colossal silhouette at the center of the vortex grew clearer. The dark energy spread wildly along the silver threads, re-enveloping Yunqin's consciousness like a cold net.
The light in her eyes completely extinguished, and a cold curve formed at the corner of her lips: "I am no longer the Yunqin of the past, but the New God who will soon protect this land."
"If you continue to obstruct me, do not blame me... for attacking you."
Before her words had even fallen, she violently plucked the Moonlight Strings at her fingertips.
The silver threads were now entwined with an impenetrable Abyssal Black Miasma, twisting the surrounding air into an eerie vortex.
Lumine's pupils constricted as she held the Festering Desire horizontally in front of her.
The massive impact sent Lumine falling through the air. A phantom pain surged through her chest, and blood even seeped from the webbing of her thumb.
Landing on the ground, Lumine used the recoil to leap up again, her sword tip pointing straight at the Moonlight Strings in Yunqin's hands.
"I won't let you harm Liyue!"
As Yunqin watched Lumine charge in with fury, a fleeting trace of pain flashed in her eyes. The Moonlight Strings at her fingertips trembled slightly, yet she still controlled more silver threads to entwine out.
At this critical moment, a blade of water suddenly struck from the side, sending Lumine flying with a "bang" and allowing her to narrowly avoid the threads.
Lumine landed heavily on a floating wooden plank. Before she could even react, Tartaglia's figure appeared in midair.
He wore the Foul Legacy, with lightning coiling around him. The Seaborn at his feet convulsed from the electrical shocks, unable to get close to him.
The silver threads slowly retracted back to the crescent moon. Yunqin's gaze moved from Lumine's figure and fell upon Tartaglia.
"The moonlight will soon dispel Liyue's darkness, and a new God will finally grace this godless land." Her voice carried a divine arrogance, as if she were looking down at ants. "Are you... going to challenge me as Godslayers?"
-
In a parallel world, on the screens of Earth's players.
The camera on the screen slowly zoomed out. On one side sat the "New God" Yunqin, wreathed in dark energy atop the crescent moon; on the other were Lumine, wielding the Festering Desire, and Tartaglia, clad in his Foul Legacy.
Below them, the adepti and Millelith fought a desperate battle against the Seaborn...
A sorrowful violin melody flowed slowly in the background as the "War of Godslaying" concerning Liyue's survival officially began...
Quest—[ Illusory Bubbles ]Accepted!
When the golden notification popped up, it was as if a pause button had been pressed, and the world instantly fell into a dead silence.
Lu Nanqing's hand gripping the mouse froze abruptly. A chill crept up her spine from her fingertips, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
These five words were like a rusted key, violently prying open the memories of the Mondstadt era that had caused all players to collectively break down.
She still remembered how she had frozen before the screen just like this when the quest notification for [ Ashen Armor and the Shadow of Snow ] had appeared back then.
Watching Lydia collapse on the snowy ground, perishing together with the Abyss... and with her parents, without even finishing her last word.
Lu Nanqing unconsciously leaned closer to the screen, staring at the five characters in the quest log in the corner, feeling a sense of despair identical to that of [ Ashen Armor and the Shadow of Snow ].
"Illusory Bubbles? I've got goosebumps."
"This time is even worse! At least Lydia was a hero of Mondstadt, but Yunqin is now controlling the Seaborn in front of all of Liyue! The Millelith, the adepti... they've all seen it. There is simply no washing this away!"
"..."
After the dead silence, the bullet chat instantly exploded.
Lu Nanqing controlled Lumine to land on a floating wooden board, her gaze glued to the quest notification, her throat tightening as if stuffed with a ball of cotton.
Back when they played [ Ashen Armor and the Shadow of Snow ], the players could still cling to hope.
But this time, the five words "Illusory Bubbles" were like a cold death sentence, leaving not a shred of chance.
Yunqin's "evidence of crime" was too obvious, so obvious that even the players could not deceive themselves.
"Back then, I was crying while emailing Mihoyo and begging them to revive Lydia. Now, for Yunqin... I don't even have the courage to ask."
"This isn't just a 'misunderstanding' anymore. Everyone has witnessed the 'facts'!"
"The hardest part is, we know Yunqin was deceived by the Abyss, but will the people in the game believe it? All they've seen is Yunqin controlling the Seaborn and the Millelith getting maimed. Even if the truth comes out later, can the people who were hurt ever forgive her?"
Lu Nanqing's fingers tapped unconsciously on the desktop.
She controlled Lumine to look up at the crescent moon in the high sky. The dark energy around Yunqin grew denser and denser, staining even the moonlight an eerie, ghostly blue.
This girl who used to be so lively on Mt. Aocang; this girl who took them to Wanmin Restaurant to eat delicious food; this girl who helped everyone in Liyue... she had now become an existence feared by all of Liyue.
And the players could only watch helplessly, unable to even argue "she was framed" on her behalf.
"It must feel like having a bitter grievance you can't speak of..."
A single player's comment slowly drifted by in the bullet chat.
"Illusory Bubbles... Does that mean Yunqin's past was just a bubble, or is our hope of saving her the bubble?"
This sentence was like a fine needle, piercing accurately into the hearts of all the players.
The complaints in the bullet chat gradually dwindled, replaced by a dense stream of "Please spare us" and "Stop the angst."
The violin music in the live stream grew even more sorrowful, its melody like a thin thread, pulling everyone's emotions downward.
On the screen, the Seaborn were still frantically swarming Liyue Harbor, their massive tentacles slapping the sea surface, sending up splashes of water tinged with dark energy.
The Moonlight Strings at Yunqin's fingertips tightened once again, the silver threads gleaming with a cold light, ready to launch an attack at any moment.