Accompanied by Ei and Nahida, Lu Chen arrived at the location Venti had mentioned—and sure enough, there was a row of withered street trees.
"All the leaves are gone!" Venti exclaimed, looking at Lu Chen in surprise. "Does this happen every autumn around here?"
"Of course not." Lu Chen shook his head. The city had only just entered autumn—it'd be a while before the leaves started drying out. Besides...
It wasn't just the street trees. The greenery along both sides of the road, and even the nearby park, had all vanished. It was as if all the nutrients had been drained from the plants in an instant.
The whole area was filled with a thick, decaying stench of death. Some pedestrians stopped and pulled out their phones to take pictures of the strange scene.
Lu Chen walked over to Zhongli, who was carefully examining a nearby tree.
Its branches were glowing faintly with an ominous red light. The dense aura of death was clearly emanating from there.
"This is one of the primary sources causing the plants to wither," Zhongli said.
"It's a 'Withering Branch'!" Nahida immediately recognized it. "Destroy these pollutants that spread Withering energy, and the environment here will recover."
As she spoke, green light began to glow from her palm. A grass seed slowly rose and floated toward the Withering Branch.
The moment it touched the branch, there was a sharp hiss, and the red glow vanished. The air around them became noticeably fresher.
But that one seed wasn't enough to purify the whole Withering Zone. There were many more sources like this.
Especially at the very center of the Withering, where a massive lesion was visible to the naked eye—Nahida called it the "Withering Tumor."
Lu Chen looked away and turned to the others. "It really is the Withering. I just didn't expect something from Sumeru to show up here too…"
After using the [Reality Teyvat System] for so long, Lu Chen knew the two worlds weren't connected in fixed point-to-point links. What came through was highly unpredictable—completely random.
Nahida wanted to purify the other Withering Branches, but Lu Chen gently pulled her back. He had noticed professionals arriving on the scene.
The Special Operations Task Force was getting faster at responding. With them here, Lu Chen wasn't too worried about this one Withering outbreak. What he did worry about was—would more Withering Zones appear?
Nahida's small face was full of concern. "The Withering appeared after the Irminsul Tree was corrupted. It's always been a chronic issue in Sumeru. I didn't think it could spread to this world too… Could it be…"
She looked a little guilty. "Did the Withering appear because of me…?"
Lu Chen tapped her on the head. "No way. Don't go blaming yourself for everything."
"But after I came here, it started…"
"No buts." Lu Chen squatted down to meet her gaze. "The disasters from Teyvat showing up here—there's only one possible reason, and it has nothing to do with you."
Everyone looked toward him.
"What reason?" Venti asked.
Lu Chen shrugged. "Back during the Abyss Order incident, the system mentioned it—it's because the borders between the worlds are becoming unstable. That's why I was sent back to maintain the Gate of Teyvat."
"The borders are unstable…" Ei looked at the Withering Zone in front of her, worry in her eyes. At first, it was just ordinary elemental lifeforms coming through. But now? The Abyss Order, Archon remnants, even the Withering...
She had a bad feeling—like something even more uncontrollable was coming.
Lu Chen observed the task force as they moved. They'd clearly discovered the Withering Branch too, but hadn't figured out how to deal with it yet.
"Let's go." Lu Chen picked up the shopping bags. "I bought a ton of frozen food—it's about to melt."
"We're just leaving it like this?" Nahida looked shocked.
Lu Chen shook his head. "We can't handle it."
This Withering hadn't produced any monsters or endangered lives yet. And more importantly, there were no Primogems to earn.
As a model worker of the system—and the owner and guardian of the [Gate of Teyvat]—Lu Chen wasn't going to waste energy on minor incidents. He had bigger priorities.
Only by stabilizing the borders could both worlds stay safe. The real issue was solving the Irminsul Tree's corruption on the other side—that was his mission.
Without even realizing it, Lu Chen had found his role. Maybe that was why the system had chosen him.
"Let's go home."
With that, Lu Chen carried his bags toward the parking lot.
Nahida looked back at the Withering, clearly torn—but after thinking it over, she followed the others.
"Wait for me…"
...
Back home, Lu Chen found editor Sha Lin already waiting in the living room.
After storing the groceries in the fridge, he returned to the living room and took out a tea Zhongli was especially fond of to entertain the guest.
Before long, the aroma of tea filled the air. Lu Chen poured each cup about seventy percent full and gestured for her to try it.
"Please."
"Whoa!" Sha Lin blinked. "Didn't expect someone your age to be so good at making tea—it's like watching a tea ceremony!"
She wasn't trying to flatter her new boss—Lu Chen's movements were genuinely refined.
"Just a little something I picked up." Lu Chen remained calm.
In truth, he'd learned it from Zhongli, but only the basics—just enough to impress someone who didn't usually drink tea.
"Oh…" Sha Lin was starting to think her young boss was far more mysterious than she'd assumed.
She began reporting on work while sipping the tea.
Of course, the real focus was on money:
"Um… so registering the domain cost over 500,000 yuan, plus five million for company setup. Now we need some working capital, and there's app development costs, UI design, marketing, the year-end bonus you still owe me, and..."
"You're really fixated on that bonus, huh?" Lu Chen noticed her trying to slip that in along with the business report.
"Hehehe…" Sha Lin grinned. "You've got plenty of money. Besides, if you hadn't stopped updating, I would've earned it…"
"Alright, alright!" Lu Chen waved her off. He wasn't short on funds—completing the system's tasks was all that mattered.
Still, he couldn't help but feel amused. The way Sha Lin had flipped personalities was pretty dramatic.
He remembered when he first started serializing Liyue: Floating World Amid a Thousand Rocks—she barely acknowledged him. Money really was magical…
Now, Yae Publishing House was finally taking shape. Of course, the over ten million yuan he'd already transferred to her was completely spent, so she came by today just to ask for more. Lu Chen checked the books—everything looked fine—so he sent her another ten million.
Then he pinned a new announcement to the top of his comment section.
"Liyue: Floating World Amid a Thousand Rocks will be on break for about a week."
"Preparing a new book to be published on Yae Publishing House's site. The app isn't ready yet, but just search for 'BCT.com'."
"Oh, and one more thing."
"The new book's title is—"
Inazuma: A Hundred Dreams in a Moment.