The Genshin Impact player community on Earth had already boiled over into chaos when Dainsleif uttered those words in the Liyue tea house: "I've found the traces of the Abyss."
The bullet comments on all major streaming platforms instantly flooded the screen like a tidal wave, so dense that they almost obscured the picture.
Some servers even experienced brief lags due to data overload. The screen-filling "Holy crap," "Ridiculous," and "Need analysis" almost broke the fourth wall, pouring out the players' shock and curiosity.
"Holy shit! Is Dainsleif using cheats for speed? He rushed over from Mondstadt so fast, even faster than Venti's wind?"
"That pinpoint accuracy is terrifying! Did Dainsleif secretly plant a 'locator' on the main party? Or has he been following them from behind, just waiting to jump out and cause trouble now?"
"Did no one notice Lydia's expression just now? When she opened her mouth to say 'Dainsleif, you should...', her eyes were trembling. She clearly knows some secret!"
"OP, I'm with you! Lydia suddenly changed her tune and said 'I trust you' just now, she's definitely hiding something!"
"..."
In a well-known gaming live stream, the streamer "Teyvat Lore Scholar" was frantically pounding his desk, his fingers flying across the keyboard, his voice trembling with excitement: "Fam! Everyone, keep your eyes glued to the way Lydia and Dainsleif are looking at each other!"
"Lydia's gaze has hesitation, trust, and even a hint of grievance. This absolutely isn't the first time she's dealt with Dainsleif!"
"Venti was just about to speak up and warn her, but Lydia shut him down with a single sentence. This level of trust means calling them comrades is an understatement. They might even have a deeper bond!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the bullet comments instantly flooded the screen with "Need the backstory!"
Another player added a detailed observation: "Agreed! When Lydia looked at Dainsleif, her snow-white eyelashes were trembling. She's clearly nervous yet relieved. This kind of contradiction only happens between people who are familiar with each other!"
"And Dainsleif didn't even explain how he found this place, but Lydia didn't even ask. Both of their reactions are too abnormal!"
Meanwhile, hot threads on the official Genshin Impact forum were refreshing wildly at a rate of over a hundred posts per minute.
A thread titled "Dainsleif Suddenly Appears in Liyue! From Lydia's Hesitation to Venti's Wariness, These Details Hide a Huge Conspiracy" quickly climbed to the top of the trending list.
The original poster not only attached frame-by-frame screenshots of the teahouse scene but also annotated everyone's micro-expressions: from the cold hardness in Dainsleif's eyes and the stiffness at the corners of Lydia's mouth to the wariness in Venti's eyes as he looked back.
"Anyone able to analyze the shot of Venti turning his head?"
"+1+1! His eyes were narrowed when he looked into the depths of the teahouse. Did he notice an Abyssal aura?"
On social media platforms, the players' discussions were even more varied.
The discussions were filled with the players' genuine emotions.
"Lydia is just so heart-wrenching TmT~"
"Venti's alertness is truly amazing. As expected of the Anemo Archon who has lived so long, he's always able to notice details others overlook. I hope he can protect Lydia well this time."
"Dainsleif's appearance definitely carries a major plot point. This time the Abyss's traces are definitely not simple!"
-
Lu Nanqing stared intently at the screen, even her breathing held extremely shallow.
Only when the screen showed Venti pausing at the teahouse entrance, his eyes scanning the dim corner before turning to follow Lydia's figure, could she no longer contain herself.
Thwack! She slammed her hand down hard on the table, causing the microphone to buzz and even the milk tea on the corner of the table to ripple with fine bubbles.
"Mihoyo, can you please show some ambition!" Lu Nanqing's voice trembled with barely contained fury, yet betrayed a hint of aggrieved heartache. "All you do all day is 'bury'! Either burying foreshadowing or burying characters. We're still digesting Yunqin's angst, and now you're messing with Lydia! Are you just targeting our little sun from Mondstadt to pick on?"
The live stream's bullet comments were instantly swamped with fiery emotions, with dense text nearly covering the entire screen.
"Qingbao just spoke my mind! Mihoyo, come out and take a beating!"
"Every time they bury a bunch of pits, then they just dawdle when it's time to fill them! It's enough to drive a person crazy!"
"Lydia finally got resurrected! If anything happens to her now, I'll be the first one to storm Mihoyo's headquarters!"
Lu Nanqing took a deep breath, just about to continue ranting about the planners' "sadistic tendencies," when the scene on the screen suddenly shifted.
The bustling Liyue teahouse, the passing pedestrians, and the tea-scented air vanished in an instant, replaced by a forest shrouded in thick, ashen-gray mist.
The fog was as dense as ink that refused to dissolve, blocking out even the sunlight. Only the twisted branches of trees could be seen, like demon ghosts clawing and grasping.
A faint, nauseating Abyssal aura lingered in the air.
A hooded young girl walked with difficulty through the mist. The edge of her hood concealed most of her face, revealing only her sharp, defined jawline.
With every step, she had to lean against a nearby tree trunk, her fingertips tracing the rough bark and leaving faint trails of moisture.
"Papa? Mama?" Her voice trembled almost imperceptibly, but only the "shush" of the mist answered her, the echo itself sounding cold and empty.
"That's... Yunxuan?!" Lu Nanqing's eyes widened instantly, her previous anger vanishing in shock. She leaned in close to the screen, forgetting to breathe. "Isn't she with Osial and his wife in Mondstadt? Why is she here alone?"
"This mist... This mist is identical to the one from the Abyss's invasion of Liyue! Could it be a trap?"
The bullet chat exploded, scrolling even more frantically than before.
"Holy shit! It's Yunxuan! Why is she alone in a place like this? Where are Osial and his wife? Don't tell me they've been captured!"
"There's definitely something wrong with this mist. There must be Abyss monsters hiding in it! Yunxuan just finished a fight and hasn't fully recovered yet!"
"Don't you dare hurt Yunxuan! Her spar with Lydia was so epic, I haven't had enough of seeing them fight side by side!"
On screen, Yunxuan stopped walking and raised her hand to pull back her hood.
Her ink-black hair was damp from the mist, clinging in strands to her pale cheeks, with tiny droplets of water hanging from her eyelashes.
Her eyes were filled with anxiety and confusion: "Father, Mother..."
Yunxuan was about to call out again when she suddenly froze.
The next second, the muscles in her entire body tensed instantly. Her gaze became fixed as if nailed in place, staring intently at the black mist ahead.
A dark figure emerged slowly from the black mist, its form blurred and indistinct, showing only the silhouette of broad shoulders and a narrow waist.
The newcomer neither revealed their face nor made any sound, standing in the mist like a silent stone statue.
Yet a crushing pressure surged forth like a tide, seemingly causing even the surrounding mist to freeze.
Yunxuan's pupils suddenly constricted, her lips trembled slightly, and her face was filled with disbelief and astonishment.
She instinctively took half a step back, her heel knocking against a tree root, making a faint sound.