Genshin Impact: Back From Teyvat - The Archon Follows Me Home!

Lu Chen felt he had reached the end of his journey.

The underground palace was dark and foreboding, lit by eerie ghostly flames, with a cold wind blowing from an unknown source. It felt as if the three of them had opened the gates to the underworld.

Unlike the two tomb raiders who were clearly frightened, Lu Chen calmly stepped through the gate, curiously surveying his surroundings.

The ever-burning lamps, glowing faintly, lined both sides of the entrance and stretched into the distance, disappearing into the darkness. The sheer scale of the underground palace far exceeded anything he had imagined.

Normally, a general's tomb wouldn't be this massive. But now Lu Chen understood why.

It felt like two worlds had overlapped. The familiarity of it made him realize this was a scene from another world.

Just like when the Oceanid appeared last time, this place had become an interdimensional overlap—what people called a "domain."

Judging by the architecture, this should be somewhere beneath Liyue.

"Hey! Old Zhang, why are you walking so fast?!"

"Wait for me!"

Wulfric the Second cautiously hurried after him.

Wulfric the First narrowed his eyes suspiciously at "Old Zhang's" back, gripped his flashlight tightly, and followed.

Lu Chen ignored them. They were no longer useful to him. All he cared about now was completing his mission.

The cold wind flickered the flames of the ever-burning lamps, casting the entire underground palace in a chilling, ghostly aura.

Lu Chen stared into the darkness ahead. He could sense Geo energy coming from that direction. Instinctively, his body tensed. His Visions were ready to activate at a moment's notice.

There was definitely a fight ahead.

"Stop right there!"

Suddenly, Wulfric the First barked from behind.

Lu Chen turned and saw him pull a black, crude firearm from somewhere and point it at him.

"What are you doing?" Lu Chen frowned, confused.

"You're not Old Zhang! Who the hell are you?!"

"W-what?"

Before Lu Chen could respond, Wulfric the Second spoke up first, shocked.

"Big Brother, you mean he's not Old Zhang?!"

Wulfric the First snorted coldly. "Old Zhang wouldn't have the guts for this. This guy's been charging ahead without hesitation—something's off!"

"Then who is he?!" Wulfric the Second exclaimed, imagining all kinds of possibilities.

"Could he be a ghost in disguise? The female ghost from earlier?"

"Wouldn't be surprising! Old Zhang's a total coward. He probably ran off when we first opened the tunnel. No way he'd turn back halfway!" The more Wulfric the First thought about it, the more wrong it felt. Maybe the earlier chaos had kept him from noticing, but now that "Old Zhang" had stopped pretending, everything clicked into place.

"You've been luring us here from the start. What's your goal?!"

Lu Chen stayed silent. Even with a gun pointed at him, he didn't show a hint of fear.

He simply smiled.

"He's smiling! Is he going to eat us?!" Wulfric the Second screamed, hiding behind his brother.

With that creepy smile on Old Zhang's odd-looking face, combined with the eerie surroundings, it was downright terrifying.

Wulfric the First stared hard at the man before him and pulled something black from his bag.

What the hell is that?

Lu Chen looked closer and then chuckled.

According to legend, it could ward off evil and repel zombies—

A black donkey hoof.

Lu Chen clicked his tongue in amusement. Wow. Talk about professional.

Seeing this tomb raider's top-notch prep work, Lu Chen muttered to himself, "With guts and skills like that, you could be doing something useful... seriously."

He wasn't a ghost, so the black donkey hoof had no effect on him. The crude firearm didn't threaten him either. At his current speed, a bullet would fly right past and hit only the darkness behind him.

Still, firing it recklessly might alert whatever was hiding out there. That would be a problem.

Lu Chen offered a friendly smile, hoping to dissuade him from pulling the trigger.

But the smile only made things worse.

Old Zhang's face was already tough to look at. Add in the creepy atmosphere, and that smile nearly scared Wulfric the Second out of his mind.

"Stay back! Don't come any closer!!"

"Damn ghost! I'll exorcise you!" Wulfric the First shouted, chanting a spell with his finger on the trigger.

"Shit!" Lu Chen cursed under his breath. He forgot he was wearing someone else's face.

He activated Anemo. In an instant, the tension skyrocketed—it felt like the fight was about to start...

But then, out of nowhere, came a chilling giggle from behind them all.

Wulfric the Second froze and looked back immediately.

Nothing there—just the wide, empty gate.

Wulfric the First also scanned the area nervously.

The palace fell silent, save for the cold wind blowing from the depths. It was as if the laughter had never happened.

Then, faint singing echoed through the darkness.

"Big Hilichurl is sick~"

"Second Hilichurl looks~"

"Third Hilichurl gathers herbs~"

"Fourth Hilichurl brews…"

That strange, nonsensical nursery rhyme echoed again and again, fading slowly into the deep darkness.

The two tomb raiders were frozen with fear. Wulfric the First's hand holding the donkey hoof trembled violently.

Only Lu Chen remained calm...

What was Master Hu up to this time?

But with the two raiders distracted by the "singing ghost," Lu Chen seized the moment.

With a single dash, he appeared right in front of Wulfric the First and snatched the crude firearm before it could discharge.

"AAAHHH!"

Wulfric the Second screamed and ran.

Lu Chen countered Wulfric the First's attack with the donkey hoof, deflected the force, twisted his wrist with a crisp crack, and flung the hoof away.

That thing was filthy. Even if he wasn't a ghost, he had no interest in getting slapped in the face with it.

Once disarmed, Lu Chen threw a punch straight to the man's chest. He used just a fraction of his strength, but the sound of shattering bones echoed instantly.

Wulfric the First died on the spot, his body collapsing.

Meanwhile, Wulfric the Second ran for his life, screaming.

But just ahead of him, two pale faces appeared out of nowhere.

One expressionless.

One grinning eerily.

"AAAAHHH—"

Wulfric the Second's eyes rolled back. His body went limp, and he fainted on the spot.

"Huh? That scared him that much?"

The girl in black kicked his unconscious body in confusion. He didn't move.

Behind her, a ghostly figure flickered in and out. A closer look revealed she was actually gripping the ghost in her hand.

"What a letdown. He fainted that easily? So boring…"

She looked around, then her gaze fell on Wulfric the First's corpse—and the rugged man who stepped over it with a grin, walking toward her.

"Fifth Hilichurl died~"

"Sixth Hilichurl lifts—"

She finished the rhyme with a bright smile.

This tomb raider had just killed his comrades in cold blood, yet he didn't seem afraid of her at all. That intrigued her.

"Why did you kill him?"

"Because he was in the way," Lu Chen said with a sigh.

"Why aren't you afraid of me?"

"You?" Lu Chen shrugged. "What's there to be scared of? Sure, Master Hu does the work of the underworld, but she's not exactly from the underworld..."

Even if she was, he wouldn't be afraid. After all, he'd ruled Teyvat for three thousand years—he'd seen every kind of ghost and ghoul imaginable.

Hu Tao blinked in surprise. "You know me?"

Lu Chen let out a bitter smile. Oh, he knew her all too well...

Right after Hu Tao appeared, a system prompt popped up right on cue.

[Challenge Quest: Butterfly Leads to Rebirth]

[Assist Master Hu of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor in hosting a traditional funeral ceremony at midnight during the Zhongyuan Festival.]

[Reward: 3,200 Primogems and 3.2 million yuan in real-world currency.]

After reading the quest, Lu Chen silently looked at Hu Tao.

A festival for the dead, the hour of the dead, a mission from the dead…

You really are something else.