Chapter 127: A Moment of Silence for Qiqi's Future
"Qiqi! You're here too?!"
The moment Hu Tao spotted Qiqi, her plum blossom eyes lit up.
Then, without hesitation, she leapt straight toward her—clearly aiming for a big hug.
But Qiqi reacted just as quickly. The instant Hu Tao moved, she darted behind Lu Chen and Ei with surprising speed.
Lu Chen was stunned. Despite her small arms and legs, Qiqi, driven by pure survival instinct, ran even faster than he could.
"Don't hide from me! Am I really that scary?"
Hu Tao stood in front of Lu Chen and Ei with a helpless look.
Between them, Qiqi's wide eyes were filled with caution, like a little mouse cornered by a cat.
Hu Tao tried to step around Lu Chen and Ei, and Qiqi turned in sync to keep the barrier between them.
Hu Tao sped up—Qiqi did too.
One chased, the other fled, and before long Lu Chen was completely turned around from watching the back-and-forth.
"Master Hu…" Lu Chen rubbed his forehead, voice full of exasperation. "I get that you're excited to see Qiqi, but can you maybe not be so... obvious about it?"
Ei's head tilted left and right as she followed their zigzag chase.
"So this girl is Hu Tao... Just like you said, a very enthusiastic one."
Lu Chen nodded. "A bit too enthusiastic."
"Qiqi, stop running! I promise I won't bury you this time! I'll even apologize, okay?"
"Qiqi... hates..."
The chase spilled from Lu Chen and Ei's side all the way to Zhongli.
"Zhongli! Help me catch her!"
But her command had no effect. Zhongli merely shook his head.
"Master Hu, your enthusiasm is... overwhelming. You've frightened Qiqi."
"No way! I'm super nice to her!"
Everyone could only watch as Hu Tao and Qiqi played a full-on game of cat and mouse. And with the poor nighttime visibility, the two of them soon vanished into the darkness.
Lu Chen frowned. "They've gone too far."
"I'll go get them," Zhongli sighed like a weary father.
After the three were gone, Lu Chen glanced around at the chaos left behind...
And at the two trembling tomb raiders still tied up nearby.
"So what now?" Venti shrugged. "Should we head back?"
Lu Chen paused. "We should clean this up first. Otherwise…"
He swept his gaze across the scene. So much had happened tonight.
Unknown tremors underground, a haunted tomb, a sudden thunderstorm that came and went in an instant… If this were on Approaching Science, it'd be a year-long special.
This group's antics had drawn way too much attention. It needed to be handled properly before they left.
Ei looked at him guiltily.
Lu Chen gently squeezed her hand and reassured her, "At least this is a remote area. Maybe a few tourists show up during the day, but nobody stays here at night."
Ei gave a small nod.
"I'm so sleepy…" Miko yawned. "Hurry up, I'm going back to the RV to sleep."
And with that, she vanished into the darkness.
Venti stood amid the broken earth, singing softly.
The power of Anemo carried bricks and dust into the air, scattering them into a raging river in the distance.
As for the bare, ruined mound of dirt—there wasn't much they could do. Lu Chen could only hope grass would grow quickly to cover the entrance of the tomb.
"What about them?" Venti pointed to the two tomb raiders.
Seeing everyone's gaze turn to them, the two immediately dropped to their knees, begging for mercy.
Ei's expression shifted coldly. "Unforgivable."
A flash of purple lightning streaked across the valley.
The two tomb raiders vanished on the spot—reduced to ash by Musou Isshin.
"Yikes…"
Venti winced slightly at Ei's merciless strike.
But she said nothing.
Lu Chen simply held Ei's hand tighter. She'd said "unforgivable," but it likely wasn't about the crime.
It was about the words they'd said—the ones that had made her believe he was dead inside that tomb.
...
By 3 a.m., the sky in the mountains was starting to lighten. Zhongli finally returned with Hu Tao and Qiqi.
He carried Hu Tao by the scruff of her neck in one hand, and held Qiqi by the collar in the other. His usually steady expression showed visible strain.
Lu Chen gave him a sympathetic look.
Those two had apparently chased each other over several mountain ridges. Even he was shocked by their stamina.
"How could I ever do anything bad to Qiqi?" Hu Tao grumbled, clearly unhappy. "I'd worship her if anything…"
Qiqi remained silent, as if she couldn't comprehend this so-called friendliness from Hu Tao.
Lu Chen could only smile helplessly. Qiqi had terrible memory—she could barely remember more than a handful of names.
But Hu Tao was burned into her mind like a curse. Hearing the name alone scared her senseless, let alone seeing her in person.
Frankly, Hu Tao had brought it on herself. Always wanting to bury Qiqi back in the ground...
To someone like Qiqi, who clung to life so fiercely, Master Hu had basically become the Grim Reaper.
"Alright, enough," Lu Chen said, stepping in. "You two are going to be spending a lot of time together from now on. Let's head back to the RV. This place isn't safe to linger in."
At those words, Qiqi slowly raised her head and stared at Lu Chen in disbelief.
"A... lot of time..."
"Yeah! No rush, no rush! We've got plenty of time!" Hu Tao winked cheerfully.
Qiqi: "..."
Lu Chen noticed that her expressions were getting more and more animated these days—which was a good sign.
But right now...
Her face was practically screaming four words: Life is meaningless.
"Try to get along, alright?" Lu Chen gently patted Qiqi's head, then looked at Hu Tao.
"And please, stop trying to bury her."
"Mm-hmm! Got it!" Hu Tao nodded like a woodpecker.
On the walk back, Qiqi trailed behind Lu Chen with her head down, muttering something.
He listened closely.
It sounded like she was repeating the same phrase again and again.
"I've got a long time to go... A long time to go..."
Lu Chen paused.
A moment of silence for Qiqi's future.
...
Back at the riverside camp, the group returned to the RV. Miko was already fast asleep on the bed.
Lu Chen told everyone to rest, then got behind the wheel and pulled onto a country dirt road.
Time to get moving.
As he drove, he glanced at the system rewards.
[Achievement Unlocked: Cleared the Underground Palace]
[Killed the Primordial Geovishap and resolved the Geo Ley Line anomaly]
[Reward: 1,000 Primogems and 1 million real-world currency]
The ornate treasure chest also contained 120 additional Primogems.
Alongside the usual fodder weapons, artifacts, and EXP books, one item in particular caught his attention:
[Mysterious Souvenir Mirror (Special Item)]
[A manifestation of lingering obsession. Use it to observe bizarre entities that do not normally exist. Best used at night.]
Oh wow. Was this thing for seeing ghosts or something?
If he used it during Ghost Festival... would he actually witness a Hyakki Yagyō?—that legendary ghost parade from old Japanese tales?