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

After Ei's match ended, the two returned to the hotel together.

Back at the hotel, Lu Chen noticed that no one was around—the guest rooms were all empty. After searching around, he finally found everyone downstairs in the motorhome.

"What are you all up to?"

Lu Chen pushed open the door and saw a group gathered on the lounge sofa, surrounding Venti, who sat in the center.

Venti was fully focused on fiddling with the Dust Lock in his hands, turning it over repeatedly, seemingly trying to solve it.

"You're back?" Miko looked over at Lu Chen and Ei. "How was the match?"

"Of course we won." There wasn't much to say about it—Lu Chen and Ei had basically cleared their individual matches, with only tomorrow's finals remaining.

With the team competition ahead, and barring any surprises, they'd all be heading back to the seaside city in three days.

"Oh." Miko nodded and turned her gaze back to Venti.

Venti remained focused on the Dust Lock. The contraption looked like a hybrid between a Lu Ban lock and a Rubik's cube, but far more intricate. It even required elemental energy to operate.

"We've all tried it, but none of us could solve it. Lu Chen, want to give it a go?" Miko asked.

Lu Chen just glanced at it and gave up immediately. He shook his head and joined the onlookers.

Venti stared intently at the Dust Lock, the tiny mechanisms spinning rapidly in his hands. He looked serious, but according to everyone else, he'd already been working at it for half an hour—with no progress.

"This thing's ridiculously hard... whoever designed it must be a genius..."

Eventually, Venti sighed in defeat and set the stone lock on the table, spreading his hands as he gave up.

Lu Chen glanced curiously at Old Master Zhong, who sat nearby calmly sipping tea. This relic had been entrusted to him by Guizhong—was it really okay to just pass it around for fun?

Those golden eyes turned toward him. Zhongli seemed to know exactly what he was thinking.

"It's fine. The stone lock was always meant to be a puzzle for leisure. Little friend Lu Chen, you're welcome to try it too."

"Even the Geo Archon couldn't crack it after thousands of years." Lu Chen chuckled and casually picked up the lock.

"No need to burn brain cells." After fiddling for a bit, he put it back down.

"Speaking of which..." Lu Chen looked around at the relaxed group, though he had something else on his mind.

"Have you all thought about the Memory Mirror and the dream world?"

Everyone went silent—except Hu Tao and Qiqi.

"We came here to play games and escape those painful memories..." Miko glanced at him. "Why bring that up now?"

Lu Chen looked at her and saw that her eyes still held a trace of gloom. She seemed weighed down with thoughts.

He smiled and teased, "The Yae Guuji I know fears nothing. Since when does a little nightmare shake you?"

Miko folded her arms. "None of your business!"

"I'm your senior. Can't I worry about you a little?"

"Senior? You're just a meddling old man!"

"The mood's so grim. Should I share a story from your childhood to lighten things up?"

"Shut it!"

Seeing the fox flare up again, Lu Chen burst out laughing.

Ei placed a tea tray on the table, letting the aroma fill the air.

"I was only gone for a moment. How did you two start arguing again?"

Miko glared at Lu Chen and huffed.

"Miko's been gloomy since morning. Chen, maybe ease up on teasing her..."

"Alright, alright." Lu Chen accepted a cup of tea and blew on it gently.

Through the steam, he saw Miko's expression slowly brighten.

She was pretending to be angry, but it was clearly better than the sullen look from earlier.

He was just trying to lift everyone's spirits in his own way.

At some point, Yae Miko had started to change. The once carefree and whimsical Guuji now sometimes showed traces of sorrow.

Lu Chen didn't like seeing her that way.

Ei sat beside him, looked up at Miko, and asked softly, "Did you dream of Kitsune Saiguu?"

Miko nodded slightly. "I dreamed of the earliest days of the Narukami Shrine... of the Grand Priestess... and also..."

"And?"

Miko's gaze drifted between Ei and Lu Chen before settling on Lu Chen.

"The past is the past... let it stay there."

She gave a bitter smile and looked away.

...

After the conversation, everyone returned to their rooms from the motorhome.

That night, Lu Chen didn't take out the Memory Mirror. He was afraid it might affect everyone again.

It felt safer tucked away in the system's inventory.

Maybe.

As night deepened, the world grew quiet.

That familiar, half-dreaming, half-awake sensation came once more.

A crimson sky. Burning earth. Collapsing towers. People screaming, crying.

It was a vision of hell on earth.

Lu Chen looked around as one comrade after another fell beside him.

Even she wasn't spared.

He cradled the frail girl in his arms, her blood staining his chest.

The gods were supposed to love humanity.

Yet in a land forsaken by the gods, they had been uprooted like weeds from a divine garden.

Darkness returned. Lu Chen closed his eyes in despair.

"Chen..."

When he opened them again, he saw her violet eyes—clear, but full of worry.

"Another nightmare?" Ei asked.

Lu Chen rubbed his throbbing forehead and struggled to sit up.

He felt as exhausted as if he had relived the Khaenri'ah campaign.

He got up and poured himself a glass of water.

"Yeah... I dreamed about the expedition to Khaenri'ah."

He poured another glass and handed it to Ei, who also looked worn out.

"What about you?"

"Same. I dreamed of the catastrophe that engulfed Inazuma."

Lu Chen gripped her wrist. Ei hadn't taken part in the campaign, but she had faced the corruption that came after Khaenri'ah's fall alone.

And in the aftermath, she lost nearly everyone she cared about.

The Memory Mirror lay undisturbed in the system's inventory. Even without using it, the nightmares still came.

"Come on. Let's check on the others."

Still in their pajamas, Lu Chen and Ei went to knock on the others' doors.

As expected, everyone's expressions were complex—clearly having gone through something similar.

They all gathered again in Zhongli's room, where the Dust Lock still sat quietly on the tea table.

"What about this time? What did everyone dream about?" Lu Chen asked with a bitter smile.

"Scenes from thousands of years of Liyue's history flashed through my mind," Zhongli replied.

He calmly lifted the teapot and poured tea into the cups on the table, lining them up for everyone to take.

Seeing Zhongli so composed, Lu Chen felt a bit more at ease and picked up a cup.

It was just a short sentence, but it carried heavy weight.

Thousands of years of history—how many painful memories did that entail?

"It's not as heavy as you think," Zhongli said with a faint smile in his eyes. "Just a stream of flashbacks. I even saw myself forging Mora for the first time."

"Oh." Lu Chen nodded. Sounded a bit like a movie montage.

Zhongli's was a historical documentary. His own was a tragic drama. He turned to the other Archon.

"What about you?"

Venti propped his chin with one hand. "Me? I dreamed of drinking with the boys. One time, the Lonely King of the Tower imposed a ban on alcohol. We searched the whole city for booze, couldn't find a drop. It was terrifying..."

"That really is terrifying..." Lu Chen said quietly.