Lumine’s thoughts were easily read by Ying, and she reached out to pat her head.
“Looking at you, this probably wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. Tell me, why do you suddenly want to go to Sumeru?”
Ying raised an eyebrow and looked at Lumine’s eyes triumphantly.
“Heehee~ Sorry, this is a little secret between me and her~”
Hmph… You’ve ignored me for so many days, it would be a disservice to my loneliness if I didn’t make you a little jealous~
“Mmmhmm…”
Seeing Ying’s deliberate attempt to tease her and her refusal to tell, Lumine couldn’t help but laugh out loud in exasperation.
“You little thing, it’s only been a few days and you’ve already found someone else behind my back, haven’t you? It seems I haven’t been pampering you enough before.”
Ying immediately retorted with displeasure.
“A few days?! It’s been almost two months, okay!”
“And I haven’t been letting you pamper me… Huh? Wait… Wh-what are you doing…”
Before Ying could finish her sentence, her sister had already pushed her onto the bed.
“Waaah?! Wait, wait! It’s not the time for this! We still need to call Paimon and the others back to go to Sumeru together.”
Lumine grabbed Ying’s hands and pinned them above her head, then said with a wicked grin.
“What’s the rush? There’s plenty of time. Aren’t you complaining that I haven’t spent enough time with you lately? Coincidentally, I’m free now, so of course, I have to make it up to you properly~”
Ying struggled in vain and could only plead with a distressed expression.
“This isn’t the kind of making up I meant! I was wrong, wrong! I shouldn’t have tried to hide things from you. Let me go quickly, and I’ll tell you everything!”
Lumine’s lips curled up as she looked at her little sister’s nervous demeanor.
“It’s too late. Now I want to know everything, and I want to completely devour you too~”
“Huh? What did you just say… Mmmph?!”
Saying that, before Ying could react, Lumine immediately leaned down and covered Ying’s tempting red lips.
“Mmmph… Wait… Don’t… I’m wrong… Help me, mmph mmph……”
The next day.
Above Sumeru.
*Whoosh!*
With a sound of wind breaking, Ying’s figure descended rapidly from the sky, landing steadily on the ground.
“Phew… After flying for several hours, we’ve finally arrived…”
As she spoke, Ying opened her map and, while heading towards the location of the Statue of the Seven, grumbled softly.
“That hateful big bad guy… It’s been two months since she last did anything bad, yet she’s only gotten worse. Really, it’s making me feel so powerless now…”
“Hmph… Fortunately, I have strong willpower and didn’t use my trump card to make her jealous when I was begging for mercy. Although the price was a bit high, it’s better than losing everything.”
Soon, Ying arrived near the Statue of the Seven. The thought of obtaining the Dendro Element soon brought a smug expression to her face.
Heehee… Clever me, I bribed Paimon with food and made her stall Lumine for a bit so I could get the new element first.
Although I couldn’t take the offensive in *that* area, I should still be able to let Lumine know that I’m not just some delicacy on her plate, right~
As her fantasy ended, Ying also arrived at the location of the Statue of the Seven. Strangely, although she hadn’t gone to the wrong place, she couldn’t find any sign of the statue.
“Huh? Could it be that this statue is underground?”
Ying scratched her head in confusion and instinctively scanned her surroundings. Upon seeing a large pit not far away, her heart suddenly lurched, and she immediately rushed to investigate.
“This…”
Ying compared it to the map and realized that the pit was the original location of the Statue of the Seven. She immediately grabbed a handful of soil and, after carefully sensing it, could clearly feel that the pit had only appeared recently.
“Someone dug up the statue? How is that possible… Who could have the… power…”
As soon as she finished speaking, a figure immediately flashed in Ying’s mind. Sensing something was wrong, Ying immediately flew into the sky and, at the fastest speed she could currently manage, rushed to the location of the next Statue of the Seven.
After some time…
Paimon flew high above, constantly watching the direction ahead. When she spotted a familiar figure, she happily called out to the two below.
“Hey~ The host is back~”
Before Lumine and Paimon could reply, Ying had already landed in front of them. Lumine had initially intended to greet Ying, but after noticing her troubled expression, she immediately changed her mind and directly asked.
“Are all the Statues of the Seven gone?”
Ying nodded and replied with some helplessness.
“Not only that, but I didn’t find any of those small waypoints either. The map of this place is completely dark right now.”
Lumine frowned.
“Strange… Even if it is the Doctor as you suspected, why would he be doing these seemingly meaningless things…”
Ying voiced her guess.
“If I’m not mistaken, he must have gotten wind of the fact that our Elemental Power is provided by the Statues of the Seven and decided to give me a warning shot in advance.”
“After all, this action, firstly, shows off the power he possesses, and secondly, it indirectly weakens our strength…”
As she spoke, Ying suddenly felt as if someone was watching her in secret. That extremely familiar gaze made Ying’s pupils contract sharply. She immediately looked up and gazed into the forest ahead.
“I’m probably right, aren’t I, Doctor?”
“The Doctor?!”
Lumine was greatly surprised and immediately followed Ying’s gaze. Paimon and the other Paimon, who were incapable of fighting, also instinctively distanced themselves from the scene.
*Clap… clap… clap…*
A round of applause echoed from the forest. As the figure behind the trees gradually approached, the Doctor’s silhouette appeared before them.
“As expected of an opponent I’ve taken an interest in. Not only did you guess my intentions, but you even discovered me hiding in the shadows~”
Ying snorted coldly and retorted sarcastically.
“Heh… Can’t be helped. Your disgusting gaze is something no one can forget.”
“Hehehe…”
The Doctor did not argue with Ying but instead began to talk to himself in front of them.
“Honestly, the more I investigate your information, the more I discover your mystery.”
“Not only can I find no trace of your childhood, but unlike the people of Teyvat, you can not only obtain Elemental Power through the Statues of the Seven but also gain multiple elements simultaneously, and even use those strange waypoints for such miraculous long-distance teleportation. It gives me the feeling that they exist solely for you…”
At this point, the Doctor’s lips curved slightly as he looked at Ying’s face with great interest.
“However… it’s not entirely without results. For example, whether it’s obtaining Elemental Power or using waypoints for teleportation, there’s a prerequisite, and that is to first come into contact with them. Another example is that the ability I’ve created can precisely inhibit your abilities…”