"Help, someone save me..."
"Hm?"
Upon hearing the cry for help, Ying immediately leaped from the rooftop and quickly approached the source of the sound.
"Is anyone there?"
"Here... I'm inside the room..."
"A room?"
(It sounds like a girl, but her voice seems a bit deliberately affected...)
Ying followed the voice, stealthily entering a house.
"It's so dark... I can't find the light switch... Hey~ Where are you?"
"I'm in the bedroom, hurry and save me~"
"Bedroom?" (Strange... does this feel like a trap? Better be careful...)
Ying fumbled her way forward cautiously, soon entering the bedroom.
"I'm here, where are you?"
...
"Hey~ Where are you?"
...
"This is strange... Did I run into a ghost?"
Ying, puzzled, placed her hand on the wall, fumbling for the light switch. Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind her: "My little cutie... I've missed you so much~"
"That voice?! Wah!"
Ying sensed danger and, just as she was about to turn and create distance, a powerful force struck her, pushing her onto the bed.
With a "bang!", Ying's head hit the edge of the bed with a dull thud. Before she could even cover her head, her hands were pinned to the bedside.
"Hehehe... Does it hurt, little cutie? Do you want me to rub it for you~"
"You… you're not going to stop, are you!"
Ying struggled to break free, but her strength was no match for the other person.
"Hehehe~ My little cutie must be running out of energy. I've been watching you, you know. You saved so many people all by yourself, you truly didn't disappoint me~"
"Damn it… Let's put our past grudges aside. The most important thing now is to rescue the people!"
"Mmm-hmm~ Unfortunately, I don't care about their lives or deaths. I just want you to be mine now~"
"...If that's the case, then we have nothing to discuss."
Ying's tone turned cold, her previous tension vanishing instantly.
"Hehehe~ Have you forgotten that you can't use Elemental Power when I capture you?" Tian Qing chuckled. Just as she was about to make a move on Ying, she suddenly noticed something was amiss.
"Hm? Is this... Anemo?" Tian Qing exclaimed in surprise as a gust of wind dispersed around Ying, and then she was sent flying by a sudden attack.
"Cough... cough... How is this possible?!"
"Hmph~ This Elemental Power was condensed before you touched me. How could someone as smart as me fall for such a low-level trap like yours (￣へ￣)"
"Low-level... Hehe, I underestimated you. But... you're not safe right now~" Tian Qing stood up, brushing the dust off her clothes.
"Oh? Why, do you think you can beat me in a direct confrontation?"
"Hehehe~ Not in a direct fight, but with numbers, it might be different~"
Numbers?
"You have backup... Huh?!"
Ying was about to ask when she suddenly felt something was wrong and instinctively dodged to the side. A wooden club then smashed through the window and landed precisely where she had just been.
"Hilichurls? How did they know my location? Wait... could it be you?!"
"Hehehe~ It seems my little cutie has figured it out. That's right, I can control monsters within a certain range. The energy granted by that person is truly useful~"
This is bad... I need to get out of here!
Ying leaped through the broken window. The sea of monsters below made her heart skip a beat.
"So many?! Stellaris!"
*Bang!*
Seeing that she was about to fall into the horde, Ying quickly conjured a Stellaris in mid-air and threw it down, crushing a group of Hilichurls into dust and clearing a small space for her to land.
"Phew... That guy is truly insidious..."
"Hehehe~ My little cutie, this is called 'all's fair in war'~" the succubus said smugly, walking to the window and chuckling.
"Hmph, do you really think these Hilichurls alone can deal with me?"
Seeing another wave of Hilichurls charging at her, Ying snorted, concentrated Geo Elemental Power in her feet again, and stomped down. The shockwave, infused with the Geo Elemental Energy used to create the Geo-barrier, instantly turned the surrounding Hilichurls into dust.
"That was a powerful attack. If I took that head-on, I'd be dead or crippled~ But... I never said I could only control Hilichurls~"
As Tian Qing's words fell, several Geovishaps, shaped like spinning tops, rushed towards her.
"What?!"
Caught off guard, even though Ying had managed to dodge in time, she was still sent flying by the tail of one of the Geovishaps.
"Ouch! So painful! Phew~ Good thing I blocked it with my hand in time. If this hit had landed on my stomach, that succubus would have exploited the opening..."
Ying painfully blew on her arm, warily observing the succubus upstairs, as she posed a far greater threat than these monsters.
"Hehehe~ I'd like to see how much longer you can last, my little cutie~" Tian Qing chuckled and again commanded the Geovishaps to attack Ying.
Fighting in place is not advantageous. I should get out of here first...
Ying drew Skyward Blade, imbued it with Anemo, and swung her sword, cutting a charging Geovishap in half. She then quickly looked up and fired several Anemo slashes at the succubus, forcing her to dodge.
"Tsk... You're really eager for me to die, aren't you, little cutie~"
"Hmph, it's not that easy to take me down. Come at me if you dare!" Ying taunted and then turned to run to the side.
"Hehehe... You're going to such lengths to buy time for those soldiers, aren't you, my little cutie~" Tian Qing watched Ying's evasive maneuvers with smug satisfaction, already fantasizing about conquering her.
While using Anemo slashes to whittle down the surrounding monsters, Ying kept an eye on her distance from the succubus, preventing herself from being captured. However, before long, she noticed that the monsters around her seemed to be growing stronger with each wave, and she couldn't help but curse inwardly.
(Damn it... The quality of these mobs has suddenly increased so much. Not only can they summon hordes of monsters like a zombie tide, but they can also control so many Abyssal Hilichurls and Geovishaps so easily with just a pawn. That power from the Wanderer is truly insane!)
Let's shift the focus to Ying and see what happened earlier...
After bidding farewell to Zhongli, Ying had swiftly arrived near the Golden House.
"The fuse... If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Zhongli was referring to the Childe. But he's nowhere to be found in the Golden House. There are already fallen Millelith soldiers on the ground. Did he come here long ago? Yet the Liyue Qixing's immortal body is still here..."
Ying cautiously entered the Golden House, observing her surroundings...