Genshin Impact, I'm Slime

At noon in early winter in Liyue Harbor, the icicles on the eaves of the Hall of Rebirth reflected the pale golden sunlight.

The traveler hurriedly stepped into the front yard of the Hall of Rebirth with his cloak in his arms, but suddenly stopped when he saw the tall figure under the porch.

The hem of Zhongli's clothes brushed against the coiled dragon relief, and the rock-patterned waist pendant glowed as he turned around. However, the red mark under his right eyelid was particularly eye-catching against his white jade skin, like a red plum blossom blooming in the snow.

"Mr. Zhongli!"

The traveler clutched the Night Stone on the collar of his cloak with his fingertips, his eyes wandering over the guest's face.

The thin frost hanging from the eaves reflected the morning light, making the cinnabar-colored mark under Zhongli's right eyelid even more eye-catching.

"Famas and Wendy are now..."

Although he didn't know where the scars on Zhongli's face came from, after seeing the other's expression, the Traveler wisely decided to ignore these marks for the time being and first inquire about the whereabouts of Famas and Venti.

But before the girl could finish her words, Paimon popped his head out from behind her shoulder and exclaimed:

"Zhongli, why are your eyes so red? You look like you've been beaten!"

Upon hearing this, Mr. Keqing's pupils trembled slightly, and when he lowered his eyes, his eyelashes cast a fine shadow on his eyelids. He sighed calmly, seemingly unhurriedly:

"I was sorting out the fragments of the ancient book Guili Collection last night until 3:30 pm, and I accidentally got hurt by the edge of a bamboo slip stained with pine soot and ink."

"I'm sorry to make you two laugh."

Zhongli casually found an excuse that sounded quite reasonable, but travelers who often adventured in the wild would be able to see that the mark on the edge of Zhongli's eye socket was obviously caused by a violent collision with a blunt object.

Considering the vibrations coming from the dock last night, the traveler always felt that this incident was related to FAMAS.

However, the girl did not ask any further questions at this time. Instead, she pulled Paimon behind her and gently flicked the little head of the emergency food with her fingers.

Stupid Paimon has been getting more and more outrageous lately.

Seeing the Traveler and Paimon fighting, Zhongli did not stop them. Instead, he changed the subject subtly as he turned around to lead the way:

"The traveler is looking for those two now, is it to pick up Toke to go to Qingxupu for an appointment?"

"Yes, Mr. Zhongli, do you know where they are?"

The traveler nodded and hurried to catch up with Zhongli.

Only when they entered the main hall did he find the opportunity to hand Pantalone's cloak to Zhongli.

"By the way, there's this..."

The traveler told Zhongli the origin of the clothes and asked Mr. Keqing to check if there were any trap marks left by Pantalone on the clothes.

Zhongli frowned when he heard Pantalone's name. After taking the clothes, his fingertips paused for a moment on the dark patterns on the clothes. A wisp of rock elemental power flowed along the gold embroidery, startling a thin indigo light.

The candlelight in the hall flickered suddenly, casting Zhongli's profile on the carved screen, which was as obscure and difficult to distinguish as the texture of ancient rock.

"I don't see anything wrong with this piece of clothing."

Zhongli stared at the dark pattern on the clothes for a long time before shaking his head to reject it. However, he seemed unwilling to let it go. He pondered and offered his own suggestion:

"However, the 'rich' among the fools have always made good use of the loopholes in the contract. If you don't mind, you can leave this piece of clothing in the Hall of Rebirth for the time being. I will return it to you after studying it for a while."

Zhongli's voice was as deep as the sound of a chime, and the traveler nodded in obedience. When Zhongli carefully put the black cloak into the cabinet at the front desk of the Hall of Rebirth, the traveler finally asked the main business: "Mr. Zhongli, shall we go to the dock to pick up Tok now?"

Hearing this, Zhongli just shook his head, raised his hand and gently stroked the red mark under his right eyelid, and ripples of helplessness appeared in his golden pupils.

"I don't think I need to go anymore... come with me."

Zhongli led the traveler onto the sandalwood corridor, where the golden fragments filtering through the carved window lattices were reflected in front of the bedroom door on the second floor.

Everything in the Hall of Rebirth was the same as when the traveler left last time, but when the traveler stepped onto the creaking wooden stairs, he found a star-shaped rock element mark floating on Zhongli's bedroom door.

Even through the barrier, the traveler could feel the chaotic elemental power permeating the room. The amber-colored barrier rippled, shaking off a few dried glazed lilies attached to the door frame.

"Mr. Zhongli, why did you...seal your bedroom?"

The traveler looked at Zhongli beside him in confusion, but Mr. Keqing seemed to be hesitant to speak.

At this moment, through the tightly closed door, there seemed to be the off-tune ending of Hu Tao's singing of Qiuqiu Ballad, as well as a crisp sound similar to that of a dust-cleansing bell being smashed onto an inkstone.

"You'll understand once you get in."

Zhongli pointed his finger and the rock element pattern disappeared. The door was pushed open half an inch when the sound of jade chess pieces colliding mixed with the aroma of wine gushed out.

When the door was opened, they saw that the miniature sand table of Tianheng Mountain on the sandalwood display cabinet in Zhongli's bedroom was upside down on the ground, the fragments of celadon teacup and the petals of colorful flowers were mixed in the ink of the overturned inkstone, and the gold-sprinkled clay figurine of Rock King Emperor collected in the eight-treasure grid had cat whiskers painted on it with cinnabar.

"Famas! No eyeshadow for the Emperor's statue!"

Walnut was standing on a square stool with a seven-star pattern, fighting with Famas for the ownership of the clay emperor doll. A scarlet plum blossom hair accessory was hanging crookedly on her temples, and torn pages of books were scattered under her feet. There was a half-shoe print covered with osmanthus cake crumbs on the yellowed paper.

Wendy, leaning against the window frame, fiddled with the Dust-Cleansing Bell with her fingertips, and the jade hammer hit the Fulong Tree fossil that Zhongli treasured from time to time.

Seeing the Traveler and Zhongli appear, the bard shook the empty dandelion wine bottle, and drunkenly put the star conch to his lips and blew it: "Traveler! And old man... Listen, this conch can play the tune of a leisurely wandering in the world~"

The youngest, Tok, rushed around holding a model of the Rock Helmet King that had been modified by FAMAS.

The mechanical puppet's giant fist of black rock brushed past the dust-cleansing bell in Wendy's hand, and the jade hammer smashed into the inkstone pool. The splashing ink created a dark and messy outline on the Tianheng Mountain feng shui map.

Walnut yelled and jumped onto the stool to avoid the mechanical puppets running around on the ground, and her heel accidentally kicked the celadon tea grinder towards the cloud-patterned screen.

Tok, who was hiding behind the screen, was standing unsteadily. He raised his hand and grabbed the paperweight on the desk, and the amber from the Amur Mountain that Zhongli had been keeping for two thousand years was thrown out and hit the model of the Dragon King Ruota accurately. The fragments happened to fall into Wendy's wine jug.

The slightly larger ambers fell at Zhongli's feet.

Looking at the shocking scene before their eyes, the traveler didn't dare to look up at Zhongli again, for fear that he would use his Heaven Shaking All Things to smash everyone in the room to death.

But Mr. Zhong's patience was obviously better than the travelers imagined.

The mess on the ground was reflected in the emperor's pupils, but he just bent down to pick up the amber fragments on the ground, and his fingertips were stained with some aged osmanthus wine that leaked from the shaken porcelain bottle.

There was still a half piece of mechanical butterfly wing stuck to the end of his hair, which had floated there at who knows when. His dignified demeanor formed a subtle contrast with the absurdity in the room.

At this time, Famas, who had snatched the clay figurine of the Emperor from Kurumi, finally noticed the two people standing at the door.

As if he noticed the nervousness on the traveler's face, the young man smiled and waved the ancient painting in his hand, and greeted the traveler nonchalantly: "Good afternoon, Ying."

"Just take whatever you like. A certain Rock God promised me that everything except Liyue Harbor will be my compensation." (End of this chapter)