Genshin Impact, I'm Slime

Zhiyi's lips twitched as she tried to silence Yelan, but soon, a violent cough broke Zhiyi's hysteria without warning.

The young man's body suddenly hunched forward, as if struck in the abdomen by an invisible fist, and his knee slammed uncontrollably onto the cold, hard ground.

He covered his mouth and nose tightly with his left hand, and muffled coughs escaped from between his fingers, his entire shoulder and back spasming in pain.

When he finally managed to stop coughing and shakily removed his palm, there was a sticky, scarlet stain on his palm, with glaring bloodstains winding down between his fingers.

"Hey! Trying to play the victim and get away with it?"

"You rascal, you have so many tricks up your sleeve!"

Seeing this, Paimon immediately floated a little higher, pointing his little finger at Zhiyi who was coughing up blood, his voice both urgent and angry.

Seeing Zhiyi's appearance, the traveler tilted his head in confusion, quickly glanced at Yusupov's bluish-gray corpse on the ground, and then looked back at Zhiyi, who was panting heavily and whose mouth was constantly oozing fresh blood.

The girl didn't speak, but she slightly adjusted the position of her grip on the bladeless sword, turned her body towards Ye Lan, and looked at her with a clear questioning gaze.

Is Zhiyi's situation real or fake?
Ye Lan's gaze never left Zhi Yi, who was curled up on the ground. In her emerald eyes, the heavy sorrow she had felt earlier had now settled into a silent sigh.

She turned her gaze to the traveler, her voice not loud, but clear enough to ensure her words were delivered precisely:
"Zhiyi drank a lot of poisoned wine with Yusupov."

"Although the intake was far lower than that of Yusupov, the toxins still eroded his body, and the pain was probably real."

Ye Lan's tone was calm, as if she were analyzing intelligence.

The traveler's eyes sharpened; she understood Ye Lan's judgment, but when she looked at Zhi Yi again, her eyes held disbelief:
"He... he even harms himself? He's willing to go to such lengths for the position of Tian Shu Star?"

Upon hearing the traveler's voice, Zhiyi let out a hoarse, intermittent chuckle, a gurgling sound mixed with blood and foam.

He roughly wiped his chin and the corner of his mouth with his blood-stained right sleeve, the rough fabric dragging bloodstains on his skin and staining half of the sleeve a deeper dark red.

The young man gasped for breath, struggling to sit up, but a new wave of coughing caused him to arch his back.

Zhiyi was well aware that he had drunk poisoned wine.

But this was a dosage he had calculated, one that would convince Yusupov without killing him on the spot.

In his meticulously crafted yet ultimately collapsed plan, this was a necessary investment, a small price to pay on the path to the throne of power.

He could even poison his mentor, so what is this temporary pain lurking in his body? Since Bai Shu of Bubulu could remove the poison from Uncle Tian's body, he can naturally save him as well.

As long as the plan succeeds and he reaches the top of Tian Shu Star, he can become Bai Shu's most honored patient at any time. The temporary torment is just an insignificant pause in the victory symphony.

Zhiyi abruptly raised his head, his blood-stained face contorted with pain and some twisted emotion, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Yelan and the traveler, his hoarse voice like a grinding wheel rubbing against metal:

"What do you know?"

"Yelan... was born in the shadow of the General Affairs Department, holding power in her hands, while you, Traveler, possess the Eye of God, and power is within your grasp."

"You who stand on high ground, how could you understand the feeling of trying to climb up from the bottom of the mud, only to be trampled down by countless feet?"

Zhiyi coughed up a mouthful of blood, his eyes surging with intense resentment and venom. He fiercely wiped away the blood that kept spilling from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, his action carrying a self-destructive ferocity.
"Suffering... You haven't even tasted it, so what right do you have to judge me with those eyes that look at something dirty?"

"Yelan, are your hands really clean? In those shady corners of the General Affairs Department, in the bloodstains of Liyue Harbor, do you dare say you've never used the same necessary methods as me?"

His gaze, like a poisoned dagger, suddenly pierced Ye Lan, and his voice rose sharply, carrying a piercing question.

Inside the cave, only Zhiyi's heavy, labored breathing and the crackling of the burning torches could be heard.

He knelt amidst the blood and dust, his blood-stained figure like a cornered beast at its end. His sharp question echoed between the stone walls, pointing directly at the silent Ye Lan.

Ye Lan remained silent. Zhi Yi's sharp question did not change his expression in the slightest.

In Ye Lan's view, debating whether the means were right or wrong is already a low-level argument.

In the midst of worldly conflicts, it is all about the victor taking all and the vanquished taking all; reason is meaningless, and the outcome is the only definitive conclusion.

She stopped looking at Zhiyi, and with a swift and decisive motion, raised her right hand and waved it toward the shadows at the cave entrance.

Without a word, the Thousand Rock Army soldiers who had been waiting for a long time immediately stepped forward as steadily as a rock. The sound of their armor rubbing together was particularly clear in the silence, and their target was Zhiyi, who was kneeling on the ground.

Zhiyi seemed to smell the rust of the cage; the icy despair almost froze his thoughts. But just as his consciousness was about to be swallowed by darkness, a voice with a hint of mockery, like lightning piercing through the thick fog, suddenly entered his mind:

"If you encounter a problem you can't solve, just call my name."

FAMAS!
The feeling of suffocation was forcibly dispelled by a fierce will to survive. Zhiyi coughed up a mouthful of bloody saliva, supported himself on his knees with his hands, and shakily stood up from the dust and bloodstains.

Ignoring the approaching soldiers and his physical weakness, he stretched out trembling fingers and carefully straightened the collar of his blood-stained and dust-covered clothes, trying to smooth out the wrinkles. His movements were slow and strange, a stark contrast to his earlier frantic roars.

When Zhiyi finally raised his head, an unusually calm expression, even with a strange smile, appeared on his face. His gaze passed over Yelan and fell into the unknown shadows deep in the cave.

There was no fear in that smile, only the madness of a desperate gamble and the hope of grasping at the last straw.

He also has allies, including that most mysterious ally.

"Calling out names to relieve suffering and responding to cries for help are the abilities of immortals..."

Zhiyi murmured, his voice hoarse yet clear, like a dream. Then, a name, more ancient and weighty, seemingly imbued with forbidden power, was clearly uttered from his bloodstained lips:
"Lord Halpass! Please help me!"

Zhiyi's voice suddenly rose, like a final, desperate cry.

And just as the word "Halpas" was uttered.

The traveler and Paimon froze simultaneously. Paimon abruptly covered his mouth, his eyes wide with disbelief and horror, as if he had heard the most incredible taboo.

The traveler tightened his grip on the bladeless sword, his eyes fixed on Zhiyi while warily scanning his surroundings.

Only Ye Lan reacted most violently. A rare crack appeared on her usually calm and composed face, and her pupils contracted suddenly and uncontrollably, as if pierced by the power contained within the name itself. A chilling coldness instantly swept through her body, making her almost cry out the command:
"Gag him! Quickly!"

The Qianyan soldiers closest to Zhiyi reacted quickly, immediately reaching out to cover it.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

The powerful true name had been uttered, like a stone thrown into still water, creating invisible ripples.

Just a moment before the soldier's fingers were about to touch Zhiyi's lips.

Deep within the cave, the thick rock wall, which had previously been illuminated only by flickering torchlight, underwent a sudden and unexpected transformation.

The light, like a canvas crumpled by an invisible giant hand, twisted and folded violently, gradually transforming into blinding flames that were impossible to look at directly. Accompanied by a deafening, terrifying sound, it tore apart the solid rock layer out of thin air.

The dazzling golden light, like a tangible torrent, surged forth from the cracks in the rock strata, engulfing the darkness of the cave and bathing everything in a sacred yet eerie splendor.

The air hummed under the powerful elemental impact, and the tiny pebbles on the ground seemed to be pulled up by an invisible force, suspending themselves in the air.

At the center of that pure and violent light, a figure that sent shivers down one's spine slowly revealed its outline.

Famas, who had been absent for so long, finally arrived in this place in such a shocking way. (End of this chapter)