The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

But this time, Baetta wasn't as quiet as before. She went up to Alex and banged hard on his desk.

The loud "bang bang bang" noise, along with the accompanying vibrations, made it impossible for Alex to concentrate.

“What do you want to do!” Alex stood up, glaring at Bayeta. This was the first time he had been angry in a long time.

“What do I want to do?” Bayeta stopped her rude actions and stared intently into Alex’s eyes. “Stop lying to yourself, Alex. This is all fake. You know it better than I do!”

Upon hearing Baetta's words, Alex's momentum instantly weakened. His eyes darted around, and he mumbled uncertainly:

"What are you talking about? I don't understand. What nonsense are you spouting? If you keep talking nonsense, I'll have my assistants take you out."

Alex turned his head and waved at Bayeta, seemingly not wanting to talk to her any further.

Seeing Alex's reaction, Bayeta became even more convinced of her suspicions. Ever since discovering the anomalies in this world, she had tried to hint at her conjectures to others.

However, most of this was of little use. Even if she pointed it out directly, everyone just took her guesses as her having nothing better to do and overthinking things.

The feeling that she was the only one different in the whole world was too painful. Sometimes she wondered if she was just overthinking things.

However, the memories in her mind constantly reminded her: this world is an illusion. With this thought in mind, Bayeta began to observe this world anew, and the more carefully she looked, the more illogical things she found.

Either her memories were false, or the world itself was a lie. These two horrifying options haunted Bayeta's mind, urging her to choose one and leaving her no peace.

Until she discovered Alex, an even more unusual guy.

She came today to confirm her own thoughts. If it was just her imagination, that would be fine, but if Alex also harbored doubts, then there would truly be a serious problem with this world.

Thinking of this, Bayeta stepped forward and grabbed Alex's sleeve, saying excitedly, "Alex, you know this world is fake, right? Look at you, you're running away!"

"Let go!" Alex shook off Bayeta's hand and pointed at her, saying, "You're overthinking it. You should rest. Come talk to me again when you've calmed down."

As he spoke, Alex waved his hand, and the two robots behind him stepped forward, preparing to forcibly "send" Bayeta out.

"The brightness of the light from the human body would not be so soft; it should be as dazzling as the sun, making it impossible to look directly at it."

When Bayeta saw the robot approaching, she did not resist; she simply recounted the anomalies she had discovered.

She believed that facts were more convincing to Alex, a scholar, than mere violence.

"Kanria's rabbits don't hop like the ones on the ground, and they're not white. Although I admit that these two features make Kanria's rabbits very cute."

“And…” Bayeta paused for a moment, then continued:

"Taboos from beyond the world cannot be so easily attracted, nor can they be so easily bound!"

Alex finally stopped.

Chapter 165 Scholar

2023-09-11

Alex paused, turned his head with a complicated expression, and looked at Bayeta, whose expression was slightly crazed, and said:

"Why worry so much? Isn't this better? You're a scholar too; you should have things you want to explore."

Alex took a deep breath and said with a smile, "You know what? My biggest wish is to have a machine factory like this."

"A mechanical factory that belongs solely to me, undisturbed, where I can unleash my full potential!"

At this point, Alex clenched his fist and said with a sigh:

"I am very humble, so humble that I am even insecure. I am also very introverted, so introverted that I don't even have many friends."

"But when it comes to mechanics, I have absolute confidence! I can tell you this: in my eyes, every single one of the kingdom's mechanics is utterly useless!"

"However, my humility made others think I was incompetent, and my introverted nature kept me out of high positions, so I could only quietly remain a researcher and live out my life in that way."

Alex thought of his past experiences, shook his head, and continued, "I'm a person who's content with the status quo. If I'm a researcher, I'll just do what a researcher does. As for talent, I'll just pretend it doesn't exist."

"But now that this talent has room to be displayed, and the current situation is so wonderful, why should we expose it?"

Alex looked utterly bewildered; in a way, he was also a terrifying person. Content with the status quo, whether it was pleasant or painful, real or unreal.

After hearing Alex's words, Bayeta bypassed the now-still robot and walked up to Alex once again.

She gathered her hair, which had come undone in her excitement, and said quietly:

“You have your ideas, and I have mine. You say every scholar has something they seek to explore, and that's true, so do I!”

Bayeta took out a piece of black, mud-like substance and placed it in her palm. Looking at this lump of flowing mud, a look of fascination involuntarily appeared on her face. "Look! What stable abyssal power, what serene forbidden knowledge!"

But soon, a look of struggle appeared on Bayeta's face. She clenched the Abyss Block in her hand and casually tossed it away.

"But I know that the true power of the abyss is simply not stable enough to be touched with your hands."

“I have great talent, but in the face of the abyss, that talent is of no use at all. But even so, I still want to explore it.”

"I fear nothing—forbidden things, pollution, the abyss, even being transformed into a non-human monster, I can accept it!"

"But the one thing I can't accept is that the power of the abyss has become so stable! I wish I were a forbidden entity from beyond the world, not a sheep as stable as elemental power!"

Bayeta had been holding these thoughts in for a long time. In this false world, she had no one to confide in.

Now that she has met Alex, an exception, she has unknowingly revealed all her thoughts.

Bayeta patted her chest; her words had released all the pressure she had been under lately, and she felt incredibly relieved.

She glanced at Alex, who remained silent, took a few deep breaths, and then bowed to him.

"Phew! Sorry, Alex, I got a little carried away. Since you think this world is wonderful, I won't bother you any longer. Let's part ways here."

Alex nodded in agreement. As he said, he liked this kind of world. Even though he suspected it was fake, it didn't affect his life.

In his eyes, there was no difference between truth and falsehood.

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

Just as Bayeta was about to leave, a burst of crisp applause suddenly rang out between the two silent people.

Then Ember appeared between Alex and Bajetta.

He had been spying on Bayeta ever since he entered the machine factory. He also wanted to know why Bayeta was able to discover that the world was an illusion.

However, after hearing what Bayeta called the "abnormalities," he realized that those so-called "abnormalities" were all things he had created by being lazy.

Because Ember felt it was too troublesome to create a world for each person, he put all the people with similar understandings of the world together.

But I never expected to run into Bayeta, that stubborn guy. He always notices details that most people miss. I was really careless.

Why is the artificial sun in Kanria so gentle? It's because Ember knows that in the hearts of the Kanria people, the artificial sun is so dazzling, not as gentle as the real sun.

Why are the rabbits here the same as those on the ground? It's because the Kanriyans crave everything on the earth; they want what's underground to be the same as what's under the sky.

However, most of the creatures created within the Alchemy Academy do not meet this requirement. They either look alike but have different habits, or they look different but have the same habits.

All of this seems to be telling the Kanriyans that the underground and the sky are ultimately different.

As for the abyssal power of this world, it's just dead skin that the Embers peeled off the Deep. It's merely masquerading as the abyss of Teyvat.

For something as dangerous as the Deep, Ember definitely needs to take some measures against it, otherwise the souls of this world might all be turned into nourishment for the Deep.

"A very bold statement." Yu Jin nodded approvingly at Bayeta. To have such a desire to explore the forbidden, one must be a madman.

Why is there such a high percentage of lunatics in Kanria? Could this country actually be a mental hospital in Teyvat?

“Ember? What are you doing here? Is there something new about Catherine?” Alex had met Ember many times, so he wasn’t surprised by his arrival.

He had long suspected the identity of Ember, but after confirming that Ember wouldn't affect his current life, Alex stopped caring about Ember's background.

Yu Jin nodded and then shook his head, casually saying, "Catherine is having a great time every day, what could possibly be wrong with her? She's here to talk to you about something new!"

As he spoke, Ember pulled out a pure white baby dragon in the blink of an eye.

Then Alex and Bayeta's eyes widened. They saw that Dulin's figure was illusory—meaning Dulin was now a spirit!

There are cases of souls remaining in the world, but all recorded instances have occurred in places with disordered ley lines. Alex and Bayeta have never seen anything like this, where a soul can appear directly in reality.

If Ember knew what they were thinking, he would definitely say that they were overthinking it. Because, to be honest, neither Alex nor Bajetta have physical bodies.

However, it is true that Dulin has an extremely strong will, even though its mind is similar to that of a child.

"Mom... I shouldn't have appeared; I shouldn't have appeared..." The faint murmur still came from Dulin's mouth, making Yu Jin feel a little numb.

It is said to be Dulin, but it is not Dulin; it is more like a lingering regret of Dulin before his death, a lingering regret of guilt and innocence.

But for him, the embers made no difference. He was most familiar with things like souls, and to him, there was no difference between lingering resentment and consciousness.

However, after Dulin was extracted from Dvalin's subconscious, he was in this half-dead state, which made Ember find him particularly difficult to deal with.

He really doesn't know how to treat depression. After all, you can't just use a personality corrector to treat every mental illness, can you?

"Stop crying! Will crying bring everything back? You should become stronger, stronger than anyone else!"

"Powerful enough to protect everything, powerful enough to reverse tragedy, powerful enough to make up for your mistakes!" Ember said, gesturing with his muscles.

However, due to the obstruction of the arm armor, it looked as if he was gesturing some kind of unknown sign language.

"Get stronger..." Dulin raised his head and looked at the embers in front of him, saying, "How do I get stronger!"

Upon hearing this, Ember chuckled and said to Alex and Bayeta, "See? I told you you guys were ready to do something!"

Chapter 166 Divine Body

2023-09-12

“They can make you stronger,” Ember said to Dulin, pointing to Bayeta and Alex not far away.

Upon hearing this, Alex bent down and carefully observed Dulin.

"A dragon?" Alex looked at the distinct layers of white scales on Dulin's body, then at the pair of wings curled up behind it, and said with some doubt.

In his memory, Teyvat didn't seem to have any creatures like Dulin. Although there were lizards on the ground, they were worlds apart from true dragons.

“Hmm…” Alex pondered for a moment, then asked Ember, “Where did you get all these strange creatures? I haven’t seen a single one of them.”

"Can I be the same as you?" Ember pointed to himself, then to Alex, indicating that people are different.

"How...how do I become stronger?" Dulin asked in a barely audible voice as he overheard Ember and Alex's conversation.

"How do I become stronger?" Alex asked, but didn't rush to answer Dulin's question.

He took out some instruments from a short distance away and began measuring around Dulin.

"Such high mental strength?!" Bayeta also came to Alex's side. She looked at the data on the instrument and couldn't help but exclaim.