Su Yuan stared at the scene, stunned, and for a moment didn't know what to say…
Sure enough, those scenes in movies and shows—where they say that if you hold hands, you won't get separated—were all lies…
Looking at Aether's hand still dripping with blood in his own, Su Yuan wondered: is Aether even alive now? What exactly had happened?
But Su Yuan knew very well that worrying was useless.
The immediate priority was to determine his own location and figure out a way to reunite with the others.
He looked around and realized he seemed to be in a place of cliffs and towering mountains, where the rocks were a strange red-orange color…
Su Yuan felt puzzled.
Was this place really still Teyvat?
Why had he never seen a scene like this in the game before?
But soon, a possibility occurred to him…
Su Yuan knew that when he had crossed over, the game had just finished the Fontaine version.
As for Natlan and Snezhnaya, he had no concrete information at all…
So this unknown place could very well be Snezhnaya or Natlan…
Since Snezhnaya is located in the north of Teyvat and covered in snow, while this place was clearly not cold and even had a faintly oppressive warmth, Su Yuan reasoned by elimination that this must be Natlan!
"I remember Neuvillette saying that Natlan is the land of dragons…" Su Yuan murmured, wearing a thoughtful expression.
"So, what do Natlan's dragons actually look like? Eastern dragons? Or Western dragons?"
"Ha… it can't be dinosaur dragons, right?" Su Yuan laughed wryly, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere with a joke.
"Well, dinosaur dragons aren't totally impossible..."
"Still, if Natlan really is the land of dragons, and this place really is Natlan, then why haven't I seen a single person—or even a dragon—so far?"
With this question in mind, Su Yuan continued forward, but still saw no signs of life.
Just as he began to despair, a teleport waypoint suddenly appeared ahead!
"There's actually a teleport waypoint here?" Su Yuan said with some surprise.
"And judging by the glow of the ley line energy, it's blue—so this waypoint hasn't been corrupted or damaged by the Eerie forces!"
But soon, Su Yuan's excitement faded considerably.
Although he had previously used a teleport waypoint to travel from Inazuma to Liyue, ever since that one time, every attempt to use a teleport waypoint had ended in failure…
"Sigh, no matter what, I might as well give it a try. Maybe, just maybe, it'll work this time?"
With that hesitant hope, Su Yuan approached the teleport waypoint, placed his hand on it, closed his eyes, and focused on his intended destination—Mondstadt…
Then, to Su Yuan's surprise, something unexpected happened: the teleport waypoint actually activated successfully!
"What? Why can I use the teleport waypoint now?" Su Yuan exclaimed, shocked and puzzled.
"Seriously, why is it always hit or miss like this?"
Recalling his previous experiences with teleport waypoints, Su Yuan quickly noticed something worth considering:
"Could it be that when I use a teleport waypoint, there can't be anyone else around? Otherwise, it just won't work?"
"Why would that matter? I'm just using a teleport waypoint, not taking a bath or using the bathroom—why should I be shy about someone seeing me?" Su Yuan muttered in exasperation.
Not long after, Su Yuan successfully arrived at the gates of Mondstadt using the teleport waypoint.
Eagerly, he crossed the bridge and headed into the city, thinking that if Aether was still alive, he would likely have returned to Mondstadt via a teleport waypoint as well to regroup.
But soon, Su Yuan sensed that something was very wrong…
Why were there no signs of Timmy on the bridge?
And why did the stone bricks on the bridge look different from what he remembered?
Even the bricks on the walls of Mondstadt seemed to have undergone many changes.
At first glance, they didn't look too different, but on closer inspection, they appeared almost brand new, as if freshly manufactured…
Su Yuan was stunned.
Could it be that his group had only been gone for a short while, yet Mondstadt had undergone a major renovation in that time?
That efficiency seemed way too high.
With a mixture of confusion and curiosity, Su Yuan entered Mondstadt—and what he saw next was even more baffling…
All the buildings in Mondstadt were vastly different from before, and even the appearances and clothing of the people were completely unfamiliar—things Su Yuan had never seen before…
He suddenly began to doubt himself.
Had he really arrived in Mondstadt through a teleport waypoint?
Su Yuan quickly grabbed a passerby by the roadside and asked, "Excuse me, what happened to Mondstadt? Why has it changed so much?"
The passerby looked puzzled at the question. "Changed? Hasn't Mondstadt always been like this? What change?"
After a moment of thought, the person seemed to remember something.
"Oh! I know. If you're talking about the biggest change today, it's that the noble lords of the Lawrence family are planning to tear down the Anemo Archon statue and build a high tower to symbolize their power!"
"The great Lord Barbatos hasn't appeared in Mondstadt for a long time. Now that the dragon Ursa is wreaking havoc, the Lawrence family lords think the Archon can no longer protect us, so they want to tear down the Archon statue and rebuild the high tower, just like when the lonely high king, 'Decarabian,' protected us back in the day!"
Hearing the passerby's explanation, Su Yuan was even more baffled…
Huh??? What nonsense is this person talking about?
The Anemo Archon statue had already been destroyed by Dvalin, and just recently, Klee had demolished it with explosives—so why would it need to be destroyed again now?
And what even is this dragon Ursa? Where did it come from?
Su Yuan looked up toward the plaza and was shocked to see a tall Anemo Archon statue still standing there…
Immediately, a terrifying thought crossed his mind.
"Excuse me, could you tell me… what time is it now?" Su Yuan asked in a trembling voice.
"What time? Can't you look up?" the passerby replied, somewhat exasperated.
"The sun is high in the sky, of course it's morning!"
"No… you misunderstand…" Su Yuan swallowed hard, sweat dripping down his face.
"I mean… what year is it now?"
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