After seeing off editor Sha Lin, Miko looked at Lu Chen with curiosity.
"Who exactly is this Cai Haoyu you're looking for? Why go to so much trouble to find him?"
Lu Chen chuckled. "I'm not sure. Maybe he's a game producer? Or a grad student who hasn't graduated yet?"
Or… worst case, just a middle-aged man stuck in life, frustrated and going nowhere.
Miko looked even more puzzled. "You don't even know what he does?"
Lu Chen shook his head. This world didn't have Genshin Impact, so he wasn't even sure if Cai Haoyu existed here. But if the "parallel world" theory held true, maybe this world did have its own "Cai Haoyu"—someone who might not be making games at all, living a completely different life from the one he knew.
Getting Cai Haoyu to make a game might never work out, but Lu Chen figured it was worth a shot. He had both money and time to spare.
If he could turn his "Teyvat Universe" into a hit game, the "Power of Faith" he'd gain would be endless.
These past few days, Lu Chen could feel his strength slowly growing.
He stretched out his hand and once again activated his newly gained "Time Authority."
Like dragging a video progress bar, his palm slowly moved left, and everything in the seaside villa slowed.
Narrowing his eyes, his eagle-like vision caught a tiny mosquito frozen midair. Turning his head, he saw Miko's pink hair being gently lifted by the breeze.
If last time was at 0.5x speed, this time was 0.25x—everything in sight seemed completely still.
He could use this "time gap" to do things that were once impossible.
Focusing, the tiny insect in the air was instantly ground to dust by the Anemo around it, drifting down at an almost imperceptible pace.
Looking back at Miko, a mischievous thought popped into his head. Quietly, he stepped in front of her—
—and reached out to rub the soft fox ears hidden in her pink hair.
It had been so long since he'd done this. The feel was as good as ever.
Of course, he didn't dare push his luck.
Time snapped back to normal.
Miko's eyes widened in surprise. To her, it was like something had suddenly flown past, and then—she felt a sensitive touch on her ears.
She clutched them, cheeks flushing red.
"Who?"
"Who touched my ears?"
She scanned the room suspiciously, then suddenly turned her gaze toward Lu Chen, who sat there looking perfectly serious.
Lu Chen decided to accuse first.
"Huh? Miko, why are you touching your ears? They itchy? Want me to scratch them for you?"
"It was definitely you!" Miko knew him too well. Her fur practically bristled as she stormed over.
"What did you just do?"
"What could I have done?" Lu Chen put on an innocent face. "I didn't do anything. If you don't believe me, ask Master Hu."
Editor-in-chief Sha Lin had just been discussing the upcoming plot with everyone, so Hu Tao was here too. But she was too busy curled up on the new sofa, scrolling through the comments on Liyue Strange Tales.
"This chapter's horror effect seems pretty good. Lots of people were scared…"
"Eh? No reaction to this part? Looks like I need to step it up!"
"Gotta hit harder!"
Miko ignored Hu Tao, keeping her eyes locked on Lu Chen.
"Don't lie. It was you! Who else in this house would do something so childish and shameless?"
Lu Chen gave an awkward laugh. "I just wanted to show you the power of 'Faith.' See? Pretty effective, right?"
His attempt to change the subject failed miserably. After a short round of "discipline" from Miko, Lu Chen sat back down on the sofa with his hair sticking up in every direction.
"Now can we get back to serious business…" He spread his hands.
"Hmph." Miko still felt it wasn't enough payback. She eyed him up and down but couldn't think of an equal revenge—after all, he didn't have long ears.
Back to the topic.
"The power of faith…" Miko mused. "Your Teyvat Universe makes readers admire the characters, and those characters benefit in turn. So you want to make a game to expand the number of believers, right?"
"Exactly." Lu Chen nodded. "The 'Time Authority' is a fundamental power, even higher than elemental energy. It's hard to improve through training alone, but I've been able to strengthen it through the Power of Faith."
"Then why haven't I gotten stronger?" Miko frowned. After all, her own novel had a protagonist based on her.
"You changed your light novel's setting so much…" Lu Chen sighed. Sure, Teyvat Academy had "Teyvat" in the title, but its contents… basically had nothing to do with Teyvat's real history.
"Fine. If there's no Power of Faith for me, so be it. I don't care…"
She was a bit disappointed, but she still refused to change her writing style.
Besides—she was the wildly popular heroine in her own book!
...
After the discussion ended, Miko and Hu Tao went off to brainstorm, and Nahida walked in.
"What's wrong? Scaramouche causing trouble again?" Lu Chen noticed her expression was off.
"No." Nahida shook her head. As much as Scaramouche was a headache, this was more serious.
She pulled out her phone and showed him recent news headlines:
[Greenery Disappears from Spring City—Primeval Forests Wither]
[Farmland Destroyed on a Large Scale—Crop Yields Falling, Food Crisis Looms?]
[Master XX: 'A Sign of the End Times!']
"There's more and more news about the Withering. Both the frequency and affected areas are getting worse," she said gravely.
Lu Chen frowned. The Withering came from instability at the "Boundary." Occasional appearances were one thing, but this… Did it mean things weren't looking good on the other side of the Gate of Teyvat, in Sumeru?
"The Withering in Sumeru is constantly eroding this world," Nahida continued, "causing panic everywhere. Sometimes monsters appear with it. Shouldn't we take action?"
"The root cause is in Sumeru," Lu Chen said firmly. "Even if we purify the Withering here, it's only a temporary fix. To end it, we have to go back to Sumeru."
"Open the Gate of Teyvat again?" Nahida's tone turned worried. "Do you still have enough Primogems? You said exchanging them is expensive… And aren't you saving for the last Hydro Vision?"
"We'll deal with the crisis first." Lu Chen thought to himself—he still had three tasks left, so the Primogems should be enough.
Those were Scaramouche's challenge, To read the novel, please choose Yae Publishing House!, and Zhongli's The Hundred States of the World.
"My Primordial Energy Traveler's Handy Sword is still on Yashiori Island," he said. "I'll need you and Ei to help forge a batch of good Primordial Energy weapons. They're very effective for purifying the Withering."
"Alright." Nahida agreed without hesitation.
"While we're at it, we'll take care of the worst Withering zones first. Then, I'll take you back to Sumeru."
"Back to Sumeru…" Nahida fell silent.
These carefree days almost made her forget the shadows of the past. But she knew she still had to face them—no matter how much she didn't want to return to the cold, empty Sanctuary of Surasthana or see the disappointed faces of the sages.
She gave a bitter smile and nodded. "Alright, I'll listen to you."
"What are you afraid of?" Lu Chen grinned. "This time, you've got three gods and a demigod at your back! When we get there, I'll personally help you give the Great Sage a good beating!"
If last time was Electro Archon Joins the Rebellion, then he already had the next title in mind—
The three years are up, the Dendro Archon returns, and at my command, the three gods will be my bodyguards!