"Alas, a false Sky!"
"I wonder what time period this is. Hilichurls are everywhere in the forest?"
"Are there no Adventurers to clean them up?!"
Jiang Yi lay on a stone in the pond, gazing at the brilliant starfell lake, sighing.
Such a beautiful scene, yet he couldn't quietly appreciate it.
Next to him was a bundle of wet firewood, and he was drenched.
He didn't dare to sleep outside; only a small stone island in the center of the pond could give him a sense of security.
As everyone knows, Hilichurls are easily dissolved in water and cannot swim.
Lying here, he wasn't afraid of the melee Hilichurls foraging and wandering outside, giving him a fatal blow while he was sleeping.
That bundle of firewood?
He had intended to build a triangular shelter like Bear Grylls, but it wouldn't stay fixed, so he could only stack it in a circle around him to prevent Hilichurl crossbow bolts.
He swallowed another Sunsettia.
His strength had recovered a bit.
In this world with element power, Sunsettia seemed to carry power, or perhaps his mutated body was special.
After eating the fruit, his wounds actually healed.
He could feel a faint energy being digested from his warm stomach, carried by blood circulation to various parts of his body.
His body had become somewhat stronger; if he had a phone, he could play all night without feeling tired.
The forest turned pitch black, and there was the sound of wild boars rooting up trees.
Jiang Yi once again praised his wise choice.
"I want to eat braised pork, I want to eat grilled Fish!" he murmured, unable to sleep, gazing at the water and the forest.
Dotted with faint, eerie blue light, appearing and disappearing.
"Hmm?"
He widened his eyes! That over there was…
"Small… small lamp grass?!"
"Whispering Woods."
Jiang Yi's face brightened with excitement.
"So this is where I am?"
He immediately got up, recalled the game map, and looked south.
Thankfully, he remembered where the sun set; otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to tell east from west!
"Isn't that very close to Mondstadt City!" Jiang Yi clapped his hands, stood on tiptoe, but couldn't see the distant lights, then dejectedly lay back down.
Compared to the small patch in the game, the Whispering Woods in reality was exceptionally vast, making it easy to get lost.
What was the ratio of Teyvat to reality, one to several thousand?
Jiang Yi scratched his head.
He thought about checking again tomorrow!
…
After a peaceful night, Jiang Yi woke up on the Shitou with a sore back, cold hands and feet, but an indescribable surge of energy that made him feel exhilarated.
He glanced around, saw no Hilichurls, and immediately swam to the shore.
He took off his clothes, wrung them out, and let them dry in the sun.
He continued to eat the two Sunsettia left from yesterday for breakfast, along with some unpalatable dendro slime.
He washed his hands and rinsed his mouth.
He once again set his sights on the Fish.
He picked up a long, forked branch, sharpened it on a Shitou, making a simple three-pronged Fish spear.
His gaze was sharp, fixed on the Black Bass in the pond.
"Hmph!" Still as a virgin, swift as a rabbit, he missed with his spear.
Jiang Yi did not get discouraged, waiting for the startled Fish to stop.
He calculated the refraction of the water surface and aimed at a plump Black Bass.
In the past, he could have predicted that he wouldn't succeed even after a hundred attempts.
But now…
Waking up, Jiang Yi felt completely transformed.
His body was more coordinated than ever before, as if every bone and muscle was under his control with each breath.
If he thrust, he would surely hit.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths!
The Fish spear fell silently, piercing the Black Bass, and only then did water splash on the surface.
"Success!"
Jiang Yi flung the Fish onto the grass and grabbed it.
Looking at the lively, blood-stained Black Bass, various flavors like braised, fried, boiled, steamed, spicy… flashed through his mind.
Finally, he discovered a very realistic problem.
He had no pot, no Fire, and no seasonings…
"Could it be raw…"
His intestines churned, his stomach growled, causing Jiang Yi's mouth to water profusely.
After coming to Teyvat, he had been hungry even with ten meals a day.
Especially after exercise, he felt like he could devour an entire wild boar in one bite.
"Let's think about how to make Fire again, whether to use a fire drill, or find a Fire Element flower… or, borrow some from the Hilichurls?" Jiang Yi's imagination ran wild, and many strange ideas emerged.
He pulled a few blades of grass, twisted them into a rope, and hung the Black Bass.
He put his clothes back on and looked at his reflection in the water.
In the water, there was a short-haired young man holding a stick in one hand and a Fish in the other.
Neither handsome nor ugly, clean, and pleasant to look at.
He wore a black short-sleeved shirt and dark shorts, with a few Mushrooms in his pockets.
He was barefoot, standing on the shore.
"If my clothes weren't so durable, I'd probably look like a refugee right now!" Jiang Yi chuckled self-deprecatingly. All the injuries from yesterday had healed and were no longer visible today.
Except for a slight awkwardness and weakness in his left hand, the rest of his body was healthier than a regular fitness enthusiast.
He sneezed and walked south, continuing to explore the path he hadn't finished yesterday.
As long as he bypassed the surrounding Hilichurls, he could go to Mondstadt City.
Half an hour later, Jiang Yi's heart pounded, and he hid behind a large tree.
Ahead was a main road.
But the Hilichurls had built several watchtowers, with red-haired and blue-haired Hilichurl element archers standing on them.
On the ground, there was also a Wind Elemental Samachurl holding a staff.
An Ice Element Abyss Mage.
He was lecturing many Hilichurls.
Soon, team after team of Hilichurls appeared on the main road, moving in the same direction.
Jiang Yi didn't dare to breathe until the Hilichurl army had passed, and he found that only three or four Hilichurls remained in place before he cautiously walked back.
Even with a little thought, he knew what was to the south.
The Hilichurls were going the same way as him, clearly to attack Mondstadt City. If he followed them, he would probably be utterly annihilated.
It seemed that the small pond was still the safest place, with food and drink.
It was suitable for waiting for rescue, or for waiting until the Knights of Favonius had dealt with all the Hilichurls and cleared the dangers of the Whispering Woods before he proceeded.
The trip was not without gain.
At least, he found an Adventurer camp near the road.
A dilapidated tent, a pair of flints, a pot, a few shriveled radishes, an empty wooden box…
And a note pasted on the wooden box.
The note had two lines of text, one in Teyvat's common language, and one in Mondstadt's language, which looked like English and Italian.
Unfortunately, Jiang Yi was illiterate.
Naturally, he didn't know that the meaning of the two lines was roughly the same: "Stormterror is ravaging the town, and the wandering Hilichurls are gathering, becoming more and more numerous! Successors, if you see this note, hurry back to the city!"
Jiang Yi put away the note and quickly dismantled the tent, taking everything he could carry.
The roadside was too dangerous; he didn't dare to camp there.
He carried a large bundle, avoided the Hilichurls, and walked back.
By the pond, a green figure wearing white stockings suddenly appeared.
He hummed a song, looking curiously at the firewood on the stone.
He squatted down, preparing to take water to wash his face.
"Ugh, it stinks!"
The Wind brought a strong smell from the nearby grass.
"Oh, wow, Hilichurls are too lacking in Karma to leave their dung with a grass element." Venti covered his nose, looking at the not yet completely dissipated element traces.
He found another place to wash his face.
"I just feel like something's not right; there's also the scent of an outsider in the Wind!"
"Roar!" A Dragon roar appeared in the Sky, interrupting Venti's thoughts.
"Dvalin!" he exclaimed, Wind Elemental surged, and his body lightly flew up.
The Sky darkened.
A storm appeared in the Whispering Woods.
Jiang Yi's face changed drastically. The earth-shattering Dragon roar was like it was right next to his ear. He looked up and saw a gigantic winged creature sweeping across the Sky.
Leaves swayed, plants bowed, and withered branches and leaves spun, forming tornadoes.
"Dvalin?"
Jiang Yi was dumbfounded; the clumsy Dragon in the game was actually so awe-inspiring in reality.
"Mondstadt Dragon Calamity!"
Combining what he saw and heard, he finally found the plot point.