Chapter 016: You’re Being a Bit Too Extreme

The main hall of the cabin in the woods.

Keqing was busy measuring the body dimensions of a seemingly indifferent orange cat.

At that moment, a flash of white light appeared outside the door, and a familiar elemental presence filled the air around her.

The door opened, and Gong Qu walked in.

"Welcome back home, Ah Qu. What's wrong? Did you forget something?"

"No, I ran into an interesting merchant. I didn't bring enough emeralds, so I had to come back and grab more."

"An interesting merchant?"

Keqing looked at Gong Qu's back, puzzled.

A few minutes later, Gong Qu emerged from the basement and walked up to her. Without a word, he drained the tea from her table in one go.

"It's like this..." Gong Qu grabbed Keqing and began recounting his encounter with the gatekeeper, along with a theory regarding the true nature of their world.

After hearing this, Keqing felt dizzy. She grasped Gong Qu's arm and asked, "Do you think taking control of the world would be dangerous? How about... how about we just stay here, living peacefully together?"

Gong Qu hadn't expected Keqing to react like this, so he responded with a question of his own.

"Don't you want to go back to Teyvat? There should still be some people there that you care about, right?"

Keqing pursed her lips and simply gazed lovingly at the man in front of her, saying nothing more.

Was she trying to say that the person she cares about most is right here?

The strong emotional sensing from her Electro energy confirmed this answer. Gong Qu smiled and gently pulled Keqing into an embrace.

"Don't worry. I've died once already. I'm very cautious with my life. Also, I won't die until you give me a whole soccer team's worth of kids."

"Uh, looks like I've committed myself a bit too much."

Gong Qu chuckled to himself, feeling like a general on a stage.

But the tension of a seemingly life-and-death separation was immediately broken.

"Ha, Ah Qu, you fool."

Keqing gave Gong Qu a light punch, but halfway through, she hesitated, unable to bring herself to strike him. Instead, she tilted her swan-like neck up.

"Kiss me~"

"Yes, my lady!"

Gong Qu wrapped Keqing in his arms, turned her body slightly, and kissed her deeply, as if they were a prince and princess in a fairy tale.

More than ten minutes later.

Keqing, breathing heavily, pushed Gong Qu away.

"I'll go with you. Even if it's dangerous, we'll face it together. But from now on, stop saying those irrational things."

"Yes, my lady!"

"Mm, say that again!"

"My lady! My lady! ×N"

"Okay, okay! Let's go already!"

Keqing's face flushed bright red as she quickly escaped from Gong Qu's embrace, even using the instant teleportation ability of her Electro powers to do so.

"Heh, my wife is so cute."

...

Gatekeeper: "Lord Daming Cuilong, what did the Creator just say? What does it mean?"

Triangle: "Awo~"

Gatekeeper: "Sorry, I'm a bit dull. I don't understand your language. These are some food supplies I've saved up for you. Please, help yourself."

Triangle: "Awo awo!"

When Gong Qu arrived through the teleportation anchor point, this bizarre scene was what he witnessed.

The gatekeeper, a steadfast priest figure, was showing an awkward, merchant-like smile as he offered bread to a carnivorous dragon creature.

The most ridiculous part was that the stupid dragon accepted it without hesitation and ate up all his supplies from several days.

Gong Qu knew that the gatekeeper's two treasure chests were as empty as they come.

When playing the game, Gong Qu never even had the urge to rummage through the gatekeeper's chests.

"Oh, Creator, you've arrived!"

The gatekeeper clapped his pants and hurriedly stood up with respect.

"Mm, I've got everything I need. Let's go."

At his words, the gatekeeper immediately took the lead, walking ahead.

Keqing watched the NPC's behavior, which was a bit different from that of a typical villager, and thought to herself that this person seemed no different from an ordinary human.

...

"We're here, Lord Creator."

"Am I supposed to give you the emeralds?"

"Yes, or you can just place the exchange items in the chest."

Gong Qu nodded and, without hesitation, opened his bag and dropped half a stack of emeralds into the chest.

Ding dong.

A soft sound echoed as a blueprint called "Teyvat Gate" was ejected from the chest.

The gatekeeper received the blueprint and handed it back to Gong Qu with both hands raised.

"It seems that as long as there's a chest for item exchange, it doesn't really matter whether there's a gatekeeper or not, right?"

"W-what?!"

The gatekeeper, struck as if by lightning, felt his faith shatter. His entire demeanor darkened.

"Ah~~ If the Creator doesn't need me anymore, then I might as well end my life here."

The gatekeeper drew out an iron sword and, without hesitation, stabbed it into his chest.

Thwack!

Blood sprayed out as his health bar quickly dropped.

"You're serious?!"

Gong Qu grabbed the iron sword and kicked the gatekeeper away, then cast a healing spell on him.

He glared at the gatekeeper.

"You're being a bit too extreme!!"

"I-I'm sorry, Lord Creator! I... I..."

"Enough, I was just joking. I still have use for you."

"Yes! Lord Creator!"

The gatekeeper's sudden recovery was more effective than Gong Qu's healing spell.

Just a second ago, the gatekeeper had been slumped over, and now he was standing up straight.

"Hey, you're still bleeding from your chest."

Keqing kindly reminded him.

The gatekeeper pressed his hand against his chest and forced out an awkward smile. "It's fine now."

Reluctantly, Gong Qu continued healing him.

After all, the injury was serious. It was a penetrating wound, and even with Gong Qu's powerful grass-element healing abilities, it would take time.

A few minutes later, the wound was stitched up, but Gong Qu still made the gatekeeper rest for another half hour.

Once the commotion ended, Gong Qu led Keqing and the gatekeeper through the teleportation anchor to a high mountain north of their cabin.

There, Gong Qu placed the gate to Teyvat.

"The description says this is the gate to the other world, 'Genshin.' It's bidirectional, but we control the switch. The gate also comes with a key, so we can open it anywhere in Teyvat and return to where we stand now."

After saying this, Gong Qu glanced at the respectful gatekeeper and gave his instructions.

"I'll keep the gate open for a short while. After that, I'll need you to go ahead and scout the other side."

"Yes, Lord Creator! Even if there's a hellish firestorm ahead, I won't flinch."

"Alright, once you're back, I'll reward you with a lava bath."

"My life is short, but to serve Lord Creator is my honor. I will not—"

"Just get in there already!!"

Gong Qu was tired of hearing the gatekeeper's nonsense and kicked him straight into the sky gate.

At that moment, only Keqing remained.

"Ah Qu, he really seems to worship you. Is it really okay to treat him like that?"

Gong Qu, having dropped his earlier, harsh attitude, returned to his usual calm demeanor.

"This guy has an unknown background. He's an indigenous inhabitant of this world with high autonomy. It's hard not to suspect that he has some ulterior motive."

"I just didn't expect him to commit suicide so easily. It reminds me of the fanatic followers from my past life."

As for those fanatical followers... Gong Qu, who had experienced the 'fan culture' era, politely declined to comment.

Gong Qu opened his system interface.

Looking at the cold, impersonal panel, it felt as though an invisible hand was blocking everything behind it.

But that hand felt eerily familiar. So familiar, in fact, that it was something he saw every morning when he woke up.