LRAB Page 197
Page 197
Diluc then ordered one as well, paying the same price as Kaeya.
[Zhong Gui: Just like that, ten million short of one mora, and we're back!]
[Zhong Gui: Enough with the nonsense, Black Cat, step back. What does Kaguya want with me?]
[Kaguya: You're in Mondstadt now? Have you forgotten something?]
[Zhong Gui: Hmm, I remember you guys were coming to Gensokyo...]
[Zhong Gui: It's alright, Mondstadt is only a short distance, I can get back in the blink of an eye.]
[Kaguya: Okay then~]
Then Kaguya recounted everything that had happened in Gensokyo over the past few days.
[Kaguya: Do you want to come and see Gensokyo? It's the last time you'll see it; if you don't, you won't be able to again.]
[Zhong Gui: Isn't it too late now? From what you're saying, Gensokyo is already a complete mess?]
[Kaguya: At least I can still see Gensokyo, even if it's in ruins~]
[Zhong Gui: What kind of Yuanmingyuan is this?]
Zhong Gui thought about it and decided he should go take a look; after all, it was Gensokyo...
Zhong Gui: "I might really be getting old."
Zhong Gui picked up the wine and drank a glass.
Wendy: "You actually drank hard liquor?"
"Hmm? Really?" Zhong Gui clicked his tongue, realizing it was true. "It's not that great, let's try another one."
The bartender, Diluc, brought over a cup of tea.
Kaeya: "The tavern still has tea?"
Diluc glanced at him. "I drank it myself. I've been enjoying tea lately."
This trip to Liyue was unlike his previous travels, which were filled with bitterness and resentment. Instead, he spent time with Zhong Gui and others in various tea rooms, and in the end, Diluc found tea to be quite enjoyable.
Health and wellness are so much better than wine. If Dawn Winery weren't a wine-selling business, he'd probably uproot the vineyards and plant tea instead.
Lately, he's taken to quietly brewing and sipping tea, living like an old man. If it weren't for his undiminished passion and occasional acts of righteousness, he would have long since become a young Zhongli of Mondstadt.
Zhong Gui put the wine aside and took a sip of tea.
"Good tea."
"How good is it?" Wendy took a sip, found it didn't taste good, and was about to spit it out.
"That one sip is enough for a month's worth of apple cider!"
"Cough cough cough cough—cough cough cough—cough cough cough cough—"
Wendy choked and coughed for a long time, "Why is it so expensive?!"
"Probably... picked by young girls?" Zhong Gui said uncertainly.
"You might as well say the girl stepped on the fermented material!"
Diluc: "..."
"Hey, Diluc, what's with that expression?"
Kaiya smiled slightly, "Because the best wines are made by the feet of pure young girls."
Wendy: "...By the way, why did you say you were old? You're just a teenager, why are you being so sentimental?"
Zhong Gui: "You didn't drink it, did you?"
Wendy: "Don't change the subject! How old are you anyway? Speaking of which, shouldn't Lord Diluc have sold you the bar? You're not old enough yet!"
Wendy gets angry just thinking about it. Diluc used to refuse to sell him alcohol, saying he was a minor. But now he's selling it to Zhong Gui, who is actually a minor, and he's very resentful.
Who exactly changed the subject? Zhong Gui shook his head.
"It's nothing, I just discovered that a small world is about to perish, and it... I've known about it for long enough to live to be thirty."
He's known the game "Touhou Project" for almost thirty years, from its early days to its present. From the three major fan-made games to the four major cults, from the most popular anime to being expelled from the second tier, Gensokyo has experienced too much, and things have changed for him.
And now, it has actually appeared before me, and before I even looked at it, it is already dilapidated and will probably disappear soon...
When Zhong Gui came to his senses, he realized that he was no longer a child.
Venti, Diluc, and Kaeya didn't delve into Zhong Gui's age, because they felt that Zhong Gui had lived in Liyue Harbor for over a decade as a human, but the age of a Demon God couldn't be calculated that way.
Take Venti for example. He was born 2,700 years ago, but that's from when he transformed into Barbatos, the god of wind, not when he appeared in his wind spirit form after accepting the prayers of the maiden from Gungnird. Besides, who knows what he went through before that?
Therefore, they weren't surprised by Zhong Gui's claim that his age was older than he actually was; rather, they were surprised by something else—
"The demise of the small world?"
433 "Hmm, I'm going to take a look at it, as a way of remembering it."
After drinking another cup of tea, Zhong Gui left money for the drinks and got up to leave; it was his treat today.
Wendy: "Tsk~ I won't be able to find anywhere to drink for the next few days..."
[Zhong Gui: System, open the door!]
[System: Received!]
In the chaotic Gensokyo, a portal of light suddenly opened.
"What is this?"
"Could it be a gap?"
"Yukari Yakumo is here?"
"Let her give us an explanation!"
A group of bizarre, unformed monsters and a group of formed monsters, some beautiful and some ugly, were all shouting.
"You are the new generation of monsters, aren't you?"
Zhong Gui walked out of the light gate.
"Not Yukari Yakumo?"
"Humanity?"
"Let me eat him!"
Zhong Gui frowned. "No wonder she was dumped by Yakumo Yukari~"
"Young man, do you know why we were left in this soon-to-be-destroyed Gensokyo by Yukari Yakumo?" A short-haired girl walked out and said to Zhong Gui with a charming smile.
Zhong Gui: "I know."
P.S.: Thank you to "zlice", "Cosmic Black Hole", "CFCFEX", "bzsp", "Without Beginning or End", "Clear Rain and Fireworks", "Seashell in a Dream", "Illusion into Emptiness", "Shiba Inu Fords", "181…", and "Happy Fat Otaku" for their monthly tickets. A new month has begun, please give me monthly tickets, subscriptions, recommendations, and flowers.
Chapter 211 Zhong Gui: You scoundrel, kneel down!
"Young man, do you know why we were left in this soon-to-be-destroyed Gensokyo by Yukari Yakumo?" a glamorous young woman stepped forward and asked.
Their current information is that Gensokyo is about to be destroyed, for reasons unknown. And instead of trying to save Gensokyo, the youkai sage Yakumo Yukari is thinking of escaping, and most importantly, she's not taking them with her.
Moreover, they were very concerned about why Yukari Yakumo's aura no longer resembled that of a youkai.
She no longer seemed weak, no longer slowly fading away.
"Hey bro, can you tell us?"
Looking over, Zhong Gui could only say that it was indeed Gensokyo. Although the creatures that hadn't transformed were all sorts of strange and wonderful, most of those that had transformed were quite handsome.
For example, the one who stepped forward had clean, neat short black hair paired with red eyes. Although it couldn't compare to white hair and red eyes, it still had its own unique charm.
Moreover, her black cheongsam-style miniskirt exuded a sensual vibe.
But that's how it appears to ordinary people. In Zhong Gui's eyes, he only felt that the other party was filthy.
She still looks the same, but the smell she exudes is just awful.
"These are the real yokai of the Cherry Blossom Country~"
Unlike the rabbit-like monsters, most of the demons there absorb the moonlight and cultivate the Heavenly Dao, with the goal of becoming immortals.
The Heavenly Court's organizational structure is paramount!
In the land of cherry blossoms, most of the monsters are born from evil spirits and filth.
For example, this one in front of me—
Zhong Gui could tell at a glance where she came from: a comb, or a comb used by the dead.
Because he frequently combed the hair of the dead, he gradually accumulated a lot of resentment and eventually became a monster.
But doesn't this setting seem a little familiar?
Is this also a hybrid world?
System: "Boss, you guessed right."
Zhong Gui: "Then what is the outside world?"
System: "There are all sorts of random things here, and most importantly, there's more than one world outside."