Oh, that reminds me, I have to mention Mona. She had been waiting for Lin Qiu to use this Pocket Waypoint, but he never did.
Coincidentally, today, after buying her books, she ran into Bennett's 'adventure team' and was dragged along on an adventure. It was also today that Lin Qiu used the Pocket Waypoint.
Lin Qiu directly took Ying to Stormterror's Lair, first getting his hands on the "Eye of the First tractor in History."
As for King Wolf of the North, he didn't need to worry about him; it was still uncertain when the Abyss Herald would arrive at Wolvendom.
Even if he did come, Acting Grand Master Jean leading the Knights of Favonius could resolve the trouble.
In the story, the Traveler was asked to find King Wolf not because they couldn't handle the Abyss Herald, but because their relationship with King Wolf was delicate.
They worried that bringing people into King Wolf's territory would cause a misunderstanding, so they sent the Traveler, who was more familiar with King Wolf, to meet him.
However, now that Acting Grand Master Jean knew the Abyss Herald's methods, if he attacked Wolvendom again, the Knights of Favonius would take direct action.
On Lin Qiu's side, after he and the Traveler obtained the 'eye,' they returned to Liyue and waited for Dain's arrival outside the ruins.
It didn't take long; Dain indeed arrived.
"Reunion... Hmm?" Dain first saw the eye-catching combination of the Traveler and Paimon.
Then he noticed another person in 'strange clothing' sitting on a pile of rocks nearby, tossing something around.
"You must be Lin Qiu, the 'Prophet,' correct?" Dain said, looking at Lin Qiu.
To be honest, he didn't like the title 'Prophet,' because one of his enemies also had that title.
However, to be fair, not many people knew about that Prophet, whereas Lin Qiu's reputation as a Prophet was somewhat universally known.
Lin Qiu nodded without speaking, playing the expert, while the Traveler and Paimon explained the reason.
"...An ability far beyond expectation." Dain took the 'eye.'
Lin Qiu didn't want to keep this thing and be targeted by the Abyss Order, so he let Dain keep it. If it was stolen, then so be it; it was part of the future anyway.
Dain felt a little emotional. This Prophet could truly foresee the Abyss Order's movements. This must surpass most Prophets in Teyvat, right?
One must know that most Prophets' methods of prophecy are ineffective against the Abyss Order because the Abyss Order is an existence from 'outside the world.'
"So next, we go in, destroy the statue, and then beat up the Hydro Abyss Mage, right?" Paimon asked.
"That's right, it's decided, Paimon!" Lin Qiu nodded.
"Eh? I... I can't!" Paimon waved his hands frantically.
"Don't you often 'ignite the sea'? He's just a Hydro Abyss Mage; the difficulty is much lower than igniting the sea," Lin Qiu teased.
Paimon pouted, shaking Ying's arm aggrievedly, "Traveler, look at him!"
"Alright, leave it to me," Ying said seriously.
She was about to see her brother and didn't want to be stopped by any Abyss Herald.
The few of them entered the ruins, and sure enough, Venti's statue was inverted inside. Lin Qiu didn't waste any time, with a flick of two fingers, a water dragon directly shattered the statue.
Lin Qiu felt great; he had wanted to try destroying a Statue of The Seven for a long time.
Dain looked at Lin Qiu's satisfied expression and felt, "This guy seems to hate the Seven Archons even more than I do?"
Continuing forward, there was no trace of the Abyss Herald in the depths of the ruins, presumably he had gone to Mondstadt.
With nothing to do, Lin Qiu suggested they play a game of Mahjong while they waited.
Dain: "..."
Fighting the Abyss Order for hundreds of years, this was truly an unprecedented sense of relaxation...
Going back in time a bit, Mona and the others had finished reading their books and eating, and planned to continue their 'adventure.'
With Razor there, even if they 'adventured' in Wolvendom, they wouldn't incur the displeasure of the wolf pack.
However, what they didn't expect was that the future written in the book would come upon them so quickly.
The Abyss Herald led the Abyss Order to invade Wolvendom, and the wolf pack was fighting against them.
"Wolf, danger!" Razor immediately charged forward and tangled with the Abyss Order.
He fought while approaching Boreas's trial ground, to first confirm King Wolf's safety.
"Go quickly and notify the Knights of Favonius!" Mona immediately made a judgment.
Then she struggled with the question of who to assign to report the information.
Who were her teammates? Razor had difficulty communicating, and he had already charged forward.
Bennett was too unlucky; she worried he would encounter some accident on the way back to Mondstadt and delay the intelligence transmission.
Fischl... her communication skills were also not to be complimented.
Finally, there was Klee left...
"Sigh, I'll go notify the Knights of Favonius, you all be careful, okay?" Mona instructed.
"You absolutely, absolutely must protect yourselves, I'll be back very soon!" Mona reiterated.
The three nodded obediently, indicating they understood, and Mona transformed into a wave of water and disappeared from the spot.
"Should we... should we go help Razor?" Bennett asked.
Although Mona told them to be careful, they couldn't just watch Razor fight, could they?
"Razor, Klee is here to help you~!" Klee threw bombs as she ran; anyway, Acting Grand Master Jean wouldn't be angry if she injured these furry creatures.
Bennett and Fischl exchanged glances and also charged forward, charging fiercely!
Time moved on. By the time Mona arrived with the Knights of Favonius and became entangled with the Abyss Order, Lin Qiu had destroyed the inverted statue.
"Hmm?" The Hydro Abyss Mage sensed something. While parrying Acting Grand Master Jean and Diluc's attacks, he opened a teleportation portal, intending to return to the ruins to see what was happening.
In fact, he had wanted to retreat for a long time. Facing Acting Grand Master Jean and Diluc alone, he truly felt somewhat outmatched, and if he didn't retreat soon, he might die here.
However, Diluc and Acting Grand Master Jean wouldn't let him go easily. They managed to drag him out for a long time, and only with the cover of the Abyss Order was the Hydro Abyss Mage able to escape.
Stepping out of the teleportation portal, before he could even catch his breath, the Hydro Abyss Mage saw three people and a white floating object in front of him, doing something he didn't understand.
"Two of bamboos," Lin Qiu said.
"Mahjong!" Ying exclaimed triumphantly.
"No way!? Again!?" Lin Qiu couldn't accept it.
Then Lin Qiu saw the Hydro Abyss Mage emerging from the teleportation portal. "You've come at just the right time."
The Hydro Abyss Mage truly felt like he was having the worst day. In Mondstadt, two monsters fought him, and in Liyue, it became three monsters.
Fortunately, just as the Hydro Abyss Mage was about to collapse, Aether came to the rescue.
"Brother!" Ying exclaimed with joy.
Although Lin Qiu had told her she would meet Aether, even knowing in advance, when she truly met her brother, her joy was uncontrollable.
"Ying..." Aether's tone was also very gentle.
"Brother, I know everything you want to say, so this time... let's just catch up, okay?" Ying said.
Aether glanced at Lin Qiu, knowing that those words were his.
Lin Qiu indicated, "You'd best not leave, and chat with your sister, otherwise I might just call you my brother-in-law."
Seeing that Aether didn't run, Lin Qiu was relieved. He checked the system prompts to see who had broken down.
Then he saw that the latest people to 'break down' were Ying and Aether...
Lin Qiu looked up at the siblings chatting, then at Dain.
Dain just silently watched it all, and was sensible enough not to interrupt them.
----------
Character Voice · Lin Qiu: Regarding Aether
"No matter how deep the grievances, one should still talk to the family member who has painstakingly searched for them and worried about their safety."
