Genshin Impact: A Traveler with Only Two Skills

"Look! Fresh fish, freshly caught!"

"Tanghulu! Tanghulu for three cents each!"

"Jianbing Guozi~~~"

Ying and Guiyan followed Gu Ling back to the town market again, but in the blink of an eye, the market was already crowded.

As the sun had set, the bottom of the lake became completely dark. The lights in the town also lit up one after another, like swaying stars. The light was not very bright, but it dispelled some of the darkness.

In the distance, where the light could not reach, the darkness seemed to merge with the lake, becoming a boundless and terrifying monster that enveloped the entire town.

Ying only glanced at the darkness, but she seemed to hear a faint growl coming from the depths. With years of adventuring experience, she understood that this meant an unspeakable danger was lurking at her.

Thinking of this, Ying couldn't help but tightly grasp Gui Yan and Gu Ling's hands. She wanted to calm her inner fear through this action, and she also wanted to protect the two from being harmed by things in the dark. Most importantly, she wanted to ensure that the three of them would not get lost in the market.

Especially Gu Ling. Although Ying was not sure about her strength yet, judging from her performance, her ability to survive in the wilderness alone and her identity as a disciple of the Great Immortal Zhenyuan, her strength must be quite good. However, in such a strange place, they had to act together to ensure their safety.

boom!

"Ouch, I'm sorry!"

Ying was suddenly bumped into by a passing man. The man was carrying a long bamboo pole on his shoulder, with bamboo baskets filled with toys and other goods on both sides of the pole. He had a simple smile on his face, and his first reaction after bumping into Ying was to apologize to her.

"It's okay." Ying responded cautiously, always paying attention to the other party's actions, worried that he would do something detrimental to her.

But the man just smiled and his eyes fell on Gu Ling.

"Hey! Isn't this a little bell?"

He first called out Gu Ling in surprise, then looked at the sky and frowned immediately. The smile on his face had not completely disappeared, but there was already a hint of anger in his words.

"Did you go out to play again? Why did you come back so late? What if the village chief is worried?"

"Okay, okay, I'll be more careful next time." Gu Ling responded nonchalantly, as if she and the toy vendor were acquaintances.

"'Next time' again. How many times have you said 'Next time'? You are such a smart kid, why do you keep making me worry?"

After saying this, the toy vendor seemed to be worried that his words were too harsh, so he smiled again and added in a negotiating tone:

"Look, I have a new toy here. If you promise me to come back early tomorrow, I will give it to you. How about that?"

The vendor put down his burden and took out a smooth glass ball from the bamboo basket. The glass ball was obviously hollowed out, and there was a round, snow-white stone floating in the center of the glass ball. Although it looked strange, it was not very interesting.

But the vendor smiled and patted the glass ball, and the snow-white stones inside immediately scattered into countless snowflake-like fragments, drifting from the center to the surroundings. At first glance, it really looked like snow.

But the snow did not fall randomly. It drifted for a while and finally accumulated on the inner surface of the glass ball into the shape of small fish. In this way, the glass ball with falling snow turned into a glass ball surrounded by fish.

Gu Ling's eyes lit up, but she quickly turned her head to look at Ying and Gui Yan. Finally, she bit her lip unwillingly and turned her head away.

"I do not want!"

After saying that, she used her gift of super strength to drag Ying and Guiyan away together.

"Gu Ling, you don't have to be so shy. That toy is really rare. Even I want one." Ying said while trying to hold back her smile, but after she and Gui Yan looked at each other, they couldn't help but burst out laughing.

They were not laughing at Gu Ling's childishness. After all, in their opinion, Gu Ling was more interesting with a little bit of childishness. Therefore, their laughter should be regarded as a kind of relief.

"Humph!" Gu Ling finally walked with Ying and Gui Yan to a place with fewer people. She shook off their hands, put her hands on her hips, looked at them with an unconvinced face and said:

"I am 308 years old this year, 300 of which I have spent on the tree. After I came down to earth, I have been practicing with my master. It is only recently that I have truly entered the world. It is natural for me to be interested in this kind of street stuff. I will not feel ashamed because of this..."

After saying this, Gu Ling clenched her fists, pursed her lips and repeated:

“I definitely don’t feel ashamed!”

"No! I shouldn't feel embarrassed at all. Only children who want to act like adults would feel embarrassed about something like this!"

"I will not be ashamed of this!!!"

"She said 'shameful' five times in a row. She must really feel a little embarrassed." Ying saw through it but didn't say anything. She just complained in her heart.

Fortunately, Gu Ling is not Ling Yue, and she is not possessed by Ying, so naturally she does not know what Ying is thinking. Seeing that Ying did not speak, she continued:

"Ahem! I said no before, not because I felt embarrassed..."

"I said it again." Ying counted in her mind.

"… Mainly because I can't do what he said. Think about it, the people in the town only appear in broad daylight and at night. They disappear at dawn and dusk. No matter if I'm in the town at that time or not, they can't see me."

"Hmm?" Ying then realized that Gu Ling was actually talking about serious matters, so he quickly recalled Gu Ling's words in his mind, and after connecting the contents together, he continued to ask:

"You mean, they were still active during the time they disappeared, but we just couldn't see each other?" Ying asked.

"I saw the fire in their kitchen and the water in the well in the center of town were still. I thought the missing townspeople were also in a state of stillness, and would not resume their activities until they reappeared."

After saying that, Ying shook her head, realizing that her guess was somewhat preconceived.

"Of course it's not static, so it took me a long time to build relationships with the people in these towns at the bottom of the lake."

"Ah, speaking of this, there is one more thing I need to make clear to you."

After Gu Ling finished speaking, she paused for a moment to make sure that Ying, Guiyan, and Lingyue in Guiyan's body were paying attention to her before continuing:

“Here, we must remember: ‘See it but don’t speak it out’. Even if you know there are some problems in this town, don’t speak it out, and don’t do anything that will make them realize there are problems.”

Since Gu Ling said so, she must have her reasons, but Ying and Guiyan were still a little curious, so Guiyan asked:

"why?"

"That was a painful lesson," Gu Ling sighed. "I said I had good relationships with the people in these towns, but in fact, I only had good relationships with seven of the eight towns, and I could only have good relationships with these seven towns."

"There is another town that I cannot approach at all right now. Once the people in the town see me, they will immediately turn into monsters."

"Turned into monsters?" This time it was Ying's turn to ask, "Yes, the townspeople we just saw behaved very normally, not like monsters, but since they can survive at the bottom of this lake, there must be something wrong. What's going on?"

"It's a disguise." Gu Ling was just like the Immortal Zhenyuan, not a riddle teller at all.

"They are all pretending to be normal people."

"This seems to be the rule at the bottom of this lake. All these people who have turned into monsters will pretend to be normal people."

"But once they discover something abnormal, or become aware of its existence, they will uncontrollably tear off their disguises and reveal their true colors as monsters."