Genshin Impact: Pool Character, Nirvana of the Demon God

"But if that's the case... how can you be sure that every word you hear is true?"

Al-Hysen's voice wasn't loud, but it was like a clear, cold spring, suddenly piercing through the fog in Ying's heart—

She was suddenly startled, as if she had been awakened:

Yes, if they claim to be detached and neutral, why do they so readily believe everything the villagers of Aru Village say?

However, Ying did not feel that she had been deliberately deceived.

Regardless of whether someone is deliberately lying, she has her own intuition and experience to discern subtle changes in expression and hesitant tone.

Even assuming their stance was indeed neutral, these villagers had no reason to make things difficult for two strangers who had traveled from afar.

There was neither any conflict of interest nor any grudge.

Although Paimon was always quick-witted and a bit slow to react, he could still sense the weight in Elheisenberg's words. He tilted his head, his voice tinged with doubt: "You mean... someone is lying to us?"

Al-Hysen shook his head slightly, his fingertips tapping silently on his knee, his tone calm yet sharp: "Concealment is not necessarily the same as deception."

“Before each person speaks, they are already standing on their own hill—a hill built by the past, sustained by livelihood, and reinforced by fear.”

His gaze swept across the undulating sand dunes in the distance, and he said slowly, "Just as Candice said, the people of Aru Village no longer care who controls Sumeru."

"Whether it's the glory of the Red King or the mercy of the Little Auspicious Grass King... to them, it's nothing more than the echo of wind and sand sweeping over a stone tablet, long since buried among the daily necessities and broken walls."

"Everyone lives in their own disaster—an unhealed earthquake, a lost family, or the struggle for daily meals."

"That's why they won't tell you everything they know. And that's precisely why you mistakenly believe there are no clues in the village."

Everything I've said is true, but I'll only mention one point.

[From this point on, I truly admire Hai Ge.]

[Hmm... if it's a cover-up or a lie, shouldn't Seno be able to tell? Is this just forced plot?]

[Erhesen, a master of psychology.]

[Hai Ge, the gamer's external brain.]

This passage clearly shows that Hai Ge is not a self-centered person; he can stand in different people's shoes and has a strong sense of empathy.

"Everyone lives in their own misery"—I absolutely love this quote!

Ying's eyes lit up, her thoughts racing, and she immediately replied, "So... you're saying that among the people we asked earlier, some actually knew the key, but chose to remain silent?"

Al-Hysen nodded, a slight smile playing on his lips: "I'm glad you not only heard the words, but also the unspoken meaning."

He paused briefly, his voice low and resolute: "The person who knows the truth is among the people you've spoken to."

"She observed silently throughout, her gaze like a fine spiderweb, subtly tracking your every move—your steps, expressions, the rhythm of your pauses, even the arc of Paimon's clothes fluttering as he flew away."

"Because for someone who only wants to keep the fire in the stove and protect the peace under the eaves, any outsider is an uncontrollable variable, a wind that may overturn their peaceful life."

Before he could finish speaking, Elhesen slowly began to speak, leading everyone into a memory.

Scenes unfolded like sand art, causing Ying, Paimon, and Seno to recall past events deep within their consciousness—

[Begin recalling key clues.]

[The subtitles use her name, but we seem to have only questioned one woman before, right?]

[↑I knew it was her, after all, she was the only one who referred to the exiled scholar as a "mad scholar," instead of the village keeper.]

[I feel like Hai Ge's words are quite fitting when applied to himself... Could he be talking about himself too?]

[↑In fact, it seems that Alheisen participated in the project because he wanted to research and maintain his stable life.]

Wow! What a powerful gaze! You...you look like the type who'd be a great fighter!

When she looked at Seno, her eyelashes trembled almost imperceptibly, and a smile floated on her lips but did not reach her eyes; there was a clear trace of barely suppressed fear in her eyes.

Al-Hysen calmly commented: "Fear never arises from nothing—she is afraid of Sino's identity and power."

"Oh, right! You mean the guardian... no, the mad scholar!"

The words were abruptly cut off as if an invisible hand had suddenly grabbed his throat, and the last syllable ended abruptly.

“She deliberately changed her tune,” Elhesen whispered, “because she knew that there were still many former Red King’s men in the village who could see and hear her. Showing even the slightest bit of affection to the ‘village guardian’ could arouse suspicion and even bring disaster upon herself.”

"The last time I saw them was three to five days ago... because I go to bed early, I can hardly see what happens at night."

The reply was light and gentle, yet the word "night" subtly added emphasis—like a nail quietly wedged into the wood grain of the listener's memory.

Al-Hysen then pointed out: "Note this emphasis. She didn't mention it unintentionally, but rather deliberately anchored it—to make you believe that she slept soundly all night, oblivious to everything around her."

"However, I quite like these guys. You see, even though they're a bit crazy, they've helped me out. Without them, my house would have collapsed long ago."

This time, her tone changed.

There was no embellishment, no reservation, only an almost clumsy honesty, like a warm pebble suddenly rolling out of the sand.

The recollection ends here.

Al-Hysen said seriously, "I have verified with the village chief that the incident of the 'village guardian protecting the village at night' that she mentioned did indeed happen, and it occurred at night, when the moon was setting and all was quiet."

He raised his eyes, his gaze sharp as a blade: "So, she isn't blind—she simply chooses to say that she can't see."

The contradictions are stark and clear, like cracks in sand.

Of course, this may not be conclusive evidence.

The earthquake tore the earth apart and shattered people's routines; in the midst of the shock, who could expect her to be lucid every night? Besides, if she really saw something, she could have inquired about it more carefully the next morning.

But as an old proverb says, "Once doubt takes root, the truth begins to crumble."

Whether she concealed clues, motives, or simply a vulnerability she didn't want to show, it was enough to be the first knock on the door to the truth—worth pursuing, and must pursue.

[How could Seno not have noticed that Elhesen was eavesdropping?]

[Detective Al Heinrich.]

This part really has the feel of a Conan mystery.

[Regarding the part where he changed his tune, I actually noticed something was off, but I never considered it from that angle. I can only say that's typical of Hai Ge.]

[Because they weren't lying, but merely concealing something, even Sino, the human lie detector, couldn't detect it.]

[This storyline feels very realistic; they're all ordinary people without divine vision, just wanting to live a good life.]

As the truth gradually became clear—the villager named Shani was indeed lying—Paimon's eyes widened, his voice tinged with confusion and bewilderment:

"But...why would she lie?"

Al-Hysen lightly tapped the edge of the page with his fingertips, his gaze calm yet sharp, as if he had already deduced the glimmer of light in the folds of people's hearts: "Getting involved with outsiders often means being exposed to some kind of potential risk."

"As for why she was so cautious in concealing it..."

He paused slightly, a faint smile playing on his lips: "Perhaps the answer is not as direct as asking the person directly."

Before he could finish speaking, Seno quietly stepped aside, his tone calm yet undeniable: "Wait, I won't be going."

He looked up at Ying, his red eyes gleaming with a calm and resolute light in the dim light: "According to you, she is wary of me. Then—this matter is entrusted to you."

Paimon immediately flew to Ying's side, patting his chest vigorously with his little hands, his voice clear and full of energy:

"Don't worry! We've got your problems covered!"

The wind sweeps across the desert, as if gently turning a new page in the prelude to this candid dialogue that is about to begin.

……

While the group in Aru Village was busy investigating the mystery of the village's guardian's mysterious disappearance, Yiya quietly left the group and ventured deep into the heart of the desert alone, his figure like a blazing red flame piercing the pale yellow sky.

The wind and sand howled, swirling coarse sand and gravel that rushed towards us, turning the world into a gray-yellow chaos, even dimming the sunlight.

Fortunately, Iya possessed the power of fire. With a light twirl of his fingertips, a warm yet resilient crimson elemental barrier slowly unfolded around him.

The barrier's surface ripples with fine fire patterns, protecting against wind and sand, keeping the eyes free from dust.

So she rose against the wind, her fiery wings tearing through the air currents, her figure like an arrow released from a bow, soaring unimpeded into the depths of the desolation.

"Following that scent... it should be nearby." She murmured to herself, her voice broken and scattered by the wind.

Before the words were finished, the wings behind him suddenly froze, the blazing flames subsided, and the flapping rhythm abruptly slowed down, before hovering in mid-air—as if time itself held its breath.

She slowly closed her eyes, her mind sinking into the depths of the darkness, following the cool and clear mark Jun Bai had left on her heart, carefully searching for the unique aura of the natural demon god.

Although they share the same origin but have different functions, and govern mountains, rivers, plants, and seasons in different ways, the primordial rhythm originating from the roots of the world will surely resonate and echo.

However, before any clues could be found, the wind suddenly changed – the originally chaotic airflow suddenly tightened and accelerated, like a thousand horses surging and gathering.

The grains of sand transformed into countless sharp projectiles, crackling and striking the fire barrier, scattering sparks of intense heat.

Iya suddenly opened his eyes.

Right in front of her, a massive sandstorm suddenly rose from the ground!

It was no ordinary storm, but one sculpted by a pure will to annihilate—a colossal, tawny pillar pierced the sky, its edges swirling with eddies of dark gold and grayish-brown.

Wherever it passed, the air became dry, the vegetation withered, and the rocks cracked. Even the wind itself was drained of its vitality, leaving only a deathly hum.

Every living thing caught in it, whether bird or beast or lush vine, loses its color and disintegrates into dust in an instant, ultimately merging into the boundless sand waves and becoming part of the storm itself.

She turned her head to look—in the distance, a dead zone was silently spreading.

That was a desolate place etched by forbidden knowledge:

The earth was cracked like withered bones, the sky was stagnant like lead gray, and even shadows lost their outlines.

Within the dead zone, not a blade of grass grows; the few living creatures that do wander are nothing more than empty puppets controlled by the corrupted will, with vacant eyes and stiff gaits.

As the embodiment of a nature demon born from the primordial will of the World Tree, Iga has always felt nothing but utter disgust and a determination to eradicate this forbidden knowledge from outside Teyvat that blasphemes the very source of life—it must be cleansed upon sight and burned upon encounter.

But at that moment, her pupils contracted slightly.

Because that once invincible dead zone collapsed silently, like thin ice meeting flames, the instant the sandstorm swept in!

There was no deafening explosion, no earth-shattering confrontation—just a slight tremor at the boundary, followed by inch-by-inch peeling away and disintegration, as if it had never existed.

The Dead Zone Tumor remained intact deep within the earth's veins, but the corrupt territory it maintained completely crumbled the moment it came into contact with the sandstorm.

All the polluted substances and distorted echoes of life were transformed into the most primordial sand, which was swept up, assimilated, and risen by the storm, becoming part of its unstoppable power.

“【Sandstorm】?” she murmured, a slight upturn at the corners of her lips, but no smile. “No… if it were merely a natural phenomenon, it could not possibly possess such power.”

"But if it's related to sandstorms... could it be 'withering'?"

Iya raised his head, his gaze piercing through the churning yellow sand, straight to the center of the chaotic, roaring storm.

The sandstorm was like a knife, tearing through the air, stirring up tons of dust and gravel, and unleashing a vast and violent raging tide between heaven and earth.

“No—” Her voice was low but resolute, as if a tempered iron nail had been driven from the depths of her throat, “This is not withering…this is something older than decay, more silent than death, reaching the very foundation of all things—”

"【barren】."

"He is the nature god who rules over the wasteland!"

Before the words were even finished, Yi Ya's mind suddenly cleared, like the moon emerging from the clouds, and all was silent.

Just as she revealed the divine role of the demon god hidden behind the storm, which had not yet manifested but had already lowered its eyes and looked down—a shadow that seemed both near and far suddenly emerged from the depths of the sandstorm.

It was so vast that it eclipsed the mountains, standing tall and almost filling the entire sky; its shadow was as thick as ink, silently swallowing the light and freezing the swirling grains of sand in mid-air.

Above this dark, all-encompassing outline, only two bright flames burn fiercely—a deep blue flame with a gray-white core, like ancient eyes, coldly looking down upon the world.

Iya took a deep breath, then his face froze.

"Cough cough..."

Upon seeing this, the shadow in the sandstorm paused, then fell silent.

Because He saw Iya's current situation—

The moment I opened my mouth, I was choked by the dust and sand that rushed into my throat.

The atmosphere He had painstakingly created vanished in an instant.

Iya spat out the dust that had choked him, then stared directly at the two clusters of ghostly fire in the sandstorm. After creating a barrier with fire element, he said, "I can sense that you have no hostility towards me."

"So, I wonder if you would be so kind as to come out and meet me, senior?"

The moment the sandstorm appeared, Iya understood everything—He had already sensed her approach.

This cataclysmic phenomenon was neither an obstruction nor a demonstration; it was a welcome, an invitation, and even more so—

An ancient being, with the entire desert as a gift, personally unveiled the first chapter of her destiny.