Genshin Impact: The Road to Reversal

In the market, Peruvian walked on the streets of her memories.

The cold air she breathed into her lungs carried the unique aroma of an old market, a mixture of smoke and dust. This familiar smell caused even the icy defenses of her heart to ripple.

She simply walked aimlessly, her eyes passing familiar shops and stalls, watching the people she remembered come alive before her eyes. The clanking of hammers in the blacksmith's shop, the voices of women bargaining, the laughter of children chasing and playing...it was all so real that it made her heart ache.

Suddenly, she stopped.

"By the way, speaking of the direction of the orphanage..."

She looked around and then subconsciously turned into a narrow alley. The alley was even more dilapidated than she remembered, with the walls on both sides covered with mottled stains and cracks, and a faint, unpleasant smell filled the air.

Crossing the alley, a simple, fenced-off bungalow came into view. The yard was small, the ground uneven and potholed, with snow swept along the sides, giving it a distinctly desolate and dilapidated appearance. While old, the house wasn't barren, simply exuding a weariness worn by time and neglect.

This was the place she and Clive once called "home," the orphanage that took them in but also branded them as "vile people."

Peruvian stood quietly outside the guardrail, the familiar scene reflected in her eyes. There was no excitement, no anger, only a cold calm that had settled over a long period of time. The memories of being despised and bullied were like a frozen river, buried deep beneath the ice, never to stir again.

She just looked, as if she wanted to see through and crush a certain obsession through this gaze.

"Although it has become the past, it is still..."

Peruvian's voice was so soft that it was almost carried away by the wind.

It was on this day that Clevi and I left home and managed to sneak into the trial training camp. We never came back since then. However, many years later, when we were finally able to return home, we found that the orphanage no longer existed.

"Orphanage? It was demolished long ago."

"Dean Tartuffe? Isn't he dead?"

This is how people on the street explain it to themselves:

Darduff was dead, reportedly stabbed in the heart during a fight with the gangsters. Not only his body and the gangsters' bodies were found at the scene, but also a blood-stained orphan transaction slip. It is speculated that the other party wanted to conduct an illegal transaction with the dean, but was rejected. Then when he tried to silence the dean, he died together with the other party due to the other party's fierce resistance.

The neighbor's words were like cold stones dropped into the lake of her heart, stirring only the slightest ripple. The long years had dulled some of her perceptions, and she thought she had become completely numb.

But why, standing in front of this dilapidated courtyard, does my chest still feel a faint, astringent, dull pain?

Peruvili slowly raised her hand, her fingertips brushing lightly against the rusted guardrail through the cold air. She had no desire to push it open and step inside. There was no one waiting for her there, no warmth worth revisiting. This place was just a coordinate, a cold landmark marking a turning point in her life.

"Diablo said that the cause and effect of history will not be changed by one person."

Her hand suddenly stopped, slowly falling to her side. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath of the familiar yet unfamiliar air, and when she opened them again, only a silent, icy field remained in her cross-shaped pupils.

Since it cannot be changed, there is no need to indulge in it.

She turned around, no longer looking at the dilapidated courtyard, and walked firmly in the direction she came from.

"Oh, let's go look somewhere else."

Her voice was very soft, but she glanced at the bungalow from time to time.

However, just as Peruvian said her final goodbyes and prepared to leave, she heard footsteps from behind. She turned around and saw two men in suits enter the room.

The two men were not dressed mysteriously, but they wore hats and sunglasses to cover their faces. One of them was carrying a black leather suitcase. When they arrived at the door, before they heard any knocks, the door of the bungalow was already opened.

Ok?

Peruvian opened her eyes slightly and turned around again.

"Strange, who are those two people? I don't remember the dean ever saying he knew anyone like that, and they even deliberately disguised themselves to hide their identities. Could it be..."

Her breathing hitched slightly. Although she had warned herself not to interfere with history, how could she sit back and watch as the tragedy unfolded before her own eyes?

Out of responsibility and emotion, she followed him.

After entering the yard, she quickly moved along the wall to the door without making any sound. At this moment, she heard the conversation in the room.

"Wow, 3000 Rough Stones and 200 Ice Hearts! This buyer is really spending a lot of money!"

In the room, a slightly fat middle-aged man with a somewhat mercenary face was counting the currency in the box, with an undisguised greedy smile on his face.

"That's a must, but the buyer requires that the 'goods' must be healthy and cannot have any defects." The man in black said this while standing beside the table.

"Of course, of course. Let the buyer rest assured. There will never be any defects in the goods in my hands." The middle-aged man patted his chest and made the assurance, the smile on his face becoming more flattering.

Peruvian leaned against the wall, listening to the conversation coming from inside the house, her pupils suddenly contracted.

Goods? Health? Defects?

Taken together, these words point to a sickening possibility.

"Haha." Another man in black suddenly laughed. "Who would have thought that Mr. Tartuffe, the orphanage director known far and wide here, is secretly our 'gold medal supplier'?"

"Thank you very much," said the middle-aged man, Tartuffe, with a flattering smile on his face. He rubbed his hands and said, "We're all in it for the money. It's a pity the two girls are gone. Otherwise, they could have been sold for a much better price."

Outside the door, Peruvian was freezing cold, as if she had fallen into an ice cave.

She clenched her fists tightly, unable to believe that the old man in her memory who would secretly feed them hot bread and put his old cotton jacket on Clevi was actually such a devil in human skin!

Those warm memories instantly turned into poisonous blades, piercing her heart.

"So...so that's how it is..." Her voice trembled uncontrollably, her eyes filled with incredible shock and deep disgust.

As the three of them were laughing, a burst of sharp footsteps accompanied by a biting chill suddenly hit them.

Peruvian appeared at the door like a ghost, her silver hair moving without wind, her pupils filled with cold anger, and the cold aura emanating from her body caused the temperature in the room to drop sharply.

"You...who are you?!"

The smiles on Darduff and the two men in black froze in an instant. They looked towards the door in horror, but when they saw the crosses in each other's pupils, Darduff recognized him at once.

"It's you? Not your figure..."