After some prolonged hesitation and maneuvering.
"Well... alright, I'll accept it. Just stop looking at me like that, you look so pitiful..."
Fengluo finally persuaded Xiangling to take the pouch of Mora.
Mostly because the expression Xiangling was giving him was making him feel almost guilty.
It was such a pitiful expression...
"Phew—"
As Xiangling accepted the Mora, Fengluo finally let out a sigh of relief.
Strange to say,
if someone made a request and Fengluo was in a position to fulfill it, yet refused,
he would feel an inexplicable sense of guilt.
Always feeling like he had let people down.
Situations like this included, but were not limited to, his deskmate asking to borrow an eraser in primary school, classmates asking to copy his homework, his brothers in the dorm asking him to buy takeout...
Right up until he started working, when his female coworkers knew that if they acted cute, they could switch him into autopilot work mode.
Though that probably wouldn't work now, and he wondered if they would miss him at all.
No, no, no!
Fengluo shook his head,
shaking off the messy thoughts in his mind.
What on earth am I thinking about!
I've already started a new life, I shouldn't dwell on the past.
It's just that this personality of his probably couldn't be changed overnight.
"Thank you so much~ When I get back to Liyue Harbor, I'll pay you back the Mora~"
Xiangling wasn't someone who dwelt on things for long. Once she made up her mind to accept the Mora, a huge smile bloomed on her face.
"You really are a great person! This Mora will make my trip to Mondstadt so much easier!"
Xiangling was genuinely happy from the bottom of her heart.
If she could save more time on the road, she would have more time to search for all kinds of delicious food!
Her trip this time had been a spur-of-the-moment decision.
If she hadn't heard the news about Stormterror in Mondstadt, she probably would have gone back long ago.
"..."
To this,
Fengluo could only manage an awkward smile.
In another world, being handed a "good person card" wasn't something to be happy about...
"Slurp, slurp—glug."
Guoba quickly finished the entire bowl of fresh fish porridge, touched its slightly bulging little belly with a lingering sense of satisfaction, and then pushed the bowl back toward Fengluo with sparkling eyes.
"Would you like another bowl?"
Nod, nod~
"Alright, I didn't expect you could eat so much. Since there's still some left, I'll give it to you."
Guoba's eyes narrowed into slits of joy.
"Phew—I suppose I should get moving too..."
Xiangling stood up and looked at the rising morning sun in the distance.
Suddenly, a panicked child's cry broke the early morning tranquility.
"Brother Fengluo! Brother Fengluo, help! Hilichurls are attacking the village!"
Accompanied by the screams, Ayi came sprinting down from Qingce Village in the distance.
"Brother Fengluo! Brother Fengluo, where are you? Help!"
"I'm right here!"
Fengluo hurriedly wiped his mouth and stood up, grabbed the spear he had placed to the side, and rushed over.
"I'm coming too!"
Xiangling scooped up Guoba and hurriedly followed behind.
"Wuwuwu! Brother Fengluo! Please go save everyone, the hilichurls are attacking!"
When Ayi saw Fengluo, he came crying with tears and snot streaming down his face.
"Those hilichurls are so fierce! Chang the Ninth tried to stop them and ended up getting beaten flat on the ground like a helpless child. Only you can save everyone, Xiaoliu sent me to find you..."
Because he was panicked,
coupled with having run a long distance and feeling anxious, he was completely out of breath.
"Alright, stop talking, lead the way!"
Fengluo cut off Ayi's attempt to continue explaining the situation.
That was pure a waste of time.
"Tell me, where are the hilichurls!"
"Right over here, Brother, this way!"
Ayi hurriedly turned around, transformed into a personal guide, and jogged ahead.
Fengluo and Xiangling followed closely behind.
The three of them hurried all the way up the hillside toward Qingce Village.
Before they even arrived, they heard the clanging sounds of weapons fighting ahead.
The fight had already started?
Fengluo felt a shock in his heart, and his pace involuntarily quickened a bit more.
When he arrived at the scene and looked ahead,
he couldn't help but burn with rage.
This wasn't just a fight.
This was clearly a group of hilichurls brutally beating up the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled residents of Qingce Village!
Some unfamiliar old folks were crying out in pain and running everywhere.
The children were fighting desperately, but still getting beaten black and blue.
Among them, only Xiaoliu was putting up a slightly better fight, holding a spear and constantly counterattacking,
but even so, it couldn't turn the tide of defeat.
Because every single one of these hilichurls held wooden shields!
Although they were just small wooden shields, not yet up to the level of a Hilichurl Berserker,
they were still more than enough to block all the villagers' attacks!
"They're going to steal our wild boar meat! These bad guys, bad guys!"
"We can't let them take it!"
"Children, if there's really no other way, just give it to them! Life is what matters most!"
"Hey! Picking on the elderly and children, you guys have gone too far!"
A red figure leaped through the air over Fengluo's head and landed in the clearing!
Xiangling, making a sparkling debut!
The spear in her hand ignited with flames as she swung it fiercely!
"Yaya!"
The shields raised by the three charging hilichurls instantly ignited and turned to ash!
Then they were blown away by the powerful gust of wind from the spear!
So strong!
Fengluo watched, dumbfounded.
Only now did he realize she hadn't been using her full strength earlier!
Not only that, but that tiny toy-like Guoba actually opened its mouth and spewed fire too!
Little bears could breathe fire as well?
Fengluo looked over in surprise,
only to find that Guoba was taking out a chili pepper, taking a bite and spitting out a huge burst of fire, then taking another bite and spitting out another huge burst of fire.
Its face was completely red from the spiciness.
Yet it didn't stop for a moment!
What kind of comic book plot was this?
Though this method was a bit bizarre, the effect was phenomenal.
The flames spewed by Guoba were scorching and fierce.
In an instant, all the hilichurls' shields were burned to nothing!
However,
the wooden clubs in the hilichurls' hands caught fire, and they turned into flaming-club hilichurls!
"Ya—!"
Many hilichurls roared and brandished their flaming wooden clubs, launching a surprise attack on the terrified villagers!
Taking the brunt of it was Xiaoliu!
Because she had put up the fiercest resistance, she was right at the front.
"No! Xiaoliu!"
Dongdong cried out anxiously.
Yet his body lacked strength and he couldn't move at all.
Just as Xiaoliu was about to be struck by a flaming club, the tip of a spear thrust forward, accurately hitting the flaming club in the hilichurl's hand!
Bang!
The powerful force directly knocked the flaming club flying!
"Hey! I'm still here."
Fengluo held his spear in one hand, his clothes fluttering, and without pausing after repelling the hilichurl, he pressed the attack!
Unlike Xiangling,
his fighting style was simple and unpretentious, yet extremely effective!
Without too many fancy tricks, every single move and stance rolled like a surging river.
This was also the point Hu Tao had been most dissatisfied with after teaching Fengluo spear fighting.
She had puzzled over it for a long time without figuring it out.
She was clearly teaching the secret spear techniques of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, so why did it look so different when Fengluo used them?
There was an inexplicable, dashing elegance to it!
Damn it, it actually looked better than her moves as Director, how could that do?
She had to find a way to ask around,
and if the living didn't know, she'd ask the ghosts!
She wouldn't come back until she got an answer!
And so Hu Tao had gone off and stayed away for a long time.
Fengluo naturally knew nothing of this; right now, his whole heart was set on beating back these hilichurls!
"Such formidable spearplay!"
Xiangling praised loudly, putting her strength into it as well. The two of them swept through the area like a whirlwind,
completely routing the hilichurls!
"Yaya!"
Unable to win, the hilichurls turned and fled.
Leaving behind a ground full of hilichurls turning to ash, scattered broken masks, and residual materials.