Deep within The Chasm, Lumine and Tartaglia moved with remarkable speed, quickly reaching a site littered with monster corpses. After a cursory glance, they pressed onward.
Further ahead, they entered a wider chamber piled high with Abyss Monsters...
Tartaglia and Lumine halted, their eyes fixed on the figure perched atop the towering mound of corpses.
Qingge leaned slightly backward, her head bowed so her chin rested against her chestplate, her blood-soaked white hair splayed across her shoulders.
Lumine and Tartaglia sprinted madly toward her, reaching her side in an instant.
Both were skilled warriors, yet in the eerie silence, they couldn't detect the slightest sign of Qingge's breath.
"Mu Qingge, you're still alive, right? You wouldn't die so easily, would you? You promised me—you said as long as I helped you defend against the Abyss, you'd fight with me whenever I wanted. You..."
By the end, Tartaglia's voice trembled.
"I promised to treat you to a meal. How could you do this now..."
Tartaglia's words stumbled over themselves, his thoughts racing incoherently. He should be used to sacrifice, and she wasn't even his. So why did his heart ache so?
Remembering that bastard, a fierce resolve hardened in his heart, and boundless rage surged from the depths of his being.
For the first time, he truly wanted to kill someone!
No, that bastard wasn't even human—he was a monster, a piece of shit!
Lumine gazed at Qingge's ashen face, her heart twisting with agony.
She was too late, again. She watched helplessly as the Abyss stole another friend from her side.
The Abyss... the Abyss! That damn Abyss!
Lumine vowed to fight the Abyss to the bitter end!
This vengeance will be exacted, or Heaven itself will not forgive me!
Her body trembled, her jaw clenched tight as she forced herself not to look.
The wound on Qingge's chest had stopped bleeding, her exposed skin now a sickly pale. In this battle, every drop of her blood had been drained.
-
Player World.
Before Lumine found Qingge, the game didn't skip the scene of Qingge's final desperate battle against the Abyss Monsters.
When players saw Qingge, her arm burned to a stump, facing the remaining monsters, they desperately wanted to jump into the game and help her fight!
[Waaah, my Qingge...]
[Why can't the Traveler get there faster?!]
[Hang in there, don't die!]
[Just a little longer! We're almost there!]
When a claw pierced Qingge's chest, yet she still managed to kill the monster in retaliation, using her last strength to climb onto the monster pile and steady herself with her spear, the players completely broke down.
To make matters worse, just as her Vision extinguished, the screen flashed back to a flashback sequence: the moment Qingge received her Vision as a child.
The screen returned to reality, and Qingge faded away with a final, sorrowful apology...
Chen Xiyao sobbed uncontrollably.
She had always adored Mu Qingge, drawn to the female general's heroic aura—a quality she had long aspired to possess.
She never imagined Mihoyo would kill off Qingge. She had even believed that Mihoyo would sooner kill Zhongli than Qingge!
When Chen Xiyao first saw the "Steadfast Bedrock" quest, she assumed it would focus on Qingge. As it turned out, she wasn't wrong.
Even after all the turmoil in Liyue, she remained convinced that the Geo Archon and Qingge would ultimately turn the tide in their domain.
Wasn't that precisely what the quest title implied?
She never could have imagined the outcome would be like this.
Now, Chen Xiyao sat before the camera, her eyes swollen and red, sobbing as she poured her heart out to her live stream audience:
"I never thought it would end like this, never! He could have offed anyone, but he had to target Qingge..."
"What the fuck is wrong with Mihoyo?! Just because their game is popular and well-made, they think they can just do whatever they want?!"
"Didn't the writers and designers feel any pain when they created this scene?!"
The live stream echoed with angry questions.
Chen Xiyao's reaction was relatively mild compared to the torrent of vitriol flooding the chat. Many were just strings of gibberish, while others couldn't even be displayed due to their intensity.
[Mihoyo, you shameless bastards!]
[Give us back Qingge! Give her back to us!]
[No! Don't kill Qingge! I'm going to cry myself to death, waaaaah—]
[It's almost New Year's, Mihoyo, why are you doing this?!]
[So, all those previous "rewards" were just preemptive apologies?!]
[Heh, just a little more patience and tolerance for Paimon. Don't worry, we're very tolerant of Paimon, but Mihoyo...]
[Hahaha, kill them all! Kill them all! Mihoyo, you better kill them all!]
[Aaaaaah! I'm going insane!]
In streamer Penguin's live stream room:
The clattering of keys filled the air as the red-eyed streamer performed a keyboard vanishing act.
"Fuck you, Mihoyo! I fucking hate you! You're fucking incredible!"
"I finally started liking a character again, and you immediately kill her off! Heh, might as well kill Yuna too!"
"I can't play this game anymore... I..."
Penguin moved his mouse over the "Delete" button on his desktop, hesitated for a moment, then didn't click.
"Sigh... I still want to see what happens after Qingge's death..."
Across the globe, in every country where Genshin Impact had been officially released, countless players were now experiencing the true sting of Mihoyo's blade.
Overseas, they were crying even more miserably than the locals.
-
Deep within The Chasm, a sudden noise from behind startled Tartaglia and Lumine.
The Millelith, led by Chong Sui, were jogging toward them.
As they approached, the sight of the mountain of monster corpses left them speechless.
This is...
Chong Sui, standing at the forefront, had a different first reaction than the others.
Such a massive pile of monster corpses couldn't possibly have been killed by Childe, who had only just arrived, and it's highly unlikely the Traveler could have done it either.
Further ahead, the only possibility is...
No matter how strong Lady Mu is, she must have her limits against such a horde of monsters!
His already anxious heart spiraled into complete turmoil.
As they moved further forward, the wall blocking their view vanished, revealing the three figures atop the mountain of corpses. His gaze immediately locked onto Qingge.
"Lady Mu!"
Chong Sui's shout silenced the Millelith soldiers. Like him, they all stared intently at Qingge standing atop the pile of corpses.
Qingge's appearance was wretched. Her body was drenched in blood—both her own and that of her enemies. Her left arm was gone, leaving the raw, crimson flesh exposed.
The entire Millelith formation remained utterly silent, their eyes fixed on Qingge.
After an agonizingly long moment, someone in the ranks began to sob quietly, while others stared in disbelief.
"L-Lady Mu..."
"How could this be?"
"..."
Lumine gently removed the Vortex Vanquisher from behind Qingge, allowing her entire body to rest against her.
Without its master, the Vortex Vanquisher's glow dimmed.
It had fulfilled its final mission.
Lumine cradled Qingge, whose head rested lightly on her shoulder. She felt incredibly light, impossibly light.
She carefully stepped down from the pile of corpses, fearing her clumsy movements might disturb the slumbering heroic soul.
Tartaglia silently followed behind, carrying Qingge's Vortex Vanquisher.
Chong Sui, a man in his thirties, wept openly, his gaze fixed on Qingge in Lumine's arms. His heart ached so fiercely he could barely breathe.
The Millelith parted to clear a path, each soldier staring at Qingge's body, their eyes reddened with grief.
Swish, swish, swish—
As Lumine passed with Qingge in her arms, the Millelith soldiers lining the path bowed deeply, their eyes fixed on her lifeless form.
Lumine's steps were heavy and slow.
We had promised...
How could she face Qingxu after this?
Qingce Village
Chi, battered senseless by Morax's furious Planet Befall, was then impaled by several Geo Spears and pinned into the crater left by the celestial strike.
Having dealt with this threat, Morax didn't even speak a word to the Adepti before turning and heading toward The Chasm.