Faint dark energy swirled in the gaps of her armor, and her once lively eyes were now filled with madness and obsession.
"I am the complete Yunqin, unlike those two weaklings in Liyue who are bound by rules and cannot even tap into the hidden power within their own bodies!"
Yunqin spread her arms, her tone almost pathologically fervent: "Only after returning to the Abyss did I realize what a true home is!"
"Here, there are no damn Adeptus restrictions, no hypocritical rules from the Gods, only endless power and freedom!"
"Lydia, you should come back too!"
"Return to... our place, let us break all our chains together, and make those who abandoned us pay the price!"
She stared madly at Lydia, her eyes full of seduction, as if she wanted to suck the girl's soul into the Abyss.
"So you're an impostor." Lumine immediately stepped forward, completely blocking Yunqin's view, and said coldly: "Even if you are the real Yunqin, you are no longer the Yunqin of the past! Don't even think about using these mad words to deceive anyone!"
"You're in the way!" Yunqin's expression instantly darkened, a hint of murderous intent flashing in her eyes.
She raised her hand and condensed the dense Abyssal aura, forming a sharp dark purple blade of light that slashed fiercely toward Lumine with a wind-breaking sound.
Lumine had been on guard. The Geo element instantly erupted, and the Prototype Rancour met the attack with heavy force.
CLANG!
The loud clash of metal echoed through the black mist. The moment the Geo element collided with the Abyssal aura, it kicked up a cloud of debris.
Lumine and Yunqin immediately became locked in combat, their sword light and blade glow intertwining. Every strike carried a lethal killing intent.
Yunqin's moves were ruthless and cunning, completely devoid of her former restraint. Her dark purple Geo blade struck directly at Lumine's vital points with every blow.
Clearly, after being nurtured by the Abyssal Power, her strength had already far exceeded that of before.
Lumine clenched her teeth, nimbly dodging attacks while counterattacking with the Prototype Rancour, her peripheral vision constantly mindful of Lydia behind her.
Meanwhile, Lydia, who was huddled to the side, gradually regained consciousness as she listened to Yunqin's shouts and the sound of metal colliding.
She raised her head, feeling the resonance coming from the Festering Desire within her body.
It was the summons of the Abyssal aura, as if it were tempting her to give up her resistance and return to the darkness.
The internal struggle almost tore her apart: on one side were the warmth Venti had given her, the companionship of Lumine and Paimon, and the freedom and sunlight of Mondstadt.
On the other side was the power promised by the Abyss, the "home" Yunqin spoke of, the shortcut that would allow her to no longer be in pain, no longer fragile.
Tears traced paths down her cheeks and dripped onto the cold ground.
-
When Yunqin, clad in her dark purple Abyss Armor and wearing a nearly manic grin, shouted, "Lydia, you should come back too," all the players seemed to have their emotional triggers switched on.
In Lu Nanqing's live stream, she shot up from her gaming chair, staring intently at Yunqin's twisted face on the screen, her voice trembling with disbelief: "Yunxuan? Yunqin? How could it be you?"
Before she could even finish, she suddenly raised her hand and slammed it hard onto the desk.
The microphone buzzed from the impact, and even the water cup at the corner of the table sloshed over.
"What exactly did the Abyss do to her! Could the earlier footage of Yunxuan alone rushing into the Abyss have been... Has Yunxuan been corrupted?!"
When the scene cut to Lumine shielding Lydia and fighting Yunqin, Lu Nanqing finally couldn't hold back her tears, which dripped onto the keyboard and formed small wet patches.
"Lumine! Don't fight her!" She wiped her face with her hand, her voice choked with sobs yet still piercing. "She must be controlled by the Abyss! She isn't doing this on purpose!"
"Mihoyo, are you insane? Do you really want Yunxuan to die at the Traveler's hands, at our hands!"
The live stream's bullet chat was instantly flooded with searing emotions, scrolling so fast it was a blur, with a torrent of identical messages appearing as if everyone was venting the same pain:
"How could Yunxuan end up like this? I can't accept this!"
"I still haven't recovered from Yunqin's blade, and now this? Mihoyo, do you just enjoy watching us cry?"
"That insane line about 'the Abyss being home' must mean the Abyss is controlling Yunxuan. Otherwise, she'd never say something like that!"
"Lumine, fight on! Just don't hit Yunxuan's vitals. She can still be saved, right? There has to be a way!"
For a moment, it seemed everyone agreed that the one opposite them was Yunxuan.
Meanwhile, other streamers' live streams were also in an uproar.
One streamer tried to remain calm, but their fingertips trembled uncontrollably, and even the hand pointing at the screen shook slightly.
"Look closely at Yunqin's movements! She's still using the fighting techniques she learned in Liyue, but they're more ruthless and vicious..."
"Look at that last strike! When she slashed at Lumine, her wrist clearly paused. She was holding back her strength subconsciously!"
"I don't care if she's Yunxuan or Yunqin! Her consciousness might still be struggling, just suppressed by the Abyssal Power!"
As soon as he finished speaking, someone in the bullet chat immediately echoed his words, and some even posted a screenshot of the moment Yunqin held back her strength:
"Yes! I noticed that too! She's definitely still conscious! She doesn't want to hurt Lumine!"
"Mihoyo, make Lumine stop! If the fight continues, her consciousness will be completely devoured!"
"..."
On the Super Topic forum, two posts titled "Yunqin Returns But Becomes an Abyssal Puppet!" and "Yunqin or Yunxuan? Ten Details to Analyze Who She Really Is!" quickly climbed to the top of the trending list.
The original poster not only attached frame-by-frame screenshots of Yunqin's appearance but also meticulously highlighted every hidden detail.
"Did anyone notice a glint of water in Yunqin's eyes when she called Lydia's name? She's definitely being controlled!"
"Lydia returned as a spirit before, and now Yunqin has 'returned' too. Is the Abyss experimenting on the souls of the dead?"
"Lydia, don't waver! Venti is still searching for you in the old Mondstadt from a thousand years ago, and Lumine is doing her best to protect you. You're not alone! Don't let the enemy's words deceive you!"
On social media platforms, the players' emotions erupted even more completely.
Some players even created "Refuse Abyssal Puppets" memes, featuring Yunqin's smiling face from when she was alive, with the caption "Give us back our living Yunqin," which spread wildly across all major gaming communities.
"My mind is full of the scenes of Lydia and Yunqin's deaths, and now they've both been turned into this by the Abyss... I really feel so bad for them."
"The Abyss Knight must be a fake Lydia, but Yunqin... even if she is Yunxuan, I still can't bring myself to strike!"
"Mihoyo, I'm warning you! If you dare make Lumine kill Yunqin/Yunxuan with her own hands, I will never spend another cent on you for the rest of my life! Absolutely not!"