Genshin Impact: The Road to Reversal

Chapter 395 Remembering Myself

"Heh, a puppet born for war, yet it has developed human emotions..." Before he finished speaking, the man leaned over and placed the amber stone on the puppet's heart. "In that case, live with this 'heart'."

Time seemed to freeze here. Li Xueyan stretched out her hand to try to touch the Saint's back, but it was like walking through fog.

At this moment, my memory spoke again: "Forget it, this is your memory, the memory of when you and I were first born."

As she spoke, she looked at the pile of broken and discarded dolls around her.

"Look at this devastated ground. You were once like them, a disposable combat tool created by the Santana people. But you are different. You developed self-awareness and, facing life and death, you constantly begged for salvation on a rainy night. As a result, you received the mercy of the Holy Lord and were reborn."

After the words fell, Li Xueyan was silent for a moment, then she folded her arms and pretended to be nonchalant and said, "So, why are you telling me this?"

In his memory, she smiled lightly and did not answer his question. After a moment, the surrounding environment changed again.

"Eat slowly, don't choke."

This time, the image that came to her was of her adoptive mother taking her in. Seeing her warm face, and seeing "herself" munching on hot bread, old memories immediately flooded into her mind.

"Poor child, you must have suffered a lot these days."

"Do you remember this scene? You wore the new clothes the Saint had left you and arrived at the first village. Here, your adoptive mother thought you were an abandoned child of war, so she took you in as her daughter. During this time, she taught you many things, from etiquette to self-cultivation, from common sense to the ways of the world. To supplement your family income, you decided to use your combat experience as a combat puppet to join the Mercenary Association. It was then that you discovered that you actually had the power to control lightning. Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long..."

"enough!"

Suddenly, Li Xueyan punched "herself", but missed.

"Are you anxious already? The most exciting part is clearly coming up next." She smiled as she recalled the past. In the blink of an eye, the surroundings changed again. "That day, you came to the Mercenary Association as usual, but before you could enter, you were stopped by a small group."

"Wait a moment, are you Miss XX?"

In front of the wooden door, a team of four people suddenly called her.

"Hmm? Yes, may I ask who you are?"

She turned and took a look. The leader was a silver-haired young man with eyes as sharp as a hawk, and a short knife inlaid with an ice-blue gem at his waist. The other three were: one wearing a hood and holding a staff, one as strong as a bear carrying a shield, and one as thin as a monkey carrying a bow and arrows.

"We are mercenaries from the archaeological tour group. I heard you're a well-known mercenary here. I wonder if you could honor us with your presence..."

"This team secretly asked you to go somewhere else and offered you a high price, asking you to help..."

As the words fell, the scene changed again.

"You mean ancient ruins?"

In the inn, the team seemed to intentionally take her to a remote corner, but the girl was completely unaware.

"Yes, we received a request from an archaeological team to explore an ancient ruin, but we didn't have enough people, so we came here."

The leading man smiled.

"But I'm just one person. If this is a request to protect the archaeological team, there should be better options."

"That's true, but according to the client's explanation, they don't seem to have the extra funds to hire more mercenaries to help, so we searched for a long time among the small list of mercenaries and finally chose you."

"Of course, I won't give you less."

The hooded wizard suddenly interrupted and slipped a bag of gold coins from his sleeve. The sound of metal clashing was particularly clear in the silent corner.

"They persuaded me with various reasons, and you, being so inexperienced, couldn't resist the temptation and ultimately agreed to their commission."

In a blink of an eye, the surrounding environment changed to outside the ancient ruins.

She and the team waited outside for a long time before the other party finally arrived.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting."

The visitors were two middle-aged men. They were carrying backpacks and had archaeological tools slung around their waists. They looked like real archaeologists.

However, upon entering the ruins, their actions gave them an indescribable sense of disharmony.

Li Xueyan: “…”

"A very familiar face, right? You remember it clearly, because you will never forget the harm they inflicted on you." The memory spoke again, "After entering the ruins, these people searched everywhere for treasures. Their greedy actions also accidentally activated the mechanism within the ruins."

The sound of the gears being triggered is particularly piercing in my memory. As the employer was fleeing, the stairs beneath his feet suddenly collapsed. The girl struggled to get him up, but she herself lost her footing and nearly fell into the abyss.

"Remember, you clung to the rock wall tightly, but your cries for help didn't attract anyone's kindness?"

"Stop talking!" Li Xueyan said with a quick breath.

But the me in my memory burst into laughter.

"So dolls can also be afraid?"

The silver-haired man had a strange smile on his face, like a wild beast that had torn off its disguise.

"How could you?"

The girl's pupils shrank as she was terrified. The stone wall supporting her began to crack.

"Of course I know, because we have been observing you for a long time, otherwise how would we have found you?"

"At this moment, you finally understand that the reason they came looking for you wasn't because your employer was short of funds, but rather because you were used to acting alone. After all, you're alone, and who knows when you might go somewhere else? So even if you suddenly disappeared one day, no one would care, let alone a puppet..."

"Forget about this doll, let's get out of here as soon as possible!"

"I understand. Then as a parting gift..."

The man smiled and crushed the stairs that were already unable to bear the weight.

Just like that, the girl fell into the bottomless abyss. As she fell, her eyes were filled with the smiles of the tomb robbers mocking her as they left.

"What an irony! You long to become human, to integrate into human society, but once your desire becomes reality, aren't you still reduced to a disposable tool due to prejudice? What's the difference between the two?"

"you shut up!"

Li Xueyan swung her punch again. Perhaps it was due to the development of her memory, but her strength gradually returned. However, the space in front of her did not change at all because of her movements.

At this moment, he scoffed again in his memory, "Remember? You spent 500 years sealed within the ruins. The darkness made it impossible to count the years you'd passed. You spent the rest of your life in regret, praying for freedom in anger. Finally, a chaotic conflict among the six tribes accidentally lifted a corner of the seal."