Aqina crossed her arms, watching Iul, whom Tatiana was holding like a chick.
She laughed until her eyes crinkled into slits.
Holding Iul by the scruff of his neck, Tatiana was also laughing uncontrollably.
Iul hung awkwardly in mid-air, his legs kicking in vain, just like a little bird trying to fly.
“Put me down!
I can walk!” he struggled to say.
Tatiana finally let go.
Iul stumbled as he landed, but managed to steady himself.
He glared at Tatiana indignantly: “You did that on purpose!” Tatiana picked up the crutch from the ground and shoved it back into his hand: “Alright, alright, stop acting tough.
Just honestly use your crutch to walk, and go see the military doctor after the trial ends.” Iul’s face flushed bright red.
Half from the pain, half from embarrassment.
Mainly because he had just been so confident only to be slapped in the face, which was truly humiliating.
Leaning on his crutch, he limped a few more steps, muttering: “See, I can walk…” Aqina walked up to him and slapped his back hard, causing Iul to stagger.
“Give it a rest.
I’m just helping you face reality.” “Besides, Dog-headed Strategist, the way you walk looks just like a clumsy bear.” “Look at you.
First you were abandoned by your teammates, then chased by a Lawachurl and its minions, then crushed by an ice pillar, and now you’ve got a lame leg.
If that’s not bad luck, what is?” Tatiana laughed even louder upon hearing this: “It really is.
With your luck, it’s a miracle you’ve survived this long.” Iul made a bitter face: “I don’t want to be this unlucky either…” He hugged his crutch, looking aggrieved: “Can you blame me?
Besides, my traps clearly helped a lot…” “Yes, yes, we owe it all to your traps.” Aqina patted his shoulder, her tone drifting away: “But speaking of bad luck…
I’m reminded of someone.” Tatiana raised an eyebrow: “Who?” Iul also pricked up his ears in curiosity.
Aqina’s gaze suddenly turned distant, recalling that unlucky guy from the plot of the allogene game she played in her past life.
“I’ve heard that there’s an Adventurer in Mondstadt named Bennett, and they say he’s incredibly unlucky—unlucky to a degree you can’t even imagine.” She sat cross-legged, pulled a compressed biscuit from her rations bag, broke it into three pieces, and handed them out.
“That kid is something else.
They say his luck is so bad that he gets hit by bird droppings when he steps outside, trips on flat ground or suddenly falls into pits, his missions always go wrong, and his treasure chests never have anything good, just cabbages and radishes.” “But he happens to be just like me: an Undying Cockroach.
No, I should say he’s an undying unlucky fellow who miraculously survives every time and always stays cheerful.” “And Bennett even started his own adventure team, though to this day he has no other members—it’s just him.” Iul’s mouth twitched as he listened: “Are you praising me or insulting me?” “Both.” Aqina turned to look at him, her amber eyes glinting playfully in the firelight.
“Look, you’re both unlucky and tough, but at least that kid Bennett has a few friends who treat him sincerely.
What about you?
You were abandoned by terrible teammates and almost fed to a Lawachurl.” Iul’s little face fell: “Can we not bring that up?” Tatiana, however, was pensive: “Mondstadt is a long way from our Snezhnaya.
How do you know all this?” Aqina’s heart skipped a beat, but her expression remained calm: “I heard it from the veterans chatting.
Doesn’t our Fatui often send diplomatic delegations to Mondstadt?” The explanation was reasonable enough, so Tatiana nodded and didn’t press further.
Aqina took a bite of her biscuit and said indistinctly, “Your bad luck is on par with his.
But he causes things to collapse wherever he goes, while you get screwed over wherever you go.
How about I call you ‘Unlucky Bear’ from now on?” Iul took the biscuit and muttered: “Unlucky Bear?
What kind of weird nickname is that?” “It’s just a type of really Unlucky Bear,” Aqina said, spouting nonsense with a straight face.
“It trips while walking, gets stung when raiding honey, and can never find food in the winter.” Tatiana’s shoulders shook with laughter: “That’s quite fitting.” Iul rolled his eyes and resignedly stuffed the biscuit into his mouth: “Unlucky Bear is still better than Dog-headed Strategist.” The three chatted for a while longer and decided to take turns keeping watch.
Tatiana took the first half of the night, while Iul and Aqina seized the time to rest.
When it was Aqina’s turn in the second half of the night, the snowstorm outside had completely stopped.
Moonlight shone through the snow, creating a vast white expanse, and visibility had improved significantly to the naked eye.
Aqina sat at the cave entrance, clutching her military saber, listening vigilantly for movement around her and scanning the vicinity.
Suddenly, she noticed something was wrong.
The snowfield in the distance should have been a vast white expanse, but it seemed like something was glowing—very faintly, but it was definitely a pale green fluorescent light.
And that fluorescent light was drifting, like a firefly.
But in this godforsaken place of Snezhnaya, which was freezing to death, where would you find fireflies?
Because of her skill card, Aqina’s body had significantly improved; she was not only undying, but her five senses had also been significantly enhanced.
She could even detect things that normal people couldn’t.
This allowed her to easily judge whether an opponent was worth messing with or had teammates when she hunted alone, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to catch so many straggling veterans earlier.
She suddenly became alert and nudged the two people sleeping soundly beside her.
“There’s a situation.” Tatiana instantly woke up and whispered: “What is it?” “Over there.” Aqina pointed to the place she had discovered not far away.
“There’s a light, green, and it’s moving.” Tatiana squinted to look.
A moment later, she activated her elemental sight and sure enough, saw the faint green fluorescent light.
A small flame ignited in her hand, illuminating her face.
“It’s elemental energy,” she said in a low voice.
“It’s Dendro, a very faint Dendro fluctuation.” “Dendro?” Aqina’s heart sank.
In the setting of the allogene game, Dendro wasn’t uncommon, but most famous Dendro characters lived in Sumeru.
Ever since Aqina arrived in Teyvat, she knew that holders of a Dendro Vision were not as simple as she had thought.
Take that Forest Watcher Tighnari she knew, for example; although he used bow attacks, his skills were more than just an elemental burst.
They could even automatically lock onto enemies, and even the Dendro energy from his second skill burst contained a continuous taunt that could trap enemies in illusions.
Even after she became a recruit, she heard the veterans chatting.
A Dendro Vision didn’t just excel at healing; more often, they were masters of poison, paralyzing spores, and all sorts of unpredictable plant-based tactics.
Not to mention the various Dendro experimental subjects under the command of mad scientists like the Doctor; even Collei, whom she knew well, was one of the victims.
“Be vigilant.” Aqina gripped her military saber.
“Dendro isn’t easy to deal with.
If they’re a master of poison, all three of us could be done for.” Iul also pulled out his crossbow.
Although his leg still hurt and he couldn’t run fast, at least his hands were steady.
The three quietly crept out of the cave and, aided by the moonlight, stealthily made their way over.
The closer they got, the more obvious the green fluorescent light became.
Finally, the three saw clearly.
That wasn’t a firefly at all, but a person using elemental energy in their hands.
The person was short, wearing a thick, large cloak, and was completely wrapped up.
She was squatting under a dead tree, focused on fiddling with something.
Clearly, she hadn’t noticed them.
Tatiana signaled for Aqina and Iul to flank from both sides.
Aqina nodded in agreement, then crouched and circled around from the left.
Iul also returned a signal, then, leaning on his crutch and dragging his injured leg, slowly moved behind a large rock on the right.
The three of them used a triangular formation to quietly surround the girl in the middle.
Tatiana initiated the attack first.
She stomped her foot hard and demanded loudly.
“Who goes there!” Flames erupted from under her feet, illuminating the surroundings.
The person was startled by Tatiana’s sudden appearance, and the elemental energy in her hands instantly extinguished.
She turned around in a panic, wanting to run.
But having already been surrounded, there was nowhere for her to go.
The hood of her large cloak slipped off due to her movements, revealing a face still carrying baby fat.
She looked at most sixteen or seventeen, with light green hair that matched her Dendro element, tied in two small braids.
“I, I was just passing by…” her voice trembled.
But Aqina noticed that her hand was quietly reaching behind her back.
“Passing by?” Tatiana sneered, “Passing by us in the middle of the night?
And just happened to be using elemental energy while passing by?” The girl bit her lip and didn’t make a sound.
Aqina kept staring at her.
She had long known that bratty children were the hardest to control and the most destructive.
Moreover, the girl’s little tricks were all things she had played with before.
Aqina suddenly spoke up: “What are you holding in your hand?
Take it out!” The girl’s eyes flickered, and deciding to go all out, she suddenly flung her hand from behind her back forward.
Sure enough, a large cloud of green powder came rushing towards them!
“Hold your breath!” Aqina roared, while dodging to the side.
Tatiana reacted quickly, too; almost the instant Aqina’s voice fell, she used her Pyro element to form a wall of fire in front of her.
The powder hit the fire wall, making a sizzling sound as it burned into ash.
But Iul wasn’t so lucky.
He was already lame, so he couldn’t dodge in time.
Although he held his breath quickly, he still inhaled quite a bit.
Then, he suddenly stiffened.
But it wasn’t from poison.
It was because many vines suddenly shot out from under his feet, wrapped around his legs, and then yanked him upward.
“Whoa!” Iul was hoisted upside down.
Hanging from a large tree branch nearby, as he struggled, the vines swung him back and forth, like a piece of dried salted fish hanging upside down.
“Hahahaha!” The girl stopped fighting when she saw this and pointed at Iul, laughing out loud, “How can someone be so unlucky!” “I’m dying of laughter.
My trap was originally meant to catch prey, but I didn’t expect it to actually catch a person!” She laughed uncontrollably, tears even coming to her eyes.
Aqina and Tatiana also stopped attacking.
The two looked at each other, staring blankly, both feeling a mix of amusement and frustration.
What kind of development is this?