Chapter 47: Walter, Restless

Sipping lightly the coffee Kiriko had carefully brewed for him, Hermes smiled as he gazed at the distant reunion of Kiriko and Walter Yang after so long.

“Kiriko, your coffee is truly remarkable.”

Frowning slightly, Hermes savored the coffee’s swirling, chaotic hues, tasting the depths hidden within, before finally revealing a pleased smile.

To ordinary people, Kiriko’s coffee is a chaotic dish capable of burning through a normal person’s stomach.

Back when she was still just a Honkai: Star Rail player, Kiriko’s coffee was even dubbed a [Conceptual Weapon]…

Only now, as Hermes tasted it with curiosity, did he finally understand the truth.

Indeed, only the rarest of the rare could ever truly appreciate the beauty of this cup of coffee.

“If Itachi like it, Hermes, that’s all that matters.”

Watching her friend finish the coffee and wear that genuine expression of delight,

Kiriko knew this was no forced consolation—it was real appreciation—and her lips curled upward, her mood brightening instantly.

“Though I already knew there were many similar flowers across the cosmos, I never imagined I’d have such a strange experience myself.”

Recalling the odd moment not long ago when she had faced the woman named Kiriko and locked eyes with her, Kiriko felt a subtle hue stir in her heart.

How to put it?

It was the unmistakable feeling of facing a blood sister from another world, with a different father and mother!

“Still, I never thought Old Yang had experienced something like this too.”

Recalling the complicated past Hermes had told her about Old Yang and Kiriko…

Kiriko’s eyes flickered with sudden understanding.

“Don’t overthink it, Kiriko.”

Hermes sighed and explained: “Back then, it was impossible to say who was right or wrong. Old Yang carries guilt, but those events weren’t truly his fault.”

“In his homeland, Walter Yang was the pillar holding up the world—he gave too much, lost too much, to save it.”

“To everyone in Old Yang’s home world, Walter Yang can stand tall and say with absolute honesty: I have no regrets.”

“And Kiriko knows this deep down—she just can’t get past the barrier Old Yang has built inside himself.”

“Heh heh, let Old Yang sort this out himself.”

Kiriko set aside these tangled, hard-to-unravel matters for now and asked curiously: “Hermes, Itachi just let Black Tower wander outside? Aren’t Itachi afraid she’ll cause some major incident?”

Kiriko knew well the genius’s talent for stirring up trouble.

This place was painstakingly carved out by Hermes himself—wasn’t she worried Black Tower would ruin it?

In response to Kiriko’s question, Hermes only smiled in silence.

Kiriko still didn’t understand Black Tower’s nature.

To Black Tower, any place filled with wonder must be studied thoroughly before she dares act—lest the project collapse before she even begins.

At that moment, Hermes felt a faint stir in his mind, frowned, and sent a thread of gaze toward Teyvat.

“Strange… why is there such a situation in Teyvat?”

“Hermes, isn’t Teyvat Buer’s homeland? Has something happened?”

At that moment, Kiriko, having returned, overheard Hermes’s murmurs and asked with concern.

Anyone who had ever spent time with Buer found it nearly impossible to harbor ill will toward this wise, rational, dignified, and profoundly compassionate Great Tree of Mercy.

She was truly an embodiment of natural spirit!

“Is Buer the one from the legendary Seventy-Two Demon Pillars?”

Walter, who had also come over, was deeply curious.

“Teyvat is an extraordinarily strange world.”

Speaking of this, Hermes couldn’t help but sigh.

Then, slowly, he recounted the tenacious world struggling deep within the Quantum Sea.

“...And so, when the Thunder God, Baalzebub, returned to her realm and heard the prayers of millions of her people—each one clinging to hope even as they died—this Thunder God finally shattered all her restraints and went utterly mad…”

“The ancient Primordial Dragon Nibelung, the Original Seven Dragon Kings, Tianli, the Seven Earthly Regents…”

Walter listened to this familiar yet alien history of Teyvat, his face twisting with a strange expression.

So his own world’s mythic epics—were they all just records of other worlds’ truths?

“By the way, Old Yang, Teyvat actually has a strange connection to Itachi.”

Hermes looked at the former leader of Anti-Entropy, pausing thoughtfully.

“Hermes, what do Itachi mean by ‘connection’?”

Hearing this, Walter’s heart trembled—he already felt a faint psychological shadow forming.

Since arriving in this cosmos, every place felt like it was filled with familiar faces—he kept getting the eerie feeling that the Honkai was still chasing him.

“Then I won’t hide it from Itachi.”

Though he felt a pang of pity for this weathered old man, Hermes finally spoke: “I’ve learned quite a bit about your home world, Earth, through certain means.”

“In Teyvat, Tianli appears to be the extradimensional counterpart of Qiana Kaslana.”

“Similar cases abound in Teyvat—for instance, the Thunder God Baalzebub also goes by the name Raiden Shogun, and Raiden Shogun once had an elder sister named Raiden Mei!”

The more he heard, the colder Walter’s heart grew.

“According to my observations, the Raiden sisters are the extradimensional counterparts of your world’s Raiden Mei and her second personality.”

“Now, with Tianli fallen and the Thunder God’s condition deteriorating, if Raiden Shogun doesn’t regain her composure soon, she risks having her consciousness erased by Teyvat’s erosion law…”

So that’s how it matches up.

Qiana, the Earth’s god and the Finality Lvzhe , became Tianli in Teyvat.

Raiden Mei, the Thunder Lvzhe , became the Thunder God in Teyvat.

Does this make sense?

Of course it does!

On Earth, Raiden Mei nearly succumbed entirely to despair after the deaths of millions in Changkong City, becoming a puppet of the Honkai God.

Now, in Teyvat, Raiden Shogun has gone mad from guilt over the millions of her faithful who perished…

It’s a perfect match.

Walter’s body stiffened, his clenched fists revealing a network of bulging blue veins…

On Earth, Raiden Mei had her dear friend risking everything to save her—does anyone in Teyvat exist to awaken her?

Thinking of this, Walter grew deeply anxious.