The Lost People of Teyvat

Chapter 309 God’s Canned Knowledge
On July 13, Bueno seemed to be ill and said he had no strength. We didn't pay much attention to it and laughed that he was tired from the days and nights of work. We let him stay and rest while the other brothers continued to do the tasks assigned by the employer.

The boss said that after we finish this job, we can also buy a big manor near Xumi City and live a good life like those old masters who have everything provided for them.

On July 17, Bueno's condition worsened for unknown reasons. Scaly scabs began to appear on his arms and calves, and he also developed multiple ulcers on his body.

On July 19th, the boss called a doctor, who said that Bueno had a disease that only people from Xumi would get, called "Demon Scale Disease", and there is currently no cure.

The brothers all felt sorry for Bueno. Good days were just around the corner, but he had to deal with something like this. According to the people of Liyue, this seemed to be called "God's will"?
I didn't expect that the Xumi people would be at risk of contracting this terrible disease, it was like a curse. Bueno was a mixed-blood, but he still couldn't escape the clutches of the demon scale disease.

On July 23, Bueno's condition became more and more serious, and he became more and more confused. He kept mumbling something. Scale-like scabs spread almost all over his body, and he twitched from time to time, like a fish that had come ashore and was thirsty for water.

The brothers couldn't bear to watch it any longer, and as the mission was about to end, only some finishing work was left, so they came to Bueno and asked him if he had any last wishes. We would do our best to help him, so that he could be freed from this suffering as soon as possible and avoid this torture.

Bueno seemed to say something, about trees and grass, I couldn't hear it clearly, but it looked like he was praying to God. He was such a devout believer, but unfortunately, the God he believed in couldn't save him.

The demonic scale disease is really terrible. In just ten days, a tall and strong man turned into this miserable appearance that is neither human nor ghost.

On July 27th, most of the brothers in the group were infected with the magic scale disease. What happened?! And why did they attack me? The reward for this mission can make everyone rich, but they are still greedy! ?
Resist! I must resist! I want to survive!
On July 29th, I grabbed the boss' neck and asked him with red eyes why he joined forces with his brothers to harm me.

The boss's expression was very strange, he seemed to be a little sad and sorrowful, he was coughing, blood could not stop flowing out of his mouth. The boss seemed to want to say something, but he said nothing, he covered his chest pocket, as if he was protecting some extremely important treasure, and glared at me fiercely.

Humph! I want to see what it is that you are willing to protect until your death!
I scratched the pocket with my fingernail and took out something inside - it turned out to be a piece of silk with small words written on it. It took me a lot of effort to unfold it and try to make out the words.

The [Canned Knowledge of Gods] of the Ordinance House is lost. Before it was lost, the item had an extremely corrosive nature for some unknown reason, and would slowly transform the person holding it into a humanoid monster. Its early symptoms were very similar to the Demon Scale Disease.

Humanoid monster?

I stood there in a daze, my eyes unconsciously moved downwards, and I saw my scaly arms and sharp black claws. I finally understood what had happened in the past few days.

...

...

"Boss, why does this thing become more and more terrifying the more I look at it?"

Qian San couldn't help rubbing his arms, feeling a little scared. Together with the other brothers, he distanced himself from the lizard-like monster corpse in the cave. He didn't know why such a scary thing suddenly appeared in Xumi. He had come here a few years ago to perform espionage... uh, to carry out some friendly exchanges that the Xumi people didn't know about. Except for the conflicts in the desert and rainforest and the mercenary group's wild brawls and looting, the atmosphere was still very harmonious.

"There's something even more terrifying, do you want to see it?"

Ye Lan closed the diary in her hand. The handwriting was clear at the beginning, but it became more and more confusing as she went on. She even had to decipher it and use association to barely understand it.

She glanced at Qian San, handed him the diary, looked at his puzzled expression, and reminded him, "Look at who the owner of this diary is."

"Diary owner?"

Qian San looked carefully and saw a few neat small characters on the title page. He squinted his eyes and complained that Xumi's basic education was really poor. It was hard to even recognize this person's name. He read it out: "Achipu Bueno...hiss--Bueno!?"

Qian San took a breath of cold air, his face changed again, and he said "Puh" twice in a hurry. He felt very disgusted when looking at the diary in his hand. He didn't know whether to throw it away or not. In the end, he endured it as if he had eaten a fly, and pointed at the corpse of the "lizard man" from a distance: "Boss, that ghost thing is Bueno, and is it also the owner of the diary?"

How did it do that? Did it scratch the last few entries with its claws?
Several images flashed through Qian San's mind: in a cold and damp cave, a lizardman with serious mental problems was slaughtering his companions unconsciously while fearing an unknown monster. Even this slaughter scene seemed distorted in his eyes.

Ye Lan ignored Qian San's nonsense. She looked at the corpse of the lizardman in the distance. Her mind moved slightly. She raised her hand and shot out a water arrow, blasting the pile of rubble on the left side of the lizardman.

A [Canned Knowledge] emitting scarlet light appeared in front of everyone.

Ye Lan's expression changed slightly, and he waved his hand, signaling the others to retreat to a farther distance. At the same time, he cast out dozens of seals in succession. Seeing that the scarlet can of knowledge had not changed, he breathed a sigh of relief and backed away.

If I'm not mistaken, this thing should be the [God's Canned Knowledge] mentioned in the diary, and it is also the culprit that caused the annihilation of Bueno's mercenary group. Before she is absolutely sure, knows its function, and can use it safely, Ye Lan is not prepared to touch this evil thing personally, let alone bring it back to Liyue.

Maybe we should destroy it. This is Xumi. Even if something unexpected happens, it will not directly threaten Liyue. But if this thing is used by someone with ulterior motives to deal with Liyue, it will be troublesome... Ye Lan exited the cave with his eyes flickering, but suddenly realized something was wrong and turned abruptly to look at the dense forest not far from the cave.

It was too quiet. Even an ordinary forest in the wilderness of Liyue couldn't be so quiet, let alone the rain forest of Xumi.

Qian San and others also noticed something strange, their hands either touched the hilts of their knives or held a few thunder and fire bombs, poison gas bombs and other weapons that could give the enemy some small surprises, all holding their breath, some of them looked at the dense forest vigilantly, and some of them paid attention to other directions to prevent the enemy from making a feint to the east and attacking in the west.

As for taking this opportunity to retreat quickly... it's not that they don't want to, but since the enemy can get around them like this, it is impossible for them to set traps and ambushes in only one place. If they retreat rashly, they may very likely fall into the enemy's trap.

(End of this chapter)