Crackling...
On the bustling streets of Liyue Harbor, a brand-new shop opened with the sound of firecrackers. But honestly, the shop looked pretty ugly.
A shiny signboard hung above the door, reading: Teyvat Internet Café – Liyue Branch.
Internet café?The curious onlookers—Teyvat's classic melon-eaters—stood around, scratching their heads. None of them had even heard of such a thing.
Standing at the entrance was a young man—tall, striking, and undeniably online.He wore a black leather trench coat, had shoulder-length black hair, and bangs just long enough to shadow his eyes.
His name? Rui Shen.And if someone's opening an internet café in Teyvat, you can bet he's not from around here. Yep—he's a time traveler.Back in his world, Rui Shen already ran an internet café, and after getting isekai'd, his golden finger turned out to be… you guessed it: a full-blown Internet Café System.
Now, Teyvat's melon-eaters can swing by to play games, watch videos, and just vibe—while Rui Shen earns emotional points from their reactions, which he can spend on lucky draws to get stronger.
A few days ago, when he first landed in Teyvat, he crash-landed somewhere near Liyue Harbor.Luckily, the system granted him one day of absolute defense for noob protection. Otherwise, the nearby Hilichurls might've turned him into street art.
By chance, he bumped into Hu Tao while she was out on business. And just like that, he got roped into Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.This shop front? Yeah—it's rented from Boss Hu tao herself.
Let's be real: Wangsheng Funeral Parlor has been around for centuries. Boss Hu tao's background is way deeper than it looks.Makes sense though. Without serious roots, no one could hold their ground in a wild place like Liuziyan Street.
Once the firecrackers died down, the internet café was officially open.Rui Shen sat behind the front counter, casually waiting for customers to roll in.
A store this weird was bound to draw a crowd. People came in just to look around.
The interior? Styled just like a cyber café from Rui Shen's 21st-century hometown—twenty PC setups ready to go.Guests had the option to use a classic keyboard and mouse or dive into a virtual mode by putting on a VR blindfold.The VR mode was next-level immersive—almost like living inside the game.
Of course, the place was still brand new, and things were a bit... barebones.Right now, there were only two playable titles:
Silent Hill: PT
Dig to Ascend
Let's just say even the sketchy internet cafés Rui Shen used to visit in third grade were better stocked than this.
Both games were mentally taxing—definitely not casual content.
Boss Hu tao wasn't impressed."Even if this stuff's from another world, charging 100 Mora an hour is kinda steep," she said, raising a brow.
Wangsheng Funeral Parlor usually only makes a few thousand Mora per funeral ritual. But this café?If all 20 seats were full, Rui Shen could rake in 2,000 Mora an hour.Ten hours a day, that's 20,000 Mora.Not bad for a place with a single storefront.
"My rate's not that high, Boss Hu tao. Try it for yourself—you'll see what I mean."
Boss Hu tao, now curious, plopped down in one of the sofas and picked a machine."Alright then, show me how this thing works. I wanna see what kind of tricks your café's got."
Right before that, Grandpa Zhongli had also dropped by.He gave a polite nod to Rui Shen and said,"Boss Rui Shen, I wish you great success."
Rui Shen quickly stood to greet them. "Boss Hu tao, Mr. Zhongli—thank you both for coming."
One was his landlord. The other? Literally the Rex Lapis.Rui Shen wasn't dumb—he knew his odds of surviving in Liyue mostly depended on these two heavyweights.
Zhongli took a slow look around the shop's setup and could already tell: this was definitely tech from another world.Whether it would cause trouble or not... that remained to be seen.
As Boss Hu tao settled into her seat, she said:
"Come, come, teach me how to play this thing, I really want to see what kind of tricks your Internet cafe has."
"It just opened, so there are only two games available for now," Rui Shen explained.
"One's called Silent Hill: PT—a horror game. Super scary. Not really recommended if you're faint of heart."
"The other one, Digging the Ground for Ascension, takes serious patience and perseverance. It's a real challenge."
He glanced at Boss Hu Tao with a smirk. "So, which one do you wanna try first?"
Hu Tao puffed up with pride. "Let's start with this Silent Hill thing. Horror game? Pfft. I want to see just how scary it really is! (*￣︶￣)"
She sounded confident—very confident.
And honestly, why wouldn't she be? She's the 77th Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. Dealing with death and spirits is literally her day job.If anyone in Liyue could face a ghost without flinching, it'd be her.
Sky falling? No biggie. Debtors swarming? Just another Tuesday. Hu Tao couldn't think of anything that would shake her…
Well, except for Xiangling's slime dishes. That's a different kind of horror.
Rui Shen helped her set up, guiding her as she put on the virtual blindfold and launched Silent Hill: PT.
Zhongli, ever composed, stayed back and joined the growing crowd of melon-eaters, all of them watching the gameplay unfold on the monitor.
The game booted up with a flash of its title. Then a single line appeared on a black screen:
Be careful. The gap in that door... it's a separate reality.I am me. But are you sure you're the only you?
…
When the screen faded in again, Hu Tao's perspective was from the floor.
Two cockroaches crawled by. A door in front creaked open slightly, revealing a dark, narrow crack.
Caught off guard by the bugs, Hu Tao jolted, then pushed herself up. She was in a small, dimly lit room.
Looking down, she noticed—she was controlling the body of an adult man.
"This is kinda cool," she muttered. "Feels like I really stepped into another world."
"And that weird line earlier... was that supposed to mean something?"
Shrugging it off, she walked confidently to the only exit door.
Pushing it open, she entered a long, narrow corridor, fairly well lit.
Paintings hung along the walls, and through the windows at the end, it was clearly nighttime.
"Looks like a pretty normal hallway," she said casually, striding forward.
A small table in the corner had an electronic clock, displaying 11:59 PM in Teyvat-standard numerals.
Hu Tao raised an eyebrow. Midnight—prime horror story timing.
As she reached the end, another identical corridor stretched ahead. The bathroom door on the right looked shut.
She gave the knob a hard twist. Locked.
Out of instinct, she reached for her staff of Homa to bust it open—only to remember she didn't have it in-game.
"Right. Virtual world." She chuckled and kept going.
Approaching the open door at the end, a male voice began broadcasting from a radio on the counter:
"On the day of the murder, the father went to the trunk of his car, took out a shotgun, and shot his wife while she was cleaning the kitchen after lunch."
"When his 10-year-old son came to check what was going on, the father shot him too."
"The 6-year-old daughter hid in the bathroom. Reports say he told her it was just a game to lure her out, then shot her in the chest at close range."
"The wife, who was shot in the stomach, was pregnant."
"Inspectors responded to neighbors' calls and found the father calmly sitting in his car, listening to the radio."
"Neighbors claimed they'd heard him chanting strange numbers in the days before the murder, like he was reciting a spell."
"There was another case last month in the same region. Another one last December."
"Each time, the father was the killer. Shotgun, meat cleaver… entire family."
"Investigators say the cases seem unrelated—but could be linked to rising stress from unemployment, parenting pressure, and other social issues."
The radio crackled into silence.
Hu Tao, and pretty much everyone watching, went silent for a beat. Then the whispers started.
The delivery might've felt new, but the message was crystal clear.
There were old photos on the counter. Moldy bananas. Ashtrays overflowing with cigarette butts.
A deeply unsettling domestic scene, tied to brutal family murders. The killer? Always the father.
Horror, trauma, madness—the building blocks of a terrifying narrative. Even in Teyvat, this kind of story hits hard.
"So... this is the game's plot?" Hu Tao muttered, tapping her palm like she just solved a riddle.
"Alright. Let's see where this goes."
I think the melon-eaters means like a crowd or something.