I’m Doomed! I Got Trapped in a Dream! [16]

“You… who are you? Why did you suddenly appear out of nowhere?” Furina demanded, still shaken from the shock.

“I’m Chen Mo. I’m a trave—travel…er?…”

Normally, after introducing your name, you’d follow it up with your identity. But Chen Mo faltered mid-sentence.

“No no no, I’m not a Traveler… I’m just a guy who plays a lot of games… no, wait, she wouldn’t understand that…”

How was he supposed to explain who he was in a way Furina would understand? He muttered to himself, cycling through various labels, none of which satisfied him.

“Transmigrator?… Nah, she’d understand that even less… ugh… what the hell? Am I actually stuck on this?”

The truth was, even Chen Mo didn’t really know how he had ended up inside this alternate version of Genshin Impact. This place wasn’t quite a game, but it wasn’t the real Teyvat either. What exactly was this world? He had no clue.

He definitely wasn’t the Traveler. His hair was black, his eyes were black—he looked the same as he had before he crossed over.

And yet, he had triggered the main storyline.

The first thing he heard after waking up in this world was Paimon saying, “Mhm! I’ll try to be a good guide!”

So if he wasn’t the Traveler… then who was he?

“Hm…?”

Furina tilted her head slightly to the right, eyebrows knitting together in suspicion. She watched the strangely dressed young man in front of her, increasingly wary that he couldn’t even answer such a simple question as “Who are you?”

“Ah, ahem… uh…”

Chen Mo realized how awkward the silence had become. He averted his gaze, looking left and right, scratching his head and flashing her an awkward smile.

Panicking, he blurted out a response—any response:

“I’m your fan! Lady Furina, I’m your biggest fan! I saw you here all alone and came to meet you specifically!”

“A fan? My fan?” Furina pointed at herself with her left hand, clearly caught off guard by the answer. After a beat, she blinked in realization.

“Ah… ah! A fan! I see—you’re my fan!”

But almost immediately, she tilted her head again, raising an eyebrow with mild indignation.

“So that’s how fans greet their idols? By jumping right into their personal space and scaring them half to death?”

“Uhhh… I’m so sorry, Lady Furina! I didn’t mean to scare you!” Chen Mo pressed his hands together in an exaggerated gesture of apology.

He’d hoped pretending to be a fan would smooth over the tension—but somehow it just made things more awkward.

“Ahem… so, uh…” Chen Mo stammered, trying desperately to shift the topic.

“Right! I noticed you’ve been standing here in front of the Statue of The Seven for a while. Were you… admiring your own beauty, perhaps?”

“Me!?” Furina flinched like someone had just uncovered her deepest secret. Her face flushed red with embarrassment, and she even stuttered as she tried to explain:

“I was—! I was giving… a demonstration! Yes, a demonstration for the citizens of Fontaine! Teaching them how to properly pay tribute to the Statue of The Seven, so that they might show proper reverence to me, their Hydro Archon~!”

As she spoke, her voice shifted from flustered to full of pride. She spread her fingers dramatically and placed her hand over her chest, striking a dignified pose with her chin held high.

“Pfft—!” Chen Mo nearly lost it. He barely managed to stifle his laughter and quickly pretended to have a pollen allergy, faking a few sneezes and rubbing his nose to cover it up.

It was hard not to laugh. That single sentence brought back a flood of memories—of all her silly, lovable antics in the game. And now, seeing her act the same way in person? It was too much.

Furina eyed him suspiciously. She knew he’d been laughing at her—but without proof, she could only pout.

She tilted her head slightly, then quickly straightened up again. Her twin tails, so long they brushed the floor, swayed behind her like white silk ribbons.

Long twin tails… white blouse… Does that mean… the water disaster in Fontaine hasn’t happened yet in this timeline?

Chen Mo thought to himself.

He vividly remembered: the first thing Furina did after the flood was cut off her twin tails, which she’d kept for over 500 years, and change into a black outfit—her way of announcing, “I will no longer play any role.”

“Furina, um…” Chen Mo started to ask, but then hesitated. If the flood hadn’t occurred yet, bringing it up now might cause her serious emotional distress.

The words stopped at the edge of his lips. He swallowed them.

“Hm?”

“…Nothing. Forget it.”

“?”

What is up with this guy? Is he messing with me on purpose?

Chen Mo, deciding to switch gears, slid open his in-game chat window again. He pressed on Nahida’s avatar and started talking:

“Nahida, Nahida—this is Chen Mo.”

If he wanted to figure out the current timeline, he didn’t have to rely on Furina. There were others he could ask—and Nahida was a good candidate.

“I hear you. What’s up?” Nahida’s voice came through the chat after a moment.

“Are you still being kept under house arrest by those old geezers in the Akademiya? Has a blond Traveler busted you out yet?”

But after that question… the chat window fell silent.

No response from Nahida.

“Ah crap…” Chen Mo rubbed his temple. “Did I say something I shouldn’t have?”

He’d been so focused on protecting Furina’s mental state, he completely forgot that Nahida’s situation was no less sensitive.

And as he feared, Nahida—still in Mondstadt—had frozen in stunned silence. The moment she heard his question, she was overcome by confusion and disbelief, no longer in the mood to chat, and now fully absorbed in trying to piece things together:

The Lesser Lord Kusanali… imprisoned by the Akademiya?

That was one of Sumeru’s top-class state secrets. Outside of a handful of Sages who had direct dealings with the Dendro Archon, no one was supposed to know. Even the guards stationed outside the Sanctuary of Surasthana had no idea. At most, they just assumed the Archon had chosen not to step out.

How does this Chen Mo know about that?

And what’s more—he spoke of it so casually, as if it were common knowledge. As if he knew far more than he was letting on. To him, the Akademiya imprisoning the Archon was barely worth mentioning.

“Chen Mo, Chen Mo—this is Keqing,” a new voice suddenly came through the chat. “Did you just say the Dendro Archon of Sumeru, Miss Nahida… was imprisoned by the Akademiya?”

Naturally, Keqing was instantly intrigued by such a bombshell.

“Hold up—this ‘Nahida,’ she’s the Dendro Archon of Sumeru? And she’s been imprisoned by the Akademiya?”

And right in front of Chen Mo, Furina perked up too, clearly interested by what she’d just overheard.

Welp. There it is.

“Ughhh, my mouth, seriously…” Chen Mo muttered as he slapped himself lightly on the cheeks.

---

This is a fan translation of 完蛋！我被锁在梦里了 by 六轩岛润人芙宁娜. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!