I’m Doomed! I Got Trapped in a Dream! [9]

“It’s that little one talking,”

Chen Mo said as he walked over to the NPC named Lin and tapped the dialogue box.

With a poof, Paimon suddenly popped into the air with her usual sparkly visual effects, twirling once midair before floating at shoulder height.

“Hmm? Are you adventurers passing by?” the NPC Lin turned to them with a smile.

“Hello, I’m Keq—”

“We’re just some travelers passing through! Are you making food over there?”
Paimon’s scripted line abruptly cut off Keqing’s self-introduction.

“I’m Keqing—”

“Oh, travelers! Welcome, welcome. I’m Lin, survival expert of the Adventurers’ Guild—”

Keqing got interrupted again.

“??”

After getting cut off multiple times, Keqing gave up trying to talk.

Arms crossed and brows slightly furrowed, she stood there puffing with barely concealed irritation, silently glaring at the chattering NPC Paimon and NPC Lin as they droned on through their preset dialogue.

“Pfft…”

Nahida let out a quiet giggle, covering her mouth.

Chen Mo had seen many real people get stumped by NPCs before, but even he had to suppress a chuckle at how ridiculous this looked.

“Miss Keqing, those two are NPCs,” Nahida explained helpfully.

Unlike Chen Mo, Nahida took things seriously and responsibly. As soon as her smile faded, she earnestly began explaining to Keqing the various terms she’d just learned herself: NPC, mobs, cutscenes, and more.

As the God of Wisdom, she found joy in sharing knowledge—especially when it helped others.

Chen Mo, seeing that Nahida had taken over the explanation, was more than happy to skip the repeat. Instead, he crouched down in curiosity to inspect the cooking pot next to the NPC.

The water inside was already boiling, bubbling away.

While the scripted conversation between Paimon and Lin continued, and Nahida eagerly lectured Keqing about game mechanics, Chen Mo opened the pot’s cooking menu to check the ingredients and recipes.

There weren’t many dishes, and even fewer ingredients. Right now, he could only make two things: Mushroom Chicken Skewers and Teyvat Fried Egg.

Cooking a perfect dish wasn’t hard—just stop the pointer in the golden zone.
With ease, Chen Mo whipped up two skewers of Delicious Mushroom Chicken Skewers.

These "delicious" skewers sparkled with golden light, adorned with shiny particle effects that made them glisten like they were freshly glazed by the gods. Absolutely mouthwatering.

But food isn’t for looking at—it’s for eating.
Would it taste as good as it looked?

Chen Mo dragged one from the inventory slot, brought it to his mouth, and took a bite.

PTOO!

“What kind of awful frozen food is this…”

He spat the meat out onto the ground, frowning in disappointment.

The expected juicy mushrooms and crispy, fragrant chicken were nowhere to be found. All he tasted was warm-ish meat and mushroom with a dash of salt. That was it.

Grilled meat was supposed to be the comforting warmth in an adventurer’s harsh life. Even in a game, this kind of flavor was a letdown.

“Heh, no wonder the game only needs a single click to cook—turns out they’re all prefab meals.”

With that, he returned the half-eaten skewer to the item slot.

And then… something happened that made his eyes go wide.

The item’s description changed the moment he put the skewer back.
He stared at the screen, squinting hard. No, he wasn’t seeing things.

“Come on, Mihoyo—explain this to me! What the hell is a ‘Damaged Mushroom Chicken Skewer’, and what do you mean ‘no buff effects’?!”

…

After the cooking tutorial wrapped up, it was finally time to head into Mondstadt proper.

But first… the fan-favorite pigeon massacre.

“Nahida!”

“Yes?!”

“Link those pigeons together!”

“O-Okay…”

Startled by the command, Nahida raised her small hands and made the scanning gesture, locking onto the flock of pigeons.

“Keqing! Now! Toss your pin! Quick! Say it with me—Speed of—”

…Too late. The pigeons had already flown off.

With a flurry of wings and feathers, they scattered in all directions.
Chen Mo facepalmed, sighing deeply as he shook his head.

“Tch. I was hoping to trigger an Aggravate reaction on them. Who knew Nahida’s E doesn’t work on pigeons? …Ugh, should’ve just used the Anemo Traveler’s burst…”

Off to the side, Keqing curiously tapped on Timmie’s dialogue box.

Thanks to Nahida’s earlier explanations, Keqing now understood basic game terms: NPCs, mobs, skills, and how to interact with dialogue.

But she still hadn’t used her own elemental skill—mainly because even Nahida didn’t know what Keqing’s skill actually was in this world.

Only Chen Mo knew who had which skills and how they worked.

“Wait—this kid… What happened to his father?”

To her surprise, just a few lines of dialogue revealed something sad—Timmie’s father had been missing for a long time.

“Come on, leave the NPC alone. He only ever says the same few lines,” Chen Mo called back.

Keqing glanced once more at Timmie’s blank, emotionless face, silently staring back at her.
Then, without a word, she turned and quickened her pace to catch up with Chen Mo.

…

As the trio stepped through Mondstadt’s gates, Keqing immediately frowned.

“This is it? Mondstadt City is tiny! It’s not even as big as a Liyue noble’s courtyard!”

But halfway through her complaint, the city’s unique background music kicked in.

Amber and Paimon reappeared, cueing the next story sequence.

Keqing’s attention was pulled into the scripted dialogue, her earlier thoughts about Mondstadt’s odd scale forgotten for the moment.

Since Lady Nahida had already told her this was all a dream, it made sense that the city might look… off. Yeah, let’s chalk it up to dream logic.

Amber: “Allow me to formally introduce you to the City of Freedom—Mondstadt, the land of wind and dandelions!”

As soon as the background narration began, Chen Mo’s attention immediately dropped. He reached out and tapped Nahida on the shoulder.

“Hey, Nahida.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“This cutscene is boring. Come on, let’s go find something good to eat.”

“Huh? But…”

“No but! I’ve seen this sequence at least twenty times now. If I have to watch it again, I’ll throw up.”

Before she could even finish objecting, Chen Mo grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the direction of The Angel’s Share tavern.

“But I haven’t seen it yet…”

Nahida looked back over her shoulder, puzzled.

I’ve never seen it before…

---

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!