I’m Doomed! I Got Trapped in a Dream! [5]

No good. No intel on him at all.

Nahida frowned, pinching her chin in thought as she scoured through five hundred years of memory, even reaching into the Void Archive in search of anything related to this strange young man. But no matter how she searched, she couldn’t match him with anyone she knew.

Before she could think further, Chen Mo suddenly stood up, placed his hands on her shoulders, and stared at her wide-eyed — examining this green-haired shuttlecock-looking girl from head to toe.

“U-Um… what’s wrong?”

Nahida was startled by the sudden contact. But since she couldn’t access her elemental power right now, she didn’t dare move, letting him hold her shoulders.

“You—you—you… You can see me? You can hear me talk?!”

Nahida forced herself to stay calm and nodded. “Yes. I can hear you.”

Truth be told, if her powers were working, she’d have wrapped him in vines three layers deep by now.

“Oh my god… oh my god—an NPC just came to life! An actual NPC is talking to me!!”

This was the first time since transmigrating that Chen Mo had met someone who could truly interact with him. His excitement was understandable — if not a little overwhelming.

“You’re literally the Dendro Archon of Sumeru! What are you doing crashing the Mondstadt main questline?!”

“Uhh… I’m sorry… I-I don’t know either…”

Nahida blinked and tried to look harmless.

She didn’t understand what “Mondstadt” and “main questline” were doing in the same sentence. But faced with this unknown environment, and this stranger who had no records in her mental database yet seemed to know everything about her — she didn’t dare ask questions.

“Ah… sorry. I got a little carried away just now.”

Realizing he might’ve scared her, Chen Mo let go of Nahida’s shoulders and quickly took a breath to calm himself.

The mood grew a bit awkward.

“Ahem… Look, it’s kind of a long story. I’ll explain as we move through the quest.”

With that, Chen Mo tapped the dialogue option labeled [Emergency Food].

“Totally unfair! That’s even worse than being a mascot!”

Paimon stamped her feet furiously in midair, cheeks puffed out in protest, hands on her hips.

“Anyway, you’re the Traveler, right?”

Amber chimed in, crossing her arms.

Nahida glanced between the NPC Paimon and NPC Amber, who were carrying on with the quest like nothing was amiss. Then she looked at Chen Mo, blinking her bright green eyes in quiet curiosity.

Chen Mo understood her look immediately and chuckled.

“Those two? They’re not real people. They’re NPCs.”

“NPC?”

Nahida tilted her head like a curious puppy at the unfamiliar term.

“Okay, maybe that doesn’t make sense to you… I’ll just show you.”

Chen Mo patted NPC Amber on the side. “Look, Nahida, like this — no matter what you do to these NPCs—”

He gave Amber’s thigh a little squeeze.

She didn’t react at all. She kept talking to Paimon, right on cue, continuing the scripted dialogue.

“—they won’t respond in any way.”

Then Chen Mo gave her a firm shove. Amber stumbled a bit, nearly lost her balance — then snapped right back into her standing pose, continuing her line of dialogue like nothing had happened.

Even mid-stumble, she didn’t stop talking.

And Paimon, floating across from her, didn’t so much as blink at any of it.

“They only move according to a preset script. See? That’s what an NPC is.”

“Mmm… So it’s like when a forest boar sees a tree and immediately charges it? Or when mushroom beasts see a rock and start dancing around it?”
Nahida was trying her best to connect this new concept with her existing knowledge.

“Not quite,” Chen Mo said. “More like — imagine a mushroom beast that always dances around a rock. No matter how close you get, no matter if you try to catch it, stab it, or set it on fire — it only dances. It never reacts.”

“Eh? Why would a mushroom beast be that obsessed with dancing around a rock?”

“That’s what makes it an NPC.”

“Ohhh… I think I get it now. So an NPC is someone — or something — with a really strong fixation. They’re dead set on doing one thing, and no matter what else happens, they stay laser-focused on that goal.”

“Huh? Haha…”

Chen Mo chuckled at Nahida’s oddly wholesome interpretation.

“Honestly, not bad. That’s… pretty close.”

The scene came to an end. Paimon and Amber vanished instantly.

Nahida blinked, confused, and turned to Chen Mo for an explanation.

“Oh, don’t worry. They’re not gone. The cutscene just ended,” Chen Mo explained, unfazed.

Cutscene. There was that strange term again. Nahida’s pointy ears twitched slightly as she took note of it.

Chen Mo pointed to the floating game menu above him, which now read:

[Amber the Archer is ideal for handling distant targets. Tap her portrait to switch.]

“She’s over here now. See?”

With that, Chen Mo tapped Amber’s icon.

Pop! In an instant, Chen Mo’s form shifted into Amber’s — bow in hand, stance ready.

“Eh?!”

Nahida’s eyes went wide with disbelief.

The voice was still Chen Mo’s, but the person in front of her was clearly Amber — and she wasn’t even moving her mouth when she spoke.

At the moment, Amber stood like a puppet under Chen Mo’s control, bowstring drawn, aiming at a distant Anemo Slime.

Fwoosh!

The arrow flew. Boom! The slime exploded.

Mission complete.

Next in the questline, the protagonist was supposed to help Amber clear out a nearby hilichurl camp.

But Chen Mo wasn’t feeling it.

I’ve transmigrated, haven’t I? You think I came here to grind hilichurl camps like some underpaid intern? Not happening.

“Nahida!”

“Eh?! Ah — yes, I’m here!”

“Go. Infuse those hilichurls with Dendro.”

“Huh? Infuse… with Dendro?”

Chen Mo, still in Amber form, had the bow drawn and fully charged with Pyro. The arrow was ready to go. He just needed Nahida to apply some Dendro so he could torch the whole camp in one shot.

“Nahida, what are you doing? Hurry up and use your [Elemental Skill] — the E button! What’s it called again… whatever, the one with the chaining vines. Lock them all down!”

“[Elemental Skill]? E button? …Chaining vines?”

One unfamiliar term after another left Nahida thoroughly dazed.

“I’m sorry… I don’t understand.”

“…”

Chen Mo (still Amber) slowly lowered the bow. He switched back to his own avatar, turned to Nahida, and gave her a deadpan look.

“…Wait, hold on. You seriously don’t know how to do that?”

“S-Sorry…”

Nahida lowered her head, looking a little disheartened.

She felt like she’d let him down.

“…Wow. I really didn’t expect this. I finally make it to Teyvat, and now I’m the one teaching the Dendro Archon how to apply Dendro.”

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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!