I’m Doomed! I Got Trapped in a Dream! [2]

“You can just swim across~”

In this 1:1 recreation of the Genshin Impact game world, Paimon’s NPC was still diligently running the beginner tutorial. After saying that line, she floated straight across the surface of Starfell Lake and hovered over the little island at its center.

Chen Mo stepped into the shallows of Starfell Lake. Once the water reached his neck, his feet lifted off the lakebed, and his body automatically transitioned into a swimming state.

A quick glance downward confirmed it — the stamina bar was there, just like in the game.

Meanwhile, Paimon’s NPC remained perfectly still in midair, waiting patiently for him to make it ashore.

But when Chen Mo finally dragged his soaking-wet clothes up onto land and walked over to her, she didn’t say a word. Just kept floating.

“Huh? Did it bug out?”

Staring at Paimon for a while, Chen Mo waved his hand in front of her face.

Naturally, there was no reaction. She hovered there motionless — the whole scene looked exactly like a frozen or glitched cutscene.

“Hey, come on… what’s—”

“Huh? What was that sound?”

Just as Chen Mo was about to complain about how buggy this isekai’d Genshin world was, he suddenly heard something — a heartbeat.

Thump…
Thump…

It was slow. Deep. Heavy.
And it didn’t sound like a human heartbeat.
No — it felt more like…

More like the world itself had started to beat.

“Holy crap, don’t scare me like that…”

A sound like that coming out of nowhere would spook anyone. But before panic could set in too hard, his eyes caught a familiar flash of greenish-blue light.

“Ohhh… so that’s what it was. Unlocking the Anemo Statue of The Seven.”

“Right, now I remember — the first statue is unlocked through a cutscene.”

Just as Chen Mo muttered to himself, the process for unlocking the first Anemo Statue had kicked in. In the official game cutscene, the Traveler walks forward and touches the statue, while Paimon just floats silently nearby.

But this time, Chen Mo hadn’t walked forward at all — and yet the statue activated on its own, glowing right on cue, gathering wind-element energy.

Finally, a swirling orb of Anemo burst forth from the sphere in Barbatos’s outstretched hands, shooting straight into Chen Mo’s body with tremendous speed.

A cool breeze swept up from under his feet — and then came the unmistakable “ping” sound.

Map unlocked. Every statue lit up a new chunk of Teyvat.

With a swipe of his left hand, Chen Mo called up the game menu — and sure enough, a translucent map panel had appeared in the top left corner. He could even click into it.

“Damn… this really feels legit.”

He tapped open the map and swiped around with a finger, gazing fondly at the sprawling map of Teyvat — a view he used to see every single day. A smile tugged at his lips, the feeling oddly comforting.

“Yup~ You’re starting to feel the elements of this world, huh?”

Sure enough, Paimon resumed her dialogue.

At the same time, a prompt popped up: [Adventure Rank: Level 2]. And the world’s familiar BGM faded in behind it.

“Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. Music’s on point now.”

If Chen Mo had actually paid attention to his Chinese studies, he might’ve recalled a phrase for moments like this: chu yin wei lai — “you can tell what it is just by hearing the tune.”

Then came two dialogue choices. Without hesitation, he picked: [This is nuts!]

“Ah~ Saying something like nuts about the gods is super disrespectful, y’know!”
Paimon’s NPC dutifully delivered her line, sticking to the script.

Chen Mo didn’t even acknowledge her. He was too busy flipping through the floating game menu.

“Ah—hey! What the hell?!”

While engrossed in the menu, Chen Mo suddenly got slammed by something. The next thing he knew, his forehead was burning hot — scalding, actually. A sharp, fiery sting flared up across his skin.

Clutching his forehead, he looked up. Paimon was gone, her scripted lines finished.
In her place, a little Pyro Slime was bouncing cheerfully in front of him — giving him the occasional headbutt.

The pain felt very real. Every time the slime hit him, it was like a burst of fire on his skin.

He glanced at the quest list — it now read: [Defeat the Slime].

“Oh great… tutorial combat, huh.” Chen Mo sighed and looked to the bottom right. Sure enough, two familiar translucent buttons had appeared near his right hand — one for [Elemental Skill], the other for [Elemental Burst].

Without a word, he tapped the skill button and swept his right hand forward.
A burst of Anemo energy exploded from his palm, slamming into the Pyro Slime with a bang — reducing it to scattered elemental particles that flew into his body.

“Man… having to tap a button before casting a skill — that extra step’s gonna get me killed someday.”

True, the buttons hovered close enough that he could easily flick a wrist to tap them. Still, it was one more thing to deal with mid-fight.

“Waaah, I’m so jealous~ I wanna fight like that too!”

“Wait… Paimon?! Where the hell are you?!”

The sudden line of voice dialogue startled Chen Mo.

The tutorial was clearly over. Paimon’s NPC had vanished. Now he was the only one left walking the path.

His quest list had changed to: [Forest Encounter – 192m].

Golden particles began appearing on the ground, stretching out like a breadcrumb trail from his feet toward the objective.

“Forest Encounter? Who am I supposed to be meeting in the woods…?
Oh—right. Venti! Haha, my Venti, here I come!”

The thought of meeting Venti in the next scene lifted Chen Mo’s spirits, and his pace quickened with excitement.

Overhead, a massive dragon flew by — and then came Paimon’s voice:
“Whoa! What is that?!”

Yup, just as expected — the next major plot beat was coming up.

Chen Mo felt anticipation bubbling in his chest, his walk turning into a jog… then a run.

He sprinted straight through a group of hilichurls roasting meat at a campfire, not even glancing at their treasure chest or their aggressive shouts. One leap took him over a rocky platform, and he dashed full speed toward the objective marker.

The three hilichurls, confused after losing aggro, just shrugged and sat back down around their fire to continue chatting.

After following the single dirt path for a while, there was a sudden pop — Paimon appeared again, floating into view. At the same time, the skill buttons and menu vanished from around Chen Mo.

He immediately understood. Cutscene time.

Paimon raised her right hand to her forehead, miming a lookout’s pose, then pointed into the distance and said, “Look over there!”

Following her finger, Chen Mo saw it:

A massive teal-blue dragon lay curled on a boulder, emitting a deep, pained growl that rattled the air.

And standing before the dragon, dressed in flowing green — the figure Chen Mo had been waiting for all this time —

His old pal Venti.
The Anemo Archon.
Barbatos.

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T/N: OUGHHH VENTI

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!