PROLOG

*BREAKING NEWS!*

'A series of accidents occurred in Liyue, the incident began when a blue sedan hit a motorcyclist who was traveling at a speed of 70 km/hour. Millelith Police Chief, Fengyan explained that after the sedan hit the scooter, three other cars also hit it, causing a sizeable explosion around 1 AM.'

'Luckily, there were no fatalities in this accident. The motorcyclist was seriously injured and has now been rushed to the Liyue General Hospital for further treatment. The identity of the accident victim has been kept secret.'

The television screen suddenly turned off, and the burly hand that pressed the red button on the end of the remote bared the veins around his arm. A few seconds later, he threw the remote into the wall, his breath panting because he was busy holding back his emotions. He corrected his glasses that had fallen from their places, his forced smile looked unpleasant to the men who were lined up in front of him.

"Stupid!" snapped the man with wavy black hair.

"Why can't you guys catch up quickly?! Why did he have to escape all the way downtown?!"

His subordinates lowered their heads in unison, their guilt so great that they did not dare to look at who was cursing their failures. The man pointed at his lowly lackeys with a silencer gun one by one. He started walking and shot his four lackeys in the head.

"No! Please, Boss!" screamed the last surviving remnant.

"If you don't want to die, at least do your job well!" the reply was as loud as the voice of the lackey's scream.

"At this rate, your wife will be a widow and your children will soon be orphans!" he snapped.

The frightened face that radiated from the man in the brown shirt looked so exciting to him, he played with the gun right in front of his eyes.

"It's useless. That kid can't be called your son too if I raped your wife, right?" he chuckled.

BANG! The blood splattered around his feet didn't disgust Pantalone in the least, he left his temporary base after ordering his other subordinates to burn down the small house without pity. The gun he used earlier was also devoured by the giant flame just to destroy evidence when Millelith came to investigate a fire case in the Qixing Village area.

Take it easy Morax. You won't live for more than two days, Pantalone thought with a ghastly look.

***

The woman with purple hair was crying hysterically in front of the ICU room. The news that her husband had been the victim of an accident was so heartbreaking, Raiden Ei could only beat the door of the room where her husband was. The woman could only see the dozens of tubes stuck in his body from the outside.

**Earlier that morning in Zhongli's house**

Zhongli drank his coffee, and the man with brown hair smiled at Ei who was busy cooking. It was felt that his wife's cooking was getting better as time went on, even though Zhongli did not demand that Ei should be able to cook all kinds of food, his wife continued to practice so that she could satisfy her husband.

"Hey," Zhongli called softly.

"Yes dear?" replied Ei, she did not dare to take her eyes off the burning stove.

"It looks like I'll be home late,"

"Again?" his wife said with a snort of annoyance.

Zhongli chuckled, he got up from his chair and hugged his wife's body from behind. The circle of his hands felt comfortable on Ei's waist, the woman closed for a moment while feeling the warmth given by Zhongli. A sweet kiss on his right cheek managed to make Ei's face blush instantly.

"Sorry," Zhongli said quietly.

Ei also replied to the 35-year-old man's words with a kiss on Zhongli's lips.

"Yeah, I can't stop my husband from working hard for our baby, can I?" Ei pointed Zhongli's right hand to her stomach, and he stroked his wife's belly lovingly. They both smiled amusedly before laughing afterward.

They have been married for 5 years, and this is the first gift for the Zhongli's family after struggling to manage their life since the beginning of their marriage. A child who will be the color of a couple with a dark enough past to tell.

"But remember, please let me know wherever you go," Ei scolded while threatening him with a hot spatula from a cooking oil container.

Zhongli laughed once again, "Is this your request or her request?" he teased after that.

Ei looked away from her husband's presence, focusing back on cooking for herself because Zhongli was not used to having breakfast.

"This is our request, dear," Ei muttered while pouting her red lips.

"Okay, I'll let you know any time then!"

***

The electrocardiogram monitor beside Zhongli grew increasingly muffled, and the man's heart rate gradually decreased. There was nothing Ei could do besides wait for her husband to return from his coma. The purple-haired woman continued to stroke her husband's hand full of hope.

'I didn't ask for this news from you,' muttered Ei softly.

She could no longer hold back her tears, less and less did she hear the sound from her husband's heart monitor, the lines that were wavy at first now become straight and raised the waves a little every 5 seconds.

The only lamp that lit up Zhongli's room dimmed as time went by as if he understood that Raiden Ei's husband's life was not long in coming.

'Do you still want to live?'

'If you still want to live, you better change your past,'

'You still have a chance, because only a few humans have the chance to change their lives and you are one of them!'

'Morax—I mean, Zhongli? Will you change the line of your destiny?'

'If not, well, at least your life won't be up to 5 more minutes,'

'But if you still want to live, I give you two years to change your past at the darkest point,'

'Ha ha ha! Looks like you do too! Okay!'

Zhongli's heart rate began to increase, and Raiden Ei's hopes also rose when he saw his monitor screen return to normal, Ei really believed that this is a miracle.

"Get some rest, honey. Don't worry, I won't leave anytime soon," said Raiden Ei then kissed Zhongli's forehead gently.

***

The sound of the school bell screeched in the ears of the sleeping student, the sound of students pushing out of the classroom to the canteen seemed like he never wanted to repeat it. He opened one eye but the sunlight was really blinding his eyes, Zhongli woke up with the Teyvat High School uniform wrapped around his body.

"Oi, John! Let's go to the canteen!" asked Hu Tao, his classmate.

John Lee (Zhongli)'s eyes widened when he looked around, his old high school classroom was seen again with a look of disbelief, no matter how hard he rubbed his eyes it didn't make him realize the 18 year old man's long sleep.

'Hah?' muttered John Lee in disbelief.

The roar of the Teyvat High School students can now be heard from the sports field. Two people are seen fighting fistfights to prove who will become the new champion after the graduates of the school with thousands of characters in it.

"Come on! Do you think I'm afraid of you and all your lackeys?!" shouted Itto who was standing near the basketball hoop, looking in the opposite direction where Childe was being massaged by his men.

"Knock it off, Boss!"

"This Childe of the Harbingers!"

Childe's sharp gaze actually made the hearts of the girls in high school uniforms flutter, his sweet smile didn't match her behavior at school. Even though he served as chairman of the student council at his school, Childe was also a warlord when it came to dealing with brawls.

"John! Let's just watch them fight!" Hu Tao shouted right beside him.

John Lee shook his head, he still couldn't believe his soul would return to being a high school boy. A few seconds later, Itto ran towards Childe and launched his first attack, the violent altercation embellished John Lee's first day as a Teyvat High School student for the second time.

'Why do I have to be an 18-year-old again?!' John Lee collapsed inwardly.