In the 4.0 version of Genshin Impact, Zhongli’s remake is like a window quietly opened at midnight. The scenery outside is blurred and distant. Only a beam of light penetrates the darkness and illuminates the deep expectation in your heart. Zhongli, the calm and reserved rock lord, appears in the virtual world again at this moment, and you, standing between the light and shadow, seem to be waiting for a long-lost answer.
On September 5, Zhongli’s remake was launched, and this day seemed to be a clever arrangement of fate. You stand in that virtual world, press the button to draw a card, and expect that the deepest wish can be responded in the light of the screen. You can tell yourself that this is just a journey in the game, a mechanical operation, but you know in your heart that what you expect is something that cannot be described. Drawing a card is like trying to grasp something in this ever-changing world. You can’t tell what is real and what is illusory. Maybe Zhongli appears in that moment when the light and shadow flash by, or maybe he will never be in that flickering light.
According to the game’s guaranteed mechanism, Zhongli seems to appear between 80 and 90 card draws. But you also know that this calculation will never go as smoothly as you think. Luck is never a fixed formula, it can change at any time. If you accidentally draw other five-star characters, Zhongli will be pushed further away, until 150, 180, or even longer. You know what you are waiting for, as if waiting for an answer, an answer you have already expected. You press the button, your heartbeat speeds up again and again, and pauses again and again. You already know the result.
What you pay for all this is not only time, patience, but also money. Recharging two 6480 Genesis Crystals, three hundred dollars, is like a gamble. You don’t know if you can win, but you know clearly that this is not just for Zhongli, but more of a commitment to yourself, a way to fill a certain gap in life. What you expect is the satisfaction of that moment, but you also know that there is always an unknown crack between satisfaction and disappointment. Time, emotion, money, and all the efforts are gathered at this moment and condensed into an unspoken power.
The process of drawing cards is very much like a moment in life. You stand there, holding your breath and staring, waiting for the virtual character to suddenly jump into your sight. Zhongli is the ideal existence in your heart, the character that symbolizes strength, stability and calmness, and it seems to be something you have been pursuing. In life, we are always waiting for something, waiting for some kind of response, some kind of signal from an uncertain world. You work hard, wait patiently, and your mood fluctuates, like the expectation of the future, and also like the obsession with the past. You know what you are doing, although you don’t know what the future will look like.
Those long waits and unexpected losses constitute the most realistic experience in the game. You think you are playing in a virtual world, but the more you immerse yourself in it, the more you understand that this is just a mirror of your life. Every click, every expectation, reminds you that every decision and choice in life will bring different consequences. You no longer simply pursue a simple result, but learn to find peace in the process. Every failure, every success, is your deep understanding of yourself.
In the dead of night, the light on the screen stretches, Zhongli still does not appear, you gently put down your phone and look at the city outside the window. The lights are still flashing, the streets are still bustling, the world will never stop for you, just as you can never catch that accidental luck. You can’t help but smile, as if you understand something. The answer to life may never be in the result itself, but in this process, we keep pursuing, experiencing, and changing.