Lu Xun took the water glass from the table and took a sip of hot water.
Hand of the Plague God... from a great existence... bringing about the end once more...
It wasn't hard to see from these descriptions that the owner of this arm was a quite powerful existence.
After several hours of play, he had also learned that gods existed in this game world.
And gods held a significant weight in this game.
Whether it was granting the Life Crown title or that statue in the church, everything gave him the feeling that "gods are the core."
The first golden-grade item he encountered happened to be related to a god.
"Plague God..."
One could tell from the name that this was an evil god associated with pestilence.
So, the next part of the plot would be about interacting with things related to the Plague God?
As Lu Xun was thinking, a system warning suddenly popped up.
【Warning: Current character level is too low. Mental pollution from the Hand of the Plague God is imminent. Please store the item in your backpack.】
Lu Xun looked in a daze at the character's SAN(sanity) value in the bottom right corner, which was plummeting at a rate visible to the naked eye!
"Holy crap!"
He was startled and quickly put the item into his backpack. "Grinya's" SAN value finally stabilized and began to recover slowly.
"It seems I can't take this thing out often; it's probably just a plot item."
Lu Xun guessed.
In the quest list, the space under 【The One Who Gazes into the Abyss】 was blank, with no new clues popping up.
Lu Xun frowned; it seemed he would have to wait for the subsequent plot to trigger the quest.
"I've had enough of this long wait!"
The dissatisfied voice of the Lord God jolted Grinya awake. When she came to her senses, the Hand of the Plague God was gone.
The remains of a god would not simply vanish. Excluding the possibility of the Lord God sealing it, only one possibility remained in reality!
The Lord God had devoured the remains of another evil god!
And the reason for doing so was simple: merely to restore his own authority and power, to descend upon the world in his full glory sooner, and then drag the world to the brink of destruction and fragmentation once again.
The God of Sin and the God of Blood had both used such means to return to the world in the past.
At this moment, Grinya discovered with horror that she was to witness this piece of history.
In fact, she might even be the one to forge this history!
She would be a sinner of the world, her name infamously recorded for ten thousand years.
At this moment, the thought of ending her own life even crossed Grinya's mind.
She could not tolerate becoming a vessel for an evil god's revival.
But...
Grinya also knew that escaping wouldn't solve the problem.
Even if she died, the evil god would just find another vessel.
Gods would not die; he would eventually revive one day.
So she couldn't die.
As long as she remained alive and the evil god stayed within her...
She would always have a chance to keep the evil god trapped inside her body!
Grinya made up her mind; she decided to do something unprecedented.
She would use her own mortal body to become a cage to imprison the god!
A familiar sense of power surged into her limbs, and Grinya regained control over her body. She immediately realized that the god within her had fallen into a slumber.
Perhaps absorbing the remains of another evil god was something that required time for him to digest.
Grinya looked at the mess inside the factory and that eerie, sinister altar with mixed emotions.
If it weren't for the Lord God, she never would have imagined that in the peaceful city of Yiertaya, someone was secretly plotting the revival of an evil god!
This matter should have been reported to the Sin Hunting Bureau immediately, but reason told Grinya that she couldn't do that.
Even the princess's identity was suspicious; who else in the entire kingdom could be trusted?
If she went to report it today, she might find her corpse in some neglected corner the very next day.
Besides, no one would believe that she had destroyed a cultist stronghold all by herself.
Currently, the only thing she could do was temporarily borrow the Lord God's power to stop other cultists.
...
Lu Xun exited the game, leaned back against his chair to stretch, and rolled his aching neck.
"The game is good, but these hidden quests are just too frustrating. Setting aside the fact that they're full of hidden clues, I can't even use the golden item I finally got. The investment and reward feel completely disproportionate."
Lu Xun couldn't help but complain.
And there were many other things to complain about in this game, such as the map being too large, the NPCs being too brain-dead, and most importantly, the lack of immersion.
After all, his character was female, which made it hard for a grown man like him to immerse himself.
Having been paid, he had to do the work. Lu Xun clicked on the survey URL from earlier and filled in his feedback.
Although he didn't know if the developers would listen to his suggestions, he expressed all his feelings truthfully.
No one should be able to say he was half-assing it.
"Sigh, I still have to go to school tomorrow to deal with Old Yang. So annoying."
Lu Xun suddenly remembered the phone call from just now and couldn't help but sigh.
...
The nights in Yiertaya were even more beautiful than its days.
The neon lights on the high towers flickered, shrouded in a layer of illusory mist. Magic-powered trains shuttled through the city.
In the pillar of light from a streetlamp, someone stood facing the pitch-black and empty street, silent and still like a black ghost.
Suddenly, a hand lightly patted his shoulder.
"Are you afraid?"
The black-robed man shuddered, clearly not expecting the other person's arrival. He slowly turned his head, his face blurry and invisible in the shadows.
The man wore a suit of formal black clothes. Although he was up in years, he had a kind and amiable face.
"A god that has just awakened and is still in its infancy has scared you to this extent?"
"...Moen..."
"Call me Bishop."
"I'm sorry, Lord Bishop... I lost the Hand of the Plague God..." The black-robed man lowered his head, appearing so humble.
The man called Moen remained silent for a long time, his gentle face showing no sign of anger.
"I can understand you. After all, no matter how you put it, the other party is a god recognized by the abyss. It's normal for mortals to show cowardice before a god." Moen shook his head. "I don't blame you for losing the Hand of the Plague God, but you shouldn't be wandering the streets late at night because you're afraid of your failure."
"I'm sorry, Lord Bishop."
"Alright, the abyss is still waiting for you. You should continue to fulfill your mission. Even without the Hand of the Plague God, the god will eventually revive."
"If that unknown god knows what's good for him, he shouldn't continue to obstruct the abyss."
Moen lightly raised his hand and reached toward the shadow under the black robe, like a kind elder gently stroking a junior's face.
His eyes betrayed a look of obsession and greed.
"Now go back. The abyss won't blame you. Don't arouse suspicion."
The black-robed man nodded slightly.
Rate on N.U.
