Lin Miao thought to himself, ‘The all-out war with the Empire has officially begun. He probably knows things have taken a turn for the worse, which is why the forum is so quiet.’
Astaroth had already realized the severity of the situation and was desperately formulating countermeasures.
The same went for his servants. Every single one of their movements was clearly visible to Lin Miao.
The Lucadia Empire was a massive and powerful force to begin with. Moreover, the deity Astaroth was by no means an incompetent novice.
Although the colony led by Elise was exceptionally capable, Lin Miao could not put his mind completely at ease.
“...So, what exactly is the problem?”
“As our competitors grow, our company's competitiveness is declining. If we can't secure forces that can assist the government, or master some core technology, it will be difficult to keep our operations going.”
However, Lin Miao was not leisurely watching the colony from home right now.
He had to respond to a plea for help from Bai Zhantang, who was actually running the Awakened company on his behalf.
“Do we need to recruit promising newcomers?”
“Promising or not, we just need Awakened who can boost our combat power. Normally, these individuals would be personally selected by the Great One...”
Bai Zhantang cast a cautious glance at him.
While a keen eye was important for the CEO of an Awakened agency, in reality, companies directly run by deities had almost all of these decisions made by the gods themselves.
“I'll give it a try.”
Lin Miao pondered for a moment and nodded.
Although unlike other deities, Lin Miao had not reached the peak and become a god through his own cultivation, he was now considered a fully qualified Mid-Tier Deity.
At this level, he was considered a figure of some standing in the deity forum.
Moreover, unlike other deities who could only exert indirect influence on other worlds, Lin Miao could still use his own power on Earth, his home planet.
【Shared Task: Recruit Personnel for System Inspection and Maintenance】
‘This is something that should have been handled by sending a servant... What would happen if I went personally?’
Lin Miao's gaze fell upon the shared tasks in the Earth forum. These were established and shared by all the deities to maintain the Awakened system.
Deities who wanted rewards could apply for these tasks and receive compensation upon completion.
They could use these rewards to invest in their servants or keep them for themselves.
Lin Miao intended to take advantage of his unique situation and monopolize these tasks.
The deities of the Divine Net placed an immense value on order.
Whether to justify their own actions or to distinguish themselves from the Outer Gods who pursued chaos, they established various rules, adhered to them strictly, and punished those who violated them.
The same applied to the deities competing for Earth.
Under the pretext of defending against the invasion of the Outer Gods, they had jointly established the seemingly formal Awakened system, forming a competitive order within it.
They all operated within this system to which everyone belonged, carrying out their respective competitions.
‘How ridiculous.’
Lin Miao sneered, believing that the order they championed was nothing more than another weapon.
In any case, what they wanted was simply to occupy new territories, acquire more servants, and elevate their own Divine Status and power.
Therefore, Lin Miao planned to make good use of it. After all, he was now also a member of this very order that the deities were so proud of.
【Rift Regulation Task: Mid-Tier Deity and above may participate】
“Accept task.”
Lin Miao accepted a task through the Divine Net forum.
The Awakened system was currently regulating the rifts constantly appearing on Earth, through which the Outer Gods dispatched their servants.
While competition was important, the ultimate priority was still to stop the servants of Abhoth, the Outer God who had been coveting Earth all along.
And the method of regulation was simple.
The deities would command their servants to act in secret, investing interference force to forcibly close the rifts.
Then, the Awakened system would grant corresponding rewards based on the interference force invested by the deity.
Lin Miao felt that he could do this himself, so he snatched the task before anyone else could and immediately drove off.
The destination was not far.
With his current Divine Status, the rift would close as long as he got close, so it should be an easy task.
“Everyone, please remain calm!”
However, when Lin Miao arrived near his destination, sirens suddenly wailed on the congested road.
“There has been a sudden surge of rift monsters nearby. We are handling it, so please do not get out of your vehicles...”
One police officer stood on top of a car roof, holding a megaphone and anxiously explaining the situation to the crowd.
‘Again?’
Hearing the news that a rift fluctuation had occurred nearby and a large number of monsters had escaped into the real world, Lin Miao gripped the steering wheel and sighed softly.
Although such occurrences were common, he felt like he had just encountered a similar situation not too long ago.
‘Well, it's close to the destination anyway.’
Lin Miao parked his car in a nearby building and got out.
He planned to head over on foot. If he took the mountain trail, he would reach the destination very quickly.
Lin Miao was not worried about the monsters at all.
The monsters he used to wish he could tear to shreds were, in the end, nothing more than the creations and servants of the Outer Gods.
Now that he had become a deity, Lin Miao possessed the power to invalidate even the rifts opened by the Outer Gods themselves.
Since their Divine Status was far lower than his, it was impossible for them to harm him.
The only way to harm a deity was to completely eradicate the forces and servants that constituted their Divine Status.
“It's so hot.”
...It seemed he had to add one more thing to that list.
Hiking up a mountain in the scorching summer heat, Lin Miao fanned his face with his hand, complaining about this unnecessary suffering.
Walking up the sparsely populated mountain path, he finally reached his destination.
【Task Completed: Points have been distributed】
Just by getting close, the Outer God's rift vanished.
Confirming that his plan had succeeded, the system detected the rift's disappearance and distributed the reward as required by the task, making Lin Miao smile.
Even a system jointly created by the deities could not have anticipated the birth of an existence like Lin Miao. Vulnerabilities were inevitable, and he intended to make good use of them in the future.
“...Is it a monster?”
Right then, a blood-curdling howl echoed through the mountain forest.
This was definitely not a sound an ordinary beast could make.
This bizarre howl, capable of triggering primal human fear and evoking Lin Miao's distant memories, clearly belonged to a servant of the Outer God Abhoth.
Although he had heard it countless times while working at the Awakened staffing agency, it still felt highly uncomfortable every time he heard it.
But the issue now was not just the howl.
Just as Lin Miao turned around to head back down the mountain to his car.
A massive monster crashed through the trees, tearing up the earth as it charged at him from behind.
It was a monster with smooth, black skin that dragged its body along using two massive forelimbs—a dimensional shambler.
The moment Lin Miao turned his head, the shrieking dimensional shambler suddenly opened its massive maw, which spanned its entire face, and lunged at him in an instant.
Obstructed by its massive body, Lin Miao couldn't see clearly, but he could vaguely make out someone chasing after it.
“No!”
Just as the dimensional shambler attacked Lin Miao, a woman's startled scream rang out.
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