“...”
In the end, the dimensional shambler failed to kill Lin Miao.
The moment it touched Lin Miao's body, it was struck by a powerful backlash of energy and instantly turned to ash.
Although he had expected it, Lin Miao was still a bit stunned to witness it with his own eyes.
“What in the world...”
But the one even more shocked than Lin Miao was the woman who had been chasing the dimensional shambler.
Lin Miao recognized her. She was Ye Yunshang, whom he had met briefly once before.
Last time, she was helping evacuate citizens, but now she was fully geared up and had become an Awakened.
Lin Miao glanced toward the direction of the rift and remarked calmly, “It looks like it escaped from the rift.”
Still shaken, Ye Yunshang quickly nodded, her voice trembling slightly. “Y-yes. They scattered and ran.”
Lin Miao instructed her based on the standard procedures he had memorized: “Report to your superiors that the monster you were pursuing has been eliminated. I'm not sure how the other areas are doing, so you'd better follow your operator's instructions.”
Ye Yunshang's eyes instantly lit up. “Are you an active Awakened?”
She didn't recognize Lin Miao.
After all, back then, Lin Miao was just one of the countless citizens she had evacuated.
“You could say that, though I wasn't deployed for this specific mission.”
To avoid any trouble, Lin Miao nodded and tried to make a natural exit.
Ye Yunshang seemed firmly convinced that Lin Miao was an active Awakened.
He had heard she was a promising newcomer, but it seemed she still lacked experience.
Putting away her communicator, Ye Yunshang hurriedly said to Lin Miao, “The operator said two more ran toward the mountain.”
Lin Miao thought for a moment and calmly gave her directions. “Then you should move your search toward the roads with buildings and vehicles. That will help prevent unnecessary civilian casualties.”
Taking his advice seriously, Ye Yunshang replied decisively, “Understood.”
Though it was unexpected, giving her some advice was easy enough.
She also let out a sigh of relief and nodded.
He had once dreamed of becoming an Awakened and had even secretly studied control room operations for directing them. Though he ended up in a desk job instead, that knowledge was certainly coming in handy now.
‘Fortunately, nothing went wrong.’
After parting ways with Ye Yunshang, who went back to her mission, Lin Miao quickly returned to his car, turned on the air conditioning, and exhaled a long sigh of relief.
Although he could have gotten away with continuing to pretend to be an Awakened, he decided against it just to be safe.
Lin Miao immediately opened the deity forum to check. None of the deities had discovered his identity.
As expected, they could only sense the general situation. Unless they personally investigated, they wouldn't know the specific details.
As a deity himself, Lin Miao knew this firsthand; even if he monitored his ant colony constantly, he couldn't keep track of absolutely everything in real time.
“What should I do next?”
Lin Miao stared blankly at the screen, muttering to himself as he watched Celia and his ant colony attacking their next target within the Empire.
The other deities probably never would have dreamed that Lin Miao, despite being a deity, would personally go out to earn points.
These points, which served as currency on the deity forum, could buy a great deal.
This meant Lin Miao could perform a genuine miracle for Bai Zhantang, who had been desperately pleading for help.
【Servant Trade】
【Magic Stone Mine Ownership Trade】
【Promising Awakened Trade】
Within the system, the deities actively traded what they owned, expanding their forces in their own ways.
As long as they had money—namely, points—they could buy whatever they wanted and expand their influence in the real world.
“Hmm?”
Lin Miao scrolled through the list of Awakened put up for sale by the deities out of curiosity, and his eyes suddenly widened.
To his surprise, among the Awakened from the Dragon Nation, there was a familiar face—Ye Yunshang, whom he had just run into.
‘I heard she was a well-known promising candidate from the very beginning.’
Naturally, the company Ye Yunshang currently belonged to was also the property of some deity.
And that deity was planning to sell Ye Yunshang, who had not yet received any divine protection, for a high price.
Just like Count Merlin—an acquaintance of Celia's who was once under the Goddess of Light but managed to survive by becoming masterless—servants without divine protection were easier to transfer to new owners, making their prices higher.
‘Should I make an investment?’
Lin Miao smiled and fell into contemplation.
Wasn't she exactly the promising talent Bai Zhantang wanted?
[Supreme Will of the All-Devouring Hive: I've got my eyes on this girl. If she hasn't been sold yet, let me have her.]
Just then, another deity chimed in and left a message for the seller.
Seeing that familiar name, Lin Miao's eyes widened.
It was the Goddess of Light—the very goddess he was sick of seeing on the Terra forum, who had turned the Holy Kingdom into her personal vassal force.
“What a greedy woman...”
Speechless, Lin Miao quickly tapped on his screen.
Despite being defeated by Lin Miao's ant colony on Terra, she still hadn't given up. Bent on expanding her influence, she had actually followed him all the way to Earth.
[Supreme Will of the All-Devouring Hive: Don't sell to that goddess. Sell to me.]
[Goddess of Light: What... Who do you think you are, daring to butt in!]
The moment Lin Miao intervened, the goddess replied instantly. He could feel her hostility just from the text.
[Supreme Will of the All-Devouring Hive: It seems your defeat on Terra wasn't miserable enough. You'd better go get some rest and clear your head.]
[Goddess of Light: So rude for a first meeting. No wonder they say Evil Gods are completely unreasonable.]
[Supreme Will of the All-Devouring Hive: Is that so? The seller probably only cares about the money, though.]
Lin Miao couldn't help but chuckle as he engaged in a keyboard war with the goddess.
Actually, this kind of thing wasn't uncommon. Deities who acted high and mighty in front of their servants would drop their facades when gathering among their own kind.
He was simply following suit.
The reason Lin Miao opposed Hestia wasn't just because he disliked her. It was because he had personally witnessed how she excessively exploited her servants, including Marianne, ultimately ruining them.
Though he had only spoken a few words to Hestia, Lin Miao didn't want someone like Ye Yunshang to fall into her hands and meet a similar end.
[Lord of the Anvil: Stop bickering. If you're not buying, get lost. Naturally, the highest bidder wins.]
Watching Lin Miao and the goddess bicker, the seller shut down the keyboard war with a single sentence.
‘Looking at her, she probably wants to use her funds to rebuild her influence on Earth. But it's just buying one person—can she really outbid me?’
Lin Miao was confident he would win. Worst-case scenario, he would just dump all the points he had earned during this period into this bid.
The goddess, who had already lost to the Great Devourer, would have to lose to him once more here.
Rate on N.U.
