Endure eternal torment by ghosts and monsters, or enter the Weird Game?
On one side lay a certain death filled with terror and suffering; on the other, a sliver of hope down an unknown path. The answer was never in doubt.
Even though most of the villagers had no idea what the "Weird Game" or the "Main God" was, they clung to the offer as if it were a lifeline. They dropped to their knees, kowtowing and wailing, begging for the god's mercy.
Qi Si was no true god, and he possessed no mercy.
He asked again, "Are you willing to sign the contract, to become players and enter the Weird Game?"
The villagers bowed their heads once more, their voices a jumbled chorus.
"We are!"
"We are willing!"
"We'll do whatever you ask of us!"
Ethereal vines descended from mid-air, slithering across the ground and into every occupied home, where they gently coiled around each person's wrist.
The moment a vine touched them, the villagers' eyes turned vacant, as though they were lifeless husks whose souls had been devoured.
Qi Si lowered his gaze and suddenly saw innumerable golden leaves shimmering in the void, faintly outlining the silhouette of a colossal golden tree.
Within each leaf were smaller trees and vines, and on every vine grew new, delicate leaves. Countless worlds, countless souls, were nothing more than the branches and leaves of a single tree.
The Weird Game was a tree.
And the world, too, was nothing but a tree.
Qi Si's vision was pulled away uncontrollably. The clouds on either side became edged with a golden brilliance, drawn back like silk curtains.
He was swept away by the wind through the vast, dense mist. The passage of time stretched and warped, briefly losing all meaning.
His back slammed against something solid, and Qi Si snapped back to his senses, finding himself seated once more in the high-backed chair.
[You can remain in the game space for a maximum of 1 hour per session. Additional time can be purchased with points.]
[Would you like to spend 100 points to purchase 1 additional hour?]
Qi Si fell silent as he read the newly displayed text.
Two seconds later, he succumbed to the Weird Game's consumer trap and threw 100 points at extending his stay.
The text vanished, and he turned his head again to look at the vine beside him.
The golden fruit nestled among the leaves seemed to have grown slightly larger. Its once opaque shell had become more transparent, like glass coated with a thin layer of liquid gold.
Through the crystalline shell, he could see swirling mist and separating dust within. It was like the dawn of creation after a cosmic explosion, where expansion and settling occurred simultaneously, slowly forming the shape of a village.
As light and shadow flickered, a few wisps of vine drifted without wind inside the fruit. Tiny golden leaves, identical in form to the soul leaves, sprouted from the branches.
These leaves were undoubtedly the souls of the villagers, all of which had passed through the "world-fruit" and fallen under Qi Si's control.
The villagers had entered the Weird Game through him, so naturally, they belonged to him. He held authority over them akin to that of the game's Main God, even controlling the distribution of points and the rewarding or punishing with items.
His gaze rested on the leaves for a couple of seconds, and a corresponding image automatically appeared before him.
The villagers had already entered the Weird Game, scattered across different instances.
The backgrounds varied: mountains, seas, forests, old mansions, and manors.
This batch of hastily deployed players numbered one hundred and nine. Some looked around with curiosity, others stared blankly, clearly confused about their situation, while a few were panicking, wailing, and looking like they wouldn't last very long.
Only a small fraction had what it took to survive the first instance. However, with a large enough base number, the points generated from a single game would surely be substantial.
Even if they all died, it didn't matter. Getting them into the game was an unexpected boon. Now that he had mastered the method of converting a ghost domain, the world was full of consumables.
"Am I turning this into a farming and management sim?" Qi Si joked, indulging his usual sense of humor.
For him, the most valuable things in the Weird Game were the interesting and thrilling instances.
Nearly a month had passed since he first entered the game.
A carnival of amorality, a grand theater of the absurd, filled with blood, slaughter, and death. Qi Si moved through the instances almost drunk, treating them as a vast stage for his performance.
Countless things that were forbidden in reality, things that had to be hidden away, became naked and direct in this other, more extreme world. There were no public morals or ethical justice, only self-interest, survival of the fittest, and individualism.
A strong sense of belonging drew Qi Si in. The real world began to fade in his eyes, while the scenes within the instances grew ever clearer, their colors as vibrant as an impressionist oil painting. It felt as if... *that* was true reality.
[You have established an anchor point (Qi Family Village) in 'World No. 47' and gained partial authority.]
A line of text popped up before him, read aloud in a cold, electronic voice.
Qi Si asked, "What is World No. 47?"
[That is the name of the world your physical body inhabits, a designation created by the previous Main God. You may change it to another name if you wish.]
The previous Main God... Was that Qi?
What a simple and crude naming convention...
"Change the name to 'Real World'."
Qi Si chose a name that was easier to remember, then asked, "What is an anchor point?"
[An anchor point is a stable connection between you and a specific world. After acquiring enough anchor points, you will be able to control all existence within that world, writing its past and future.]
"So turning a place into a ghost domain and gaining complete control over its people and objects establishes an anchor point?"
Although he had long known that the real world was just one corner of a vast multiverse and that the Weird Game existed on a higher plane, the sudden knowledge that he could gain the authority to "write" the world's reality still unsettled him.
The commonly understood concept of a safe house no longer existed; the final barrier between reality and the supernatural had been torn down.
His sense of reality was further stripped away. The real world now seemed like nothing more than a virtual reality game composed of code. It was no different from any other instance, just one of the thousands of worlds providing material for the Weird Game.
Spying on and interfering with reality was certainly an interesting prospect.
And what difference did it make if reality was real or just a game?
"This is... getting closer and closer to the authority of a god..."
Qi Si knew that the phrase "enough" was likely an impossibly distant goal, a carrot on a stick. It had taken turning the entire Qi Family Village into a ghost domain to establish his first anchor point. To create more, he would probably have to let powerful ghosts consume an entire city, or even the whole world. Such a large-scale supernatural invasion would inevitably attract the attention and resistance of the Weird Investigation Bureau, making future plans all the more difficult.
But in the face of the immense prize of controlling the world, such difficulties seemed trivial.
"It's too early to think about that. First, I need to test the operations of the Qi Family Village ghost domain. Once I have a complete system, I can think about expanding to the next location."
"The Joy God Statue was a rare find. To bring other supernatural entities into the real world, I might need to clear more instances. Or accumulate enough points to buy items that can have a large-scale impact on reality..."
Qi Si reached out to touch Dong Xiwen's soul leaf.
The man was in an instance, surrounded by towering trees whose massive leaves overlapped to block out the sun.
It appeared to be a tropical rainforest, buzzing with insects and dotted with strange plants.
A team was hacking through the undergrowth to clear a path. Dong Xiwen was mixed in with the group, glancing around and muttering, "Are they making us play a survival show? Don't tell me there's a find-your-own-food and eat-bugs part..."
The guy had probably skipped the beginner's pool and was being treated as a full-fledged player.
He was clearing instances at a frantic pace of one per day. Without the motivation of "clear a hundred instances to break the contract," Qi Si couldn't fathom where he got such enthusiasm for the game.
Qi Si guessed that Dong Xiwen was eager to fulfill his wish, which was why he was so keen on grinding instances and saving points.
To help him maintain this passion for a little longer, Qi Si directly siphoned 20,000 of the 30,000 points from his account and deposited them into his own.
Next, Qi Si reached for Liu Yuhan's soul leaf.
The moment his finger touched it, a scene slowly unfolded before his eyes.
Wispy clouds drifted across a vast blue sky. Rows of neat, uniform buildings stretched out before him, styled like typical single-person apartments in the real world.
The image zoomed in, and Qi Si's perspective passed through the building and into a room.
The room was sparsely furnished with a simple design. A girl in light blue pajamas sat at a desk, her fingers flying across the computer keyboard.
Her hair was a mess, and her face looked unwashed and grimy. She probably figured she wouldn't be going out, hence the complete lack of concern for her appearance.
Qi Si moved his perspective closer and saw she was editing an instance walkthrough. He suddenly realized this wasn't an instance, but the real world.
"I can actually see her movements in reality?"
Qi Si narrowed his eyes.
The Soul Contract was based on the Weird Game. After signing a contract in an instance and taking control of a player's soul, he should theoretically only be able to see their actions within the instances. His interference in the real world should be limited to giving remote commands.
And that was how it had been initially. He could only see and control Liu Yuhan through her soul leaf when she was in an instance. Once she left, all he could see was a dim, starry void dotted with specks of light.
So what had changed?
"Is it because I established an anchor point in Qi Family Village, increasing my control over the real world? Or is it because the Poseidon's Scepter has absorbed enough sin, granting me more divine authority?"
Various theories surfaced in Qi Si's mind. With a thought, he called out softly, "Liu Yuhan."
The girl at the desk seemed not to hear, continuing to clatter away on her keyboard.
He raised his voice and called again, "Liu Yuhan!"
The girl remained as still as a mountain.
From this, Qi Si knew he couldn't yet speak directly to players in the real world.
But this was enough. The ability to spy in secret meant he could gather vast amounts of intelligence, which would help him cultivate the illusion of his omniscience and create a powerful deterrent.
And he was confident that as he brought more supernatural entities into the real world, he would one day gain all the permissions he desired.
Qi Si siphoned 20,000 points from Liu Yuhan's account before withdrawing his hand, allowing his vision to return to the temple.
With that, his total points balance broke through one hundred thousand.
He entered the shop, his gaze sweeping over the item displays before finally landing on a rusty paper cutter.
[Name: Self-Harm Paper Cutter]
[Effect: No matter what kind of wound is inflicted, the injured person will not truly die.]
[Note: Its original owner was drowning in immense despair but ultimately lacked the courage for the final release, able only to use self-harm to vent their pain.]
It was a blade that couldn't kill. At first glance, it seemed utterly useless, but it wasn't.
The fact that it would never allow the injured to die was practically a causality-level weapon. It definitely had potential waiting to be discovered.
Qi Si's gaze shifted down to the price tag.
[Price: 150,000 points]
Very well. Still couldn't afford it.
The renewal prompt popped up before him once again:
[Your remaining time has been exhausted. Additional time can be purchased with points.]
[Would you like to spend 100 points to purchase 1 additional hour?]
"No," Qi Si said. "I'm entering an instance."
The silvery-white text dissolved into a pile of strokes, reassembling into a new sentence within two seconds:
[Please enter an instance within 3 minutes, or you will be charged automatically.]
Qi Si was speechless.
He put on the Human Skin Mask, shouldered his hiking bag, and stepped into the full-length mirror beside him.
[Randomly generating instance...]
[Instance loading... Load complete...]