In the Sunset Ruins, two new lines of text refreshed on the public announcement stele:
[Instance "Hopeless Sea" True End - "The False God Theory" has been recorded]
[MVP Player: ** (This player has not set a display name)]
The players gathered nearby erupted in a flurry of discussion.
"Is Chang Xu still alive? The MVP isn't him. I remember his display name is his real name..."
"They haven't even had time to set a nickname, so it must be their first time getting an MVP record. This instance was so bizarre—all the strong players died. I wonder which lucky nobody slipped through and snagged the prize."
"Is it possible they just don't want to set a nickname? Like, a few members of the Sila Guild are just asterisks..."
"Now that you mention it... you might have a point."
"We'll just have to wait for the replay. I'm dying to know who the MVP is."
...
["Hopeless Sea" evaluation: S-rank. Reward: 5,000 points.]
["Hopeless Sea" True End cleared. Reward: 5,000 points.]
[Worldview decoding: 100%. Reward: 5,000 points.]
[Medium-difficulty side quest completed. Reward: 5,000 points.]
In the sanctum of his personal game space, Qi Si sat in a high-backed chair, unsurprised as he read the system notification confirming the side quest's completion.
Midway through the instance, he had realized that investigating the specific identities of the other players was pointless.
All he needed to do was use the time loop to ensure everyone else died. It didn't matter what faction they belonged to; in the face of death, all beings are equal.
Their identities served only one purpose: to prevent him from acting against certain people in the early stages.
But after obtaining Poseidon's Scepter, even that restriction vanished.
The rules no longer constrained him. The wielder of the scepter was the creator of the island's rules, naturally granting him the privilege to defy them.
[Achievement Unlocked: "Demigod Executioner" (Directly caused the death of one demigod-level NPC). Reward: 1,000 points.]
As the new system notification appeared, Qi Si's eyelids flickered at the word "demigod." "Yuna was considered a demigod? Doesn't seem like a very high bar..."
"But what exactly is the Weird Game's definition of a demigod? Someone who is worshipped, or a servant of a god?"
No one answered him. The text on the system interface continued to refresh:
[Achievement Unlocked: "Folk Song Collector" (Collected three strange songs). Reward: 1,000 points.]
[Total reward: 22,000 points. Deposited into your points account.]
His account balance jumped to [44,500], effectively doubling. It was a promising sign.
Since becoming a full-fledged player, the point rewards from each instance had increased significantly. At this rate, he would only need to clear another forty-eight instances to reach a million points.
Of course, that was assuming he didn't spend any points on items.
Many items in the shop cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of points, representing the single greatest drain on any player's funds.
Most players were dragged into the Weird Game against their will, their sole objective being survival. The ten million points required to leave the game was a distant dream. All they could do was exchange points for items, hoping to increase their chances of staying alive.
[Congratulations on perfectly clearing the "Hopeless Sea" instance. You have received a reward item: Poseidon's Scepter.]
Hearing the alert and reading the system's phrasing, Qi Si raised an objection. "I obtained this through my own efforts. Shouldn't it have been directly added to my inventory like the tape recorder, with a separate reward for the perfect clear?"
His objection was ignored. The milky-white scepter, veiled in a soft glow, floated silently in the darkness, all but screaming "take it or leave it" in his face.
Qi Si knew when to quit. He reached out and took the scepter in his hand.
[Name: Poseidon's Scepter]
[Type: Item]
[Effect: Makes you appear more like a god (The more sin you absorb, the stronger the effect *seems* to be).]
Qi Si fell silent as he read the item's effect.
As expected, the Weird Game wouldn't allow an overly powerful item to enter the market. The effects it had in the instance—controlling the seas, setting the rules—were nothing more than false advertising.
This current effect, with its vague phrasing of "like a god" and "seems to be," reeked of a charlatan's pitch.
"Well, at least it's got a sharp end," Qi Si quipped, eyeing the scepter's pointed tip. He wasn't truly disappointed, however.
He had once thought the [Evil God's Finger Bone] was useless, yet it had helped him score a victory against the legendary Puppet Master. This was another item related to a god; no matter how useless it appeared, it couldn't be completely without purpose.
If used correctly, it might one day become the key to breaking a stalemate, allowing him to seize an even greater advantage.
His thoughts drifted to a darker place. "Tsk," Qi Si clicked his tongue. "This feeling of being so thoroughly manipulated is really infuriating."
Ever since entering the Weird Game, he'd had the nagging intuition that he was a puppet on a stage, his strings pulled by someone behind the curtain. After becoming a full-fledged player, that sensation had only grown stronger.
Was it really a coincidence that Liu Ajiu had broken into his studio?
Was it just a twist of fate that he repeatedly encountered members of the Sila Guild?
And the visions of Qi he frequently saw—were they truly just an effect of his identity card?
There was more than one god in the Weird Game. He couldn't rule out the existence of a being with higher authority, one capable of manipulating the content of the instances themselves.
Even if Qi wasn't directly responsible for many of these events, they were likely related to him.
After all, Qi Si didn't know any other gods. Any move they made against him was undoubtedly a bet placed on Qi, his divine counterpart.
However, while these divine beings exerted their influence on him, Qi Si was probing and observing them in return.
The description for [Poseidon's Scepter] was telling:
[After the Sea God was devoured, its authority was reclaimed by the rules and scattered across the world. Since then, false gods have run rampant, and monsters have plagued the human realm.]
Qi Si had already sensed it:
The gods in the Weird Game were not as invincible as one might imagine. Their authority could be stripped, their power seized, and their divine bodies could perish...
A demigod could be devoured by a swarm of monsters, and a true god was nothing more than another piece of meat on the tables of foolish villagers. If one found the right moment and leveraged the right "power"—
Even a god could be killed.
[Your skill "Soul Contract" has been refined through the instance, and its success rate has changed.]
[Success Rate: 23% (The results of two ten-sided dice rolls are used for the tens and units digits, respectively. A total greater than 77 is considered a success.)]
A new notification appeared, but Qi Si showed little excitement.
He had always been greedy. A mere 3% increase wasn't enough to satisfy his perfectionism. He wouldn't be content until the success rate was maxed out, transforming the skill into something akin to "to speak is to command."
Of course, such fantasies would have to wait.
In the "Hopeless Sea" instance, Qi Si had used Chang Xu, Angela, Yuna, and Liu Yuhan as test subjects, clarifying the current applications of his Soul Contract skill:
First, if the target is forced to agree to certain terms, or if they reach a consensus based on mutual benefit, the skill's activation is automatically considered a success.
His contracts with Angela and Chang Xu fell into this category. Second, if the target cannot guarantee they can fully uphold the terms of the contract, the outcome is determined by a dice roll. If successful, fulfillment is mandatory.
His deal with Yuna, which required her to temporarily lend him command over the ghosts, was subject to this rule.
The rules didn't forbid Yuna from lending out her authority over the ghosts, but the practical execution was difficult.
Only after rolling an 84, a success, did the world's rules assist him in temporarily gaining the corresponding authority.
Third, he could take control of one new player's soul per instance, which constituted the true [Soul Contract].
The terms for pledging one's soul had to be written on paper. That piece of paper could then travel between reality and the game world, indestructible by any force.
He recalled watching Liu Yuhan copy the contract's terms into his notebook and sign her name. Only then did the system prompt [Soul Contract signed] appear.
Given the need for signed contracts, paper and pens were essential.
Qi Si went directly to the second tab of the system shop.
Over the next ten minutes, items materialized on the desk before him: first a ream of manuscript paper, then a bag of pens, followed by a change of clothes—a white shirt and black trousers—two handkerchiefs, a towel, a cup and toothbrush, a hiking backpack...
Compared to the specialty items, these supplies were much cheaper. After his shopping spree, he was left with [44,013] points.
The extra [13] points were an eyesore, so Qi Si bought a jar of candy, leaving him with [3].
He casually clicked into a random player's livestream and tossed in the remaining change.
The player was standing in an ancient tomb, hesitating at a fork with two paths. Finally, he tentatively chose one and started walking.
After hearing the notification for the tip, he turned to his companion with a smile. "Someone just tipped me. Looks like I chose the right path!"
The next second, a colossal serpent made of countless intertwined skeletons shot out from the darkness and bit him in half at the waist.
Listening to the agonizing screams, Qi Si methodically packed the assorted items into his backpack.
He zipped up the bag and looked up just in time to see the player's upper body still twitching, trying to crawl forward.
As a pool of blood spread across the floor, he tried to get a clearer look, but the livestream screen went black. Two lines of white text drifted across it:
[We thank this player for providing us with laughter and amusement during his brief life. He has now permanently signed off. Why not check out another streamer's channel? ~]
It was a standard-issue dark joke, but one that resonated deeply with Qi Si.
He curled his lips, a sign that he was amused, and closed the livestream interface.
The "Hopeless Sea" instance had provided enough entertainment to savor for a while. He didn't want to raise his emotional threshold too quickly and burn out his sense of anticipation for the future.
With half an hour remaining in his personal game space, Qi Si's gaze fell upon a golden, leaf-shaped icon in his inventory.
The icon had appeared after Liu Yuhan signed the contract, symbolizing the girl's soul.
Qi Si's eyes lingered on the icon for two seconds, and another system interface—Liu Yuhan's—materialized before him.
["Hopeless Sea" evaluation: A-rank. Reward: 3,000 points.]
["Hopeless Sea" True End cleared. Reward: 5,000 points.]
[Worldview decoding: 100%. Reward: 5,000 points.]
[Total reward: 13,000 points.]
After signing the Soul Contract, Qi Si's authority over Liu Yuhan was second only to the game's fundamental rules, rivaling even that of the system itself.
This meant that for every instance Liu Yuhan cleared, her points would first pass through his hands, and he would decide how much to allocate to her.
Qi Si transferred three thousand points to his own account and returned the rest to her.
He was well-versed in the art of sustainable exploitation. He had no intention of bleeding Liu Yuhan dry so early, leaving her without enough points to buy items and die in a future instance.
He was confident that with the promise of freedom and the positive reinforcement of receiving points, the girl would diligently clear more instances, delivering even more points to him.
As his thoughts wandered, Qi Si suddenly had an intuition, a desire to take Liu Yuhan's soul leaf out of his inventory and examine it.
The thought became action in an instant. He watched as the leaf floated out, drifting toward the dense fog to the right of his high-backed chair before vanishing into the murky haze.
As if a switch had been flipped, cracks slowly spiderwebbed across the wall at the base of the sanctum, and golden light began to flow through them.
A golden vine grew at a visible rate on his right, its gnarled branches gradually spreading behind the high-backed chair.
The bare vine glowed with a faint golden light, bearing only two leaves at its tip. One was solid—clearly the one representing Liu Yuhan. The other was merely a faint, flickering silhouette, as if it might disappear at any moment.
"What's this? Plant a leaf, get a leaf? A buy-one-get-one-free deal?" Qi Si joked, though he knew this must be the "soul leaf" that Qi had mentioned before.
He reached out to touch the ethereal golden leaf. The moment his fingertip made contact, a stream of knowledge bypassed comprehension and shot directly into his mind. It was like numbers, or perhaps text, but the characters were strange, carved symbols he had never seen before, impossible to read individually...
Qi Si found that he instinctively knew what to do, or rather, this information was telling him what to do.
He reached for Poseidon's Scepter beside him. In an instant, the deluge of carved symbols was transcribed into a vision that unfolded before his eyes.
A sky heavy with gloom blanketed a scorched earth scattered with ash. The cracked ground was etched with patterns like desiccated tree roots. Wisps of black smoke coiled and clustered as skeletal figures, still draped in rotting flesh, prostrated themselves before a towering black altar.
The surface of the altar was inscribed with symbols Qi Si couldn't understand, drawn in a dark red that looked like congealed blood or the putrid discharge from a corpse.
At the altar's four corners lay a brain, a heart, a pair of lungs, and a large intestine. From experience, Qi Si judged that all four had come from a human.
White candles formed a ring, burning brightly at the altar's midpoint. Melted wax dripped to the ground, flowing into a perfect circular outline.
In the center of the circle, a figure in white stood out, pure and sacred, a stark contrast to the filth and corruption surrounding it.
It was a long-haired woman in a white trench coat, kneeling on the ground, her expression solemn as she chanted in a low voice:
"Lord of Gods, exiled from the world's rules."
"Soul Master, who wields the authority of contracts and transactions."
"Great existence, older than history itself."
"I pray for Your gaze, pray that You answer the supplication of Your faithful servant."
The vision seemed to be on a loop, the four lines repeating over and over, endlessly.
Yet Qi Si's mind was unusually calm, as if this scene had been foretold, as if he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
A voice from the depths of his consciousness urged him to respond. He paused in thought, then lowered his gaze with a faint smile and declared:
"I am here."