Everyone was craning their necks, looking up at the projection.
A newcomer complained, “Although I do not know who this ‘strongest’ person you keep talking about is, why does she get to watch these things in her room while we have to stand here and watch?”
A veteran curled his lip. “Tch. Her name is Rong Ping’an. I recommend you provoke her to her face; she is extremely vengeful. Look, that is her on the screen right now. She looks quite sharp-tongued and mean-spirited.”
Upon hearing this, Xing Yun focused her attention. She wanted to see what this “strongest” person was all about.
What came into view was a rather cold, sharp side profile. A slightly humped, elegant nose bridge made her side profile look superior.
She must not have rested well in the instance, as she had dark circles under her eyes, making her look a bit listless. The camera slowly shifted to a full-frontal view. Xing Yun felt inexplicably nervous, but before she could see clearly, the projection was abruptly cut off.
So, did she actually have a sharp-tongued, mean-spirited face or not?
“Because there are too many players and the instances are weird and varied, even playing just one clip from each instance would take a long time. So, why do I not just distribute rewards to those who made an impression on me?” The voice was light and airy, yet carried a thunderous pressure that made Xing Yun’s heart tighten suddenly, and the faces of those around her turned pale instantly.
It was God who had interrupted everything.
“Successfully clearing the level in a mountain of corpses and a sea of fire, and discerning the secret of the instance, you did very well. I award you one thousand performance points. I hope you will come to see me soon.” With one light sentence, God summarized everything Rong Ping’an had done in the instance.
Xing Yun’s imagined grand, soul-stirring scenes were cut short, and she felt a bit annoyed.
“Ah. There are also people whose performance made me extremely dissatisfied.”
The projection turned on again. It was an ancient-style instance. A high-ranking official had seven eyes on his face, each blinking at a different frequency, looking extremely eerie. It mocked the player, “Why not use your own urine as a mirror?”
This was blatant mockery, telling the player to use their urine to look at themselves.
The mocked player’s face turned from red to blue, then black. She held an object in her hand, clearly the item she needed to hand over to the NPC. She had worked hard for a long time for this prop, but after the NPC said that, she did not want to risk her life in front of it anymore. She directly handed the object to her teammate beside her. “I am done. You go do it.”
The projection ended there. God’s voice echoed in the great hall: “Cowardice, selfishness, avoidance. Players who do not strive to survive are not good players.”
God’s voice remained light and airy.
The system received God’s signal. Green eyes reappeared in the air, and the player from the previous scene, along with her teammates, were all executed right there in the hall.
For a moment, everyone was silent as cicadas in winter.
Some newcomers shrank directly into the corners, sweat beads the size of beans streaming down uncontrollably.
Liu Cui narrowed her eyes. God disliked passive combat and obvious evil deeds the most. Someone like her, who wholeheartedly looked out for other players, was exactly what God liked most.
However, God had not mentioned her name, which left her a bit disappointed.
Next, God continued to dispose of many people, including but not limited to those who were emotionally unstable and trying to commit suicide, and those who hid and did nothing throughout the entire instance.
The lightning and thunder outside the game lobby eased slightly, and the howling wind grew softer, but the atmosphere inside the hall became increasingly stagnant.
The next scene was the dilapidated hotel. The clip selected for this instance was of Xing Yun. She was sprinting through the rain, and every splash of water was blood-red.
Not long after, Xing Yun hid in the cafeteria. People watched as Xing Yun punched the NPC in the face. After the punch, she wiped the blood off on the NPC’s clothes as if nothing had happened and started ordering food.
“One serving of the cow’s rock fragments, please.”
Seeing this, people’s mouths twitched instinctively.
But the Xing Yun on screen was calm. She showed no panic or fear, even though she was the only person left in the instance.
She even had the leisure to look in the mirror to fix her appearance.
The scene changed to her chasing and hacking at the Boss with a fan. The scene was enough to make one gag.
Some newcomers were stunned, looking at Xing Yun with awe and fear. “So violent…”
Quite a few veterans could not help but frown deeply.
There were almost no players who would punch an NPC. Someone had attacked an NPC before, lost a key prop, and ended up in a dead end. Therefore, everyone was very respectful toward NPCs. No one was as fierce as Xing Yun.
After all, is the goal not to uncover the secret of the instance and leave alive? Why would you target the NPC?
Xing Yun had no sense of being the center of attention; her expression remained very calm, causing those around her to cast frequent glances.
What they did not know was that Xing Yun had no idea there was an unwritten rule against punching NPCs. She was just a newcomer.
Yu Xi felt very complicated watching the projection. He had thought Xing Yun was a goner, but he did not expect her to have thrived while left there alone. She did not drink rainwater when thirsty, and did not dig for grass roots or tree bark when hungry; she actually disguised herself as an NPC to ask for cow corpse chunks and lactic acid bacteria corpse groups.
Yu Xi had no idea how Xing Yun came up with such ideas. A normal person would not have any appetite after seeing a blood-stained cafeteria, let alone trying to order from the menu. Not vomiting would be considered good.
He, for one, could not eat in such an environment.
Xu Lang said from the side, “Why are you rubbing your stomach? Are you hungry from watching?”
He was glared at by Yu Xi immediately. Yu Xi said, “Who can eat after watching such a scene?”
Xu Lang’s stomach let out a rumble.
Yu Xi: “…”
His teammate was also abnormal.
Yi Ban’s internal alarm bells rang. Only two words remained in her mind: Formidable rival.
“Tch.”
A formidable rival who stood in her way of seeing God.
She stared sharply at Xing Yun, but Xing Yun responded with a smile.
Provocation!
Yi Ban clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.
Blatant provocation!
Xing Yun, however, was completely unaware of what Yi Ban was thinking. As a well-known cosplayer with a large fan base, her body would automatically smile at people when she felt a gaze.
In other words, she was completely distracted and did not even notice what Yi Ban was doing.
Her head was entirely filled with calculating how much of a reward God would give her, and whether she could redeem it for something interesting.
But what she did not expect was that after the projection ended, God, who should have been emotionless, began to gnash His teeth. “I believe she caused enormous physical and mental damage to the NPC. Her behavior is shameful and extremely annoying.”
Once God’s words were spoken, the hall became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Xing Yun looked blank… God had not even said such a long sentence when executing others earlier.
And it was clearly the NPC who had caused greater physical and mental damage to the player!
“You, come see me.” God returned to His cold, detached tone, but this sentence caused an uproar among the players.
So, God really did have people come to see Him; this was not just a rumor.
Yi Ban’s expression was especially bad. Although God seemed to be in a bad mood, perhaps calling Xing Yun over meant He intended to give her another chance or reward her.
Seeing that Xing Yun was still in a daze, Yi Ban felt her teeth itch with hatred and was almost crazed with envy. After all, if God really hated her, He could just kill her; there was no need to be so roundabout.
Xing Yun’s thoughts were exactly the opposite of Yi Ban’s… She really did not hear any hint of kindness in God’s tone. It was entirely possible that He was calling her over to torture her.
Reflecting on this, Xing Yun suddenly clutched her chest and began to cough. Her health was not great to begin with, so a sudden illness seemed reasonable.
She coughed as if her lungs were being torn apart, her throat becoming hoarse.
Xing Yun clutched her head again. “I feel so dizzy. I feel so unwell.”
Yu Yan hurriedly said, “I redeemed some soothing tea from the system earlier. Why do you not come to my room later?”
“Really?” Xing Yun immediately grabbed the lifeline.
“My door is always open for you.”
“That is so embarrassing. I think I should also rest and recover before seeing God, otherwise it would be too presumptuous, do you not think, System?”
【Hmm…】
The Nine-Tailed Fox hesitated but nodded: 【But that is absolutely not allowed.】
The Nine-Tailed Fox was a towering creature, and once it became serious, it was a terrifying giant. Xing Yun thought that if the Nine-Tailed Fox kept its mouth shut, it was a cute plush toy, but once it opened its mouth, you could see its fangs and the saliva between its teeth, which looked extremely indescribable.
Xing Yun curled her lip and stopped pretending to be sick.
Yu Yan looked pitifully at her. “Then will you still come to my room?”
Xing Yun: “…”
God’s mood was unpredictable. Although the tone remained level, Xing Yun just knew that God was in a decent mood, because after that, God did not punish anyone else, and the distribution of performance points became quite generous.
For instance, someone who was pleasant to look at, or someone whose performance made Him laugh, would receive His generosity.
Xing Yun suddenly felt that God’s judging criteria were simply a mystery.
Or perhaps, after dealing with her, God just felt physically and mentally refreshed.
Xing Yun rolled her eyes and chose to browse the system store. As soon as she summoned it, what caught her eye, besides the trauma pills and various ointments Yu Yan had mentioned, was the option to purchase the Spring Festival Gala program.
Xing Yun gasped, struggling to keep from laughing.
She suddenly remembered that she had not watched the Spring Festival Gala in a long time. Come to think of it, who still watches the Spring Festival Gala nowadays?
Xing Yun felt that God must have lived an ordinary life with people at some point; otherwise, the items in the system store would not be so mundane, including various cold and fever medications.
However, there were no new products from the past few years. If God lived with humans, that must have been a very long time ago.
Xing Yun lay on her back, staring at the ceiling, unable to stop herself from criticizing God in her heart—probably a very rigid and boring old lady.
Unlike others, she did not view God as a god; at best, she was just a person with slightly greater power.
God had joys, angers, sorrows, and delights; God had lived the same life as a human. If a god like this could not achieve the fairness of a calm heart, nor distance Himself from the hustle and bustle of the world, what kind of true god was He?
As a cosplayer with a rich real-life experience, Xing Yun was most afraid of encountering rigid people. Walking down the street, you could easily be pointed at and judged, so she had no fondness for God.
Everything here was nothing but a reflection of flowers in the water, a fleeting dream. Sooner or later, she would have to go home.
System: 【Because many newcomers have joined, considering everyone is new, there will be a long interval before the next game. You may return to your rooms and enjoy your dreams to the fullest.】
Xing Yun felt the phrase “enjoy your dreams” sounded a bit ominous. After all, who could truly sleep heartlessly?
After experiencing so much in the instance, if you were lucky enough to fall asleep, you would be burning incense if you did not have nightmares.
After the settlement concluded, Xing Yun was summoned away by God. The beam of light she had not experienced before now enveloped her alone. The radiance was warm, making her want to sigh in comfort.
Another pure white room. She had arrived in this type of room for the third time and was already used to it.
Although God said He wanted to see her, He did not appear. Greeting her was only a hazy black shadow, with facial features that were impossible to make out.
Xing Yun poked her tongue out. If God’s fanatic followers discovered that their God was actually just a cloud of mist, would they still have such faith?
The pure white space was very quiet, so quiet that after staying there for a while, Xing Yun could hear the sounds of her own heartbeat and blood flow, which made her feel very uncomfortable.
She did not know how many times her heart had thumped; she felt she could not endure this suffocation any longer. Her face turned even paler.
God did not speak, as if He was deliberately creating a silent atmosphere.
God knew that humans would feel panicked in an absolutely quiet place, yet He remained motionless, as if punishing her.
The sound of her swallowing became greatly amplified. Xing Yun could not help but cover her ears, but the sound of her heartbeat only became more pronounced with the movement.
She did not want to speak first, either. She did not want God to see her as someone without willpower.
She stood her ground against God, even sitting on the ground with a composed look.
During this time, she looked around and then at the ground beneath her. There was a gray shadow that moved as she moved; it was her shadow.
Suddenly, she looked at God again and was shocked to discover that this God in front of her had no shadow.