Chapter 72: You Shall Dominate the Eerie

The intricate corridors of the temple wound like a maze, with countless intersections merging and diverging. People of varying heights ran through them, their expressions shifting between shock and curiosity upon unexpected encounters.

“Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

“Who are you?”

The figures questioned each other with different voices—some youthful, some mature—but their tones were identical.

“I am Qi Si.”

“I am Qi Si.”

“I am Qi Si.”

They answered with the same conviction before dissolving into tiny black bubbles, merging into the walls covered in gray shadows.

At the beginning of the corridor, Qi Si saw himself at twelve years old.

In a group climbing a snowy mountain, a couple led a quiet boy. The couple’s faces were filled with smiles, but the boy looked at a nearby cable car with emotionless, dark eyes, as gloomy as a ghost trapped in an old mansion.

Black shadows twisted around the cable, and the twelve-year-old Qi Si watched intently. After the cable car fell and the crowd screamed, he smiled cruelly yet innocently, as if seeing a birthday surprise.

The scene from his memory was repainted, becoming vivid, but this time Qi Si saw something he hadn’t noticed before.

Golden vines stretched towards him from the shadows, trying to touch him but seemed to be blocked by an invisible force. They reluctantly bypassed him, entangling his parents who were protecting him.

The twelve-year-old Qi Si ran, growing older with each step—thirteen, fourteen, fifteen…

Substantial black shadows accompanied him, maliciously extending their tendrils. Golden vines flickered within the shadows, trying to touch him but always ending up entangling the people around him.

Familiar yet unfamiliar figures were dragged into the darkness by the vines. Qi Si vaguely remembered that those people had died unexpectedly.

In the corridors, Qi Si grew to sixteen, and the Qi Si sitting in the temple narrowed his eyes.

He saw a car accident, with scattered body parts in a pool of blood. The sixteen-year-old him covered his face with his hands, his shoulders trembling.

He knew he was laughing, feeling a physiological excitement at the sight of blood, just like every other bloody scene. The thrill was even greater this time because the victims were close to him, making him feel more insane than ever.

But he didn’t dare laugh out loud; it would make him an outcast and cause trouble. So he pretended to be sad, pretended to cry.

He acted so convincingly that the police came to comfort him. Some unlucky ones were entangled by the golden vines and became part of the crowd sinking into the gray mist.

Qi Si slowed his pace, the golden vines around him growing denser, their tendrils and leaves almost touching him.

The gray mist dispersed and reformed, creating a low building hidden deep in the mountains. Barbed wire fences enclosed a flat area where white-robed figures with guns patrolled.

Qi Si recognized it as the cult base disguised as a summer camp where he had been held captive.

He saw countless ghostly shadows surrounding him, gathering in the iron room where he was. Unfortunately, at that time, he could no longer see Ghosts frequently, so he was unaware of what was happening around him.

A voice chuckled in his ear: “Qi Si, I’ve come to see you and bring a belated birthday wish, seven months late.”

“But before that, there’s something more interesting to note. Look, listen—the believers seeking a deity have imprisoned their god. What a ridiculous joke.”

The sixteen-year-old Qi Si replied coldly: “It’s clear you lack a sense of humor; I don’t find this joke funny. And are you saying you, a god, are imprisoned here?”

The voice was unclear, but the last four words were distinct: “Faith is poisonous.”

Qi Si fell silent. He had no good feelings towards gods.

The girl who shared his room became restless, often causing trouble for him.

After one evening prayer, the girl was hit with a gun butt for mispronouncing a word. Back in the room, she blamed Qi Si for not reminding her and pushed him to the ground. Then she was entangled by the vines.

No one could see the vines, but that night, the girl screamed as she was burned to a crisp.

At that time, Qi Si didn’t know about the Eerie Game and couldn’t understand why his roommate had died in an instance.

The ashes symbolizing death and disaster captivated his thoughts. Rather than feeling afraid, he found it interesting and exciting. He eagerly touched the charred skin of the corpse.

Black soot stained his pale fingertips, and words appeared before his eyes:

【Eerie Name: Eternal Flame】

【Note: The Ghosts of those who died in the fire are trapped within the flames, continuing to exist as the flames persist. To avoid complete annihilation, it endlessly ignites fires, burning more and more passersby. Thousands of new Ghosts join it, maintaining the eternal flame.】

A god without wings materialized behind Qi Si, telling him: “You can ignite this fire in reality, bringing pain, death, and disaster to the world.”

Qi Si blinked and asked: “I still live in this world; what good does it do me to make it a mess?”

The god laughed: “Once the monster hidden among humans reveals its true form, rejection and hatred will follow. You will either be nailed to the stake by ants or become a new god in a grand bonfire—you can only choose one outcome.”

“That’s true,” Qi Si said, playing with the charred corpse’s hand. “You’re tempting me when you’re in trouble, making me think of stories where demons lure people to fall.”

The god put his index finger to his lips and lowered his gaze: “I have no intention of tricking you into doing anything. You have plenty of time to decide. I said I came here to give you a blessing, or rather—a gift.”

“What gift?”

“A spectacular performance, or perhaps—a grand disaster.”

Qi Si tilted his head, thinking for a moment before dropping the charred remains and smiling: “Interesting, but I don’t want to burn myself to death here.”

The god said: “You are the greatest Eerie; you will never perish within the Eerie. In your moment of near-death, you will enter the Eerie Game and gain everything you desire.”

“Eerie Game? What is this?”

“It is a deadly game filled with Ghosts and puzzles, a grand carnival, an absurd farce. There is no morality or law here; you can do anything you want, including becoming the most terrifying demon, bringing despair, destruction, and wails.”

Qi Si asked: “What do I need to do?”

“You need to…”

The voice abruptly stopped, as if torn apart by an extreme force.

The gray mist forming the scene dispersed into fragments, and Qi Si’s vision shook violently. When it stabilized, he was back in the temple, his global view lost.

His vision flickered between black and white, then merged into snowflake-like chaotic spots.

The memories forcibly inserted into his mind merged with his own, like scattered puzzle pieces finally fitting together to form a complete picture.

After a moment of silence, Qi Si slowly organized his thoughts and said with a hint of a smile: “So, I can understand that you’ve been watching me for a long time, and my bad luck growing up is partly your doing?”

The god sighed: “It seems you misunderstand me greatly. You bear the purest sin in the world and are rejected by it. The fact that you’ve lived peacefully until now is almost a miracle. You should even thank me. Do you really think what you did at twelve and sixteen was flawless?”

“You wouldn’t be saying you helped me cover up my crimes, would you?” Qi Si said sarcastically. “I thought the Juvenile Protection Law would have kept me from losing too much even if I went to jail. Later, when no one came for me, I thought it was because of my young age and the severity of the cases…”

He tilted his head: “But I’m curious, what’s your purpose in helping me? To relieve boredom?”

“You will know when the time is right,” the god said solemnly. “For now, you can understand it as—’I am playing a big game.'”

This was a joke.

“Fine, fine,” Qi Si laughed dryly. “It seems I’m at a disadvantage in this deal. You’ve invested over twenty years; I could easily raise my price.”

The god also laughed: “A deal is based on both parties having the ability to pay the price. Right now, you have no room to bargain. I could even break the agreement, and you would have no recourse.”

Qi Si scoffed: “If I’m not mistaken, you’re bound by the rules. In a deal witnessed by the rules, you also have no chance to back out, do you?”

“Your probing is interesting, and your guess is correct—telling you this information now is no problem,” the god said cheerfully. “After all, as humans say, we are in the same boat.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was exiled to Su Clan Village by the rules and broke free using your sin. You might soon go from being rejected by one world to being rejected by the rules.”

Qi Si’s expression darkened: “I’ve been wondering, what did you do to be killed and left in Su Clan Village?”

The god laughed even more happily: “You can guess, but even if you guess right, there’s no reward.”

“I won’t guess,” Qi Si sneered. “If I remember correctly, the rules are the supreme existence in the Eerie Game, and even you can’t defy them. You pretended to be half-dead in Su Clan Village, leading me to strike a deal with you, but you’re the one who benefits…”

“You don’t need to be so angry. I’ve watched you for twenty-two years; you can trust that our interests are always aligned,” the god said with a smile. “The rules are like the sun, moon, and stars; they won’t pay attention to ants. The pleasure and benefits you gain from the deal will far outweigh the risks brought by the rules—this is your usual way of thinking, isn’t it?”

This made sense and was the logic Qi Si was familiar with.

Qi Si understood that he wouldn’t get more benefits by bargaining further.

He dropped his pretense of discontent and calmly said: “It’s clear you understand me well. Let’s be direct—what do you need me to do, and what can you offer me?”

The god became serious: “I can only tell you that a Gods Gamble involving the past, present, and future has begun. I’ve placed a significant bet and hope you keep winning until you claim the final crown in the Ruins of the Sunset…”

The crimson eyes above dissolved into a red mist, then condensed into a stream of light flying towards Qi Si’s back.

Qi Si turned slightly, looking in the direction the red light pointed. He saw cracks forming at the base of the temple wall, with golden light flowing within, resembling countless growing golden vines from afar.

Qi Si remembered the vines from the previous vision trying to touch him, his gaze focused: “What is this?”

“The Eerie Game is a tree,” the god said. “The tree’s vines grow wildly, plucking Soul Leaves to hang on its branches, becoming players. When sin congeals into nectar and lies become nourishment, the crown of the end will bloom on the altar of piled bones.”

Qi Si rose from the high-backed chair, stepping on the light dust towards the golden wall. He saw his reflection in the tree—a twelve-year-old boy with black shadows entwined around his fingertips, a sixteen-year-old with a crowd of ravens in his eyes, and now a red-robed deity wearing a sacrificial robe woven from blood and fire, with the shadow of a thorny crown on his forehead.

“There is also a tree in this temple; you can hang the Soul Leaves you obtain on it until it is lush and full,” the god said. The vines entwined with the golden branches extended freely from the cracks, forming angelic wings that supported him.

The crimson pupils exploded one after another, and a blood rain nourished the golden tree, growing wildly. Qi Si heard the past twenty-two years echoing in the tree’s heart, every malice turning into tree rings, every death into fruit.

The god continued: “Those lives you broke with your own hands are your offerings at the gods’ feast; those souls that fell because of you will cast the divine seat in the abyss.”

“And then?” Qi Si asked.

“And then—”

The golden red light shattered into a bloody mist, dissolving in the dark dust. The god’s voice drifted away like a dream:

“You shall dominate the Eerie.”