Chapter 442: The Gods (XIV) Chu Yining

A record exists in the archives of the Weirdness Investigation Bureau:

At 6 PM on the evening of May 10, 2014, climbers reported to the Shangri-La Public Security Bureau that they had discovered a suspicious-looking man and woman on the mountaintop. They had never seen them during the ascent, yet the pair appeared seemingly out of nowhere on the highest peak of the snowy mountain, carrying no climbing equipment and dressed in clothes suitable for late spring/early summer.

The guide mentioned that the man and woman were very likely connected to the local Snow Monster Tale. Since most of the Shangri-La Public Security Bureau detectives were locals, they took the guide’s report very seriously and immediately forwarded it to the upper-level Weirdness Investigation Bureau.

When the Weirdness Investigation Bureau helicopter arrived at the summit, they only found the woman, who was in shock due to hypothermia. Her face was barely recognizable, but she was identified as Chu Yining, who had been confirmed dead during the Twilight of the Gods event in the Ruins of Sunset. While unconscious, the woman repeatedly mentioned names like “Qisi,” “Fu Jue,” and “Xiao Fengchao.”

Of these, “Fu Jue” had already inherited Lin Jue’s resources and entered the high levels of the Weirdness Investigation Bureau; “Xiao Fengchao” was an peripheral member of the Former Ark Guild and was currently organizing the establishment of the Listening Wind Guild; the identity of “Qisi” was temporarily unverified, and Fu Jue advocated for placing him under strict surveillance in the database for future observation.

After Chu Yining woke up, she repeatedly requested to speak with Fu Jue. In the surveillance footage, she rapidly spoke a large amount of information, but unfortunately, none of her words could be identified or understood. Analysis showed that the Weirdness Game’s information shielding mechanism was active. The information she provided was likely related to the core of the Weirdness Game, and if deciphered, all problems would be solved easily. However, the existing technology of the Weirdness Investigation Bureau was destined to be unable to extract any useful information.

Subsequently, a psychologist assessed that Chu Yining’s level of alienation had rapidly increased to over 30%, placing her in the “dangerous” category. In August of the same year, Fu Jue authorized Chu Yining to be sent to the fifth underground floor of the Beidu Weirdness Investigation Bureau for containment.

On July 11, 2025, Xiao Fengchao, the President of the Listening Wind Guild, unexpectedly disappeared after entering a dungeon. On May 10 of the following year, climbers reported seeing a deranged man on the mountaintop who demanded they contact an organization called the “Weirdness Investigation Bureau.”

After the Weirdness Investigation Bureau received the news, Fu Jue personally led investigators to the Shangri-La snow mountain and recognized the man as Xiao Fengchao, who had been missing for nearly a year. Xiao Fengchao exhibited the same symptoms as Chu Yining, desperately trying to convey information to Fu Jue, but all his language was unintelligible.

Three days later, he regained his composure and requested to enter the Ruins of Sunset with Fu Jue. That day, all players in the Ruins of Sunset witnessed a strange sight: the usually silent and still Tower of Babylon began to shake violently, and the stone door on the first floor slowly opened. A figure with long hair and a trench coat walked step by step into the tower, and the stone door closed behind him.

Fu Jue made no statements about this upon returning to reality. It was only ten years later, when the secrets of that time were revealed, that people learned Fu Jue had received the first prophecy from the Tower of Babylon: Pay attention to a person named “Qisi” who was born in 2014… May 11, 2035, Beidu.

After the final dungeon ended, in this area far from Jiangcheng, the rampant weirdness that had previously run wild subsided. Occasional ghosts and tales that tried to cause trouble were suppressed by investigators using their extensive experience. The situation was gradually brought under control, casualties sharply decreased, and some departments had already begun post-war recovery work.

Beidu, from top to bottom, looked as if it had been plowed by a giant excavator. Everywhere the eye could see were the shattered ruins of Siheyuan and the broken walls left after the collapse of skyscrapers. Buildings that once scraped the clouds now only had twisted steel skeletons remaining, with fractured concrete blocks and broken glass piled high, blocking the once wide streets.

The corpses that crawled out from underground left behind massive cracks when they retreated, winding like hideous scars through the entire fabric of the city. The air was filled with a heavy, pungent stench of decay; unhandled severed limbs and remains were reacting chemically in the not-so-cool temperatures, and fresh pus flowed across the ground.

The setting sun was the color of blood, weakly smeared across the fragmented silhouette of the city, reflecting the shadows of an Old Locust Tree hung with corpses.

Standing for thousands of years, the locust tree had witnessed countless changes and grievances. Tens of thousands of lovesick men and resentful women had ended their lives there, their resentment condensing into spiritual entities. Now, with the expansion of the city, unfamiliar avenues replaced the old alleys, and old trees were being chopped down. It watched this happen, feeling sorrow for its kind, and angrily waved its branches.

It hated the humans who hanged themselves on it, causing it to gain sentience and deep resentment; it hated the construction crews that cut down its brethren and now dared to cut it down; it hated everything and wanted to use the power of the Weirdness Game to punish this city that knew no nostalgia… “Keep up, come here. I didn’t think this tree had also gained power and was causing trouble at a time like this.” A middle-aged investigator jogged over, carrying a backpack full of various magical artifacts. He pulled a talisman from his pocket and slapped it onto the trunk. Instantly, the locust tree became still as death, indistinguishable from any ordinary large tree.

The middle-aged investigator turned to the young investigator beside him and said, “Later, get someone to chop down this tree and transport it back to the Investigation Bureau for containment.”

The young investigator nodded in agreement, and the middle-aged investigator quickly headed to the next location.

Soon, staff members from the City Planning Bureau were summoned to cut down the tree. These people had just survived a massive catastrophe that overturned their previous worldview. Still shaken, they were filled with longing for the mysterious Weirdness Investigation Bureau, believing that everyone working there was an extraordinary expert skilled in arcane arts who could save their lives in a pinch. They immediately showed excessive respect for the investigator, quickly tying up the tree with thick ropes and lifting it onto a truck.

The section chief leading them sized up the Old Locust Tree, which took three people to hug, and looked at the investigator with a beaming smile: “Are you cutting down this tree to make Peach Wood Swords? I heard people say you all have great abilities, and with a swing of a Peach Wood Sword, all the demons and monsters run away.”

“We are not Daoists, and even if we had Peach Wood Swords, we wouldn’t use them,” the investigator explained helplessly, glancing at the quiet, obedient locust tree. “This tree can’t be used as timber. It’s a powerful weirdness that was just subdued by our captain half an hour ago…”

The staff members: “…”

Everyone immediately backed away several steps. The few who had carried the tree looked miserable, unsure whether to leave or stay, watching only as the investigator got into the passenger seat and gave instructions to the driver. Only after the truck’s exhaust disappeared at the end of the road did they exchange glances and start whispering.

“Should we go to a temple and pray to get rid of this bad luck? At the very least, we should get some talismans for warding off evil…”

“That’s useless! I heard from my cousin that the Buddhist temples and Daoist temples near them are all haunted. The Buddha statues and the Statues of the Three Pure Ones even open their eyes and smile at people at night…”

“Exactly. We might as well just sit outside the Weirdness Investigation Bureau. Maybe we can catch some spiritual light so the weirdness won’t dare approach us.”

Such scenes were happening all over the city. The existence of the Weirdness Investigation Bureau had been brought into the open, and after a week of panic, survivors universally treated it as a life raft, explaining the sudden appearance of this department using the most rudimentary understanding of gods, demons, and ghosts.

Most citizens did not have particularly firm beliefs; their simple pragmatism allowed them to simultaneously believe in Buddhism and Daoism, and naturally, they could now believe that the Weirdness Investigation Bureau could save them. Furthermore, unlike Buddhism and Daoism, the Weirdness Investigation Bureau had the official endorsement of the Federation, which undoubtedly gave it an added layer of authority.

On ordinary days, citizens might curse and question the Federation, but at a time like this, no one believed such a colossal entity would play a joke that would erode public trust.

The investigator sat in the car, unable to endure the driver’s endless questions, who, during the conversation, expressed a desire to send his wife and children to the Weirdness Investigation Bureau for shelter.

The investigator had to spend considerable effort explaining that the Weirdness Investigation Bureau was not a shelter. On the contrary, because the fifth underground floor contained a large amount of weirdness, it was actually more dangerous than the outside world, and they only guarded it out of a sense of duty.

The driver clearly didn’t believe him. The investigator talked profusely for a long time with little effect and eventually didn’t know what else to say.

Over the past few days, high-ranking officials of the Weirdness Investigation Bureau had died in droves, whether it was Councillor Brooke Hayes, who had long since retired to the second line, or the representatives of various counties still active in the Weirdness Game. It must be said that they truly fulfilled the promise of “leading by example” made in the mobilization speeches, whether voluntarily or involuntarily.

A large number of positions of real power were vacated. Investigators who were previously in the middle ranks quickly gained influence, and most of these people were followers of Fu Jue. The underlying motive was perhaps too blatant, but no one could find conclusive evidence. Furthermore, in the face of a great disaster, no one had the courage to pull Fu Jue down from that position and take his place to bear the pressure from all sides.

Everyone understood clearly that Fu Jue was reckless enough that the day this matter concluded would be the day he died. No matter how much trouble a dying man caused, he would only be paving the way for others.

The truck drove out of the urban area, heading deep into the lush, forested mountains, stopping in front of an entirely silver-white building.

Many military trucks were already parked here, their beds filled with iron boxes wrapped in black cloth. But there were even more civilian trucks, varying in size and style, clearly requisitioned temporarily. The items loaded onto them were often hastily tied with hemp rope or quickly covered with sacks; truly, there was too much weirdness requiring containment to spare the effort for strict sealing.

Armed personnel in black uniforms emerged from the building and helped lift the locust tree from the truck bed into the elevator. The investigator, as a witness to the process of subduing the weirdness, naturally went along.

As the elevator descended, the temperature around them grew increasingly cold. The environment, long deprived of sunlight, combined with the resentment emitted by the weirdness, radiated a chilling coldness from inside out. Upon touching the metal of the elevator, a thick layer of white frost condensed, evoking scenes of a frozen apocalypse.

The narrow corridor was like a fish’s gut. Overhead, the lights flickered on one after another, tracking the steps of the newcomers and casting a cold white light. The doors on both sides, tightly closed to contain the weirdness, resembled the cold storage units of a morgue. Only the occasional bursts of wails and roars indicated that the occupants inside were still alive.

The group quickly followed the standard procedure, placing the locust tree into an empty containment room, locking it, and then inputting the information.

Suddenly, a gentle female voice came from the containment room next door: “I apologize for disturbing you. I am Chu Yining. I want to see Fu Jue. I have something important to tell him…”

The investigator knew Chu Yining. She was one of the first batch of players to enter the Weirdness Game and one of the founders of the Weirdness Investigation Bureau. Unfortunately, she suffered severe contamination during the Twilight of the Gods twenty-two years ago, and thus could only live out the rest of her life in a containment room.

Firstly, because she remained calm and lucid most of the time, and secondly, because she was a person of influence, everyone in the Weirdness Investigation Bureau treated her with courtesy and tried their best to fulfill her requests.

But definitely not now.

The investigator sighed, “Senior Chu, the Director has been in Shangri-La since entering the final dungeon on May 5th, and he probably won’t be back anytime soon. Besides, things outside are a mess right now; he doesn’t even have time to manage the situation… If there’s anything, you can tell me first, and I will write it up as a report and submit it.”

Out of courtesy, the investigator pressed a button on the containment room’s iron door, and the wall closest to the corridor instantly became transparent, allowing the view from both the inside and the outside.

Sitting in the containment room was a gray-haired woman. Chu Yining, in her early fifties, was no longer young, and the less-than-ideal living conditions of the containment room made her look older than her peers.

Manuscripts covered in black writing were piled up like mountains around her. The Weirdness Investigation Bureau never intended to take them out for research, so the papers just kept accumulating. The initial piles were stored neatly, but the later ones were simply tossed onto the floor.

Over the years, Chu Yining had been trying to record the information she wanted to convey in various ways, but unfortunately, the words written on the manuscripts always turned into useless garbled codes. The Weirdness Investigation Bureau never expected her to provide any useful clues; they gave her paper and pen merely to give her something to do so she wouldn’t cause trouble out of boredom.

Eventually, Chu Yining seemed to realize this, too. She stopped trying to record information about the Weirdness Game and began drawing incomprehensible mind maps or writing essays, her demeanor losing its restlessness and becoming purely peaceful.

Hearing the investigator’s reply, Chu Yining was silent for two seconds, seemingly in thought. After a moment, she curved her eyes, the wrinkles at the corners looking kind and gentle: “Alright, I’ll tell you. Please be sure to relay this truthfully to Fu Jue.”

She paused briefly, rapidly changing her mouth shape, but no sound came out. She looked stunned, seemingly not expecting that even this information would be blocked by the Weirdness Game, but she quickly became relieved, saying with a bitter smile: “There are still some things I cannot elaborate on. I can only say:

“I have thought for twenty-two years, and I finally understand His plan. All of us humans are on His chessboard, and human wisdom is but a part of the God’s plan… ‘Because I died, I returned; Xiao Fengchao also returned after his death; others will be like this too… including Qisi. We cannot let Him return. Although I don’t know what that will cause, trusting in the unconditional malice of the Gods will never be wrong.’

“Please tell Fu Jue: No matter what, do not kill Qisi. Ever.”