Chapter 207: Crimson High Priest (Revised)

Asking Liu Yuhan to search for “evidence from public clues that could pinpoint him” was a sudden impulse Qi Si had after entering the Ruins of the Sunset.

Although the Eerie Game’s rankings and records were half-hidden, it was not impossible for someone to find clues from them.

Liu Yuhan was looking for problems with an answer in mind; it would be best if she couldn’t pinpoint him. If she truly could sort out one or two things from the complex information, Qi Si felt it necessary to prepare for the worst:

Faking his death in the game, finding a scapegoat, or directly negotiating in reality.

It’s better to be prepared, even if it’s just worrying unnecessarily, than to be flustered when disaster strikes.

After Liu Yuhan left in a daze, Qi Si picked up his chopsticks and started to eat the food on the table, only to realize that there was a reason why this restaurant didn’t have good business.

To make green vegetables taste like dry grass, his skill was on par with hers.

While making a mental evaluation, Qi Si calmly put the last leaf of vegetable into his mouth, finally remembering a very important matter that he had overlooked.

He returned to the Game Space, entered the mall, spent six hundred points to buy a pile of daily necessities like rice and vegetables, and threw them into the World-Fruit corresponding to Qijia Village.

“You can design the rules of this world.”

An emotionless voice echoed at the back of his mind, and Qi Si found that he instinctively knew what to do.

He sank his consciousness into the golden fruit, relaxed, and diffused into the underlying architecture of the world.

An interface similar to a system backend appeared before his eyes, with blood-red program code constantly emerging from the dark background, writhing like living creatures.

These codes did not belong to any language Qi Si knew, yet he miraculously understood how to interpret and write them the moment he saw them.

He used his memory to outline the game mall on the black background with white lines, and placed the newly bought daily necessities one by one on the shelves, setting each price at double the original price in the game mall.

A new prompt popped up: “Please define the currency of this world, including its name, purchasing power, and method of acquisition.”

Qi Si pondered for a moment, then articulated clearly: “The name is ‘Crimson Point’, which can be used to purchase items in the game mall, postpone entry into new instances, and is obtained by clearing instances or completing ‘Main God’s Missions’.”

“Please define Main God’s Missions.”

Qi Si said indifferently: “Main God’s Missions are issued by me, refresh randomly, have random content, and random rewards. The first mission is as follows—”

He paused, a cruel smile spreading across his lips: “Two days later, a group of outsiders will enter Qijia Village, looking for Qi Leming’s relatives to negotiate. Keep them here. Reward: 1000 Crimson Points.”

…In Qijia Village, men, women, and children gathered at the village chief’s house, their faces clouded with worry.

After one instance, more than half of the people died unnatural deaths, and were dragged by paper figures to be buried in the fields this morning. The survivors had more or less learned the basic mechanics of the Eerie Game, and understood the horror and cruelty of the instances.

The fear of Ghosts and death, and the bewilderment and despair for the future, covered them layer by layer like soaked tissues; they waited in panic for the next instance to arrive, and gradually realized a more severe practical problem: their food was running out.

Not only food, but also various daily necessities… The villages of this era could no longer be self-sufficient, and many needs for clothing and food had to be purchased in town.

However, thick layers of white mist and patrolling paper figures blocked the village roads, preventing them from interacting with the outside world as they used to.

“My Youyou and I haven’t eaten for a day. If anyone has extra food, please spare some for us.”

“This can’t go on. We need to get out quickly, or have people send things in.”

“How about… we get some incense, candles, and yellow paper, and worship that Main God?”

The villagers chattered amongst themselves, then gradually fell silent, adopting a solemn reverence mixed with awe.

Golden vine phantoms descended from the high heavens, gently swaying with a breeze from an unknown source; the yellowed walls and doors of the houses were painted light gray at the edges, just like the curtain for refreshing prompt text in a game.

They saw the mall interface displaying daily necessities, saw the prices below, and saw the newly refreshed Main God’s Mission.

“Mission Background: Two days later, a group of ignorant and greedy outsiders will arrive here with ulterior motives, claiming to be looking for ‘Qi Leming’s’ relatives to discuss cooperation matters for a scholarship foundation.”

“Mission Content: Keep them here.”

“Mission Reward: 1000 Crimson Points.”

With a solution to the long-standing problem of daily necessities, the villagers could not hide their joy and prostrated themselves in gratitude to the unseen deity.

Someone said: “We’ll treat them to good food and drink, talk to them nicely, tell them it’s the will of the gods, and then they won’t want to leave, right?”

Someone else showed a hint of hesitation: “Our village’s situation is too eerie. Will the foundation people listen to us? And they all have guns; what if things get messy?”

The villagers fell silent, then heard the god from the high heavens declare: “Pray to Me, and Crimson will guide your way.”

On the gray screen, they saw the god’s divine name:

“The Crimson Lord who travels through infinite time and space alone.”

“The Master of Soul who wields the authority of Contractual Transactions.”

“The sole existence traversing between reality and illusion.”

…The Domain of the God of Joy devours a living person every month, which will inevitably attract the attention of the Eerie Investigation Bureau in the long run. Who knows if some hotheads who can’t see the situation clearly will come to investigate.

To avoid potential trouble, Qi Si thought it better to artificially create a forbidden zone that allows entry but no exit, making the Investigation Bureau hesitant to act.

First, command the villagers to come forward, proceed gradually, then have Xu Yao secretly intervene, with both human and eerie powers working in tandem to muddy the waters—perfect!

While issuing missions to the villagers, Qi Si took the opportunity to design a divine name for himself, based on the divine name of ‘Contract’, with a ‘nothing to lose’ mentality.

In the Red Maple Boarding School instance, after discovering that the terms “praying to Contract” and “mortgaging one’s soul” had equivalent effects, he basically confirmed that all his hard work in signing Contracts and collecting souls would most likely end up benefiting Contract.

The Crimson High Priest Identity Card gave him a deeper understanding of gods and faith. New knowledge and insights stimulated the growth of ambition, and he began to wonder: with the old gods in decline, and even beings like Yuna able to become demigods, could he also ascend to godhood?

Therefore, he deliberately intended to draw a clear line between himself and Contract from this moment on, and tried to play the role of a true god.

After all, the Identity Card mechanism also emphasized “role-playing,” didn’t it?

As for what to do if he failed—

If he didn’t mind being embarrassed, he would just tell the villagers that “the Main God’s divine rank has ascended, and the divine name has changed”; if he couldn’t face it, he would silence all the villagers who knew about the embarrassing incident.

There was no loss anyway.

After playing the role of a god in the Game Space, Qi Si successfully exhausted his allotted stay time and opened his eyes on his bed in reality.

Nasal congestion, dizziness, muscle aches… various discomforts inherent to his sick body surged in, one after another. Qi Si stared at the ceiling with a lifeless expression, inexplicably recalling the message Jin Yusheng had sent him half a month ago:

“Don’t leave Jiangcheng before the end of the year. I cast a divination for you, and your birth characters clash with any place outside of Jiangcheng!”

Perhaps his birth characters truly didn’t suit Qijia Village—who knew?

…On the evening of April 7th, Qi Si received a message from Bob, with two main points:

First, Jin Yusheng was fine and still carrying on his usual swindling activities, having changed back into his customary red Tang suit.

Second, the insomnia syndrome bacteria he handed over had been properly disposed of in the Mississippi River.

Everything was developing in a good direction. The authorities had relaxed their control over Jin Yusheng, the fates of thousands of people were intertwined by the eerie bacteria, and the mastermind behind the scenes already vaguely possessed the qualifications to sit at the negotiating table.

Qi Si casually cleared the messages from Bob, a subtle curve forming at the corner of his lips: “Just wondering—how many people must one kill to become a god?”

…At seven in the evening, all the messy affairs were properly handled.

With the dust settled, Qi Si packed his luggage and set off on the road back to Jiangcheng.

Qijia Village was undoubtedly unsuitable for habitation; it was better used as a garbage dump.

He had already “returned home in glory”; staying longer would be pointless.

Qi Si, wearing a mask, a cooling patch, and a thick coat, sat listlessly in the back seat of the car, taking one last look at the desolate, mist-shrouded countryside.

Unconcealed malice, disgusted curses and mockery, painful beatings, hunger and exhaustion… The old bloodstains faded with time, and the dusty oblivion buried the remnants of lonely wandering souls.

No matter how unforgettable or heartbreaking the past, looking back, it all seems understated and ephemeral.