Chapter 287: The Malice of the Gods

On the afternoon of April 17th, the discussions on the Eerie Game forum fermented further, and the fire naturally spread to the Jiuzhou Guild and Fu Jue.

【The Jiuzhou Guild has been concealing important information all this time. What exactly are they planning? Let me indulge in a little conspiracy theory. Could it be just like how the Federation deliberately suppresses news of violent incidents? Does Jiuzhou also want to implement ideological control and keep the masses ignorant, making us foolishly serve as cannon fodder?】

【Speaking of Identity Cards, I’m wide awake now! Which bastard said Identity Cards were useless? I was tricked. Back then, when I got an Identity Card, I didn’t bind it directly; instead, I sold it to a player who claimed to be a collector. By the way, that player was from the Jiuzhou Guild.】

【I’ve watched Fu Jue’s livestreams, and I’m a hundred percent certain he has definitely bound an Identity Card! Although it was only for a single frame, I was his fan back then and edited his videos frame by frame, so I happened to notice it. The image on that card was a person nailed upside down on a cross; it looked far from simple!】

【I’m a theoretical player, and I’ve recently been intending to write a set of Eerie Game chronicles, so I specifically collected the leaderboard data from the past thirty-six years. Have any of you noticed? Fu Jue entered the game twenty-two years ago, yet his appearance hasn’t changed in the slightest… Is he even still human?】

【I’m a novelist, and I’ll take a bold guess. The Eerie Game is similar to the ‘Candidate Game’ in the novel ‘Thriller Paradise,’ with the purpose of selecting new gods from players with potential. Identity Cards might be related to the authority of the gods, and those who bind an Identity Card are eligible to become gods. I’m afraid Fu Jue’s stance is no longer on the side of humanity…】

【Tingfeng Guild, come out and take your beating! A bunch of gossips who pride themselves on knowing the inside scoop and cutting-edge intelligence, yet when it comes to Eerie Game and Identity Cards, they don’t say a word when asked. You definitely have a share in deceiving everyone!】

【By the way, it’s already 2034. Is there anyone who still doesn’t know that Tingfeng and Jiuzhou are two peas in a pod? No way? No way?】

The meddlesome players on the forum let their imaginations run wild, their talk becoming increasingly far-fetched. Various conspiracy theories and eyewitness accounts emerged one after another, most of which were groundless fears and alarmism.

While there was certainly some truth among them, most were far-fetched associations. There was no shortage of trolls who just wanted to watch the world burn, making up nonsense and stirring the already complex situation into a murky mess.

Yet the parties at the center of the vortex—Fu Jue, Jiuzhou, and Tingfeng—acted as if they were all dead, letting the situation ferment without a single one coming forward to respond… In a pure black cubic space, Fu Jue sat on a high-backed chair, a black-and-white chessboard before him.

A blood-colored phantom sat opposite the chessboard, holding a black piece, which it gently placed on one of the squares.

Fu Jue held a white piece but hesitated to move, seemingly stuck in a stalemate. He suddenly looked up and said to the phantom, “You cheated.”

“Cheating that isn’t caught is within the permitted range of the rules,” the phantom said with a smile. “Since you dared to gamble against a god with a mortal body, you should have the resolve to lose everything.”

“Those who make the rules have always had the privilege to transcend them. How could those with vested interests practice fairness within advantageous game rules? Have you really never considered these things?”

He had long hair and long robes, with eyes as crimson as blood. It was none other than Qi, who was supposed to be hanging from vines in the Rose Manor.

At this moment, He looked at Fu Jue with a sigh, His gaze half-pitying and half-mocking. “You lack the ability to break the rules, yet you lack the resolve to be manipulated by them, all while still dreaming of gaining benefits from disadvantageous game rules. I have known you for so many years, yet I never knew you were such a sore loser.”

“But you are not the rules.” Fu Jue put down the white piece and looked into Qi’s eyes. “You are a guilty being exiled by the rules, your true body imprisoned somewhere unknown, able only to traverse the Game Space as a shadow.”

“After your cheating was exposed, all the pieces of that game were rolled back to their original positions, and you received a warning from the rules because of it. If it happens again, I believe your situation will become even worse.”

Hearing this, the smile on Qi’s face widened, as if He had heard something amusing. “I can see that you’ve grasped key evidence and established a connection with the rules. But do you really dare to perform another rollback?”

“That rollback only restored the life status of each piece; other existences were not forced back to their original places. Because of that, you obtained the Divine Corpse you dreamed of, stealing one of the creations He values most out of the game right under the rules’ nose.”

“If it happens again, the rules will not allow the loss of the Divine Corpse.”

Fu Jue said indifferently, “That was the chip you traded with me. I fulfilled the agreement, and the Divine Corpse was the price you paid.”

“Is that so? I remember quite clearly that in the ‘Hopeless Sea’ instance, the fellow who took advantage of the Sea-God Scepter being taken and the Sea God falling into weakness to seize His body and drive His spirit into the scepter was your close friend.”

“And… I forgot to tell you, I never intended to pay the price.” Qi’s shoulders began to tremble slightly, clearly brewing malice. “Haven’t you heard—trading terms that violate the rules are not protected by the rules? Hahahaha!”

He couldn’t help but laugh out loud, His figure becoming increasingly blurred amidst the wanton laughter. Finally, at a certain moment, He shattered into blood-colored dust, pouring down like a sudden rain, scattering into every corner of the space and disappearing.

Fu Jue calmly looked at the void left behind the chessboard after Qi disappeared, showing no emotion. Only his silver-gray eyes reflected a faint light, as if he were contemplating something.

He sat quietly, motionless, until the timer for his single stay duration reached zero. Then he leaned back and disappeared from the Game Space… In the North Capital Headquarters of the Eerie Investigation Bureau, on the fifth basement floor, the silver-white alloy walls reflected the brilliant white light. Electronic screens full of technological flair were embedded in the walls, popping up real-time data and analysis from various dimensions.

Fu Jue carried several large tomes as he traversed the labyrinthine corridors, passing by square lights emitting cold glows. He stopped at the elevator bank at the furthest end and lightly pressed the down button.

The pupil scan was verified, and the elevator doors opened.

Fu Jue walked in and pressed the only floor button in the elevator.

Everyone who entered this elevator was going to the same place: the sixth basement floor, a ‘prison’ specifically for storing eerie entities related to the gods, which only a few people had the authority to enter.

Yes, there, almost all the eerie entities had once been players who had made waves in the Eerie Game.

Some were deemed to have a risk of betraying and harming humanity because they had established too close a connection with the gods; others had, by chance, obtained a portion of a god’s authority but were foolish enough to join hostile forces like Sera or the Balance Guild.

—After being captured, they were all sent here.

The elevator doors closed, and the elevator began its descent. In the silence, only one person’s breathing could be heard.

After fifteen steady breaths, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened.

Fu Jue walked out, continuing straight ahead, and came to a stop before the door at the end of the sixth basement floor corridor.

The electronic screen on the door meticulously displayed information that would be enough to terrify any player.

【Eerie Name: Sea God Corpse】

【Type: God】

【Danger Level: S-】

【Remarks: Possesses the basic characteristics of god-like existences, including immortality, pollution, and assimilation. Has a direct connection with the rules and can randomly cause player deaths; has no concrete form and can return to the Eerie Game at any time.】

【Upon leaving the instance, it merged with a human soul for unknown reasons. This human maintains a friendly attitude toward the Eerie Investigation Bureau and the Jiuzhou Guild and is willing to cooperate with the Bureau to control the entity. Therefore, the danger level has been slightly downgraded.】

Fu Jue entered the password, scanned his pupils, and entered the room.

Within seconds, his vision was painted a uniform orange-yellow. A giant, deep yellow eyeball hung high overhead, casting down a lifeless gaze.

The sound of surging waves washed over his ears, the salty stench of the ocean poured into his nostrils, and the wind blew in grains of salt and sand, provoking a faint itch on his skin.

Phantoms of tentacles and fish flew through the air, and strangely shaped, deformed fish bones were scattered at his feet, crumbling into white specks of dust the moment they were stepped on, only to recombine into other forms once he moved his feet.

This was not the god’s true body, but merely an extension of the eerie pollution, controlled to a level acceptable to humans after being blocked by layers of alloy and concrete.

Fu Jue passed through the massive group of hallucinations and stood before a concrete wall that had only a single glass window.

Behind the concrete wall were layers of substances like gold and diamond that could effectively isolate the eerie. They were built inward for a full ten meters, like a massive tomb burying the god’s corpse.

Various items were neatly arranged along the concrete wall: Swiss Army knives, clocks, compasses, flashlights, and other daily exploration supplies. The most numerous, however, were pure white rings, arranged in groups of two, three, or even seven.

These were precisely the Team Rings.

Long ago, the Eerie Investigation Bureau had known the technical key to bringing real-world creations into the Eerie Game.

That was to let those creations be subject to pollution from the gods.

The gradual method was to store the creations within fifteen meters of a god’s true body for a continuous month; the more aggressive method was to directly soak the creations in divine blood.

The first batch of Team Rings for Jiuzhou and Tingfeng had all been soaked in divine blood.

After solving the immediate need, the first method could be used for sustainable development.

Fu Jue leaned over slightly and placed the books in his hands on the floor.

The sea breeze blew through his hair, and a translucent tentacle gently caressed the surface of the books. The next second, those few books all vanished into thin air.

Fu Jue straightened up and nodded toward the existence buried deep behind the wall. “Without using divine power, these books are enough for you to read for seven days.”

“I’ll come to see you again in seven days, Lu Li.”

…On the other side, Liu Yuhan opened her eyes in a Game Space that looked like a study.

She pushed open the door and entered the Ruins of the Sunset, being teleported exactly beneath the leaderboard stele.

Very few players were wandering around the Ruins of the Sunset today; most were in the real world, browsing the forum and posting.

A few players who recognized Liu Yuhan nodded to her. She smiled a bit awkwardly before shifting her gaze back to the leaderboard stele and placing her hand on it.

Silver-white text popped up: 【Would you like to spend one hundred points to query past records?】

Liu Yuhan said word by word, “Query the last player to clear the ‘Carnivore’ instance.”

The various records were updated synchronously. Even if a player had not yet set a display nickname in a Novice Pool instance, once they became a formal player and set a nickname, that newly set nickname would still faithfully replace the asterisks in the past records.

As long as a nickname was set, it was clear at a glance who had cleared which instances.

【This query is a precise query and requires spending one thousand points. Would you like to continue the query?】

In the past, one thousand points would not have been a large amount for Liu Yuhan.

But after signing the Soul Contract, Qi Si had been keeping her point reserves at a level where she wouldn’t die but also couldn’t cause trouble. Her economic condition could be described as meager.

Liu Yuhan glanced at her point balance, adjusted her round-framed glasses, and said, “Continue the query.”

【One thousand points consumed. Querying the ‘last player to clear the Carnivore instance’ for you.】

【Query result: None】

Liu Yuhan’s eyes widened.

What was going on? In the Eerie Game, wherever there was an existence, there must be a trace. How could an instance that had already been shown as cleared have no record?

Was it a bug in the game, or had it been deleted by someone using some kind of item? But why delete only this one entry?

“That’s it. Only one person cleared the ‘Carnivore’ instance, and the clearer was clearly a Slaughter-path player who also caused the deaths of Jiuzhou Guild members.”

“Although Lin Chen is unscrupulous, arrogant, and conceited, he doesn’t dare to directly clash with the Jiuzhou Guild. That’s why he deleted this record to avoid being wanted.”

Liu Yuhan thought she had straightened out the logic. She fished the Jiuzhou emblem out of her pocket and silently thought, “Return to the guild base.”

She had signed a 【Soul Contract】 with Qi Si and couldn’t act against him, but Lin Chen and Qi Si weren’t the same person. If she reported Lin Chen, it shouldn’t count as violating the Contract.

As long as Jiuzhou noticed Lin Chen, Qi Si would either have to cut ties to survive and suffer heavy losses, or he would be dragged down by Lin Chen and enter the Jiuzhou Guild’s sight together… A white light flashed, and the surrounding scene changed rapidly. When it settled, it was the interior of a large assembly hall.

Liu Yuhan walked toward the duty personnel sitting on the rostrum.

Before she could speak, the young man staying at the guild base to organize documents looked up at her. “Sister Liu, you’re here. There’s something you need to be mentally prepared for…”

Liu Yuhan noticed the young man’s hesitant attitude, and a bad premonition gradually formed in her heart.

She asked, “What is it?”

“Your previous fixed teammate, Tang Yu… he died in an instance.”

The short sentence struck her mind like a bolt from the blue. Liu Yuhan froze in place, feeling as if she had suffered a momentary loss of hearing.

How could it be so sudden? She had just received a snack delivery from him the day before, and she was still eating the snacks he gave her before entering the instance. How could he… be gone just like that?

The young man’s lips moved as he continued his statement. “His death was quite unusual. His soul remained trapped in the instance, to the point that his body in the real world directly lost all vital signs, leaving no time for any last words.”

“The reason we know he’s dead is through the livestreams of members Luo Haihua and Luo Jianhua. We confirmed they were in the same instance, and that instance had only one survivor, who wasn’t any of them.”

“We don’t know exactly what happened because, except for the first day, the livestream was basically a black screen for the following days, and we could only see some handwriting on white paper… By the way, that instance was called ‘Wraith’.”