Chapter 447: The Gods |
Deep within a safe house converted from an air-raid shelter in Kazan City, White Bear Prefecture, Meng Wenfei sat at her desk, her eyes fixed on the lines of information scrolling rapidly across her computer screen.
The guild landscape in the Weird Game was dominated by Kyushu, Listening Wind, Sila, and a few minor players. At best, one could add the Balance Church, with its deep influence on the real world, and the Unnamed Guild, which had recently been making waves.
Most smaller guilds either latched onto the major ones—some even created as direct vassals at their behest—or simply functioned as loose alliances for mutual support, appearing without fanfare and vanishing just as quietly.
The Wind and Rain Guild was one of the former. From the moment she founded it, Meng Wenfei had prepared to align with the Kyushu Guild. This wasn't just due to her long-standing admiration for both Lin Jue and Fu Jue; it was because she understood a fundamental truth: the interests of humanity could never align with those of the supernatural. Uniting to confront the Weird Game was the only responsible choice for the future of their people.
Over the past year, she had first led the Wind and Rain Guild in publicly announcing its partnership with Kyushu, then skillfully networked with other players to maintain a positive reputation. Through these efforts, she had managed to carve out a relatively stable path for her guild amidst the turmoil. Though they had suffered losses, the impact was negligible compared to what other guilds of their size had endured.
A week ago, Si Qi had posted on the Weird Game forums, using the supernatural forces under his command as leverage to challenge Fu Jue.
Meng Wenfei vaguely recalled having met the young man once, at a conference for guild representatives. Back then, Lin Wuya was the one in the spotlight, having just begun to make a name for himself and drawing everyone's attention. The young man had stood humbly by his side, attributing all their success to Lin Wuya's patronage.
But looking back now, she wondered, had it truly been that simple? Why had Lin Wuya vanished without a trace, leaving Si Qi to represent the Unnamed Guild and openly challenge Kyushu? Could a man who wielded so much power truly have been content to remain in someone else's shadow?
Revisiting the memory with this new suspicion, the answer seemed obvious. Lin Wuya had been nothing more than a figurehead, a puppet pushed into the spotlight, while Si Qi was the true mastermind pulling the strings. But what good did knowing that do now?
She never expected that in just a single day, Fu Jue would turn the tables with a taste of his own medicine. He cast aside the thirty-six years of prestige he had painstakingly built to admit he was the Puppet Master, and in the same breath, he dragged a name long since buried and memorialized through the mud.
"Lin Jue," Meng Wenfei's lips moved, forming the name silently.
The first time she heard that name was twenty-three years ago, on the day she first entered the Weird Game.
She was only fourteen then. Her parents had sent her to study abroad, far from home. In that unfamiliar land, she was caught in a bombing orchestrated by the Balance Church, and she watched, horrified, as the explosion tore her own body apart.
She had expected to die. For a fleeting moment, her consciousness fractured, as if she had already crossed into the realm of the dead. But then, a silver-white light pierced the darkness, and a voice informed her that she had become a player in the [Weird Game], granted a second chance at life.
Still reeling from the shock, she entered an instance. As her senses returned, she overheard two players chatting in hushed tones. One of them was saying with a laugh, "Hey, did you hear the rumor? The Ark Guild is planning something big. Early next year, the great Lin Jue is leading a team to the Sunset Ruins to challenge the ultimate rules. They say he might just end the Weird Game for good..."
What did it feel like to die? It was nothing less than being snatched from the midst of humanity and plunged into a solitary silence, a vast emptiness where the very concept of existence dissolved.
Even after cheating death, she remained in a daze, utterly bewildered, as if she'd simply been shoved from one void into another—a realm of ghosts and monsters, surrounded by all manner of malevolent spirits.
But the mention of those two names—"Ark Guild" and "Lin Jue"—was what finally pulled Meng Wenfei from her helpless state. In an instant, she became aware that there were others like her, that she was not alone in this new world.
After narrowly surviving the instance, the first thing Meng Wenfei did was dive into the game's forums, searching for any information on the Ark Guild and Lin Jue. She learned that within this massive, mysterious supernatural phenomenon, a group of people had been fighting all along to maintain order and peace, working together to find a way to end the game.
They seemed to be on the verge of success. Lin Jue, the guild's leader, had on multiple occasions publicly shared the Ark Guild's research progress and operational plans. With a confident smile, he promised victory to everyone, calling on all players to follow him and, one day, deal a fatal blow to the Weird Game.
Everyone chanted the same slogans, their individual hopes merging into a single, powerful current. Newcomers to this collective delusion were swept along, all while believing they were making their own independent choices. It was only natural, then, that after learning of his deeds, Meng Wenfei came to admire Lin Jue, just like all the others who were waiting for a savior.
The top player on the comprehensive strength rankings; the first to enter the Weird Game and the quickest to master it; the guild leader whom even gods were willing to address as an equal... With such a dazzling array of accolades, he seemed like the protagonist of his era. Final victory felt not just possible, but inevitable.
So, six months later, in early February 2014, when she learned that Lin Jue had died in the Twilight of the Gods at the Sunset Ruins, Meng Wenfei's first reaction was disbelief, followed by panic.
—The one mission that had the best chance of ending the Weird Game had failed. The very best players were gone. Where did that leave ordinary people like her?
She was not alone in her despair. It wasn't until six months later, with the swift rise of Fu Jue, that the wavering hearts of the players began to find their footing again.
Despite their complete lack of physical resemblance, Meng Wenfei had felt from the start that the two men were remarkably similar. It wasn't just their names, but their positions, the way public opinion swirled around them, their entire career trajectories...
Fu Jue had perfectly taken Lin Jue's place, systematically continuing the work his predecessor had left unfinished. The transition was so seamless that many newer players never even knew Lin Jue had existed; they assumed Fu Jue had been the one on that pedestal all along.
Humanity needed a figure like that, and so, one after the other, "Lin Jue" and "Fu Jue" appeared, each right on cue.
The players' whispers soon took on a new tune: "Hey, did you hear the rumor? They say the great Fu Jue might lead the major guilds in a joint effort to take on the Final Instance..."
Later, through her work at the guild level, Meng Wenfei met Fu Jue on a few occasions. While she revered his power, she couldn't help but feel put off by his cold demeanor. A quiet thought often surfaced: *If Lin Jue were in his place, he would probably be more approachable, wouldn't he?*
—Though she had never met Lin Jue, just as people are prone to romanticizing the road not taken, she chose to believe he was a kind man, one who held nothing but goodwill for the world.
Now, the frenzied dance in the forest was drawing to a close. The elves and goblins were stirring from the hypnotic drumbeat, and in their last dregs of intoxication, they ripped off their brilliant masks to tear into one another, until nothing remained but mangled flesh and exposed bone.
Lin Jue, Fu Jue, the Puppet Master—three seemingly disparate identities now knotted into one. A sheet of white paper, once stained, could never be made clean again. The pristine white statue of "Lin Jue" had shattered in an instant, and every one of his past actions was now recast as part of a grand conspiracy.
Meng Wenfei could sense an air of finality, the scent of an ending. This was the ultimate gambit, where both sides had thrown all their chips onto the table, consequences be damned. The great tide of events was sweeping everyone toward the conclusion, and for ordinary people like her, there was nothing to do but wait and watch.
She couldn't make sense of it—none of it. After a long moment of contemplation, she finally picked up her phone and dialed a number. "Hello, Yunyang? It's me. Do you have any idea what's going on with Fu Jue?"
Li Yunyang knew nothing.
She was a career soldier. Just six months ago, upon entering the Weird Game, she had been transferred to the Weird Investigation Bureau through internal military channels. Her interactions with Fu Jue had rarely strayed beyond the formal boundaries of superior and subordinate, senior and junior.
There was only one time, just before she entered an instance, that Fu Jue had told her, "Meet every change without changing your own course. Then, just do whatever it takes to survive. That's all that matters."
But that had been an occasion where Fu Jue was deliberately using her to keep the Bureau's insubordinate higher-ups in check. His words, which might have sounded like concern, felt more like a directive to ensure she completed her mission.
*Puppet Master Purges Bureau Dissenters in Cunning Plot...* A headline like that would cause an absolute firestorm on the forums, wouldn't it?
Li Yunyang ended the call and quickly sealed the final seam on her protective suit. "All members of Squad 3-518," she ordered over the internal comms, "gear check. We're moving out to the Near River District." The investigators fell in line behind her in silence and boarded the military truck. No matter what happened in the Bureau's upper echelons, their duty remained the same: eliminate supernatural threats and protect the people.
But everyone, Li Yunyang included, found their minds inevitably chewing over the events of the past few days.
Before Fu Jue's confession, most of them had been staunch supporters of either Lin Jue or Fu Jue himself. They had thrown themselves into every mission fueled by a simple sense of justice—a desire to punish evil—and the grand vision of saving humanity. They were willing to sacrifice their own lives to bring an end to the supernatural threat.
But now, the man who had stood in the spotlight, preaching lofty ideals and instilling in them a belief in salvation, had been revealed as the leader of the Sila Guild—a symbol of sin and slaughter. He was the legendary "Puppet Master," a figure said to be inhuman, malevolent, and insane. The very enemy they had sworn to destroy. Looking back, how much of what they had believed was real, and how much was a lie?
Even if Lin Jue had his reasons—if using the "Puppet Master" identity to wipe out all the slaughter-focused players at once was a pragmatic choice; even if, faced with wavering morale, only an iron-fisted dictatorship and a fearsome, malevolent reputation could stabilize the situation and prevent internal conflict—most people still couldn't stomach such ruthless methods.
Just as Si Qi had said, rational people like Lin Jue were a minority in the world. Otherwise, why would the trolley problem have been debated for so many years without a standard answer?
To trade a controlled number of lives for the survival of many more was a step too cold-blooded for most. Anyone who could make such a calculus had already exiled themselves from humanity, destined to be feared and rejected as an inhuman monster.
Lin Jue had no path of retreat, no way to turn back. Fortunately, he had always been an arrogant man. His plans had never required the understanding of others; he only ever needed to see them through, single-mindedly ensuring each step was executed with precision.
Now, at last, he held the rudder of the great ship called "humanity" firmly in his grasp. He could finally mobilize all his assets to execute his grand design.
...
Five levels underground, in a containment chamber encased in advanced alloys and concrete, the electronic screen on the steel door displayed the relevant information:
[Entity Name: Sea God]
[Type: God]
[Danger Level: S]
[Note: The Sea God, returned to the world by borrowing a human soul and vessel. It is the most loyal follower of the Ancestral God and an extension of her will. The host's human soul has been completely corrupted by the divine presence; aside from a few residual memories, it is indistinguishable from a true god. The corruption is currently being suppressed by puppet threads, efficacy unknown.]
Cradling the rusted bronze sword, Lin Jue approached the door. A screen flickered to life, scanning his face before displaying the words [ACCESS GRANTED]. The heavy iron door slid open, and he stepped directly inside.
Unlike the previous containment cell that held the Sea God's corpse—a room thick with the stench of salt and brine and haunted by phantom sea creatures—this one was dim and cold. A young man wearing a trench coat and gold-rimmed glasses sat perfectly still in the center, quietly turning the pages of a book.
Aside from the translucent, web-like threads extending from the room's four corners to bind the young man's limbs, the space was indistinguishable from a standard federal prison cell.
After Lin Jue and the Listening Wind Guild contingent had landed, Lu Li was transported back to Jiang City by military truck along a separate route. He had been surprisingly compliant the entire journey, though it was unclear if this was due to the influence of the puppet threads or a simple lack of will to resist.
Seeing Lin Jue enter, he set down his book. His tone and expression were unchanged. "Guild Leader," he asked, "what are your plans now?"
He was clearly speaking as a member of the Sila Guild, addressing the Puppet Master. A tempting smile played on his lips. "Eighty percent of humanity is now in the palm of your hand. If you would just let go of a few... unrealistic notions, the throne of the Ancestral God is yours for the taking. And once you become the Ancestral God, every problem will solve itself.
"If you don't," he continued, "they know you deceived them for years with that mask you wore. Their old adoration has curdled into loathing and hatred. To prove to themselves they weren't fools led by your lies, they'll turn on you like hyenas and tear you to shreds.
"After you win your gambit against the rules, you won't be met with flowers and applause. You'll be met with judgment and a prison cell. In a world without the Weird Game, you're just one man, powerless. There will be no place left for you anywhere, and even death will feel like a merciful release."
Lin Jue didn't respond to the offer directly. His silver-white eyes studied Lu Li from behind his glasses. He spoke in the detached tone of a researcher discussing a confounding variable. "Before you entered the Final Instance, your corruption wasn't nearly this severe."
Lu Li smiled. He idly flipped through the pages of his book, the soft *rustle* of paper sounding like a subtle score for their little drama.
After a long silence, he began to speak slowly, his voice detached, as if recounting a story about a stranger. "At the base camp at the foot of the Snow Mountain, there was an NPC named Bai Ma. She had a mirror that could show one's destiny. I couldn't see myself in it. But I did see you.
"I saw you complete every step of your plan. In a very short time, you offered up enough sacrifices to the rules, accumulated enough sin, and crushed every god, every anomaly, every mystery, and every grotesque thing to create a new world—one without the Weird Game. And in that new world... there was no place for me.
"It's a strange contradiction," he mused. "On the one hand, I was relieved that you had won, that you saved humanity just as you promised. On the other, I couldn't help but mourn that such a beautiful future had nothing to do with me, that my bones were just another rung on the ladder you climbed to reach your goal. And at the same time, a foolish thought crept in: since things have come this far, does it really matter who is the one to see it through to the end?"
Indeed, both Lin Jue and Fu Jue had promised to resurrect everyone after the final victory. But the resurrected could only be "human."
Their ideal new world was one without gods. All who had become too deeply entangled with the divine and the supernatural were to be left behind, buried forever. That included Lu Li, who had only made contact with a god at Fu Jue's own command.
"I'm sorry," Lin Jue said.
"Hearing you say those words is a true rarity," Lu Li remarked, his smile unwavering. His gaze dropped to the bronze sword in Lin Jue's hands. "But I understand now what you intend to do. The chances are slim, but I can see your mind is made up, and I doubt I could stop you anyway. If that is your choice, then I am willing to accept this end."
Lin Jue remained silent. He lowered his gaze slightly and thrust the bronze sword straight into the ground.
The faint chime of shattering glass was instantly drowned out by the roar of a surging tide. A dense web of cracks spread across the invisible barrier between them, each fissure erupting with a blinding, sacred golden light, like a fracture in the primordial sky.
A soul-tearing shriek echoed through the void, bursting through eardrums to flood memory and thought. Droplets of crimson-gold blood hung suspended in the air, wreathed in searing divine power and authority, steaming with a gilded vapor.
High above the heavens, an impartial existence opened its chaotic, merciless eyes. It knew that the God-Slaying Sword, silent for eons, was about to claim its first god, marking the beginning of a grand sacrificial rite with a mortal presiding as high priest.
The one to fall was named... the Sea God. (End of chapter)