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After Mo Tuo finished speaking, he didn’t immediately take action but instead let the followers mediate the situation.

However, the relationship between the forces of Light and Darkness had suddenly become tense. Every time Gu Zhan went outside, he could feel the anxious atmosphere.

As his Holy Court was slowly being completed, the statue in the center of the square no longer resembled the Goddess of Light, nor was it Mo Tuo’s likeness. Instead, it was a larger version of Gu Zhan himself.

Gu Zhan didn’t understand why they had chosen to erect a statue of him in the square. After asking, he learned that it was Mo Tuo’s idea.

Mo Tuo said, “As the Dark God Sect takes shape, I will step back into the background. This will help you solidify your power.”

Gu Zhan glanced at him, feeling that this creature was planning something big.

Mo Tuo merely smiled and said nothing.

Time passed, and gradually, the entire town’s residents knew that the Holy Court of Light was their enemy. The Holy Court of Light kept sending people to harass them. Eventually, the conflict between the two sects escalated to an irreconcilable point.

One stormy night, a building of the Dark Holy Court was destroyed by those from the Holy Court of Light. The followers of the Dark Holy Court, enraged, gathered and marched toward the Holy Court of Light.

Gu Zhan didn’t sleep that night. He stood by the window, watching the rain fall.

Mo Tuo stood behind him, his dark robe blending with the night. He hugged Gu Zhan from behind, placed a gentle kiss on his ear, and whispered, “I’ll be back soon.”

Gu Zhan turned to look at him, but Mo Tuo had already vanished from his sight.

Once Mo Tuo left, Gu Zhan began to feel uneasy. He paced around the room, feeling restless. Most of the people had gone to confront the Holy Court of Light, leaving only a few behind. With Mo Tuo gone, Gu Zhan felt as though he was alone.

Perhaps it was because Mo Tuo had always been with him.

Unable to wait any longer, Gu Zhan finally decided he couldn’t just stay behind and wait for the result.

When the rain lightened a little, Gu Zhan changed into travel clothes and went to the backyard to fetch his flying horse. The old companion seemed happy to see him, raising its hooves high and neighing.

Gu Zhan approached, put the reins on the horse, patted its mane, and whispered, “Maybe this will be the last time we meet. Help me out, will you?”

The horse snorted as if it understood and stamped its hooves.

Gu Zhan mounted the horse, and together they galloped through the rain toward the Holy Court of Light.

Unlike the dark night of the Dark Holy Court, the Holy Court of Light was brightly illuminated. From afar, Gu Zhan could already see the massive light barrier surrounding the city. Occasionally, bright flashes erupted from within the barrier—likely the elders using magic.

When he got a little closer, Gu Zhan made the horse land. After removing the reins, he patted its neck and said, “You’re free now. Go wherever you want.”

The horse seemed to understand, raising a hoof and nudging Gu Zhan with its chin.

Gu Zhan stroked it once more before walking toward the light barrier.

Just as he was about to enter the city, a massive black firework shot up from within the barrier, followed by an even brighter explosion in the sky.

Gu Zhan could vaguely make out the statue of the Goddess of Light, her face twisted with anger as she was swallowed by black mist. The mist pressed against her, scattering her light and entangling with it in a fierce battle.

It was a thrilling visual spectacle. As the battle between the Goddess of Light and Mo Tuo began, the number of fireworks decreased. Gu Zhan watched for a while, noticing that the Goddess of Light was gradually being overwhelmed by the darkness. She was being pushed back in a place where light should not have existed—the black night.

The night sky regained its dominance, and the stars and moon shone brightly, as if the battle had never happened.

With the battle over, the light barrier above the city of the Holy Court of Light vanished. The town’s residents, startled by the disturbance, began lighting up their buildings.

At that moment, Gu Zhan suddenly felt a surge of power filling his body. He felt as if he were floating.

A voice, both distant and near, echoed in his ears, “I will crown you as the Pope of the Dark Holy Court, and you will lead this world from now on.”

“The people here will be under your rule.”

Gu Zhan paused for a moment, feeling that Mo Tuo’s words seemed to imply more than just the current world.

But there was no time to think about it, as the system’s voice rang out.

【Congratulations, player, on completing the main storyline objective and becoming… uh… becoming…】

The system stalled for a moment, struggling to say the word “Pope.”

Gu Zhan sighed, “I never lost my status as the Son of Light. Becoming Pope is just the logical next step. Isn’t that completing the task?”

The system: “…”

But Gu Zhan was right. Being banished to the Dark Forest was the final test from the Holy Court of Light, and it had been done in the role of the Son of Light. From Son to Pope… it seemed there was no issue.

The system reluctantly agreed and continued its announcement.

【Congratulations, player, on becoming the Pope, completing the dungeon…】

The system hesitated again.

The dungeon was called “The Son of Light,” yet here was a Dark Pope. Was that really appropriate?

At that moment, Mo Tuo’s voice interjected lazily, “Rename the dungeon to <The Evil God and His Pope’s Happy Life>.”

The system: “…”

The system seemed to be filled with indignation, while Gu Zhan, too, felt embarrassed by the name. He couldn’t help but say, “Hurry up and finish the calculation.”

Who knew what strange things this monster might say next if they didn’t wrap it up quickly.

At this moment, the system seemed to have reached an oddly synchronized decision with Gu Zhan.

【Congratulations, player, you’ve cleared the dungeon. Transmitting now.】

【Rewards will be calculated shortly.】

As soon as the words finished, Gu Zhan’s vision went black.

He had been teleported out.

“Hey, hey, hey.”

It seemed like Mo Tuo’s dissatisfied voice echoed in his ears, but with the sensory disconnect from the teleportation, Gu Zhan couldn’t hear it clearly.

The dungeon had ended abruptly, and it felt somewhat careless, as though many things hadn’t been concluded.

When Gu Zhan opened his eyes again, he found himself in Chun Bai Cheng.

But this Chun Bai Cheng… it didn’t look quite the same as before.

The bright blue, clear sky was now covered by a red-colored cloud, with red light filling the air. This light cast an eerie red hue over the buildings below. The structures on either side had been heavily damaged, and there wasn’t a single person on the street. The whole city exuded a sense of desolation.

Gu Zhan was greatly surprised. Wasn’t Chun Bai Cheng supposed to be like a safe zone?

Could the buildings here really be destroyed?

What had happened?

Gu Zhan opened the system to contact Yu Yezhou and the others.

Yu Yezhou’s reply came quickly. He didn’t say much, only advising Gu Zhan to return to the guild base.

Gu Zhan immediately set off for the guild.

Along the way, he passed a beehive and noticed that its structure had been destroyed as well.

The damage was more severe than that of the surrounding buildings, clearly the main target of the attack. The robots inside, which were used to service players, had collapsed to the ground.

A group of people wearing red clothes were emerging from the beehive. Their expressions were twisted, their eyes tinged with red, and they were filled with fanaticism.

When they saw Gu Zhan walking past, they eyed him with ill intentions.

One even gave him the middle finger.

Though they didn’t approach to attack, Gu Zhan passed by without incident, finally reaching the gate of the Guild.

Yu Yezhou and Xu Yu were waiting at the gate. As soon as they saw him, they sighed in relief and hurried over to ask, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” Gu Zhan nodded and asked, “What happened to Chun Bai Cheng?”

Yu Yezhou sighed deeply. “Everyone’s inside. Let’s talk inside... How come you took so long to finish the dungeon?”

Gu Zhan paused for a moment. This dungeon had a special nature, and just supervising the construction of the Dark Holy Court had taken a lot of time.

He didn’t expect the time in the dungeon to be synchronized with the real world.

So, by that calculation, he had been gone for over a month...

“It’s nothing,” Gu Zhan said. “I just went into a construction dungeon, had to keep an eye on them building things.”

“Wait, the dungeon you were in, with that creature Mo Tuo, was a construction dungeon?” Yu Yezhou was quite surprised.

Gu Zhan almost forgot. Before entering the dungeon, he had mentioned who the dungeon belonged to.

“Ahem.” Gu Zhan coughed lightly. “The situation is a bit complicated. I’ll explain when we get inside.”

He rarely left things unsaid like this, causing Yu Yezhou to look at him more closely.

However, given the urgency of the situation in Chun Bai Cheng, Yu Yezhou didn’t press him for details, leading Gu Zhan inside.

Once inside the guild, the buildings were still intact, and they encountered many people along the way. However, everyone appeared anxious, a far cry from their usual demeanor.

In the conference hall, Sang Yue and Yang Lin had been waiting for some time. When they saw Yu Yezhou bring Gu Zhan in, they both stood up to greet him.

“You’re finally back.”

“We thought you stayed in the dungeon and became one of the monsters.” Sang Yue joked, “Then we’d have to go into the dungeon to find you.”

Gu Zhan replied, “It was a close call.”

Sang Yue sighed. “That’s really lucky. You saw it too, right? With our current situation, it’s uncertain when we’ll be able to enter a dungeon again.”

Gu Zhan asked, “I saw on the way here. What exactly happened?”

The others exchanged glances before finally explaining everything that had happened during this time.

“The people from Hai Chao have gone mad. First, they lured new players into the dungeon, using them as stepping stones to turn into monsters. Later, the system caught on and banned this exploitative behavior in the entire game, throwing those who had already turned into monsters out of their dungeons...”

“But after that, something happened, and those monsters broke out of their dungeons and came to Chun Bai Cheng. They can now attack NPCs and players here! And if anyone teams up with them, they automatically join the monster faction. You can think of it like this: before, Chun Bai Cheng was all green-named, meaning players couldn’t attack each other. But now, with the monsters around, it’s all red-named.”

“Yes.” Yu Yezhou nodded. “At first, they were just vandalizing the streets. But then more and more of them appeared, and their actions grew worse. They attacked small guilds, destroyed the beehive, slaughtered NPCs... It’s like they absolutely hate this game and want to destroy all the rules here.”

Sang Yue sneered. “Who wouldn’t hate it? They tried to join the monsters, only to be thrown out by them. They’re humiliated and angry.”

“I see.” Gu Zhan nodded. “Since the system can expel them as monsters, can’t it do something to change the situation now?”

Yu Yezhou shook his head. “It seems like the system’s capabilities are very limited.”

Gu Zhan had already realized in the dungeon that the ownership of the dungeon belonged to the monster. When the monster wanted to change the name of the dungeon, the system could only agree.

“Then what about the monsters?” Gu Zhan asked.

“The monsters?” Yu Yezhou was startled, seemingly never considering that possibility.

But when he thought about it, if the system was only for managing this world with no defensive or offensive capabilities, what would happen in the event of such chaos?

It seemed the only solution was to target the monsters.

Yu Yezhou said, “But the system’s original intention was to prevent monsters from coming to Chun Bai Cheng. Would it really release them just to expel the people from Hai Chao?”

Sang Yue added, “It’s been so long, and nothing has happened yet. It probably won’t.”

Gu Zhan found it difficult to explain to them that, in a sense, the current players were just fodder for the monsters.

The purpose of this world, in essence, was to serve the monsters.

Of course, the notion that monsters couldn't come to Chun Bai Cheng was simply not true.

Hadn't they already conducted experiments? Both Mo Tuo and Xiao Xiu had made it to Chun Bai Cheng, only their powers were suppressed.

The purpose of the system was to maintain this world, to uphold order and stability.

If that order was disrupted...

Gu Zhan said, “The monsters haven’t come yet; there could be another reason.”

For example, their leader might be too immersed in the dungeon and unaware of what’s happening outside.

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