Jiang Yan had just wanted to ask what this thing was for and why it had appeared here, but a strange and inexplicable sense of dread pulled his gaze back to the sky that was still collapsing. He saw that as the players poured in their strength, the golden web grew far tougher, yet the collapse of the dungeon remained irreversible, and chunks of data glowing a ghostly blue continued to fall from the sky. As more and larger data blocks fell, the golden web holding up the sky gradually tightened. The threads, under extreme pressure, grew thinner and thinner, lighter and lighter in color. It was clear it was reaching its limit. “No…” Jiang Yan instinctively looked toward the [Divine System] on his personal system panel. It was a primal instinct embedded in his DNA, prompting him to draw on the players’ power of belief. At this moment, the players floating beneath the golden web were arguing in the flurry of falling rose petals about why Jiang Yan, who should have already become par...
Looking at the tree, whose shaking amplitude had suddenly increased, Jian Hou couldn’t help but feel a bit worried.
“Yan Yan won’t be in trouble, right??” Jian Hou asked anxiously.
“He is someone with the bloodline of a god. The god’s altar won’t harm him.” Jiekhe, who was lying on the ground, murmured while staring at the shaking tree crown, “He... is now the offering.”
“Offering??” Jian Hou asked, confused.
Jiekhe said coldly, “The offering is sacrificed to the gods. Once the sacrificial ceremony is complete, the gods will punish the impure people.”
At this moment, everyone noticed that the huge rats, which had previously attacked them like mad dogs, were now kneeling on the ground just like Jiekhe, behaving obediently.
The previously terrifying, pus-filled eyes were now full of devotion as they gazed at the black giant tree.
Seeing this, the players exchanged glances.
Tao Shi quietly said to everyone, “We don’t know how long this ritual will take. Let’s take this opportunity to split up and search around for any traces of the Giant Kingdom king’s body.”
“But... what about Yan Yan?” Jian Hou suddenly grabbed Tao Shi.
Lu Sha mockingly advised, “Don’t worry, that’s Jiang Yan! Even if we all die here today, he won’t die!”
Saying that, he looked at the increasingly violent shaking of the tree crown. Jiang Yan was inside.
Ha!
Was this intentional?
They knew this side quest was unfavorable for Jiang Yan, and they knew Yu Jia and others were trying to get rid of him!
So, did they deliberately seize this opportunity to remove Jiang Yan from the side quest, keeping him in a completely safe environment?
So... the boss was right, Jiang Yan really is...
Lu Sha’s smile grew more bloodthirsty. He quietly clenched his fists, thinking to himself:
Jiang Yan must die!
The players searched around the fountain for quite a while but didn’t find any clues about Jiang Yan’s husband’s corpse.
So, they began splitting up again, starting to search each house in the area, which was surrounded by spiked rooftops.
In the end, they searched every single room, upstairs and downstairs, but still found no trace of Jiang Yan’s husband’s body.
The players regrouped near the fountain.
Looking at the black giant tree, which was still shaking, and at the giant rat beneath it along with the small Jiekhe, Tao Shi’s expression darkened:
“It seems the key to the problem is still with Jiang Yan.”
“The ritual...” Yu Jia said, holding a cigarette, “We’ll probably have to wait until it’s over.”
“But when will this ritual end?!” Jian Hou said, feeling a bit overwhelmed. “We’ve been running around these houses for at least two or three hours, and this ritual still hasn’t finished!”
“Did you all forget? If we don’t leave the town before dark, we’ll never get out?!”
With these words, all the players froze.
That’s right! They had almost forgotten that there was a time limit in this town.
According to what the man they met when they first entered the town had said, if they didn’t leave before nightfall, they would become part of the town forever—just like that unlucky man, or like Jiekhe in front of them.
Every day, chased by the giant rats, over and over again being bitten, chewed, and spat out...
The girl with glasses screamed and rushed into the Crew Cut's arms.
He tightly embraced her and looked at Tao Shi and the others. “What exactly is Jiang Yan doing in there?!”
Tao Shi, Cao Youfeng, and Jian Hou exchanged looks.
What is he doing?
They were just as curious.
The ritual...
No matter what the ritual is for, has Jiang Yan also forgotten about the time limit?!
Yes, Jiang Yan had indeed forgotten.
Not to mention the ritual, he had nearly forgotten that he was still in a terrifying game.
At this moment, he was lying on the soft tree crown, covered with tentacles. His whole body was coated in green slime, and he was too tired to even lift a finger.
He was fast asleep.
Rather than calling it sleep, the word "comatose" would be more fitting.
This ritual had lasted for three hours and nearly cost him his life.
Jiang Yan curled up, his body covered in faint scars, his sweat soaking his hair, which stuck to his forehead. His long eyelashes trembled with his breath.
The poor offering, subjected to the cruel plundering and devouring of the gods.
At this moment, the tentacles, as the incarnation of the gods, were swaying joyfully. Many of them continued to suck on the little fairy in their grasp, as if they weren’t yet satisfied.
However, all joy must come to an end.
The black tentacle coiled around Jiang Yan’s waist and abdomen, rising like a snake. The suction cups on it turned into round, green eyes.
Countless green eyes, dense and numerous, stared at the naked person between the tentacles, looking through the layers of eyes toward the ultimate gathering place of the cosmic energy.
Countless particles of cosmic energy, like fireflies, poured out from the universe, forming thin energy webs.
These webs, resembling delicate threads, gathered all the energy into the domain of the gods, concentrating on the divine throne that shimmered with golden light, shaped like a tree crown.
The god lazily sat in the chair, watching the image of the lover who was quietly sleeping on his lap. He reached out, greedily tracing the outline of his lover.
Green hair hung beside his nearly translucent white cheeks, and his bright green eyes were filled with tender affection and lingering sorrow.
“Yan Yan…”
He murmured softly.
“Yan Yan, do you want to know the truth? Perhaps… after you know the truth, you won’t want me anymore.”
“Yan Yan, tell me, do you think I should die before you abandon me?”
He tilted his head, as if seriously considering the feasibility of this matter.
“But, if I die, the world will be destroyed… If the world is destroyed, everything you like, Yan Yan, will vanish, and you will be even more angry and hate me even more…”
As he spoke, a long sigh escaped his lips.
“If only I could turn into a corpse! Let me be with you as a corpse, cold and preserved in formalin, so I can never decay…”
“Yan Yan can come every day to see me, frozen in a glass jar, unmoving, many pieces of me!”
“At night, I would secretly crawl out of the glass jar and sneak into Yan Yan’s bed to tease you!”
Saying this, the god laughed at his own fantasy of a happy life.
However, as he laughed, he suddenly broke into a violent coughing fit.
Cough cough... cough!
Golden blood spilled from his mouth, falling to the ground, through the image of Jiang Yan sleeping in his lap.
His already pale face grew even paler.
He looked at the person in his arms, still peacefully asleep, and smiled weakly.
“Yan Yan... don’t hate me…”
Jiang Yan, lying in the tree crown, suddenly shivered and instantly woke up from his deep sleep.
He gasped for breath, instinctively pressing his hand to his chest.
For some reason, there was a sudden emptiness in his heart, as though he was about to lose something incredibly important.
The sudden panic made Jiang Yan shed two tears without understanding why.
At this moment, all the tentacles around him quickly closed in, trying to comfort him.
The thicker tentacles wrapped around his waist and patted his back, gently soothing him as one would a child.
Some of the smaller tentacles performed tricks in front of him, trying to make him smile.
However, Jiang Yan did not laugh. After the emptiness in his heart was filled by these tentacles, all that remained was a deep sense of grievance.
“Why has it turned out like this?” Jiang Yan muttered, wrapped in the black, massive tree.
He knew that this, too, was part of what had happened to his missing husband.
Why had he done this to himself?
The black giant tree couldn’t answer him. It merely continued to sway gently, like a cradle, trying to make the wife curled up within its tree crown feel more comfortable.
Jiang Yan hugged the tentacles in his arms and said wearily, “Husband, I’m a bit tired…”
The black giant tree that was swaying and the tentacles that were trying to cheer Jiang Yan up all froze at once.
Even after they got married, Jiang Yan rarely called Yu Xiu “husband.” Most of the time, it was when he was on the bed, overwhelmed by Yu Xiu, begging and calling him that.
In daily life, Jiang Yan only called Yu Xiu “husband” twice on his own initiative.
Once was when his grandfather passed away, and once was now.
Both times were when he was completely consumed by a sense of vast emptiness and helplessness.
Since he was young, Jiang Yan rarely experienced strong emotional fluctuations, and everyone around him knew this.
However, what the people around him didn’t know, not even his parents or Jian Hou who grew up with him, was that the reason he rarely had strong emotional fluctuations was that he always felt his body didn’t belong to him.
Jiang Yan didn’t know how to describe that feeling.
Since he was little, he always felt that his soul hovered half a head above his body.
When he spoke or acted, it felt as though his soul was struggling to control this body.
When he listened to others speak, he always felt there was a layer between them, like communicating with the world through a layer of transparent glass.
Everything he touched, heard, or felt seemed like it was filtered through that transparent glass.
Because of this, he couldn’t empathize too much with the world around him.
Nor could he develop strong emotions for those people he interacted with through that metaphorical glass.
He always felt an emptiness inside.
This emptiness would expand to infinity when he lost things he cared about, or missed opportunities, or when things he thought were within his grasp slipped away.
That terrifying emptiness would make him feel like he was falling into an icy cave, his whole body trembling.
It wasn’t sadness, it wasn’t anger, it was emptiness.
It was like the departure of his grandfather, Yu Xiu’s disappearance, and now his helplessness in this game.
Thus, since he was young, Jiang Yan tried his best not to care about anyone or anything to avoid being swallowed by this emptiness.
His parents and Jian Hou had been with him since birth, so over time, he could at least be sure that they would stay with him for most of his life, and that’s why he slowly began to form some feelings for them.
And so, his soul drifted above his body for nearly twenty years.
Until that rainy day in his second year of college, those green eyes met his.
In that instant, his soul seemed to be punched back into his body—his entire heart had never felt so full!
This is also why he allowed Yu Xiu, a person he had just met, to invade his life without any defenses.
Why, when he found out that Yu Xiu liked him, he immediately rejected that love without hesitation.
Because he wanted to be with Yu Xiu forever.
He wanted Yu Xiu to stay by his side forever, just like his parents and Jian Hou.
What he understood as “love” was the most insignificant and fragile kind of emotion.
From childhood to adulthood, the people around him who said “I like you,” who talked about “love,” always came rushing in and then just as quickly left.
Usually, within a month, they’d disappear due to his indifference, and those who held on longer didn’t last more than a year.
It was like when Yu Xiu argued with his roommate, Hang Zhize, at the door of his dormitory, claiming that he was pursuing Jiang Yan.
From the initial passionate pursuit to the later cold and awkwardness, it only took one semester and a winter break.
Later, because it was just too awkward, Hang Zhize went to the dorm supervisor and requested to switch dorms, and finally, Yu Xiu happily moved in.
Because of this, Jiang Yan didn’t like the idea of “love.”
Because there were just too many people around him like that, Jiang Yan had once tried to seek answers for himself.
In the end, he researched a lot and found that “love” was nothing more than a chemical reaction caused by dopamine.
Humans were "promiscuous" animals.
In the natural world, there are many "monogamous" animals that mate with only one partner for life, but humans are not one of those species.
The "one and only" in human love was merely a moral constraint that society placed on human behavior, created to conform to social development.
However, laws and morals can only constrain human actions, not the deeper layers of human nature and instincts.
As "promiscuous" animals, humans’ dopamine-driven attachment to their partners would naturally decrease over time, eventually fading completely.
This is also why many people say, "Love eventually turns into family affection," or, "Staying together in the end is all about the character of the people involved."
The idea of “one love for life” is just a moral constraint imposed by society to regulate human behavior.
In this world, there is no such thing as eternal, unchanging love.
So when Jiang Yan found out that Yu Xiu liked him, all he felt was fear.
Nothing else remained, just fear.
Yu Xiu liked him... and that meant that, just like all the other people who had pursued him, Yu Xiu would eventually leave him and move on to the next person.
In that moment, Jiang Yan was certain he needed to distance himself from Yu Xiu.
He didn’t need Yu Xiu’s “love,” which was bound to disappear.
He hadn’t fallen in love with Yu Xiu and couldn’t respond to Yu Xiu’s feelings in any way!
What he wanted from Yu Xiu’s feelings were affection and friendship, but Yu Xiu actually liked him?!
This disappointed him greatly.
Let alone the fact that after Jiang Yan rejected him, Yu Xiu truly disappeared from his life.
That time, he no longer felt cold.
Since Yu Xiu entered his life, his soul had never felt as if it were floating in midair again, and he no longer had that feeling of being separated from the world by a glass barrier. As a result, that indescribable emptiness rarely appeared in his heart.
Instead, it was replaced by some special emotions.
Jiang Yan himself didn’t know how to describe these emotions.
Sometimes, they felt like smiling fireworks, as if Yu Xiu’s smile bloomed in his heart like tiny stars.
Other times, they felt like countless butterflies, fluttering in his chest whenever Yu Xiu suddenly came close or acted affectionately.
Jiang Yan didn’t know what these emotions were. He had always been unfamiliar with emotions, let alone these strange, previously unknown feelings.
When he clearly rejected Yu Xiu’s feelings, and Yu Xiu disappeared completely from his life, he felt as if someone had poured a bottle of lemon soda water over his heart—sour, astringent, mixed with an indescribable sense of grievance.
Jiang Yan didn’t know what these emotions were.
But he was certain that it was definitely not love!
He would never feel this kind of emotion for anyone, especially not for Yu Xiu, the person he had chosen to spend his life with.
Unfortunately, Yu Xiu disappointed him.
Yu Xiu’s feelings for him turned out to be just a temporary infatuation caused by hormones and dopamine.
So, amid the sourness and bitterness of the lemon, there was also anger.
Then, his heart began to feel empty again.
During that time, busy studies and life filled him up, but his heart remained empty.
Until Yu Xiu reappeared...
Later, he married Yu Xiu, and his heart never felt empty again.
Strangely, even after he and Yu Xiu divorced, and Yu Xiu disappeared, he never felt that emptiness again.
Perhaps it was because he had been so filled up by others before, that he had forgotten what the feeling of emptiness was like.
However, now...
"Thud."
A tear fell from Jiang Yan’s eye, landing on the black tree crown, mixing with the green mucus.
Now, that feeling had returned, once again accompanied by the sourness of lemon soda water.
Jiang Yan’s first reaction was a sense of grievance.
It was all Yu Xiu’s fault!
It's all this bastard's fault!
If he had never met this bastard, his heart would have stayed empty, and he wouldn't have felt any discomfort or pain!
It’s because he met this guy, after meeting him, his soul seemed to return to his body.
Before, when his grandfather passed away, his heart felt empty for a moment, but Yu Xiu was there by his side.
However, now Yu Xiu, for some reason, had turned into this way...
He didn’t know why, suddenly, there was a group of people who wanted him dead.
He didn’t know why the important people around him were all dragged into this game—Yu Xiu, Jiekhe...
Jiang Yan was afraid that, in some future scenario, he would encounter his parents.
Clearly, he didn’t care about anything...
Thud, thud...
Jiang Yan’s tears kept falling like raindrops from his face, blending into the green mucus beneath him.
The black giant tree and the tentacles were all startled.
They panicked, trying to comfort their wife, hoping to make him happy again.
However, after Jiang Yan called out "husband," it was as if his emotions had been unlocked all at once, and he couldn’t hold them back anymore.
At that moment, he felt like a newborn baby, letting out his first cry in response to this completely unfamiliar and unknown world.
The 663, who had just regained his sight, was startled.
He watched, stunned, as large tears slid down the eyes of his usually calm host, Jiang Yan, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to respond.
“What... what happened?! Jiang Yan, what’s going on?!” 663 asked with concern.
Jiang Yan shook his head, burying himself completely among the tentacles, allowing the green mucus to wrap around him like a layer of membrane.
At that moment, only Yu Xiu’s presence could give him a brief sense of safety.
Jiang Yan’s cries echoed through the crown of the black giant tree and reached the players’ ears.
The players looked on, confused, at the swaying giant tree.
Under the tree, Jiekhe and the giant rat were still kneeling in prayer, waiting for the ceremony to end.
“This... what happened? Why is he crying now?” Cao Yufeng asked curiously.
Jiang Yan's parents were shocked. "What’s going on? Why is he suddenly crying?"
This guy hadn’t even cried when he was born! The doctor had to literally pull him by the feet and smack him before he cried out!
That damned tree...
Damn it!
Jian Hou now hated himself for not having the proper items.
Although Tao Shi and the others said that the items didn't have much of a use in this small town, wasn’t that fire sword of Lu Sha still usable?
Even if the items weren’t very useful, at least if he had one, he could go up and fight, which would be better than being completely unarmed like he was now!
Leaving Jiang Yan all alone in that giant tree.
And what about gods, and what about sacrifices...
He was about to be driven mad with worry!
"Host, I think I need to remind you of something..."
Recently, 254 had been quite silent in his mind, but now it spoke up.
"You aren’t completely without an item," 254 continued.
Jian Hou was momentarily stunned. "What do you mean?"
"Didn’t you forget? In the last instance, Jiang Yan gave you a rose," 254 replied.
Jian Hou’s eyes brightened!
Right!
In the last instance, Jiang Yan had given him a rose, mostly for monitoring and eavesdropping on Yu Jia!
At the time, they had even recorded Yu Jia’s words saying that if Jiang Yan’s item could really allow him to leave the instance for five minutes, he would call Jiang Yan "Dad."
Speaking of which... had this guy fulfilled his promise? Had he actually done it?
Thinking about it, Jian Hou cast a strange glance at Yu Jia.
Yu Jia, who was smoking, returned a puzzled look at Jian Hou.
Did he have something on his face?
Was it because Jiang Yan was crying?
Jiang Yan crying had nothing to do with him! How low was his presence in this instance?!
Although killing Jiang Yan was a task for the [Puppet Workshop] guild, this time he was truly just here to run the dungeon. His real goal wasn’t Jiang Yan, but...
Yu Jia retracted his gaze and looked at the towering tree in front of them.
Ugh! This is so reckless!
"Host! Host? Are you still listening to me?"
254’s voice snapped Jian Hou back to reality.
He shifted his gaze away from Yu Jia and asked, "What did you say?"
"Why don’t you try using that rose?" 254 suggested.
"That rose wasn’t given to me by Jiang Yan to eavesdrop, was it? What can it do? Should I throw it at the tree to eavesdrop on what’s happening to Jiang Yan inside?" Jian Hou replied.
"Of course not." 254 explained, "Host, perhaps you don’t know that every item has its own unique properties. Players and real NPCs can develop different uses for items based on their characteristics."
"For example, the rose’s characteristic is that it’s a plant, and the nature of plants is that they can grow."
"What do you mean?" Jian Hou was confused.
"What I mean is, would you like to try using that rose to see if it can grow vines and branches? If it can, it might grow into a rose tree, and perhaps the thorny vines could be used to rescue Jiang Yan?" 254 suggested.
"It can do that?! Quickly, quickly, how do I try?" Jian Hou eagerly asked.
"You just need to click open the item bar and pour your mental power into it," 254 explained.
Jian Hou followed the instructions, opening the item bar and immediately poured his mental power into the rose Jiang Yan had given him.
At that moment, a pop-up appeared on his game panel.
"Ding!"
【Player Jian Hou: Do you wish to become Jiang Yan's follower?】
"What is this?! Damn it?! Host, don’t..."
The sudden pop-up nearly caused 254 to short-circuit!
Before he could finish his sentence, Jian Hou, without hesitation, clicked the "Agree" button.
254: "..."
"Ding!"
【Congratulations to player Jian Hou for becoming Jiang Yan's follower. Please always sincerely believe in your god.】
"My god?" Jian Hou was still in shock. "Are you talking about Jiang Yan?"
"You... have betrayed the main god." 254 said with difficulty.
"Really? Well, that’s fine! I have no interest in following your foolish main god!" Jian Hou said nonchalantly.
"Host!! Do you know the consequences of betraying the god?!" 254 was in despair.
"I don’t know, and I don’t want to know." Jian Hou began examining the rose in his hand.
Right now, he hated himself!
He hated himself for bringing up the damn rose!
No! What’s going on with this rose?!
Why can an item change its faith?!
This is so bizarre!
Right... it’s bizarre!
How can an item that has the ability to leave the instance for five minutes not be bizarre?!
He shouldn’t have brought it up to the host! He should have just let the host completely forget about it in the item bar!
Thinking about this, 254 started regretting, banging his head wildly against the keyboard.
"Bang, bang!"
The surrounding colleagues couldn’t help but show concern:
"Hey? Are you okay?"
"Did the host die again? No worries, just switch to another one!"
"Sigh, recently, there’s been a bunch of players with really poor qualifications coming in, and it’s been putting a lot of pressure on all of us."
"…"
The systems started to grumble about their hosts in unison.
254 didn’t respond, still using his face to slam against the keyboard.
Meanwhile, the fragrant orange rose petals began to swirl around Jian Hou.
"—"
The new players were stunned.
Jian Hou and Cao Yufeng both stared wide-eyed.
"This... did Jiang Yan use an item?" Tao Shi asked.
As soon as he finished speaking, the rose petals on Jian Hou’s body fell to the ground and transformed into thorny rose vines.
The rose vines, like slithering serpents, stretched toward the black giant tree. They quickly climbed upwards and eventually merged into the tightly wrapped tree.
"Whoosh—"
The moment the vines reached the tree crown, the thorns of the roses instantly bloomed!
Bright red thorn roses burst open in an instant and just as quickly withered and fell. The dry petals, heavy with fragrance, floated down from the giant tree.
"This must be Jiang Yan’s item, right? But why didn’t we hear the main system’s broadcast?" Cao Yufeng asked.
The petals, dry and withered, continued to float down from the air, making the scene look dreamy and surreal.
As the petals landed on the players, an interface appeared before each one.
The main system’s broadcast sounded:
"Ding!
[Dear player, would you like to become Jiang Yan’s new follower?]"
Upon seeing this, the players' faces changed instantly!
The new players, however, were completely confused and curious, asking:
"What’s this? Do we need to click it?!"
"If we click it, will something happen?"
"Should we click 'Yes' or 'No'?"
"Wait... there’s no 'No' button?"
"..."
"Chirp, chirp, chirp—!"
Just as the players were confused by the pop-up window on their game panel, the giant rat and Jiekhe, who had been kneeling reverently under the black giant tree, slowly stood up.
Jiekhe quickly darted into the crowd of players, hiding behind Jian Hou, watching warily as the giant rat slowly walked toward them.
"Chirp—!"
The giant rat let out a long howl, his decayed, green-glowing eyes staring at the players. He spoke slowly, each word deliberate:
"The sacrifice is over—"
"Repent for your sins before the gods, heathens."
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