Chapter 52

A massive online game, even if its underlying tone was a doomsday counteroffensive, couldn’t be completely oppressive.

Most players played games to have fun and relax. Players could occasionally take a big dose of suffering for an adrenaline rush, but if they could never relax, the game would be “critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful.”

That Fantasy Realms had kept running for so many years and still managed to set new record lows for player count (yes, lows, doge head) showed how well that balance was maintained.

Whenever it was halfling storyline time, for example, it would veer toward classic fairy tales, letting players transform the twisted or “original” dark fairy tales into the familiar, heartwarming versions everyone knew. The game’s many “memory quests” about the gods would also whisk players back to the distant era of mythological crossover chaos, letting them savor the love, hate, and feuds between gods back when they were still swaggering about.

Speaking of the Divine War, it was basically an adaptation of Norse mythology, Greco-Roman mythology, and Biblical tales.

To sum up: various family dramas, romantic entanglements, aristocratic scandals, heroic trials…

The so-called lofty gods, driven by desires even uglier than the mortals they scorned, sparked all kinds of conflicts, letting players watch one clown show after another from a bystander’s perspective. This was the quintessential, richly ironic flavor of Western epics you just had to savor.

Watching the gods’ arrogant posturing in all those memory storylines, then returning to reality and watching the miserable gods hopping mad, yelling “Don’t talk about my dark history!”—that feeling was even more exquisite.

Right? Isn’t that right, Sea God, who’s now just a tiny little blob?

The Sea God temporarily quieted down, no longer wasting His scant strength on impotent rage. Xia Xifeng and Siger finally got a chance to take a bath.

Having shared the ordeal of being doused by the Sea God, Siger and Xia Xifeng grew considerably closer. They no longer stood on ceremony with that “you guess, I guess” attitude.

Siger let his hair down again, returning to his gentle priestly appearance. “Exactly what trouble has my Lord encountered? How much can you reveal? Amuruo kept up his mysterious act, just telling me I’d know once I completed this journey.”

Xia Xifeng said, “I don’t have enough experience to know how much I can reveal. Anyway, the Sea God’s state is very bad.”

Siger asked, “Does it involve the same Evil God Silver Moon faced?”

Xia Xifeng replied, “It involves Evil Gods, anyway. I don’t know if it’s the same one.”

Siger pressed his forehead. “What Evil God could simultaneously wound the Sun God and the Sea God? Could it even still be called an Evil God?”

An Evil God was a “demigod” who used radical means to covet a deity’s Authority without possessing divine authority by mandate—like Perila when he’d been seduced and corrupted.

Though absolutely impossible, if Amuruo one day wanted to seize divine Throne Authority through abnormal, radical means, he, too, would become an Evil God.

By that definition, it was already impressive if an Evil God could trap a single true god. And if He could trap a true god, there was definitely another powerful god backing Him—or it was some other god directly intervening.

Like how the Sea God’s projection had been tricked and murdered by the God of Conspiracy’s projection. Right, Sea God?

Siger simply could not imagine how the Sea God—whose personality might still be rotten, but who at least had learned from past mistakes in serious matters—could be swindled to the point that Xia Xifeng was shouting at the ocean asking if He was dead yet.

Even if the Sea God truly was that stupid again, the Twin Suns were two gods who trusted each other eternally. How could They also be tricked?

Siger asked, “Can you reveal how badly the Twin Suns were wounded?”

Xia Xifeng looked at Qin Lang. How much should they reveal?

Qin Lang said, “Birth’s Sun is unharmed.”

Siger silently took a sip of his overly sweet black tea to soothe his startled heart.

After Qin Lang finished speaking in riddles that meant “you understand, I understand,” Xia Xifeng moved the plot forward. “How much do you know about the Sea God’s current situation?”

Siger pulled out a stack of documents. “I cannot speak too much of my Lord’s affairs. All the cases processed through the church are here.”

Since the Sea God had already splashed water on Xia Xifeng’s head, Xia Xifeng could be trusted. Siger handed over all the materials he’d prepared in advance.

Qin Lang reported the intelligence he’d analyzed through the system to Xia Xifeng.

Based on Qin Lang’s analysis, Xia Xifeng recalled the storyline quests from the game that might relate to this.

When players first entered the game, the ocean was already largely inaccessible. That is, the ocean map was locked.

As the main storyline progressed, the ocean map opened, and players pieced together the truth behind the Sea God’s near-fall—any nation named Atlantis definitely spelled trouble; all oceanic disasters absolutely started from there.

The “Black Water Calamity” had erupted from Atlantis’s capital, quickly staining the entire ocean black.

The Sea Demons living in Atlantis and nearby instantly contracted a plague and were nearly wiped out.

It was during his exploration of the ruins of Atlantis’s capital that Xia Xifeng had formed his “unbreakable grudge” with the Sea God.

He was one of the players pioneering the Sea God’s legendary quest series. He completed the quest chain perfectly, but the quest reward was docked. The reason given? The Sea God’s favorability toward him hadn’t met the requirement.

Xia Xifeng had rerolled a new character and flattered the Sea God’s statue the way one might flatter parents about to hand out New Year’s money. Only then did he receive the full quest reward—”Sea God’s Boon.” From then on, he never needed to bring an oxygen tank underwater.

Xia Xifeng: 【My Life Skills already maxed out ‘Underwater Breathing (No Oxygen Required).’ I don’t need ‘Sea God’s Boon’ just to kiss up to Him.】

Qin Lang: 【Oh.】

He’d been about to say that “Sea God’s Boon” might have other uses in reality.

But then again, given it was reality, a “life-saving grace” should be enough to make the Sea God, even with insufficient favorability, grudgingly give them a buff. So let Xia Xifeng do as he pleased.

As long as you could mess around without failing the quest, wasn’t that what it meant to be a player gaming?

No matter how harsh the requirements for a “perfect ending,” players still wanted to dance a tap dance on the tightrope. That was what being a player was about.

Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang analyzed for a day. The ship slowly sailed toward the Sea God Temple.

Siger’s heart grew heavier.

The Sea God had promised to open a portal directly, yet He’d made them wait a whole day. He truly was very weak.

So then, being that weak, why waste energy on splashing water?!

When the moon rose, the Sea God finally notified Siger that the receiving teleportation formation could be prepared on the ship. They would teleport when the moon was at its zenith.

Siger: “You went to ask Silver Moon for help, didn’t you?”

Sea God: 【I did not.】

Siger: “You’ve already allied with the Twin Suns?”

Sea God: 【I did NOT! They came to help on their own out of respect for me!】

Siger: “My Lord, you are already a very mature deity. If you have formed an alliance, please treat your allies with appropriate respect. Such an attitude will only make you a laughingstock.”

Sea God: 【Who dares!】

Siger: “The Twin Suns dare. If you don’t respect Them, why should They respect you? The Sun God was born before the ocean god. They are your seniors! Stop wasting your energy splashing seawater on me. Save your strength for serious matters.”

The Sea God gave no further response. Siger took it as His having reflected.

That Siger could communicate directly with the Sea God, yet was neither a God’s Favored nor had risen to Archbishop, let alone Pope—truly, he had only himself to blame.

What kind of believer lectures his Lord like this?

By the time Siger notified Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang that the teleportation formation was ready, the two had also finished organizing the intelligence they’d analyzed and handed it to Siger.

This intelligence wasn’t the full picture.

The intelligence Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang had gotten from the game likely fell under “Prophets’ foreknowledge” and couldn’t be stated outright.

They could only deduce as close to the truth as possible based on the currently available information.

Xia Xifeng said, “Because the victims were all clergy, this attack was classified as a provocation against the Sea God. The ultimate objective isn’t wrong, but the perpetrator’s personal motives might go beyond that.”

Around every attack site, there had been “innocent bystanders” who were caught up and killed.

These “innocent bystanders” had professions that were too varied—some nobles, some commoners. Nor were the nobles all from the same faction. So the church’s enforcers, when analyzing the cases, hadn’t paid them much attention.

Siger thought along the lines of Xia Xifeng’s analysis.

Siger understood: what Xia Xifeng wanted to convey wasn’t an “analysis” but, through this “analysis,” intelligence he couldn’t reveal directly.

Xia Xifeng clearly already knew part of the truth but couldn’t tell him.

As fellow people deeply entwined with gods, Siger understood the moment Xia Xifeng hinted.

The perpetrator might not be wholeheartedly committed to his deity; he had his own agenda too. Killing clergy might be for the deity backing him; those he “implicated” were for himself.

Xia Xifeng pulled a pair of glasses from his inventory and put them on.

Never mind what practical use the glasses had—they had to be worn (even though he didn’t quite grasp it himself). When performing psychological profiling, a white lab coat and gold-rimmed glasses were mandatory attire.

Siger’s mouth twitched twice as he watched Xia Xifeng suddenly change clothes mid-conversation.

Qin Lang lowered his head a bit further.

Xia Xifeng frequently made those walking beside him feel embarrassed for things that had nothing to do with them.

Siger listened as Xia Xifeng explained “psychological profiling” and “offender profiling,” gradually becoming absorbed.

Though fifty percent of Xia Xifeng’s words were far-fetched conjecture, he wove it all to sound thoroughly convincing, like writing a novel.

“To summarize.” Xia Xifeng pushed up the glasses on his nose bridge with his middle finger. “If this person’s mind is not completely controlled by the Evil God, then he himself is definitely scum who doesn’t regard human life as anything—a person of relatively high social standing, but holding little real power, usually idle with nothing to do, and possibly even looked down upon by others of his rank. That’s why he kills so unbridledly to vent his anger and find a thrill in it.”

Siger nodded repeatedly. A path for finding the perpetrator was forming in his mind.

Xia Xifeng was implying that the murderer was some noble of Atlantis who, on the surface, seemed incapable of committing such atrocities. Simply by going through the social connections of everyone caught up in this and finding the intersection point of their social circles, they could flush this person out.

The workload was heavy, but it was better than being a headless fly.

Xia Xifeng continued his “psychological profiling”: “Someone like this would likely watch the chaos he caused from the closest vantage point.”

The corner of Siger’s mouth curved upward. “I will find him.”

This little knight was so clever, actually using this method to pass information to him. Amuruo, learn from him! Stop just being all mysterious! Use your brain!

“That’s enough. That’s about it.” Qin Lang suddenly spoke.

Xia Xifeng had wanted to say a few more things but immediately stopped upon hearing this to avoid spoiling more. “That’s all the information we could analyze.”

Siger looked at Qin Lang.

Qin Lang still wore that expressionless, “alive but barely” face.

Siger clicked his tongue inwardly.

It was as if he were seeing a second Amuruo.

After receiving the intelligence Xia Xifeng implied, Siger immediately issued orders.

Even though night had fallen, there were plenty of worker bees to do the work.

For this case, both the Atlantis law enforcement and the Sea God Church’s enforcement had already endured many sleepless nights.

Siger had his subordinates investigate conspicuously.

He wasn’t afraid of exposure.

If Xia Xifeng’s “psychological profiling” was correct, provoking the perpetrator would drive him to commit another crime soon.

They had already narrowed down the perpetrator’s likely identity. He could then borrow the Sea God’s power and catch the person the moment they acted again.

Though the Sea God was gravely injured, the ocean’s rules hadn’t been broken yet. The ocean was still under His control.

“It’s time to depart.” Siger finished handling miscellaneous affairs just as the time to activate the teleportation formation arrived.

Xia Xifeng changed clothes once more, took off his glasses, and geared up energetically to go meet the Sea God.

He’d already prepared his opening draft, guaranteed to make the Sea God explode with rage.

The sea beneath the ship glowed with an azure light. The Silver Moon in the sky cast down silvery-white moonbeams. The small ship was enveloped by pillars of light from above and below.

The light faded, and the ship vanished.

On the sea surface, a blob of black water appeared abruptly, like an ink stain.

The black water swirled twice. A wave, born without wind, rose and slammed viciously down onto it.

The black water dispersed like foam.