Wang Mama was speechless.
“This……”
“Mom, I’ve known all this for a long time. You don’t need to lie to me about winning some supermarket lottery.”
Wang Zhen stroked the armrest of the wheelchair, his gaze incomparably calm.
This wheelchair had once been a thorn in his heart. His family didn’t speak of it, and he pretended not to know.
But now, he could finally face his feelings and decided to pull out the thorn!
Wang Zhen held his mother’s hands, his expression determined and earnest.
“I have confidence in this Game. It will definitely help me earn enough for the first, the second… the tenth wheelchair!”
“I’ll definitely let you all live a good life!”
“Good, good, as long as you have this heart, Mom is satisfied!”
Wang Mama blinked, hiding her tears.
Gur–gur–
Wang Zhen looked at his stomach and lowered his head in embarrassment.
That sound really came at the worst time!
Wang Mama clapped her hands.
“Aiya, I knew there was something I forgot to say!”
“I saw you hadn’t logged off to eat, so I was going to bring you some food.”
“But I ended up forgetting!”
As she spoke, she turned her head and her gaze landed on the food on the floor at the doorway.
Wang Mama’s face turned red.
“Ahem, Mom will bring you another serving in a moment.”
“It’s fine.”
Wang Zhen shifted himself toward the edge of the bed.
Wang Mama hurried over to help.
Once he was in the wheelchair, Wang Zhen looked up at her.
“Let’s go, Mom. Let’s go downstairs and eat together.”
Wang Mama was both surprised and delighted, nodding repeatedly.
“Good, good, going downstairs is good.”
Her son was finally willing to go out on his own!
Wang Mama pushed her son, carefully avoiding the spilled food at the door, her steps filled with excitement.
She could hardly wait to share this happy news with the old man!
***
Aeltia Continent, Sweetwater Town.
Three Players collapsed to the ground, their heads hitting the floor with a dull ‘thud.’
Even though Leaf Zhi had been dead for hundreds of years, injuries like a broken neck no longer affected him.
Yet upon hearing the sound, his own head still ached.
If Leaf Zhi’s guess was correct…
Tomorrow, when the three Players logged in, each of them would have a bump on the back of their head, the size of a chestnut.
“I hope the Players who learned Holy Light Art have enough magic power.”
He muttered to himself.
Magic exhaustion was not a pleasant experience.
Even if the connection between the Player and their body was only a projection of consciousness.
Once pain stimulus exceeded a certain threshold, the transmission would shut off.
But just the amount of pain they could feel was enough to make them suffer plenty!
Magic exhaustion wasn’t pure pain!
Leaf Zhi had Edegar carry the three Players’ bodies into the church.
He specifically set up a defensive formation inside, spreading dry grass on it.
It would serve as a temporary offline location for the Players.
Player bodies had no consciousness, but lying on the ground all night could still make them sick.
If not handled well, it could become another point driving them away!
Leaf Zhi was extremely vigilant about anything that could impact the early stages of the Game.
Outside the church.
Leaf Zhi dragged out a stone bench Edegar had recently carved.
The ground at the church entrance was where magic flow was most stable and abundant—perfect for his recovery.
Plus, it was convenient for absorbing the energy radiating from the Land of the Gods and the Moon Palace.
Come to think of it, on Blue Star, these would probably be called the Sun and Moon.
Sitting alone outside, Leaf Zhi gazed at the starry sky and let out a wraith-like sigh.
After all, skeletons didn’t really sigh.
“Sigh, being a Game planner isn’t easy.”
Just three Players and Leaf Zhi already had a headache.
It felt just like the early days of establishing the Watchers.
But Players were even more troublesome.
For Watcher members, a bit of bluffing was enough.
But with Players, not only did you have to trick the beta testers, you also had to pay attention to the feedback from the Cloud Players online.
Leaf Zhi stretched out his skeletal hand and slashed the air in front of him.
A magic scroll and quill appeared out of thin air.
“Next time the Players log in, I need to find a way to guide them to build houses.”
He wrote on the paper.
Keeping Players in the church forever wasn’t a solution.
As the number of Players grew, the little town church would soon be unable to accommodate them all.
It might even get to the point where the divine statue would be tossed outside.
He stopped halfway through writing.
“Wait, with just three Players, how long would it take to build a house?”
They’d need either powerful magic or enough manpower.
Unfortunately, the three Players currently had neither.
The plan to build houses would have to be postponed.
Leaf Zhi marked the task as ‘ignore for now.’
“Better to let them act freely and gather various resources first.”
“Maybe in the future I can find a dwarf craftsman or a Player who studied architecture?”
Leaf Zhi glanced at his own Divine Power Value of 23, and his fantasy bubble was instantly popped.
With his current Divine Power Value, he could only summon two more Players at most—how could he afford to be picky?
In the night sky, a silver arc flashed across the heavens.
It was the Moon Goddess’s Carriage.
Though the Moon Goddess had long since fallen.
Each new day, the Carriage still traveled from the Moon Palace to the Land of the Gods, following the rules set by Her.
Welcoming an owner who would never return.
Day after day.
“It’s the second day!”
Leaf Zhi felt a burst of joy!
Xiao Ming should have succeeded in converting Faith Power into Divine Power!
He opened the System Panel again.
Sure enough, the Divine Power Value had quietly changed.
Even in the special items section, there was a new addition!
[Name: Leaf Zhi (Zhi·Mephisto·Karen·Ye)]
[……]
[Divine Power Value: 365]
[Followers: 3]
[Special Items: ? Different-Dimensional Net Spirit ?, Divine Contract (Reversed), 《Beneath the Divine》 Game Console]
[Status: Severely Injured, Weak, Frostbite, Burned, Poisoned, Mental Sea Collapse]
[Summary: Dying Undead]
[Survival Time: 8 days 13 hours 14 minutes]
Leaf Zhi stared at the word ‘followers’ on the panel, finding it particularly jarring.
With a wave of his hand—
The word instantly changed to:
[Players: 3]
Leaf Zhi nodded in satisfaction.
“Mm, now that’s more like it!”
Then he started looking at the other information.
Divine Power Value had soared by 342 points!
The cost of creating Player bodies and Game Panels was instantly recouped!
Before he could celebrate, his attention was drawn to the new special item.
“《Beneath the Divine》 Game Console? Whoa! It appeared so quickly!”
Though he had planned from the start to mislead Players, generating Faith Power with false information and luring divine authority to shift, thereby obtaining game-like artifacts—
He didn’t expect it to happen this soon!
A single day, and there was already progress!
***
“Ahhhhhhh–!!!”
A scream of agony erupted from within the church.
The emotion was no different from an upstanding man waking in the royal palace’s purification room, only to discover he’d become a eunuch.
Leaf Zhi opened the door, and a pale golden cannonball shot toward him.
“Leaf, look, what happened to me!”