Infinite spooky game

In Shuangxi Town, a white mist rises between the ancient white walls and black tiles. Paper figures with rouge on their cheeks and red lips wander back and forth in the alleys. For a moment, as if sensing something, they all raise their heads.

A jagged crack appeared in the gray sky, and a pair of scarlet eyes slowly opened and closed, casting a gaze filled with malice and mockery. Golden and red threads intertwined between heaven and earth, layer upon layer binding all the ghosts and evil spirits of this world. The immobile, low-dimensional monsters trembled in fear, watching helplessly as the crimson hue swirled in the mist.

[WARNING! The god-level NPC Qi has forcibly invaded the "Double Happiness Town" dungeon, causing unknown changes to the dungeon's development... Data error...]

[God-level NPCs possess authority second only to world rules; they can appear simultaneously in multiple instances and share memories. Players are advised to proceed with caution and make prudent choices!]

The main quest has been changed to "Slay the Evil God's Contract," a rule-level quest that grants all who complete it unparalleled authority, making them supreme beings...

The piercing alarm shattered the town's tranquility. As if anticipating what was about to happen, the rules made a final, desperate attempt to issue a wanted notice, only to have it abruptly cut off.

A scarlet figure descended upon the town's alleyways, eyes half-closed, calm and collected, and in an instant took control of the area.

Li Yao sat in the Temple of Happiness, leaning against the offering table, sorting through the memories that had suddenly returned to her mind. She remembered that she had died, repeatedly participating in the "Double Happiness Town" dungeon as an NPC, playing the role of a player providing supernatural knowledge.

For some unknown reason, no new players came to the instance for a full year and a half, making her the only player in the world. Now, in order for her to fight that evil god, the rules have actually pulled her back to the human realm.

Those who make the rules have absolute privileges, but this authority is not unconditional or unshakeable.

"We meet again..." A smiling voice rang in her ears. Li Yao turned around abruptly. The evil god in red robes and long hair sat reclining in the shrine, looking down at her with the same smile as before. "Do you still remember where Qi Si's body is?"

In an instant, all other thoughts vanished, leaving only one: to obey the will of the gods. Li Yao struggled to recall, answering blankly, "In... the Temple of the God of Death..."

Only after the evil god's figure disappeared from sight did she inexplicably think that the evil god and Qis looked so alike, but when He talked about Qis, it was as if He was talking about someone else. Upon closer inspection, their faces didn't seem so similar after all...

Beneath the dry well, Qi Xianting strolled across the bluestone slabs. The wailing ceased the moment he stepped onto this land. The thick, damp air seemed to have a life of its own, retreating tactfully. Ghostly figures and paper money scrambled to hide in the shadows, afraid of displeasing this terrifying being.

The small, eerie creature prostrated itself respectfully with its eyes closed, not daring to look directly at anyone; only the soft, slow footsteps could be heard fading away, then stopping again in front of the Temple of the God of Death.

Six coffins were neatly placed in front of the shrine in the temple, their surfaces adorned with intricate and beautiful patterns, only to be erased by the power of the gods in the next instant.

Qi walked to one of the coffins, and the lid rose automatically, revealing a corpse inside wearing a white shirt and black trousers. It was Qi Si, who had entered the "Double Happiness Town" instance before.

All illusions were washed away under the gaze of the gods. The corpse suddenly turned into mist and dissipated. The gleaming white finger bones slowly flew towards the god's right hand and fit into the empty space.

【Name: Evil God's Finger Bone】

[Type: props]

[Effect: Transforms the taste of any meat dish into a vegetarian one]

Now, only a red and black card remains in the empty coffin. One side features a smiling red-clad figure, while the other side is writhing with dark tentacles.

Qi bent down, picked up the card with two fingers, and the newly returned [Humanoid Evil Spirit] scattered into points of light between his fingers. When it reappeared, it was suspended in the void around the gods along with [Closed-Eye Dictator], [Fallen Savior], [Imaginary Orator], [Crimson Priest], [Fool's Deceiver], and [Undead Shepherd].

For a long time, the covenant was indeed incomplete, deceiving the ancestral god into believing that He had truly perished under the sword of god-slaying and in the long course of history. Now, the time has finally come to reap the rewards of the elaborate scheme; all that remains is to systematically reclaim all the previously scattered authority and fragments.

Qi raised his right hand, and the quaint town crumbled inch by inch. The black and white buildings shattered into dust in an instant, leaving behind boundless darkness.

Countless vines intertwine and divide the dark space, with orbs and specks of light scattered among the branches, symbolizing dungeon worlds trapped in a bizarre game.

Qi extended his index finger and lightly touched one of the orbs of light. The smell of disinfectant, typical of hospitals, filled the air. A long, narrow white corridor and the doorways of the wards stretched out beside him, and the croaking of frogs rose and fell, sometimes near, sometimes far.

After the dungeon ended, Frog Hospital became the base of the Unnamed Guild, but its structure was not much different from when it was a dungeon. Qimen, familiar with the place, passed through the hospital's iron gates and headed towards the pond full of frogs.

An invisible suction force acted on the pond water, and a whirlpool appeared out of nowhere, sweeping away all the mud and frog remains in the center of the pond, revealing a pale left hand that merged into the body of the deity, just like the finger bones before it.

【Name: The Left Hand of an Unknown Creature】

[Type: props]

[Effect: After fusing with the player's body, some unknown changes may occur.]

[Note: Data deleted]

The appearance of the left hand filled another gap in the contract. Frog Hospital collapsed like Double Happiness Town. The white walls shattered and collapsed. The manuscript full of copy analysis left by Lin Chen in the dean's office disappeared into the darkness.

The golden sunset ruins unfold before my eyes. The half-withered World Tree stands before the Tower of Babylon. The stone tablet inscribed with twenty-two identity plaques is crooked and cracked. Dust fills the air in the area that has been untouched for a year and a half. European-style buildings in the distance and the nearby rubble ruins are scattered against the twilight sky. The decaying atmosphere of bygone days is overwhelming.

Qi walked straight to the edge of the square. The ruined temple and altar complex stretched as far as the eye could see below the cliff. The jagged boulders overlapped one another, forming the burial mounds where gods were once buried.

He leaped down, stood atop the broken walls and ruins, stepped over the uneven rubble and the scars littered with corpses, and stopped before the tightly closed bronze gate of the abandoned temple.

The gods, who once defied the rules, conspired here. Elegantly dressed young men and women sat on either side of a long table, with cups under the candlelight containing offerings from believers.

As the feast drew to a close, the red-robed, red-eyed lord of the gods rose from his throne and calmly declared to the other gods: "One of our companions has been devoured by the rules. If we do not wish to face such an end, we must make changes."

The illusions of the past dissipated into dust. Qi raised his hand and covered the bronze door. A dull sound accompanied the ashes formed from the erosion of bones. The temple, which had been closed for many days, finally opened its doors to the god who had returned to his throne. The interior was no different from the game space that Qis had once played in.

As Qi stepped into the temple, the murals on the walls regained their vibrant colors, depicting everything from the birth of the gods to the emergence of the bizarre game and His return. The crimson eyes on the dome extended their strokes outwards, meticulously outlining the image of the red-clad deity.

The high-backed chair in the center of the temple is covered with bronze, and the exquisitely carved throne is being formed at a speed visible to the naked eye. The flickering candlelight on both sides reflects the faces of the believers of the past.

Qi stepped over the bronze table, turned to face the direction of the temple gate, and slowly sat down on the throne. Blood-red vines grew rapidly behind him, and pale red light flowed freely in the temple. The soul leaves harvested through the soul contract returned to the control of the gods. The life and death of the whole world depended on the gods' whim.

Qi opened his eyes again, and the barrier between reality and the bizarre game shattered with a deafening roar. Crimson streams of light poured down from the sky, and all living beings simultaneously craned their necks, staring with bloodshot eyes. Long-lost terrifying scenes unfolded before his eyes. Night fell like a stage curtain, and a blood-red moon hung high in the sky, its unsettling red light casting distorted shadows, accompanied by the howls and eerie laughter of unknown creatures.

A vast and unfamiliar phantom of a world slowly descended from the heavens, and those standing on the ground could see the ghosts and monsters roaming above it. Two completely different worlds merged and overlapped second by second, with Gothic castles, eerie villages, and European temples appearing on the earth, interspersed with the original reinforced concrete and skyscrapers.

[Warning! A surge in bizarre spatial phenomena has been detected in the vicinity!]

[WARNING! An unusual concentration has been detected, exceeding the disaster threshold!]

[WARNING! An unknown and eerie entity is suspected of invading reality; preliminary assessment indicates it is an S-level anomaly!]

Anti-paranormal investigation bureaus around the world issued warnings simultaneously. The instruments monitoring the strange concentrations of pollutants beeped frantically, the dials shattered after spinning at high speed for a few seconds, and the warning lights turned bright red.

The investigators frantically pressed the alarm button, but it did nothing but create an ear-piercing noise, leaving them only to ask questions they knew they would never get an answer to.

"What's going on? Wasn't the eerie game supposed to be shut down? Why is there still something eerie?"

"It's an S-class anomaly! God-level! But the evil gods are all dead!"

"Urgent report from Shangri-La branch! The Tower of Babel has appeared on the snow-capped mountains, and A8 squad leader Lin Chen has been killed..."

"Quickly! Investigate the source of the pollution! Evacuate the people!"

Someone was the first to react, grabbing a gun from the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation and rushing out the door. But the moment he was bathed in red light, he froze in place. Those behind him could clearly see his flesh peeling away layer by layer like skin, revealing the stark white bones beneath.

Crimson vines hung down like curtains, extending the body of the gods and occupying every inch of space, dividing the world into irregular small pieces.

The pollution brought by looking directly at the gods acted unrestrainedly on everyone, and all who witnessed this scene shed tears of blood, their minds exploding with chaotic noise and color blocks.

They gradually realized that this pollution was unlike any other strange event they had encountered in the past; it was a real disaster with no solution and no possibility of survival.

"The gods have returned to the world," the voice proclaimed.

Knowledge was transmitted into their brains at an irresistible speed. They learned of the arrival and destruction of the gods at the same time, without even having time to wonder why the gods would descend.

Because it is an established fact, the only truth, and a prophecy that will inevitably come to pass. Just as humanity does not doubt the rising and setting of the sun, they naturally have no way of questioning divine intervention or the impending doom of the world.

Before the malice of the gods, all living beings are as insignificant as ants. Their past survival was merely a surplus left over in the struggle between the gods and the rules. Destruction is inevitable, and they have never had the right to decide it.

……

In Qijia Village, Qi, holding a shovel, hummed a sacrificial song of unknown history and ethnicity as he ceremoniously dug a low mound of earth.

A wooden board was erected in front of the grave, with the four characters "Qisi's Tomb" written on it in traditional Chinese calligraphy, undoubtedly the work of Xu Yao.

The vengeful ghost didn't dare to eat his corpse as Qi Si had said, nor did it handle it properly—there was no coffin or burial clothes; it was simply buried haphazardly in its original state.

Li squatted by the pit, patiently watching Qi dig the soil shovel by shovel.

After killing Qi Si in Jiangcheng as Qi had instructed, He escaped by jumping into the river and swam all the way to the edge of the Land of Fallen Gods before finding an opportunity to go ashore. Unexpectedly, a few days later, the entire world was encompassed by the even larger Land of Fallen Gods.

Li Qi resided in Chang Xu's body, possessing no divine power and thus able only to act cautiously. Fortunately, the body's attributes were quite good; he was significantly stronger than an ordinary person. He managed to evade the Bureau of Paranormal Investigations' blockade, and due to his consistently low profile, he was successfully forgotten by the investigators amidst the chaos.

"After you kill that version of me, you can travel the world for vacation or continue to do things for me, it's all up to you. If it's the latter, then come to Qijia Village and wait for me." That's what Qi said back then.

After wandering around for a while, Li found there was nothing much to do, so he simply came to Qijia Village.

At this moment, Xu Yao has vanished along with all the strange things in the world, leaving only a lonely grave, well, Qi Si's grave.

Li sensed the lingering aura of the gods within the grave mound. Combining this with Qi's words about waiting in Qijia Village, Li secretly guessed that Qi might have left a contingency plan for resurrection with Qi Si, and it was unknown when it would emerge from the ground.

So He waited and waited by the grave, and then He found that Qi had indeed come, though not quite as He had imagined; he did not emerge from the ground, but fell from the sky…

Qi put down the shovel, revealing the young man's intact body at the bottom of the pit. His eyebrows and eyes were gentle and calm, and his face was peaceful and serene, as if he were in a deep sleep rather than having been dead for a long time.

The topsoil was completely removed. Qi bent down and grasped the corpse's left hand. In the glittering golden light, the part belonging to the god was transferred bit by bit through the contact. The clasp was as transparent as glass, and the blood vessels inside were clearly visible. The golden-red blood gradually faded and transformed into bright gilding.

The part of the divine body that was deliberately handed over earlier has returned to the god himself. A complete god who climbs the Tower of Babel alone deserves the highest reward—this is a consensus written into the rules.

The golden sphere containing the World Tree appeared before Him once more, carrying a pleading tone, as if advising Him: Let it end here, take away the authority of the Ancestral God, and restart the world as the rules desire.

Qi raised his hand and grasped the ball of light, lowering his eyes and remaining silent, like a child receiving a belated gift, without much joy, and instead began to think about how to deal with the toy he was no longer enthusiastic about.

Li looked at Qi, then at the orb of light in Qi's hand, and asked, "Will you become the new ancestral god and usher in the Third Era?"

"Why initiate the Third Epoch?" Qi tilted his head as if troubled, seemingly genuinely puzzled by Li's words. "What is the point of a world where I am destined to be bound by its rules?"

Li looked up and stared into Qi's eyes. After a two-second pause, he finally understood Qi's intention, and his expression changed slightly: "You're planning to..."

A burst of maniacal laughter rang out, interrupting His unspoken words. He laughed gleefully, as if he had returned to the time when He was first born under the World Tree, when He first attempted to bring annihilation upon His people.

He grasped the ball of light, suddenly tightening his five fingers. The precious prize, symbolizing victory in the bet, was covered in cracks, and golden shards of light leaked through his fingers like a downpour.

Space trembled violently, and even the figures of the gods flickered and shimmered. Amidst the chaotic light, color, and sound, Li heard Qi's voice lingering: "Li, do one more thing for me." (End of Chapter)