On the Ark.

“Oh, oh, oh,” Grani said. “I understand, it’s all a lie.”

"How come you know this is a lie?"

“Because there are no gods in this world,” Grani said with a smile. “So-called gods are all imagined by people; they don’t exist.”

When Grani said those words, both Lin Ye and Warfarin couldn't help but glance at Messiah. Messiah was currently enjoying the scenery outside the window, seemingly oblivious to Grani's words, or perhaps she had heard them but didn't care. Lin Ye leaned towards the latter; after all, Messiah was a deity, why would she bother with a mere young girl like Grani?

boom.

Just as she was thinking this, the cup in Grani's hand suddenly shattered, spilling all the hot water she had just filled onto her pants.

"Huh? How could this happen?" Grani was bewildered. "My cup!"

Lin Ye looked at Messiah again, and then saw a reflection of a slightly upturned mouth in the car window, which made his eyelids twitch involuntarily.

Okay, let's take back that thought. Even though she's a goddess, she's still a woman, she can't possibly be indifferent to everything... right?

So he coughed lightly twice and said to Grani, "Grani, you'd better avoid saying things like that just now."

"Huh?" Grani, who was busy wiping the water off her legs, hadn't reacted yet. "What did you say?"

“It’s something like saying ‘Gods are all fake,’” Lin Ye said. “If a believer in God heard that, it would be a real problem. And the world is so big, how do you know that Gods definitely don’t exist? What if they do exist, and one or two particularly eccentric gods happen to walk by and hear what you just said? What do you think they would think?”

"Dr. Lin, what you're saying sounds a bit scary," Grani asked. "Dr. Lin, have you experienced something?"

Lin Ye glanced at Messiah again, then sighed softly and said to Grani, "I used to be an atheist too, until one day... never mind, it's nothing."

As he spoke, he slowly shook his head, making Grani even more flustered.

"Dr. Lin? Dr. Lin, please finish what you have to say. Don't stop here."

Lin Ye naturally wouldn't say anything more; he felt he had achieved his goal. After hearing his words, the simple-minded Grani shouldn't utter any disrespectful words towards God in the future. Normally, it wouldn't matter, but with a genuine God sitting beside her, it was best to be careful with her words.

Thinking of this, another question couldn't help but pop into Lin Ye's mind.

So, besides the Messiah, are there other gods in this world? There probably are, but if so, what would they be like? If there's a Messiah in such a remote place as Kalan, could there be even more powerful gods in other places? For example... the Yan Kingdom.

Lin Ye currently has no idea what the situation is like in the Yan Kingdom of this world, or whether gods exist there. This makes him want to ask Messiah to see if she knows anything. But he quickly realizes that whether the Yan Kingdom has gods or not has nothing to do with him. Or rather, all the gods in this world except for Messiah have nothing to do with him.

Moreover, it's best to avoid contact with those powerful and unpredictable individuals.

With that thought in mind, Lin Ye put the idea aside and began to appreciate the scenery outside the window.

Half an hour later, the bus stopped at the foot of a high mountain. It was clearly a tourist spot, as there were many tour buses there. Not long after their bus stopped, another bus pulled up beside them. After the passengers got off, Lin Ye noticed that they were almost all Chinese.

"A domestic tour bus?" Lin Ye muttered, just about to look away, when he caught a glimpse of a voluptuous woman wearing sunglasses out of the corner of his eye.

When he looked at the other person, the other person also looked at him.

Their eyes met for about three to five seconds before the other person took off their sunglasses and winked at him.

Chapter 523 Am I playing the female lead? (Second Update)

"Dr. Lin, what are you looking at?" Grani's voice rang out behind Lin Ye.

"Oh, it's nothing."

Lin Ye withdrew his gaze, and the other person put their sunglasses back on, turning and leaving as if nothing had happened.

"Alright, everyone." The tour guide had already begun his introduction. "The mountain we are about to climb is called Fubo Mountain, and the temple we are going to visit is called Fubo Temple. Fubo Temple was built two hundred years ago. Legend has it that it was built by Master Fubo to suppress the Nian monster in this area."

Fubo Mountain? Fubo Temple? Master Fubo? The Nian Beast?

Why does it feel like a bunch of completely unrelated terms have been put together?

Lin Ye was completely confused.

Besides, isn't the Nian monster supposed to be suppressed by setting off firecrackers? How did it get involved with monks?

Lin Ye dared not speak or ask. He simply followed the tour guide, who was holding a megaphone and a flag, as they began to climb the mountain. The group of tourists from Yan Country who had come earlier were ahead of them, and their tour guide seemed to be giving the same introduction as the tour guide here. Lin Ye also vaguely heard the words "Master Fubo" and "suppressing the Nian beast."

"Your expression is strange," Messiah said with a smile as she walked beside Lin Ye. "What's wrong?"

"No." Lin Ye shook his head. He didn't want to say more, but then he thought it was a rare opportunity to have a true god standing beside him, so he lowered his voice and asked, "Have you seen any other gods?"

"Hmm? Why do you ask that?"

"It's just curiosity. Is there any connection between gods?"

Messiah laughed: "Where did you hear all this from?"

"It was just a guess."

“A guess? That’s quite interesting.” Messiah nodded and said, “Although I have never seen other gods, I am certain that other gods exist in this world. And each god does indeed have an aura different from that of mortals, which can be sensed if you are close enough.”

"Is that really how it is?" Lin Ye asked again, "Then how close does it have to be?"

Messiah blinked, then suddenly moved closer to Lin Ye and whispered in Lin Ye's ear, "So close."

Lin Ye could feel Messiah's breath in his ear, and he subconsciously took a step back, his expression stiff.

What the hell is this?!

Lin Ye had often seen similar scenes in novels and anime before, where the male protagonist whispered something in the female protagonist's ear, and the female protagonist would shudder as if she had been electrocuted, and then her face would turn bright red... But what the hell does that have to do with him? He doesn't have any sensitive spots, he just simply finds this action incredibly embarrassing, especially why he, a grown man, is always standing on the female template?

Seeing that Lin Ye had become like a wooden stake, Messiah laughed again: "Want to ask any more questions?"

"No, I won't ask anymore." Lin Ye shook his head subconsciously, but then felt something was even more wrong.

Wait a minute, if he steps back like that... doesn't he look even more like a girl? This won't do, he's a real man.

Lin Ye coughed twice, straightened his chest, and said in an extremely stiff tone, "It takes you this close to feel it. Looks like you're not so great as a god after all."

"Yes, yes, yes." Messiah's smile widened. "You're absolutely right."

Hmm... why do I feel like I've lost even more completely?

Lin Ye felt very frustrated. Why were all the women around him so "seductive"? Couldn't they all be simple, innocent, and naive? Couldn't they all be cute girls like Eyjafjalla, who always said "Senior is so amazing"?

Ugh, this is really tough. Is he playing the female lead?

Realizing that he was no match for Messiah no matter what, Lin Ye decided to tone it down and focus on listening to the tour guide's introduction.

After climbing for about an hour, they finally arrived at the Fubo Temple, as the guide had mentioned. This Fubo Temple wasn't too different from the temples Lin Ye remembered from his previous life, which might be due to Lin Ye's limited knowledge of Buddhism. However, while the temple itself was similar, the monks were quite different, and they weren't worshipping Buddha. Instead, they were worshipping a Vajra standing on a mythical beast, its eyes blazing with fury, looking very imposing.

"This is Master Fubo," the tour guide introduced from in front of the stone statue. "Master Fubo is very powerful. You can offer him incense. Pray for things like marriage and career success. He's very effective. Come, come, those who want to offer incense, come over here. I'm very familiar with the abbot here. Just mention my name, and I can give you a 9.9% discount on your incense money. It's a great deal."

Hmm... this is quite familiar.

It must be said that the tour guide's persuasive skills were outstanding. After listening to her introduction, the people of Ursus present all expressed their desire to go and offer incense, and even Grani was eager to try. She looked at Lin Ye expectantly, seemingly wanting his advice.

Lin Ye sighed and said, "If you want to go, then go. You don't need to ask me."

Grani said, "But didn't you say before that places like this are just for fooling foreigners?"

"You can't say that. After all, this temple is quite grand, and it's obvious that a lot of money was spent building it," Lin Ye said. "So it's not a bad idea to offer a prayer and seek peace of mind."

"Oh, oh, oh." Grani nodded repeatedly. "Do you want to go, Dr. Lin? I can buy you some incense."

Lin Ye shook his head decisively: "No, I'm not a stupid foreigner."

Grani: "..."

Even knowing they might get ripped off, Grani, the little pony, was still in good spirits since they were already there. He immediately caught up with the group and ran off to buy incense. So only a few people remained in front of the statue. Then Lin Ye noticed Skadi standing in front of the statue, examining the divine beast beneath it. He walked over and asked, "What are you looking at?"

Skadi turned and glanced at him, then pointed at the divine beast and said, "I have never seen such a monster before."

"This is not a monster, it is a divine beast."

"A mythical beast?"

"Hmm... I guess so, but I'm not really sure. Didn't the tour guide say it was the Nian beast?" Lin Ye scratched his head and asked, "Are you interested in it?"

“Not really interested,” Skadi said calmly. “I was just wondering how it compares to those big guys in the deep sea.”

Well, is this really Skadi? Her first reaction upon seeing a legendary Pokémon was to consider its power level.

Lin Ye smiled and said, "This kind of comparison is meaningless."

"It's meaningless?"

"It's just a legend," Lin Ye said. "It doesn't actually exist."

“In my opinion, legends all originate from reality,” Skadi said slowly. “The reason you think it doesn’t exist is simply because you haven’t seen it.”

Hmm...it seems I can't refute that.

Lin Ye wanted to say something more, but out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly caught sight of the woman he had seen at the foot of the mountain earlier. He turned his head and saw the woman leave through the side gate of the temple and continue up the mountain.

Chapter 524 Who are you? (Third update)

Because she was somewhat concerned, Lin Ye approached the tour guide and the group of tourists after they returned from buying incense from the hostess and asked her what else was on the mountain.

"What else is on the mountain?" The tour guide frowned slightly, glanced at Lin Ye's empty hand, and said somewhat impatiently, "There are still trees on the mountain."

Lin Ye: "..."

The tour guide walked away without waiting for Lin Ye's response.

"Dr. Lin?" Grani walked over and asked curiously, "What were you asking the tour guide just now?"

"It's nothing." Lin Ye shook his head, then glanced at the incense in Grani's hand out of the corner of his eye, and his eyes widened immediately. "Why is your incense so strong?"

Grani slung the incense over her shoulder and said with a touch of pride, "Because I bought the best."

Lin Ye's lips twitched slightly: "Isn't it the most expensive one?"

“Isn’t the most expensive the best?” Grani said. “The abbot just said that the bigger the incense stick, the more sincere the intention, and the easier it is for the Vajra to protect people.”

“You didn’t say that in the car,” Lin Ye said. “Didn’t you say you didn’t believe in this kind of thing? You even said there’s no God in this world.”

Grani scratched his head and said, "The Demon-Suppressing Vajra isn't a god, is it? Although I don't really believe in such things, since we're already here, I might as well spend some money for peace of mind, didn't you just tell me that?"

Lin Ye: "..."

Warfarin, who was standing next to them, listened to the whole conversation and immediately laughed: "So you're just a silly foreigner in their eyes, little pony."

“Well, I think it’s alright,” Grani said. “It’s only half a month’s salary…”

"Alright, alright, stop talking." Lin Ye couldn't help but shake his head. "Let me borrow your incense."

Grani immediately looked wary: "This is mine."

"Don't make that face, I don't want to fight you for it. I don't believe in God either..." Halfway through his sentence, Lin Ye realized something was off. He glanced at Messiah standing next to him with a big smile, and quickly changed his tune, "I don't believe in the gods here. Oh, don't worry, I'm just borrowing it for a bit, I'll return it to you later. The money's already spent, so at least it'll be used to its fullest potential."