Karmic Debt

The dim confinement room.

Yuan Lisha drank milk, her eyes fixed on the computer screen.

Though confinement meant house arrest, the necessities of life—food, clothing, shelter, and transport—were well supplied. Being locked up here by the Committee wasn't a treatment everyone received.

Typically, those confined were veteran players. Newcomers couldn't even grasp basic operations, still wandering around exploring maps, mostly too busy to dabble in illegal or unruly paths.

Although player qualifications were randomly generated, every player was a strategic resource, part of humanity's collective strength. Unless absolutely necessary, the Committee rarely enforced extreme punishments.

Yuan Lisha stood up and gently began doing Pilates, her eyes never leaving the screen.

On the screen, Pixelated Villagers were building thatched huts, hanging their hunted prey on wooden poles. The primitive civilization was in ruins, everything had to start from scratch.

She had once stepped into the Pantheon, entered the Crawling Zone where gods overlapped—that was the true battlefield of the world.

After being invaded by a Lizardman, the civilization Yuan Lisha had built was destroyed, causing the faith in "God Jack" to suffer a catastrophic blow.

With no other choice, she had her remaining believers scatter in all directions, carrying the Faith Spark to infiltrate lower worlds, waiting for the next cycle of revival and rise.

The pain of failure accompanied the contraction of the Flame of Faith, and she suddenly fell back to being an ordinary person, no longer able to traverse between the two dimensions, her divine body nearly completely shattered.

Yuan Lisha couldn't accept it.

She began using some special methods to gather faith.

As long as she wasn't caught, it wouldn't count as breaking the rules set by the Committee.

Who would have thought that in the Safe Zone, high-level players were still wandering around.

For some reason, one of them had set their sights on her... completely unconcerned about wasting precious time.

The tastes of high-level players were hard to pin down.

In this world, sometimes there was just no reasoning with things.

Yuan Lisha stretched her legs, keeping her muscles relaxed and flexible.

Suddenly, a prompt appeared on the screen.

[The Flayer's faith has completely vanished in the Forest Fragmented World. His believers in that world will begin searching for a new god.]
[The Flayer is disappointed in you. Your reputation has decreased.]

Yuan Lisha squinted hard, making sure she wasn't seeing things.

How was that possible?

The Fragmented World only had Novice Gods, meaning rookie players...

The Flayer had left behind high-level fanatics there. With the Power of Faith of a Novice God, there was absolutely no way they could touch them.

She quickly slapped the wall.

"I have a major piece of intelligence!"

Soon, a girl in a white shirt walked out from the wall.

The girl wore a thin tie on her shirt, her lips habitually pressed tight, her gaze full of unfamiliar caution. She carefully looked at Yuan Lisha, as if trying to verify her face.

"Why you? Can't you send someone else?" Yuan Lisha said, somewhat helpless.

"Song Shiyi, don't stare at me. No matter how many times you look, you won't remember anyway."

She rubbed her hair and waved her hand impatiently: "Skip the introductions."

"Now, I'm giving you a major piece of intelligence. Listen carefully."

"In the Fragmented World I was in before, the Hero the Flayer left there was eliminated, and the Flayer's faith has completely disappeared from that area."

"I was subordinate to the Flayer in the Pantheon, so I could see the relevant information immediately."

Song Shiyi was momentarily stunned: "The Flayer?"

"A Title God in the Pantheon! Didn't you check your database before coming here?"

Yuan Lisha said through gritted teeth.

She usually liked to tease Song Shiyi's condition on purpose—after all, whatever she said, the other wouldn't remember the next day—but at times like this, it became a burden.

Song Shiyi seemed to ponder: "So it's a Title God. I remember now."

"... "

Yuan Lisha suppressed her irritation and spoke rapidly: "After the Forest God fell, the [Flayer] and the [Whistleblower] occupied that Fragmented World."

"The Forest God was once a Main God. After He fell, the dimensional worlds He had overlapped scattered and were divided among the gods. But one world has yet to be found."

"The Main God Space that holds the Forest God's many treasures: the [Golden Plains]."

Song Shiyi gradually got into the zone, her expression turning serious: "You're saying that Fragmented World overlaps dimensions with the [Golden Plains]?"

"I don't know."

Yuan Lisha shook her head: "But I think that being able to take out the Hero-level believers the Flayer left behind is definitely not within the ability of a Novice God."

"The only possibility I can think of is that the [Golden Plains] still hides Apostles of the Forest God, and they made a move on the forces the Flayer left behind."

Song Shiyi flipped open her phone and quickly searched through some data.

"According to your previous testimony, there was a new player randomly assigned to that Fragmented World."

"Yes. That kid's strength was mediocre. Half a month ago, when I was expelled from that world, his population was less than three hundred, and his two Heroes were trash—both only Level 2."

Yuan Lisha sneered: "While I was being captured by you people, that brat directed the primitives to steal my tribe and destroy my foundation there."

Song Shiyi let out an "eh": "Destroyed that easily?"

"My playstyle is to spread bases and believers everywhere—not like you people who dig deep into a single world!"

Yuan Lisha said impatiently: "In any case, it couldn't be him. Unless he managed to raise two Level 30 Heroes in half a month and also find the Flayer's tunnels deep underground..."

"The possibility is very small." Song Shiyi acknowledged.

"Absolutely impossible!"

Yuan Lisha emphasized: "In that Fragmented World, there are no wild monsters above Level 20 for him to level his Heroes. Even if he slaughtered every monster in that Fragmented World, he couldn't reach Level 30!"

"If he doesn't build Wonders or enter the Pantheon, the world can't move, dimensions can't overlap, and it remains a stagnant Fragmented World with a capped limit."

Song Shiyi rested her chin on the back of her hand and said seriously: "Then is there a possibility that he has some special treasure that allowed him to obtain two Level 30 Heroes?"

Yuan Lisha stared coldly at her.

"...Fine. I know that possibility is indeed very small." Song Shiyi muttered to herself.

She composed her expression: "So you're saying an anomaly occurred in the Fragmented World, causing the Hero left behind by the [Flayer] to be erased."

"Yes. This information concerns the Main God Space."

Yuan Lisha stressed: "You should understand what that means."

"I understand. I'll verify this information. If everything checks out, the committee will provide you with a corresponding sentence reduction in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations of the Special Management Regulations."

Yuan Lisha was stunned: "How will you investigate? That place only has that one new player."

"May I ask his name? What do you know about him? It would be even better if you have his address and family information." Song Shiyi asked seriously.

"...That guy only called himself 'God Yao.' I don't know anything else."

"I see. I'll do my best to find this player and then verify the information you've provided."

Song Shiyi said: "Once this player enters the Pantheon, we'll be able to contact him."

She flipped open a page on her phone and explained based on the data: "According to the committee's current statistics, the probability of a new player ascending to the Pantheon is 7.4%, with an average duration of 176 days. Please be patient and wait."

"..."

Yuan Lisha closed her eyes in pain, her fists clenched tightly.

Now, instead, she had to pray that the rookie who had ambushed her would ascend to the Pantheon and not die from some accident or natural disaster.

He was her only human witness now.

What kind of karma is this!

Did I cuckold that brat in a past life and swindle him out of his family fortune?

At the company, Lu Yao yawned.

Staring at the [Mad Flayer] all night had kept him on edge. Now that daytime had come and he suddenly relaxed, he felt overwhelmingly sleepy.

He decided to go home and sleep early today.

Even if the sky fell to the ground tonight, even if the boss gave me a raise in the dead of night, even if an unknown distant relative insisted on leaving me billions in inheritance... This humble Lu Yao was going to bed before 12 o'clock.