Demonic Ritual

Lu Yao observed that the Forest Tribe had no real faith in any God, no Temple, and no symbols resembling a Totem.

Nor did the Shaman display the same dependence on God as the Prophet. He was more like an experienced elder, guiding the entire tribe with wisdom accumulated by generations of ancestors.

That was good news for Lu Yao.

If the Forest Tribe also worshipped some God, a conflict of faith would likely arise, perhaps even a war between the tribes.

Now, a broader road connected the Garlic Tribe and the Forest Tribe. Houses had gradually been built along both sides—Thatch Huts from the Garlic Tribe and treehouses from the Forest Tribe. The two tribes had grown closer.

Lu Yao waited for the two tribes to fully merge.

Suddenly, he heard a faint cell phone ringtone.

It rang for over twenty seconds, then started again, repeating over and over.

The sound came from outside.

Lu Yao lived in an old residential complex. His building stood near the edge, beside a semi-enclosed alley. The alley was usually used for parking, and many of the cars were covered in dust.

There were rarely people in that alley during the day, and it was even quieter at night.

Lu Yao walked to the window and looked outside.

There was only one concrete streetlamp in the parking alley. Its dim yellow light illuminated only the area beneath the pole, while everything else was pitch-black.

Lu Yao saw something swaying from side to side beneath the light, as if something had been hung from the streetlamp pole.

He had a bad feeling.

The streetlamp was only about twenty meters from his window, close enough to make out the general shape. Lu Yao looked carefully and discovered that a person had been suspended from the concrete lamp pole by a rope.

Night had already fallen, and the streets were silent. The phone ringtone echoed especially clearly through the alley.

Lu Yao immediately called 110.

"Hello, Officer? I'm at the Locomotive Factory Dormitory in Jiuyuan Community. Someone has been hung up by a rope in the alley outside. Please come quickly."

The police asked for the address and details, then told him not to act rashly and said they would come immediately.

After hanging up, Lu Yao relaxed slightly. Something like this was better handled by professional police officers.

The previously dormant Cactus Follower hopped onto the windowsill. Facing the person in the alley, every spine on its body tightened as though it were extremely vigilant.

"What? Did you find something?" Lu Yao instinctively looked at the little creature.

The Cactus Follower nodded.

Lu Yao sighed. "Too bad you can't talk. It would be nice if you could."

"Great God Yao, if you say I may speak, then your humble servant may speak."

The Cactus Follower knelt on the ground, and a strangely accented voice emerged from its green body.

It was impossible to tell whether the voice was male or female.

Lu Yao was startled. "You can talk?"

"Only with your permission may your humble servant speak," the Cactus Follower said. "Otherwise, your humble servant cannot make its own voice."

On second thought, the barrier between the Pixel World and the real world had already been broken. A talking cactus was nothing strange by comparison.

He asked, "What did you discover about the person hanging there?"

"God, that is a Demonic Ritual."

The Cactus Follower said respectfully, "Demons obtain faith through cruel and extreme rituals, using fear and ignorance to bewitch and control believers."

Demons?

Lu Yao's expression changed slightly.

"What is the difference between Demons and Gods?"

"God, Demons are heretical Evil Gods."

Lu Yao understood.

Demon... under another name, it meant another God player. Besides himself, there were other people using the God Simulator to obtain Sacrificial Offerings.

He immediately recalled what Sister Peng had said: there was a pervert lurking around Jiuyuan Community, someone who stripped people and hung them up.

Lu Yao silently warned himself to be more careful. He could not let anyone discover the Simulator on his computer. If Demon players found out, they would definitely seize his magical items and attack him—then it would no longer be a game.

He found a small flowerpot and told the Cactus Follower, "Without my permission, you can't move or speak. You're just a cactus. Stay in here properly, understand?"

"Yes, God." The Cactus Follower bowed.

The phone ringtone in the parking alley continued repeating, as though calling for help.

Lu Yao looked again at the suspended person beneath the streetlamp. She seemed exhausted and had stopped struggling, making her physical features much clearer.

Under the light, she wore a black bra and was presumably a woman. She was also filthy, and what looked like blood covered much of her skin.

Lu Yao remembered that he had a Telescope at home. With its help, his view became clearer.

He actually recognized the person beneath the lamp. The victim was a Barber who worked at a hair salon called Exemplary Precision Cut across from the residential complex. Her professional name was Lisa, while her real name was Unknown.

Exemplary Precision Cut had affordable prices—fifteen yuan for washing, cutting, and blow-drying—so Lu Yao often got his hair cut there and had some impression of Lisa.

She had dyed her hair a pale gold color and looked to be in her early twenties. She spoke softly and never pestered customers with awkward chatter, so she was not unpleasant.

After Lisa was rescued by the police, she was terrified. She said nothing, wrapping herself in a coat the police had given her, her eyes vacant.

Her body had been painted with many strange symbols in blood. They resembled distorted Arabic numerals, linked together like Chains that wrapped layer upon layer around her body.

The police sealed off the scene and came to Lu Yao's home to take his statement.

He truthfully described what he had witnessed, concealing only the parts involving the Simulator and the Demonic Ritual.

By the time the rescue and statement were finished, it was already two in the morning.

Holding the [Energy Staff], Lu Yao was not tired in the slightest. Staying up all night was no problem for him.

He looked at the cactus in the flowerpot on his desk. "Have you been to our world before?"

"This is the first time your humble servant has come to your Divine Realm. I was given life by the Forest God, but the Divine Realm where the Forest God resides seems different from yours. It is filled with water everywhere... I am too insignificant to understand what the Divine Realm truly is."

"What does the Forest God look like?"

"He cannot be looked upon directly. Just like you, Great God, your appearance cannot be described by one as insignificant as I am. I can only vaguely see certain shadows revealed by the Gods."

Lu Yao pried some information out of the Cactus Follower.

The cactus had no name. It was one of many Cactus Followers created by the Forest God, spending its life doing odd jobs in the Temple. The Forest God created the Cactus Followers in His own world, bestowed them upon the Pixel World, and never called them back.

It only knew that the Temple had gradually fallen into ruin, which meant the Forest God had perished. In the end, the cactus was buried underground when the Temple collapsed, only to be dug up many years later by members of the Forest Tribe searching for Mushrooms and Berries.

However, only Gods could command a Cactus Follower. Pixel lifeforms could not restore a cactus to its true form and could only sense that it was different from other plants.

"Since you're a relic left behind by the Forest God, then your name will be..."

Lu Yao pointed at the cactus's forehead. "Little Fire."