My Player's Second Playthrough!

"The Magical Girl's instructor is an Elder God?"

"I remember there were four Magical Girl mascots in total. Besides this little bear plushie, there were also a frog, a parrot, and a robot. Were they all Elder Gods?"

"Is this the Creator God's true form? My megalophobia is acting up!"

"Where are the fanbooks! Where are the lewd drawings! Hurry up and draw some fanbooks of Lilith for me!"

"That explains it. Because of the residual power of the Elder Gods, we were able to find remnants of dreams in the first playthrough's alliance."

"So the official team was already laying the groundwork for the Magical Girl's backstory from the very beginning. Did they only reveal it in the second playthrough because no one discovered it before?"

The 'Amulet Owl' stood not far away, watching the discussions in the live stream while also pondering the game's background story.

He wasn't exactly a lore enthusiast, but whenever he encountered questions that couldn't be found in encyclopedias, he just needed to point his camera at the live stream, and the netizens in the bullet comments would help him answer them.

According to the netizens, this sudden, unannounced plot was actually introducing the game's deepest worldview for the Expedition.

It explained why the gods were corrupted and became the bosses of the various versions.

The little bear plushie suddenly quieted down. It looked around and said, "This isn't a place to talk," hinting that this part of the story was about to end.

But the Creator God's avatar slapped it back, replying, "They are the brave heroes I summoned from another world."

Then, as if suddenly realizing something, He glanced at the red-clad Magical Girl who was being held down and smiled.

"You're playing crazy in front of me. Don't you think she can stay out of it after knowing my existence?"

The little bear plushie immediately became furious, roaring, "What do you plan to do?" while desperately kicking its little cotton legs.

"Purify this world, of course," Li Li replied.

"Purify? You talk to me about purification!" The little bear plushie scoffed. "Didn't you pollute this world yourself!"

"My patience is limited," Li Li said, walking over to the Magical Girl and stroking her broken red hair. "Really limited."

"I'm not too sure either," the little bear plushie immediately became docile. "Initially, only a few lower-tier gods were corrupted, but... because of the rules you set, the gods were constantly at war with each other. No one paid attention to this situation, and they thought it was the work of some god."

"I was the first to pay attention to these corrupted entities. This corruption is very strange because it doesn't corrupt Divine Power, Divine Spark, or Authority, it's just..."

"Purely just corruption."

"After observing for a while, I suspected the corruption was related to [Civilization]. After all, my opponents are the Old Ones. They, like us Elder Gods, don't bother with mortals, so they were the least corrupted."

"Later, I also noticed that the more prosperous a Civilization was, the more likely its worshipped deities were to go mad."

"So I immediately stopped the war against the Old Ones' forces and hid with the other Elder Gods, but in the end, we were still found by the maddened Nyarlathotep."

"To prevent corruption, I didn't resist and fled directly into the territory of the unfaithful. The Elder Gods who resisted won, but soon after, they all went mad."

"..."

Hearing Nodens' account, Li Li's brow furrowed deeper.

What exactly was this corruption?

It sounded like it was specifically targeting deities. As soon as they were touched, they would go mad, and even the Lord of this world couldn't escape it.

Li Li had only regained his powers for a few minutes, and his exploration of the world was limited. However, based on the intelligence he obtained from the "lore enthusiasts," Li Li could confirm that there was definitely an "consciousness" behind the corruption.

Because of the 'Feast of Gluttony' incident, it was clear that the corrupted gods were taking orders from something.

This was definitely not content from a Mod.

According to the rules of the 'Creator Simulator,' the game would end once the last "Civilization" disappeared, and the entire world would fall into nothingness.

Even if those deities were twisted into a pile of rotten flesh, they should have understood that by destroying the alliance, they would eventually disappear because of it.

This meant that the mastermind's goal was to destroy the entire world.

So, by reverse deduction, if the mastermind could gain some benefit after the world's destruction, such as the residual World Origin of this world, then everything would make sense.

Assuming these speculations were correct, was the corruption actually originating from another world?

Although it was not impossible that it was caused by a psychopath who wanted to drag the world down with them, Li Li felt he was very close to the answer.

It was precisely because of an existence in another world that wanted to devour this world's origin that this world had deviated from its "parallel line" state.

Therefore, this world's origin could choose him, who was on Earth (Lan Xing), as the new World Consciousness.

This would allow him, a "third party," to resolve the crisis it was facing.

As for the reward for him, it was the identity of the "Creator God."

This line of reasoning might seem illogical at first glance, but time is not a flowing stream; it is not linear.

Intuitively, the order should have been: World Origin chose me → I created this world → The mastermind successfully corrupted this world.

But the actual order was: The mastermind successfully corrupted this world → World Origin chose me → I created this world → The mastermind is about to corrupt this world.

To put it bluntly, when the World Origin was about to be taken by the mastermind—

Time was reversed.

Therefore, the game named 'Despair Expedition OL' on Earth (Lan Xing) was a projection from the point where "the mastermind successfully corrupted this world."

Because everything had been reset, the event of "the mastermind successfully corrupted this world" did not occur. Thus, for natives like Li Li, Nodens, Aer, and the mastermind who caused everything, this world was a brand new "first playthrough."

But for the Earthlings (Lan Xing people) who had played 'Despair Expedition OL,' it was different.

They are a third party outside the screen, having truly traveled through this world, and perhaps, without their knowledge, they have directly faced the mastermind behind everything.

They are the players of the second playthrough!

Thinking of this, Li Li glanced at the surrounding players out of the corner of his eye.

He knew that the "Amulet Owl" was a big streamer, and he had deliberately let the players overhear the previous conversation.

There was a certain risk in doing so, but only by involving Earthlings who had experienced the first playthrough in the discussion could they pool their wisdom and arrive at an answer closer to the truth.

They are beings from outside the world.

They are neither contaminated nor on the game board.

When the mastermind who planned everything is contemplating their next move, these people might be able to jump onto the table and smash the board onto Its face!

After figuring this out, Li Li returned the stuffed bear to the red-haired girl and said to "Li Yuan," who had brought them there:

"Tomorrow, when we clear the contamination outside the city, bring this young girl along too, and see what she can do for our newly established stronghold, like a merchant, a blacksmith... In short, after the contamination in the abandoned village is completely cleared, let her handle the logistics. You guys discuss the specifics yourselves."

"The world is about to be destroyed. To save the world, even the smallest strength must be utilized."

As he spoke, Li Li looked at the stuffed bear, which was pretending to be dead, and said, "As for this guy, he probably can't leave the city like me, so he'll follow me as a job change instructor."