Black Mud (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Iron Wall City, outer wall.

Li Li sat in his office, waiting for the arrow rain blooming outside the window to completely dissipate before opening his eyes from a long period of closed-eye meditation.

He had just possessed the players' eyes, observing the entire battle of "Lost a Leg" from a first-person perspective and investigating the conditions of Aer and Aperria.

Aer had only sustained minor injuries and was fine, able to move freely.

However, Aperria and her Knight Order were severely wounded, their souls heavily damaged, and they were being led by several players towards Crystal Seal Village.

Li Li really wanted to notify these players and have them bring Aperria to him.

He could use the Sovereign's power to heal all of his Saintess's injuries.

But unfortunately, he currently had no way to contact players remotely.

He couldn't log into Earth's social media. His "alt account" was guarding the statue at the new stronghold. While the forum could be used to contact players, besides having to figure out how to prove he was an NPC in the game, it would also expose the fact that he was a forum administrator.

This awkward situation made Li Li determined to create an "in-game" social system, even if it wasn't safe.

"Knock, knock, knock."

The office door was knocked on, and Li Li tilted his head in confusion.

Although his two Saintesses were not present, Li Li had placed the statue in the new stronghold, and he would go down there himself every two hours specifically to find players who needed to level up.

So players generally wouldn't come up, let alone knock politely.

"Please come in," Li Li said.

The office door was pushed open, and a face that was both familiar and strange appeared before Li Li.

"You should find yourself a secretary."

The Mayor, who frequently appeared on roadside billboards, walked in.

He was a standard elite male, wearing a custom-made high-end suit, with his hair slicked back, and his leather shoes gleaming.

Li Li had met him once during cooperation negotiations and had shaken his hand, knowing he was a demigod.

"I need to have close contact with people from other worlds. A secretary would only build a wall between us," Li Li stood up to greet this uninvited guest, extending his hand, "Mayor, what brings you here so suddenly?"

The Mayor stepped forward, took Li Li's hand, and a somewhat strange smile appeared on his face.

"To corrupt you."

The next moment, something that made Li Li a little uncomfortable pierced through the Mayor's palm, making his palm tingle.

And the Mayor, who did all this, rapidly aged from a robust middle-aged man to a frail, dying old man, as if he were draining his own origin.

Seeing that Li Li had no reaction, he could only increase the intensity, finally draining his own origin and shattering with a "pop," turning into a pile of unrecognizably shaped grey stones.

What's going on?

Li Li glanced at the wriggling black mud in his palm, then at the Mayor's corpse on the ground, then back at the black mud in his palm, and couldn't recover for a long time.

His first reaction was to feign an accident, but he immediately dismissed the idea.

Because he found that this black mud could indeed corrupt a god within the barrier. If the target had been the little bear doll [Nodens], it would probably have been distorted beyond recognition.

But the problem was.

Li Li hadn't hidden its true name either. Why send only a demigod to corrupt it?

Those dozens of talkative players, who constantly shouted about the little bear doll abusing children, his own Saintesses and Knight Order, and that red-haired Magical Girl, all knew that its true form was the Creator God.

With a little investigation, it shouldn't be difficult to get his information, right?

However, Li Li didn't dwell on this issue for too long.

The other party doing something so stupid either meant they were pressed for time and didn't have time to erase this information gap, or the Mayor was unimportant and was just a discarded pawn sent to test him.

Now that the incident had happened, Li Li needed to figure out the more fundamental things.

He played with the black mud created by the Mayor's sacrifice, trying to draw out a portion of his own limited faith and pour it in.

Just as the two were about to make contact, the black mud in Li Li's hand suddenly extended spikes, actively reaching out towards the faith.

The two completely canceled each other out the moment they touched, without even a trace of energy dissipating.

—This wriggling black mud was a conceptual object completely opposite to faith.

Li Li estimated that it would take about 150,000 faith points to completely annihilate this piece of black mud, which was roughly the experience required for a player to level up from level 1 to level 157.

However, players also needed to learn skills, and the actual experience consumed was more than five times that of leveling up.

Li Li thought back to the first day he arrived in this world and what happened after he obtained over a hundred thousand faith points from the statue.

At that time, he had left the barrier and looked down at the world as the Creator God.

At first, there was no abnormality. However, as soon as he used [Faith Points], the all-pervasive corruption immediately seeped in.

It was probably because he mobilized his faith that he attracted the dormant black mud.

At that time, Li Li discovered that his faith could dissolve the pervasive pain, and without hesitation, he used his faith to put up a shield for himself.

It turned out that faith could annihilate the corrupting black mud.

Oh, right!

In that environment at the time, Li Li was practically buried up to his neck in corrupted Black Mud, which caused him excruciating pain, almost to the point of losing his sanity. Yet, even so, he managed to escape.

The small piece of Black Mud he held in his hand was only lightly corroding his skin, making his hand itch.

This was enough to show that the Black Mud could only harm, but not corrupt him, a Creator God.

Li Li had always suspected that "corruption" was related to "Faith."

After all, Elder Gods like Nodens, who abandoned their followers, were the least affected by corruption and ultimately escaped its fate.

Now it seemed that "Faith" wasn't the problem; rather, "corruption" smelled the scent of "Faith" and actively sought it out.

"Faith," an energy exclusive to deities, was merely a medium that attracted corruption.

When deities touched the Black Mud drawn by Faith, they would slowly descend into madness, unless they knew this beforehand and used Faith to annihilate the incoming corruption, protecting themselves from being touched.

Looking at it this way, this corruption possessed the power to move a thousand pounds with four ounces, no wonder it had almost destroyed this world…

As Li Li was lost in thought, his office door was knocked on again.

However, the person knocking this time was clearly less considerate than the mayor. Upon hearing movement inside, they directly pushed the door open and entered.

A man with a through-and-through wound across his abdomen, wearing the standard alliance military uniform, appeared before Li Li.

He glanced at the expensive custom suit on the ground, as well as the mixture of sand and stones within it. The pupils of his eyes contracted slightly, but he calmly asked, "What is this?"

"Just as you thought, the mayor of Iron Wall City. This guy always wears the same outfit to make an impression on his constituents."

Upon hearing this, the man in the military uniform looked up and, from head to toe, carefully examined Li Li. He then pondered for a moment before asking, "...Is this the mole you mentioned in your dream?"

"Perhaps just a pawn."

"It looks like Iron Wall City will have to hold another election."

Thanks to Yun Zhong Gu Meng for the tip, thank you, great one!

Today is a recommended day that will decide whether I can advance. I originally planned to add an extra chapter, but I've been suffering from severe insomnia lately, sleeping less than 5 hours on average each day. My body just can't handle it.

I'll go to the hospital tomorrow to get some medicine. I'll work hard again once my unhealthy sleep schedule is fixed.