Iron Wall City, outer city wall.
Li Li sat in his office. Only after the rain of arrows blooming outside the window had completely faded did he open his eyes from their long closure.
He had just attached himself to the players' eyes, watching Lost a Leg's battle from a first-person perspective from start to finish while also checking on Aer and Aperria.
Aer had only suffered minor injuries. She was fine and could already move freely.
But Aperria and her Knight Order had been badly hurt. Their souls had suffered severe damage, and several players were currently taking them toward Crystal Seal Village.
Li Li wanted to notify those players and have them bring Aperria to him.
He could use the Main God's power to heal all of his Saintess's injuries.
Unfortunately, he currently had no way to contact players remotely.
He could not log into Blue Star's social media apps. His "alt" was guarding the statue at the New Outpost, and while he could contact players through the forum, he would have to figure out how to prove he was an NPC in the game—and would also expose himself as a forum administrator.
That awkward situation made Li Li resolve to create an "in-game" social system, even if it would not be secure.
"Knock, knock, knock."
Someone knocked on the office door, and Li Li tilted his head in confusion.
Although neither of his Saintesses was here, Li Li had already placed the statue in the New Outpost. He also went down there every two hours, specifically seeking out players who needed to level up.
So players generally would not come up here, much less politely knock on the door.
"Come in," Li Li said.
The office door was pushed open, and a face both familiar and unfamiliar appeared before Li Li.
"You should get yourself a secretary."
The mayor, who frequently appeared on roadside billboards, walked in.
He was the very image of an elite man, dressed in a custom-tailored high-end suit, his hair slicked back, his leather shoes polished to a brilliant shine.
Li Li had met him once during their cooperation negotiations and had even shaken his hand. He knew the man was a demigod-ranked being.
"I need close contact with Otherworlders. A secretary would only build a wall between us." Li Li rose to greet the unexpected visitor and extended his hand. "Mr. Mayor, what brings you here so suddenly?"
The mayor stepped forward and clasped Li Li's hand, a strange smile on his face.
"To corrupt you."
The next moment, something that made Li Li slightly uncomfortable pierced through from the mayor's palm, pricking his palm with an itchy sensation.
The mayor who had done all this seemed to be draining his own essence. He rapidly aged from a robust middle-aged man into a shriveled old man on the verge of death.
Seeing that Li Li did not react, he could only keep increasing the force. In the end, he drained himself completely and shattered with a bang, becoming a pile of misshapen gray stone fragments.
What was going on?
Li Li looked at the Black Mud writhing in his palm, then at the mayor's corpse on the floor, then back at the Black Mud in his hand. It took him a long while to recover his senses.
His first thought was that this was a scam, but he quickly dismissed it.
Because he discovered that this Black Mud could genuinely contaminate a god even within the barrier. If the one struck had been Nodens, the teddy bear, He would likely have already been twisted beyond recognition.
But the problem was—
Li Li had not even hidden His true name. Why send only a demigod to corrupt Him?
Those dozens of big-mouthed players who kept shouting that He abused children, His own Saintesses and Knight Order, and that red-haired Magical Girl all knew that His true body was the Creator God.
With even a little investigation, obtaining information about Him should not have been difficult, right?
However, Li Li did not dwell on the matter for long.
For the other side to do something so stupid, either time was pressing and they had no chance to erase this information gap, or the mayor was unimportant—merely a disposable pawn sent to test Him.
Now that it had happened—
What Li Li needed to do was uncover something more fundamental.
He toyed with the Black Mud the mayor had created through his sacrifice and tried extracting a portion of his already meager faith to pour into it.
Just before the two came into contact, the Black Mud in Li Li's hand suddenly extended spikes and actively lunged toward the faith.
The instant they touched, the two completely canceled each other out, without even the slightest trace of energy escaping.
—This writhing Black Mud was a conceptual substance completely opposite to faith.
Li Li estimated that fully annihilating this Black Mud would require around 150,000 Faith Points. That was roughly the Experience Points needed for a player to rise from level 1 to level 157.
However, players also had to purchase skills. Their actual Experience Points expenditure was more than five times the amount required for leveling.
Li Li recalled what had happened on his first day in this world, after obtaining over a hundred thousand faith from the statue.
At that time, He had left the barrier and overlooked the world in the form of the Creator God.
At first, nothing unusual had happened. But the moment He used Faith Points, the all-pervading corruption had immediately seeped into Him.
It was probably because He had mobilized faith and attracted the dormant Black Mud.
Back then, Li Li had discovered that his faith could dispel the all-pervading pain. Without a second thought, He had used faith to put a shield around Himself.
So that was because faith and the corrupting Black Mud could annihilate each other.
Oh, right!
In that environment, Li Li had practically been buried head to toe in corrupting Black Mud. That was why His entire body had been wracked with agonizing pain, nearly making Him lose His mind. Yet even so, He had escaped.
But the small piece of Black Mud in His hand had only mildly corroded His skin, making His hand itch.
That was enough to show that Black Mud could injure Him, but could not corrupt Him, the Creator God.
Li Li had always suspected that "corruption" was connected to "faith."
After all, Elder Gods like Nodens, who had abandoned their believers, had suffered the least from corruption and had ultimately escaped the fate of being corrupted.
Now it seemed that "faith" was not the problem. Rather, "corruption" had caught the scent of "faith" and come running on its own.
This energy exclusive to gods, "faith," was merely a medium that attracted corruption.
Once gods touched the Black Mud drawn in by faith, They would gradually fall into madness—unless They knew all this beforehand and used faith to annihilate the incoming corruption, protecting Themselves from being touched.
Seen that way, this corruption truly had the power to topple a mountain with a feather. No wonder it had nearly destroyed this world...
Just as Li Li was deep in thought, someone knocked on his office door again.
But this time, the person knocking had clearly been less civilized than the mayor. Upon hearing movement inside, he directly pushed the door open and entered.
A man in the Alliance's standard military uniform, with a penetrating wound in his abdomen, appeared before Li Li.
He glanced at the expensive custom suit on the floor and the mixture of sand and stone inside it. His pupils contracted slightly, but he still calmly asked, "What is this?"
"Just as you suspect. The mayor of Iron Wall City always wore the same outfit in order to leave an impression on voters."
Hearing this, the uniformed man raised his head and carefully examined Li Li from head to toe. After a moment of thought, he asked:
"...Was He the mole you mentioned in the dream?"
"Maybe just a disposable pawn."
"Looks like Iron Wall City will need to hold another election."
Thanks to Yun Zhonggu Meng for the donation. Thank you, boss!
Today is the recommendation day that will determine whether this book can advance. I had planned to add another chapter, but I have been suffering from severe insomnia lately and average less than five hours of sleep a day. My body really cannot take it anymore.
I'll go to the hospital for some medicine tomorrow. Once I fix this nocturnal schedule, I'll work harder.
Before you continue