Appreciation from a Deity

The entire No. 13 Novice Village seemed to have fallen into a state of stagnation. Every player stood utterly still.

The chat channel scrolled frantically...

"What happened? What happened? Can someone tell me what's going on?"

"A powerful deity showed up before we've even left the Novice Village? What the hell are the devs doing? Who could possibly beat that?!"

"I checked the forums. The other Novice Villages are perfectly normal; only ours is covered in dark clouds, and nobody can move."

"Did someone trigger a hidden mechanism?"

The players of No. 13 Novice Village erupted into an uproar, and some eagerly began livestreaming the situation.

Inside the camp.

The Holy Grace Divine Cult's followers prostrated themselves on the ground, not daring to look directly at the god in the sky.

Kurumi watched the gray-black mist continuously gather and disperse in the air with a wary expression.

It was as though He wanted to descend, yet something was preventing Him from doing so.

A moment later, a rumbling sound echoed from the sky.

"Mortal, you have been in this place for merely seven days, yet you have slain my subordinate. I admire you. Submit to me, and I shall grant you limitless power."

A system notification sounded.

"Ding! Your strength has earned the Fear Deity's appreciation. He invites you to join His faction and promises to bestow great power upon you. Do you accept?"

Of course not!

Submitting to a deity would definitely alter her race and turn her into one of the deity's followers.

This game could affect reality!

What would be the point if she turned into a ghost that had lost most of its senses in reality as well?

Besides, these deities had always stood against humanity. Kurumi had no interest in becoming a traitor to humankind.

"I refuse!" Kurumi shook her head.

"Hmph!"

"You don't know what's good for you!"

A rumbling sound came again from the sky, and Kurumi was instantly crushed into ashes by some force, vanishing in an instant.

Su Jiang reverted to his original form, and everything before him went black.

He said in confusion, "Even if I was killed by the Evil God, shouldn't I revive in the Novice Village? Why is my screen black?"

The system notification soon sounded.

"Ding, your body has been corroded by the power of fear. The system is repairing it..."

"Estimated repair time: 3:00:00"

"2:59:59"

An electronic countdown box hung in the darkness.

Su Jiang was speechless.

Nothing like this had happened when he fought those deities in his previous life. What was going on now?

He couldn't figure it out.

Su Jiang chose to follow the system's suggestion and log in again three hours later to check on the situation.

After taking a shower, he fried up the leftovers from last night and called it a meal.

Only when he picked up his phone did he notice a missed call.

It was from his ex-wife.

Afraid that something had happened to his daughter, Su Jiang hurriedly called back.

"Did something happen to our daughter?"

Instead, a vicious voice came from the other end. "Su Jiang, are you sick? Why do you keep calling? If I hadn't checked the call history, I wouldn't even have known you called Su Yu!"

After rattling off a long string of words, she seemed to savor the satisfaction of getting revenge and said flippantly, "Don't forget that I'm Su Yu's guardian, not you, Su Jiang! Call again, and I'll report you to the police for harassment!"

"Oh, right. I heard your company fired you? Hahaha, what a loser. You don't even have an income anymore, and you still have the nerve to contact me? What a joke! Are you trying to borrow money from me? Let me tell you, no chance! And remember to send next month's child support on time, or just wait for the court to enforce it!"

Beep!

Without giving Su Jiang a chance to respond, she immediately hung up.

Su Jiang's expression darkened at once.

A restless irritation rose in his heart, with nowhere to vent it.

That woman's personality was getting worse and worse. He had no idea what he had seen in her back then.

She was clearly the one who cheated during their marriage, yet it was as if he were the one at fault.

Tch!

After the divorce in his previous life, Su Jiang had rarely interacted with that woman. Most of the time, he secretly chatted with Su Yu and gave her money.

By the time the Overlord captured her as leverage later on, Lin Jing had already gone completely mad. He hadn't expected the signs to be there already.

Lin Jing angrily threw her phone onto the sofa, glared at Su Yu, and said, "If I catch you talking to that person again, I'll send you away. Mommy won't want you anymore."

"N-No... Mommy, I'm sorry. I won't answer Dad's calls anymore..." Su Yu stood trembling in the corner, her face full of fear.

"You're not allowed to call him Dad! You're not allowed to call him Dad!" Lin Jing screamed, grabbed a dinner plate from the table, and smashed it viciously onto the floor!

The plate and food were scattered across the floor in a complete mess.

After saying that, Lin Jing turned hysterical again. Hugging Su Yu, she cried, "Su Yu! You have to hate that person! He's the one who made us end up like this! You have to hate him. If he hadn't insisted on getting divorced, we wouldn't be like this now..."

Su Yu was only a little over five years old. She did not understand why her mother was angry, and she was terrified of seeing her mother like this. But she knew that as long as she went along with what her mother said, her mother would calm down.

Suppressing the fear in her heart, Su Yu carefully said, "I understand, Mommy."

In truth, she had no idea what hatred meant. She only knew that Mommy seemed not to like her.

Su Jiang sat by the bed, lost in thought for a long time.

If not for his hope that Su Yu could start playing this game early and gain this incredible power, Su Jiang would not want anything to do with that woman at all.

No matter what, installing and buying VR equipment could not be done without going through Lin Jing.

The judge had awarded Su Yu to Lin Jing mainly because the law stipulated that children under the age of two could only be raised by their mothers.

Now that Su Yu was five, Su Jiang had a good chance of gaining custody. But unfortunately, he was unemployed, and that status might cause him to lose in court again.

Honestly, seeing how insane Lin Jing looked, Su Jiang truly did not dare let Su Yu continue being raised by her. Otherwise, Su Yu would sooner or later be led astray.

Su Jiang recalled how, in the memories of his previous life, Su Yu was always silent and enduring, looking constantly wronged and never knowing how to refuse.

Sigh, belated affection was cheaper than grass; family affection was no exception.

That madwoman Lin Jing thought the Overlord had captured her because he liked her. She put all her attention on the Overlord, neglected Su Yu, and let others bully her.

As her father, Su Jiang did not want to be too late again. He picked up his phone.

He called back.

But the other side quickly hung up.

That madwoman was probably still angry.

Su Jiang could only compose a text message: "I hope we can sit down and calmly discuss the future, yours and Su Yu's alike. If you don't come, I won't pay child support anymore. I've lost my job anyway, so disappearing would be easy. Think it over and reply to me."

After finishing it, he could not be bothered to wait for Lin Jing's reply. That woman was vain to the core, so he was not worried that she would ignore it.

He switched pages and opened the game forums.

The abnormality in No. 13 Novice Village had still drawn the attention of all players.

Most players had no idea what had happened in No. 13 Novice Village or how the anomaly had been triggered.

Discussion ran rampant.