Appreciation from a Deity

The entire newbie village, No. 13, seemed to have fallen into a state of paralysis, with all players frozen in place.

Subtitles scrolled frantically across the chat channel...

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

"A powerful Deity appeared before we even left the newbie village? What's with the developers? Who can even fight that?!"

"I checked the forums, and the other newbie villages are completely normal. It's just here with dark clouds everywhere, and everyone's frozen."

"Did someone trigger a hidden mechanism?"

Players in newbie village No. 13 were in an uproar, with some eagerly broadcasting the situation live.

Inside the camp.

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

Kurumi watched vigilantly as the grayish-black mist in the air continuously condensed and then dissipated.

It was as if It wanted to descend, but something was preventing It.

After a moment, a booming sound echoed from the sky.

"Mortal, you have only been in this place for seven days, yet you managed to slay my subordinate. I admire you. Submit to me, and I shall grant you infinite power."

A system prompt sounded.

"Ding! Your strength has earned the admiration of the Fear Deity. It invites you to join its forces and promises to bestow upon you great power. Do you accept?"

Of course, she wouldn't accept!

Submitting to a Deity would definitely change her race, turning her into a subordinate of the Deity.

This game could affect reality!

If she became a ghost with most of her senses dulled in reality, what would be the point?

Besides, these Deities had always been on humanity's side. Kurumi had no interest in being a traitor.

"Reject!" Kurumi shook her head.

"Hmph!"

"You ungrateful wretch!"

A booming sound echoed from the sky again, and Kurumi was instantly crushed into dust by some power, vanishing in an instant.

Su Jiang returned to his true form, his vision going black.

He wondered strangely, "Even if I were killed by an evil god, I should revive in the newbie village. Why is the screen black?"

The system quickly chimed.

"Ding, your body has been corrupted by the Fear Deity's divine power. The system is currently repairing it..."

"Estimated repair time: 3:00:00"

"2:59:59"

An electronic countdown box hung in the darkness.

Su Jiang was speechless.

He hadn't encountered anything like this when fighting these Deities in his previous life. What was going on now?

He couldn't figure it out.

Su Jiang decided to follow the system's suggestion and log back in after three hours to check the situation.

He took a shower and fried up some leftover rice from last night, managing to sort out a meal.

Picking up his phone at this moment, he realized he had a missed call.

It was from his ex-wife.

Fearing something had happened to his daughter, Su Jiang quickly called back.

"Did something happen to our daughter?"

A furious voice came from the other end: "Su Jiang, are you sick? Why do you keep calling? If I hadn't checked my call history, I wouldn't have even known you spoke to Su Yu!"

After a long tirade, the other party seemed to revel in her successful revenge, saying flippantly, "Don't forget, I'm the one who has custody of Su Yu, not you, Su Jiang! If you call again, I'll report you to the police for harassment!"

"Oh, right, I heard your company fired you? Haha, what a loser. You have no income now and you still have the nerve to contact me? How ridiculous! Are you trying to borrow money? Let me tell you, no way! And remember to pay the child support next month on time, or you'll face forced execution by the court."

Beep!

Without giving Su Jiang a chance to retort, the other party immediately hung up.

Su Jiang's expression darkened.

A wave of unresolvable frustration washed over him.

This woman's personality was becoming increasingly vile. He couldn't understand what he had ever seen in her back then.

It's as if I'm the one in the wrong, even though she was the one who cheated during our marriage.

Tch!

After their divorce in his past life, Su Jiang rarely contacted this woman. Most of the time, he would secretly chat with Su Yu and give her money.

Later, when he was captured by the overlord as a threat, Lin Jing had already become erratic. He hadn't expected this tendency to show up so early.

Lin Jing angrily threw her phone onto the sofa and glared at Su Yu, saying, "Next time I find out you're talking to that person, I'll send you away. Mommy won't want you anymore."

"N-no... don't... Mommy, I'm sorry. I won't answer Daddy's calls anymore..." Su Yu stood trembling in the corner, her voice quivering with fear.

"Don't call him Daddy! Don't call him Daddy!" Lin Jing shrieked, grabbing a plate from the table and smashing it violently onto the floor!

Plates and food scattered across the floor, creating a mess.

Afterward, Lin Jing became agitated again, hugging Su Yu and crying, "Su Yu! You have to hate that person! That person is the reason we're in this situation! You have to hate him. If he hadn't insisted on a divorce, we wouldn't be like this..."

Su Yu was only a little over five years old. She didn't understand why her mother was angry and was very scared of her mother's behavior. However, she knew that if she just agreed with her mother, her mother would calm down.

Suppressing her fear, Su Yu cautiously said, "I understand, Mommy."

In reality, she had no idea what "hate" meant. She only knew that her mother seemed to dislike her.

Su Jiang sat on the edge of the bed, lost in thought for a long time.

If he didn't want Su Yu to get involved with this game early to obtain this incredible power, Su Jiang wouldn't have wanted any contact with that woman.

Regardless, installing and purchasing VR equipment was unavoidable without going through Lin Jing.

The judge awarded custody of Su Yu to Lin Jing primarily because the law stipulated that children under two years old could only be raised by their mothers.

Now that Su Yu was five, Su Jiang had a good chance of gaining custody. However, being unemployed, this status might cause him to lose in court again.

Honestly, seeing Lin Jing's deranged state, Su Jiang truly didn't dare to let Su Yu continue to be raised by her. Otherwise, Su Yu would inevitably be raised improperly.

Su Jiang recalled his memories from his past life, where Su Yu was always silent, enduring, looking like a pushover, completely unable to refuse anyone.

Alas, belated deep affection is cheaper than grass, and familial love is the same.

The crazy woman, Lin Jing, thought the overlord liked her and focused all her attention on him, neglecting Su Yu and letting her be bullied.

As a father, Su Jiang didn't want to be late again. He picked up his phone.

He called back.

The call was quickly hung up.

That crazy woman was probably still angry.

Su Jiang could only edit a text message: "I hope we can sit down and calmly discuss the future, both yours and Su Yu's. If you don't come, I will stop paying child support. Anyway, I've lost my job, and it's easy for me to disappear. Think it over and reply to me."

After editing it, he was too lazy to wait for Lin Jing's reply. That woman was extremely vain anyway, so he wasn't worried she wouldn't listen.

He switched pages and opened the game forum.

The anomaly in newbie village 13 had indeed attracted the attention of all players.

Most players didn't know what had happened in newbie village 13 or how the anomaly was triggered.

There was much discussion.