God Said

You have disconnected manually. Please select whether to reconnect.

"Thanks, but not for now~"

Execute awakening procedure?

"Sorry for the trouble~"

Received. The current date and time are 10:15 p.m. on January 2, 2049. You will awaken in one minute.

After leaving the game pod, Mo Tan spent about two minutes adjusting to the abruptly descended night. After all, it had still been bright and sunny in the game when he logged off. This sort of experience had long since become commonplace in this era when mental simulation devices were prevalent, but every time he experienced it, it still gave him a hazy sense of unreality.

It was as though he were standing in the gap between the mind and reality, something new and intoxicating.

"Too bad time is precious~" Mo Tan dispelled that wonderful sense of dissonance in an instant and sighed regretfully. "And ever since two days ago, time beneath the night sky has become even more precious to me..."

He made himself a cup of coffee with sugar but no milk, though he did not immediately seize the time to drink it. Instead, he set it on the table beside him, then walked to the soft sofa and fell backward onto it, straight as a board.

He closed his eyes and began to think~

Who am I? Do I really exist?

I can control my own actions, like gently raising a finger...

But does this process truly exist in "reality"?

Do my joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness come from my "true self"?

What does "true self" even mean? How can a person prove that they exist?

Is everything in life a predetermined script, or a pure product without a stance born between chance and inevitability?

Do I really exist? Why am I me?

This seemingly somewhat idiotic train of thought did not mean that Mo Tan had suddenly lost his mind. Rather, it was a subconscious process of self-hypnosis. His focused but meaningless contemplation had only one purpose: to actively perform a personality switch.

This method was the only way he had found so far to guarantee a sufficiently high success rate for the switch, and it did not cause much harm to himself.

Thought was wondrous, and so were humans. Under certain circumstances, we often entered a wondrous state of "transcendence," as though observing ourselves from a god's-eye view whose location no one knew.

This was not an exaggeration. At least, certain people—such as the one currently tapping away at a keyboard in front of a monitor—had experienced something similar. During a bout of insomnia, he had come up with the bizarre experiment of "questioning and denying his own existence."

In short, he sought out all kinds of evidence that could prove his existence. For example, he would think about moving a finger, then order himself to perform the action of "moving a finger," and afterward question it from another perspective, examining everything from action and thought to dimensions, destiny, and existence.

At some point during this process, a bewildering sensation would descend, as though a membrane of water had been draped between him and the outside world. His thoughts and actions became separated. Although he could still control his body, there would be a brief delay...

It was a state that inspired some fear, yet was also extremely interesting.

I named it "layered thought." Through deliberate experiments afterward, I successfully entered that state several more times. To be honest, the experience was not very pleasant. It felt as if I had isolated myself from everything around me, to the point that I could not even determine whether I existed.

Note: This is based on the author's personal experience, and he has no idea whether it applies broadly. Interested readers can give it a brief try, but please don't take it too seriously. It's possible that I really am somewhat mentally abnormal, but that doesn't necessarily apply to you.

Now that the detour was over, back to the point.

After years of experimentation, Mo Tan discovered that this state he had stumbled upon could greatly assist him in "switching." Although the process consumed a great deal, or even a tremendous amount, of energy, it remained his best option so far. He was most practiced at changing his personality into the Absolute Neutral state.

After all, it was his most normal personality in daily life, and comparatively ordinary in temperament—not mediocre, but simply not as extreme as the other two. Switching to it was not too troublesome...

Thus, after a while, when Mo Tan emerged from that somewhat wondrous sensation, the chaotic, perpetually smiling light in his eyes had faded, replaced by a gentle air tinged with laziness.

"Coffee..." He walked over to the cup on the corner of the table, hesitated slightly, then took a small packet of instant sweetened milk from the drawer and poured it in. He sighed, "It really is better with a little milk."

After downing the entire cup of coffee in one go, Mo Tan immediately felt much more energetic. He stretched, then lay back down in the game pod, noted the current time, and logged into the game.

Your mental connection has been detected. Synchronizing personal information...

Connection complete. Reading character information.

Welcome back, Hei Fan of Absolute Neutral. Loading Innocent World. Have a good night.

"Sure enough, no one noticed~" After regaining consciousness, Mo Tan discovered that he was sitting on a bench along Rockpile City's central avenue. There were quite a few pedestrians around at this hour, yet no one noticed that a living person had appeared out of thin air. He could not help sighing, "Exactly what did the system do to these NPCs' perception? Or is my own presence really that faint?"

Naturally, this was the system's influence...

Mo Tan thought this way only because he knew too well how ostentatious or righteous he could be at certain times. Compared with other people, however, Hei Fan of Absolute Neutral was perfectly normal.

He rose slowly and continued toward the church in the city after a full day's absence. He had originally planned to go to the church before disconnecting yesterday. Walking among the people around him, whose skin colors, professions, and even races varied, he was thoroughly content.

Although he had already experienced the bustling Anka Market and the large, vibrant Pato City, Mo Tan felt no dissatisfaction with Rockpile City's relative quietness. He could easily blend into his surroundings wherever he went, matching the rhythm like an ordinary local citizen. This was not some extraordinary talent, merely an ability to take things as they came...

If Mo Tan's personality at times like this were pulled out and thrown into a reality show, he would probably say, "This is delicious!" after his first meal in the village.

He was the neighbor who smiled at you when you met on your morning walk~

He was the ordinary spectator who laughed until his mouth hung open when he heard a funny joke, just like you~

He liked playing games, reading comics and novels, and disliked eating vegetables, just like you~

He could feel guilt, fear, sympathy, and pity. He could hesitate and waver~

He usually talked neither too much nor too little, but when a topic interested him, he could chat with you enthusiastically for half a day~

He would not attach reflective strips to his shoes or secretly photograph someone's underwear with his phone, but when he encountered a pair of long bare legs on the street, he would still unconsciously take a couple of extra glances~

He was that sort of person, one of the "ordinary people" found everywhere in this era of explosive population growth, utterly unremarkable.

However, given that he was sufficiently clever while also possessing two other personalities that were always getting involved with trouble, no matter how "ordinary" or how absolutely neutral he was, his ordinariness could never be too ordinary.

Even if he was not some troublemaker, after encountering enough bizarre nonsense, his fuel consumption would still shoot up and up...

"Why aren't you online today?"

"Can you really play for twelve hours every day?"

"That magic projection technique you mentioned is pretty useful!"

"By the way, even if there's no assembly, come by the barracks and show your face~"

"Why does Yinna look at me so strangely? What did you say to her?"

Perhaps because she was bored, a certain female hacker with enormous fuel consumption had begun sending him nuisance messages whenever she failed to get a reply from "Tan Mo"...

Mo Tan considered his response before replying with something along the lines of: "I often work late at night, so my online hours may be irregular. If you have plenty of time, hurry up and level or something, so you can carry us later." It was all fairly pointless.

He then left Shuangye an email address, with a fairly ordinary level of encryption. Given this sun's abilities, a little investigation would probably be enough to confirm his true identity, and then make the connection between "Hei Fan" and "Mo Tan," while keeping the other existence, "Tan Mo," safer~

As for the similarity between his real name and Tan Mo's in-game nickname, in this age of a massive population, it could almost entirely be dismissed as coincidence. Even if Shuangye grew suspicious, at most it would only leave her even more confused. What could she do about it?

Not long after he finished replying to Shuangye's message, before he had even reached his destination, a message window popped up in the corner of his vision.

Player: Yu Chen (Absolute Neutral) has requested to add you as a friend.

He remembered without needing to think that this was the girl named Yu Chen whom he had met while attending Yi Dong's gathering. She had seemed very introverted and somewhat afraid of strangers.

Uh, it seemed that they had told everyone they would add each other later, but in the end he had not added anyone. On one hand, Hei Fan's online rate was too low. On the other, everyone had been quite new to the game at the start and probably had too much to deal with. Even Yi Dong had stopped pestering him much after Mo Tan stood him up...

Innocent World truly possessed a unique charm.

"Hi~"

After selecting confirm, Mo Tan sent a casual greeting through the mail system in the friends interface. A reply came moments later.

"Hehe, I finally caught you online! o(n_n)o~ What are you doing, Mo Tan? I've added everyone to my friends list now!"

Mo Tan replied briefly as he walked. The general gist was that he had been a little busy lately and had not played much, that he had just joined a territory's militia in the game, and that a priest in the city had swindled twenty copper coins from him for a scripture some time ago.

"Σ(⊙▽⊙! No way! The saintess here told me scriptures are free~ Mo Tan, were you scammed?" Yu Chen replied at lightning speed. Although sending messages through a mental connection did not require the tedious process of typing, that speed was still somewhat startling. The cheerfulness and vitality practically bursting from her words also surprised Mo Tan a little.

This girl had quite the gap between her appearances...

Although Mo Tan did not like communicating with others too much in reality—he was afraid his style would suddenly change and cause an accident—the situation was different in the game. Even if he suddenly split into another personality, the worst that could happen was disconnecting and switching accounts. He would not scare anyone or cause a mess, so he did not mind chatting for a while longer. He replied, "That saintess of yours clearly belongs to the evil exploiting class. As a God-Blessed, you'll probably join the upper levels of the church soon, while the old priest I met in that small place clearly belongs to the church's lower levels. And I'm part of the exploited class... So, paying money..."

"You make a lot of sense. My condolences orz~" Yu Chen replied instantly.

Mo Tan had already reached the front of the church. He gave a dry laugh, sent Yu Chen an embarrassed, dust-covered emoticon, and strode inside.

He would not provoke the clergy's distaste now. After all, without the influence brought by the Atheist talent, it was not easy to make these believers shun him at first sight...

Besides, Hei Fan was a thoroughly orthodox believer of the Dawn Goddess, and he was also a priest himself. A church of the Dawn faith was practically his home.

"Oh~ It's wonderful to see you, kiddo." Although there were many people in the church, the old priest who had led him into the faith previously spotted Mo Tan immediately and approached with a broad smile. "No matter where you are, you must never forget the goddess's grace."

Mo Tan nodded. "I'm here to pray. Afterward, there's something I'd like to discuss with you, Father~"

The other man nodded enthusiastically. Whether that enthusiasm had anything to do with the enthusiasm he had shown when Mo Tan paid for the scripture was unknown...

Mo Tan then came before the goddess's statue, closed his eyes reverently, and pressed his palms together. He wanted to get the formalities over with quickly so he could discuss skills with the priest, but unexpectedly...

Pray to Dawn Goddess Pokesi?

???

So the game really had a setting like this?

Then he might as well pray. Trying it would not get him pregnant, and perhaps there would even be some benefit.

Mo Tan immediately selected confirm...

The next moment, he felt as if he were standing in a warm, boundless sea. The omnipresent light wrapped around his entire body. In his originally pitch-black field of vision—black because his eyes were closed—a hazy female figure appeared and gradually approached him.

"I shall shelter you," the figure said softly. "May you spread my gospel, filling everywhere within your sight with light and sacred radiance."

I'll do my best...

Mo Tan thought this to himself. It was not a lie, after all. He was already her believer, so spreading the goddess's gospel could be considered part of his duty.

"Devotion," the other party's voice rang out again. "Shall be rewarded."

Your Intelligence +3, Constitution +3, Faith Limit +10. Talent acquired: Piety.

That was pretty incredible!!

Mo Tan was overjoyed, only to hear the hazy figure speak for the third time...

"Temper your spirit and body, and strengthen your faith and yourself..."

And then?

"Then, if you encounter a believer of that lunatic Dilia, that brain-dead Saviel, that damn swindler Izanar, or any chaotic and evil heretic, beat the crap out of them! Blow them to hell!!!"

"???"