[Broken Statue of the Abyss Old God] Comes to Life...

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): A god's full, honored name encompasses their authority, status, and symbolism. In mysticism, it serves as a medium for communicating with a particular god.

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): Whatever is spoken will be known. That is a god's nature, regardless of their status.

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): The consequences of chanting a god's full, honored name also depend on their current state.

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): I don't know much myself. I only know what happens when you chant a god's honored name in two different states.

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): First, the god is in good condition and still possesses their full status, authority, and symbolism. In that case, the god will very likely turn their gaze toward the real world. It's fine if they mean well, but if they harbor ill will toward this world, it would bring about a horrifying catastrophe.

Were there still gods in that world who meant well?

Thinking of the Ancient Earth, where mystery walked alongside the unknown, horror coexisted with the bizarre, and survival was brutally difficult, Yang Qizhou couldn't help feeling a chill rise within him.

Honey Pot (Member): What about the second state?

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): The god has perished, but their authority, status, and symbolism have transformed into an item with the potential to come alive. In that case, chanting their full, honored name could very likely cause a new god to emerge from the item and inherit everything from the fallen god.

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): This isn't something that can be done easily. The item must have come alive to an extremely high degree, and the ritual must be a suitable match. Otherwise, even if a new god is born, they may become twisted and insane, or even collapse outright.

Honey Pot (Member): The items with the potential to come alive that you mentioned... are Old Day Items.

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): That's right.

So that was it.

Many of the questions Yang Qizhou had been puzzling over were answered in that moment.

He had already found it strange that Old Day Items had such severe negative effects compared to ordinary items. Now he understood: Old Day Items were likely formed when the remains of fallen gods merged with things around them. That left behind fragments of the fallen gods' minds and gave the items the potential to come alive. They weren't truly just items.

Take the quasi-legendary Old Day Item Garment of the Hidden World. It had been formed when the Dreamy Hidden World's Lord perished and merged with the Rag Stained with the Great Lord's Blood.

"But..."

"Why could ordinary items also develop the potential to come alive after being used many times, and possibly evolve into Old Day Items?"

Yang Qizhou had come up with plenty of guesses, but without any evidence, he couldn't be sure. For the time being, he could only set the question aside.

The chat continued.

Honey Pot (Member): The gods of Ancient Earth can actually peer into the real world. That's incredible.

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): You don't need to test me like that, newcomer. With the rules witnessed by the King of Oaths in place, I can't deceive you with my words.

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): Also, don't assume that Ancient Earth is far from the real world. The two are actually much closer than you imagine.

Though Secret Cultivator had seen through his probing, Yang Qizhou didn't feel awkward.

Everyone was playing mind games.

No one was in a position to criticize anyone else.

As for Secret Cultivator's claim that she also had to abide by the rules witnessed by the King of Oaths and couldn't deceive people with her words, Yang Qizhou didn't believe a single word of it.

He would believe her when the clause "Secret Cultivator has the final say in all interpretations" was removed.

At the same time, Secret Cultivator's last remark sent a tremor through Yang Qizhou.

Ancient Earth wasn't far from the real world.

The two were close instead?

Honey Pot (Member): Group owner, how do you know all this?

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): I've already revealed a lot this time, far more than you wanted to know. People should learn to be satisfied.

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): But I can give you a little more information.

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): Players of World of Weirdness are pitifully rare in proportion to the population—one in a hundred thousand, even. But there are far more of them than you imagine. Most have been registered by the Bureau of Occult Investigation and informed of the precautions. They're still within a manageable range. But among the players the Bureau of Occult Investigation hasn't found, a small number like to court death. They don't even last half a month, and they've caused quite a bit of trouble.

A player ratio of one in a hundred thousand really wasn't a small number.

It was only natural that some of them would court death.

Come to think of it, Secret Cultivator really was a decent person. Yang Qizhou had only wanted to know what would happen if someone chanted the full, honored name of a god from Ancient Earth in the real world. She had not only answered in detail, but also dropped hints about all sorts of secrets.

His impression of her improved considerably.

The group owner was a straight shooter. He could talk to her more often in the future.

The chanting grew clearer and clearer, like a hidden being whispering in his ear. An eerie green, evil, and twisted force flowed down from the thirteenth floor.

Honey Pot (Member): Thanks for the help, group owner. I've got to go. Talk later.

Secret Cultivator (Group Owner): Is there a player near you chanting a god's honored name?

Honey Pot (Member): Yeah, that son of a bitch...

Without waiting to see if Secret Cultivator would reply, Yang Qizhou put his phone away.

The ethereal chanting grew clearer and clearer. Evil raged, and terror echoed in waves. According to Secret Cultivator, the dire consequences of chanting a "full, honored name" might soon come to pass.

He just didn't know whether this "Great Lord of Chaos, Lurking at the Bottom of the Abyss" still possessed their full status, authority, and symbolism.

Or whether they had already perished.

Or were in some other state.

"I'll go take a look. If I get the chance, I'll beat Wang Chuang and the bastard behind him to a pulp."

"If even I can't handle it, then forget it. I'll use the Doom-Bringing Raven's ability to escape from this current thread of fate and leave it to the Bureau of Occult Investigation."

On the thirteenth floor of the Diamond Building, inside a vast exhibition hall.

The place was now covered in a dense web of silkworm threads, an eerie green in color. Eight or nine cocoons hung from the ceiling, each one wrapped up in silk.

At the center of it all, Wang Chuang stood atop an altar, chanting a god's full, honored name.

His flesh had already been grafted onto the Broken Statue of the Abyss Old God, and he had mutated into a twisted, evil, nauseating monster, oozing pus all over.

The mutation kept progressing with every passing moment.

Those who looked at Wang Chuang felt as if someone had poured paste into their heads. They grew dizzy, and their heads throbbed with pain.

At that moment,

the scene was so horrifying and twisted that it looked just like a demon's lair.

"Wang Chuang, you bastard! If you've got the guts, kill me! Otherwise, once I get free, I'll kill you!" Zhao Keke was one of the people hanging from the ceiling.

She had always had a fiery temper. Faced with a desperate situation, she wasn't afraid—instead, fury surged through her.

The members of the Bureau of Occult Investigation looked just as despondent.

They weren't afraid of death. Ever since they had joined the Bureau of Occult Investigation and become guardians fighting the evils lurking in the dark, they had put their lives on the line.

But now that the moment had truly come, they couldn't help feeling dejected.

"Chief Zhou, we've lost. The Broken Statue of the Abyss Old God has come alive and is transforming into a god. No one can stop it now."

"Luckily, the Lamp Bearer got everyone out. Otherwise, if thousands upon thousands of people had been sacrificed, we can't imagine how powerful the god who came alive would have become."

"Damn it, the Hermit Society must be behind this. They're the only ones deranged enough to do something like this."

"If the Broken Statue of the Abyss Old God really comes alive and becomes a god, I wonder whether the director can handle it."

"He should... be able to... right?"

Zhou Xu felt heavyhearted too.

There had been players who, unaware of the taboo, had chanted a god's full, honored name just for fun. They'd left behind a huge mess, and the Bureau of Occult Investigation had dealt with it each time, so they had some experience handling such cases.

But this time was different from anything they had encountered before. Someone had first nurtured the Old Day Item, the Broken Statue of the Abyss Old God, until it had come alive to an extremely high degree. Then they had found the corresponding full, honored name and arranged a matching ritual.

Although the Lamp Bearer's involvement had allowed the crowds to escape, disrupting the ritual before it was complete, certain factors from the mystical side had still come into play.

If the Broken Statue of the Abyss Old God really came alive, it might become a complete god, possessing an honored name, status, authority, and symbolism.

Was the Bureau of Occult Investigation really prepared to face a "god" now?

"Director, this mess is a little too big. I hope you can handle it."

Despair spread through the hall.

Just then, a figure appeared in the doorway, drawing the attention of every Bureau of Occult Investigation member. When they saw who it was, delight appeared on all their faces.