There was a myth in western India.
The Goddess of Prosperity, who ruled over gold and food, gave birth to 160 million children, all of whom later became gods. But her favorite was still her firstborn, Hastur.
Hastur was greedy by nature. He stole all the goddess's gold and even tried to steal all her food.
When the gods discovered this, they tore him to pieces.
To save Hastur, the Goddess of Prosperity hid him back inside her womb and sealed it.
Unable to find him, the gods joined together to lay a curse upon him: Hastur would never receive the worship of mortals, and food that belonged to no one would burn him.
Hastur possessed endless wealth inside the Goddess of Prosperity's womb, but he also had to endure unending hunger.
A village in western India called Tumbbad was where the goddess's womb lay.
For the sake of wealth, the local Rao family actually built a temple for Hastur. From then on, Tumbbad was plagued by endless rain.
The story was roughly divided into three stages. In 1918, Sarkar Rao was the village headman and the only person who knew the secret of the treasure. He had a mistress and two illegitimate sons.
Sarkar took the secret of the treasure to his grave. But his great-great-grandmother had once entered the treasure chamber and been bitten by Hastur, turning into a long-lived monster whose body was rotten and whose hunger was insatiable.
In 1933, Vinayak Rao, the eldest son of Sarkar's mistress, came of age. He learned the secret of the treasure from his great-great-grandmother, who had become a monster, and successfully obtained gold coins. He lived comfortably until old age, when he was killed by the greed of his son, Pandurang.
Wu Heng's sheet of paper was covered in dense writing.
The movie was mainly about greed. The most important thing was the bag of wealth at the waist of the Son of God, Hastur.
He sorted out the plot, tore the paper into pieces, and flushed them down the toilet.
After locking the front door, he put on his disguise, activated his Tower Mark, and entered the Lighthouse.
Standing in the plaza inside the Lighthouse, Wu Heng felt all the smaller beneath the vast ocean of darkness that filled the space beyond it.
Wu Heng wandered around the plaza and found an area with rows of signs listing items for sale and their trading hours.
"Selling an exorcism cross. Can ward off ordinary monsters. 1,000 survival points. Appraised and certified by the Lighthouse. Online for five minutes each day at one Tower Hour."
"Selling burial clothes from a century-old Zombie. Possesses baleful energy and can intimidate lesser ghosts. 900 survival points. Certified by the Lighthouse. Online for three minutes each day at one Tower Hour."
Umbrellas of shadowy ghosts, ribs of walking corpses, talismans to ward off evil, holy water, and so on. The signs listed a great many things.
They were all cheap items with weak effects. Since the Lighthouse had appraised them, there was no chance of finding a hidden bargain, and none of them were particularly powerful.
Wu Heng spotted a stall with someone watching over it. Two customers stood in front of the counter, and as he approached, he saw the sign:
"Selling gold, banknotes from all nations of the Deep Blue Star, all kinds of modern technology, individual weapons, real-world negotiations, modifications of real-world records, and preorders for all kinds of real-world goods."
The stall owner wore a silver suit of armor with an extremely high-tech design. Blue-green scales showed on the small patches of skin left uncovered. Sitting upright behind the counter, he was writing down the two customers' requests.
The two customers disappeared on the spot a moment later, and it was Wu Heng's turn.
"Hello. What do you need? Here's our catalog. It's a bit long, so you can also just ask me directly."
The stall owner pulled out a book about an inch thick, complete with illustrations, and handed it to Wu Heng.
"Keep this catalog. You can take it and read it at your leisure. Come by our stall whenever you need something. We're staffed twenty-four hours a day, and if there's anything not in the catalog, you can still ask us."
Wu Heng flipped through the catalog. The first page read:
One million Red Moon Federation dollars, price: 5 survival points.
One kilogram of gold, price: 3 survival points.
He flipped further: shotguns, submachine guns, Gatling guns, drones.
"I want two kilograms of gold, an SAA-13 shotgun with 50 shells, two Shadow D28 Drones, four 500-milliliter bags of plasma, and one Modern Technology Pack."
Although exchanging banknotes looked more profitable than selling ginseng, Wu Heng didn't dare use money obtained this way carelessly. The person in front of him was obviously a salesperson for some organization.
"That'll be 60 survival points. Your order will be ready for pickup in ten minutes. Pay then."
The stall owner wrote down the order and spoke in a calm voice.
Wu Heng turned to look at the other stalls. The owner seemed to remember that there was something else he hadn't said.
"Hey!"
"Is something wrong?" Wu Heng asked, turning back in confusion.
"Um... Welcome back next time." The stall owner awkwardly added.
"Oh."
Ten minutes later, Wu Heng looked at his personal inventory, packed full: 10 exorcism talismans, two kilograms of gold, a shotgun, two drones, four 500-milliliter bags of plasma, a Modern Technology Pack, and an ice-and-snow crystal ball.
The suitcase took up too much space, so Wu Heng hadn't brought it with him. He activated his Tower Mark. "Enter the plot world ahead of schedule."
[Identity information locked. Lighthouse number: SL914] [Anchored world: Tumbbad] [Teleportation countdown: 5 seconds.] [4 seconds!] [3 seconds!]
As the void shifted around him, Wu Heng passed through a barrier and appeared high in the sky. The Ganges River rushed beneath his feet, and a group of people gathering water along the banks looked no bigger than ants.
Wu Heng took in the information transmitted by his Tower Mark.
Current world: Tumbbad [Survival mission: Survive for one week. (Complete the mission to receive 500 survival points.)] [Plot mission one: Enter the Well of God. (Complete the mission to receive 1,000 survival points.)] [Plot mission two: Kill the Son of God. (Complete the mission to receive 3,000 survival points.)] [Number of entrants: 1] [Descent countdown: 10 minutes. (Enter immediately.)]
"Enter immediately."
Cold raindrops ran down his face, and Wu Heng's eyes snapped open.
He looked down and saw that he was wearing a dirty, worn gray-white shirt, loose plain-colored trousers, and black cloth shoes. A flat-topped white cloth was wrapped around his head.
Wu Heng took in the identity he'd been given for this plot. He was just an ordinary porter, with only a few fragments of memories. It seemed his newbie benefits had run out.
He glanced around.
A light rain was falling. On the left side of the muddy street stood rows of earthen houses; on the right were wooden sheds covered with gray mesh, where people carried goods and sold wares.
Several dark green military cars from the British Empire were parked by the roadside.
Everyone on the street wore black-and-white clothes sewn by hand. A few men wore white robes from head to toe, and a small number of women hurried past in red robes that covered their hair.
According to the information tied to his identity, this was Pune in 1935, in western India, part of the British Empire's colonial territory.
"Ellie, you low-caste wretch! So this is where you've been hiding. Come with us to see Raghav. Your interest is already three times the principal."
Two middle-aged men in tight-fitting clothes and short black vests, their hair tied back in ponytails, blocked Wu Heng from both sides. The dark-skinned one sneered.
"You mean Raghav?"
At that name, Wu Heng stopped his right leg, which he'd been about to kick out with all his strength.
It felt as if he'd found what he was looking for without any effort. He'd thought he would have to search hard for the characters from the plot.
After entering hell and being imprisoned in the Mind Cage, all his memories of his previous life had become crystal clear.
Raghav was an important supporting character in the movie. He coveted the way the protagonist, Vinayak Rao, obtained gold coins and secretly followed him. But the protagonist tricked him into the Well of God, where he was bitten by Hastur and turned into a monster. The protagonist then burned him to death.
"Great. That's great. Please, lead the way!"
Wu Heng looked at the two thugs before him and spoke calmly. With their obviously disreputable appearance, they'd suddenly sneered and blocked his path. He'd almost kicked the two fragile little punks to death.
...Would you trade your collectibles, monthly votes, and recommendation votes for two bottles of my body wash?
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