Details and the Beginning of Action

As expected, after patiently listening to "Old Li" explain the general circumstances of the "Main God Game" in a manner that could hardly be called eloquent, Li Yun naturally sensed that a stirring had quietly surfaced deep within his thoughts.

The content described by this self-proclaimed "Guide" user was not important in itself, yet it was like a key made specifically for him, unlocking the sealed "file."

Like something that had finally been recognized by the self, a tide of information surged forth, flowing into his consciousness—strange yet harmonious. It was so smooth that it felt as though it had always belonged there—

The meaning of life, the beginning of reincarnation...

Beyond good and evil, regardless of cause and effect, without distinction between beginning and end...

Perhaps it was the trial of the God-Demons, perhaps an endless series of choices, perhaps the origin of transcendence, or even the countless possibilities spanning infinite dimensions...

Walking upon the boundary between reality and illusion, pursuing the lofty throne of eternal immortality...

Death or ascension, sublimation or descent—everything depended on a single thought...

This was... the Infinite Worlds! The Main God Game!

An indescribably vast amount of information appeared in his consciousness in a special form that could neither be misinterpreted nor ignored!

As he briefly digested it, Li Yun stood there in a daze, his expression barely changing. Only his brows twitched despite himself.

Not bad.

More remarkably, there was hardly any genuinely false advertising in it.

He savored it carefully, especially the line that claimed, "Complete the missions issued by the Main God to receive rewards. All desires—power, wealth, status, immortality, and even every fixation and regret—can be compensated for and remedied in these infinite worlds..."

To be honest, even he felt a faint stir of emotion after reading it. How much more so would ordinary people?

After all, a person might not have lofty ambitions or burning desires, but no matter what, being human, who could truly say they had no regrets at all?

The unfinished matters, the paths missed, the words left unsaid, and the mistakes that could never be made right were often merely buried deep in the heart, surfacing quietly in the dead of night and questioning the self.

On this point, it had to be said that this seemingly somewhat "rigid" Main God had indeed grasped the key point of the human psychological defenses with remarkable precision.

His gaze shifted.

As he digested and understood this information, another thing accompanied it: a new light screen before him that was not entirely unfamiliar to him—

[Relevant information has been accessed. Temporary personal panel unlocked.]

[Your current identity is: Tourist]

[Temporary language translation function unlocked]

[Please check the relevant information.]

Good. He had obtained the most crucial function.

Li Yun nodded with satisfaction and swept his gaze around.

Most of the newcomers were still lost in the immense bewilderment brought about by the information shock and had yet to recover. Only "Old Li" nearby was faintly twitching his eyelids, seemingly about to finish digesting the "brief announcement" that was likewise his first contact with it.

Clearly, the reason the Main God had arranged for such a "character" to be inserted among the newcomer tourists was naturally not simply to have him serve as an instructor.

Aside from deliberately delaying the process before triggering this step of "directly instilling information," allowing it to initially observe the "true qualities displayed by the newcomer tourists in a completely unfamiliar and out-of-control environment without any prior knowledge," there was another purpose.

Li Yun could also guess that "Old Li" was essentially a temporary worker meant to serve as guidance and protection for the newcomers, a measure intended to further raise their completion rate.

He could only say that after confirming the effectiveness of the mass mental-dispersal effect, the Main God was even more eager than he, the administrator, to lower the difficulty and "let them off easy"!

The invitation count that had directly surged to five hundred thousand in this round, along with the more than two hundred forty thousand tourists who had ultimately taken the bait, was clear evidence of that.

But although the others might not have noticed, he had seen it clearly. When "Old Li" erupted with mental fluctuations that seemed to possess some abnormal physical effect and forcibly shattered that slightly weathered stone, many fine blood vessels had quietly appeared in his eyes.

This was quite subtle.

Judging from how the other man's casual mental-sense scan had been easily detected and blocked by him in his "current state," it was one thing that this veteran's method of using his mental effects was still crude. It was also an objective fact that his mental power was not particularly strong.

Compared with an ordinary person's mental qualities, it was indeed considerably higher, and it had even undergone a qualitative breakthrough. But in terms of pure mental "quantity"... it was still limited in strength.

At least in Li Yun's view, it was fundamentally different from the effortless generation of an effect that used the mental phase to interfere with matter in his complete state.

The main reason "Old Li" could use this relatively "frail" mental power to form such substantial interference was that the form of his mental power had already undergone a certain "mutation" in a specific direction.

At the cost of weakening the natural developmental potential of his mental essence, it had instead developed along a particular mental property, directly producing the rare phenomenon of "turning darkness into light."

The mind had shifted from an inherently obscure and intangible latent quality into a distinct fluctuation possessing a certain degree of substantial interventional force. That was the key to what had happened to him.

It was not the natural manifestation of the power of the true self, but a more "quickly cultivated" method that produced results rapidly while imperceptibly causing the user to bear excessive burdens.

It could not be considered an evil path, but it was certainly not the proper one either.

After all, he was using the so-called First Tier life essence—in reality, a mental transformation that caused changes in the brain—while his body remained within the physical range of an ordinary person, forcing it to bear the burden brought by this rudimentary form of "psychokinesis," which directly used consciousness to interfere with matter.

Heh.

According to a relatively proper, elementary yet stable form of "psychokinesis" exchange that Li Yun had seen at the Main God, it was a natural result that gradually stabilized and developed after intense stimulation from viruses or other factors caused a life-essence mutation equivalent to a Third or Fourth Tier starting point, with evolution focused primarily in the mental domain...

A comparison between the two immediately revealed the difference and the problem.

That was only because this was within the framework of the Main God Game. Put bluntly, the users were ultimately just projections of their true selves within a dream. Even if something went wrong during a mission, the Main God would correct and cover for them afterward.

In reality, if this fellow dared to blow up stones whenever he felt like it, he would probably have burned his brain into a puddle of mush after doing it a few times.

This was not some "Ultra Psychokinesis that shortened your life by one minute every time you used it for sixty seconds"!

When the physical hardware of the user's body could not keep up with the demands of the mental software, the result was often this cruel.

...Naturally, such a situation could not be blamed entirely on the Main God. But it was obvious that this enhancement route itself did carry some suspicion of forcing seedlings to grow by pulling them upward.

Especially since these were "seedlings" in the fields belonging jointly to the Main God and Li Yun!

One could only say that these users were truly "impressive" in a certain sense. In only a few days, they had managed to dig up and sift through all kinds of bizarre versions of the Exchange Listings...

Sure enough, when people did bad things and exploited loopholes, they often never seemed to get tired.

Li Yun was somewhat helpless about it.

Having noticed the hidden danger, he was considering returning later to issue advance warnings to users about some seemingly flawless, highly cost-effective exchanges that nevertheless carried certain potential risks—or simply removing them from the regular listings and adding a restriction requiring the user's specific attributes to meet the standard before they could exchange for them.

After roughly recording this concealed issue, which did not count as an obvious flaw, on his personal panel, he looked up again. The veteran before him, along with the surrounding tourists, had indeed mostly regained consciousness.

All right. He would take a look first.

It had to be said that after the astonishing scene just now, everyone's view of this "veteran" had changed completely.

Even though many newcomers still could not fully digest everything they had just learned, the treatment and method of directly imprinting information into their minds were clearly far too advanced!

It had almost completely shattered their most instinctive doubts.

Among the crowd, a man who had just recovered unexpectedly dropped to his knees before empty air with a thump. His expression showed genuine emotion and piety, and he immediately began kowtowing repeatedly with great force!

Unfortunately, the direction in which the man knelt faced exactly where Li Qingzhi was sitting. For a moment, it was truly difficult to say whether he was worshiping the "deity" he kept muttering about, or the envoy before him who had indirectly brought about this "miracle."

At such a time, "Old Li," who had just been brimming with imposing force, instead began to feel extremely uncomfortable. He awkwardly shifted sideways to avoid the other man's direct line of worship, feeling as though he were sitting on pins and needles.

Although he knew that calmly accepting it might make him appear more dignified and imposing, honestly, being unaccustomed to it was only one matter. More importantly... he felt guilty inside, worried that being worshiped like this would shorten his life!

Noticing the "tilak" painted on the man's forehead—a simple religious mark drawn with cinnabar, incense ash, and the like, whose colors had already begun to blur slightly in the drizzle—as well as his dark-brown complexion and appearance, Li Yun nodded thoughtfully toward the veteran sitting beside him.

"This fellow should be from India, most likely a religious believer, which is why he reacted this way... Hmm, look at the pattern on his forehead. It's an inverted teardrop with a dot in the middle, like a map marker. He should be a devotee of Vithoba."

"Huh?"

Seeing "Old Li" finally unable to keep his composure, his face revealing the bewildered expression of What are you talking about? Why can't I understand a word of this?

Li Yun shook his head and gave a simple explanation. "In India's native culture, religious faith has always occupied a very large place. There are all kinds of sects and doctrines. This symbol on the man's forehead represents a deity from Indian mythology named Vithoba, whose follower he should be."

"This deity is generally regarded as an incarnation of Vishnu or Krishna—in other words, Black Krishna. Worship of him is especially prevalent in regions such as Maharashtra and Karnataka, and is most widespread among the lower classes, the Shudra, and even the untouchable groups..."

"Look at his clothes. The edges are severely worn, and the cuffs and elbows have already frayed. His finger joints are thick and covered in yellowed calluses, especially around the neck—"

He lowered his voice and indicated that "Old Li" should pay attention to the large patches of aged marks with a dark-purple hue naturally exposed beneath the collar at the back of the Indian man's neck when he lowered his head to kowtow.

"These marks, left by long-term pressure and friction, have such deep-set coloration and an old appearance that even the outer skin has visibly swollen from repeated injury and healing of the capillaries. They absolutely could not have formed in a short time."

"In reality, this person most likely performs some kind of heavy physical labor for a long period—bending over, carrying loads, or maintaining a fixed posture for long stretches. In India, traces like these often point to people regarded as belonging to the lower occupations, those destined for hard labor."

Someone calmly reached a conclusion.

"...He should be of a 'low caste.' He probably hasn't received much education either. His life is difficult, he is ignorant, and he cannot see a future, so he can only drift with the current and entrust his faith to the gods and Buddhas..."

"Yes, he probably thinks you're the representative of the so-called 'Main God' mentioned in the information that appeared in our minds just now."

After the young man's explanation, Li Qingzhi's eyes widened even further.

No, I understand every word you're saying, but how does putting them together make them so confusing?

What is Vithoba? What is a low caste? What does it mean to be the Main God's representative?

Did something go wrong with what I explained earlier and cause this guy on the ground to misunderstand? Or has my technical-college education really fallen behind the times, leaving me unable to understand the remarks of you highly cultured people?

With his temples still twitching, Li Qingzhi was clearly struggling to keep up with the other man's line of thought.

But after thinking it over, he suddenly realized—oh, wait. His current position as the "Guide" really did correspond somewhat to the Main God's status as a "temporary spokesperson."

Then there was no problem.

After thinking carefully for a while and finally grasping the general meaning, the veteran's evaluation of this bespectacled, refined young man rose several notches.

After quietly labeling him a "cultured man," he briskly stood up and reached out to haul the Indian man, who was still kowtowing, to his feet with an irresistible force!

Seeing that the fellow with the symbol on his brow seemed ready to continue kowtowing and pray for the protection of the intangible "deity," Li Qingzhi was enraged.

But when he noticed the lingering doubt in the scrutinizing gazes of the surrounding newcomers—especially now that the Main God's mission timer had begun counting down—he knew that this was no time to delay.

Based on his firsthand experience from the previous "Main God Game," as well as the scattered exchanges of experience Li Qingzhi had shared with unfamiliar users on the Main God Platform over the past few days, once the timer began, some kind of "danger" in the mission world would most likely soon begin noticing the presence of these "outsiders"...

After the personal light screen displayed the prompt that the "temporary newcomer explanation" requested by the [Main God] had been completed, and that guidance would be free until the mission ended, he confirmed that he could actually ignore these newcomers and let them fend for themselves.

Even so, Li Qingzhi decided that the most urgent matter was to first lead them somewhere relatively safe to lie low.

Simply remaining in this open, dilapidated street in the drizzle was no solution.

Besides, he needed to gather specific information and quickly figure out what they might have to face in this mission world.

He did not have that much free time to waste on the newcomers' foolish behavior!

After all, every one of them who cleared the mission later would earn him an additional reward!

Who could let them keep acting foolishly?

He shouted a fierce order to stop the Indian man, his vicious manner intimidating him. Only then did Li Qingzhi call out a few words to the people beside him and signal for them to follow quickly. He himself turned his head to look around, considering which direction to take.

Soon, a sparse, disorganized group—including the middle-aged-to-elderly white man who had only just managed to remove his heavy mountaineering suit with someone else's help—had no choice but to follow behind him, trudging unevenly through the ruin-like streets, one step deep and one step shallow...