In his dream, Ke Meng got straight to work on several things.
First came his routine surveillance: checking on the mastermind behind Shadow Stream. Life there was still dull and tedious-all darkness, without moving an inch.
Next, he kept a close eye on the Black Jade Stone before him. Supposedly, it held the memories of some deity, but Ke Meng could neither move his hands nor chant a spell, so he had no way to use it.
Having a subordinate activate it might work. Then Ke Meng could borrow a follower's body and, through that follower, indirectly see the memories within the Black Jade Stone.
But that would require the follower to sacrifice their mind.
After all, the memories inside might be divine-level memories. Ke Meng had a feeling that if a creature without divine standing opened the stone, there might be no saving them.
They might even die without leaving so much as a scrap behind.
He needed to weigh the risks and benefits. Ke Meng had plenty of time, so there was no hurry.
Perhaps if he stared at it long enough, he could develop some indescribable connection with the Black Jade Stone.
Ke Meng remained unshaken. After staring for a while, he turned part of his mind to another matter, like a multicore processor.
In the distant Dream World, the players' daily lives remained full of imagination, with all sorts of bizarre things running around in their dreams.
Through the Artificial Intelligence Association, the AIs slowly gathered a group of their own kind and introduced the word "faith."
The AIs were gradually learning about Cthulhu faith. That would take time.
Ke Meng did not want them all to become lunatics, so when his followers spread the faith to the AIs, they guided them slowly with as little