Ke Meng frowned inwardly. No one knew which mountain village would perform the next sacrificial ritual.
He could not predict whether the next offering would be a friendly, neutral creature or a chaotic, evil one.
After all, the god these fanatical believers worshipped was Cthulhu, a mad entity.
Ke Meng had only a superficial understanding of the Cthulhu Mythos. But even setting aside Earth's culture, he could infer the god's style from his own ridiculously powerful skills.
He controlled dreams, and anyone he glared at suffered. Those with frail constitutions might explode and die, while those with somewhat stronger bodies descended into madness. Only unusual beings could barely maintain their sanity.
Judging loosely from that style, the believers' offerings could also be mad, evil things.
Nothing that dangerous had appeared yet because his believers were too weak, and their offerings were not powerful enough. The Kobold Mountain Village, for instance, could only offer an elite-grade baby creature.
If an offering lacked strength, rarity was another option. The believers could win Cthulhu's attention with rare items. The Cat-Faced People Mountain Village, for example, had offered its village treasure. It had no combat abilities, but its strange knowledge had room to grow in value, becoming more useful in the later stages.
That night, Ke Meng spent several hours wrestling with his worries.
He woke up without receiving another offering.
He was immensely relieved. Apparently, spacetime stone powder was not so easy to obtain. Without it, the fanatical believers could not perform a sacrifice to their evil god.
The instant he awoke, a yellow ball of fur filled his vision. A little red tongue flicked before his eyes, licking him all over.
"!"
Startled, Ke Meng slapped the furry creature away and shot upright. He wiped his face with his palm, coming away with a handful of clear saliva.
Where did this new offering come from?
"Woof, woof!"
The furry creature gave two quiet barks, then lay forlornly on the floor. Its little tail wagged slowly, and its tongue hung out as it panted without stopping.
No, this wasn't a new offering.
The barking brought Ke Meng to his senses.
It was yesterday's little fluffy dog!
The little fluffy dog had grown again. It was now as tall as an adult Teddy dog, with an estimated shoulder height of around thirty centimeters.
Thick fur covered its entire body, leaving only its two tiny eyes visible. Even its ears were hidden beneath its coat.
It looked different every day. He had almost failed to recognize it.
Ke Meng got up and washed his face, scrubbing it with facial cleanser ten times before the strange smell finally left his nose.
When he returned to the bedroom, the little fluffy dog was wandering around like a guard dog patrolling its territory, inspecting its owner's little domain.
Its dark, shiny eyes darted everywhere without a moment's rest, brimming with curiosity.
In just one day, it had already left infancy behind. It certainly lived up to being a creature from a game world.
He sat down at his computer desk, took out his little notebook, and carefully recorded the new information he had obtained last night.
"Currently, there are eight groups of fanatical believers."
"The key to the summoning ritual is spacetime stone powder!"
"Based on what I saw during the two summoning rituals, summoning Great Cthulhu requires the following:
1. Spacetime stone powder (suspected source of the magic circle's fluorescent substance)
2. A pool/well
3. Green-flamed candles (possibly ordinary candles)
4. Unidentified incense (purpose unknown)
5. Believers
6. A summoning incantation
7. An offering"
Once he finished recording everything, Ke Meng felt he had not missed anything and closed his notebook.
Beside him, the little fluffy dog gave a low whine, asking for something to eat.
Ke Meng messaged Momo, asking her to bring breakfast upstairs, and transferred the money for it to her as well.
Beep, beep.
[Momo]: "Got it. ヾ(▽)ノ"
A short while later, the doorbell rang.
Ke Meng put on a mask and opened the door to collect his breakfast, finding Chen Momo standing there looking pretty and lively.
Today, she wore a white polo shirt and short blue shorts, radiating youthful energy. Her two little pigtails rested casually on her shoulders.
She blinked, initially looking at Ke Meng. But at an unexpected sound, her gaze immediately shifted to the little fluffy dog running toward her.
The little fluffy dog slipped over to her feet and deliberately sniffed her, committing the stranger's scent to memory.
"Wow, this dog is so cute! When did you buy it?"
The petite Chen Momo crouched down and reached out to stroke the little fluffy dog's head.
It was fluffy and soft, with lots of fur, and looked very well-behaved.
The little fluffy dog whined, gazing longingly at the breakfast bag in her hand. It had smelled meat.
"Last night," Ke Meng said casually.
"It's so cute. It must be lots of fun." The girl looked up, her eyes clear and bright above her mask as she gazed at him hopefully.
Ke Meng mulled that over, not quite understanding. "Is it?"
The little fluffy dog was still growing and looked different every day. He did not know whether it was fun, but its growth rate was certainly astonishing.
Chen Momo petted it for a while, then patted its head and returned downstairs with a grin to mind the shop.
"Come on, let's go back and have your dried fish," Ke Meng said, looking down at the little fluffy dog.
The little fluffy dog happily trotted after him into the bedroom.
Now that he thought about it, the little fluffy dog had recognized him as its owner. The Big-Faced Cat could be let out.
Ke Meng went to the spare bedroom and moved the cat basin into the master bedroom.
The little fluffy dog followed him the whole way, craning its neck to look at the Big-Faced Cat, which sat motionless in its basin with a vacant expression.
The dog walked to the edge of the basin and sniffed hard, memorizing the Big-Faced Cat's scent.
Ke Meng stuffed a piece of dried fish into the dog's mouth.
After eating it, the little fluffy dog licked its lips and looked at Ke Meng with its shiny little eyes. It sat upright, sticking out its little tongue and panting rapidly, wanting more.
"No extra food." Ke Meng glared at the little fluffy dog, then picked up a piece of dried fish with his chopsticks for the Big-Faced Cat. "Look at it. One piece a day is enough. So easy to feed."
The rounded head of the dried fish entered the Big-Faced Cat's mouth and instantly vanished.
The little fluffy dog lay on the floor, wagging its little tail and looking thoroughly wronged.
After feeding the two creatures, Ke Meng checked his video again.
Its view count had risen to 361, which seemed fairly decent, though he was still a long way from ten thousand views.
Downstairs.
Chen Momo returned to her seat and continued taking payments at the register.
She took out her phone and started browsing videos on Bilibili.
Before long, she came across Ke Meng's video.
It featured a strange-looking white cat with round eyes and a vacant expression. Its two chubby paws rested on either side of its plump waist, making it look rather silly.
Compared with yesterday's video, this one now had scrolling comments from goofy viewers, which immediately transformed the viewing experience.
The difference between having scrolling comments and not having them was like night and day.
Ever since Chen Momo had gotten used to Bilibili's scrolling comments, she always turned them on when watching videos. Without them, something felt off.
In the video, viewers were posting comments one after another:
"Where did you buy this cat? I want one too!"
"Boss, I'll take one too!"
"This is a 3D model, right? If I hadn't watched the remix section, I would've almost believed it."
"This uploader's freaking awesome. It looks just like a real cat."
"6666666!"
In the video, Ke Meng solemnly introduced the Big-Faced Cat's special ability to everyone-the food disappearance trick!
To prove that food vanished instantly, he deliberately used chopsticks to hold the fish and demonstrate the feeding process.
The dried fish entered the Big-Faced Cat's mouth. A second later, he withdrew the chopsticks. Half the dried fish was gone, while the chopsticks remained completely intact.
It vanished incredibly fast, without any delay or chewing at all.
Chen Momo watched the feeding process with amusement, replaying it several times.
After watching it repeatedly, Chen Momo suddenly murmured, "Huh?"
Why did it look more and more like a real cat the longer she watched?
Before you continue