<<The upcoming banquet.>>

“Brother!”

“Uncle!”

When the door opened, the three siblings and the woman rushed to the bedside. Ranen made space for them, and then noticed the three players staring at him without surprise.

To them, as long as Ranen decided to act, this little difficulty was nothing.

The player whose profession was “Con Artist” was particularly focused on the tearful family, especially the man lying in bed.

[Psychology: Success]

[You saw fanaticism on his face and could feel his heartfelt gratitude towards his savior.]

“I see, I understand now,” whispered the Com Artist, sharing a quiet conversation with the other two players.

Ranen turned his head sharply, but due to the distance, he couldn’t make out their exact words.

However, some intuition told him it probably wasn’t good.

The man was surrounded by the woman and three children, struggling to lift the corners of his mouth. His mouth moved painfully, as if trying to say something, but only faint sounds came out. The woman leaned in to listen carefully, then looked up at Ranen with surprise: “Ranen… Sir Ranen, Carmen wants to speak with you.”

Only Ye Ye Hao and the three siblings noticed the change in the woman’s tone. Ranen approached, not understanding what was happening. As he drew near, the man, who was emaciated and almost skeletal, visibly became excited, startling Ranen. He instinctively reassured him, “Don’t rush, focus on recovering your health first.”

Upon hearing this, the man, whose chest had been heaving rapidly, immediately calmed down and stopped trying to speak, though his gaze remained fixed on Ranen.

The woman and the three siblings were very grateful to Ranen and the three players, and warmly invited them to stay for dinner. However, Ranen declined politely, as he was concerned about the situation in the Psychotherapy Room. The three players, for reasons unknown, happily accepted the invitation.

When leaving, Ranen received a payment far exceeding the agreed amount for the consultation. He glanced at it and returned the excess fee.

“1,000 Western Dollars for the treatment fee, as agreed upon.”

Ranen himself couldn’t figure out how the man had broken free from the Soul-Eating Butterfly’s mental control, and since he hadn’t done much, he wasn’t going to charge extra. Moreover, considering the man’s current condition, and judging by the state of the house, which showed their financial situation wasn’t very good, Ranen felt uncomfortable asking for more.

The woman tried to persuade him to stay, but Ranen, who was thinking about his clinic and his roommate waiting for him in the apartment, said goodbye to her.

…

Ranen’s ominous premonition came true.

After confirming that his clinic was fine, he went home and was enjoying dinner with Ogre when he suddenly felt the urge to check the current discussions on the player forum.

To his dismay, the most popular post on the forum was from the “Rebellious Squad,” and it was then that he realized that among the three players, one was live-streaming the game.

Ranen: …Wait a minute, does that mean…

Sure enough, his ominous premonition was confirmed the next moment.

Due to the bonus pool quest, all players received a notification. Everyone was quite enthusiastic about this game’s first special quest, even though they had no idea where the quest was located. Most players figured, ‘Why not? The entry fee isn’t that expensive,’ and put in their money.

Then, prompted by friends and family, these players flooded into the quest’s trigger point—Ye Ye Hao’s livestream.

After Ranen mentioned the value of the butterfly specimen, viewership reached a small peak, and the chat was flooded with comments. Especially when Ye Ye Hao quickly reacted and went to the room to perform an appraisal.

Due to the unique nature of the cosmic horror game, the effectiveness of players’ appraisal skills was significantly reduced. Unless the player had high skill points in the relevant field, the appraisal results were usually brief. However, if most of the information was already known, the success rate of the appraisal skills increased significantly.

Since Ranen had directly revealed the information about the Soul-Eating Butterfly specimen, Ye Ye Hao’s appraisal resulted in the following information:

[Soul-Eating Butterfly Cocoon

Item Type / Potion Material

Grade: A

Description: One of the core materials for crafting the Dreamwalking Potion. When there are human beings nearby, a Willpower check is required every three hours. Failure results in a loss of 1-3 health points and 2-5 mental points.  If the Willpower check fails three times consecutively, the subject will enter a state of temporary madness, and the life-draining effect cannot be stopped and is irreversible.]

An A-grade item / potion material!

And it’s a core material for crafting a high-grade magic potion, the Dreamwalking Potion!

Is this something that can appear in a newbie zone? What kind of outrageous luck is this?!

The barrage instantly turned sour.

[Wuwuwuwu I can’t believe this, this is totally unbalanced! Don’t even talk about magic potions, I haven’t even seen the lowest-grade items, how could anyone obtain an A-grade item?!]

[This must be a scam; I don’t care, it’s a scam if I don’t get it!]

[Is this item for sale? I can buy it at a high price!]

[Stop talking nonsense. The game’s potential is clear to more than just you. Streamer, don’t sell it! This is a game-breaking item!]

Just as the barrage finished, a shadow suddenly appeared on the window.

Ranen also witnessed this firsthand in the room. He saw something being thrown in through the window. As thick smoke filled the room, a man wearing a gas mask broke in through the window and went straight for the specimen.

Of course, the two players fought desperately to resist, but the only player who could fight, Baba Hao, had just reached the door. As for the combat ability of the other two players, well…

They had invested heavily in professional skills to succeed in scamming, so their combat ability was about as effective as catching a chicken.

In short, it was easier for the intruder to subdue them than to catch a chicken, and Baba Hao, who was disoriented from inhaling the sedative smoke, was no match for the intruder. In the end, the intruder took the butterfly specimen, and Ranen and the three siblings arrived too late, only able to watch as the intruder left.

With the barrage of sour comments gone, everyone resumed normal conversation.

[I knew it, it’s impossible for players to control this item at this stage.]

[This is reasonable; I’m very satisfied.]

[No, why are you all happy? While Ranen was sharing the information, those three quickly uploaded the intel, and now the mission progress has jumped by 30%!]

[What?!]

The reward for the bonus pool quest is allocated based on the importance of each person’s clue. Who would have thought that, while most players hadn’t even started investigating, someone had already seized the lead?

[Wuwuwuwu, so envious, it’s like getting free money!]

[Unfair! This is obviously unfair!]

[There’s nothing unfair about it. They found the mission breakthrough with their own ability and just happened to meet Ranen, who ‘just happened’ to know about this item and casually told them… Damn, the more I talk about it, the more sour I feel.]

[Wuwuwuwu, so the key is Ranen. I knew there were benefits to sticking around him. I knew it. orz ^[1]“orz” is an emoticon used to express frustration or resignation, often with a sense of defeat or exasperation. It depicts a person bowing down or kneeling, with “o” … Continue reading]

[Am I the only one concerned about what Ranen is actually here for? The barrage had some guesses at first, but no one paid attention after the bonus pool quest was announced.]

[It can’t be that he came for the butterfly specimen. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have mentioned this information so casually.]

[Hmm… Even though the Soul-Eating Butterfly specimen is A-level, Ranen seems not to care about it. He must think it’s beneath him.]

Ranen, upon seeing this, furrowed his brows.

No, no, it’s not that he looks down on it. He’s simply uninterested because it’s not useful to him. He only shared the information because he thought it would be a pity to miss out on it.

After all, while the players might be a bit crazy, they are among the rare serious forces trying to save this game world.

Although he personally avoids players, from the perspective of an ordinary person living in this world, he genuinely hopes that they become powerful.

Who would have thought that this could be misunderstood…

At this moment, a special barrage appeared, clearly from the streamer himself.

[Ye Ye Hao: I know why Ranen came out specifically, and I will explain at the end.]

Ranen: ? Wait, he really just came for the consultation fee.

These people wouldn’t be misunderstanding something again, would they?

With a heavy heart, Ranen fast-forwarded to the end of the video. By this time, the event had concluded, and he had already left. The footage was the scene that Ye Ye Hao and the others had chosen to keep.

“I guess, the reason Ranen came out specifically was for this group of people.”

Ye Ye Hao quietly whispered to Baba Hao and Shushu Hao. The voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just right for the livestream audience to hear.

“You see, he doesn’t care about the A-grade item, and how often do we see Ranen coming out of the psychological therapy room during the day after players have logged in for so long?”

Ranen: That’s because the outside world is too dangerous…

“What do you mean?”

Ye Ye Hao shared the psychological assessment results obtained from observing the man and confidently presented his hypothesis: “Think about Ranen’s identity. He’s an Evil God, and he’s still in a dormant state. What does he need most? I speculate it’s faith and power! Especially followers with different specializations!”

Seeing the two remain skeptical, Ye Ye Hao decided to be bold and directly asked:

“Are your potions for sale?”

The woman looked at him with surprise and replied with a smile, “Yes, they are for sale.”

“Considering Mr. Ranen saved my brother, you can get a 20% discount if you buy your potions from me. However, only my brother makes the high-grade potions here, so until he fully recovers, the potions I sell may not be as effective.”

[!]

[!]

[Damn it! A potion merchant?!]

[Is this the first shop NPC??? And it’s a potion shop!]

[Wait a minute! Did you hear what this NPC just said? These three rascals can get a 20% discount???]

The barrage once again filled with a series of lemon ^[2] Envious emoticons.

[I knew it, I knew I should focus on improving my wife’s favorability. I shouldn’t have bothered Karens for more tasks (murmuring).]

[I swear from today on, I will stay close to Ranen (deeply committed).]

[Pah, is that really affection for Ranen? You’re just after his benefits. You’re despicable!]

[Then you won’t lick it?]

[……Lick it!]

[Hiss—So it turns out the people Ranen saves can make higher-grade potions?? No wonder it’s worth his trip.]

[I noticed that a long time ago. You can replay the livestream and see the look in the eyes of the person Ranen saved. Tsk tsk, definitely a devout follower.]

Ranen closed his eyes in pain, unwilling to look at any more posts or analysis barrages speculating about his intentions.

Just thinking about how the players, who had finally started to behave somewhat normally, might revert to their previous state made him feel distressed.

Stop it! He’s really just an ordinary person, please stop adding drama to his life!

He really isn’t some Evil God!

“Ranen?”

Feeling a cool touch on his forehead, Ranen blinked in surprise and saw Ogre’s worried expression. “Are you okay? Is the food not to your liking?”

“No, it’s very good.”

Ranen used his thoughts to close the forum’s barrage and focused on the delicious food in front of him. For some reason, Ogre’s dishes were exactly to his taste. Ranen twirled a large spoonful of pasta onto his fork and took a bite, showing a satisfied smile.

Wuwuwuwu, it’s so delicious.

In this cold world, only the roommate’s food still has some warmth.jpg

M“Thank you, Ogre. If it weren’t for you, I might not have been able to hold on…”

“Hmm?” Ogre tilted his head. Despite his large build, the gesture made him look somewhat endearing. “I didn’t do anything special.”

“No, you not doing anything is enough.” Ranen said sincerely.

Not acting like the players on the forum who idolize him, and not backstabbing him like others, is the greatest help he could ask for.

At least he still has a normal person around him, doesn’t he?

Ogre showed a somewhat shy smile and stood up. “I’ll go get the cheesecake I bought today.”

As Ogre left the dining area, passing by the stairs, the door leading to the basement below moved slightly, faintly emitting the sounds of human suffering.

…

Ranen finished the meal in front of him just as Ogre returned with the cake. Somewhat puzzled, he asked, “Why did it take you so long?”

“Because… I accidentally knocked over the easel and had to clean it up.”

Ogre spoke slowly, as if carefully choosing his words. But since he was usually quiet and didn’t talk much, Ranen didn’t notice anything unusual.

“I see. How’s your painting coming along?”

“It’s going alright… I’ll show it to you once it’s finished,” Ogre replied, then added, “About your psychological therapy room…”

“Hmm?”

“Is everything really okay?”

“Yes,” Ranen said, not wanting to involve Ogre in anything related to the players or the strange occurrences. In his eyes, his roommate was an exceptionally good person who shouldn’t be dragged into such matters. “Things have been gradually getting back on track. Although there have been a few minor issues, I can handle them on my own.”

If there was anything particularly troublesome, it would be the bonus pool quest and the subsequent harassment from the players.

However, Ranen had already decided not to get involved in the future. After all, this mission had nothing to do with him; he had just stepped out to earn a consultation fee.

Ogre didn’t say anything further and simply stared at him. At first, Ranen focused on eating his cheesecake, but eventually, he couldn’t resist looking up. “If I need help, I’ll ask for it.”

Only then did Ogre, satisfied, withdraw his gaze. After they finished eating, Ranen originally intended to go upstairs to rest, but he noticed that Ogre was silently following him.

Turning around, he hesitated and asked, “Is it that ritual again?”

Ogre silently nodded.

Ever since Ranen had been discharged from the hospital, every time he returned home, Ogre would periodically ask to do something with him, calling it a tradition from where he came from, symbolizing blessings and safety.

It was a small matter, really. Ranen knew that this game had a predominantly Western background, with many characters having religious or cultural traditions. He got along well with this roommate—Ogre took on a large share of the household chores, cooked delicious meals, and, crucially, had taken care of him when he was hospitalized. Accommodating him in this small ritual was no big deal.

So, Ranen sat back down in his seat, and Ogre brought a glass of water from the kitchen. He dipped his index and thumb into the water, then walked over to Ranen. With his two fingers, he slowly touched Ranen’s forehead, seemingly drawing some sort of pattern.

Then, Ogre slowly leaned down, his nearly two-meter-tall frame almost completely enveloping Ranen. Although Ranen knew that Ogre had no ill intentions and wouldn’t harm him, he still felt a momentary sense of pressure from the size difference—like a smaller animal instinctively retreating when faced with an elephant or a hippopotamus. He unconsciously took a step back.

Ogre caught his hand, preventing him from moving away. The two were now very close, and Ogre brought his lips near Ranen’s ear. Then Ranen heard Ogre whispering something in a language he couldn’t understand.

[May you be safe and healthy, may disaster stay far away from you.]

Ranen recalled the meaning of these words that Ogre had explained to him before, and his ears grew slightly warm.

The next day, when the psychological treatment room reopened, it was unsurprisingly surrounded by players.

For a moment, Ranen regretted trying to be strong. He should have asked Ogre to come over and help before heading out this morning.

Fortunately, he quickly found a way to deal with the players.

And that was… lowering their favorability.

Although Ranen knew this game had an NPC favorability system, he wasn’t familiar with it since he wasn’t that type of player in his previous life.

It wasn’t until the players crowded around the clinic, even obstructing pedestrians on the road, that he realized this could be a solution.

[Ranen’s favorability -5]

The players froze for a moment, staring at Ranen, who was standing at the door with a smile but, for some reason, was emanating a dark aura. Finally, they began to line up on their own.

Only then did Ranen breathe a sigh of relief, finally finding a way to keep the players in check.

He thought his days would gradually become more peaceful, but who would have guessed that a rare guest would visit the psychological treatment room that day?

Karens of the Black Poker gang.

This was the first time Karens had come to him on his own initiative. Ranen quietly raised his guard.

Could it be that Karens has finally realized that the players aren’t his followers and that he’s just an ordinary person? Damn it, Albert still hadn’t returned, and the messages he sent him had vanished without a trace. What should he do next? Should he report this to the authorities in advance?

Karens had no idea about the series of thoughts running through Ranen’s mind. Under Ranen’s watchful and cautious gaze, Karens respectfully handed him an invitation.

“What is this?”

“It’s an invitation to a banquet hosted by our boss. He hopes to have you attend,” Karens said in a low voice. “All the other underground forces in Arkham will be present at this banquet. They might have some objections regarding the recent actions of your subordinates.”

Ranen was stunned for a second before realizing that by “subordinates,” Karens meant the players.

…Ah, this misunderstanding is only going to get worse, isn’t it?

Thinking about the players’ fearless nature, and the blame he’d have to bear in the future, Ranen felt utterly numb. But there was no way he could explain the situation now; otherwise, these gangs might have him sleeping with the fishes by tomorrow.

However, Karens seemed to misinterpret Ranen’s silence. He kept his head slightly lowered, avoiding direct eye contact with Ranen, but constantly observing his expression from the corner of his eye. Seeing that Ranen’s expression remained unchanged, as if he didn’t care at all, Karens quickly added, “Of course, I understand that you don’t concern yourself with such matters. We will do our utmost to ensure they don’t disturb you. Please, we hope you can give us this honor.”

Ranen was silent for a long time, uncertain about what to do. He had caught the underlying message in Karens’s words—other forces in Arkham were becoming increasingly displeased due to the recent audacity of the players. The only reason they hadn’t acted yet was that the Black Poker had been holding them back.

The Black Poker had extended a friendly gesture toward him, likely due to Karens’s efforts. From any perspective, it seemed that Ranen had no reason to decline this invitation.

After a moment of contemplation, he finally accepted the invitation. Karens let out a sigh of relief, a hint of ease appearing on his face. “Then we look forward to your arrival.”

With that, he was about to get up and leave when Ranen spoke up, “Has your Black Poker recently sent someone to steal a butterfly specimen from a Kamui person?”

Karens paused, frowning in thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I haven’t heard of any such activities. It might be the personal actions of some lower-level gang members. Is that Kamui person a friend of yours?”

Ranen quickly shook his head. “No, I just happened to come across this matter… That butterfly specimen—”

He paused. “It can also be called the Soul-Eating Butterfly. It’s not something good. If it’s in the hands of an ordinary person, it will bring disaster. It’s best to dispose of it as soon as possible.”

Hearing Ranen’s words, a serious expression appeared on Karens’s face. “I understand. I’ll report this to the leader and find out who was responsible.”

Karens left the Psychotherapy Room, and Ranen, looking at the trending posts on the forum, knew that the players were still investigating this incident.

Although three players had already claimed 30% of the rewards, this was the first case since the game’s launch that all players could participate in, so the others definitely hadn’t given up yet.

The forum showed the players’ progress, especially with players like Ye Ye Hao still streaming. Because of Ranen, the three players remained at the forefront of the investigation. Naturally, they weren’t going to abandon their existing advantage and were still probing into how the Soul-Eating Butterfly specimen was obtained and who had taken it.

Ranen glanced through the posts briefly, feeling a strange sensation in his heart.

He remembers that in his previous life, the trigger point for this bonus pool quest didn’t seem to be related to the Kamui people, right? Is it due to the butterfly effect that the players triggered this task earlier?

In his past life, it seemed that the task was triggered when some unlucky person, who failed in their attempt to seize the Soul-Eating Butterfly specimen, died miserably. After their death, due to a special moment in time, a mutation occurred, leaving behind a “lingering obsession.”

This obsession latched onto someone with high intuition, and it was this person who sought out the players for investigation, thereby triggering the bonus pool task.

A lingering obsession is essentially something like a ghost. Generally speaking, it’s not as dangerous as a supernatural entity, and it usually doesn’t affect reality much. It’s also quite weak; as long as one ignores it, it won’t pose much of a threat. Aside from the person it clings to, others find it hard to see, and it won’t naturally dissipate unless its desire is fulfilled.

In short, if one doesn’t know how to deal with a lingering obsession or if an ordinary person is ensnared by it, they’re likely to suffer some bad luck.