Chapter 3

Xi Le woke up promptly at seven-thirty in the morning.  

He glanced around his surroundings. Everything was quiet and normal—the kitchen was still the same kitchen, the cup was still the same cup. There were no Tiny People jumping around on them, nor were there any Tiny People praying to him.  

Recalling the events of last night, it all felt like a bizarre, surreal dream.  

But this was a world steeped in mysticism, where Evil Gods roamed freely and the unknown lurked everywhere. Maybe what happened last night had been real.  

With a sigh, Xi Le tidied himself up within ten minutes of his alarm ringing and left the house on time.  

He had already taken two consecutive days off. Being a doctor was a demanding profession. Though compared to his previous world, doctors here had slightly more free time, the workload was still heavy.  

The original owner of this body was an orthopedic surgeon at Xucheng Central Hospital—a quiet, low-key man who drew little attention and had no social connections at the hospital. As for a girlfriend? Not a single trace of one.  

Soon, Xi Le arrived at the hospital where he worked.  

As he entered, doctors and nurses couldn’t help but sneak glances at him.  

Xi Le adjusted his collar nervously.  

Had he given himself away?  

Trying to appear composed, he walked straight to his office and locked the door the moment he stepped inside.  

But what Xi Le didn’t know was that after he left, the nurses exchanged glances behind his back.  

*Holy shit, Dr. Xi looks even hotter today.*  

After finishing his morning surgery, Xi Le took off his coat and sat down to rest for a while.  

The events of last night still lingered in his mind—the sensation of crushing those two Tiny People remained vivid in his fingertips.  

Had it all been a dream, or had it really happened?  

Hungry, Xi Le headed to the cafeteria. The lunch lady gave him an extra chicken drumstick.  

The hospital food was delicious—the drumstick crispy and fragrant. Xi Le cleaned his plate, yet he didn’t feel the slightest bit full.  

Ever since arriving in this world, his stomach had been perpetually empty. No matter how much he ate, the hunger never subsided.  

Was this due to some strange illness, or was it psychological?  

Xi Le decided to schedule a thorough check-up in another department when he had the chance.  

After eating, he pulled out his phone to browse the news.  

Since coming to this world, the original owner’s memories had merged with his own, but they were still fragmented and vague. Now was a good opportunity to learn more about this world.  

But the first headline that popped up shocked him.  

It was news from Taocheng that had gone viral overnight, sparking heated discussions everywhere.  

The article reported that the two sons of the He family—Taocheng’s wealthiest clan—had been crushed into pulp by an unknown entity. The family patriarch, He Peng, was so enraged that he collapsed and was hospitalized, causing the He family’s stocks to plummet.  

Now, Taocheng’s trending topics were flooded with scandals about the He family. Victims who had previously been silenced by their power were now coming forward to expose their crimes.  

After reading it, Xi Le’s head was filled with question marks.  

He recognized every single word in the article, but when strung together, they made no sense to him at all.

Why were the events depicted here exactly the same as what he had witnessed last night in the Tiny People Cities? Even the smallest details were identical!

Xi Le felt a chill run down his spine. He continued searching and soon found Tong Miao’s photo.

Tong Miao’s picture was easily accessible online. In the photo, she looked haggard and disheveled—a frail woman who had been worn down to a shadow of herself in her fight for justice for her daughter.

Though the Tong Miao Xi Le had seen last night was shrunk to an unimaginably tiny scale, he was certain—this was the woman who had prayed to him.

Connecting the dots, Xi Le realized that what had happened last night wasn’t a dream—it was real.

And what was even more terrifying was that those Tiny People Cities hadn’t migrated from some unknown place—they were part of the very world he lived in now!

For some reason, they had been reduced countless times in size and appeared in his room, where he could manipulate them like toys.

Holy shit, this is some cosmic horror. I’m getting megalophobia just thinking about it.

Xi Le looked out the window.

Outside, the sun was shining brightly—a beautiful day. Yet Xi Le felt an inexplicable coldness creeping over him.

He had always known this world was strange, but he never imagined it could be this bizarre.

So what did he look like in the eyes of those Tiny People? A colossal monster?

Xi Le didn’t have to wonder for long. Soon, his final question was answered.

A fervent prayer echoed in his ears—and the one praying to him was none other than Tong Miao.

After realizing that the entity responding to her prayers was the Crimson Moon, Tong Miao had been in an indescribable state of excitement.

According to common knowledge, the Crimson Moon had always been indifferent and unfeeling—it had never answered prayers before. Yet this time, it had responded to her. What did that mean? It meant she was the first believer of the God of the Red Moon, its most cherished devotee!

To prove her unwavering loyalty to the great Crimson Moon, Tong Miao prayed silently in her heart whenever she was alone, praising it endlessly.

In fact, she felt that no amount of worship could ever truly capture the magnificence of the God of the Red Moon.

Filtering out the excessive flattery, Xi Le gleaned the answer to his last question from Tong Miao’s words—in the eyes of the Tiny People, he was none other than that blood-red Crimson Moon hanging in the sky!

Just last night, he had marveled at the madness of the Crimson Moon. Now, he was being told that he was the Crimson Moon itself. Talk about awkward.

This world truly lived up to its occult reputation. Two days in, and it already had him feeling uneasy.

No wonder the Tiny People hadn’t reacted when he appeared before them—they were already used to the Crimson Moon looming over them every day.

At that moment, Xi Le suddenly noticed a red coordinate appearing before his eyes.

It had materialized without warning.

Yet deep down, he instinctively understood—this was Tong Miao’s coordinate.

After he had answered her prayer and granted her wish, she had become his fanatical believer.

As his fanatic, he could now control every aspect of her existence—borrow her body at will, see through her eyes, or even descend upon her, using her as a temporary vessel.

Xi Le could even hear the fervent praises the other was muttering about him, as if possessed by some madness.

Hmm…

He looked just like an Evil God. Would he get caught by an Awakener?

After finishing a day’s work, it was already 7 p.m. by the time Xi Le got home.

Fortunately, he had bought plenty of ingredients a few days ago and stored them in the fridge.

After some thought, Xi Le decided to make boiled fish. But the moment he raised the cleaver, a Tiny People City suddenly appeared on the cutting board, with one tiny person even climbing onto the fish scales.

Xi Le: “…”

His swing went off course, nearly chopping his own finger.

Putting down the cleaver, Xi Le silently observed the Tiny People Cities.

The same shock from last night washed over him again, leaving him with an indescribable feeling.

After today’s events, he knew these Tiny People Cities weren’t illusions—they were part of his own world. To avoid accidental harm, Xi Le decided to set aside the cleaver for now.

Unable to cook fish, Xi Le ordered takeout instead, eating while observing the Tiny People Cities.

There was a tiny fountain here—no, wait, this fountain looked familiar. It must be the musical fountain, a landmark of Haishi. So the city in his flowerpot corresponded to Haishi?

And this city on the cutting board—if he wasn’t mistaken, it should be Taocheng from last night?

Having just arrived in this world not long ago, Xi Le wasn’t very familiar with it yet. If he had been here longer, he might have recognized these Tiny People Cities as replicas of the world he lived in just by their distinctive buildings.

One by one, Xi Le identified many cities from Lan Country. These cities weren’t arranged geographically in his room but appeared randomly, with some foreign cities mixed in as well.

Xi Le quickly found his own city—it was on the bathroom cabinet, a small cluster no bigger than two of his palms.

Despite its size, Xi Le could clearly see every face in Xucheng and the layout of every street, as if looking through a magnifying glass.

He noticed two tiny people tugging at each other just a street away from his home. The female tiny person even slapped her boyfriend—because he had cheated on her with none other than her own mother.

How dramatic. Truly dramatic.

This must be the legendary “I thought you were my boyfriend, but you wanted to be my dad?”

Xi Le was utterly dumbfounded.

Still, this bizarre sensation was both novel and amusing.

After enjoying the spectacle, Xi Le even helped clean up some trash on the streets, playing the role of a model Crimson Moon citizen.

Soon, Xi Le grew tired. He stretched and prepared to sleep.

But then, he suddenly noticed a tiny bus hanging precariously from the edge of his bed.

The bus was smaller than a quarter of his fingernail, dangling on the brink as if a single careless breath from him would send it plummeting.

Inside the bus, countless tiny people wailed in despair, awaiting their death sentence.

Below the bus, another group of tiny people frantically tried to devise a solution.

The bus teetered on the verge of falling. If no one intervened, everyone onboard would perish.

This is not a fictional world of Tiny People; it is a reality unfolding before our eyes.

Xi Le pondered for a moment before carefully extending his fingers and gently lifting the bus with two fingers, placing it on the ground.

The bus was so tiny that Xi Le feared he might accidentally crush it. Throughout the entire process, he was extremely cautious—neither applying too much force nor being too relaxed. It was even more exhausting than performing surgery.

Once the bus was gently set down on the ground, Xi Le wiped the sweat from his forehead, relieved to see it unharmed.

He also noticed that after this act, a group of Tiny People gathered together, waving their arms and pacing back and forth around the bus, clearly overwhelmed with shock.

Blue Nation, Seaside City.

This was a bustling metropolis, glittering with lights and steeped in extravagance, yet hidden within its depths were countless Contaminants and criminals.

It was already 10 p.m., and a large number of police officers had gathered at the edge of a cliff.

They stared nervously at a swaying bus hanging precariously over the cliff, their hearts pounding in their chests.

The bus was a tourist vehicle that had come from a neighboring city of Seaside City. According to the plan, it should have been on its way back by now. However, the driver of the bus was a Contaminant. His parents had died in an accident during a trip, and the emotional turmoil caused his sanity to plummet, turning him into a Contaminant.

After becoming a Contaminant, the driver developed a severe nihilistic streak, wanting everyone in the world to accompany his parents in death.

The driver was only a C-level Contaminant—not particularly high in rank—but the danger lay in the fact that he had effectively taken an entire busload of people hostage!

Countless police officers had arrived at the scene, along with Awakeners who possessed vine or levitation abilities. But the bus was too heavy, and low-level Awakeners were powerless to help.

They were waiting for an A-level Awakener to arrive, but that would take time, and the bus could plummet off the cliff at any moment. There simply wasn’t enough time.

As the bus teetered on the brink of falling, everyone’s tension reached a fever pitch.

Desperate screams echoed from inside the vehicle.

“Save me! I don’t want to die!”

“Please, I still have a mortgage to pay!”

“Ahhhhhh!”

But the deranged driver paid them no heed, continuing to steer the bus toward certain doom.

Let everyone accompany my parents in death!

At this critical moment, an overwhelming sense of dread washed over everyone present.

The feeling was bone-chilling. The Awakeners with the highest sensitivity to such energies couldn’t help but drop to their knees, blood trickling from their lips.

They also witnessed, with their own eyes, five indescribably terrifying entities descending from the sky. They bore twisted patterns and emanated a chaotic, oppressive aura, blotting out the sky like an endless void.

“What is that? What kind of Contaminant is it?”

“Why is it here? Run!”

Chaotic screams filled the cliffside. Despite being battle-hardened Awakeners, they were now gripped by primal fear, unable to control the terror surging through them.

Everyone wanted to flee immediately, but the sheer contamination emanating from those entities rendered them unable to even lift their legs.

And what was even more horrifying—those things were still moving closer to them.

As the stench of contamination grew heavier, their vision blurred, and their eyeballs began to stir with unnatural life, as if threatening to leap from their sockets.  

To prevent themselves from descending into complete monstrosity, they had no choice but to shut their eyes and cover their ears—only by refusing to see or hear could they survive.  

After an unknowable length of time, the terrifying presence of the Contaminants finally faded. Cautiously, they opened their eyes—only to be met with a sight that chilled them to the bone.  

The bus, which should have plunged off the cliff and shattered into pieces, stood before them completely unharmed!