–Who is he? He is… a god!–

“Are you sure? Those people aren’t just regular patients?”

The once noisy atmosphere in the bar had long since quieted down. Karens had sent the other members out to collect protection fees, leaving only a few by his side as he smoked a cigarette and listened to the report on the other end of the phone.

“Yes, I did a little digging into their backgrounds. Most of them are from out of town, seemingly here in Arkham looking for work,” the person on the other end of the phone replied with a hint of oddity in their tone. “And would there really be so many people suddenly seeking psychological counseling? They seem more like a bunch of fanatical fans than actual clients…”

Karens’s pupils suddenly contracted. “What did you just say?”

“Uh, a lot of out-of-towners…”

“Like a bunch of fanatical fans.”

Fanatical fans… fanatical…

Zealots!

The word flashed through Karens’s mind, but he shook his head the next second. No, he isn’t certain yet. He has never heard of a new religion emerging in Arkham.

But the thought processes of these lunatics were beyond ordinary comprehension.

Three years ago, when Karens was still an unknown underling in Black Poker, he had personally witnessed the downfall of the rival gang, “Green Colt.” They had somehow provoked a bunch of religious fanatics and were wiped out in a single night, with nearly all of their leadership eliminated.

The gang members descended into chaos, and Black Poker seized the opportunity to take over their territory, which became the foundation for their rise.

Karens, who was just a low-level enforcer at the time, had seen the horrors of the “Green Colt” headquarters firsthand. He had nightmares for three days afterward—it was nothing short of a living hell.

Since then, Karens had become extraordinarily cautious. He knew the world was far more complicated than he had imagined, and especially in this city, one must never provoke anyone with ties to religion.

So now, after hearing about the situation on the ground, he hesitated for a moment.

The henchman beside him stood quietly, exchanging glances with each other. Unable to hold back, one of them asked, “Lord Kalens? What should we do? Should we give up?”

Kalens snapped out of his thoughts and looked at them.

“No, of course not. But before we take action, there’s something I need you all to do.”

To be honest, Kalens himself was quite tempted to give up, but as a member of the Black Poker, if he gave up without even trying, it would undermine his status and authority within the gang.

After all, gang members could be hot-headed, they could be ruthless, but the one thing they absolutely couldn’t be was a coward.

At the same time, he didn’t want to throw his life away, so he came up with a plan to test if that group of people was really what he thought they were…

Meanwhile, on the other side.

As all sorts of speculation swirled around the forums, the players’ enthusiasm for Ranen surged once again.

Well, that was to be expected. After all, they were the Fourth Calamity ^[1]The “Fourth Calamity” (第四天灾) is a term often used in Chinese web novels and online gaming culture to describe players as a powerful and unstoppable force in a fictional world. The … Continue reading, and they had one chance per day to reroll their characters. Not to mention, Ranen’s performance wasn’t overly aggressive and didn’t result in a card being torn. Even if their cards were torn, they’d probably still swarm back the next day.

The death mechanism in this game was also quite different from ordinary games. It combined the reroll mechanics from tabletop RPGs, where after death, the total attribute points were retained, but players could respec and start over—essentially a character reroll.

The level of the player’s main character would influence the attribute values on their character card. Death would result in a level drop, and the character card would become unusable.

In simple terms, to the people of this world, a player’s death meant they were truly dead (players couldn’t use the exact same face data again), and from the player’s perspective, their previous character card was indeed dead. However, the cost of death was currently low, and since their character cards hadn’t been fully developed, dying wasn’t a big deal.

As a result, Ranen’s slight indifference and rejection had no deterrent effect on the reckless Fourth Calamity at all!

Of course, the players had gotten smarter. They started paying for consultations under the guise of psychological treatment, forming long lines in front of Ranen’s therapy room. Ranen was more than happy with this arrangement. It was a mutually beneficial deal, and eventually, their relationship reached a balance that both sides could accept.

In Ranen’s view, once they realized that he wasn’t some evil god, but just an ordinary person, their enthusiasm would gradually fade. Then, he could use the money he earned to leave the city. It would be a win-win outcome for both parties.

Until, that is, a third-party force began to interfere.

A player with the ID “Matcha Green Milk” left the therapy room, feeling satisfied. She glanced at her dwindling supply of currency, pondering how to earn more in this game. Ranen’s consultation fees weren’t cheap, and after a few more visits, she might run out of money.

For other players who wanted to seriously experience the game, one visit to Ranen was enough. But that wasn’t her goal at all—she had no interest in investigating or pushing the storyline forward. She was playing this game purely for Ranen’s face.

He is just too good-looking, sob sob.

Simply sitting across from him and chatting made Matcha Green Milk feel both mentally and physically rejuvenated, completely wiping away the fatigue from a day’s work. Could any other game bring this kind of joy?!

Oh, maybe real-life hosts offer something similar, but the joy of 2D characters is incomparable to anything in the 3D world! And she doesn’t even have to spend real money!

Yep, it’s decided. With the option to roll a new character every day, she will become a happy rich lady, chatting with Ranen every day!

Matcha Green Milk happily thought up her solution and was about to log off to wait for tomorrow when she suddenly heard the sound of wind as she passed by a small alley.

Something that looked like a black sack flashed before her eyes, and she lost her vision. Then, after inhaling a strange scent, she lost consciousness.

When she woke up again, everything was still pitch black. Matcha Green Milk was a bit confused. She tried moving tentatively, but found that her limbs were immobilized, as if she were tied to a chair.

A strip of cloth was pulled down from her mouth, and she heard a voice.

“No one can save you here. You’d better think carefully before wasting your energy struggling or calling for help.”

Matcha Green Milk was stunned for a moment. What does this mean? Kidnapping?

Why would someone kidnap a player?? What did players do wrong??

She tried calling up the system menu in her mind, and when the blue screen appeared in front of her, all her anxiety vanished. Logging into the player forum while playing the part of a proper victim, she calmly asked, “What do you want?”

So calm again.

The man with a tattoo on his left arm frowned deeply. He scrutinized the blonde woman before him and said, “Don’t be nervous. We just need you to answer a few questions. If you cooperate, we’ll let you go.”

“Okay, no problem.”

“When did you come to this city, and what are you here for?”

“I just arrived today, obviously for work. Isn’t it obvious?”

Matcha Green Milk answered smoothly, which only made the tattooed man even more doubtful.

Why is she so calm?

Why is she even questioning him back?

If only one victim is this calm, he could understand.

But why are all two or three people he has kidnapped this calm?!

Aren’t they afraid?

The tattooed man exchanged a glance with his companion. “What is Ranen’s true identity?”

“Uh…” Matcha Green Milk was momentarily stunned. “I don’t know.”

And they all had the same stubborn attitude.

The tattooed man sneered, “You don’t even know who he is, yet you hang around him every day? Do you think I’m an idiot?”

Matcha Green Milk remained silent.

Ah, seriously? NPCs care about what players are up to these days?

Matcha Green Milk was speechless. She was about to post a rant on the forum, but before she could, she noticed that there were already a few similar posts.

“I think I’ve been caught up in some event! I’ve been kidnapped!”

“What’s going on? I was just walking down the street and got kidnapped?”

Matcha Green Milk skimmed through the posts, noticing that their situations were pretty much the same as hers—walking down the street, suddenly getting kidnapped, and being asked similar questions.

And they were all asked about Ranen.

So… they are actually targeting Ranen?

As she pondered this, Matcha Green Milk replied.

Matcha Green Milk: I’ve been kidnapped too. Any good ideas?

Don’t Call Me A-Long: Nope, currently being interrogated…

Don’t Call Me A-Long: They asked me about Ranen, but I really don’t know. I told them I don’t know Ranen’s true identity, but they didn’t believe me. I said I’m only here for his looks, but they didn’t buy that either.

Don’t Call Me A-Long: After a few rounds, I got dragged into a room and beaten up. Good thing I enabled pain suppression, so I’m fine. This whole interrogation thing is kind of a novel experience.

Matcha Green Milk: Uh… I hear the person interrogating me getting impatient. Am I going to be tortured too?

Don’t Call Me A-Long: Probably, just turn on pain suppression, and then you can just sit back and watch the show. But seriously, who are these people? And why are they targeting Ranen?

12th Commenter: Could it be that you guys got caught up in some sort of faction conflict? Oh oh oh, does this mean the game’s plot is finally moving forward?

As the kidnapped players started interacting in the forum thread, the post gained more and more attention, with players rushing in to offer advice.

13th Commenter: Could it really be like Black Cat said, that Ranen is an unsummoned evil god? It’s obvious these people are investigating his identity, which is why players hanging around him are getting captured.

14th Commenter: If Ranen is an evil god, then which faction is investigating him? A group of investigators or something?

15th Commenter: Their methods don’t really fit though. I don’t believe for a second that an investigator group would just grab people off the streets for interrogation. This feels more like something a gang would do.

16th Commenter: Hiss—could Black Cat have been right? What if the investigator organization is actually corrupt, and the evil god is the good guy?

17th Commenter: I refuse to accept this, qwq! Is this some kind of upside-down world? It’s too out of character—no, I won’t accept it!

18th Commenter: Don’t jump to conclusions so quickly. Couldn’t it be that another faction is involved? Ranen might not be an evil god at all; maybe he’s being targeted for some other reason.

The thread was filled with all sorts of wild speculations, but none of them provided any advice on how to save themselves. ‘Don’t Call Me A-Long’ scowled, closed the forum for now, and focused back on the game.

As soon as he opened his eyes, a bucket of dirty water was dumped on him.

Don’t Call Me A-Long: …

Even though he had shut off all sensory input and knew it was just a game, the strange smells and the filth dripping down his head felt disturbingly real.

His instincts told him not to think too hard about where that water came from.

“You’ve got guts, daydreaming at a time like this,” one of the gang members sneered, looking at A-Long’s angry expression. The guy seemed satisfied with the effect of the water and turned to the others. “Hey, go fetch another bucket from the sewer.”

Ahhhhh, don’t say that!

In real life, A-Long had a serious case of germophobia, and at that moment, he was furious.

What a crappy game! I’m done with this!

“So, ready to talk now?” the interrogator asked with a smile.

A-Long smirked coldly, tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Talk? Of course, I’ll talk.”

“Who is he? He’s… a god!”

After saying that, A-Long didn’t hesitate to disconnect from the game and destroy that character card.

The card got tainted! Can’t keep it!

“What did you say?” The interrogator’s expression changed as he reached to grab A-Long by the collar, but a quick-thinking companion pulled him back a step.

A-Long’s body, no longer supported, collapsed to the ground. His eyes were vacant, and under the shocked gaze of the interrogators, dark spots appeared on his face and body, as if he were a paper figure being scorched. Then, he gradually turned to ashes.

He vanished.