Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!-Chapter 2203

"You are neither a believer, nor have you been in this district for long. What do you know about the Goddess?" The female player sneered at his claim. "It’s just because you’re a Super Evolutionary with Mental Powers and can withstand these mental pressures."

"So you know too." Xu Huo chuckled.

The female player realized a moment later, her expression turned cold, and she stopped talking to him.

Ignoring ordinary believers, the players in this district are quite conflicted. They know the rules of the game and understand that the "Goddess" is actually the instance boss, yet they still believe in the existence of "God" and take pride in it. It seems they aren’t trying to control the district’s people and deal with players from the Outer Zone through this instance, which is truly puzzling.

Xu Huo stood in the middle of the grand hall where the Goddess Statue was placed, gazing at the wall behind the statue. The wall, adorned with various eye patterns and what seemed like graffiti-like textures, seemed to slowly come alive under his prolonged examination.

Just like the previous times, the patterns initially moved slowly like a tangle of snakes. As some parts flowed faster and others slower, the wall developed into a vortex.

Staring at a vortex for too long, each individual vortex seemed to become a passage. As you delve deeper into the passage, in the darkness, light and shadow variations appear, and the shadows emerge from these lights and shadows, resembling someone passing by, or a moving painting.

In previous attempts, Xu Huo never persisted long enough to see the painting clearly, but today he decided to give it a try.

As he prolonged his gaze, he also felt the pressure. Fortunately, he had been recovering well these days, not as struggling as at the start—just a bit dizzy, with blurred vision. However, soon, in this haze, he managed to capture something.

It seemed that indeed some images were flickering.

Initially, a limping, emaciated figure was running, then several figures caught up with her, beating her with fists and feet. After that, the shadow of the attackers disappeared, and the limping figure struggled to get up, stuffing muddy food she had picked up from the ground into her mouth. In this silent scene, one seemed to hear the sound of sand and stones grating against teeth.

Soon the scene shifted, and that figure appeared before a small temple. The temple had no incense, but there was a small fruit in front, which she grabbed and ate.

These images repeated several times. The limping girl gradually grew a bit taller. Then she offered some wild fruits she had found in front of the temple, knelt down, and kowtowed, seemingly praying for something.

The wild fruits were soon overturned, and even the temple was smashed. The ones who bullied the girl had also grown a lot, pulling down her pants and mocking her lower body.

Most of the scene was shrouded in shadows, making it unclear what the girl’s body was like. But then she picked up a stone from the temple and killed one of them, causing the others to scatter, while she fled holding the shattered statue.

Subsequently, the scenes mostly showed trees and flowers, and a cave, with a simple bed and coverings inside, where the broken statue was plastered with mud and reoffered in a corner of the cave.

Quickly, the girl in the images grew up, turning from a youth to a middle-aged woman. The items in the cave increased, and more and more mutated things appeared in the forest. The world started changing as a continuous fire forced the now middle-aged limping woman to flee, only to find scorched earth and corpses upon emerging.

*

In truth, he wasn’t as calm as he seemed on the surface, because the instance was uncontrollable, and if the Goddess acted on a whim, who knew what would happen. However, as he entered the Divine Temple more frequently, he became increasingly calm, gradually sensing that the instance didn’t intend to drag this unrelated person into its plot.

Still, after frequent visits to the Divine Temple, he gradually adapted to its pressure. Not only that, but by observing those complex patterns for long periods, he could even discern certain patterns. Sometimes, he could vaguely see some shadows.

Those patterns in the temple likely aren’t just derived from the instance so simply. They were likely props processed in a special manner.

Xu Huo once obtained a prop gifted by a curator from an art gallery instance. This indicated that props generated by the instance could be disposed of by the instance boss, deciding the fate of the prop, and perhaps also allowing them to intervene in some way.

Projecting spiritual power externally and preserving it for a long time was a direction he was very interested in. Although he already knew the role of "anchors" in the Spiritual World, using such an "anchor" requires evolving to a certain level, or else needing Advanced Items for assistance.

Nonetheless, the application of "anchors" is limited to a small scale, targeted at individuals. It seems more convenient to use attacks like those on the Flower City and the Divine Hall’s Main Gate that indiscriminately affect everyone within range.

Previously, he had heard from other players in the instance that some plants in certain districts could release spiritual power. The plants themselves don’t think, but their effects are very similar to those of the Divine Hall’s Main Gate, always maintaining a state of mental interference, seemingly inexhaustible.

"Here we go again." A few days later, the day before God’s Birthday, there were very few believers coming to the Divine Temple as they had to prepare overnight for the items needed for God’s Birthday. When Xu Huo arrived, he found that the temple was almost deserted, though the players responsible for maintaining order still followed him, watching his every move.

"Coming here every day—aren’t you tired?" The leader today was a female player. She said, "The patterns in the Divine Temple bring intense pressure to those who stare at them for long periods. What do you expect to discern from them?"

Enduring Psychic Attack daily; unless one is a masochist, who could tolerate it?

Xu Huo was in a good mood today. "That depends on what’s there. I always feel there’s something up there, but can’t make it out, so I come back every day."

"You work in the Divine Temple; don’t you think these patterns have special meanings?"

The female player subconsciously glanced at the wall, but quickly averted her eyes again. "It’s a mark of the Goddess. I dare not gaze upon it directly."

Of course, this was a respectable excuse. Although the believers were protected by the Goddess from attacks by the patterns, it didn’t mean they could stare for long. Especially certain unusual patterns, like the eye patterns that needed to be covered up in the temple when not in use; even then, the users try to avoid looking at them.

Xu Huo had already tested this on his first visit.

"You’re all believers of the Goddess, yet you don’t dare look directly at her mark." Xu Huo chuckled, leaning on his cane as he slowly moved forward.

"Gazing upon the Goddess is inherently disrespectful." The female player followed him. "Your actions show disrespect. If it wasn’t for the Divine Envoy and the Saintess speaking up, you wouldn’t even set foot through the Divine Hall’s Main Gate."

Xu Huo didn’t mind her hostility and instead said, "Since I can look at these patterns without issue, doesn’t that mean the Goddess doesn’t mind me doing so? Could it not represent the Goddess’s will?"

"Moreover, I think the Goddess must be very hospitable."