Chapter 56 – Cult

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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A girl dressed in a white dress that looked like mourning clothes, with long, ebony-black hair hanging down.

The Love Zone player, ‘God’, fell into thought while looking toward the north.

‘Dopamine Addict… hasn’t appeared at all since then.’

After the fact that another Dopamine Addict existed became known, the public chat room froze over.

Fearing that connection with other players might be cut off if left as is, she proposed a meeting, but it fell through due to strong opposition from the Beer Zone player SsapPossible.

God was also not a little flustered by the fact that there were two Dopamine Addicts.

She didn’t know what kind of fellow was impersonating Dopamine Addict and with what intention, and she had no clue what the real Dopamine Addict was thinking while remaining silent.

Furthermore, God was extremely anxious with an ominous premonition that those two players had somehow already met each other.

‘Whatever the others might be, it’s too unsettling to leave Dopamine Addict alone like this.’

God also didn’t want to make an enemy of Dopamine Addict, the all-zone conqueror, if possible.

The problem was that Dopamine Addict himself didn’t seem to have any intention of cooperating with other players.

The proof was that he didn’t offer a single explanation to other players even when the second Dopamine Addict appeared.

That was why she had sent one of the Love Zone players to the Cola Zone, knowing he would be seen through by Dopamine Addict.

Because she felt she wouldn’t be able to get her hands on anything while not knowing what Dopamine Addict was up to.

The confirmation that there was truly no barrier in this world had already been completed long ago.

Normally, because there was a barrier blocking each zone, one could safely foster their character until the Second Apocalypse even if there was a resource gap between zones, but it was no longer so.

In other words, if Dopamine Addict invaded leading an army, there was currently no player who could withstand him, except for the Unicorn Zone.

“What are you thinking about so much?”

God turned back at the voice that broke her thoughts.

Lying there with his wrists bound behind him was a young boy with dark brown hair and green eyes, with something like a talisman made of yellow paper half-stuck to his forehead.

The boy, who cleared his vision by blowing with his mouth at the talisman that was only half-stuck—as if he had struggled to peel it off—added:

“No matter how much you roll your brain, I’m telling you Dopamine Addict will be right on top of your head? How long do you think your deception of players, acting like some deity or whatever, will last?”

When God frowned slightly instead of answering, HomeProtector stared with a displeased gaze and asked.

“But are you really a girl? Aren’t you a net-kama?”

“That’s a question not worth answering.”

God lightly ignored HomeProtector’s words, approached him, and asked.

“How much do you know about Dopamine Addict?”

“How much do I know? Why that?”

“Seeing you holding out despite being captured by me, you seem to believe implicitly that Dopamine Addict will come to rescue you.”

“Well, I certainly know Dopamine Addict better than you do.”

Just as a sneer was about to hang on God’s lips at the confident answer, HomeProtector spoke with a slightly more serious expression.

“That’s why I don’t think he will come to rescue me.”

“…You don’t think he will come to rescue you?”

“The reason I’m holding out is because I think you have no intention of harming me anyway.”

“Why do you think that?”

“If I die anyway, the ownership of the meteor item will transfer to you, and then naturally my system will close and I’ll be kicked out of the chat room, right? Then the others will also know that someone extorted my meteor item, and in that case, SsapPossible will go crazy and sink the submarine. That’s why you just kept me bound like this instead of killing me right away.”

“You are not entirely stupid.”

“The stupid one is you.”

“That doesn’t seem like something you, who are captured by me, should say. Especially after having even your pistol taken away.”

God took out the confiscated meteor pistol from her bosom and playfully aimed the muzzle at HomeProtector.

After taking the meteor pistol, God had learned new facts.

The first was that if a fellow system-unlocked player confiscated a meteor item, both the side with ownership and the side without could no longer put it into their inventory.

The second was that the chat system of the player who had it taken became subordinate to the side that took it.

That is, if you don’t kill the player, the item ownership remains and the system is maintained as is, but instead, the chat can only be sent to the player who took it.

That was also the reason why she kept HomeProtector alive until now.

Normally, she would have killed HomeProtector right away, taken ownership, and pretended not to know, but SsapPossible had forbidden contact between players until the Second Apocalypse, and since HomeProtector’s chat was blocked, making it impossible to inform the outside of his confinement, she kept him alive.

Thanks to the previous second Dopamine Addict incident, the chat between players had also quieted down, and since Dopamine Addict had long since vanished from the chat room, HomeProtector being quiet didn’t seem to be regarded as very strange.

“Since you were only plotting to survive by clinging to Dopamine Addict, you were captured this easily.”

God played with the trigger for a moment while looking at HomeProtector, then soon withdrew the gun and put it back into her bosom.

It would be convenient to keep it in the inventory, but since the ownership was still with HomeProtector, she had no choice but to carry it directly.

Actually, if HomeProtector had kept the pistol in his inventory, she wouldn’t have been able to snatch it so easily…

‘Stupidly, he carried it on his body for style when he could have stored it in his inventory, so he got it taken.’

God had also worn meteor earrings in the beginning, but now they were kept in the inventory.

While God thought of HomeProtector as pathetic and adjusted her clothes, HomeProtector smirked and spoke.

“You also seem to think Dopamine Addict won’t come all the way here to rescue me.”

Of course, God also didn’t think for a moment that Dopamine Addict would do such an inefficient thing.

As God just stared blankly without answering, HomeProtector added.

“Even if he doesn’t come to rescue me, he will come to screw you over. That’s the kind of guy he is.”

God did not refute those words.

Regardless of HomeProtector, God also knew well that Dopamine Addict would show up someday.

Because that fellow would surely try to conquer every zone in this world as well.

“If so… I can only hope it is a sweet screw-over.”

Hoping that Dopamine Addict had not advanced as much as she thought.

Hoping that Dopamine Addict was not as crazy of a guy as she feared.

Wishing so, God began to gaze helplessly toward the north once again.

* * *

“Exactly. I am also a messenger of God who received the revelation.”

“Ohh!!”

When I lied without even changing my facial expression, Shrike looked at me with an admiring face.

I raised one leg onto the chair and sat in an even more arrogant posture than before, then continued.

“Right. Shrike, player of the Love Zone. Now tell me, for what business did you come to find this messenger of God?”

“You know my name right away too!!”

Shrike was happy with a slightly excited air, but soon looked at me with a somewhat questioning expression.

“You know who I am, but do you not know what I came all the way here for?”

Was I supposed to pretend to know that much too?

It’s not like I’m a shaman.

‘Come to think of it, this guy said ‘the deity’…’

Could the Love Zone player, ‘God’, be a real shaman?

If so, it makes sense that they used the term ‘deity’ rather than ‘cult leader’.

A shaman who plays a veteran game like Safe Zone—no matter how I thought of it, it reeked of a scammer, but that wasn’t what was important right now.

“Are you right now…”

Just as I was about to ask if he doubted me.

The ring of Luna Moon I was wearing on my hand suddenly began to shine brightly.

“Gasp!”

Shrike gasped in surprise and sat back.

‘What is this!’

I was also greatly flustered internally.

I didn’t know why the fellow who had been quiet all this time was suddenly acting like this, but I struggled to maintain my composure and held up the shining ring toward Shrike.

“…Do you doubt me?”

Because the moonstone began to sparkle while emitting a light that anyone would see as auspicious, Shrike showed a slightly fearful look and shook his head vigorously from side to side.

“N-no. There must be a reason why you asked why I came here.”

No sooner had Shrike’s answer ended than the light flowing from the ring subsided.

‘The NPC of this ring… did it help me just now?’

I knew the ring possessed a will, but this was the first time it had given me direct help in this way.

‘It had a shining function besides the heating and cooling functions.’

Come to think of it, since it floated up while shining when we first met, levitation might also be possible in addition to light emission.

Though I had no idea where on earth to use that.

Before I knew it, Shrike was bowing flat before me even though I hadn’t ordered him to.

“F-first of all, the one who sent me here is the deity.”

“I know that. Why did he send you?”

“To find out about Dopamine Addict…”

“Me?”

It’s unexpected that they even sent a player to find out about something like that.

The fact that I would be playing the bastard child strategy right now is something anyone who saw my strategy could easily guess.

Even so, did he tell you to find out about me?

He must have been anxious because I hadn’t appeared in the chat room for a long time.

“Um…”

Shrike, reading my expression, asked cautiously.

“I heard that Dopamine Addict received the all-zone conqueror privilege from God…”

“And?”

“Is true that, despite that, you refused to cooperate with us?”

At those words, I raised the corners of my mouth and smiled quietly.

‘He has good intuition.’

It seemed that fellow God was certain that I possessed the all-zone conqueror privilege, even though he had never shared a one-on-one chat with me.

What’s more, he had already told the people of his zone that I had no intention of cooperating.

It seemed that fellow God, at least, had already noticed what I was thinking.

So he sent a player to observe my movements.

Now that there was no barrier, if I invaded leading an army, it would be equivalent to destroying the ecosystem.

Of course, I have no intention of doing such hack-like play when there are newbies around.

Because what I want is to swallow up other zones that have finished their growth after the Second Apocalypse, not to defeat other zone players who are still busy just surviving.

‘God… I can look forward to this fellow a little.’

I must gather useful players.

Normally, I alone would have been enough, but the situation changed with the appearance of the Unicorn Zone player.

As long as that guy is around, killing other players to steal meteor items is not the best policy.

Because it would be game over if the Unicorn Zone player just waited for me to collect all those items and then killed me.

I must make other players cooperate with me while they hold their meteor items.

‘Then… shall I try it like this?’

I spoke with a cryptic smile on my lips.

“The all-zone conqueror privilege… I received it.”

“You did receive it indeed! But… why do you not intend to join us?”

“I never said I wouldn’t cooperate. Rather, I would like to ask. Why are you not cooperating with me?”

“Eh? What do you mean by that…”

“Only I can stop the Second Apocalypse.”

“…?”

At my sudden words, Shrike looked up at me with a face that asked what I meant.

I continued speaking with a calm face.

“The items containing God’s revelations, the power to stop the Second Apocalypse if they are all gathered. That is the all-zone conqueror privilege I received.”

“The power to stop the Second Apocalypse?”

“So go tell ‘the deity’.”

I smirked, raising one corner of my mouth, and said.

“Whether they will follow the will of God.”