Federal Protection Zone No. 15, City of Li.
At some point, a terrifying game began circulating on the internet in Li City—Ancient God Simulator.
No one knows who developed the game or how it spread. By the time people actually took notice, there were already numerous strange comments about the game online.
Many people left negative reviews, saying the game was nonsensical. The protagonist would inexplicably die while advancing the plot or investigating cases, making the entire gameplay process unplayable and impossible to complete. This led to the lack of any walkthroughs for such a long time.
Moreover, the game featured a malevolent deity that never truly appeared but was pervasive throughout the plot, causing a visceral discomfort often described as spiritual pollution. Even the followers of this deity had a repulsive appearance that made people sick.
However, this mediocre game alone would not have gained such widespread attention.
What made the game truly chilling was the fact that many players suffered mental breakdowns while playing it. It seemed as though they were so terrified by this fictional deity, unknown outside the game, that they became depressed. Some even ended up in psychiatric hospitals, making it to social news.
Thus, the game started to generate heated discussions online.
Many people labeled the game as a work of demons. The deities in the game were eerie and unlike the benevolent gods promoted by real-world religions. This unfamiliar deity was entirely malevolent.
It viewed humans as insignificant and reignited a deep-seated, primal fear of the unknown in people who had gradually forgotten their fear of deities in this technological era.
The night was deep, with scant light in the heart of Li City and barely audible sounds. Only a crescent moon hung in the sky, casting its light on a house covered in vines.
In the dimly lit room on the second floor of the house, a young man with short black hair sat focused at his computer desk, holding a game controller.
He was playing the hyped game—Ancient God Simulator.
As an Earth native who had crossed over, Ke Su felt a certain familiarity with the term "Ancient God," which was famous in the Cthulhu Mythos.
In his past life, Ke Su was also an avid gamer, although not particularly skilled, but with a wide range of experience. He had played many types of games, including several in the Cthulhu Mythos style, so he had some knowledge in this area.
The Cthulhu Mythos was a relatively niche mythological setting on Earth, initially created by Western science fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft. It later spread widely, with many authors contributing to it, forming a unique mythological system that attracted niche enthusiasts in the past.
The "Ancient Gods" were a crucial pantheon within this mythos.
In the Cthulhu Mythos, deities are divided into two major factions: the Ancient Gods and the Great Old Ones.
For example, the term "Cthulhu" comes from the Great Old One Cthulhu, while the Ancient Gods are the ones who seal away the Great Old Ones. They are adversaries, yet they share a common trait.
That is, mystery and the unknown.
In the Cthulhu Mythos, gods are indifferent to humans, much like humans would be to an ant beneath their feet, regardless of how the ant might worship or offer sacrifices.
Humans are even less significant than ants. They cannot comprehend gods and would go mad just by glimpsing their true form due to the immense amount of information the deity embodies. This is the concept of "indescribable, unspeakable, and unapproachable," where knowing more leads to more madness.
The Cthulhu Mythos is based on these foundational settings, giving rise to a series of mysterious and unknown mythological stories.
In these stories, humans typically play the role of investigators or explorers who gradually go mad as they uncover the truth. At best, they go insane after witnessing the truth; at worst, they are killed by the deity's followers during their exploration.
The deities in these stories are often oblivious to this, as they do not care about humans. Everything is merely the result of human choices.
Undeniably, this unique and mysterious style is quite captivating.
With these thoughts in mind, Ke Su glanced at the somewhat rough 3D models on his computer screen and felt a bit disoriented.
The game certainly had the Cthulhu style, but its production quality was much rougher compared to the AAA titles from his past life. The game models frequently glitched, and even the characteristic gore of the Cthulhu style was done in a way that made him yawn rather than feel any sense of horror.
At least to Ke Su, the game had no frightening elements.
He even found it strange how anyone could be sent to the hospital because of it.
After some consideration, Ke Su thought that those who were scared into hospitals by this game were probably frightened simply by the unique deity setting.
After all, in this technologically advanced future world, the Cthulhu Mythos setting didn't exist, and this enigmatic mythological system was completely at odds with the righteous and grand religious styles of the future world.
In fact, ever since Ke Su crossed over a year ago, he had realized that this future world was completely different from his previous one.
Not only did many of the brilliant cultural histories of the past no longer exist, but even the name of the planet beneath his feet had changed. The distribution of continental plates was different from Earth, and the entire planet was divided into two nations: the Federation and the Empire. The constant warfare between them had ravaged the natural environment, forcing humanity to live within protective zones.
When Ke Su first saw the world map of this new reality, he was profoundly aware of how alien this world was. He had become a visitor from another realm, forever leaving behind his former home, Earth, and Huaxia.
Beep—The computer emitted a sharp warning sound.
It was the final chapter of the game.
Ke Su, feeling bored, continued pressing the game controller, thinking that this game might be the work of a fellow transmigrator.
Though it was unlikely—because the game’s detailed settings were quite different from his previous world.
Even if this were the work of another transmigrator, Ke Su had no intention of meeting them, as he had become accustomed to his solitary life and even enjoyed it.
After all, he couldn’t go back, so what difference would it make if he met someone else? His severe social anxiety made interactions with people very frustrating.
After a while, Ke Su completed the game, nearly falling asleep from boredom.
Accompanied by eerie background music, the game’s visuals began to distort. Blood-red, twisted text appeared prominently on the screen.
[Dear Player, are you sure you want to enter the deity’s resting place, R'lyeh?]
This was the climax of the story.
Having gone through numerous trials, the NPCs in the game had finally reached the underwater palace, standing in a mysterious altar at the ocean’s depths.
A massive door, entwined with countless twisted, pale human limbs, was about to open. The NPCs’ movements paused just before the blood-red text appeared, their terrified expressions frozen as if a fake mask had been applied to their 3D models—rigid and bizarre.
Ke Su, looking at the game he was finally about to complete, pressed the confirmation button on the controller.
Zzzz—The game screen flickered, the blood-red text disappeared, and the plot continued. The terrified NPCs watched as the door before them slowly opened, revealing a sky full of shimmering stars, with a few particularly bright ones.
These were the lights from distant celestial bodies deep within the universe.
[The stars have aligned correctly!]
[Praise the great Ancient God’s revival!]
The blood-red text reappeared and then gradually faded. The despairing NPCs melted under the starlight like a pile of mashed potatoes, and the screen plunged into darkness.
Moments later, countless enormous eyes opened one after another. Terrifying dark slit-pupils filled the entire screen, with each pair of eyes moving like living creatures, as if peering into the world beyond the screen.
Any ordinary human who saw these non-human eyes and faced their madness and chaos would be consumed by endless terror and panic.
Yet, Ke Su felt nothing. He stared at these eyes, slightly dazed, with a hint of the same dark color flashing in his own pupils. His expression grew somewhat vacant, as if something were gradually awakening, distorting even the deep night outside the window for a moment.
In an instant, an unknown mist from nowhere slowly enveloped the two-story building where Ke Su was, gradually disappearing from sight, or perhaps it was simply beyond human perception now.
Seated in the second-floor bedroom, Ke Su remained oblivious to everything happening outside. He only felt himself drifting out of a trance, and then the computer screen went black.
The next second, the computer lit up again, and everything on the screen returned to normal.
Ke Su frowned, thinking that the old computer might be failing. After a careful check, he found no issues and decided to let it be.
He would replace it with the latest model once he saved up enough money; for now, he would just make do with it.
Upon reopening the computer, Ke Su found that the game had transitioned to a new page.
[Dear Ancient God, we offer our tribute to you!]
[The system has detected that you have partially awakened. Would you like to start receiving offerings from your followers?]
[Note: Accepting offerings can increase your awakening level.]
The text on the game page had become much softer and less glaring, with a tone of obsequiousness that almost overflowed the screen.
Of course, Ke Su, with his straightforward tastes, couldn’t discern any difference between the crimson and scarlet colors, nor could he detect any flattery from the text.
He simply looked at the game page, blinking in confusion because it was not quite what he had expected for the endgame screen.
Offerings?
Was this a post-completion scenario?
Ke Su paused, not expecting the game to follow this kind of process. Curious, he clicked the accept button.
The game page transformed into an interface similar to a simulation game, with several blocks labeled "Follower World" scattered across the central area.
So, it even included a cultivation element.
After examining the interface for a while, Ke Su found it quite simplistic. Besides a prominent awakening progress bar at the top, there were only buttons for entering, leaving, accepting offerings, observing followers, and unlocking new worlds—no explanations at all, resembling the scammy online games from his past life.
Ke Su felt a bit stifled.
Well, since he had nothing else to do, he might as well play.
Moving the mouse, Ke Su decided to enter the first believer's World and see what it was like.
At some point, a terrifying game began circulating on the internet in Li City—Ancient God Simulator.
No one knows who developed the game or how it spread. By the time people actually took notice, there were already numerous strange comments about the game online.
Many people left negative reviews, saying the game was nonsensical. The protagonist would inexplicably die while advancing the plot or investigating cases, making the entire gameplay process unplayable and impossible to complete. This led to the lack of any walkthroughs for such a long time.
Moreover, the game featured a malevolent deity that never truly appeared but was pervasive throughout the plot, causing a visceral discomfort often described as spiritual pollution. Even the followers of this deity had a repulsive appearance that made people sick.
However, this mediocre game alone would not have gained such widespread attention.
What made the game truly chilling was the fact that many players suffered mental breakdowns while playing it. It seemed as though they were so terrified by this fictional deity, unknown outside the game, that they became depressed. Some even ended up in psychiatric hospitals, making it to social news.
Thus, the game started to generate heated discussions online.
Many people labeled the game as a work of demons. The deities in the game were eerie and unlike the benevolent gods promoted by real-world religions. This unfamiliar deity was entirely malevolent.
It viewed humans as insignificant and reignited a deep-seated, primal fear of the unknown in people who had gradually forgotten their fear of deities in this technological era.
The night was deep, with scant light in the heart of Li City and barely audible sounds. Only a crescent moon hung in the sky, casting its light on a house covered in vines.
In the dimly lit room on the second floor of the house, a young man with short black hair sat focused at his computer desk, holding a game controller.
He was playing the hyped game—Ancient God Simulator.
As an Earth native who had crossed over, Ke Su felt a certain familiarity with the term "Ancient God," which was famous in the Cthulhu Mythos.
In his past life, Ke Su was also an avid gamer, although not particularly skilled, but with a wide range of experience. He had played many types of games, including several in the Cthulhu Mythos style, so he had some knowledge in this area.
The Cthulhu Mythos was a relatively niche mythological setting on Earth, initially created by Western science fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft. It later spread widely, with many authors contributing to it, forming a unique mythological system that attracted niche enthusiasts in the past.
The "Ancient Gods" were a crucial pantheon within this mythos.
In the Cthulhu Mythos, deities are divided into two major factions: the Ancient Gods and the Great Old Ones.
For example, the term "Cthulhu" comes from the Great Old One Cthulhu, while the Ancient Gods are the ones who seal away the Great Old Ones. They are adversaries, yet they share a common trait.
That is, mystery and the unknown.
In the Cthulhu Mythos, gods are indifferent to humans, much like humans would be to an ant beneath their feet, regardless of how the ant might worship or offer sacrifices.
Humans are even less significant than ants. They cannot comprehend gods and would go mad just by glimpsing their true form due to the immense amount of information the deity embodies. This is the concept of "indescribable, unspeakable, and unapproachable," where knowing more leads to more madness.
The Cthulhu Mythos is based on these foundational settings, giving rise to a series of mysterious and unknown mythological stories.
In these stories, humans typically play the role of investigators or explorers who gradually go mad as they uncover the truth. At best, they go insane after witnessing the truth; at worst, they are killed by the deity's followers during their exploration.
The deities in these stories are often oblivious to this, as they do not care about humans. Everything is merely the result of human choices.
Undeniably, this unique and mysterious style is quite captivating.
With these thoughts in mind, Ke Su glanced at the somewhat rough 3D models on his computer screen and felt a bit disoriented.
The game certainly had the Cthulhu style, but its production quality was much rougher compared to the AAA titles from his past life. The game models frequently glitched, and even the characteristic gore of the Cthulhu style was done in a way that made him yawn rather than feel any sense of horror.
At least to Ke Su, the game had no frightening elements.
He even found it strange how anyone could be sent to the hospital because of it.
After some consideration, Ke Su thought that those who were scared into hospitals by this game were probably frightened simply by the unique deity setting.
After all, in this technologically advanced future world, the Cthulhu Mythos setting didn't exist, and this enigmatic mythological system was completely at odds with the righteous and grand religious styles of the future world.
In fact, ever since Ke Su crossed over a year ago, he had realized that this future world was completely different from his previous one.
Not only did many of the brilliant cultural histories of the past no longer exist, but even the name of the planet beneath his feet had changed. The distribution of continental plates was different from Earth, and the entire planet was divided into two nations: the Federation and the Empire. The constant warfare between them had ravaged the natural environment, forcing humanity to live within protective zones.
When Ke Su first saw the world map of this new reality, he was profoundly aware of how alien this world was. He had become a visitor from another realm, forever leaving behind his former home, Earth, and Huaxia.
Beep—The computer emitted a sharp warning sound.
It was the final chapter of the game.
Ke Su, feeling bored, continued pressing the game controller, thinking that this game might be the work of a fellow transmigrator.
Though it was unlikely—because the game’s detailed settings were quite different from his previous world.
Even if this were the work of another transmigrator, Ke Su had no intention of meeting them, as he had become accustomed to his solitary life and even enjoyed it.
After all, he couldn’t go back, so what difference would it make if he met someone else? His severe social anxiety made interactions with people very frustrating.
After a while, Ke Su completed the game, nearly falling asleep from boredom.
Accompanied by eerie background music, the game’s visuals began to distort. Blood-red, twisted text appeared prominently on the screen.
[Dear Player, are you sure you want to enter the deity’s resting place, R'lyeh?]
This was the climax of the story.
Having gone through numerous trials, the NPCs in the game had finally reached the underwater palace, standing in a mysterious altar at the ocean’s depths.
A massive door, entwined with countless twisted, pale human limbs, was about to open. The NPCs’ movements paused just before the blood-red text appeared, their terrified expressions frozen as if a fake mask had been applied to their 3D models—rigid and bizarre.
Ke Su, looking at the game he was finally about to complete, pressed the confirmation button on the controller.
Zzzz—The game screen flickered, the blood-red text disappeared, and the plot continued. The terrified NPCs watched as the door before them slowly opened, revealing a sky full of shimmering stars, with a few particularly bright ones.
These were the lights from distant celestial bodies deep within the universe.
[The stars have aligned correctly!]
[Praise the great Ancient God’s revival!]
The blood-red text reappeared and then gradually faded. The despairing NPCs melted under the starlight like a pile of mashed potatoes, and the screen plunged into darkness.
Moments later, countless enormous eyes opened one after another. Terrifying dark slit-pupils filled the entire screen, with each pair of eyes moving like living creatures, as if peering into the world beyond the screen.
Any ordinary human who saw these non-human eyes and faced their madness and chaos would be consumed by endless terror and panic.
Yet, Ke Su felt nothing. He stared at these eyes, slightly dazed, with a hint of the same dark color flashing in his own pupils. His expression grew somewhat vacant, as if something were gradually awakening, distorting even the deep night outside the window for a moment.
In an instant, an unknown mist from nowhere slowly enveloped the two-story building where Ke Su was, gradually disappearing from sight, or perhaps it was simply beyond human perception now.
Seated in the second-floor bedroom, Ke Su remained oblivious to everything happening outside. He only felt himself drifting out of a trance, and then the computer screen went black.
The next second, the computer lit up again, and everything on the screen returned to normal.
Ke Su frowned, thinking that the old computer might be failing. After a careful check, he found no issues and decided to let it be.
He would replace it with the latest model once he saved up enough money; for now, he would just make do with it.
Upon reopening the computer, Ke Su found that the game had transitioned to a new page.
[Dear Ancient God, we offer our tribute to you!]
[The system has detected that you have partially awakened. Would you like to start receiving offerings from your followers?]
[Note: Accepting offerings can increase your awakening level.]
The text on the game page had become much softer and less glaring, with a tone of obsequiousness that almost overflowed the screen.
Of course, Ke Su, with his straightforward tastes, couldn’t discern any difference between the crimson and scarlet colors, nor could he detect any flattery from the text.
He simply looked at the game page, blinking in confusion because it was not quite what he had expected for the endgame screen.
Offerings?
Was this a post-completion scenario?
Ke Su paused, not expecting the game to follow this kind of process. Curious, he clicked the accept button.
The game page transformed into an interface similar to a simulation game, with several blocks labeled "Follower World" scattered across the central area.
So, it even included a cultivation element.
After examining the interface for a while, Ke Su found it quite simplistic. Besides a prominent awakening progress bar at the top, there were only buttons for entering, leaving, accepting offerings, observing followers, and unlocking new worlds—no explanations at all, resembling the scammy online games from his past life.
Ke Su felt a bit stifled.
Well, since he had nothing else to do, he might as well play.
Moving the mouse, Ke Su decided to enter the first believer's World and see what it was like.
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