Chapter 22 Strange Visitors to the Temple and Barbecue
Why would someone be knocking on the door?
Du Yu glanced at 166, who was pretending to be dead, took a deep breath, suppressed the shock and disbelief surging in his heart, and walked out of the hut.
As Du Yugang stood in the courtyard, he realized a problem and fell into deep thought: apart from a few pillars, the temple was all curtains, and there was no door at all, so how could he knock on the door?
"Coo coo".
166 flew out to Tian Yinuo's surprise and landed gracefully on the brown disc next to the altar, just the right size.
"The temple's space overlaps with the original courtyard; if someone knocks on the courtyard door, the sound will also reach here."
"So this ugly plate is actually a pigeon's nest... and these pigeons can even talk!"
Tian Yinuo and 166 exchanged bewildered glances, both realizing the source of the knocking. In their hearts, they questioned the system:
"Didn't it say that after activating the temple's concealment effect, 'the temple area is inaccessible, cannot be spied upon, and is untouched by the aura of corruption'? What's with this person knocking on the door?"
Even though she now has thirteen followers, only two of them are devout believers or above, and she only gets 40 to 50 faith points a day. It's already expensive to eat 12 points of temple food a day, and now she can't even guarantee the building's effectiveness.
The system, quite confidently, directly posed three rhetorical questions: "Is the temple area currently being intruded upon, spied upon, or tainted by the aura of corruption?"
166's attitude was much better than the system's; it further explained, "A basic temple can only conceal the aura related to gods, not certain special items. Some people with an overly keen 'sense of smell' can find their way here by scent, but—"
166 leaped onto the altar, its claws hooking onto the edge of the round altar, its wings pointing towards the center of the altar. A purple flame, about the thickness of a thumb, appeared out of nowhere and burned in the mist. It was so weak that it seemed like it might go out at any moment, but Du Yu looked at it with an inexplicable joy.
"But the divine fire has been lit, the divine position has been established, and no one can force their way into the temple before the god falls."
It seemed that no matter what was outside the door, it couldn't break into the temple, but hiding was not Du Yu's style. She opened her backpack to check her gains from her wandering in the spirit world.
Aside from the "Dream Petri Dish" she synthesized by exploiting in-game resources, she owes all her gains this time to the bounty of nature (You Shi).
A high-level [Mind] element core, a rusty bronze mirror, and a piece of dark gold unknown metal fragment.
Du Yu took out the core, mirror, and fragment from his backpack one by one. Only when he took out the fragment did the knocking pause, and the knocking changed from once every ten seconds to once every nine seconds.
He seemed a little eager, but not much. Du Yu inexplicably felt that the person knocking on the door didn't seem to really want the item.
It seems this is the special item emitting the aura. Du Yu shook the fragments in his palm. If it were anything else, there might be room for negotiation, but this…
Du Yu took out the Bloodthirsty Holy Blade from his backpack. As soon as the fragment was attached, the blade trembled, and with a pleasant humming sound, the fragment of the same color fused into it.
Sure enough, this piece was the same one she had picked up before!
Du Yu tilted the knife around. Although the grade hadn't changed, the blade seemed to have had some impurities removed, and its color had become a little lighter, making it easier to wield.
The Bloodthirsty Holy Blade has extremely excellent attributes, so there's no way Du Yu would throw it away. She poked 166, "Is there any way to conceal its aura?"
"Yes, you can, but you can't do it right now."
166 stood at the edge of the altar and paced slowly. “An even simpler way is to upgrade the temple. Upgrading it to the intermediate level will be enough to conceal the aura of your sword.”
Upgrading the temple requires upgrading the altar first. Du Yu recalled the altar upgrade blueprints she had obtained before. The number of believers was sufficient, and C-grade extraordinary materials were not difficult to obtain now. She only had one of the three level-3 elements.
Moreover, after upgrading, you still need to collect upgrade materials for the temple, which is a long-term solution that can't solve your immediate problem.
Du Yu narrowed his eyes. "If I let him in, can the temple suppress him?"
"A basic temple certainly doesn't have this function."
166 looked at her with a disappointed expression, then switched to telepathic communication: "But this is the Kingdom of God, your Kingdom of God! As a deity, you have the right to make your own rules."
As soon as 166 finished speaking, a system screen popped up in front of Du Yu's eyes: [Please set rules for the Divine Kingdom. Currently, 0/3 rules can be set.]
Three? That's enough.
Du Yu tried writing "Those who enter the Kingdom of God must not disobey her commands," but the system rejected it on the grounds that "the player is temporarily unable to pay the full amount of faith points."
Du Yu keenly noticed the keywords "payment" and "faith points," and sure enough, this game wouldn't have any free features. She revised and edited the rules, finally writing down three regulations:
First, those who enter the Kingdom of God must not harm the retinue of the Lord of Hearing, nor damage the structures of the Kingdom of God.
Secondly, the memories of those who enter the divine kingdom are controlled by the gods. Without the gods' permission, those who enter cannot actively or passively reveal these memories.
Third, only believers of God can enter God's Kingdom, and those who enter God's Kingdom must recite God's name.
Once the rules are established, those inside and outside the Kingdom of God who attempt to enter it will naturally understand.
Du Yu had thought that with the third condition in place, the person knocking on the door would wisely back down. After all, the connection between gods and believers in this world was exceptionally close, and if one were to be watched by an evil god, one could easily be twisted into a monster devoid of humanity.
No normal person, unless in a special situation, would voluntarily recite the prayer of an unknown evil god...
"Creak—"
A sound like a wooden door being pulled open came from ahead, and an unfamiliar figure suddenly appeared in the corner, his face covered by a curtain.
Du Yu glanced at the number of believers, which had increased to "14," and then at the newcomer who was curiously looking around, seemingly unaware that the veil above his head was getting thicker and thicker. He just felt that... the person's intelligence wasn't very high.
The person who came in was an adult man, but he was so thin that he looked emaciated. His hair looked like it hadn't been styled in a long time, and it was messy and hanging down his back, with his bangs almost covering his eyes.
Aside from a blue and white striped T-shirt and pants that resembled prison clothes, he had nothing on him. On his bare ankles were tightly fastened shackles, the chain extending five meters backward, one end disappearing into the void.
He twitched his nose, glanced at the Bloodthirsty Holy Blade that Du Yu deliberately held for a second, then turned his head to the other side, staring intently at the small house behind Tian Yinuo.
"Well……"
Tian Yinuo scratched her head, looked behind her, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
Holding the belief that those who recited the prayer were all allies, she darted back to the kitchen, first serving Du Yu a bowl of meat, then tentatively handing it to the visitor:
"Do you want some...?"
Before Tian Yinuo could finish speaking, her hand suddenly went empty. She looked at the other person in surprise as he lowered his head to smell the mutated beast in the bowl, then opened his mouth and, without anyone noticing, stuffed the iron bowl into his mouth and swallowed it.
"……Thanks."
Tian Yinuo stared in disbelief at the scene. The person seemed to have gained more vitality after eating the meat, and a faint light shone in their eyes under their bangs. She unexpectedly read the other person's thoughts—"Is there more? Give me some more."
She twitched her lips and looked at Du Yu for help. She could decide on a piece or two of meat, but it wasn't easy for the young lady to prepare meat, so if he wanted more, it would depend on her wishes.
Seemingly sensing who was at the top of the food chain here, the man turned his head, his cold, inorganic golden eyes harboring a restless desire.
Du Yu pretended not to see, slowly picked up a small piece of meat, and chewed the burnt meat for a long time as if enjoying it. Hearing the man's breathing become slightly heavier, he picked up the last piece of meat and waved it in front of him.
"Want some?"
The man's gaze was fixed on the piece of meat. He nodded slowly after being asked, and the delicious piece vanished from his sight in an instant. He blinked, then looked up dazedly, only to see Du Yu finish the last piece of meat and flash him a bright smile.
"Hey, even if you want some, I won't give you any."
The man's gaze slowly moved down to the empty bowl. Like a puppy that had failed to beg for food, he said nothing, his slightly pursed lips looking somewhat aggrieved.
"If you want to eat it, why don't you come and take it?"
Du Yu took out a loaf of black bread from her backpack, held it in one hand, and tapped it against her palm with the other, which attracted the man's attention. His eyes followed the rise and fall of the bread.
"...Because you didn't give it to me..."
The man paused for a few seconds before seemingly remembering that he had been asked a question and stammering out five words over and over.
Du Yu's eyes darted around. The other person was indeed preoccupied with food, but despite the longing in their eyes, they hadn't made a move. She decided to test the waters a little further:
"You can have meat, but you have to trade it for game."
"……prey?"
"It's a monster that roams around."
The other person seemed to lack common sense; after hearing Du Yu's explanation, they frowned, "Monsters...can't be eaten...it hurts..."
Du Yu miraculously understood his rambling words. Of course, she couldn't eat mutated monsters or even fallen species, but she had the fusion game to help purify them, so she wasn't afraid.
Wait a minute, why does the other person sound like they've already eaten?
Du Yu glanced at him suspiciously. "The gods have their own ways. If you want to eat meat, you can trade it for prey."
The man, seemingly oblivious, nodded blankly, glanced longingly in the direction of the kitchen for a moment, then randomly chose a direction and left.
"He really left?"
Watching the young lady swindle the person away with just a few words, Tian Yinuo, unaware of the whole story, offered only her own speculation: "Is the Lord's new believer... not quite right in the head?"
Du Yu looked at Tian Yinuo, who had recently been on the same wavelength as the eccentric, and affectionately patted her head. "You don't need to waste your energy thinking. Get ready, we're having barbecue today."
Ignoring 166's complaints about "how can we have a barbecue in such a sacred place," Du Yu quickly set up the barbecue grill a little distance away from the altar.
Even if that strange man never returns, she's still going to go and get some meat today. Firstly, wandering the spirit world is too taxing; secondly, she can't stand black bread after only one day of eating it—it's not even as tasty as cockroach meat!
Tian Yinuo helped Du Yu set up the barbecue grill in the yard. When she looked up, she was stunned and tugged at Du Yu's sleeve, "Little... boss, look!"
Upon hearing this, Du Yu looked up, his pupils contracting slightly. A shadow the size of a small mountain was approaching the direction of the temple!
That "small mountain" was the monster's corpse, which vaguely resembled an elephant, but some unknown mutation had caused it to swell to dozens of times its original size, and the ground trembled as it moved.
In front of the "small hill" stood the strange man who had disappeared not long ago. He was dragging something along, and with his bare hands, he had pulled the mountain-sized corpse all the way back!
-----------------------
Author's Note: Dudu and the temple staff have a barbecue:
Dudu: Delicious! (burrows into her food)
Xiaotian: Delicious! (Highly praising)
Weird guy: ... (eating voraciously)
The observer who sent out the strange characters: ...What the hell are you eating?!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
