Chapter 7: Building a Basic Temple! A Fries (just kidding) for the believers…
"grumble--"
The thing that resembled a "living being" was about three meters tall, and looked somewhat like a snail. Its main body was a long, soft tissue, and its sides were covered with long and short translucent tentacles. A huge ball of flesh was curled up at its tail.
The fleshy ball swelled up, its surface covered with bumps of all sizes. Through the translucent skin, one could clearly see the black and red flesh chunks stacked on top of each other, slowly wriggling and devouring as if they were alive.
"vomit--"
A dry heaving sound came from behind her, and Tian Yinuo suddenly felt no longer hungry. Compared to this thing, even the human-sized mutant cockroach looked handsome.
Du Yu made sure his only follower was well hidden near the altar. His gaze was deep and somber. Although both the mutated cockroach and the mutated leopard had undergone deformities, it was still possible to tell what kind of creature they were.
The thing before him was a chaotic and twisted mess; just standing there seemed like a desecration of biology. Two terms flashed through Du Yu's mind: mutated creature and degenerate species!
Although the fictional world and the original world differ in many ways, both experienced a "great catastrophe" that nearly destroyed their entire civilization. The truth behind the world's destruction remains unknown; civilization collapsed in a single day, and more than half of humanity vanished into darkness without warning.
Survivors struggle to survive under the threat of radiation and pollution. The crisis comes not only from the environment, but also from the degenerate species that have abandoned their former way of life and whose reason has fallen into endless depravity under the erosion of pollution!
If mutations can be categorized as good or bad, aberrant creatures will be annihilated the moment they are discovered! Because the ultimate goal of aberration is to degenerate through erosion! Completely breaking down the racial limitations of organisms.
The thing before us is still in the early stages of corruption, merely tainted with the aura of decay, and has not yet completed the most crucial step of "transformation," so it cannot be called a corrupted species. But corruption never stops, it is unpredictable, and it could take the final step at any moment.
The system notification confirmed Du Yu's guess: "[The player has been impacted by an unknown corrupting aura. Affected by the passive talent [Golden Will], sanity -0.]"
The bloodthirsty longsword hummed, perhaps urging it on, or perhaps sensing its master's intentions. Tian Yinuo huddled behind the altar, her eyes momentarily glazed before she snapped back to reality, patting her chest with lingering fear.
This monster is scary enough, but the young lady's gaze just now was even more frightening than that monster.
"Whoosh—"
With a long stride, Du Yu's dark golden blade cleaved through the mist, slicing into the monster's body. With a cold shout, the Bloodthirsty Holy Blade cut open a nearly one-meter-long gash, and a pale blue liquid gushed out onto the ground, corroding the garbage with a hissing sound.
The monster's hide was so thick it was like it had cut into cement. A single hit reduced the Bloodthirsty Holy Blade's durability by fifty points, and it was now buzzing as it absorbed the monster's filth.
Her mental energy surged into every part of her body, and Du Yu's eyes blazed with fire. The monster's enormous body appeared in her mind in minute detail; its body was highly corrosive, and it moved slowly. Her previous attack had been ineffective, and she hadn't yet found the biological core...
As Du Yu's mind raced, the monster let out several sharp, short screams, and then, with an agility that was inconsistent with its previous display, its top twisted rapidly, and a black ball the size of a human head hurtled towards Du Yu's face.
This monster can even hide its true strength!
Du Yu cursed under his breath, turned his toes, and forcibly changed direction, rolling forward and slashing heavily at the monster's body with his sword. Then, without lingering in the fight, he retreated, dodging the monster's tentacles that crashed down like a small mountain.
Several attacks failed to work. The monster was not very rational to begin with, and under the impetus of its rage, its tentacle attacks became increasingly chaotic. Du Yu dodged them easily as if he had anticipated them, and took the opportunity to cut off the monster's tentacle and kick it away.
As the blade pierced through, the tentacles shrank into a ball like dried meat that had been air-dried for half a year. Du Yu rolled over to avoid being attacked by three tentacles, and took a moment to glance at the attributes of the Bloodthirsty Holy Blade. Not only was the durability fully restored, but the maximum durability had also increased to 150.
Du Yu was overjoyed, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and his brain was on high alert. He caught a glimpse of a pale figure out of the corner of his eye. Du Yu looked up and pointed to an abandoned hovercar on top of a pile of garbage diagonally opposite. A golden light flashed, and Du Yu was instantly pulled into the air, narrowly avoiding the attack of the strange insect.
Du Yu was not feeling well at the moment, as he forcibly controlled the golden rope to wrap around and shorten it with his mental power. The strong impact was like a heavy hammer blow to Du Yu's brain, but the current situation did not allow Du Yu to rest for long.
Seeing that Du Yu was suspended in the air and out of attack range, the strange insect was so angry that it raised its head high, revealing the pore that had once spat out the black ball.
Du Yu's eyes flickered slightly. Even if it was a Fallen species with a more distorted life state, the part responsible for feeding, even if it wasn't the core of life, must be close to it!
"grumble!"
In its impotent rage, the monstrous insect pounded the ground with its tentacles, then its tentacles snapped back, enveloping the fleshy ball on its back, and it crashed like a cannonball into the mountain of garbage in front of it.
"Boom—"
Although the garbage mountain was called a mountain, it was nothing more than a pile of garbage of all sizes. It was already on the verge of collapse. After Du Yu used the golden rope to hold onto the abandoned hovercar, he dared not move at all, for fear of destroying its hard-won stable balance.
The strange insect's impact seemed to have struck some crucial point. Du Yu heard a "crack" and knew something was wrong. He channeled his mental energy into his left arm, tensed all his muscles, and swung backward.
"Bang--"
The moment his foot touched the solid object, he exerted force, and Du Yu's calf sank into the garbage mountain. Just before the garbage mountain collapsed, the golden rope stretched to its limit and flew forward violently by the reaction force.
When his body was thrown to its highest point, Du Yu decisively let go, using the momentum to rush forward for a few more seconds before starting to fall freely under the force of gravity.
"grumble!"
Under Du Yu's control, a large pile of scattered garbage slammed into the strange insect, shaving off two of its tentacles.
Seeing Du Yu fall, it still refused to give up. Just like the sudden attack just now, one of its tentacles swallowed two of its own kind and suddenly grew longer, lashing at Du Yu like a whip.
Just in time!
Du Yu's lips curled up. Without dodging or avoiding, he merely adjusted the blade slightly and slashed heavily at the reinforced tentacle.
Even with the Bloodthirsty Holy Blade's sharpness, the first strike failed to pierce the tentacle's skin. But Du Yu had already achieved her goal; her muscles tensed, and she unleashed over a hundred strikes within a minute.
With an excited hum, the holy sword severed the tentacles of the strange insect. Du Yu used the recoil from the attack to pause briefly in the air before tumbling to dissipate the impact.
The moment he landed, a metallic taste rose in his throat, which Du Yu quickly wiped away; thankfully, his bones weren't broken. Several large pieces of trash nearby were violently sent flying, and strange insects crawled out.
Seeing the strange insect's dented head slowly swell up, Du Yu frowned suddenly. Wasn't that its weakness? Creatures corrupted by the aura of decadence had traded their rationality for extraordinary vitality. If their weaknesses weren't targeted, they could slowly heal even the largest wounds.
The burning of spiritual energy has a time limit; I must find its weakness as soon as possible and finish the battle quickly...
"ah!"
Tian Yinuo suddenly screamed, her voice high-pitched and incoherent, "Meatball! There's someone inside the meatball! It's eating that monster!"
Attracted by the sound, the strange insect hesitated and turned its body. Du Yu ran a few steps to the side, circled around to the previous blind spot, and finally understood why Tian Yinuo had screamed.
The strange insect's fleshy ball on its back had shrunk by almost one-fifth. Its translucent skin wrinkled, and the layers of flesh inside had dropped considerably, revealing a baby's head the size of a basketball.
The baby had its eyes closed and looked no different from a normal human baby, except that it had no body below its head. A thin, pale tentacle appeared where the spine should have been, piercing through the skin of the fleshy ball and growing thicker and thicker until it became the three-meter-tall soft monster that Yu Yu could see now.
Du Yu finally understood the monster's body structure. It wasn't the worm's tail wrapping around the fleshy ball at all; the tentacle-like tip that Du Yu saw was actually the monster's tail. In other words, the monster had been facing him with its rear end the whole time?
The monster's main body was hidden inside the fleshy ball filled with chunks of meat. The fleshy ball served both as its storage space and as its disguise. If Du Yu's attack hadn't forced it to expend most of its energy, depleting the fleshy layer within the fleshy ball, the monster's true form would never have been revealed.
This monster's twisted nature rivals that of a true fallen being; it's likely only one step away from its final transformation. Perhaps I am the last part it needs to complete?
Thinking about it this way, the monster understood why it was so focused on itself. Corrupted creatures are chaotic and disordered, but their desire for ascension can even temporarily suppress the madness surging within their spirits.
"I thought my sarcasm had improved again."
Du Yu touched his face. After a brief loss of control, Tian Yinuo came to her senses, covered her mouth, and clenched the flying mantis stick that Du Yu had just given her. Her fingers were so tightly gripped that they lost their color.
How could there be such a terrifying monster... Miss, can you handle it? It's all my fault for not having...
Remembering Du Yu's instructions to her before rushing out, Tian Yinuo bit her lip hard, her mouth filled with the smell of blood. Her mind was slow; the only thing she could think of at that moment was reciting that prayer, whether true or false, she didn't know.
The time traveler eroding the rifts, the six-winged white dove devouring the riddles of time, the listener at both ends, the humble begs for your attention, please bless your followers…
"Bang!"
The pale infant inside the ball of flesh had opened its eyes at some point, staring coldly at Du Yu, its head turning 360 degrees without any blind spots as Du Yu moved.
As the baby's head moved, the monster's previously instinctive, frenzied attacks became orderly. Multiple tentacles worked together, some lifting up large pieces of metal debris, others striking Du Yu from various tricky angles.
Du Yu dodged a flying hovercar, and the reflection of the tentacles under her eyes rapidly magnified. Du Yu had no time to dodge and could only draw her sword to take the blow head-on. The immense force almost made her lose her grip on the sword, and she was forced to lean back, her back sliding several meters across the ground before she finally came to a stop.
"Miss!"
Tian Yinuo's pupils contracted sharply as she saw the monster lunge forward, its tentacles waving as it prepared to strike Du Yu. She grabbed her weapon and was about to stand up when she heard Du Yu's anxious shout:
"Xiaotian, can you watch my meat for me? Don't let it burn!"
Obeying her mistress's orders was ingrained in Tian Yinuo's DNA. She instinctively turned around, stirred the pot with a clean knife, then suddenly looked up and realized something was wrong: "Miss—"
"grumble……!"
The monster's excited cries abruptly stopped. In Tian Yinuo's view, the tips of the monster's tentacles were still twitching, but its huge, bloated body remained frozen in place.
Without the noise of monsters, the misty rift was eerily quiet, with everyone panting heavily and their heartbeats sounding as if they were about to leap out of their chests.
She briefly closed her eyes, quickly pulled away, circled behind the monster, pressed down on the trembling hilt of her knife, and used all her strength to cut and churn inside the ball of flesh. Only after confirming that the baby's head had been cut off beyond repair did she step back a few paces with a sigh of relief.
He let Tian Yinuo feed him a few pieces of meat. The synthetic meat was half-cooked, and a strong astringent and fishy taste filled his mouth.
The astringent smell barely made up for the loss of energy. Du Yu gestured for Tian Yinuo to walk away, squeezed out the last bit of mental energy, gathered it in his hand, and chopped the remaining parts of the monster into small pieces.
Only after Du Yu shredded the last still twitching tentacle and scooped out a pale blue crystal the size of a fingernail did the system's kill notification sound:
[Congratulations to the player for successfully defeating a D-rank monster (in the process of transformation)!]
This game becomes stingy after the beginner phase; after killing a monster, you get nothing but a congratulatory message, it's incredibly stingy.
Du Yu turned off the system screen with disdain and carefully put the crystal away in a small bag made of scrap fabric.
If the abilities of the superhumans are manifested in the awakened traits, then the abilities of the Fallen are all condensed in this small elemental core.
Moreover, the Fallen Ones possess extremely strong vitality. Unless this tiny elemental core is removed, even a fragment the size of a fingernail can potentially parasitize and contaminate other creatures. When the Cataclysm first arrived, Du Yu suffered greatly because of this.
This monster has even condensed its elemental core. If it hadn't encountered me, a new Fallen species would probably have been born in just a few days.
Even at the peak of its power in its previous life, Du Yu had to be careful when dealing with the lowest-level Fallen Beings. Unfortunately, it was too greedy and provoked someone it shouldn't have.
"Thank you for the gifts of nature!"
Du Yu felt relieved. He let Tian Yinuo hold the pot, and he conjured a small cart himself. He picked through the chopped monster fragments and filled the cart to the brim.
"Miss, where are we going?"
Tian Yinuo turned to look at the altar behind her, which was emitting a faint glow. In the few tens of minutes they had just shared life and death, she had formed a close friendship with the altar that exuded a welcoming aura. Now that Du Yu was asking her to leave, she was somewhat reluctant to part with it.
Du Yu lazily glanced at her, knowing that Tian Yinuo had been marked by divine power when she became his believer, so she would unconsciously have a fondness for things with divine aura.
"Then I'll go and you go keep it company?"
"No!" Tian Yinuo seemed to have remembered something terrible, her neck stiffening. "I will follow Miss forever! At most, I will come to see it when it is safe to do so later."
Du Yu was amused by her cowardly yet self-righteous manner, and stopped teasing her. "You'll see it in a little while."
"Hehe, Miss is the best."
Tian Yinuo chuckled sheepishly, "'A little while' is how long?"
"Now."
Du Yu suddenly stopped, and Tian Yinuo almost crashed into him along with the pot. She quickly stopped and looked around curiously, but there was nothing there.
The space within the misty rift is so illogical. Just moments ago, the two were in a large junkyard, with piles of waste stretching as far as the eye could see. Tian Yinuo followed along for a couple of laps before suddenly finding herself inside a building.
The cobblestone path beneath their feet stretched forward, flanked by rows of houses. The architectural style of these houses was unlike that of the city in the novel; rather, it resembled the style of a traditional courtyard house in the countryside of their original world.
Standing at the village entrance and looking back, the low cement houses and the towering garbage heaps just a few steps away look very jarring. But in the cracks of the mist, anything can happen.
Du Yu glanced around a few times, found a relatively clean courtyard, and instructed Tian Yinuo to put the pot in the corner. He then pushed the cart to the wall and sat down to rest.
“Xiaotian, close your eyes. The great Lord of Hearing appreciates that you didn’t burn the meat in the situation just now, and He will reward us.”
"Okay, okay!"
Although he didn't know what had happened, in the short time it took for Du Yu to fight, Tian Yinuo seemed to have become even more devout to this unknown god. During the battle, Du Yu briefly saw a notification that his faith points had increased by one.
This is a good thing, Du Yu doesn't need to make excuses to fool Tian Yinuo. As soon as she finished speaking, Tian Yinuo put her hands together on her chest and solemnly recited a prayer while nodding.
Seeing that Tian Yinuo was entertaining herself, Du Yu withdrew his gaze, opened the system interface, first clicked on the building's [Altar], and used the once-a-day relocation function to move the altar to the middle of the courtyard.
The air in the courtyard distorted for a moment, and a circular building about one meter in diameter appeared out of thin air. The building had a simple design, with ancient flying bird and floral patterns carved around it. A hollow was carved out in the middle, but looking inside, one could not see the bottom; only a constantly swirling pale purple mist could be seen.
Tian Yinuo seemed to sense a familiar presence and shifted her body slightly, but she didn't open her eyes when she heard Du Yu's words.
Du Yu glanced at her. If even the simple-minded Tian Yinuo could control her instinctive closeness, then it seemed that this faith wouldn't have a brainwashing effect on people.
Time was running out, so Du Yu didn't dwell on matters of faith. The corrupted monster's corpse could deter some weaker mutated monsters, but it might also attract more powerful corrupted monsters. Du Yu had to build a safe zone in the mist rift as soon as possible.
She opened the cloth bag, took out the spiritual core she had obtained from the monster, and threw it into the hollow in the center of the altar. The purple mist swallowed the crystal, its churning speed increasing for more than ten seconds before subsiding.
Du Yu summoned the game interface and opened the newly added [Buildings] section, which currently only has two rows.
【architecture:】
Core Building: Altar
[Rank: Common]
[Advanced Requirements: (Not Activated)]
Divine Kingdom Architecture: Basic Temple
[Building Requirements: 1 Fallen Spirit Core, 1 building with an area greater than 100 square meters, 10 pieces of wood, 20 pieces of stone, and 5 materials containing extraordinary elements]
Apart from the essential Fallen Spiritual Core, the other materials used to build the divine kingdom vary depending on the size of the building. The small courtyard that Du Yu chose has a lot of wood, so the amount of wood required during construction is less.
Materials crafted in the junkyard rarely have any grade; almost all of them are low-grade common items. However, all materials obtained through crafting have one advantage: they can all be added to the game's inventory and carried away.
The game system starts with ten inventory slots, each with a storage limit of 99. However, in these types of games, the inventory slots can be easily filled later on, designed to encourage players to spend money.
However, Du Yu was currently penniless, but his backpack had plenty of inventory space. Before the protective shield expired, Du Yu had synthesized a lot of basic materials, which were now stored in his backpack.
The monster's flesh and blood, which contained extraordinary elements, barely qualified as building materials, so Du Yu quickly pressed the build button.
[Construction - Basic Temple under construction, countdown 59s...]
Buildings other than the core buildings don't necessarily build quickly. Du Yu deducted the corresponding materials from his backpack and stepped back against the wall.
The altar in the middle of the courtyard rose out of thin air, and stones were quickly piled up to form a stone platform about half a person's height, with stone steps on all four sides for people to approach.
The original houses in the courtyard disappeared as if erased by an eraser, and several wooden pillars surrounded the altar, forming a square as if guided by a ruler in mid-air.
Du Yu almost doubted that his little house, which could shelter him from the wind and rain, had turned into these few useless pillars. There seemed to be invisible curtains hanging between the pillars, enveloping the small courtyard that exuded a faint sacred aura.
Beneath the curtains, on the three sides except the east side, which are enclosed by pillars, two exquisite little houses were slowly built on each side. They didn't seem as big as the previous ones, but the white walls and black tiles, along with the subtle patterns on the walls, made them much more attractive.
Yu Shu nodded in satisfaction after finishing counting everything; they now had their own kitchens.
Just when Du Yu thought the temple was completed, a brown, disc-shaped object suddenly appeared next to the altar.
Moreover, it's only on the left side, which disrupts the original symmetry of the square temple, driving people with obsessive-compulsive disorder crazy.
Du Yu stepped forward and glanced at the bird's nest-like thing made of grass and wood fibers. He couldn't figure out what it was, so he casually placed the [Clean Well] from the newbie gift pack on the open ground to the right of the altar.
Just as Du Yu finished playing, the system notification sound finally rang out:
[Congratulations to the player for constructing the Divine Kingdom building—the Basic Temple, and for receiving rewards...]
Du Yu didn't check the rewards for the time being. Instead, he opened the [Building] interface and clicked "Activate Effect" in the first column below the primary temple whose status had been changed to "Built".
[Architectural effect [Hidden] is now enabled]
Seeing the notification that the [Hidden] event had begun, Du Yu finally felt relieved. He plopped down on the stone steps beside the altar, bent one leg and placed it on the next step, while the other leg hung down comfortably. He then snapped his fingers triumphantly at Tian Yinuo.
"Okay, you can open your eyes now!"
"Wow--"
Tian Yinuo clapped enthusiastically and walked around the small courtyard several times, occasionally exclaiming in amazement. Then, as if remembering something, she rushed to Du Yu.
"Miss, this place is amazing! It's so beautiful here—so where should I put my pot? The meat will get cold if I don't grill it soon."
Du Yu nodded with satisfaction and patted her on the shoulder: "Not bad, you have a high level of awareness! Keep up the good work, and you might become the number one chef in the Divine Kingdom in the future!"
"Okay, I will try my best!"
Tian Yinuo nodded solemnly while holding the iron pot, and Du Yu casually pointed, "The row of houses over there are for living, and you can pick any one of these as your kitchen!"
"OK!"
Tian Yinuo nodded excitedly, then turned her head and screamed in surprise.
Realizing she couldn't make a sound, Tian Yinuo's eyes widened even more, and she covered her mouth tightly with both hands. With a "clatter," the pot slipped from her hand and hit the ground. Tian Yinuo hurriedly squatted down to pick it up. She anxiously turned her head and whispered a warning: "Miss, a mutant cat! Run! I'll cover you."
Du Yu was so amused by her that she almost couldn't breathe. She rubbed her face and said, "Take another look?"
"!"
Tian Yinuo was on high alert. In just a few hours, she had come to a profound understanding of the danger posed by these mutated creatures. Just a dozen meters outside the courtyard, a mutated black cat, over two meters long, strolled by leisurely, its nine long, tentacle-like tails stretching out in the air behind it.
This cat looks dangerous! Tian Yinuo anxiously tugged at Du Yu's sleeve, but seeing that Du Yu had no intention of running away, she gritted her teeth and stood in front of Du Yu, glaring at the black cat as if facing a formidable enemy.
The black cat seemed to have smelled something, and leaped to the entrance of the courtyard, excitedly sniffing the monster's droppings scattered on the ground, its eyes, the size of an adult's fist, constantly scanning the area in front of it.
There were a few moments when Tian Yinuo was sure she made eye contact with the mutated black cat, but the cat just wagged its tail impatiently and kept shaking its head, as if it couldn't see the small courtyard in front of it at all.
Fear gradually gave way to curiosity. Tian Yinuo looked at the brand-new courtyard and lowered her voice, "Miss, can't it see here?"
"Yes." Du Yu chuckled and ruffled her hair, then flicked her forehead. "Don't worry, as long as you don't leave the courtyard, this place is absolutely safe."
"Very good!"
Tian Yinuo exclaimed in surprise, then turned her head to stare warily at the black cat. Only after confirming that it couldn't hear her did she carefully select a small house and, imitating Du Yu, build a simple stove.
As Tian Yinuo walked away, the smile on Du Yu's face vanished instantly. She stared at the architectural interface in front of her, conflicted.
[Building Name: Primary Temple]
[Description: A simple temple dedicated to the Lord of Listening, with no faith point bonus]
[Architectural rendering:]
[Hidden (Activated): The face of a god cannot be looked upon directly, and the dwelling place of a god cannot be spied upon. After activation, the temple area cannot be entered or spied upon, and will not be tainted by the aura of corruption.]
The building's effect is certainly good; otherwise, I wouldn't have rushed to build it. Lying here, the wounds inflicted by the monster don't hurt so much anymore.
However, Du Yu twitched his lips, looking at the pitifully small number of Faith Points, his heart was bleeding: consuming 1 Faith Point every two hours, this is too expensive!
But in the perilous, misty rifts, this effect was unavoidable. Du Yu searched through games and books, and gradually began to make some progress.
Once I'm healed, I'm going to get some fries—no, I'm going to get some believers!
A note from the author:
----------------------
Dudu's daily life: So hungry, so poor, I really want to beat up the author who's full of malice (cough)
——
Rounded up, it's exactly seven thousand! I'm so great! (hands on hips)
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