Chapter 56

The Cult

A young girl wore a white dress that resembled mourning clothes, her ebony-black hair cascading down her back.

The Love Zone player known as “God” gazed northward in deep thought.

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

After it was revealed that a second Dopamine Addict existed, the public chatroom had frozen over.

Fearing that their connection with the other players would be severed if things remained that way, God had proposed meeting in person. However, the plan had fallen through due to fierce opposition from the Beer Zone player, Fucking Possible.

Even God had been deeply shaken by the discovery that there were two Dopamine Addicts.

She had no idea who was impersonating him or why.

Nor could she begin to guess what the real Dopamine Addict was thinking by remaining silent.

Worse still, she had an ominous feeling that the two players had already met each other, leaving her extremely anxious.

I might be able to ignore the others, but leaving Dopamine Addict alone like this is too dangerous.

God did not particularly want to make an enemy of Dopamine Addict, the player who had cleared every zone.

The problem was that Dopamine Addict himself appeared to have no intention of cooperating with the other players.

The fact that he had not offered a single explanation even after a second Dopamine Addict appeared was proof enough.

That was why she had sent one of the Love Zone players to the Cola Zone, even though she knew Dopamine Addict would probably see through him.

She felt as though she would be unable to focus on anything until she knew what Dopamine Addict was doing.

She had already confirmed long ago that the barriers truly did not exist in this world.

Ordinarily, barriers separated the zones, allowing players to develop their characters safely until the Second Apocalypse even if there were major differences in resources between zones.

That was no longer the case.

In other words, if Dopamine Addict marched in with an army, no player other than the one in the Unicorn Zone currently had any chance of stopping him.

“What are you thinking about so seriously?”

God turned around at the voice that broke through her thoughts.

A young boy with dark brown hair and green eyes lay sprawled on the ground behind her, both wrists tied behind his back.

A yellow paper talisman was stuck halfway across his forehead.

Apparently, he had struggled to tear it off. He blew upward at the half-attached talisman to clear his vision and continued.

“No matter how hard you rack your brain, Dopamine Addict will still be ten steps ahead of you. How long do you think you can keep fooling players by calling yourself the Man-God or whatever?”

God merely frowned slightly instead of answering.

Home Protector stared at her with displeasure and asked,

“But are you actually a girl? You’re not some guy pretending to be one online, are you?”

“That question is not worth answering.”

God lightly dismissed him and approached.

“How much do you know about Dopamine Addict?”

“How much? Why are you asking?”

“You continue acting insolent even after being captured. It seems you firmly believe Dopamine Addict will come to rescue you.”

“I know Dopamine Addict better than you do.”

A sneer was about to form on God’s lips, but Home Protector’s expression turned somewhat serious.

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

“…You don’t think he’ll come?”

“I’m acting like this because you don’t seem to have any intention of hurting me anyway.”

“Why do you think that?”

“If I die, ownership of the meteorite item will pass to you. My system will naturally close, and I’ll disappear from the chatroom. Then the others will realize that someone stole my meteorite item. If that happens, Fucking Possible will lose his mind and sink the submarine. That’s why you’re keeping me tied up instead of killing me immediately.”

“So you aren’t entirely stupid.”

“You’re the stupid one.”

“That hardly sounds convincing coming from someone I captured. You even let me take your pistol.”

God pulled the stolen meteorite pistol from inside her clothes and playfully aimed it at Home Protector.

After taking the meteorite pistol, she had learned several new facts.

First, when one player with an unlocked system stole another player’s meteorite item, neither the original owner nor the thief could place it in their inventory as long as ownership remained unresolved.

Second, the stolen player’s chat system became bound to the player who had taken the item.

In other words, if the player was left alive, they retained ownership and their system remained active.

However, they could only send chat messages to the player who had stolen the item.

That was why she had kept Home Protector alive.

Originally, she had intended to kill him immediately, seize ownership, and pretend she knew nothing.

However, Fucking Possible had forbidden contact between players until the Second Apocalypse.

And since Home Protector’s chat had been blocked, he could not inform anyone that he had been imprisoned.

Therefore, she had left him alive.

Thanks to the incident involving the second Dopamine Addict, player activity in the chatroom had also dwindled.

Dopamine Addict himself had been absent from the chat for quite some time, so no one seemed to find Home Protector’s silence particularly strange.

“You were so busy thinking about surviving by clinging to Dopamine Addict that you let yourself get captured this easily.”

God toyed with the trigger for a moment while staring at Home Protector, then lowered the pistol and tucked it back inside her clothes.

It would have been more convenient to store it in her inventory, but ownership still belonged to Home Protector, so she had no choice but to carry it physically.

Of course, if Home Protector had kept the pistol in his inventory, she would never have taken it so easily….

Idiot. He could have stored it in his inventory, but he wore it on his body just to look impressive.

God had also worn her meteorite earring at first, but now kept it safely inside her inventory.

As she straightened her clothes while looking down on Home Protector, he grinned.

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

Naturally, God did not believe Dopamine Addict would do something so inefficient.

When she merely stared at him without answering, Home Protector continued.

“He won’t come to rescue me, but he will come to screw you over. That’s the kind of bastard he is.”

God did not refute him.

Regardless of Home Protector, she knew that Dopamine Addict would eventually come.

He would undoubtedly attempt to conquer every zone in this world as well.

“In that case… I can only hope the humiliation he brings is sweet.”

She hoped Dopamine Addict had not progressed as far as she feared.

She hoped he was not as insane as she suspected.

With those thoughts, God once again stared endlessly toward the north.

***

“Exactly. I, too, am an apostle who has received divine revelation.”

“Ohhh!”

When I lied without the slightest change in expression, Long-Tailed Tit gazed at me in awe.

I raised one leg onto the chair and adopted an even more arrogant posture.

“Yes, Long-Tailed Tit of the Love Zone. Now tell me why you came seeking this divine apostle.”

“You even know my name immediately!”

Long-Tailed Tit looked delighted and slightly excited, but then regarded me with a hint of doubt.

“You know who I am, but you don’t know why I came here?”

Should I have pretended to know that too?

I wasn’t an actual shaman.

Come to think of it, he called God the Man-God….

Could the Love Zone player known as God genuinely have been a shaman in reality?

That would explain why they used the term “Man-God” instead of “cult leader.”

A shaman obsessed with a veteran game like Safe Zone sounded extremely suspicious no matter how I thought about it, but that wasn’t important right now.

“Are you….”

I was about to ask whether he doubted me.

At that moment, Luna Moon’s ring on my finger suddenly began to shine brilliantly.

“Gasp!”

Long-Tailed Tit recoiled in shock and fell backward.

What the hell is this?!

I was just as startled internally.

I had no idea why the ring, which had remained quiet until now, had suddenly reacted.

Still, I maintained my composure and raised the glowing ring toward Long-Tailed Tit.

“…Are you doubting me?”

The jewel sparkled while emitting an unmistakably auspicious light.

Long-Tailed Tit’s face showed a trace of fear as he vigorously shook his head.

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

The moment he finished answering, the light flowing from the ring faded.

Did the NPC inside this ring just help me?

I knew the ring possessed a will of its own, but this was the first time it had directly assisted me like this.

So it can do more than become warm or cold. It can also glow.

Now that I thought about it, the ring had also glowed and floated when I first encountered it.

Perhaps it was capable not only of illumination but also levitation.

I had no idea what use that would be, though.

At some point, Long-Tailed Tit had prostrated himself before me without being ordered.

“F-first of all, the person who sent me here was the Man-God.”

“I already know that. Why did she send you?”

“To gather information about Dopamine Addict….”

“About me?”

I hadn’t expected her to send an actual player just to gather information.

Anyone familiar with my guide could easily guess that I was pursuing the Illegitimate Child route.

Yet she had still ordered him to investigate me?

She must have become anxious because I had stayed away from the chatroom for so long.

“Um….”

Long-Tailed Tit cautiously watched my expression before asking,

“I heard that you received a special reward from God for clearing every zone….”

“And?”

“Is it true that even after receiving it, you refused to cooperate with us?”

At those words, the corner of my mouth rose in a silent smile.

She has good instincts.

Even though God had never once spoken to me in a private chat, she seemed convinced that I possessed a special reward for clearing every zone.

She had also already told the people in her zone that I had no intention of cooperating.

It appeared that God had at least partially realized what I was thinking.

That was why she had sent a player to observe my movements.

Now that the barriers were gone, if I invaded with an army, it would be the equivalent of destroying the game’s ecosystem.

Of course, I had no intention of using such an unfair strategy while there were still beginners around.

What I wanted was to devour the fully developed zones after the Second Apocalypse.

I had no interest in bullying players who were still struggling merely to survive.

God… perhaps I can expect something from her.

Useful players needed to be recruited.

Ordinarily, I would have been enough on my own, but the appearance of the Unicorn Zone player had changed the situation.

As long as that bastard existed, killing the other players and taking their meteorite items was not the best strategy.

The Unicorn Zone player could simply wait until I had gathered every item and then kill me.

I needed the other players to retain their meteorite items while cooperating with me.

Then… let’s try this.

I smiled mysteriously.

“I did receive the special reward for clearing every zone.”

“As expected! But then… why do you refuse to join us?”

“I never said I would not cooperate. On the contrary, I am the one who should be asking the question.”

“What do you mean…?”

“Why are all of you refusing to cooperate with me?”

“Pardon? What exactly do you mean?”

“Only I can stop the Second Apocalypse.”

“…?”

Long-Tailed Tit looked up at me in confusion at my abrupt declaration.

I continued calmly.

“If I gather every object containing divine revelation, I will obtain the power to stop the Second Apocalypse. That is the special reward I received for clearing every zone.”

“The power to stop the Second Apocalypse?”

“So return and deliver this message to the Man-God.”

I raised one corner of my mouth in a wide grin.

“Ask her whether she will obey the will of God.”