Chapter 137
Lu Chuan knocked the director out and dumped her back at the orphanage, then ignored her.
After all that chasing, dawn was nearly breaking. Time was running short.
[Host, it’s fine. Finding the deity’s vessel is only one special condition for clearing. We can still trade for clearance through other means.] #888 tried to comfort him. [It’s not like we’ve gained nothing. At least we learned from the director how to clear the dungeon. We carry plenty of divine items that can be used as payment.]
“Ah.” Lu Chuan sighed deeply. “Disappointed as I am, I’m not that upset. Honestly, ever since I began chasing the director, I doubted she was really the vessel. Now that it’s confirmed, I’m not surprised. In my view, a deity’s vessel should have much more presence and authority. The director was far too lacking.”
Even though he had only traded with the [God of Exchange] and never faced Him directly, Lu Chuan knew this deity wasn’t easily fooled, unlike the lesser ones.
“Forget it. We’re out of time. Let’s think while heading to Loan Bro.” Lu Chuan continued. “Inside the city, sacrifices are happening. Outside, Starry Ming is waiting. The safest place is wherever Loan Bro is. When the city falls and the third main quest ends, if we still don’t have another way, we’ll just use the director’s method and trade with the [God of Exchange].”
He wondered—since Loan Bro had connections, maybe the [God of Exchange] would even give him a discount?
As he walked, Lu Chuan reviewed everything from the start of this dungeon to now, again and again.
He wanted to see if he’d overlooked anything.
[Host, you look troubled.] #888 couldn’t figure out what still worried him.
“Besides the director, I still have two suspects. But honestly, I’d rather trade with the [God of Exchange] than suspect them.” Lu Chuan scratched his head. “Because it’d be troublesome.”
[Which two?] #888 was shocked. If there were other suspects, why was the host so distressed? Could it be that they were difficult to deal with?
“From when Messiah was almost forced into a divine marriage, we know deities have very high standards for their vessels. Greater deities can create their own, but lesser ones must find naturally compatible beings like Messiah. The [God of Exchange] is a conceptual deity, so His vessel must be even more perfect, surely carrying some of His abilities.” Lu Chuan explained casually. “And someone like that is right in front of us, isn’t he?”
[Ohhh, host, you mean Loan Bro—no, Chen Ji.] #888 quickly corrected itself.
“Exactly. Even if Chen Ji isn’t a vessel by himself, since he’s in this dungeon, maybe he’ll be chosen as one. He’s perfect for it—already a priest, strong physique, all very fitting. Him being the vessel would make sense.” Lu Chuan sighed again. “That’s exactly what makes it troublesome.”
[Chen Ji is indeed difficult to handle.]
“I just sold Chen Ji so many contracts. He’s going to be a big client of mine. I can’t kill the goose that lays golden eggs.” Lu Chuan said.
#888 reflected that it still didn’t fully understand its host.
To Lu Chuan, what made someone troublesome wasn’t that they were hard to defeat—it was that they might cost him money.
That was something it had to etch into its system data, so it wouldn’t forget again.
[Host, you’re right. Compared to short-term benefits, long-term gains are more in line with your habits.] #888 immediately affirmed Lu Chuan’s answer. [Besides, the Extreme Evil Loan Company still has plenty of value we can exploit. Falling out with them now would be a huge loss.]
“Exactly. That’s why I can’t go after Chen Ji,” Lu Chuan nodded. “I’d rather make a deal with the [God of Exchange] than lose a future partner.”
[And the other one?] #888 shifted the topic.
“Ugh, that’s even more troublesome.” Lu Chuan looked more frustrated. “We’re here, let’s talk later.”
Seeing that Lu Chuan had arrived at the City Lord’s Mansion, #888 wisely kept quiet, not disturbing him while he focused on the dungeon.
“I’m here to see Chen Ji. This is his card.” Lu Chuan handed the guard the business card.
The guard glanced at it, and his attitude immediately turned respectful.
Soon, several officials personally came out to welcome Lu Chuan, politely escorting him inside to meet Chen Ji, even sending fruit baskets and snacks.
Clearly, Chen Ji’s status here was very high.
When Lu Chuan finally saw him, Chen Ji was lounging while watching a movie, two handsome attendants—one male, one female—gently massaging him.
… People really do die from comparisons.
Here I am, sweating it out fighting others, while this guy’s enjoying the high life.
Lu Chuan’s resentment instantly flared.
Honestly, sometimes when you dislike someone enough, killing the goose that lays the golden eggs doesn’t seem so bad.
He even heard himself grinding his teeth.
“You all go,” Chen Ji said when he saw Lu Chuan arrive, waving the attendants away. The room quickly emptied, leaving only the two of them.
“Lie down. The city officials will soon begin their transaction with the god. Here, I can give you a remote broadcast.” Chen Ji smirked, motioning for Lu Chuan to relax too.
Lu Chuan didn’t stand on ceremony. He flopped down and started eating the snacks.
“I saw your fight with that other player just now.” Chen Ji chuckled. “You two Master-Rank players went at it pretty hard. Is he your enemy?”
“He’s the one competing with me for the guildmaster seat of the Star Guild.” Lu Chuan shrugged casually. “He wanted to cut me down to eliminate trouble, but I managed to trick him instead.”
“The gods really, really like you.” Chen Ji gave Lu Chuan a deep look, puzzled why the Main God System valued him so highly. He even suspected the god hadn’t just sent a projection here, but had truly invested a sliver of divine awareness into this dungeon. “If you’re willing to trade more, the god wiping out your opponent would be nothing.”
What exactly was special about Lu Chuan?
Chen Ji was extremely curious, but as a professional, he couldn’t just ask outright.
As a sales rep for the divine corporation, all he could do was bring more clients to his god.
“No thanks.” Lu Chuan waved him off. “Your gods are cutthroat. If one of them helps me, it’ll strip me to the bone. My opponent only poses a threat when I’m isolated. Before, I was at a disadvantage because I didn’t understand him, while he understood me. After clashing once, that advantage is gone.”
The truth was, the only reason Starry Ming was so eager to kill him was because Lu Chuan had become a real threat.
But once Lu Chuan cleared this dungeon, the balance of power would shift.
Starry Ming was currently ranked around 40–50 on the Master-Rank List, while Lu Chuan sat at 100.
But Lu Chuan wouldn’t stay at 100 for long—he could still climb.
He was younger than Starry Ming, wealthier, and beating him was just a matter of time. The one who should be anxious wasn’t Lu Chuan, so why rely too much on a god’s intervention?
“That’s a shame,” Chen Ji sighed. “So what brings you here?”
“I wanted to ask—if I came to you for help, made a deal with your god, and asked you to destroy the current port city and replace it with a new entrance, could you give me a discount? If so, how much?” Lu Chuan slipped into a business tone, adding, “If it’s too expensive, I can’t afford it.”
“So that’s it. Looks like you’ve found the fastest way to clear this dungeon.” Chen Ji grinned. “I told you, our [God of Exchange] dungeons are always the easiest. Everything has a price. As long as you can pay, even instant clearance isn’t a problem.”
Lu Chuan just nodded perfunctorily.
“No need to ask the god, I can answer myself.” Chen Ji smiled. “Didn’t I give you 10 Sanity Cards before? Simple—leaving this dungeon costs 50 Sanity Cards with an average value of at least 15 points. If you don’t have enough, you can trade your soul value or items infused with divine power.”
Hiss—what a rip-off!
“Don’t look at me like that. The price is always the same. If you think it’s too high, maybe the problem is you.” Chen Ji’s eyes gleamed with amusement. “I remember the gold ingot you threw at me the first time we met. That was good—it carried quite a bit of Executor aura. That ingot was worth one Sanity Card.”
“That thing was only worth one?” Lu Chuan’s eyes widened. “You’re too greedy.”
“One card is already generous. That ingot’s aura has long since faded—it wasn’t even worth one. But because our god despises the Executor, anything tied to him gets consumed instantly. That’s why I gave you that price. Besides, once you clear this dungeon and truly enter the Master-Rank, you’ll see—players always trade using Sanity Cards, and the valuations are all conservative.”
Lu Chuan grit his teeth and laid out more of his items.
“The [Cross of Godslaying]—nice piece. It’s soaked in divine blood. You’ve used it quite a bit, huh?” Chen Ji raised his brows, scrutinizing it carefully. It really was packed with condensed divine power.
Different hands made a world of difference for an item.
The [Cross of Godslaying] required close combat, had strong drawbacks, and gods weren’t fools—they wouldn’t just stand there waiting to be nailed. That’s why Chen Ji found it unbelievable this relic held so much divine residue.
“This one’s worth 10 Sanity Cards,” Chen Ji said, giving a fair price. “By itself, it’s worth 5. Every Master-Rank player has anti-god gear. Yours isn’t top-tier. But since you’ve killed plenty of gods with it, I’ll add another 5.”
Lu Chuan then pulled out his [Infinite Holy Pistol].
“…Kid, just how many gods have you killed? You’ve slain this many and only now entered a god challenge dungeon?” Chen Ji nearly jumped at the aura on that pistol.
Damn—its bullets were literally made of divine power.
“This gun is among the best anti-god weapons. Base value: 10 Sanity Cards. Its bullets, plus the gods you’ve slain with it, add 20 more. So I’ll give you 30 Sanity Cards for it. And don’t worry—all at an average of 15 points or higher. You won’t lose out.”
“So, which do you want to trade?” Chen Ji asked curiously. “With the gun and the cross, plus the cards I already gave you, you could clear right now.”
“Oh, I don’t plan on trading. I just wanted you to appraise them.” Lu Chuan promptly stowed his items away, satisfied at having gotten a free valuation.
Yep, still rich.
Not poor at all, even among Master-Rank players.
That realization made him very pleased.
“…Be serious.” Chen Ji’s veins bulged. “Items are external. If you won’t trade them, then only you yourself remains. I strongly advise against that. The [God of Exchange] may be fair, but it’s still a god.”
He gave Lu Chuan a meaningful look. “If the god develops a taste for your soul and decides to consume all your remaining value in one gulp, you couldn’t stop it.”
Gods really did love his soul. Who knew when one might lose control?
Yet he still insisted on trading himself? That was suicide.
“I was going to trade with the god, but its prices are too outrageous. Forget it.” Lu Chuan sighed. “It’s not like I don’t have other options.”
If the price was right, he’d happily take the easy route.
If not, then he wouldn’t.
The [Cross of Godslaying] wasn’t as good as the pistol, but it had been with him so long.
And Chen Ji’s offer was way too low. If he killed a few more gods with the cross and pistol, their value would climb higher. Selling them now would mean paying extra just to break even—totally not worth it.
His ideal price? One [Cross of Godslaying] for clearance.
If that were possible, he’d agree in a heartbeat.
But Chen Ji’s valuation was far off.
No way he’d take such a losing deal.
Who knew if Chen Ji was pocketing some commission, too?
Chen Ji never expected Lu Chuan to be so stingy. He wasn’t here to trade at all—just to waste his time.
“So what exactly did you come here for?” Chen Ji finally gave up. If not for Lu Chuan selling him those official contracts earlier, he would’ve thrown this freeloading brat out already.
“I just want to confirm—are you a god’s vessel in the human world, the kind that hasn’t awakened yet?” Lu Chuan asked honestly.
“…Sorry, I’m not,” Chen Ji said irritably. “I came here, but I can’t take on such an important role. Besides, all of us company salesmen are already under the gods—we serve Them permanently. Even if They wanted to choose a human vessel, They’d never pick us. We’re like apples They’ve already taken a bite out of—good for a snack, but never something They’d lower Themselves to use as Their vessel.”
“Yeah, I can see that. You’re definitely not.” Lu Chuan nodded matter-of-factly. “I was only suspicious. After all, finding the right person to be a god’s vessel is pretty difficult.”
“Hearing you say that—does that mean you already have suspects in mind?” Chen Ji frowned. If Lu Chuan hadn’t had anyone in mind, he wouldn’t even have brought this up. It felt more like Lu Chuan had simply crossed him off the list.
“Remove all impossibilities, and whatever remains must be the truth.” Lu Chuan spread his hands. “Once main quest three is done, I’m going to start taking action.”
#888 and Chen Ji looked at him in unison, waiting for him to continue.
“Before I entered City of Immortality, my body was bitten to pieces by the stone lion. When I woke up inside the city, I was in the form of a child.” Lu Chuan pointed to himself. “Later, I traded with the god and grew up again into an adult. Only then did this body gradually recover.”
“But… is this body really my original body? If it was, why did the stone lion bother shredding it in the first place?”
Clearly, when Lu Chuan later made a deal with the stone lion, it could easily hold someone whole in its mouth and smuggle them in or out of the city.
So if you think in reverse, its earlier act of biting him apart seemed utterly pointless.
It could have just swallowed them whole for the same deterrent effect—and kept the body intact.
For the [God of Exchange] to then restore the destroyed body and regress him into a child—that’s nothing but a loss-making deal.
Wouldn’t it have been simpler just to make him a child in the first place, cutting out an unnecessary step?
Which means the players’ bodies probably aren’t “original stock” at all.
They’ve been tampered with by the [God of Exchange].
So, the most reasonable conclusion is this:
The god hid Their human vessel among the players.
Players are the best vessels—some disposable, some permanent. Regular players are single-use consumables; someone like Messiah is a permanent one.
So long as the god uses Their unawakened vessel as a player’s body to carry their consciousness—who could ever catch Them?
[Host, are you saying… your current body could be a god’s vessel?] #888 asked in surprise. [But how would you awaken it? You’re not seriously thinking of killing yourself, right? That’s way too risky. What if you’re wrong?]
No wonder the host said both of his suspects were troublesome.
Compared to him, Chen Ji wasn’t troublesome at all—Lu Chuan was the most troublesome of all.
“When we ran that dungeon with Shen Li, didn’t the god meddle with him? Since this is my Divine Challenge dungeon, the chance of me being the vessel is pretty high.” Lu Chuan told #888. “But there’s another possibility. Judging from the [God of Exchange]’s past deals, this god isn’t the type to put all Their eggs in one basket.”
“More likely, all of us players have part of the vessel embedded in our manufactured bodies. That way, even if we suspect someone is the vessel, unless we gather everyone together and awaken them all at once, we’ll never meet the conditions to clear the dungeon. Which means the only way forward is to strike a deal with the [God of Exchange]. One way or another, He always wins. If I were the [God of Exchange], that’s how I’d play it too—give the humans zero hope.”
These higher gods really were not to be trifled with.
First the [God of Desire], splitting Themselves and reviving through the Executor. Now the [God of Exchange], lurking with hungry eyes. None of them were easy to handle.
The ones that were easy? They were already dead—either at the Executor’s hands, or at the hands of master-ranked players.
“That does sound exactly like a god,” Chen Ji nodded in agreement. “Our god only wants to harvest souls They like—that’s pretty easygoing, really. Besides, awakening a vessel is only one special clearance condition. You could always try meeting the normal ones instead.”
“Normal clearance conditions still feed value to your gods.” Lu Chuan shot him a look. “It’s all just business where They profit endlessly.”
Being a god sounded pretty sweet. The house always wins.
And with tens of thousands of dungeons tied to the [God of Exchange], all with similar mechanics—how much profit must that be?
Every dungeon generating a massive harvest. Even under the main system’s control, They must be raking in personal benefits on the side.
What a personality.
Lu Chuan thought to himself: if he ever had that kind of ability, he’d do the same.
More dungeons. Endless waves of players to reap.
“Looks like you’ll have no choice but to trade with our god. If you don’t want to sell those two items, that’s fine—I can lend you some sanity cards. Pay me back slowly later.” Chen Ji sidled closer, already hawking his services. “The interest isn’t high. I lend you fifty sanity cards, you pay me back eighty. Two years to settle—plenty of time, right?”
Bah, profiteer!
“No need.” Lu Chuan waved him off, rejecting the loan.
“I already arranged things with the stone lion. When it sent players out of the city, it quietly marked them all.” Lu Chuan sneered. “Anyone smuggled out by the stone lion entered into a deal with it. And since the stone lion made a deal with me—that makes me their creditor too.”
Did they really think Lu Chuan let players leave for free?
Heh.
Closing his eyes, Lu Chuan called upon the [God of Exchange], forcibly triggering the contract he’d made with the stone lion.
Every player who’d left the city would faint once main quest three ended.
And then—awaken together.
Author’s Note:
Lu Chuan: #888, you really don’t know me well enough. The moment I let those players go without taking payment, you should’ve realized I’d already tampered with things.
Cang Jiu: On Valentine’s Day, shouldn’t you be mentioning me?
