Chapter 146
Lu Chuan’s streak of good luck ended on the first day.
What had to come, came.
“Number 39789, step up for matching.”
The call rang out with his number.
Lu Chuan double-checked, unwilling to believe it. But once he could no longer delay, he slowly made his way up.
“Next time, don’t drag your feet. Everyone else jogs up here. Why are you so slow—bad hearing?” The match official frowned, as if looking for faults.
Lu Chuan knew these people valued the vessel’s health most of all. If he admitted to hearing issues, he’d probably be discarded and “destroyed” immediately.
“I was just nervous—worried I misheard, so I double-checked. I thought it wasn’t my turn yet.” Lu Chuan explained.
“Go on then. Just place your hand on the device.” The official’s tone softened slightly.
So long as the vessel’s hearing was fine and reproduction wasn’t affected, it was acceptable.
Lu Chuan sighed, staring at the machine before him with mixed feelings, then obediently placed his hand on it.
In moments, his information appeared on the screen:
Stamina: Excellent
Endurance: Excellent
Intelligence: Excellent
Genetics: Excellent
Fertility: Excellent
Good heavens—all excellent.
“Your stats are impressive,” the official’s eyes lit up, gazing at him as though he were treasure. “So few vessels score excellent across the board. You must be favored by the Mother. If you birth an exceptional child, you might even receive her blessing.”
Lu Chuan lowered his head with a shy smile. “It’s all thanks to the Mother’s grace.”
“Yes, you must focus on pregnancy and childbirth,” the official added gravely. “All right, let’s start matching. Anyone paired with a vessel this outstanding must be equally excellent.”
Outwardly smiling, inwardly raging, Lu Chuan fumed.
“This idiot! I’m a man—how the hell can I get pregnant?” He wanted to stomp on the man’s eyeballs.
[The matches aren’t with humans. Their reproductive methods may differ from ours.] #888 stifled a laugh. If it came out now, the host would hold a grudge forever.
“Of course I know that.” Lu Chuan ground his teeth. “I just want to see what freak they pair me with. If it’s too ugly, I’ll kill it today.”
[And if it’s good-looking?]
“If it doesn’t touch me, plays along nicely, I’ll just kill it later.” Lu Chuan said with certainty.
So—kill it either way.
The machine’s screen flickered rapidly with different profiles before finally locking onto a non-human.
The official gasped. “39789, you’ve matched with one of the newborn species personally praised by the Mother last time—you’ve brought us great honor! Someone, quick—this vessel has matched with a divine attendant!”
The hall erupted.
“No way, matched with a divine attendant!”
“Such an exceptional vessel?”
“I’m jealous—if this produces a new divine attendant, the Mother’s blessing is certain.”
“Unbelievable luck!”
Instantly, countless eyes turned toward Lu Chuan, their heat making him squirm.
“Don’t be nervous. Being paired with a divine attendant proves your fertility is extraordinary.” The official spoke gently. “This is an honor beyond imagination. In the entire birthing center, if one or two match a divine attendant, we consider it lucky. You’re clearly the finest vessel of this batch.”
“I… I’ve never seen a divine attendant. I just worry I won’t do well.” Lu Chuan forced down his nausea and played the part.
“Hahaha, true, the divine attendants rarely appear here.” The official chuckled. “They serve the Mother directly, under her protection from birth. Only infants with special powers can become divine attendants. But their genes are so strong that most vessels can’t withstand them. That you can… shows you’re outstanding. Don’t worry.”
Lu Chuan mulled over those words, already planning his next move.
“The divine attendant is here!” the official exclaimed, tugging him excitedly.
Thump, thump, thump.
Lu Chuan could hear his heart pounding wildly.
Dangerous. Powerful.
He locked his eyes on the newcomer, every instinct screaming at him to run.
But not only could he not run right now—he had to stay put.
Soon, the divine attendant walked up to him.
The man was at least a head taller than Lu Chuan, and Lu Chuan himself wasn’t short—he was a solid 1.8 meters, a tall, handsome guy by any standard. Yet this person loomed even higher.
His upper body was bare, revealing well-trained muscles etched with strange patterns that gave him a kind of mysterious allure.
But his face… that was another matter.
His eyes could still be seen, but everything below them was covered by some kind of hard, strange scales, sealing it completely—even his mouth wasn’t visible.
Oddly enough, there wasn’t much of the Mother of Fertility divine power radiating from him. Instead, there was something else, a different kind of aura.
If you ignored the lower half of his face, he was actually pretty good-looking. But taken as a whole, he carried that terrifying beauty of a lab-born monstrosity—something both strong and frightening.
The Mother of Fertility really did nothing decent. There was no way a creature like this came from “normal reproduction.” Who knew what kind of tricks She had played in its making?
[Host, this one looks like we can’t kill it.] #888 sized up the balance of power. This guy was uncuttable.
Oh no. Was the host’s chastity about to be lost here?
#888 felt terribly unqualified. Maybe it should just take the host and bolt? After all, this dungeon could be suspended, right? Sure, that would waste the run, but better to lose that than… well… the host’s chastity.
“Lord Divine Attendant, this is your designated mother host.” The official in charge of pairing could no longer control his legs; they gave out, and he dropped to his knees before the newcomer. Clearly, he hadn’t expected this divine attendant to be the one arriving. But he had no choice—he quickly shoved Lu Chuan forward.
Lu Chuan stumbled and crashed right into the divine attendant.
Damn, solid as a rock.
That muscle mass would make a whole line of fitness coaches cry and quit their jobs.
The divine attendant glanced down at him, grabbed him by the collar, and without a word turned and walked off.
Only after he had carried Lu Chuan away did the official in charge wipe the sweat from his forehead and move on to the next pairing, though in his heart he had already judged Lu Chuan’s fate.
Such an excellent mother host—if matched with another divine attendant, he could’ve birthed outstanding offspring. But matched with this one? Chances were they’d be reporting his death by tomorrow.
This divine attendant was the strongest among them all—but also the most flawed.
The stronger the attendant, the greater the flaws, and the lower the chance of producing the next generation. That was why the best mother hosts were always assigned to them, to maximize the chance of success.
And this one… his very features weren’t fully developed. He never ate, surviving entirely on nutrient injections. But he was too strong to be denied.
A pity. With another divine attendant, that mother host might have produced excellent offspring. With this one? Highly unlikely.
Lu Chuan dangled in the air as they went. At first, he tried to struggle, but when he realized it was useless, he simply let himself be carried—like riding an automatic elevator.
Yeah, right.
Though he didn’t struggle, his eyes darted around, carefully observing both sides of the path, gathering information.
The divine attendant was taking him through an area forbidden to mother hosts, which was perfect—Lu Chuan could use this as reconnaissance.
He studied the buildings and the stares thrown his way, silently estimating the size of the place and possible escape routes. No way was he just going to be some breeding stock. He was here to contribute brains, not his body—especially not to some bizarre creature like this.
“This is your assigned mother host? So the Mother of Fertility really hasn’t abandoned you.”
“You really think you can sire offspring? I’ve got a few quality mother hosts myself—let me trade with you.”
Of course, the trip wasn’t peaceful.
Soon, several other grotesque figures approached them.
They each had one or more mother hosts in tow—male, female, even alien. But their faces were pale and sickly, as if they could die at any moment. Some had bellies grotesquely swollen, stretched so thin it looked like a balloon about to burst.
The one carrying Lu Chuan ignored the others and kept walking.
“That’s right, I forgot—you’re not even fully formed. You can’t talk.” One of the others reached for Lu Chuan. “With unstable genes like yours, you can’t produce viable offspring. Giving you a prime host is a waste. Hand him over—my genes are stabilized. I can give the Mother of Fertility stronger descendants.”
Comparison was a cruel thing.
This one reaching for him looked even worse—practically a lizard, and not a decent-looking one at that. Even among lizards, he was the ugly sort. Just looking at him hurt Lu Chuan’s eyes.
By contrast, the one carrying him almost seemed refined.
Bang!
The would-be grabber was sent flying with a single kick.
“Yikes. System, if I took a kick like that, would I still be alive?” Lu Chuan winced, his teeth aching just from watching. No way he could fight this divine attendant.
[Maybe half a breath left.] #888 answered seriously. [Host, the one you’re matched with has probably fused with some divine genes. The other attendants have traces of it too. Looks like the Mother of Fertility borrowed power from other gods and used it to engineer these things.]
Of course. To revive, the Mother of Fertility had to build her own power base.
But becoming stronger wasn’t easy. Beyond Her own authority and divinity, She had stolen from others. If She could mass-produce creatures carrying fragments of other gods’ power, they would serve as extensions of Herself. So She had begun experimenting early—and had indeed created some formidable test subjects.
“Damn it, what is this? Cyber gods doing hybrid breeding projects? Can’t She just stick to running a normal church like a proper god?” Lu Chuan couldn’t help but complain.
The Mother of Fertility “difficulty rating” had just shot way up.
After that display, far fewer attendants dared approach.
Lu Chuan was carried into a massive building.
Inside, it was nearly bare—just a large bed.
He was tossed onto it.
“System, I’m not… not about to get… you know… right now, am I? No way. I can’t accept that. Even if the main system finds out, I’ll risk it—I’m escaping.” Lu Chuan had his limits.
Heaven help him—no one had ever said players faced this kind of crisis.
Scanning the room, he was ready to bolt at any moment.
But the divine attendant who had brought him here simply watched him for a while, then reached out a hand.
Lu Chuan, already clutching a tool from his system inventory, was ready to strike.
Instead, the divine attendant grabbed his hand and traced the number “9” on his palm.
Nine?
What was that supposed to mean?
Lu Chuan blinked, dazed, staring at him.
The divine attendant just looked back calmly, none of the earlier savagery in his gaze—only tranquility.
“Wait… are you Cang Jiu?” Lu Chuan blurted as the thought struck him.
The man nodded.
Lu Chuan’s heart leapt, but he couldn’t let himself believe too quickly.
What if this was just the main system trying to trick him?
Better safe than sorry.
“Why should I believe you?” Lu Chuan crossed his arms. “The Cang Jiu I know isn’t ordinary at all—his status, his power, everything about him. How could he end up looking like… this?”
Cang Jiu had always matched his taste perfectly.
And besides, he and Cang Jiu could communicate directly through thought. This guy couldn’t.
The divine attendant gave him a look, then pulled out a large gold ingot and held it out.
“Hey, no need for gifts just to meet me! You really are Cang Jiu.” Lu Chuan’s face lit up, his eyes glued to the ingot as he reached for it.
But Cang Jiu shook his head, squeezed the ingot in his hand.
What was that supposed to mean?
A threat?
Lu Chuan frowned, puzzled.
Cang Jiu didn’t stop. He crushed the ingot into a ball, then flattened it, then stretched it out with his hands, reshaping it into a sheet of gold.
Gold really was malleable.
But the sheer strength it took to do that bare-handed was terrifying.
When the ingot had been stretched into a gleaming golden plate, Cang Jiu spread it on the ground and began to carefully write on it.
Ah, my beautiful gold.
So versatile, so universal.
Lu Chuan had no choice but to lower his head and read what Cang Jiu was writing.
“Mhm? You’re saying this is your avatar, and since it’s too far from your true body, you can’t contact me directly with your mind. And among the divine attendants of the [Mother of Fertility], only this one’s body can barely carry your consciousness, but it can’t speak, so you can only communicate with me like this.”
Lu Chuan saw the words Cang Jiu wrote and nodded in understanding. “So that’s it. Then, coming into this dungeon now—do you have some mission to do?”
Cang Jiu bent down and wrote out a long string of words.
“Uh… you actually didn’t want to come, but then you discovered that Number 18 secretly ate Number 78’s corpse behind your back, which made his sanity drop further until he couldn’t even maintain a human form anymore. So you thought of the dungeon key you gave me, and decided to come here to hunt the [Mother of Fertility], take her reviving body back for Number 18 to eat, so that the divinity inside him will grow and his power will stabilize?”
Lu Chuan froze a little when he saw what Cang Jiu had written.
He remembered that Number 18 was indeed a greedy big guy, but to eat himself to the point of losing his human form—that was something else.
“Number 18 is also a god?” Lu Chuan belatedly asked. “If he needs to rely on eating gods to maintain his divinity, can he even still be called a god?”
Cang Jiu hesitated at that.
He hadn’t expected Number 78’s corpse to be such a temptation. When he found him, Number 18 was still pretending he had only taken one bite, but the next moment he completely lost his human form.
Executors consuming each other only led to complete corruption of divinity, with no hope of revival.
And Lu Chuan, as a newly born god, wasn’t in a much better situation—it was hard to say who was worse off.
Still, because Cang Jiu believed Lu Chuan was capable enough to deal with the [Mother of Fertility], he split off part of his consciousness to sneak into this dungeon.
After a moment of silence, Cang Jiu continued writing on the golden tablet:
“He is a god, but after losing both authority and godhead, he turned into an Executor and forgot everything. The more—and the messier—he eats, the less chance he has of remembering who he used to be. But right now there’s no other way. We must increase his divinity. The [Mother of Fertility] is one of the easier gods to hunt, and in this dungeon it’s harder to be noticed.”
Lu Chuan let out a deep sigh.
“Little System, hearing how even these gods have fallen this far, looks like I can’t expect much from them either,” he lamented.
The [God of Desire] being split apart and forced to revive inside an Executor was bad enough, but Number 18—that silly, dumb-looking guy—was actually a god too? And judging from Cang Jiu’s tone, Number 18 probably wasn’t some small fry of a god, either.
[Host, we must be more careful from now on.] #888 was also frightened; the Main God System was bound to be even scarier than they thought.
“So you can’t help me much, can you?” Lu Chuan asked. “You’re forced to communicate with me this way, and you can’t let the Main God System notice you, right?”
Cang Jiu nodded, pointing at Lu Chuan and then at himself, showing he could only help within certain limits—nothing more.
“Then you’re pretty useless here,” Lu Chuan muttered.
Cang Jiu wrote again.
“You want me to be paired with other divine attendants?”
Alright then. That was checkmate.
Lu Chuan saw Cang Jiu write that and had nothing to say.
At least Cang Jiu’s presence meant his chastity was protected. In that sense, he wasn’t completely useless.
“No wonder you gave me this dungeon key. You figured you could use me to defeat the [Mother of Fertility],” Lu Chuan grumbled. “Since you came here before me, did you learn anything?”
Cang Jiu kept writing on the golden tablet.
The [Mother of Fertility]’s revival was at a critical stage. What she needed now was enough sacrifices and the power to restore herself. If Lu Chuan and his group hadn’t entered this dungeon early, she would have dropped dungeon keys into other instances to lure players in. To gods, players were the best sacrifices.
Moreover, the [Mother of Fertility] wanted to steal power from other gods. Inspired by what she learned from Lilus and Cynthia’s mother, she was planning to have the followers of other gods—that is, high-level NPCs—mate with her mother hosts, to see if they could produce players. If it worked, she intended to seize players’ bodies, escape the dungeon, and free herself from the Main God’s control.
Therefore, as long as Lu Chuan didn’t openly expose himself as the God of Wealth, the Main God System would mostly turn a blind eye to the power he used here. That was why Cang Jiu dared to come.
“So if I help you this time, what do I get out of it?” Lu Chuan asked, lounging back. “Becoming a divine attendant is your business. But I can’t help for free. The [Mother of Fertility] isn’t cheap. Helping you is one thing, helping Number 18 is another.”
His eyes glanced at Cang Jiu’s golden writing board, as if hinting.
Cang Jiu crumpled the board’s writing into a ball, then reshaped it into a golden ingot and handed it to Lu Chuan.
He knew exactly what Lu Chuan liked—otherwise he wouldn’t have smuggled himself into the dungeon with a golden ingot.
“Ahem, you really do know me.” Lu Chuan happily accepted the ingot without hesitation. “But Number 18’s life is very valuable—he’s still a god, after all. One gold ingot isn’t enough.”
Cang Jiu gestured “100.”
A hundred golden ingots!
Lu Chuan weighed the one in his hand. It was heavy, maybe around five jin. A hundred meant five hundred jin!
Well…
The [Mother of Fertility] had to die anyway. Using her value was only fair. That silly dumb Number 18 really was only worth about that much.
“Deal!”
