Chapter 147
With Cang Jiu’s cooperation, at least during the “breeding period,” the two of them were relatively free.
But Cang Jiu realized that when he kept writing on the golden tablet, Lu Chuan had trouble concentrating. So he switched to writing on the ground instead.
Cang Jiu had entered the dungeon at the same time as Lu Chuan. Only when the Main God System’s attention was fully on the players could he successfully slip in. Fortunately, as a divine attendant, Cang Jiu still had access to plenty of intelligence and could exchange information with Lu Chuan.
By his rough estimate, the [Mother of Fertility] had no fewer than ten thousand divine attendants—her painstakingly cultivated forces over countless years. Many of them were once senior believers of other gods, carrying fragments of other divinities. Others were artificial attendants she had bred with embryo technology—embedding embryos of lesser gods into mother-hosts, letting them fuse with human genes, then transferring the embryos to new hosts once the mothers neared death. Each artificial attendant’s birth meant countless mother-hosts deaths.
Artificial attendants made up the majority. Though their births were unpredictable, only a few of the lowest types could be stably produced. Others required advanced technology and a lot of luck. But their strength was formidable—strong ones rivaled minor gods, weaker ones could match A-rank players.
With such forces, the [Mother of Fertility]’s revival was nearly guaranteed.
“Besides the maternity center we’re in now, what she values most is the laboratory,” Cang Jiu wrote slowly on the ground. “Fighting gods is never easy, and she’s a high-level god. For dungeon balance, the Main God System should send one of your teammates into the lab.”
“Shen Li’s too old to be assigned to the lab—he should be in logistics. That leaves only Cynthia or Lilus. More likely Cynthia. Lil’s left arm is too conspicuous—anyone could tell it’s not human. If he were in the lab, he’d be dissected instantly. Even the Main God System wouldn’t risk it. If it’s Cynthia, though, we don’t need to worry—she’s resourceful enough to adapt.” Lu Chuan analyzed.
“Mm, you chose your teammates well,” Cang Jiu acknowledged.
“Of course,” Lu Chuan said smugly.
“They say the lab hides the embryo the [Mother of Fertility] values most. If my research is right, she wants to complete her revival inside that embryo.” Cang Jiu paused mid-writing, then sketched a tiny baby next to the words.
His doodle wasn’t half bad.
“For a god to revive, there are only two ways. One: use their own divine seed to reclaim authority and godhead, completing a full revival. But few gods can condense such a seed. The [Mother of Fertility], having tried to seize others’ authorities, was killed many times and can no longer form her own. The second way is to steal another god’s seed. If their authorities overlap, the seed’s imprint erodes faster. She has obtained the Seed of Fertility, and she won’t let it go.”
“And the Seed of Fertility currently manifests in the form of a baby,” Cang Jiu pointed at his sketch. “So we need to contact your teammate in the lab and have her find that baby.”
“Ugh, I hate kids the most.” Lu Chuan’s eyes bulged. “Now I have to go chasing some baby too? Ridiculous! The [Mother of Fertility]’s twisted tastes are too much—couldn’t it just be an object instead?”
He still remembered how Cang Jiu once sent him after a fertility seed before.
If Lu Chuan really managed to get the “Seed of Fertility,” carrying a baby out of the dungeon, who knew what wild guesses the outside players would make about him?
His reputation hadn’t exactly been spotless before, but he couldn’t afford to carry that kind of reputation — it would hurt his ability to make money.
[Host… don’t worry. The Seed of Fertility manifests differently before each deity.] #888 reminded him. [Under the influence of the Mother of Fertility’s power, it appears as a baby, meant to serve as the vessel for her rebirth. But if it falls into your hands, I imagine it would look like a gold ingot.]
“It should look like a money tree,” Cang Jiu said, drawing a tree heavy with gold ingot on the ground and explaining: “The greatest power of the Seed of Fertility is its endless vitality. For you, it would take the form of a money tree that keeps producing gold — perfectly suited to your identity, isn’t it?”
Lu Chuan’s eyes lit up at once.
No — his entire body seemed to light up.
“A money tree? Yes, yes! I knew something was missing if I wanted to become the God of Wealth.” Lu Chuan suddenly understood. “In my original world, the God of Wealth was famous for treasures everyone knew about — like the money tree and the treasure basin. But in this world, I don’t have any of them! This Seed of Fertility was destined to be mine.”
#888’s alertness spiked; he wished he could put Cang Jiu on a watch list.
At that moment, Cang Jiu’s threat level in #888’s mind nearly equaled that of the Main God System itself.
Worthy of being the “God of Desire” indeed — his grasp on human cravings was frighteningly precise.
Lu Chuan had never wanted a money tree or a treasure basin before, but after Cang Jiu’s hint, even a mountain of gold might not distract him from yearning for that tree.
Those three words carried devastating power for Lu Chuan.
He had felt only disgust toward this dungeon, but now, unprecedented fighting spirit welled up inside him.
“So why are we still waiting?” Lu Chuan paced impatiently. “I need to find a way to contact Cynthia. The lab — she’s in the lab, right? Then her task must be cultivating powerful embryos. That’s easy enough. Cang Jiu, among the divine servitors you know, which of their hosts are pregnant?”
“Many,” Cang Jiu wrote slowly.
“If all those pregnant hosts suddenly develop problems overnight, the lab staff will have to come check,” Lu Chuan smiled faintly. “Since we can’t go to them, we’ll just wait for them to come to us.”
Cang Jiu looked at him and nodded slightly.
—
That night.
Lu Chuan had prepared himself, ready to sneak out with Cang Jiu and sabotage the pregnant hosts around other servitors.
But before Lu Chuan could take two steps, Cang Jiu yanked him into his arms.
Caught off guard, Lu Chuan was stunned.
Did Cang Jiu not realize how solid this body of his was?
It hurt!
Lu Chuan angrily poked at the man’s muscles, but Cang Jiu didn’t react.
Instead, Cang Jiu pressed a finger to Lu Chuan’s lips, signaling him to stay silent.
The next moment, Cang Jiu’s door was kicked open.
“Big guy, I heard you matched with the finest host. Your body’s undeveloped — you don’t even have functioning speech organs. Can you make proper use of such a host? The one with me is dying, and there’s still my child in its belly. Lend me yours. I’ve heard your host scored ‘excellent’ in fertility and has a fine body.”
The speaker was an octopus-like being, with a crowd of variously sized octopus folk behind him.
This must have been the artificially bred servitor strain Cang Jiu had mentioned earlier — the one with overwhelming numbers and stable genetics.
In fact, the [Mother of Fertility] only concerned herself with producing, not raising, offspring.
To her, fights between servitors weren’t bad; she always sought the strongest. She believed in survival of the fittest, and weak genes and servitors should be eliminated in battle, leaving only the strongest to reproduce. Because of that, servitor clashes were common, and stealing high-quality hosts was basic practice.
This was one of the inevitable crises players faced in this dungeon.
Players’ physical stats were higher than ordinary hosts’, so they were bound to be paired with servitors. But even near a servitor, safety wasn’t guaranteed. Rivalries between servitors could endanger them — yet also offered chances to survive or gather intel.
That tested a player’s skill.
Cang Jiu, holding Lu Chuan, had made his stance clear.
“Little host, look carefully. That guy’s body is missing plenty of organs — he can’t make you pregnant.” The octopus-being appraised Lu Chuan, satisfied. “Your aura is strong, very suitable for breeding. Our child is already stable; once you bear it, the Mother herself will summon you and grant you blessings. Isn’t that what you want?”
Yeah right — with looks like yours, the [Mother of Fertility] would never pick you.
Lu Chuan glanced at the octopus, then at Cang Jiu, rolling his eyes internally so hard they nearly left orbit.
Did this even require a choice?
A blind man could see the answer.
“I choose him.” Lu Chuan clung tightly to Cang Jiu, speaking in an adoring tone meant to nauseate the octopus. “This servitor lord is tall, handsome, and powerful — he’s exactly my type.”
As if worried he hadn’t disgusted them enough, Lu Chuan flicked a glance at the octopus’ tentacles and added, “Yours look sticky and slimy — kind of gross.”
That instantly set the octopus’ rage ablaze.
“If you won’t bear our children, we’ll just kill you first!”
“Among the Mother’s servitors, ours alone are enough!”
At last, their true motive showed: they were using the excuse of host theft to eliminate rivals.
Fights among servitors were no less brutal than clashes between players.
Especially once they understood the vast gulf between themselves and the gods — then they were desperate to become the deity’s sole choice, the only path to grow stronger.
The servitor Cang Jiu inhabited was far stronger than the others; even though its body wasn’t fully developed, it hadn’t been discarded by the perfection-loving [Mother of Fertility]. On the contrary, she had matched him with the best host, hoping for exceptional offspring.
The servitor hosting Cang Jiu was under no less threat than any player — perhaps even more.
[Host… you did that on purpose, didn’t you.] #888 sighed in resignation.
The situation spun out of control; the room plunged into chaotic battle.
Lu Chuan edged back, leaning against the wall.
No one cared about the little host.
“Of course.” Lu Chuan smiled. “First, throw a stone to test the waters — see if their fighting draws the lab people here.”
Starting a ruckus wasn’t a bad plan.
He waved cheerfully from the corner and called to Cang Jiu, “Go, mighty servitor lord! You’ve got this!”
