Chapter 149
“Lord God-Servant.” The mother-hosts’ fiery stares lingered on Cang Jiu’s limbs and muscles.
Cang Jiu remained still as a mountain, utterly calm.
He could see the desire in their eyes, which only made him less afraid. Mastery over desire was always his greatest strength.
But it was strange—why did Lu Chuan’s desire suddenly settle, with even a faint trace of displeasure?
Cang Jiu blinked, glanced at Lu Chuan, and motioned for him to speak.
Lu Chuan coughed lightly, then stepped forward.
“Don’t crowd like this—you’re blocking Lord God-Servant’s path,” Lu Chuan said loudly. “I understand, you all wish to mate with him and give birth to stronger offspring. But our lord is already the most powerful of all god-servants, or you wouldn’t be here. He will not choose randomly. He will select carefully, based on performance.”
“First of all, aside from reproduction, what other advantages do you have? Don’t look at me like that—offspring inherit part of your genes. If you have no other strengths, why should Lord God-Servant pick you? Now is the time to tell me your reasons.” Lu Chuan curled his lip. “One at a time, no rushing.”
The mother-hosts were dumbfounded.
They were only ever judged on robustness and fertility. Beyond that, they had no idea what counted as strengths.
But since Lu Chuan had asked, they had no choice but to answer.
“Previous lord said I had a good voice,” rumbled a burly man.
Lu Chuan thought, That god-servant sure had heavy tastes… But he nodded seriously, acknowledging it as a valid point.
“M-my strength is that I run fast. Really fast.”
Lu Chuan nodded again.
With those examples, the rest chimed in one after another with odd little strengths of their own.
When they finished, all eyes turned back to Lu Chuan, asking when they would get to serve Lord God-Servant.
“What’s the hurry? Do you think serving him is that easy?” Lu Chuan snapped. “First, anyone already pregnant cannot serve. Only after childbirth and at least one year of recovery can the body return to optimal state. Second, your performance will be assessed. Only the best performer will catch his eye. Now, let me explain what performance assessment means…”
He rattled off a whole convoluted system.
“…In short, as mother-hosts, you must gather intelligence for Lord God-Servant. The more you collect, the better your assessment. You—yes, the fast runner—you’re now a squad leader. Pick two subordinates. You, the tallest one, you’re also a squad leader. Choose your team…”
Lu Chuan knew the only way to truly control them was to divide and recruit.
Step one: division.
Their common goal was to sleep with Cang Jiu, which made Lu Chuan their enemy. Left united, they would turn on him. So he used titles like squad leader and performance assessments to pit them against one another, fostering competition instead of unity.
Step two: recruitment.
Privately, he whispered to certain squad leaders—“You’re the one I favor most, Lord also glanced at you”—tricking them into thinking they were special, his confidants. That way, they not only competed but also scrambled to curry favor with Lu Chuan.
He used the same tactics on the god-servants themselves: divide, recruit, suppress, sow discord.
He promised that if they performed well, they could reclaim their mother-hosts, especially the pregnant ones—prizes of the highest importance.
In doing so, Lu Chuan planted notions of “resource ownership,” “private wealth,” and “merit-based reward.” What had once been a society defined only by fertility and combat strength now also had class divisions of wealth.
That stimulation would drive their desires to new heights.
#888 watched Lu Chuan work with grudging awe.
The [Mother of Fertility] had stripped these people of all desires beyond reproduction. Yet Lu Chuan had reimplanted them. Put nicely, he was giving them a chance to be human again. Put bluntly, it was just another battle of divine authority.
The more desires believers had, the more they demanded.
As ordinary people, they could worship any god freely. Each facet of their lives could resonate with a different deity. But once they swore to one, that single aspect was magnified, transforming them into something “other than human.”
The divine struggle for authority was nothing more than seizing these human traits.
Lu Chuan might not yet be a god, but he was already acting like one. In that sense, he was born for this path.
Surely the [God of Desire] had noticed.
#888 felt proud. Maybe Lu Chuan would become a true god even before its own dormant deity revived.
After sending off the mother-hosts and god-servants, Lu Chuan collapsed onto a bed.
He was exhausted.
“Let me rest a while, then we’ll head to logistics,” he said. He knew he couldn’t stop—he had to find Shen Li’s group as soon as possible. The better the start, the more cautious he needed to be.
“Why so quiet? Oh, right, you can’t speak. Do you want to write instead?” Lu Chuan turned his head. Cang Jiu was still standing guard by the bed, vigilant toward the outside.
Cang Jiu shook his head and pointed at the scarred floor and walls.
After writing earlier, he’d destroyed them. Now they were unusable.
“What’s the problem?” Lu Chuan pulled a gold ingot from his system space. “Write on this. When you’re done, just give it back. Gold is soft—it’s easier than carving into walls.”
He knew Cang Jiu had no money on him.
The tight, revealing clothes showed every contour of his body; there was no way he was hiding five hundred jin of gold. That would have to wait until after they left this dungeon.
So lending him some gold for writing was fine. Lu Chuan trusted him enough. He wasn’t petty.
[Host, you actually gave him gold?] #888 was shocked. Was the sun rising in the west today?
“He can’t speak,” Lu Chuan replied calmly. “We need a way to communicate.”
[There are plenty of ways! He could write with water, anything but gold.] #888 felt something was spiraling out of control, but this wasn’t its specialty. It had no module beyond divine cultivation.
“I find it odd too.” Lu Chuan grew serious. “Normally, giving away gold feels like a saw slicing through my soul. But with Cang Jiu, it doesn’t hurt. I think it’s because deep down, I know he’d never steal from me. Honestly, if Shen Li and the others couldn’t talk, I’d lend them gold too.”
You would lend others gold, but you’d always charge interest.
But you didn’t charge Cang Jiu any interest!!!
#888 was convinced Cang Jiu must have secretly done something. Lu Chuan was only a god-candidate—if a god wanted to meddle with him, it would be far too easy.
Once they left this dungeon, it would definitely scan its host inside and out, top to bottom, to see whether Cang Jiu had planted some strange restriction on him.
—
Logistics Center
“Hey, among you lot, whoever’s quickest with your hands and feet, get over here.” Lu Chuan finally pried open the door of the logistics center with Cang Jiu.
Hearing Lu Chuan’s voice, Shen Li almost thought he was hallucinating.
But when he looked toward the doorway, he really did see Lu Chuan—along with Cang Jiu behind him.
In an instant, Shen Li’s hair stood on end.
That guy behind Lu Chuan—who was he? Why did he feel so dangerously overwhelming?
A teammate? No… it didn’t feel like that.
At first, the people in the logistics center saw Lu Chuan, just a small mother-hosts, and didn’t take him seriously. But once they caught sight of Cang Jiu behind him, their words stuck in their throats. They could only bow obediently to him.
“Honored Divine Attendant, you’ve come to our place. What do you need?”
“The Divine Attendant says he wants a few close personal servants. Also, the house we’re living in is too small—it needs expanding.” Lu Chuan arrogantly swept his gaze over the crowd, and instantly spotted Shen Li.
Hahaha, sure enough.
Because of his age, Shen Li had been assigned here.
“Bring us a few older, nimble, preferably male servants, and they need to look decent. If they don’t, we don’t want them.” Lu Chuan put his hands on his hips. “Our Divine Attendant is very picky.”
Was it the Divine Attendant who was picky, or you?
The logistics boss’s eyelid twitched, but he didn’t dare defy Lu Chuan’s order. He could only choose according to the request.
Shen Li was also picked.
“Divine Attendant, here are the people that fit your requirements.” The boss even specially recommended Shen Li: “This mother-host is a little older, but still fertile, better than the rest. Look at those pectorals, those thighs…”
Like a chicken or duck at a marketplace, Shen Li was being judged aloud.
The thought of Lu Chuan witnessing this scene made Shen Li want to die on the spot.
Knowing Lu Chuan’s personality, he was sure to blackmail him about this once they left. He already knew Lu Chuan’s tricks.
“Not bad.” Lu Chuan praised. “We’ll take him. And pick a few more for us.”
Taking Shen Li away was child’s play.
“You really haven’t been doing too well.” After claiming Shen Li, Lu Chuan deliberately lagged behind and whispered to him, “If not for me, when would you have gotten out?”
“…I already found some loopholes in the logistics center. Even if you didn’t come, I was planning to stir things up. I’ve collected some materials—if you hadn’t shown up, tonight the entire place would’ve gone dark.” Shen Li sighed helplessly.
Thanks to his [Creation] ability, he understood physical and chemical principles well. Unlike Lu Chuan’s group, he didn’t just resort to arson.
“But what about this Divine Attendant? Can he be trusted?” Shen Li asked anxiously. “He’s not one of our teammates, is he?”
Lu Chuan remembered what Cang Jiu had written on the gold earlier—his identity couldn’t be revealed to teammates. So he made one up.
“He’s a high-level NPC I met in the last dungeon. Don’t worry, he’s reliable,” Lu Chuan replied.
“Really?” Shen Li still doubted.
“He promised me five hundred jin of gold.”
“Oh, then he must be trustworthy.” Shen Li nodded.
Anyone who understood Lu Chuan’s preferences that well must indeed have a close bond with him.
