Chapter 30
The statue seemed to radiate a hypnotic power, compelling everyone nearby to move toward it.
Eyes glazed, they looked as if they had seen their one true love.
Even the village chief and elder priests, dressed in ceremonial robes, momentarily froze.
The village chief, dazed, thought: How have I never seen this god’s appearance in the records?
It shouldn’t be possible. Such transcendent beauty—he would remember it if he had seen it.
Even the depictions of goddesses in the Servants of the Gods book didn’t match this.
To Lu Chuan, the statue looked like a living mountain of gold beckoning him. The golden mountain slowly transformed into a beauty perfectly aligned with his desires, claiming to be the “God of Gold.” If he took his hand, he would enjoy endless wealth and splendor for life…
So beautiful.
Lu Chuan thought.
In both worlds he had seen, he had never encountered anyone so beautiful or so perfectly to his liking.
It was as if possessing this figure could satisfy every desire, leaving nothing else to want.
[Mental corruption reduced by 50%. Countdown to destruction of priestly robes: 30 minutes.]
The system’s alert snapped Lu Chuan back to focus.
“Ahhh, System, something’s wrong, something’s off!” Lu Chuan shouted as he realized he was just a few steps from the statue. Other people, like [Shadow Fiend] Wang Feng, were half a step away, stretching toward it but forcibly restrained, their struggle obvious.
Even Shen Li, flung earlier by the earth dragon, was slowly approaching the statue.
The once chaotic battlefield fell completely silent, as if everyone were hypnotized by the statue.
The sheer, eerie power of it sent chills even to those merely observing.
The system continued to alert:
[Detected: dungeon “Li Family Village” exceeds power limit. Dungeon level upgraded to A-grade.]
[Executor Number 9 is in position. Please complete tasks promptly.]
[Warning! Players must exit the dungeon immediately.]
[Warning! Players must exit the dungeon immediately.]
[Warning! Players must exit the dungeon immediately.]
Three warnings fired off in rapid succession—but had little effect.
Lu Chuan, staring at the scene, was momentarily speechless.
[Host… you’re finally awake. I’ve been calling you for so long.] #888 trembled inwardly. Even it hadn’t expected a Territory Dungeon dungeon to hit this hard. Previously, only lower-level gods had appeared. Such a strong one coming now was unprecedented.
It was ultimately due to #888’s insufficient permissions—its level too low to detect the sudden arrival of a powerful enemy.
“This god is definitely abnormal,” Lu Chuan thought. “I actually saw a mountain of gold in front of me turn into a person? Impossible. No one should be able to divert my gaze from gold. This being—no, this god—must be unimaginably strong!”
Good. That saves me the trouble of explaining things to the host, #888 thought, unsure whether to feel relieved or worried.
This shouldn’t happen. Just the third dungeon, and we encounter such a tough one?
[Host, your priestly robe is still effective. Don’t act rashly.] #888 warned. [A gentleman’s revenge can wait ten years. Just pretend to be hypnotized. A god this powerful has pushed the dungeon over its limit—it won’t remain long.]
“But do I still need to ask this god for the Lord title?” Lu Chuan hesitated. “I can’t leave empty-handed.”
Forget about making money for now.
[Host, is life more important, or money?] #888 nearly wanted to pipe some sense into the host.
“Of course, money is more important,” Lu Chuan replied without hesitation. “You know how many people would sell their lives to me without a blink if I earned enough? In my old world, I risked working seven jobs a day just to make a living. With a 3,000 yuan monthly salary, I could get a whole group of young people to work for me!”
#888 was speechless, stunned by the host’s priorities.
[Host, endure! If we wait, we can earn even more!] #888 insisted.
But Lu Chuan wasn’t convinced.
“System, think about it. Given what I did to the god statue before, do you really think I can bluff my way through?”
#888 was speechless. Honestly, if #888 were treated like that, it would immediately have exploded.
“So it’s not that I don’t want to play dumb. If I go all-out, I might earn big money and claim the title. If I play dumb, I might die without even knowing how. I can accept my death—but if I die, it must be extremely, extremely, extremely worthwhile!” Lu Chuan emphasized “extremely” three times.
[Alright, host. I’ll cover you.] #888 realized it could no longer sway him.
If necessary, it would extract the host’s soul and leave this world, even if the main system pursued them a few extra times. In the path to godhood, death is normal.
Lu Chuan and #888 quickly devised a plan.
First, while everyone was distracted by the statue, Lu Chuan sprinted toward Shen Li and Starry Shasha, shoving [Shadow Fiend] Wang Feng to make him fall against the statue, ideally as a meat shield to buy time.
Then he piled other nearby people around the statue, pinning it beneath a heap of bodies.
They wanted to touch the statue? Perfect—they were in direct contact!
After this, Lu Chuan couldn’t see the strange statue anymore, and felt slightly better.
He needed backup.
One person couldn’t take a boss alone—first, find teammates.
Who could be more reliable than Shen Li and Starry Shasha?
He turned back and snatched the cross from Wang Feng.
It was powerful, possibly extremely valuable—couldn’t leave it behind.
He ran to Shen Li, slapping him several times until he came to, then fitted him with a mask taken from an unconscious elder priest.
He considered removing clothing too, but it was too time-consuming. Shen Li’s level was high; a mask would suffice.
With the mask, Shen Li recovered his clarity. He poured a bottle of holy water over himself to fully wake up.
“Run! That’s not a god—it’s an Executor from Burial Squad!” Shen Li glared at Lu Chuan. “Let’s find Shasha and leave with the exit item. We’re not staying in this dungeon.”
Shen Li steadied himself. When the true form of the god statue appeared, he realized the dungeon was already beyond saving.
He didn’t recognize the military man’s face—but the uniform he knew.
Executor.
The Executors represented the world’s will in this dungeon. Normally unseen, their appearance meant something was out of line—they would eliminate anomalies. Even legitimate things could be affected if they weren’t fast enough.
Shen Li didn’t need his interface to know how much the dungeon had mutated.
What luck—was Starry Shasha’s ability already maxed, capable of summoning Executors?
But that didn’t add up—the statue was already in their hands. If Executors were coming, they should have already been embedded in the statue, not appearing suddenly.
They actually managed to interact with the Executors for so long? That’s a story you could brag about anywhere.
Now that they could run, they had to run!
Shen Li had no other thoughts left. His only concern was that even the Territory Dungeon shared by the five major gaming guilds might not be secure.
“Captain, I don’t think we can run,” Lu Chuan said, touching his nose, unusually embarrassed.
“Executors only target what they intend to eliminate. They won’t bother us,” Shen Li replied—but then he looked up and saw that the god statue, which carried the Executors’ power, had vanished.
Where the Executor statue once stood, a heap of people now completely filled the space.
Huh?
Shen Li widened his eyes in shock. “You… what did you do?”
“I didn’t really do anything,” Lu Chuan said, waving his hands. “The statue was kind of creepy staring at us, so I just piled a mountain of people around it. I’m helping them get close—it’s a service. They should be thanking me.”
Shen Li was utterly despairing.
Forget what you did before—now this? Aren’t you provoking them?
Might as well pick a decent pose and see if you can die in style.
“Shasha is over there,” Lu Chuan said, ignoring Shen Li’s desperate expression. He thought Shen Li was panicking too much, lacking responsibility.
At critical moments, it always fell to him.
Starry Shasha was also trying to move toward the statue.
But since she had previously unleashed her ability, she had applied a self-imposed immobilization effect, crawling forward like a pupa—it looked a little comical.
Lu Chuan almost wanted to record it on his phone—this scene would ensure Shasha would owe him her loyalty for life.
Perhaps because the Executors had descended, her ability seemed ineffective.
Lu Chuan’s approach to her was smooth, without incident.
Shen Li’s eyes suddenly caught something—he was about to shout.
A white-gloved hand brushed over Shen Li’s eyes, and he fell silently.
One.
Two.
Three.
…
While Lu Chuan didn’t notice, everyone on the field—NPCs and players alike—fell silently. Their eyes closed instantly, as if drifting into a beautiful dream.
Lu Chuan, seemingly shielded from the change, crouched to speak to Shasha.
“Shasha, since you’re a girl, I can’t slap you like I did Shen Li. Let’s find you a prettier mask.” He muttered internally. “I wonder if the Executors are insane. Why come to our dungeon? That statue was pure gold—well, at least they thought so. Now it can’t be used to hit people… who knows if it’s still gold.”
He spotted a decent mask and reached to put it on Shasha.
Then, a pair of hands removed the mask first and handed it to him.
“Thanks, Captain Shen,” Lu Chuan said—but immediately realized something was off.
Captain Shen never wore gloves.
He lowered his head and turned away, not wanting to see who was in front of him.
Sometimes, avoidance is a strategy.
Was this Executor targeting him? Had #888 been discovered by the system?
#888 had said the main system couldn’t detect it—how did it attract an Executor so quickly?
Lu Chuan tried to sneak away, but the hands held his shoulders tight; there was no escape.
“I was wrong. I shouldn’t have used you to hit people, shouldn’t have pinned you to my waist, and shouldn’t have spoken disrespectfully.” Lu Chuan admitted. He remembered that Executors only cared about their target, not bystanders.
[Host, host! Let me take you away! I don’t understand why this Executor seems to be after you!] #888 panicked.
Why? The host hadn’t even used the “Eye of Wealth” skill. The main system shouldn’t have noticed him.
“System, don’t panic. Don’t move. Don’t contact me. Let’s take a gamble!” Lu Chuan still didn’t believe he had been detected.
If the Executor really wanted him dead, there were easier ways—it wouldn’t need to do this elaborate investigation.
It was likely suspicion, or some other reason for inspection—he was just caught up in it.
Any sudden movement now could reveal him.
#888, though silent, was nearly in a data meltdown. If the host died, it wouldn’t even know the cause.
Lu Chuan noticed his head rising uncontrollably.
He wanted not to look, but his eyes had a mind of their own.
Damn it—what are you staring at?
Yet he couldn’t resist looking at the figure.
Shen Li had said the pure-gold statue would reveal a god’s true form—but this wasn’t even one percent of it.
Such looks were impossible for humans to evolve—even over thousands or millions of years.
What the hell is this? Was the Executor team chosen based on appearance? Lu Chuan wondered.
[Cursed Puppet activated]
Executor Number 9’s hand paused imperceptibly, then continued forward.
Lu Chuan felt something being uncontrollably drawn from his forehead.
It was his memory.
From his first newbie dungeon to this one, all memories were displayed uncontrollably—including details he barely remembered.
The only thing absent were events involving #888.
The military-uniformed man in front of him showed a hint of confusion in his eyes.
Strange.
All the player’s memories matched those of the NPCs perfectly, even showing how he manipulated them and earned a fortune.
Even memories from reality—how Lu Chuan used arson to balance accounts and make money—were reviewed.
Nothing was wrong.
He carried nothing that interfered with the dungeon, nor any abilities or items causing anomalies.
If anything, he used the dungeon rationally, leveraging every NPC.
Through money.
Or, through everyone’s greed and desire.
If there were no issues, they couldn’t eliminate him.
Executor Number 9 paused. A player specifically investigated—yet found nothing violating dungeon rules. According to protocol, it couldn’t punish him.
Players belonged to the main god system; without orders, they couldn’t be handled.
Still, Number 9 felt something was off.
Lu Chuan was too lucid.
Humans couldn’t resist the Executor’s aura or retain rationality—yet even in the high-level priest robes, the village chief didn’t regain clarity as quickly as Lu Chuan. Shen Li, S-class, couldn’t move independently after waking, yet Lu Chuan remained fully alert.
He even tried to resist earlier.
Number 9 forcibly opened his game panel.
“Sanity, 60?” Number 9 finally spoke—the first words since entering the dungeon.
Lu Chuan’s ears bled instantly. He understood the meaning but couldn’t stop listening.
“I see.”
Number 9 released him.
“You have potential to join our ranks,” Number 9 said. “Your sanity causing disorder has triggered successive dungeon mutations.”
Lu Chuan’s eyes still fixed uncontrollably on him.
“I’ll mark you. If your sanity fully collapses, you can become a low-level god in our team, discarding your unrealistic greed for money.” Number 9 placed a hand on Lu Chuan’s forehead. “Your obsession… money? Unfathomable.”
“System, use the Eye of Wealth!” Lu Chuan demanded, regaining some clarity after the onslaught of forces.
[Host, no! The of Wealth isn’t for this!] #888 objected.
According to its scans, this Executor’s power rivaled high-level gods. Its aura was strange—mixed with many divine essences, perhaps to conceal more.
Why would the main god system allow such a being to serve it?
#888 didn’t understand. Someone this strong should be part of the system’s subordinate gods, not its law enforcement.
“System, I’m your host—listen to me!” Lu Chuan said firmly.
#888 had no choice but to obey.
[Acknowledged.]
[Eye of Wealth activating]
Golden light began to gather in Lu Chuan’s eyes.
When the Eye of Wealth activated, Lu Chuan felt as if a waterfall was rushing through his mind, washing away all the sediment and clutter.
Nothing could interfere with him.
It felt as if all the wealth in the world was at his fingertips, ready to grasp with a mere flick of his hand.
Is this what “cheating” feels like?
This was incredible.
Lu Chuan quickly snapped out of the feeling and focused his eyes on the Executor Number 9 before him.
In the world of the Eye of Wealth, the figure transformed into a golden statue, shimmering with light.
Exactly as he suspected.
When Executor Number 9 spoke earlier, Lu Chuan realized it wasn’t truly here to eliminate him. It was inspecting why he had caused the dungeon to mutate. In other words, it hadn’t received a direct order from the main system to destroy him.
If it hadn’t received an order, it could only be an avatar.
Most likely, it was the pure-gold statue itself.
The Executor Number 9 before him was just a humanoid projection of the statue, standing in for the god summoned by the village chief.
Pure gold is soft.
Plus, with Wang Feng having nailed a cross into the statue earlier, the crack could never disappear. The presence of Executor Number 9 merely distracted attention from the previous wound.
Lu Chuan used the Eye of Wealth to locate that weak point.
The eye scanned frantically and soon identified both the most valuable and least valuable parts of the god statue.
The most valuable part was the statue’s eyes; the least valuable, undoubtedly, was the chest pierced by Wang Feng’s cross.
Lu Chuan bit his lip hard and repeated in his mind:
“If I don’t get up, I’ll be a lifelong pauper.”
“If I die here, billions will go down the drain.”
“If I die without spending my money, that’s unacceptable!”
For a die-hard money-lover, these words were a lethal jolt.
[Player “Arrival of the God of Wealth” sanity +1]
[You have broken free from mental pollution]
Miraculously, Lu Chuan regained his strength.
He grabbed the cross from his waist and, with blinding speed, plunged it into Executor Number 9’s chest.
For a moment, everything around them seemed to freeze.
Lu Chuan looked at Number 9’s face without hesitation. This time, he was no longer fooled.
Instead, he could clearly see himself reflected in Number 9’s eyes.
Defiance, greed, struggle, determination.
For a moment, both Lu Chuan and Number 9 were stunned.
Number 9 hadn’t expected Lu Chuan to still be able to move, and Lu Chuan hadn’t expected Number 9 to leave his hand on his forehead without stopping him.
Lu Chuan increased his force, striking again along the spot Wang Feng had pierced.
Crack.
Both heard the sound of breaking.
[Detected: Player “Arrival of the God of Wealth” used ‘Cross of Godslaying.’ Strong side effects detected. Player, beware of backlash.]
“Sorry, but once you’re gone, I’ll melt your statue into a ball and kick it around,” Lu Chuan said viciously. “I make my money with my own skills, I mutate dungeons with my own efforts—good luck reporting me to the main system.”
“Why is it wrong to make money? Are the desires of those who wish to be beautiful, strong, healthy, or happy somehow nobler than mine? Desires are desires—everyone wants something they can’t have. Who’s superior?”
Number 9 looked into Lu Chuan’s eyes, brimming with life, and allowed him to pierce his chest.
He didn’t resist.
Instead, his fingers remained on Lu Chuan’s forehead. The white glove vanished, and Lu Chuan could feel the warmth from his touch.
This being’s fingers… were warm?
The thought flashed through Lu Chuan’s mind.
Number 9 closed his eyes gently.
The mark had been engraved. He would have plenty of time to witness this player’s growth and change.
Everyone has desires, but this person’s were immense and pure.
Would they be consumed by them, or master them?
The humanoid projection silently dissipated.
The pure-gold statue on the ground softened instantly into molten gold, soon forming an unshaped gold lump.
[Executor Number 9 has left. Dungeon mutation stopped]
[Congratulations, player “Arrival of the God of Wealth,” you have destroyed the god statue]
[Special achievement unlocked: Title – “Godslaying Lord”]
[Congratulations, your ranking on the Newcomer Ranking List has risen to fourth]
[Dungeon restoring]
[Player exit countdown: 3 minutes]
Lu Chuan struggled to stand, ignoring #888’s frantic shouting in his mind. He went to the village chief, grabbed a chunk of gold and a fruit shop lease from the system space, scribbled a few notes explaining that his parents were gravely ill and left instructions for the shop, then collapsed, waiting to be teleported out.
[Host, you have been marked—similar to a divine mark. We can remove it when we upgrade. Don’t worry.] #888 had no words—it was both amazed and exasperated that the host had already encountered an Executor in only the third dungeon.
“No need,” Lu Chuan said, lying on the ground with a smile. “One day, I’ll buy this Executor Number 9 with wealth so vast even the main system can’t deny it. I’ll make him respect money!”
