Chapter 56
Edith agreed to consider—but only on the condition that she learned the true reason [Messiah] had abandoned her first.
Lu Chuan, of course, skipped over that caveat and took it for granted she had already accepted.
After hanging up, he looked smugly at Shen Li. “See? Easy as that. She agreed.”
Shen Li wanted to cover his face with both hands.
“So next, you’re planning to just call [Messiah] and ask outright?” Shen Li sighed. “You’ve never even met the guy. Why would he tell you anything? If he refuses, are you just going to make something up for Edith?”
“Brother Shen, you’re good—you’ve predicted my next move exactly.” Lu Chuan praised sincerely. “Since you’re here, why not help? You’re close with Mei Xue, right? Ask her for [Messiah]’s number for me. I’ll call him directly.”
Shen Li refused to budge.
“If you won’t, I’ll just have to go to Noah Guild myself. But showing up like that, with my current position in the Star Guild… who knows what rumors it might stir?” Lu Chuan sighed dramatically. “Looks like I’ll have to run over there in person.”
“Wait, fine—I’ll ask for you. Just don’t rush.” Shen Li felt utterly drained. What on earth was this man?
Calling him a fox spirit would be flattering foxes too much.
If fox spirits had half Lu Chuan’s cunning, humans wouldn’t be the ones ruling the world.
In the end, Shen Li did get [Messiah]’s number from Mei Xue. When she heard it was for Lu Chuan to “make friends” with [Messiah], she happily gave it.
In Mei Xue’s eyes, [Messiah] was far too withdrawn. He rarely interacted with anyone—even his own dungeon teammates had all been released. The more isolated he became, the more she hoped someone would reach out.
So the moment Lu Chuan got the number, he dialed.
The call wasn’t answered at first.
But Lu Chuan had plenty of time—and persistence. He kept calling until, at last, it connected.
“Hello.” A gentle, clear voice picked up.
“Hello, is this [Messiah]? I’m [Arrival of the God of Wealth].” Lu Chuan went straight to the point. “You must be wondering why I’m calling. Give me ten minutes—just listen to me. Don’t hang up, alright?”
Shen Li and Starry Shasha both leaned in, straining to hear.
Lu Chuan ignored them.
“Alright,” [Messiah] agreed.
“Good.” Lu Chuan smiled. “It’s nothing dramatic. You’ve probably heard I hit second place on the Newcomer Ranking? I won’t keep fighting for it, but once [Eye of Rebirth] drops, I’ll be number one. So I planned to try some advanced dungeons. Problem is, I don’t have teammates. Someone recommended your former teammate Edith to me. She’s already agreed to join, and I’ll process her transfer soon.”
Silence on the other end.
After a while, [Messiah] spoke slowly. “Edith is strong. She has a good personality—serious and responsible. She’ll be an excellent teammate.”
“Yes, she will.” Lu Chuan knew instantly this wasn’t a case of [Messiah] discarding her out of disdain. Quite the opposite—he clearly valued her.
So if he’d abandoned all his teammates, there had to be some hidden reason.
Tsk.
What era was this? How could such melodrama still exist?
Adjusting his approach, Lu Chuan suddenly adopted a grave tone. “But that’s not why I called. Do you realize Edith has developed self-destructive tendencies? I met her once—her sanity level was dangerously low. She doesn’t think she’s ill, nor does she plan to seek treatment.”
Shen Li and Starry Shasha froze. What the hell was this angle?
“How could that be?” [Messiah] sounded alarmed. “Is she alright?”
“Of course she isn’t.” Lu Chuan deliberately exaggerated. “If her sanity weren’t collapsing, would she have so readily joined me? She’s a fine teammate, but if she keeps throwing her life away in every dungeon, I doubt she’ll survive the next one. She said she was abandoned because she wasn’t working hard enough. So now, every run, she pushes herself recklessly. That’s why I called. Tell me—was she always like this before?”
“Of course not.” [Messiah]’s voice tightened. “She used to be steady. She never had this problem. She must have…”
“I see. Then maybe she just doesn’t want to team with me.” Lu Chuan cut him off. “If that’s the case, I’ll release her. What worries me is whether this will push her sanity even lower. If you believe it won’t, then I can rest easy.”
“Wait, don’t cut ties with her.” If he could, [Messiah] would have already appeared right in front of Lu Chuan. “Edith is a very good teammate. Give her some time, and she’ll soon return to normal.”
“But she’s still drowning in the guilt of not being able to protect you before.”
“She’s not at fault. The one at fault is me.” [Messiah] gritted his teeth. “I provoked something I never should have, and that’s why they were dragged down with me. The only reason I broke off my partnership with them was because I didn’t want to burden them any longer. If they kept following me, they’d only end up dead.”
Lu Chuan raised his brows slightly, shooting Shen Li and Starry Shasha a smug glance.
See? One little push and the truth spilled out. How hard was that?
“Then why didn’t you just tell her directly?” Lu Chuan asked. “If you had explained earlier, maybe she wouldn’t be like this now.”
“I know her. If I had told her, she would have been even less willing to leave.” [Messiah] said in a low voice. “I had no choice. Mr. Lu Chuan, I know who you are. You’re stronger than me. I’m sure you can help Edith shine under your leadership.”
“Mr. [Messiah], with all due respect, you’re a core talent nurtured by the Noah Guild. Is there really a problem your guild can’t solve for you? Even if you’re being hunted by Burial Squad in-game, it shouldn’t have to come to this.” Lu Chuan probed further. “I’m not part of your guild, so maybe you can tell me. I’ve run into no small number of obstacles myself in this game, but I believe there’s no problem that can’t be solved.”
“…Have you heard of divine marriage?” [Messiah] hesitated for a while before asking.
“Of course I’ve heard of it.” Lu Chuan answered smoothly, while secretly signaling with his eyes for Shen Li to look it up—what the hell was that supposed to be?
“Mr. Lu Chuan, you’re lying.” [Messiah] chuckled softly. “If you really knew, you wouldn’t have reacted like that. As for Edith, I’m very grateful to you. Please take good care of her. Thank you.”
And with that, [Messiah] hung up.
Lu Chuan didn’t care much—he had already learned what he wanted to know.
“Mm, I’ll just pass [Messiah]’s words on to Edith later. That should be enough.” Lu Chuan shrugged. “Not that hard, right?”
“…You’re exploiting the bond between [Messiah] and Edith.” Shen Li frowned at him. “That’s really a bit…”
“Come on, Captain Shen, Brother Shen—you’re still too naive.” Lu Chuan clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Exploiting? I’d call it giving them both a way out. People, sometimes, it’s all about who’s willing to be shameless first. Once you cross that moral line, you’ll find the world opens wide before you.”
“Sorry, but I can’t cross that line.” Shen Li stared at Lu Chuan in disbelief—he actually sounded self-righteous about this. “You trick people using their feelings, and you call that giving them a way out?”
“Of course. They couldn’t say these things to each other, but through me, a third party, it finally got said. Isn’t that giving them a way out?” Lu Chuan widened his eyes. “If it weren’t for me, they might never have told each other the truth. Then they’d both regret it for life. What I did—how is that not a good deed? Shasha, tell me, wasn’t I doing good?”
“From the outcome… Brother Lu did a good thing.” Starry Shasha, simple-minded as ever, shamefully sided with Lu Chuan.
“You… you…” Shen Li was so furious he couldn’t even find the words. In the end, he had to change the subject, bringing up something else. “Divine marriage—if I heard correctly, that’s marriage as in weddings. No wonder [Messiah] cut ties with all his teammates.”
“Divine marriage? As in marrying a god?” Lu Chuan asked curiously.
“That’s right.” Shen Li nodded. “But gods aren’t the same as high-level NPCs. Look at Lilus and Cynthia’s mother—she never sought to marry a god. Wouldn’t the child of a god be even stronger? Of course not. It’s because gods, at the very root, aren’t the same kind of being as us. High-level NPCs still share some similarities with humans, but gods are fundamentally different.”
Shen Li then carefully explained divine marriage to Lu Chuan.
It had once been a popular strategy among guild players.
Some players, when developing class skills, were born with charm-type abilities or special traits suited to attracting gods. Such abilities inevitably entangled them with divine beings.
“For example, in our own history, there were devout believers who wished to marry gods, and thus remained unmarried for life. In the world of Evil World, that kind of thing can actually happen. If a god takes a liking to you, you become their vessel and apostle in the mortal world. You’d gain an exalted position in their church, and naturally wield part of their power. With that kind of power, players could sweep through dungeons, skyrocket to the top in no time. That’s why the ‘romance meta’ once became so popular. Few succeeded, but some did.”
“But soon enough, romance-meta players vanished entirely. The reason was simple—no one really knew where the line between gods and humans lay. Gods demand absolute obedience and love. Their spouse must belong to them wholly, body and soul. So anything that stood between them and their chosen partner became a thorn in their eye. And to a god, those little pests didn’t even require effort—just a single breath, and the pests were gone.”
But humans are social beings.
No human can live a whole lifetime utterly alone, let alone spend eternity with an unknown creature.
“In the Evil World, gods don’t truly understand humans.” Shen Li sighed. “The way they express affection is completely different from us. They’re almost devoid of rationality. Every single god’s sanity value is probably below 20.”
“No gods with higher sanity?” Lu Chuan was stunned. His own sanity was still at 60—if he became the God of Wealth, would it drop by 40?
[Of course not, Host! Don’t listen to their nonsense.] #888 jumped out indignantly. [There are rational gods. Those with low sanity are all fallen ones. Your sanity is perfect—right at the boundary between man and god. We God of Wealths aren’t fallen!]
Those with sanity below 20 were all unqualified!
“…Maybe some gods with higher sanity exist. But if they’re truly rational, why would they ever like humans? Would you marry some random insect on the roadside?” Shen Li shot back. “Or to put it in terms you’d understand—since you love money so much, would you marry something that has no money, constantly spends yours, and isn’t even human-shaped?”
Now that he put it that way… it did make sense.
Lu Chuan thought seriously.
So in the end, marriage was still a bad deal—just one more person legally entitled to spend your money.
Earning money wasn’t easy, after all.
“If [Messiah] really entered into a marriage contract with a god, then he’s finished. Gods’ desires are endless. We can’t possibly predict their next move.” Shen Li sighed heavily. “If nothing unexpected happens, once [Messiah] completes his ‘newlywed’ dungeon, he’ll probably be stuck in the game forever. Records show—no divine marriage player has ever survived past five dungeons.”
Even romance-meta players of the past weren’t foolish enough to actually marry a god. Most just flirted around the edges. But even that required extraordinary willpower and finesse. [Messiah] was just a newcomer—he clearly didn’t have the skill for it.
