Chapter 24: Atonement

At 10:00 AM on October 3rd, the game updated on schedule. The content of the update was actually quite minimal. The most intuitive change for players was the addition of a status prompt, mainly to notify them of their online time, hunger levels, satiety, and the like. It was just like certain life-simulation games that prompt the little characters when they need to sleep, use the bathroom, take a bath, etc. It was a plugin that was relatively useful, but not highly so.

He had originally wanted to display things like the players' strength, physique, speed, and intelligence.

However, there were no reference templates, and since the players didn't have classes anyway, he could only muddle through it like this for now.

As for tasks, everyone would be issued a small notebook to record them.

It wasn't that Chen Zhi didn't want to record them in the system; he had done so at the beginning, but later found it meaningless.

Besides, as the players themselves said, the closed beta was only for two weeks, so there was no need for him to update a task interface for these players.

The most direct reason was that he couldn't necessarily monitor all the tasks these players went out to accept.

What if those shopkeepers agreed to pay 10 Tana in wages but then reneged on the debt?

Should the system tasks be blamed for that?

Even in a closed beta, one couldn't always use bugs as an excuse; the players had to experience the real warmth and coldness of human relationships, so the system couldn't take the fall for this.

Most importantly, he needed to give the players a sacrificial template to recite. If they encountered an emergency, they could still sacrifice valuable or useful items on their person.

A notebook recording the sacrificial methods was therefore very important.

Although he couldn't guarantee that the players would be able to sacrifice their belongings every time, it was still better than nothing.

Watching Andrew and the others lying on the ground copying, Chen Zhi shook his arm; he was simply too clever.

Seeing Chen Zhi's arm move, Andrew and the others became even more devout, to the point that their hands even trembled while copying.

They didn't recognize the characters above, but they felt that this must be the will of the God, and that He must have very important matters to entrust to those "corpse soldiers."

After Andrew and the others finished copying, Chen Zhi gave Andrew a map. "This has the locations of all the new Believers. You will distribute these notebooks to them separately in a while."

Most players had stayed in the Sewers and the Farm due to accommodation issues.

Only a very small number of players required Andrew to send people to "deliver" the Task Notebooks.

Andrew acted as if he had received an imperial decree, bowing his head respectfully. After he left, Saina dragged Susan before Chen Zhi.

"Great God of Calamity, we found an Apprentice Witch near the Theater." Saina bowed respectfully; she had seen that beautiful woman fall into a pool of blood earlier today.

Susan had personally finished off that beautiful woman. The woman was incredibly pretty, and when the police dragged her away, many people were saying it was a pity.

However, Saina knew that the woman could be resurrected, because just like those corpses, she could change into a new body at any time.

Because she had accompanied her during the testing.

Therefore, this woman had to be presented to the God of Calamity. He must have known of Susan's existence long ago, and she had no way to interrogate this Apprentice Witch alone.

According to Evans, if it hadn't been for that woman, Susan probably wouldn't have been so easy to capture.

After all, the appearance of that woman had disrupted Susan's plan to escape quickly.

He even felt regret over such a beautiful face.

Heh, if Susan were to see that woman resurrect, who knows what kind of expression she would have.

Chen Zhi didn't care what his Believers were thinking. He looked at Susan, who didn't dare to open her eyes, and asked, "How did you become an Apprentice Witch?"

"My mother was a witch, so of course I inherited my mother's Inheritance." Susan kept her eyes closed; she was going to die anyway, and in front of a deity, humans were like ants.

She really hadn't expected that she would actually have the chance to encounter a true god.

"Inheritance?"

Chen Zhi pondered the meaning of this word.

Lying on the ground, tied up like a twist, Susan seemed to understand Chen Zhi's meaning and explained, "After a witch dies, there is an 'Inheritance.' As long as you drink it with the corresponding Magic Potion, you can become a witch. At that time, in order to escape pursuit, I took the 'Inheritance' my mother gave me and became an Apprentice Witch."

"Why only an apprentice?" Chen Zhi asked.

"I... I don't know either. I have never engaged in underground transactions." Susan exposed her lack of relevant knowledge. "The place where I lived had the notebook my mother left behind, which I hid under some discarded curtains on the roof of the Theater."

Hearing this, Saina felt a bit tempted.

Hadn't she followed the God of Calamity for so long just in the hope of awakening?

"But those guys found me precisely because I am a witch. If it weren't for this witch identity, I would never have been threatened by the Believers of the Red Moon." Thinking of this, Susan shed tears. "Why is it that after so long, I still can't escape the tracking of those people? Why is it that being kind is also a mistake! Why!"

"I'm sorry." Susan's tears dripped down. If there was one thing she regretted in her life, it was definitely killing Emily.

Why did she make that decision at the time?

If she had known earlier that she wouldn't be killed by the Wealth Church, she would never have killed Emily, no matter what.

It must have been because of the awakening.

Within the witch bloodline, the malice toward women had never ceased. Even though Susan had been restraining herself, she still felt jealous when seeing the beautiful Emily.

It was the fire of jealousy that made her forget her own principles.

Hearing that one would be tracked by the Believers of the Red Moon after awakening, Saina immediately lost interest.

Although the God of Calamity was a bit violent and a bit brainless, generally speaking, He wasn't as eerie as the Red Moon.

The Red Moon seemed to have a natural hatred for women. Looking at the dead female serfs on her Nongzhuang, they had lost their children and even sacrificed their own lives. Even someone like Saina, who could sacrifice her life for awakening, found it unacceptable.

"Leave her here. You may go back. Remember to distribute those notebooks to the new Believers," Chen Zhi instructed.

Saina lowered her head, respectfully collected the notebooks that Andrew had copied, and then left the Sewers.

Without Saina, Susan felt quite terrified.

But she also felt a sense of relief.

Anyway, she would eventually return to the embrace of a deity, so what difference did it make whether it was the God of Calamity or the Goddess of the Red Moon?

Then she felt that the ropes on her body were gone.

"Serve here with me, and you won't have to worry about the tracking of the Red Moon," Chen Zhi said calmly. He had already checked; Susan's status was too low. If she were by his side, the Red Moon would have no way to perceive her.

Besides, that guy wasn't a deity who could act often anyway; it could only come out to catch its breath during a blood moon.

Therefore, Susan staying here to atone for her sins was the safest way.

Since she had said "I'm sorry," let her do something useful.

(End of chapter)