Chapter 2108: On the Birth of Religion
After leaving that religious hall, Xu Huo finally figured out what had happened.
After he disappeared from the engineer's home, the Painting Woman searched all over Cockscomb City for him. But since she couldn't communicate easily and didn't have a photo of Xu Huo, she could only vaguely describe what he looked like—according to her description, the entire city was full of people who matched her target. Besides, without any reason, others weren't willing to help her. So she took the money Xu Huo had given her and started paying people to help find him.
At first, her offer was that anyone who had seen Xu Huo and reported it to her would receive more money.
Then more people came to collect the money. When there were too many people, explaining the details took a long time, so she hired someone to speak for her, and the content was simplified to "Find Passerby A."
After a few days of this publicity, some people voluntarily came to help, and even made a sculpture based on her description, making it easier for those collecting money to accurately identify the target.
Eventually, the specific process of the search turned into this: someone would come to get money, and the Painting Woman would point at the statue and ask if they knew this person.
At first, things were relatively normal. Everyone knew she was looking for someone, so those who took the money would proactively say that if they saw this person, they would definitely tell her. But as the line grew longer, the people at the back didn't know the full story and just followed what those in front did. They took the money and said "I know, I understand." Gradually, the Painting Woman also found it annoying, so the content on her communicator was reduced to one question:
"You know, right?"
Her intention included a series of processes like finding the person and notifying her, but the ordinary citizens, through hearsay, gradually turned this into a large-scale initiation ceremony. Within just a week, statues and portraits of Xu Huo—whose face was unclear—swept through Cockscomb City, and many people began to worship him.
"The development of events completely disregarded my wishes as the person involved." The Painting Woman couldn't understand why, after spending several boxes of White Notes, Xu Huo ended up becoming the leader of a religion, with many people bringing money and houses to her, offering to provide free offerings in exchange for a position as a religious envoy.
"Why are they like this?" The Painting Woman was puzzled. "I was just looking for someone."
"Probably they can only hear what they want to hear," Xu Huo said.
The Painting Woman didn't understand the deeper meaning, but she did grasp the literal sense of "hearing what one wants to hear." She felt a bit conflicted. "Although I also want to hear nice things, I gave them money. They said nice things when they took the money, so why did they turn around and forget?"
"Because everyone's understanding of agreements and keeping promises is different. Some people are serious and keep their word, willing to invest energy and time for a promise. Others treat it as optional—whether they respect an agreement or keep a promise isn't crucial to them, and it doesn't affect them much, whether in real life or inner peace." Xu Huo had already led her to the other end of the city.
The Painting Woman nodded, half-understanding, then asked again: "If everyone doesn't keep their promises, then the serious people won't keep them in the future either, right? After all, they've been deceived. I've been deceived, so I definitely won't casually give money to others anymore."
"It's okay, we're not short of money lately." Xu Huo stopped outside that courtyard. The mentally disturbed woman was leaning against the doorframe, asleep. The iron chain binding her had been wrapped with new cloth strips. The old man wasn't there—perhaps he had gone out.
He placed a metal badge he had picked up in Pumpkin City on the courtyard's fence.
The Painting Woman still remembered that the badge had appeared in the woman's family photo. She followed behind Xu Huo and asked: "Did her son die?"
Xu Huo didn't answer that question. He nodded slightly to the small shop owner who was basking in the sun at the door.
The small shop owner was still all smiles. "Come play again when you have time."
Soon, the two left Cockscomb City—although it had already been renamed, it probably wouldn't be long before it received another brand new name.
Not long after leaving the city, they ran into Meng Wenguang and his two companions. They were also leaving the city. When they met face to face, Meng Wenguang and the others still remembered Xu Huo, but their attitude wasn't as good as it had been in Pumpkin City. There was a sense of distance tinged with wariness.
"Do you remember what happened after 9:17?" Xu Huo asked.
The three clearly didn't remember. Meng Wenguang hesitated and said: "Did we have some kind of conflict?"
"No conflict at all." Xu Huo smiled. "From now on, there won't be any more mysterious disappearances of players in Cockscomb City."
The three didn't understand, but they knew they had entered something like an instance. Although more than ten days had passed, their memories only contained the part about the abandoned city. They had no idea what happened afterward, so of course they wouldn't believe everything Xu Huo said.
"Fate willing, we'll meet again." Xu Huo nodded to them, then took the Painting Woman through a teleportation item to another city.
C11-011 had more than just the Many Beliefs Station, but judging by the customs of the cities near the Many Beliefs Station, one could get a general sense of the atmosphere of the entire district. The people here were warlike and energetic, with outstanding players emerging in large numbers. As a result, the area still preserved two moderately famous battle ruins, where it was said someone had once comprehended the path to secondary evolution. Even now, they remained must-visit locations for outer zone players coming here.
Outside the city was a protective barrier, and inside the city, high-level players guarded the gates. Outer zone players didn't have direct permission to enter the city; they had to go through inspection procedures at the city gates.
"Walling off such a large ruin site and building the city outside instead, claiming the ruins are freely open to players from any district—it's just a way to make money." Not every player could maintain queue order without complaint.
"Entering the city doesn't cost money." A local player in the line retorted irritably: "Whether you're from this district or another, everyone has to be inspected when entering the city."
"Does it make any sense?" The complaining player said: "How much time does this waste? I've already been waiting in line for an hour."
The local player in line couldn't be bothered to respond anymore. But soon, the outer zone players understood what this inspection was for. Two players were pulled out of the line by the patrol team. Without wasting any words, they called over several people and launched underhanded attacks, with local players even voluntarily helping.
At first, when they saw the patrol team chasing and intercepting two outer zone players, there was some commotion in the line. But then one of the outer zone players shouted, "I'm not a cannibal player!" and the 011 district players directly pinned him down, removing the special paint covering his number, revealing his original red number:
"Cannibal players are absolutely forbidden from entering Harmony City! Any cannibal player who comes, we'll kill them one by one!"
The Harmony City player captain shouted loudly, then, in front of everyone, slit the cannibal player's throat!
The other cannibal player was luckier—he escaped using a ticket, and along with him, several people in the line also disappeared.
"Why does this district hate cannibal players so much?" an outer zone player asked.
(End of chapter)