I Have a God Simulator

As the Divine Statue crumbled and shattered, the remaining little people from the Wilderness Tribe were so terrified they prostrated themselves on the ground, not daring to move.

"The God is angry! The God is angry!"

"Terrifying... This is terrifying."

"The world is ending! The world is ending!"

"The God is dead! Our God is dead!"

The way the little people spoke made it clear that their intelligence was low. They still retained the distinct characteristics of a primitive era: a simple vocabulary and a narrow worldview.

Meanwhile, Isabel, the agent Luh Yao had dispatched to secure their surrender, arrived on the Eastern Continent.

She rode her Ghost White Horse at a full gallop, quickly arriving at the devastated Wilderness Tribe.

"Your old god has been slain by the great Yao God."

"From this day forth, you must place your Faith in the great Yao God. Yao God will grant you shelter and forgiveness!"

For the Wild People lying prostrate on the ground, the sad symbols above their heads vanished in an instant, replaced by smiley faces with the speed of light.

"Great Yao God! Yao God!"

"A stronger Lord God!"

"All glory to Yao God!"

"We offer our Faith and our lives!"

Luh Yao was long past being surprised by these little people’s sudden changes of heart.

People put their Faith in a God to receive protection and guidance, to better their chances of survival. At the end of the day, what difference did it make which God they followed?

They were more than happy to switch to a stronger one.

Luh Yao understood this perfectly.

The Apprentice Deity players in the simulator were more like behind-the-scenes CEOs, with a throng of pixelated little people working for them. Powerful Gods could even recruit monsters and cultivate Apostles and Heroes.

He knew that dealing with Yangwu God wouldn’t be too difficult.

His opponent was a novice player whose tribe was still in the difficult early stages of development, with limited ability to defend itself.

Luh Yao, on the other hand, had already explored the map and possessed a host of high-tier combat units. He could have taken care of the entire Wilderness Tribe just by sending in Isabel and the Blood Knight.

However, if an Apostle joined the battle, they would inevitably be harmed by the enemy player’s Miracles, causing casualties.

It was possible, but unnecessary.

Bombarding the Divine Statue directly from a distance was much safer.

...

Luh Yao began to analyze this Divine War, his first in the truest sense of the word.

Although the battle was short—over almost as soon as it began—he still learned several valuable lessons.

First, war between Apprentice Deity players was essentially a contest of the Power of Faith and information superiority.

You had to scout the map, locate the enemy’s Divine Statue, and ascertain their overall strength.

Once you decided to declare war, you couldn’t hesitate. The first move should be to use a Miracle to kill the opponent’s Prophet, Hero, and other key figures, preventing them from relaying commands. The enemy would then lose their Commander.

The next step was to bombard the Divine Statue itself with Miracles.

However, he had started with a Divine Hall, which seemed different from what ordinary players got.

He would need more data points to confirm this.

Then there was the matter of the Faith-fueled bombardment.

Consuming Faith to create Miracles—be it lightning or an Earthquake—would damage the enemy’s Divine Statue. But the opponent wasn’t completely defenseless.

Faced with Luh Yao’s intensive lightning bombardment, Yangwu God had still managed to hold on for a short while.

’Does this mean that Faith itself is a form of defensive power?’

Luh Yao decided to run an experiment.

He zapped his own Divine Hall with a bolt of lightning.

The flash of lightning struck, scaring Astrologer Shahan inside the Divine Hall into dropping to his knees to pray. Outside, the passing little people were all dumbfounded. But when they saw the Divine Hall was completely unscathed, they breathed a sigh of relief and went about their business.

Compared to the Wilderness Tribe, the Garlic Tribe was much more experienced; minor incidents like this couldn’t disrupt the Order of their daily lives.

The result was that on top of the 20 Faith Value consumed by the [Lightning] Miracle, he lost an additional 20 points.

The experiment proved Luh Yao’s suspicion correct.

Faith could be converted into attacks like [Miracles], but it also acted as the Divine Hall’s durability score.

Stockpiling a large amount of Faith could defend against an opponent’s targeted bombardment.

In other words, to initiate a Divine War, one had to accumulate a sufficient Faith Reserve. Faith was used not only for offense, but also for defense.

When there was no information gap between two warring Gods, and their conventional Combat Power was similar, the size of their Faith Reserve was the deciding factor.

[Population is the vessel, Faith is the power.]

That sentence perfectly captured the essence of it all.

Luh Yao silently processed the information he had gained from this Divine War.

He felt relatively relaxed.

This time, by absorbing the Wilderness Tribe on the plains, his population had instantly grown by more than 300 people. A tidy little profit.

More importantly.

[The Garlic Tribe has learned how to raise and use horses.]

[The Garlic Tribe has learned how to raise and use dogs.]

[The Garlic Tribe has learned how to make and use pottery.]

Horses, dogs, and pottery.

These were the most important spoils of war.

...

With his important business concluded, Luh Yao started eating his fried tofu, which had gone a little cold.

Everything tastes delicious when you’re hungry.

He polished off half the box of fried tofu along with a braised chicken drumstick, finally feeling about half-full.

Just then, a dialogue box popped up above Isabel’s head.

"My lord, I’ve found one of Yangwu God’s Sacrificial Offerings."

An object resembling a white jellyfish floated into mid-air.

Luh Yao double-clicked to view its details.

...

[Head of Greed LV2]: Faith +2/hour, Morale +1. The Head of Greed is insatiably hungry, craving powerful flesh. It grows and evolves through Devouring this flesh.

...

’A growth-type Artifact?’

Luh Yao’s eyes lit up.

So that’s why Yangwu God had constantly ordered his Prophet to send the Wild People out Hunting—even making them hunt the Blazing Chicken at the cost of heavy casualties. It was all for this Artifact.

He was suddenly reminded of Bright God from before.

It seemed novices tended to rely on and prioritize Artifacts, paying less attention to their little tribespeople. After all, the villagers were fragile and troublesome, whereas Artifacts were simple, efficient, and a quick way to boost Faith.

Focusing on short-term gains and quick profits was a common human mindset.

Huh!

A bold idea sparked in Luh Yao’s mind.

’Since I’m planning to put down roots in this Fragment World and not leave the safe zone for the time being... then theoretically, new players should constantly be spawning here...’

’Aren’t these new players just a steady source of resources for me?’

’As long as I keep an eye on the Broken World in real-time, wait for them to develop a bit... newbies always manage to get their first Artifact pretty easily. When the time comes, I can just swoop in and harvest a wave of population and Artifacts. Wouldn’t that be perfect?’

’Low risk, stable returns, fair and transparent... new players are practically the best investment product out there!’

Luh Yao felt he had just found a path to sustainable growth.

...

「At the same time.」

In some apartment, a tightly shut door was forced open.

Inside the small, pitch-black room, the only illumination came from the faint glow of a computer monitor.

Someone flipped a switch on the Wall, and the overhead light instantly banished the darkness.

The sudden light revealed a panorama of the entire room: in the center of the small space stood a computer desk and PC tower. A bed was pushed up right in front of it. In a corner sat a pile of half-eaten takeout containers and instant noodle cups, with flies circling above. The room was filled with a sickly-sweet, rotting stench.

The young man on the bed squinted against the harsh light.

A middle-aged man and woman walked over to him.

"You’ve locked yourself in here for a week. What on earth have you been doing? You weren’t answering your phone. Your mother and I were so worried about you."

The man’s voice was tinged with anger. "And what’s this about us not needing to bother you? If we don’t, who will?"

The woman beside him tried to placate the situation. "As long as he’s all right, that’s what matters."

She looked at her son. "Sweetheart, what have you been doing all week? You could have at least given us a call."

A look of confusion crossed the young man’s face. "I... I can’t remember."

"You haven’t done anything illegal, have you?" his father demanded, eyes wide.

"No..."

The young man struggled to recall. "I just... forgot. I don’t know what happened."

"Alright, alright. As long as you’re okay."

A mother’s heart is always soft. She said, "Come on, let’s go get something to eat. Look at you, you’re wasting away."

The young man nodded numbly and started to get out of bed and put on some clothes.

Before leaving the apartment, he glanced at his computer screen.

He felt like he’d done something incredibly important, but no matter how hard he tried to remember, it was all a blur.

’What did I do this week? Did I just lose all track of time playing games?’

He scanned the screen, but only found a few familiar game icons. Nothing that could jog his memory.

Beside the computer, he found a notebook and a pen.

The pen’s Ink had been completely used up, yet the notebook was entirely blank.

"Zhou Yangwu! Get out here!" his father roared from the other room.

"Coming..."

The young man shut down the computer and walked out the door.