I Have a God Simulator

Luh Yao observed the forgotten City of the Dead.

Saniluo’s urban structure was largely unchanged, save for the addition of a wide canal.

The tiny Ghost Souls directed the Sand Worms to dig an artificial canal. The canal stretched all the way to the southern port, drawing seawater into the city, which then flowed back to the ocean through a channel on the eastern side.

The river encircled Saniluo, allowing the city’s Ghost Souls to travel by water directly to the sea.

This canal project was no easy feat for Saniluo, and it was still underway.

They had deployed all ten of their Sand Worms to work on the canal.

Some of the Sand Worms dug the canal, while others hauled stones, spitting them out with sand to pack the earth and form crude embankments on both sides.

Other Sand Worms, exhausted from the labor, were curled up and resting, with ZZZs floating above their heads.

The one directing the entire canal project was Mayor Chapman. He and a few other Ghost Souls were constantly inspecting the embankments and the canal, exchanging opinions.

Luh Yao took a look. Well now, the two beside Chapman were both familiar faces.

Lie Chang, the first-generation Shaman, and Yuzou, the second-generation leader. Two experienced pragmatists.

After taking measurements in the channel, Lie Chang said, "The height and width should be sufficient. If the Fish People move here, this water depth and the caves at the bottom of the canal will be enough for them to live in."

Yuzou offered his opinion, "Once the Fish People migrate to Saniluo, they’ll need a large amount of meat for food, and there aren’t enough fish in the nearby shallow waters. They will definitely need to trade with Yao City to the north and Yan City to the west."

"Initially, there might be friction and disputes with the other cities, possibly even leading to direct conflict."

"Don’t worry."

Mayor Chapman stated, "When the Fish People move into Saniluo, they must, of course, accept Saniluo’s administration and abide by the city’s laws."

"If they don’t follow the rules, then Commander Alex will make them."

"However, that won’t happen. While the Fish People are numerous, they are not their ancestors, the Undersea Walkers. They are merely an ordinary, intelligent undersea race."

"Everything is for the sake of offering our Faith to the great Yao God!"

Luh Yao was a little confused by all this, so he simply summoned Isabel and had her go to Saniluo to check on the situation for him.

Facing Apostle Isabel, Mayor Chapman immediately became respectful and sycophantic.

He spoke at length about Saniluo’s progress over the past few years.

"Lady Isabel, Saniluo is not like an ordinary city. We have some special circumstances here."

"Saniluo doesn’t require food rations. Our citizens are all Ghost Souls; they have no need to eat or drink. Barring any natural disasters, every citizen possesses an incredibly long lifespan."

"But on the other hand, Ghost Souls have their own innate shortcomings."

"We cannot reproduce, so our population can only grow by bringing in others from the outside."

"Then there’s the matter of labor. It’s far more strenuous for Ghost Souls to handle physical objects like stone, wood, and metal than it is for ordinary people. It would be very difficult to rebuild Saniluo relying solely on ourselves."

"So I convened a meeting in the town hall, invited citizen representatives to join the discussion, and we decided on the next step for Saniluo’s development..."

The meeting’s first major policy decision was to increase efforts to attract new residents.

Normal people wouldn’t come to the City of the Dead; they would go to Yao City or Yan City instead.

So Chapman set his sights on unconventional populations.

After tireless effort and investigation, they finally found their target.

While searching for Wandering Souls at sea, Dinar discovered one of the Special Races: the Deep Sea Fishmen.

The moment they saw the Undersea Walkers, the Fishmen became very excited and swarmed over, circling around them.

Surprisingly, communication between the two groups was completely unimpeded.

Dinar soon understood why.

It turned out the Deep Sea Fishmen were descendants of a small group of surviving Undersea Walkers.

The Fishmen had been hiding in deep-sea trenches. They waited until the gods had changed and the world outside grew peaceful again before they dared to emerge and show themselves on the seas.

After that, things became much easier.

Dinar persuaded the Fishmen to settle in Saniluo City, promising to build a suitable underwater living environment for them.

And that was what led to the subsequent project to build the small canals encircling the city.

Saniluo was transforming into a city on the water.

...

Luh Yao turned his gaze to the Fishmen by the sea.

The Deep Sea Fishmen looked similar to the Undersea Walkers, with webbed hands and feet, large, vacant fish-like eyes, pointed noses, and no hair.

They were only half the height of a typical human Ghost Soul, making them look somewhat chibi-like and dazed on the pixelated screen.

The Fishmen were very low-level, the vast majority being only LV 1—even weaker than the Ghost Souls in Saniluo.

Luh Yao searched all over but couldn’t find a leader among the Fishmen.

He had Isabel ask, only to learn that the Fishmen had no concept of a leader.

The Fishmen were more like a collection of individuals living together; their society was extremely primitive.

Luh Yao opened a Fishman’s stat panel.

...

[Deep Sea Fishman Lv1]

Life Value: 20/20

Mana Value: 5/5

Damage: 1

Defense: 1

Speed: 4

[Water Element]

Continuously restores Life Value while in water. Attacks inflict bonus Water Element damage.

[Submerge]

Doubles movement speed when submerged in water.

...

’Classic cannon-fodder stats.’

It was a serious case of devolution compared to the Undersea Walkers.

Luh Yao continued to ask questions and observe, discovering that the Deep Sea Fishmen had no written language and possessed little intelligence.

They could only communicate with the Undersea Walkers; when they encountered other Ghost Souls, question marks would pop up over their heads. The Fishmen were very fond of meat and fruit, so it wasn’t just ancestor worship that attracted them to Saniluo, but also the food.

Just as Luh Yao was feeling a bit disappointed, the Undersea Walkers, led by Dinar, knelt on the ground one by one.

They faced toward Yao City and began to worship.

Dinar cried out, "The darkness of old has scattered! A new dawn has arrived!"

"Our God protects us, gives us bounty and safety, hope and strength!"

"The God who awakened [Aegir’s Fire] and the [Deep Sea Lord] is destined to be our master and protector."

"Praise be to our Celestial Father and Savior, Yao God!"

Slowly, the Fishmen began to imitate Dinar, worshipping clumsily.

A stream of garbled text appeared above the head of every Deep Sea Fishman.

The garbled text gradually grew clearer.

"Praise... Father, Yao God!"

"Praise my... Celestial Father, Yao God!"

"Praise be to our Celestial Father and Savior, Yao God!"

This collective worship seemed to make the Fishmen incredibly excited, and joyful smiley faces appeared above all their heads.

A notification appeared on the simulator.

[Ancestor worship has inspired the Deep Sea Fishmen.]

[The wonder has inspired the Deep Sea Fishmen.]

[The Deep Sea Fishman race has rekindled its Faith Flame.]

Luh Yao watched.

In the upper-right corner of the interface, the numbers in the population and Faith columns began to increase in synchronization.

+25

+114

+126

...

In total, both stats increased by 2,900 points before finally leveling off.

Luh Yao had never expected Saniluo to successfully attract so many Fishmen.

After settling in the city’s canals, the first thing the Deep Sea Fishmen did was spontaneously start building a Divine Hall.

Swarms of Fishmen hauled stones and dredged mud from underwater, toiling day and night. Under the guidance of the Ghost Souls, they constructed Saniluo City’s own Divine Hall of Yao God.

Although the new Divine Hall wasn’t very beautiful, it was usable for Luh Yao.

Thus, the three cities and their three Divine Halls were now completely linked.

The only downside was that while the Fishmen were quick to embrace the Faith, the language barrier remained. It would take a long time for them to truly learn the local script and language.

Suddenly, Dinar rushed to find Isabel.

"Lord Apostle, I have an important piece of intelligence to report to you immediately."

"The Fishmen say there is an Evil God to the north of the eastern lands. That Evil God once killed many Fishmen and used their corpses in some kind of ritual to feed a green thing that lives on the surface..."

"Perhaps that is the Evil God that Lord Yao God is hunting."

Luh Yao immediately perked up.

’What a coincidence.’

’This is what they call a just cause enjoying widespread support, while an unjust one finds none.’

’The city, the Ghost Souls, the Fishmen... they’re all my people. What do you have to fight me with?’