FPE Chapter 4

In the game God Cultivation Strategy, there existed a notorious and bizarre type of creature—magic beasts. Or rather, they weren’t really creatures at all, because the basic characteristics of living organisms include respiration, feeding, growth, reproduction, and excretion, whereas magic beasts required neither respiration nor excretion. Yet they could split into multiple individuals, and they possessed an extreme craving for human flesh and blood. As long as they consumed enough flesh and blood, they could grow indefinitely, just like cancer cells.

In the game CG that Chi Yizhen had watched at the very beginning, ordinary people would have their health bars instantly depleted the moment a magic beast pounced on them and took just a couple of bites.

Even in that world which possessed extraordinary beings and deities, magic beasts were a headache-inducing existence—let alone for Earth’s fragile ordinary people? Chi Yizhen didn’t need to think twice to know that if magic beasts crawled out from that rift, what tremendous upheaval they would cause to this world.

He couldn’t stay put any longer. He asked the game for the coordinates and rushed toward that rift. At least he was now a Level 1 player, which according to the system’s assessment, was equivalent to a Level 1 extraordinary being from that other world. Compared to ordinary people, he still had some power to deal with magic beasts. Besides, he didn’t believe the game would just watch him die—otherwise, why would this damn game have gone through all the trouble of binding him and making him complete those prerequisite tasks? Was it just bored out of its mind?

Perhaps because it was related to his transmigration, that rift wasn’t far from the house he rented. It turned out to be at his grandmother’s legacy—Childhood Amusement Park, an amusement park that had been closed for many years.

Chi Yizhen bit the inside of his cheek in annoyance, thinking: I knew it! This damn game not only has designs on me, but also on my one and only bit of private property!

Public buses had long stopped running late at night. Chi Yizhen, young and fit, ran five kilometers in one go until he reached the location, just in time to see a rift appear out of nowhere on the ground. A pitch-black magic beast burst out from the rift and was about to charge toward the night market.

Holy crap! That’s a bustling place full of people!

Not wanting to wake up tomorrow morning to news of casualties, Chi Yizhen strode forward. In his urgency, he forgot to gauge whether he could actually win the fight and directly kicked at it with full force. With that kick delivered at maximum strength, the grotesquely-shaped magic beast wrapped in black mist contorted for a moment, then dissipated. At the same time, he heard the game’s announcement in his ear: [Congratulations to the player for eliminating one low-level magic beast. Experience increased by 10 points.]

Then he watched helplessly as magic beast after magic beast kept emerging from the rift. Apart from him, the occasional passerby didn’t even look, as if they noticed nothing at all. No, they did look—but what they looked at was Chi Yizhen. In their eyes, Chi Yizhen desperately fighting magic beasts was just a mental patient or drunkard throwing punches and kicks at thin air. They kept as far away as possible and had no intention of approaching.

After twenty minutes of this, as Chi Yizhen fought magic beasts while listening to the game’s educational announcements, he finally understood what this game was all about, and finally grasped why it required an amusement park.

Simply put, the origin of magic beasts came from the evil thoughts of deities from that other world. While They accepted offerings from mortals, They continuously produced magic beasts. In order to obtain the deities’ protection, mortals kept constantly making offerings to the deities. The deities gave them power to fight against magic beasts, and the mortals were deeply grateful to the deities, then doubled their offerings. The deities’ power increased and They created even more magic beasts, so mortals prayed to the deities again… It formed a self-sustaining cycle, endlessly repeating—practically a more stable ecological chain than nature itself.

Chi Yizhen hadn’t expected that the deities of that world were actually such characters. He couldn’t help but think of Raymond, who was extraordinarily devout toward the goddess, and then recall how the guards at the prison would pray before every meal and work shift. He couldn’t help but feel they were somewhat pitiable. But on second thought, he himself had been imprisoned by them at the prison and tortured through so many cycles, and had been killed by them seven times! Compared to them, he was far more pitiable—why should he sympathize with them?

Not only should he not sympathize, once his power increased, he must go back once and beat up both Raymond and those guards several times over. Otherwise, he’d be doing wrong by himself—no, doing wrong by Sal’s body that had suffered so much torment.

But that’s getting off topic. Back to why an amusement park was needed.

Presumably, the disgusting practices of the deities in that world had sickened some higher existence to the point of nausea, so They created this game God Cultivation Strategy, planning to cultivate a true deity to show the people of that world what a real deity is!

Chi Yizhen thought that this unknowable existence was being rather childish. Since you’re already so powerful, and since you’re already so indignant on behalf of the people of that world, why not just tell them the truth? While you’re at it, wipe out all the deities of that world in one fell swoop, then repair the rift completely so the two worlds don’t interfere with each other and everyone can live in peace and harmony—wouldn’t that be better?

Why bother creating this game, and why make things difficult for me, a mere mortal?

As for why cultivating a deity requires an amusement park, that’s also quite simple. Although this game is bound to an Earthling, the method of cultivating a deity copies the practices of that other world. First, there needs to be a player’s private domain to serve as a divine kingdom, then believers enter the divine kingdom to provide faith. When the amusement park’s popularity grows higher and higher, faith condenses more and more, and the player’s level rises higher and higher, once quantitative change reaches qualitative change, a true deity will be born.

The Four Seasons Goddess of the Kingdom of Theodore in that other world was born using this very method.

Thinking it over carefully, Chi Yizhen also felt he should be grateful that the game copied the methods of that other world. If it had copied Earth’s Chinese local practices, then wouldn’t he have to go out and spread feudal superstition, then build a temple and place his own statue inside for people to offer incense to?

That image was truly too cult-like—the kind that’s clearly bait for the public security comrades, ready to rush up at any moment and deliver a set of socialist iron fists.

As Chi Yizhen fought magic beasts while letting his mind wander, he desperately hoped a few people could come over to share some of the pressure with him. But he knew this was impossible—the vast majority of ordinary people on Earth don’t possess extraordinary qualifications and simply can’t see these things. If he wanted them to see, he would have to…

Hmm? Chi Yizhen’s train of thought suddenly took a turn, and he had a sudden realization.

That’s right—didn’t the game ask him to open an amusement park? Didn’t the game say that once the amusement park was bound to him, it counted as his divine kingdom? Didn’t the game say he could designate any rules in his divine kingdom?

Then what if he positioned the amusement park’s theme as live-action holographic monster hunting, then found a way to let visitors see magic beasts inside the amusement park?

When the time came, a steady stream of paying visitors would come in to help him fight monsters and level up…

Just imagining that scenario made Chi Yizhen’s heart bloom with joy, as refreshing as holding an ice-cold cola with clinking ice cubes on a summer day. Even the vicious low-level magic beasts before his eyes became more pleasing to the eye.

In all his twenty-four years of life, he had never imagined that such good fortune would befall him.

Perhaps his beautiful daydream had been too distracting—Chi Yizhen lost focus and got bitten on the arm by a low-level magic beast. Fortunately, the experience he’d gained from all that fighting had automatically leveled him up to Level 2. Not only had his strength increased substantially, but his defense had also improved. Otherwise, that bite from the low-level magic beast would have severed his arm. Even so, his arm ached slightly. He punched the low-level magic beast to death, thinking this wouldn’t work. The rift kept spawning magic beasts endlessly, and he wasn’t a perpetual motion machine—he’d inevitably exhaust himself to death here.

Already feeling somewhat fatigued, Chi Yizhen thought: if only there were something that could plug up this rift.

[Detected private asset under player’s name X1. Asset name: Childhood Amusement Park. Amusement park binding successful.]

[Detected that player has developed a new use for the amusement park. Implement?]

Chi Yizhen: Huh? Huh huh huh?