Chapter 174 – Why Is It So [Outstanding]
[Mission complete.]
[Calculating Beliefs gathered.]
[A total of 2630 Micro-beliefs were obtained, and 8 true believers were developed.]
“Wow?!”
After letting Zhao Zili show off for the final time, Ren Suo immediately controlled Zhao Zili to escape from Earth. Although it had not been 30 minutes since Zhao Zili descended, Ren Suo did not know what he should make him say if he continued staying there.
He should not let him remain in the mortal world just because he could, should he? Moreover, Ren Suo already said that he would not bestow them the free treatment anymore, how could he possibly make Zhao Zili go back on his words? As such, he controlled Zhao Zili to return directly.
Ren Suo thought that he definitely failed the mini-mission and did not know if Zhao Zili would be stripped of his title as Priest.
Unexpectedly, however, Zhao Zili actually developed 8 true believers despite him preaching and treating people so carelessly!
In the game, the significance of a true believer was merely a statistic, but in reality, a true believer would be willing to worship the gods as the only religion and refuse believers of other religions. At the same time, they must also practice the teachings of the religion whole-heartedly, always remember the existence of the gods, and always hold themselves to the presence of the gods.
It was already the 21st century, and Ren Suo thought that he would not be able to develop true believers unless he went to regions with high illiteracy rates, like Africa, but in New York… There were also believers of religions in New York, but they were all developed by other denominations through society, education, and habits. On the other hand, Zhao Zili was only given 30 minutes to ‘perform’, how can that compare to teachings of other religions with thousands of years of history?
However, it was only then that Ren Suo realized that he might have underestimated the power of ‘a saint appearing amongst mortal humans’.
As there were barely any religious culture in Xuan Nation, the most people would do was to worship their ancestors. Coupling that with decades of compulsory education and the rise in the power of the nation, the result was a population who mostly ‘believed if there was no harm done’ and would not devote their whole self to religion with its intangible nature, unless they were gangsters like those in the movie “Bullet in the Head” or criminals worrying about their survival.
On the contrary, the concept of religion was almost integrated with education in foreign countries. As an immigrant country, it was even more so within the Federation, where beliefs were complicated. The acceptance of faith and religion was far wider in the Federation than in Xuan Nation, and the efficiency of developing true believers was therefore extremely high.
“Who knew I would garner sufficient true believers, but now there are insufficient micro-beliefs generated…”
Ren Suo was slightly glum. The mission requirements for the second mini-mission were 3,000 micro-beliefs and 5 positive believers. Ren Suo thought that the number of positive believers he developed would not meet the requirements, so he did not complete the mission seriously, and who would have known…
Nonetheless, Ren Suo quickly lightened up. The mini-mission had already ended. What else could he do apart from smashing the keyboard?
[Zhao Zili’s actions were recognized by the three gods, and he earned 55,000 accumulated points.]
[The mini-mission task details have been updated.]
The previous time, Zhao Zili’s actions were “appreciated”, while this time it was “recognized”. Moreover, after completing the previous mini-mission, Zhao Zili was directly promoted to the rank of Priest, and this time around there was nothing.
It seemed that Zhao Zili was a character who was not easily dispensable in the eyes of the three gods. Ren Suo had thought that Zhao Zili would be erased from existence if the mission failed.
However, the cooldown time before Zhao Zili could embark on his next mission was no longer 15 days, like before; instead, it was now 12~15 days.
A message also popped up: [Due to the rise in energy level on Earth, the duration for the next stay of Zhao Zili on Earth would be extended to 45 minutes.]
Ren Suo was slightly stunned.
The rise in Reiki energy in the world could actually allow Zhao Zili to stay on Earth for a longer duration, and even increase the frequency between his holy appearance?
The game was influencing reality, and in turn, the reality was affecting the game.
However, that also proved a point: the Reiki energy level on Earth was not high, which would restrict the energy level of the entire world.
If someone surpassed the energy level in the world, Ren Suo deduced that one of two possibilities would happen: one was that the Extraordinaire would destroy the world, and the other was that the world would destroy the Extraordinaire.
Nonetheless, judging from the fact that the three gods used the Priest Zhao Zili as a delegate to preach, Ren Suo felt that it was most likely the latter possibility—if the three gods with their miracles truly existed, rather than thinking that they were kind enough to not destroy the world, it was much more likely that they did not dare to come to the present Earth.
Furthermore, the only ‘aliens’ Ren Suo discovered thus far were the three disciplined and kind gods, but could evil factions also exist?
Pondering about that, Ren Suo quickly broke out in a cold sweat. He took a bath before returning to his computer desk and logged in to the intranet. After a simple search, he found that someone smarter than him had already posted—
“Based on the appearance of the three gods in ‘Holy Priest: Survival Battle’, deducing the possibility of other life forms trying to invade Earth?”
“Discussing the link between the three gods in ‘Holy Priest: Survival Battle’ and various religions”
“Are the gods extremely powerful Extraordinaires”
Ever since the emergence of “Holy Priest: Survival Battle”, the existence of gods naturally became a topic of discussion across the world.
In actual fact, the present Extraordinaires could also be regarded as gods and immortals in the feudal era, and in that case, could the Master of the Holy Light, the Heart of Everlasting Warmth, and the Ruler of the Wind, Rain, and Snow actually be Extraordinaires of the past during the Reiki era, who then left Earth for various reasons and are waiting to return after the rejuvenation of Reiki?
Most importantly, were there any other Extraordinaires who might return?
That was the point mainly discussed in those posts and while Ren Suo agreed with their views, he was also concerned.
He had imagined that he was both Kong Ming and Jiang Ziya and had insights into a shocking and perilous situation. Little did he expect that other researchers had not only figured the situation out but even thought about it in more detail than him. Discussions had been ongoing for over a month, and the best replies had even garnered almost a thousand likes.
——That feeling was akin to suddenly thinking of a clever solution to a math problem in junior high school and excitedly showing it to the teacher only for the teacher to touch one’s head and say approvingly, “That’s great, you have made use of some high school knowledge, you will learn about this in future.”
Ren Suo muttered to himself, “I thought I could have been writing another thesis report…”
Ren Suo pursed his lips gloomily, but the next moment, a sparkle emerged in his eyes as he created a new Word document, and began typing furiously on the keyboard…
——————
“This will be your office from now on.”
In the office of the Countermeasure Division, Yu Kuangtu opened a door leading to a room on the second floor and said to the panda-eyed Li Dan, “You are finally willing to return, I thought that you were going to forsake us for the light in Tianjing…”
“Really, is that really forsaking you for the light?” Li Dan said as he walked into the office and sat down slowly.
He continued, “Everything was already settled some time back. If it was not for Ren Throne who needed me to stay with the investigation team for a special mission, I would have returned long ago.”
“Ren Throne?” said Yu Kuangtu, slightly stunned.
He nodded and said, “That’s a good name, much more honorable-sounding than ‘Teacher’… Anyway, now that you are back and even as a second-tier Practitioner, it should not be a problem for you to lead one of the teams in the Countermeasure Division, right? I will send you the details about the teams with no second-tier Practitioner leader to you later, I will leave it up to you which of the teams you want to take.”
“By the way, the Countermeasure Division does not support office relationships, at least not within the same team, lest it be seen as favoritism, so… I’m sure you understand what I am saying?”
Li Dan rubbed his temples and replied, “Don’t worry… Oh, I saw a second-tier Practitioner in Tianjing, who is also from Lianjiang…”
“Qiao Muyi, right?” Yu Kuangtu said.
He laughed and said, “I sent her over on a special mission. I didn’t expect her to have a breakthrough there, but that’s good too. Our overall strength here in Lianjiang has increased yet again.”
“As for that task, according to her, the probability of success is very high. If she succeeds, then the capabilities of our Lianjiang Countermeasure Division will greatly increase!”
Li Dan asked, “What mission is that?”
“I will tell you when it succeeds, it is meaningless if it fails,” Yu Kuangtu said as he waved his hand. He continued, “Since you are back, you have to take on a share of my work. You know what the tasks are, right? It’s generally the tasks that the different team leaders have to complete.”
Li Dan nodded and replied, “It’s all written clearly in the notice, but… Why am I responsible for reviewing the internal manuscripts submitted by the Countermeasure Division? Yao Fei did not need to do this.”
Yu Kuangtu shrugged and said, “It’s because you don’t need to sleep, so you would still have more free time than us even after Practicing every day, that’s why…”
“It’s alright if you don’t want to do this though, I can postpone the task. As the Deputy Director, I am still responsible for this task anyway,” Yu Kuangtu said with a sigh.
He clasped his forehead and continued, “It’s just that I am so busy these days that I don’t even have time to Practice every day, I am either working in the office or on duty out on the field. If only I have one less task to do, I could probably Practice the Secret Records of Glorious Xuan properly…”
A helpless Li Dan said, “… Alright then, you may leave it to me.”
With a clang, a square card was embedded into the table in front of Li Dan.
“The password for the internal email account of the Countermeasure Division is on it. You just need to remember to review the submitted manuscripts every day. We have multiple contributors. As long as you think that the manuscript is somewhat logical and reasonable, you can mark it as ‘approved’ and report it up directly; if you think it makes exceptional sense, then it should be evaluated as ‘outstanding’, and I will review it once more.”
Before the last word of his sentence left his mouth, Yu Kuangtu slipped away.
Li Dan looked at the card on the table and pulled it out. He found that it was just an ordinary piece of paper used to write notes.
“He made the paper slice through like a flying knife with just a flick of his wrist…” Li Dan said to himself. He once again had a refreshed perception of Yu Kuangtu, “I already knew he was powerful before, but I did not expect him to be so powerful. ”
Li Dan, who had become a second-tier Practitioner after practicing the “Secret Records of Glorious Xuan”, finally realized the terror of that hand: Yu Kuangtu did not use any abilities but relied purely on his physical capabilities and keen manipulation of Reiki energy to greatly enhance the strength of that piece of paper!
Li Dan’s respect for Kuangtu rose.
Turning on the computer, Li Dan had nothing to do, so he logged in to the internal email of the Countermeasure Division to check if there were any new manuscripts to review.
As it happened, as soon as Li Dan opened the mailbox, he was directed to a new email.
“A new email from [Researcher: Suo]: ‘The real intention of Naisser Ren for uploading the videos’…”
Upon seeing the email, Li Dan was instantly stunned.
He recalled the conversation he overheard between the two researchers in the toilet of the underground base that day.
It was the female heroine from “A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Meters” who saved Li Dan, and the rest from their mysterious danger of death after she came into contact with the strange hat.
And that video was also uploaded by ‘Naisser Ren’.
Is ‘Naisser Ren’ an organization? Are the protagonists, who appeared in the videos, members of the organization?
If Li Dan wanted to express his gratitude, how would he be able to find the heroine to thank her?
Or perhaps, should he be thanking ‘Naisser Ren’ directly?
For both his gratitude and curiosity, Li Dan now paid attention to all information regarding ‘Naisser Ren’, and he even had a good perception of ‘Naisser Ren’.
With such ‘bias’, Li Dan opened the email and quickly browsed through the newly-written essay. In just one glance, he already spotted over ten wrong words in the short essay.
“This is really…”
Li Dan shook his head gently. For the thesis evaluation, he resolutely chose—
—[Outstanding]!