Chapter 43: The Tree of Life, the Goddess of Creation, the Mother Goddess of All Things.

Chapter 43: The Tree of Life, the Goddess of Creation, and the Mother Goddess.

A blood-curdling scream shattered the silence, and then the long corridor returned to stillness.

The white-collar woman froze for a moment before turning to look at Chu Fu. Instinctively, she sensed that this seemingly ordinary young man could perceive things invisible to them.

"Did someone die?" she asked casually.

Chu Fu withdrew his distant gaze. In that instant, the air of aloofness and otherworldly aura around him dissipated, as though a veil of mist had lifted, allowing him to blend back into the mortal world.

He had intended to answer the office worker directly, but upon seeing the faint glimmer of curiosity in the eyes of the two before him, a mischievous impulse took hold, and he decided to tease them.

So, Chu Fu flashed a perfectly charlatan's grin and replied ambiguously, "Death has finally come for 'him,' though not in the form 'he' anticipated."

Of course, he could have offered a straightforward interpretation based on the fate he had glimpsed—but for some reason, he felt that doing so would betray the distinctive style of the Fate Domain.

An inexplicable intuition convinced him that if the High Priest from a century ago had truly returned through corpse possession and stood here now, the man himself would have offered nothing but cryptic prophecies.

As this thought crossed his mind, Yi Fengchu—who was playing the role of "Chu Fu"—paused. He grew even more certain that he must have met that High Priest before.

"...I hate dealing with you fortune-tellers," the office worker muttered in exasperation before heaving a weary sigh. "Let's check the next room."

The three of them arrived at the door of the neighboring screening room.

The door was now tightly shut, and an icy draft crept through the door cracks, carrying with it the metallic tang of blood.

The office worker took a deep breath. The scent of fresh blood seemed to invigorate her, and her spirits perked up slightly. "Ah, such a fresh, meaty aroma. The person must have weighed at least 190 pounds, with well-developed muscles..."

Meng Siyou's expression turned serious. He stepped forward first and knocked on the door. "Hello? Is anyone inside? What's going on in there?"

*Huff…*

*Huff, wheeze—*

Ragged breathing sounded from behind the door, growing louder as it approached before stopping right on the other side.

A moment later, the doorknob twisted slightly, but the person inside failed to open it on the first try. After several more frantic, trembling attempts, the door finally swung open for Chu Fu and the others.

A thick, metallic stench of blood rushed out. Chu Fu instinctively wrinkled his nose in distaste, while Meng Siyou frowned deeply. Only the office worker seemed unaffected—she even took a few eager steps forward.

Surprisingly, the one who had come to the door fully conscious was the bespectacled man, who had always appeared meek and timid.

His face was deathly pale, his eyes glazed over in shock. His white shirt was splattered with blood, as though he had just endured something utterly horrifying.

When asked what had happened, the bespectacled man couldn't respond. His bloodless lips trembled, too shaken to respond.

Failing to get answers, the three players had no choice but to survey the scene themselves and draw their own conclusions.

The screening room was bathed in soft light. In the shadows between the rows of seats, a motionless figure sat slumped in a chair.

The figure's head hung low, obscuring its face. At first glance, it seemed as though the person had merely nodded off while watching the advertisements and could wake at any moment.

But...

"Oh, it's that foul-mouthed, hot-tempered brute who couldn't hold a civil conversation," the office worker remarked with interest. "His skin's been peeled off entirely. Quite a skilled job."

The skinless bald man sat in the chair, his muscles, veins, and sinews fully exposed. His crimson flesh nearly blended into the red upholstery.

The areas bearing most of his weight had already sunk into the seat, blood silently seeping through the cushion beneath—like a half-melted wax figure dyed scarlet.

On the adjacent seat lay his neatly folded skin, thin enough to be translucent, arranged into a perfect square like a piece of clothing.

At the same time, the mission panel in the players' minds updated:

*«As substitute inspectors, the five players must collaborate to review five advertisements. (1/5)»*

—At the cost of the bald man's life, the first advertisement had been reviewed.

To be honest, Meng Siyou was surprised by this outcome.

Though he held no fondness for the bald man and wouldn't have minded seeing such a brute disappear, he had to admit that the hopeful notion of "poetic justice" didn't apply in the Gods' Playground.

Here, it was often the most ruthless, unscrupulous individuals who survived the longest—sometimes even thrived.

So why had the first casualty been the aggressive bald man rather than the frail, coerced bespectacled man?

...Surely the system and the monsters in this dungeon hadn't taken offense at the bald man's behavior and decided to act as agents of justice?

Baffled, Meng Siyou even briefly suspected the bespectacled man, wondering if his meek exterior concealed a scheming mind.

But as he studied the corpse, he concluded that this manner of death wasn't something a psychologically stable player could achieve in such a short time. Aside from the flaying, there were no other physical wounds or traces of Ability residue on the body.

As a professional from the official organization, Meng Siyou could make a preliminary judgment:

The bald man had died from sheer terror, agony, and blood loss.

The office worker examined the corpse up close, her expression conflicted. "According to the teachings of the Tree of Life, believers must sustain all living things—let roots take hold, let flesh regenerate... But does a scumbag like this, who preys on the weak, deserve it?"

"Don't forget, he belonged to the Burning Pure Land," Chu Fu reminded her with a smile. "If you revive him today, he'll only go on to kill more people tomorrow and the day after."

"Abandoning one life to preserve many others—surely that aligns with the Tree of Life's doctrine as well?"

"You're right."

The office worker nodded in agreement. "Then it'd be a shame to let all this leftover flesh go to waste... Might as well leave it to me."

With that, she rolled up her sleeve and held her right hand over the corpse—

Her palm blossomed open into fleshy petals, revealing rows of wriggling, razor-sharp teeth at its center, resembling a blooming flesh-red carnivorous flower.

"Praise the Mother of Life and Flesh, for granting me this fresh, sweet feast."

After uttering this satisfied prayer, the flower in her palm rapidly expanded until its diameter surpassed even the broad shoulders and waist of the muscular bald man. The rings of pale serrated teeth writhed, swallowing the entire corpse whole—without even chewing or biting.

Though Meng Siyou had encountered all sorts of bizarre individuals in the Playground, witnessing such a visceral scene still compelled him to speak up. "You... you actually eat people?"

"Not *eating*," the office worker corrected primly as her hand reverted to normal. "All flesh and blood originate from the Tree of Life."

"As devout followers, my brethren and I have a duty to reclaim these soulless remains before their vitality fades completely, allowing them to merge with us and live anew..."

Meng Siyou nodded, doing his best to appear understanding.

In truth, he couldn't comprehend these strange "doctrines" of the gods' worshippers—just as outsiders could never make sense of the cryptic prophecies spouted by Ability users of the Fate Domain...

Chu Fu remained silent.

He didn't quite understand either, so he lowered his head to tap on his phone, listening to its explanations and introductions.

[Yu Yin, Second Dimension · Fourth Universe player, Ability "Hymn of Life," currently Level 6, potential Level 8, 126th in the Life Domain.]

[Currently a member of "Sacred Flesh Banquet," a sect that worships the Tree of Life, the Goddess of Creation, and the Mother Goddess, worshipping the power of life and fertility.]

After a pause, the phone added, "On her, there remains faint traces of the Tree of Life's attention. Given time, she should be able to become one of the Tree of Life's Chosen."

The Tree of Life… a deity he had recently brushed paths with not long ago.

Since the Tree of Life showed no particular hostility toward him, Chu Fu found himself oddly more sympathetic toward its followers.

"Alright, we've seen everything here. Let's take this guy back."

Chu Fu pointed at the bespectacled man cowering in the corner, his hand still covering his nose and mouth. "For me, the smell here is… downright unbearable."

That was putting it mildly. Aside from the Life Domain Office Worker, no one here enjoyed the overpowering metallic stench of blood.

So the three of them took the bespectacled man and returned to the viewing room they had chosen.

The moment the door closed, Chu Fu took several deep breaths of clean, odorless air, like a weight lifted.

After sitting down, Meng Siyou spoke gravely, "So, how exactly do these commercials kill?"

The only thing they could confirm was that these experimental commercials were nothing like normal world ads.

But what were the rules behind their danger? In what form did they kill their viewers?

The specifics remained a mystery.

Meng Siyou was beginning to regret—he shouldn’t have let the bald man leave alone with the bespectacled man. Even if it meant spying, he should have witnessed the entire process of the first victim's death.

The bespectacled man, curled up in his seat, gathered his nerves before speaking in a trembling voice, "H-He made me choose 'Baby Lotion.' There was a woman in the commercial…"

"She stood beside a table covered with a red tablecloth, smiling as she flayed the skin of the… the baby on the cover."

As if recalling something horrifying, he swallowed hard, his pupils dilating slightly. "Then the woman lifted the bloody skin, showing us how smooth and translucent the child's skin was…"

"Wait," the office worker frowned slightly. "Why did the bald man force you to choose the commercial, only to die himself in the end?"

"I… I don’t know."

Faced with the office worker’s skeptical gaze, the bespectacled man looked bewildered. "The lights went out all around us. I was so nervous I just kept staring at the screen."

"When the lights came back on, he was already… skinned. His glistening red muscles sat stiffly beside me…"

Meng Siyou mused, "Could the commercials be attacking randomly? That doesn’t make much sense."

Just then, Chu Fu suddenly chuckled, his blue eyes gleaming ominously under the light.

He glanced at the bespectacled man and remarked pointedly, "Of course it doesn’t make sense—because you’re hiding something."

"Me?" The bespectacled man gave a weak smile. "What could someone like me possibly hide?"

Chu Fu said calmly, "The commercial kills are fixed, but death can be transferred."

"The one who was supposed to die was you."

As the bespectacled man’s expression stiffened, Chu Fu mercilessly exposed him, "But you used your Ability to transfer your death onto someone else, didn’t you? Your method was subtle, but unfortunately, I happened to witness the change in your destinies."

"—And thank you for that. It was quite an entertaining performance to watch."

Chu Fu remarked with lazy admiration.