Famine 54: Fated Oden

The farm repelled the Main God?!

No, that’s not right. The Main God would never be dealt with so easily.

That being said, although everyone called that enormous eye in the sky the [Main God’s Eye], it seemed… there was no direct evidence proving it was truly the Main God.

In that instant of clash, what Si Zhiyan saw, compared to the Main God itself, was more like a simple…

[Eye].
An eye, weeping fiercely beneath the blinding glare.

Si Zhiyan raised his head and, through the heavy fog, saw the giant eye hanging over the sky, shot through with blood vessels and staring here in pure malice.

What exactly was the relationship between the [Eye] and the Main God? Was it some organ, or a subordinate creature?

In any case, in fifteen days, there would surely be a wave of retributive attack. Preparation was needed.

The current pool of clients included 1,035 people from the Skeletal Ferry and 324 inner-farm players. Each player consumed an average of 70 points daily; after subtracting daily maintenance and wages, total surplus was about 90,000 points per day.

It looked much better than in the world of Imagination, but the turret system and structures in the shop were extremely expensive. It cost 10,000 points for a single shot of the Sugar-Coated Artillery, for example. All upgrades related to terrain cost in the tens of thousands.

The current point influx was woefully insufficient to arm the farm. If things went on like this, they’d face a miserable death in fifteen days.

The farm needed more income, which meant more clients and more people.
New players had to be found as soon as possible.

Si Zhiyan donned his coat, spent points to repair the farm owner’s house, then made a round through the farm settlement, intending to calm everyone’s nerves.

He had thought of many reassuring words, but on arrival, he discovered everyone’s mood was much higher than expected. Not only were they unafraid of being targeted by the [Eye], but were even elated that the farm had successfully repelled it.

“You might not know, but the Main God’s Eye is always like this, appearing from time to time. Just at the Skeletal Ferry alone, we’ve had it look at us several times over these years,” Tang Qinghuai said as their representative, visibly stirred.
“It never really does anything, just leans in and stares, like looking at ants. Lots of people end up developing megalophobia from it—some even go mad.”

Tang Qinghuai looked up adoringly. “Sir, you were actually able to drive it away!”

Si Zhiyan looked at Tang Qinghuai’s starry-eyed expression: “…”
Well, fair enough.

“Ah, by the way, sir.”

Tang Qinghuai dug into his pocket, then solemnly presented a bloodstained wooden stick to Si Zhiyan.

“Over at the Skeletal Ferry, Commander Nie found a way to build up our defenses. We raised the ferry up into the jungle canopy, away from the fog, and everyone has settled in now. Mom asked me to let you know, so you needn’t worry.”

“During the battle, Captain Sha dug up this cursed object.”

It was a piece of wooden stick, soaked in blood, about a palm’s length, flat and even, with a symbol written at the base.

[Grade C – Sumimasu Omikuji (Broken)]
Fortune stick acquired from Sumimasu Shrine, the wood harvested from the millennium ancient forest near the shrine—blessed and linked to the land’s ley lines.
The tip was cut from the first budding branch, fashioned into a fortune stick, and can divine one’s fate.
An essential item for residents, carried at all times.
Each day, it can provide an augury on a matter.
The result is 100% accurate.

Judging by this, the stick was likely one from a bundle in a fortune tube. The symbol must represent the result.
If it had a 100% accurate augury, it was a precious cursed object.

Why was this only a grade C cursed object?

Si Zhiyan raised an eyebrow just as the blood-stained wooden stick began to tremble in his hand.

[Precision augury in progress…]
[Today’s fortune is…]

[Most Inauspicious.]

[Death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death death…]

The stick instantly turned pitch black, covered in vivid crimson bloodstains and stamped with countless bloody fingerprints.

“Whoa!!” Tang Qinghuai shuddered, letting go in fright.

Snap! A vine shot out from beneath Si Zhiyan’s coat, snatching the stick before it hit the ground.
Can I eat it? Can I eat it? The vines tightened around Si Zhiyan insistently.

“Wait,” Si Zhiyan said. Pulling the now-black [Sumimasu Omikuji] from the vine’s grasp, he went around letting everyone take a turn drawing lots.
After more than a dozen tries, the stick’s results were without exception: only “Inauspicious” and “Most Inauspicious.”

Tang Qinghuai grew paler and paler. When Si Zhiyan took the stick and casually tossed it back, he said, “All right. Go ahead, eat it.”

The vine happily snatched up the stick and swallowed it.

Gulp.

[You have just fed the Cursed Object: Grade C – Sumimasu Omikuji *1]
[Nursery growing…]
[Congratulations! Nursery Plot #8 has sprouted the Story Seed: Fated Oden!]

Oden? Si Zhiyan gave a quiet laugh.

Rather appropriate, actually.

Not sure exactly what this thing could do, Si Zhiyan played it safe and gave everyone who’d drawn a bad fortune a pack of lucky jerky and told Tang Qinghuai to make sure everyone finished it on the spot.

Then, he returned to the farm owner’s cabin and opened up the [Auxiliary CBD].

Brilliant sunlight spilled into the room. Now, in this CBD, the scene was a new shopfront, neat shelves arranged in rows, a coffee machine for fresh milk, a freezer at the back filled with fish and ice cream.

Every item’s package…

—was in Si Zhiyan’s management panel.

After upgrading the farm, Si Zhiyan had purchased this module and installed it for his off days—a dimensional convenience store.

At the entrance’s drink bar, he placed a small pot.

Thunk.

[Fated Oden]
Simmering, simmering—whose soul is boiling in this broth?
Your fate is karma, theirs is heroism, but mine… mine is to immediately eat a piping hot, fragrant oden cup.
To repay the debt of [May the squid not die in vain], I’ll drink the broth down to the last drop.

[Special Rule: Hold a question in mind, eat an entire skewer of oden. The wooden stick covered by the oden will reveal the result of your augury.]
[Augury results come in five levels: Great Luck / Good Luck / Minor Luck / Inauspicious / Most Inauspicious]
[The accuracy of the results is 70%.]
[I know what you’re thinking: When you draw a lucky stick, ancestral wisdom is vindicated; when it’s unlucky, it’s everyone’s responsibility to fight superstition.]

Simmer, simmer…

The savory steam rising from the little pot filled the air. Dozens of oden skewers boiled together, steeping in the broth, filling the space with mouthwatering fragrance.
Since this was special, supernatural oden, apparently you could cook it as long as you liked and it would never spoil the taste. That was the destiny of oden, after all.

Si Zhiyan adjusted the sign next to the entrance, making the lamp’s color a warm white-yellow to best cut through the fog and shine out far and wide.

Once his dimensional convenience store was ready, Si Zhiyan clapped his hands and tidied up, nodding with satisfaction.

Next, he had to set the new entry point somewhere far from the farm.

Where should he go to find people?
This world was very peculiar. Blanketed in fog, it wasn’t likely people wandered recklessly about exploring. So, placing the shop in a location where it would be the most visible was key.

Si Zhiyan looked toward the black hole portal.

The twenty-day countdown had ended, a new world had loaded, and the Pandora’s Box mystery should be resolved by now.
How was the North Team doing?

The black hole remained shrouded in dense fog. Si Zhiyan, feeling a bit uneasy, pondered the North Team’s fortune, ate a crab stick from the oden, and glanced at the skewer—

His gaze paused.

[Mist World – Day 1 / 7:30 pm / ??? / Current Farm Completeness: 51%]

Shi He curled up in the cold air.

Cold.
It was his only sensation.

Dizzy and frozen, he felt as if he’d gone back to the winter when he was three, huddled amidst ruins. A blood- and dirt-stained hand, tiny and trembling, foraged for food at the edge of a trash heap.

Bombers rumbled overhead, carrion pests crawled slowly over his body. He tried and tried to move, but his limbs wouldn’t obey.

For now, this place was still relatively safe—for what purpose, though? The ruined neighborhood had already been bombed into dust; there was no reason to drop more bombs here.

But what was the point?

Another day, empty-handed.

Maybe he was too hungry—eventually, he couldn’t move at all. He curled up, bone-thin arms clutching each other, letting snow fall onto his head and body, piling up layer by layer.

In this district, young orphans whose parents were unknown were common. The abilities of the Federation’s rescue team were limited. These children were like wild grass swept before the sandstorm—no one noticed, no one cared, powerless against everything.

Blizzard winds roared on, mixing hail with snow, pelting his raw wounds until they stung, making his whole body shiver uncontrollably.

Would anyone save him?

Countless desperate cries spent every last effort, bringing only deeper despair. The world was a bottomless black ocean, his lifelong struggle causing not the faintest ripple.

Beneath the storm, the child’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier, sinking deeper and deeper…

Until…
In the darkness, a pair of boots approached and halted before him.

“……”

Something was calling him.

“…He!”

Someone called him loudly.

“Shi He!”
Zhong Yanqing called out.

Shi He jerked, snapping his eyes open.

“You’re finally awake.” Zhong Yanqing let out a breath.

The North Team was seated in a circle around him, every face grim.
They were wreathed in thick fog, no sun above. The ground beneath them was cold, wet, and strange to the touch. Shi He instinctively reached down and felt the ground at his side—

…

Ice.

They were on a surface of ice.

As Shi He woke, a flash of light shot through the gray sky, displaying a string of words—

[All triggers have regained consciousness.]

[Time until transfer to next world: 0 days.]
[Time until Pandora’s Box is solved: 0 days.]

[Pandora’s Box Resolved]

Buzz!

The bloodstained giant eye narrowed, dissolving into countless unknown golden symbols, which swirled through the mist and gradually formed an image.
In every corner of the world, golden light rose from the heavens, broadcasting the scene to everyone’s eyes.

A young man with long silver hair, clad in golden robes, knelt before a temple’s altar.

The High Priest.

In the pouring rain, the High Priest knelt, haggard and emaciated, before the idol. The giant eye glared behind him, while a beam of golden holy radiance shone before him.

[Congratulations, Seeker–Finotins.]
[You have remained atop the Seeker Rankings for 1,500 days.]
[As agreed, your Pandora’s Box has now been resolved.]

[Now, you shall know the true purpose of the game.]

[——]

[The Main God’s Game is an exam—a selection process for the next Main God.]

!!!

Inside and outside the game, countless people looked up in shock.

Zhong Yanqing’s pupils shrank to pinpoints.

In that moment, she understood the meaning of Pandora’s Box.

Gold light shimmered, and the symbols continued to spell out the next lines.

[This is a competition.]
[Every player around you is your competitor.]

[The selection exam lasts for ten orbits of the current planet.]

[At the end of the exam, the living person with the highest overall rating will truly become the next Main God and inherit all divine authority.]

[Hint: Overall rating is directly related to total days atop the Seeker Rankings.]

[Time, space, imagination, slaughter, resurrection, rebuilding, creation of worlds and laws of physics… all contained therein.]

[Gentlemen and ladies, good fortune in battle.]

The four directions plunged into panic and chaos.

Someone laughed: “Ha ha ha, no way! We’re all enemies? What a joke!”;
Some urgently clung to their partner’s hand: “Honey, being a Seeker doesn’t mean anything, you have to trust me!”;
Some sat in silence, staring at the ground, eyes round, fingers trembling;
Amid the mayhem, someone quietly drew a knife…

In the sky above, the High Priest clenched his face in both hands, his back bowed low—
“Ah… ah ah…”

“Not enough… Our strength is not enough…”

“The church, the world, the twisted gift of the gods… it’s all my fault. I was too weak. I failed to protect my brothers and sisters.”

His voice was shaken and deranged, blood tears leaking from between his fingers.

“Now, there’s just one way to save everyone…”

Boom!
Lightning flashed. In the white glare, the High Priest slowly raised his head, irises crimson, his eyes flowing with blood.

“Rather than let others out of control succeed, let me become the new Main God—resurrect them all, and build the world anew.”

Boom—!!

Thunder crashed, curses and grief swept out like dust-laden wind, billowing in every direction.

The vision faded.

Thud.

Something dropped from the sky, bounced a few times on the ice, and rolled to Shi He’s feet.

A gem-carved sculpture. The High Priest clutched his chest, tears of blood streaming from his eyes, his face twisted with desperate devotion. The weight of Pandora’s Box on his back bent his spine as he knelt, straining upward. The box was half-open, and inside was a faint, intricate landscape—clear waters and green mountains, people in serene joy.

It was the High Priest’s delusion: the paradise he dreamed of creating as a new Main God.

[Seed of Starvation – World of Imagination].

Wang Jianguo hefted the gem figure. “Another Seed of Starvation. Last time, the CBD’s seed was taken by Bian Xu. Who knows how we’re supposed to handle this one.”

Shi He said, “Maybe we should offer it to that divine gentleman, see if he wants it.”

As they talked, the symbols in the sky regrouped into a new message.

[Every fifteen days, the current leading candidate and their coordinates will be broadcast to all players worldwide.]

At this, the entire North Team’s faces changed!

If anyone was most suited to be successor, it would be the one atop the seeker ranking. For years, that had been Bian Xu—now whereabouts unknown.
But at this moment, the new leader on the ranking was…

[Doom Harbinger—Nidhogg]
[Coordinates: 3554534, 2779876, 8196754]

Shi He’s expression shifted. He blurted: “Bro?!”

It was the first time Zhong Yanqing had seen Shi He lose composure.

“That’s your brother?!” Wang Jianguo was stunned, checked the rankings twice. “No, no, you’re top of the charts! Who’s this ‘Doom Harbinger’? He’s not even on the list! Why is he being announced?”

But wait, there was something even more urgent.
Zhong Yanqing quickly tapped a few buttons on her divine wristband. Cold gold letters flashed: current coordinates — 355, 277, 818.

“That’s right next to us!!”

Zhong Yanqing gasped.

All eyes grew serious.

The situation was too strange. Wang Jianguo glanced left and right, saw everyone tense and wary, and quietly mumbled, “Come on, is it really worth getting this worried? After all, that’s Shi He’s brother. He wouldn’t fall for the Main God’s trap and try to hunt him, would he…”

Shi He was ashen, his lips trembling…

At last, he slowly spoke:

“Not necessarily.”

Crack.

Suddenly, a fissure split open in the ice beneath their feet.