Cthulhu Gonfalon

Sui Xiong was not someone good in thinking. When he was in college, his score in logic class was so low that it was tragic. It was only because his teacher was so magnanimous and used his usual scores to calculate the results preventing him from failing.

Unlike many students who played truant and hung out at internet cafes all day long, even if Sui Xiong did not like or was not good in a certain course, he would still attend and listen to lectures dutifully. Even if one lesson was stopped or both his eyes were already seeing things in circles like the twirls of mosquito coils, he would not doze off in class or do anything unrelated to the lesson. This made him a popular student among the teachers, who appreciated his mannerism. And it was also why his results were usually very good.

Also, because he spent most of his time studying, when it came to “college prescribed courses” like online games, his “grades” were relatively poor. The best he could do was to play all the existing online games at that time once. If level or equipment were taken into consideration, he would definitely not make the mark.

After he graduated and came out to work, though he often played online games, his standard was still not high—mainly because he did not have the time and energy. He needed to work, and also, he was a part-time illustrator. From time to time, he even had to chat with people on the QQ messaging platform. Where could he possibly find that much time to spend playing games?

If he was really a game maniac, a tenacious war god who was not afraid of his organs bursting, he would definitely own all the best equipment. Would he possibly remain the same person as he was before traversing worlds? Getting so angry over a mere piece of superior equipment that he had to throw and smash his keyboard and mouse, then run out to drink and drown in his sorrows?

What Sui Xiong was good at was taking his work seriously.

If this was something he truly could not handle, he would turn to someone with the relevant expertise.

For example, he could not figure out the possible reason to why he was on this trip to make a round of inspection, so he went to consult Mage Hart who might possibly know the reason.

“I spent about half a day thinking about it, but still, I can’t think of the exact reason to why I would suddenly go out to inspect the territories,” he said earnestly. “What do you think the reason might be?”

Mage Hart had not expected Sui Xiong to send the ball rolling in his direction. He pondered for a while, then said, “Generally speaking, there are a few possible reasons to explain such a situation. The first possibility is that there is a god out there eyeing your territory. You can pay more attention to the situation pertaining to missionary work and beliefs of the territory of concern.”

Sui Xiong nodded slightly. After pondering for a moment, he said, “This is probably not the reason. In the few territories of mine, the people are either firm and steadfast followers of my belief or have the freedom to choose a belief. There is no possibility of infiltration in the former, and it doesn’t matter whether there is infiltration in the latter situation… besides, I’ve seen no such situation along the way.”

“It’s indeed easy to discover such a situation, and also, it’s easy to stop it from continuing,” Mage Hart said with a nod. “For example, in our four northern cities, people from other places are considered to have freedom in belief, no matter who is sent over to preach. And the belief in our Grey Tower City is, on the other hand, very firm. Practically everyone has belief in Our Majesty. Wanting to find someone of a different belief is not easy at all. So it’s highly impossible to preach in Grey Tower City. But I feel that perhaps the problem might lie in Garth City.”

“Garth City?” Sui Xiong asked. He froze for a moment. After thinking about it, it seemed to him that there was certainly a possibility.

There were many pairs of eyes on Garth City. Also, the scene of beliefs among the people was also in quite a mess. On the overall, the total number of people believing in the Void Mask, Goddess of Ocean, Goddess of Wealth and God of Agriculture added up to around one-third of the population. There were also many people who believed in other gods—this was a decision made by Sui Xiong and Leon upon discussions. For a city that was developed with commerce as its core, it was highly unlikely to only have a single belief. That was probably why on Earth, when the Middle East region was commercially developed and booming with business, their religious culture was still in the stage of gaining enlightenment. When their religion had become rigid and conservative, their commerce sector immediately fell behind, blocking the trade between the east and west, cutting off the Silk Road and forcing the Europeans to initiate the so-called “Age of Discovery.”

Brother Xiong might not be a historian, but at least he had played games that were related to history. In one of the sea-themed games, merchants found on the port of the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea often complained about this, so even he could remember…

“In fact… I really can’t be bothered about who’s developing the churches or spreading beliefs in Garth City,” he said. “I wasn’t going to put any limit on these in the first place.”

“Just because you don’t mind other people going to Garth City to preach their teachings doesn’t mean others won’t be jealous of the status of your church in Garth City,” Mage Hart said as he shook his head. “As far as I know, your followers in Garth City don’t have an edge over the others in numbers, and they are way beyond the others in prestige. In traditional large industries, the trade between humans and the sea race was practically entirely controlled by your and the Goddess of Ocean’s followers; the cultivation of medicinal herbs and spices is also, more or less under the control of your and the God of Agriculture’s followers. In business, your followers and the Goddess of Wealth’s followers have the absolute advantage… this is enough to make people jealous. Almost everything is fully under the control of your followers, not to mention a few emerging businesses.

“May I ask, under such circumstances, don’t you think your church might be quite an eyesore to the other gods who want to develop their churches here? Don’t you think they might feel that they should snatch food outright from your followers if they want to gain some advantage from your church?”

Sui Xiong pondered for a while. It seemed that this was indeed the truth.

“That’s why I think that if anyone has eyes on your territory, the greatest possibility would be Garth City.”

Sui Xiong nodded and said, “Indeed, it’s highly possible. Luckily, I’ll be going over to Garth in a few days. There’s no need for worries. Just now, you mentioned this was the first possibility. So are there any other possibilities?”

“Other possibilities… the second possibility is that someone wants to combine forces with a few other gods to plot against you,” said Mage Hart. “Of course we all know that on the Main Plane, you’re invincible. But just because you’re invincible doesn’t mean that all your clones are invincible as well. It also doesn’t mean that any of your followers are invincible. If any of your clones becomes the target or any of your followers or churches become the target, I feel that it’s possible this will still constitute a great threat.”

“It won’t!” Sui Xiong said and shook his head. “If there’s such a situation, Wenner and company will certainly inform me. It was unlikely for something like that to be hidden from them.”

Mage Hart froze in surprise. Then he recalled that the War God System was also Sui Xiong’s subordinate. Based on their priesthood, the War God System would most probably know in advance if there was anyone wanting to wage war on Sui Xiong or his followers. So it was highly unlikely that this would be a great threat to Sui Xiong or his followers.

“Then there’s still the third possibility,” he said. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Some god wants to speak with you in private but are afraid that they will draw attention to themselves. So they discreetly put on a show of plotting against your territory so that you can vaguely detect something. This way, when you go around inspecting the territories, this god can contact you without drawing much attention to themselves.”

Sui Xiong frowned and said, “Isn’t this just like pulling one’s pants down before farting—what an unnecessary move! If they want to talk to me about anything, just come straight to me. Is there a need for such a weird and pointless move?”

“Who knows? The way the gods think is really beyond my mortal imagination,” said Mage Hart as he shook his head. “I’m just analyzing this via a logical approach. When a god initiates a discussion with you, the other gods, especially the ones who are in conflict with you, are going to express great concern. But if it’s only some contradictions on the issue of preaching, then everyone can just have a little discussion about it. No one will feel surprised or concerned. After all, this kind of thing is commonplace, there’s nothing unusual about it.”

Sui Xiong shook his head. He felt that such a possibility was really… not that big.

Which god would be so silly? Creating all these demons here just to talk to him? Besides, wasn’t that guy afraid of Sui Xiong getting furious if things got out of hand?

So he pondered all this and concluded that the first situation was still the likeliest possibility. In other words, he should still make a trip to Garth City!