Not A God

Chapter 40

The celestial photographs on the computer were reflected in Zen's eyes, and he admired them for a moment before ending the interactive video.

It was not a bad ending for the painter.

Zen had actually gone through other options before, such as choosing to reject the painter when he wanted to dream again so that the painter would live in the mansion until one day he was killed by a group of unknown soldiers. Although his fame has spread across the continent and he has become the master painter of his dreams, the painter dies with a pained and regretful expression, as if he feels that this death is not what he wanted.

So he chose to let him continue dreaming.

In the dream, he can choose to bring the painter closer to the abyss. When approaching the abyss, the video does not give a specific shot of the abyss, but simply focuses on the painter's face. The painter has an indescribably complex expression, seemingly shocked and ecstatic, his features almost distorted, the animation distorting his expression to a degree that would be impossible for a normal human to achieve.

The painter then wakes up in a thick blackness, before leaving the city crowded with flesh and blood to become one of the self-proclaimed followers of the Ancient God. He follows the orders of Dr Kaye from the previous copy, and follows the founder of the Cult of the Ancient God, Kaye, as he performs various bloody and tyrannical rituals in the Steam Era.

The painter has become a pure madman with a taste for twisted aesthetics. He likes to make a pictorial aesthetic out of the tattered limbs of the sacrifices and claims to offer the world to God. This is the same kind of thing that makes Dr Kaye even crazier in this copy. So the two madmen often discuss the greatness of the gods together and talk about them as if they only had the word "God" on their minds.

Especially Dr Kaye.

In the interactive video, Kaye has become much more handsome than in his previous famine gloom. Decades of age have only left a sense of gloom and vicissitude on his face, which still looks like a slim young man in his twenties. But the extreme morbid fervour of his face is also more apparent.

From his pale face to the deep, dark eyes that radiated longing and fervent worship of the gods, there was nothing to suggest what an extraordinary believer in evil could be. The cultist is what the hell he looks like. Zen silently watched two grown men praying for the coming of God on various occasions like wistful young girls.

He just felt disturbed.

As a good young man with the right outlook who didn't really like the bloody ending, Zen resolutely reset his options and he chose to bring the painter closer to the beautiful celestial body near the abyss. Actually, he could have chosen another celestial body, but, ahem, this one was prettier. That way, it would be the best ending.

As he watched the celestial body orbiting in the infinite universe and the painter's figure disappearing into it, he calmly closed this copy of the game and looked back on the plot, feeling bored. Previously, he had found it interesting to play as an ancient God and manipulate these game characters who were in awe of the gods at will. However, after repeating the same thing more than once, it just seemed to get old. These episodes all seem to sum up to be stories of tiny humans encountering ancient gods and destroying themselves in their quest for the truth.

"I hope that [Era of the Dead] will have a different feel to it, maybe I can be the saviour for once."

Zen moved his mouse and thought so, but found many gas bubbles popping up in several of the past copies. There were many believers calling out to the Ancient God or trying to touch them in their dreams. Zen found that all of them were unknown names, and boringly clicked on all of them, not wanting to have another interactive video.