Jiang Qiao woke from his Creator Mode. In front of him was still the familiar living room—only now, the food Ocean Blue was eating had changed from strawberries to cucumbers.
"…"
Jiang Qiao stared at the girl gnawing on a cucumber like a prairie dog. He opened his mouth but couldn't bring himself to say anything.
Ocean Blue, the goddess-turned-creator, had only recently arrived on Blue Star. It was understandable that she was curious about the local produce.
"I've already made the changes. In Spirit Descent mode, players can't harm anything on Blue Star. I also added a judgment system—when a player intends to save someone, they'll briefly be allowed to touch real-world objects. Simply put, there's no friendly fire. Now we just wait for the invading dimension to arrive in nine days."
Jiang Qiao glanced at his phone screen again. The Spirit Descent option had turned gray—this feature could only be activated when an Abyssal Rift appeared.
"What are your plans in this world now?" Ocean Blue asked after finishing her cucumber and burping unceremoniously. "Are you going to inform the governments about the incoming invasion?"
Jiang Qiao's eyes shifted toward the television in the living room. Ocean Blue, already used to this world, had switched on the TV with ease. The screen was playing the news.
"How am I supposed to tell them? 'The apocalypse is near! If you're a bro, come play Holy Spirit with me'? I'd probably get hacked to death before they believe me."
Jiang Qiao didn't plan to inform anyone yet. Even though a few of his family members worked in government, he knew exactly what would happen if he told them.
First, he'd be taken to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation. Then, once the invasion arrived in nine days, he'd get a polite invitation for "tea."
He had ways to convince the authorities… but—
"I don't want this game to be corrupted," Jiang Qiao said.
"Corrupted? My created worlds have infinite shelf life! Unless…" Ocean Blue trailed off mid-sentence.
"Unless it explodes again?"
Jiang Qiao ruthlessly jabbed the failed goddess where it hurt. This time it was her turn to be speechless. In frustration, she picked up another cucumber and started munching angrily.
"This game will change how everyone lives," Jiang Qiao continued the conversation seriously. "Being able to summon characters from the game world into reality guarantees that everyone will want to play—and everyone will want to strengthen their characters."
"Isn't that a good thing? This planet has 4 billion people! They'll all become our soldiers. What plane on the star map can't we conquer?" Ocean Blue puffed out her cheeks, clearly unaware of how improper it was to talk while chewing.
"Humans aren't that simple. Governments will want to militarize the players' characters, maybe even conscript the players themselves. That would destroy the freedom and fun of gaming," Jiang Qiao replied.
"Go on," Ocean Blue said, now chewing a carrot. Her face clearly read: 'Keep talking, I'm listening (sort of).'
"So I've taken measures to protect players' identities in reality." Jiang Qiao pulled out his phone. "Players don't need to be physically present at an Abyssal Rift. They just have to locate it on the in-app map, and they can summon their character there remotely."
"But it's not that easy to hide identities, right? Don't these 'players' have friends in the real world?" Ocean Blue seemed to actually understand this part.
"That's why it's just a temporary solution. The best method is still to get more people to become players. But for now, the game server can only hold 1,000 players. Expanding that requires devouring other worlds."
Jiang Qiao was confident they'd reach open beta—a point when the server would no longer need to limit logins.
"I also have one final trick. During the first dimensional invasion, I'll let participants experience a little dream."
This was something only achievable through Creator Mode.
"That would consume a lot of energy…" Ocean Blue immediately understood. The "dream" would make the players think everything they experienced was just part of the game.
"It's fine," Jiang Qiao said. "Now onto my personal plans."
"I'm listening," Ocean Blue said as she nibbled away.
"This is just for now, when the player base is small. Once it grows, I won't need to do it anymore. I'll build an inner world or pocket dimension as a battlefield. For now, it's best to get rich quietly."
"An inner world? I think I kind of get it. As long as you don't expose your identity, I'm fine with whatever."
Ocean Blue was adamantly against Jiang Qiao revealing himself as the Creator. She didn't trust a single human on this planet—except the one she was soul-bound to.
At first, she'd been reluctant to bond with Jiang Qiao. But after he used Creator Mode to "discipline" her into submission, she chose to coexist peacefully with him.
"And what about you? Got any future plans?" Jiang Qiao asked, watching the never-idle goddess chew away.
"Me?" Ocean Blue took a fierce bite of her carrot and declared,"I'm going to eat up all the surrounding worlds!"
"The surrounding worlds… there's more than one invading plane?" Jiang Qiao glanced at the news on TV."The end of the world really is coming—but thankfully, so are the heroes."
(End of Chapter)