Chapter 3

The road after the rain was a mess of mud.

In the slums, the roads were always a mess of mud, and a step would splash up mud and dirt. Occasionally, feces and garbage from the corners of alleys would be washed out by the rain, and the air was always filled with a stench. In the densely packed, low shacks, many people with numb expressions were busy, repairing their houses and then rushing to the dock to find a hard labor job. Whenever the rainy season came, many houses would leak, and occasionally, there would be collapses, leading to some tragedies.

Solen walked on the muddy and stinky road, holding the cold body of the old dog. Vivian, with a somber expression, held his hand and silently followed behind.

Hiss is dead!

The old dog that had been with her since birth had finally reached the end of its life.

They were going to bury it, just like a human.

It deserved such respect!

"Solen!..."

"That's Solen!... He's awake!..."

"This will be interesting."

The people in the slums whispered to each other, their eyes filled with a hint of awe, for the young man in front of them was a formidable thief who could easily take down three to five adult men and was said to have once pinned a flying fly with a dagger. Two thugs named Baras and Kanopo had been eyeing Vivian ever since Solen fell into a coma, and it was even rumored that they had taken part of Sosia's deposit, warning them not to meddle in their affairs!

The slums were a land of sin.

No one was willing to stand up for the poor little girl; they were afraid of the thugs and had no power to fight against them.

"Brother."

"Where are we going?"

Vivian wore a tattered dress, a cheap linen dress that was of the lowest quality in both craftsmanship and material, worn only by people in the slums. Although Solen had once been an excellent thief, he had a more powerful thief boss above him, and most of what he stole had to be handed over, leaving only enough to sustain their basic survival.

There were survival rules for the marginalized!

Even an excellent new thief could not challenge these rules.

"To the cemetery."

"Hiss should be buried there."

Solen looked at the familiar yet strange scene, and some memories overlapped in his mind. Amber City felt familiar to him because he had heard of it in the game. However, at that time, the epic plot had already begun, and a terrifying force had erupted in the chaotic timeline, temporarily depriving the gods of their powers and forcing them to descend to the world as saints. It was an exceptionally chaotic period, with gods returning to their realms and mortals slaying gods, and players were just a part of it, even a less significant part.

In "The War of the Gods," players had only three lives.

Each resurrection after death permanently reduced their physical attributes by three points, and eventually, they had to reincarnate in the Underworld.

During that time, many powerful players rose, but they quickly fell!

This stage belonged to everyone.

Until the chaos ended and the gods returned to the Pantheon, this epic disaster was finally over.

A third of the gods in the Pantheon had fallen!

Even powerful deities like the Goddess of Magic, the Lord of Order, the Lady of the Night, the Master of Shadows, and the Lord of Fear had fallen in this chaotic disaster.

Subsequently, an even more grandiose plot unfolded.

The thrones of the gods fell from the heavens, and countless realms of the gods collapsed and descended to the mortal world, transforming into special planes of existence.

That was the realm of the gods.

After a long and arduous period, only the few survivors had the right to explore these realms.

As for the other fallen experts, they had to start over, at least reaching a high level in their profession before they could explore even the weakest of the god realms, such as the treasure vault of the god of dogheads, Glosas.

Many chaotic memories surfaced.

The familiar scenes before him told Solen what kind of chaotic period this world would become.

The saints, incarnations of the gods, tore the earth apart, changing more than twelve lower plane continental plates, with three of them completely turning into seas of fire, ice, and death. The projections of hell devils spread everywhere, inciting people to kill, and even players were not immune to their influence. Abyssal demons tore the sky, descending in a sea of blood, and on the first day of the abyss's awakening, twelve cities with populations over ten thousand were completely massacred!

This was the twilight period as described by players.

It was the twilight of the gods, their twilight, and the twilight of all.

In this chaos that affected the entire universe, everyone died at least once, and even Solen had completely fallen, his soul forced to reincarnate in the Underworld.

No one could escape this disaster!

Even players with the template of a born hero could be crushed like an ant!

This was the age of the saints.

It was also the age of the gods!

And the last carnival of the gods in the heavens!

When the disaster ended.

The age of mortals was about to begin, with countless realms of the gods waiting for them to explore, and the treasure vaults of the gods contained everything they desired.

Whether it was great power, infinite wealth, or the eternal life that everyone craved!

...

The cemetery was not in the slums.

The slums only had a mass grave, where bodies were thrown at regular intervals, and destitute scavengers stripped the bodies clean, waiting for stray dogs to appear at night. Some bodies would disappear mysteriously, taken by evil spellcasters, and no one wanted to know what happened to them.

Hiss could not be buried in the mass grave.

Solen had seen the greed in many people's eyes, seeing a pile of delicious dog meat.

He believed that if he buried Hiss there, someone would dig it up that night, skin it, and cut it into pieces to make a pot of dog meat.

This was the slums!

Most people living here were on the brink of starvation.

They wanted to eat meat.

If eating human flesh did not lead to a descent into the abyss, some starving vagrants might commit unspeakable acts!

Solen still remembered when he first entered the game!

At that time, he and others found it hard to imagine how harsh and difficult the environment in the game was.

There were no dazzling equipment, no beautiful scenery, and no easy battles. What existed were life-and-death struggles, dirty and chaotic slums, garbage and feces everywhere, and omnipresent sin and darkness. To obtain a decent meal or a basic weapon, many people had to risk their lives.

Many new players were deeply affected by the dark and sinful world, and for a time, there were many paladins among the players.

They made grand vows to change this sinful and fallen game world!

But in the end.

They were the ones who changed, for they did not have the power to challenge the rules of the world.

The world would not be easily changed!

All players who entered "The War of the Gods" went through a difficult period of decision-making, for in this dark era unimaginable in modern civilization, they would witness and experience many things they had never even thought of!

It could be evil and cruel, or sacred and great.

In this virtual world, everyone had to choose their path, whether they wanted to or not.

It was precisely because of this.

"The War of the Gods" was almost like another world for many people.

...

The cemetery.

This was a peaceful and serene land.

Because the Temple of the Daughter of the Lord of the Underworld was built here, it was a place of rest for the dead, protected by priests and temple guards to ensure that the resting souls were not disturbed. However, not everyone had the right to rest here, as it required a payment, and the Goddess of Wealth had once said that everything in the world could be measured by money.

This was an era of materialism and sin!

Solen stood silently in front of the temple, holding Hiss's body. When an old priest appeared before him, he and Vivian bowed their heads in respect. At first, he suspected he was still in the game world, but when he saw the living, sentient beings, he knew he had truly come to a real world.

Moreover, from Vivian's words, Solen knew that they had never heard of attributes!

Although he did not know why.

Solen suddenly remembered the magic array under the game pod, which looked like a decoration.

Because it was somewhat eerie, many people who bought it removed it.

Solen was bolder, so he kept it, but later, the game company seemed to have listened to the players' opinions and did not add this strange decoration to the game pods after the first batch.

"Are you sure you want it to enter the cemetery?"

The old priest had seen many nobles who wanted to bury their old pets in the cemetery, but he had never seen a slum dweller like Solen.

Their clothes and the mud on their feet clearly showed that they were from the lowest class of the slums.

Solen slightly bowed and said, "Yes."

"This is the offering to the temple for its burial."

He took out a silver daler and respectfully handed it over. As a natural thief, his skills on the way had earned him his first income.

As long as he was not caught!

It was a shiny silver daler, a currency made by the followers of the Goddess of Wealth, which could even circulate in hell!

The old priest looked at him deeply and then pointed to a box beside him: "Perhaps it is a loyal hunting dog."

"Only then would it be worth your doing this."

"Child."

"Follow me, it will have a place to rest."

Solen put the silver daler in the box at the temple entrance and then carried Hiss's body into the cemetery.

In a small, inconspicuous corner.

When the two of them dug a hole and buried Hiss in the cemetery, Vivian, who had been staring blankly, shed tears again.

"Hiss!..."

The little girl squatted in front of the inconspicuous grave, whispered a few words, and then stood up with a determined expression, holding Solen's finger.

Hiss was just an inconspicuous old dog.

It did not have the right to have a tombstone, so it only had a small grave.

In the most remote corner of the cemetery.

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