Chapter 12

Naked and spinning 360 degrees in the icy and snowy landscape, I beg for recommendations, member clicks, and favorites.

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The scene fell eerily silent. Tang Sen was unable to move, and Sun Wu Kong, still recovering from his injuries, was also immobile. Both lay quietly on the ground for a while before Sun Wu Kong suddenly burst into laughter: "Interesting, truly interesting, hahaha..."

Tang Sen asked curiously, "What's so interesting? We can't move, and the heavenly soldiers and generals could come at any moment. It's dangerous, you know, and you still find it interesting?"

Sun Wu Kong chuckled, "It's just interesting, that's all! I didn't expect you to actually act like a man for once."

Tang Sen retorted, "Hey, I've always been a real man. Focus on the important things. We're still in danger, and reinforcements from Heaven will keep coming. Is this the time to talk about manliness?"

Sun Wu Kong replied smugly, "I, Old Sun, have faced countless life-and-death situations and never focused on the important things. Being able to chat and laugh amidst the encirclement of ten thousand heavenly soldiers and generals is what defines me."

"Hey, don't be proud of that! If you could chat and laugh amidst the encirclement of ten thousand Long Aotians, then I'd really admire you."

"Ten thousand Long Aotians?" Sun Wu Kong suddenly remembered the "Aotian Invincible Record" that Tang Sen had shown her. Thinking of the plot where Long Aotian wields a big club, he broke out in a cold sweat: "No, no way, I absolutely don't want to face Long Aotian."

"Ha, scared, huh? The fearless demon king Sun Wu Kong is actually afraid of Long Aotian. Ha, we humans are indeed impressive."

After a few more words, Tang Sen suddenly said, "Hey, use your Fire Eyes to see how much divine power I have and what level of deity it corresponds to."

Sun Wu Kong blinked and activated her Fire Eyes. Her eyelids slowly turned golden, like she had applied golden eyeshadow, which looked quite beautiful. After a while, she laughed and said, "Your current strength is about the same as a land god, which is a rather low level among deities."

"Ah? Already as strong as a land god?" Although Sun Wu Kong looked down on land gods, Tang Sen felt that a land god was already considered a terrestrial immortal. He didn't expect to have reached the strength of a land god so easily.

Sun Wu Kong smiled, "A land god usually only oversees a small area. How many people in such a small area would burn incense and worship the land god? In my opinion, it's probably just a few dozen or a few hundred people."

At this point, Sun Wu Kong paused and thought, "No, that's the situation from 500 years ago. According to what you said, the population has increased significantly since then. In the past, a village might have only a few dozen or a few hundred people, but in modern society, even a small town has tens of thousands of people. My understanding of land gods might be outdated."

"Right, your understanding is indeed outdated," Tang Sen said with a smile. "Although the population has increased, there are fewer people who believe in feudal superstitions. It's possible that fewer people worship land gods now than before. If I'm not mistaken, many places don't even have land gods anymore."

Tang Sen vaguely remembered that when he was a child, he occasionally saw land god statues made of mud and stones on the side of the road when he went to play in the mountains, but he hadn't seen any in recent years. With the development of technology, people's belief in feudal superstitions has become much weaker. Major deities still have a following, but the faith in minor deities like land gods has almost disappeared. In comparison, he might have more followers as the guardian deity of otaku girls.

Thinking deeper, the entire society has already lost the environment of feudal superstitions. Nowadays, most temples, nunneries, and Taoist observatories have become tourist attractions. Apart from tourists who light incense out of curiosity, truly devout believers are rare. It's possible that the power of the gods and buddhas has also decreased...

Thinking about this, Tang Sen vaguely sensed something. With the decrease in believers, would the competition between Buddhism and Taoism for believers become more intense?

He couldn't help but think of the African savanna. When there is plenty of rain, many animals drink water from the same pool, living in harmony. But when the dry season comes and the water in the pool becomes scarce, the animals fight brutally for the water. Lions chase away antelopes, only to be gored by water buffaloes... such scenes are common...

If believers are the rain for the deities, then...

Would the Great Thunderclap Temple and Heaven also fight over the dwindling water source?

Thinking about this, Tang Sen broke out in a cold sweat.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Sun Wu Kong asked curiously. "Why are you sweating so much?"

"Nothing much, just some random thoughts."

Tang Sen lay on the ground for a while, recovering some strength. His divine power also began to slowly return. It seemed that as long as there were believers, a deity could continuously receive power, and the amount of power was proportional to the number of believers. He silently thanked the otaku girls who supported him... and couldn't help but feel a bit emotional. He was raised by otaku girls and now received great benefits from them. He must love otaku girls even more in the future!

Tang Sen got up, picked up his large backpack, and helped Sun Wu Kong to his shoulder. They leaned on each other and stumbled forward. The White Dragon had been completely destroyed, so they would have to buy a new bicycle when they reached the next town. He felt a bit heartbroken about the travel expenses... his mother had saved hard for him, and it was a waste to spend it here.

After a great effort, they finally walked a mile and reached the lakeside. They hid among a pile of rocks and shrubs.

Sun Wu Kong said, "The lake is shrouded in demonic aura, covering a large area. Our current position is within this aura, so the Thousand-Mile Eyes and Wind-Ear cannot detect us... we can finally rest for a while. However, this lake is not far from where you killed the four heavenly soldiers. If the people of Heaven aren't stupid, they will guess that we are hiding by the lake. They will send heavenly soldiers to search this area covered by demonic aura. We won't be able to hide for long, and even the demon living here will be implicated. I think... we have at most one night."

The involvement of a demon didn't concern Tang Sen much. He had no good feelings towards demons. He nodded and took out his laptop: "Since we have one night, I can check the website."

Sun Wu Kong asked curiously, "What's this little black box for?"

Tang Sen explained, "This is a modern tool used to look up various information. I need to quickly find out the source of my divine power and understand what this otaku girl guardian deity is... knowing oneself and the enemy ensures victory in every battle. I'm not used to fighting without information."

Sun Wu Kong laughed, "You sound very manly! Not bad, not bad."

Tang Sen opened the Qian Du search engine and typed in the search box: "Otaku girl guardian deity."

After pressing Enter, a random website opened. Before the page loaded, the background music played, with a cute female voice singing:

I'm always at home,

So much that I want to fall in love,

Who can guess my thoughts?

I'm always so happy,

But in a strange way,

My friends say my behavior is unexpected.

I don't want to go out, don't want to dress up, don't want to shop,

I just want to sleep, just want to go online, just want to chat.

All my emotions are outside of games.

This is us,

The stage of otaku girls.

...

Tang Sen covered his face, "Damn, what a ridiculous song. Isn't this the one my mom loves to play at home? She plays it so much that even I, a big man, can recite it backward."

As the ridiculous music played, a ridiculous homepage appeared. Right in the center, there was a picture of Tang Sen, with a large caption below: "Number one handsome man Tang Sen, who loves otaku girls the most... he is our otaku girl guardian deity..." There was also a detailed introduction and multiple full-body photos of him, all taken at the Imperial Capital University, apparently by otaku girls from the school.

Tang Sen covered his face again.

Sun Wu Kong couldn't read simplified Chinese but could understand the pictures. She pointed at Tang Sen's photo and laughed.

Tang Sen thought: Should I debunk this? Post a message on the website's message board to solemnly declare that he is just an ordinary student? This might debunk the myth, but... if he does this, no otaku girls will worship him, and he won't be able to gain divine power. How will he deal with the incoming heavenly soldiers and generals?

No, he can't debunk it now. Even if it means deceiving these otaku girls, he must keep the title of otaku girl guardian deity.

Tang Sen hesitated for a while and then noticed a wish board on the website. The website had only been set up a few days ago, and the click rate was still low. There weren't many wishes on the board. He glanced over and saw only a dozen or so.

He read the first wish: "I'm an otaku girl from a single-parent family, living with my father... tomorrow is my father's birthday, and I want to cook him a delicious meal, but I don't know how to cook! Great Otaku Girl Guardian Deity, if you see this, can you teach me how to cook a few delicious dishes? My QQ number is: XXXXXX. Please contact me."

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Naked and spinning 360 degrees in the icy and snowy landscape, I beg for recommendations, member clicks, and favorites.

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