Chapter 00003: A Strange Religion
# A Strange Religion
Chapter 3
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 3 – A Strange Religion
Demon Lord Calendar, Year 648, Late March.
Time: 5:30 in the afternoon.
Princess Viola was kneeling in prayer, surrounded by all her Royal Guards.
This place that looked like a church was originally the audience hall inside the castle.
There wasn’t even a statue of any deity for them to worship—only an empty throne before which they bowed down.
Everyone here had personally witnessed that divine miracle.
That overwhelming power was not of this mortal world.
Viola knew—her prayers had already been heard by the Lord Demon God.
And so, she decided to cling tightly to this last lifeline.
Without any delay after the battle, she rushed here to offer her prayers.
She knelt and repeated prayers praising the Demon God, bowing and prostrating with each chant.
After one bow, she noticed that the clay tablet placed on the throne now had a distinct indentation, and joy immediately surged in her heart.
"My Royal Guards!"
Viola stood up and held up the clay tablet high for all to see the clear handprint upon it.
"The existence of the Demon God has always been regarded as legend—but from now on, it ends as legend. He has responded to us!"
The Royal Guards all looked up and stared at the handprint that previously had not been on the tablet, gasping in amazement.
"We shall take this as our holy emblem, and carry out the will of the Demon God. With His protection, we shall be invincible!"
"Oooooooohhh!!"
A thunderous cheer erupted in the audience chamber.
Viola held the clay tablet high and declared:
"I shall assume the role of the first Archbishop, and will spread the teachings of the Lord in His stead! The forgotten glory of the Demon God shall be reforged by our own hands! The fall of those despicable invaders is close at hand! Rejoice!"
Thus, a strange religion was born out of nowhere...
— — — — — —
"Boss, give me a pack of Yuxi."
From behind the counter, Li Chengxi grabbed a pack of cigarettes from the shelf without even checking if the customer scanned the QR code to pay.
His eyes were glued to his laptop screen.
It was weird—seriously weird.
Last night, Li Chengxi had tried to delete the game files, but no matter how thoroughly he searched, he couldn’t even find where the game was installed.
It was like it only existed as that one icon on the desktop.
Even deleting the icon didn’t work.
Whether he permanently deleted it or just dragged it to the Recycle Bin, it would reappear the very next moment like nothing happened.
That email which had supposedly granted him access to this beta test had vanished without a trace.
He’d turned his QQ mailbox inside out looking for a clue—but nothing.
He even tried breaking the laptop itself, but that didn’t work either.
He dumped it in water—no short-circuit.
Tried smashing it with a hammer—no scratch.
Heck, he even tossed it in a microwave for a few spins.
Still came out perfectly fine.
Since it’s here anyway, might as well make peace with it.
With no other options, Li Chengxi figured he might as well keep watching to see what this was all about.
The game had a day-and-night cycle, though it seemed to be a few hours off from real time.
He watched those chibi soldiers tidy up the corpses outside the city, then saw the little pixel people in the city streets return to their homes one by one.
The screen gradually dimmed—it was now night in-game.
And after that…
After that, sleepiness overtook him, and he dozed off.
The next morning, after opening up the shop, he placed the laptop beside the counter and kept an eye on it.
"Mr. Li Chengxi? Here's your delivery."
His original mouse had already kicked the bucket.
Last night, Li ordered a new one and now quickly opened the package and plugged it in.
He moved the mouse and clicked on the map icon at the bottom.
The map was mostly black, with only a small circular area in the top-left corner illuminated.
Using the scroll wheel, he could zoom in and out for more detail, but the blackened areas were still completely blank.
Exiting the map, Li Chengxi clicked on the ‘Palace District.’
By now, morning had arrived in-game.
He saw the same chibi pixel people still kneeling and praying at that church-like place—though it seemed like there were a few more than yesterday.
Li Chengxi had spent the whole night watching, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t done anything.
He discovered that he could freely switch the camera view using the mouse, and that if he touched the screen with his hand, he’d be pulled into the game.
But each time he got pulled into the game, it cost him Faith Points—displayed on the left side of the screen.
At the beginning, there’d been around 500. Now there were only single digits left.
Thankfully, they seemed to be rising bit by bit again.
When the Faith Points dropped too low, touching the screen simply became a normal action—it wouldn’t suck him in anymore.
He still hadn’t figured out exactly what actions consumed how many points.
But a whole night had passed, and the Faith Points were still under 10. So for now, even if he touched the screen, he wouldn’t be dragged in.
He used the mouse to click on the red-colored character who had led the prayer.
This time, the character art that popped up was a kneeling Princess Viola in prayer.
And a dialogue box showed up:
"Demon God, please guide your faithful followers. What should we do now?"
How the heck was he supposed to know what to do?
He opened the map again and clicked on one of the black, unopened areas.
He wanted the in-game people to explore the unknown regions, but nothing happened.
He closed the map and stared at the dialogue box in front of Princess Viola's character.
He tried typing something on the keyboard.
But it didn’t work.
The input method wouldn't even pop up.
"Maybe… I can talk to the NPCs using a microphone?"
The NPCs all talked in text, but since Li Chengxi couldn't type, maybe audio input could work.
Only problem was—he didn’t have a mic.
Just as he glanced sideways, he noticed some tiny letters on the side of the laptop: ‘MIC’.
That's when he remembered—his ultrabook actually had a built-in microphone.
He had just never used it before.
So, turning toward the side of the screen, he said:
“Send some people to scout the area—damn! The mic’s clogged!”
Because of how old the laptop was, the mic had long since been sealed up with dust.
Li Chengxi had no choice but to pull out his phone and order a new mic from an online store.
— — — — — —
Now out of her armor and dressed in loose robes that resembled priestly garb, Viola led her Royal Guards in their morning prayers.
Though she'd declared the establishment of the Demon God Church, they had no scriptures to follow.
And besides, Viola’s current situation was quite perilous.
Hiding away in a remote domain might buy her some time, but not forever.
Once a carefree princess, Viola suddenly lost her father, her elder brother, and her kingdom—all gone.
She was filled with uncertainty.
That was why, in her prayers, she hoped the Demon God would show her the way forward.
As the sun rose higher, Viola stood up, ending that day's morning prayer session.
“Your Highness, did the Demon God respond to you?”
As soon as she stood, her Royal Guards swarmed around her.
Viola calmly nodded.
“Perhaps... we are still not devout enough, so I can't fully hear the Demon God’s voice. I only caught one word.”
“What was it?”
With a calm gaze and righteous breath drawn into her dantian, Viola summoned a deep and resonant tone to utter a single word:
“Gan!”
The sound echoed through the audience chamber, the syllable ringing out over and over.
The guards stared at each other in confusion.
“Your Highness, um… what does that mean?”
“I’m not sure. But since it came from the mouth of the Demon God, I believe it must carry profound meaning.”
Hearing this, the guards nodded in agreement.
After all, the ways of gods are not for mortals to easily comprehend.
“Therefore, I propose—we adopt ‘Gan!’ as our sacred prayer chant.”
“Her Highness speaks true!”
“Yes! We must spread the holy word of the Demon God to more people!”
Soon, the audience chamber was filled with the echoing chants of ‘Gan!’, repeated over and over, startling the pigeons from the roof above.
The strange religion had grown even stranger...
(End of Chapter)