There's such a tactic?
Seeing Li Ang montarily stunned, Chaichai said proudly, "During the Swarm's expansion, it will inevitably collect and plunder large amounts of biomatter. But this doesn't conflict with Chai's Revelation—the Swarm's mission is to spread biomatter and the doctrine and benevolence of the Lord of Flesh and Swamp to the outside world.
"Anything in its path, whether wild creatures or intelligent civilizations, can be considered an enemy obstructing the grand endeavor of transforming the world into an Eden Garden, thereby automatically forfeiting all rights. The entire scripture's tenets are quite flexible.
"Moreover, you've installed nurous loyalty-detection organs in the Brain Worms. When conducting ritual tracks, if a Brain Worm internally rejects Chai's teachings and harbors resistance or disgust, its body will emit an abnormal pheromone. It will then be discovered by the Bug Nest Tribunal, captured, and executed.
"Through these asures, every Brain Worm becos an absolutely loyal and devout creation, imbued with a spirit of sacrifice and dedication. Rebellion is highly unlikely. Perhaps more safeguards and restrictions will be needed in the future, but for now, this should suffice for releasing them into the ocean."
Li Ang listened quietly to Chaichai's lengthy explanation and nodded in approval. "Not bad. Go ahead with it."
"Mhm."
Overjoyed, Chaichai hugged the scripture, turned, and skipped towards the Temple in the Breeding Box.
Watching her receding figure, Li Ang felt an inexplicable sense of gratification, much like coming ho from work to find his usually lazy Shiba Inu suddenly wearing an apron and busying itself with housework.
Over the next few days, Li Ang shuttled between the Ga Square and the Breeding Box. He bought dozens of container units of soil, tal, and biomatter from a mule to fill the Breeding Box. He also purchased a large number of mammal carcasses, extracted their brains, and converted them into Brain Worms.
The number of Brain Worms continued to grow, soon exceeding three hundred and providing Li Ang with over two hundred points of Power of Faith daily.
However, problems soon followed. A large number of Brain Worms devoutly chanted the na of the Lord of Flesh and Swamp. This brought Li Ang Power of Faith, but also flooded his mind with countless information fragnts. His Sanity Value would decrease even when he was standing still.
Consequently, Li Ang had to allocate his two remaining unassigned attribute points to Perception and Intelligence, raising his maximum Sanity Value to 700 points to mitigate the strain.
He estimated that the maximum number of Brain Worms he could manage was around five hundred. Any more than that, and his own mind would be overwheld by the cacophony of prayers from the faithful, rendering him unable to perfectly monitor and control the Swarm.
Being a nascent deity... isn't so easy.
"Current Swamp God Power charge: 1,000/1,000."
Standing in the Alchemy Workshop, Li Ang muttered to himself, "It's ti."
He pulled a square sheet of plastic film from the void and casually tossed it out. The film drifted down, slowly unfurling on the ground.
THUD!
A wheel-sized lump of clay plumted from mid-air, landing in the center of the film. Li Ang took a deep breath, stepped forward, and pressed his hand onto the Evil God Handicraft Clay.
The Divine Mark on the back of his hand glowed brightly as strands of Divine Power were drawn from his body, slowly infusing into the exceptionally firm clay, gradually altering its form.
The entire process was far more arduous than he had imagined. The Divine Power he had accumulated over several days depleted rapidly, as if gushing from a severed artery. Large black spots swam before his eyes, and amidst the roaring tinnitus, a multitude of faint, rustling sounds erged—as if thousands of chilling voices were whispering all around him. A prickling sensation of being watched crawled up the back of his neck. His Sanity Value plumted, the decrease visibly rapid.
Fortunately, due to his extensive experience with the Origin of Life and Alchemy, Li Ang was well-versed in manipulating material structures. He finally managed to complete the sculpture just before his Sanity Value dipped below one hundred.
"Phew..."
Li Ang took half a step back. Looking at the figurine on the plastic film, he heaved a long sigh of relief.
The clay, originally tire-sized, had been sculpted into a half-ter-tall humanoid figurine. It wore a plain white lab coat, its left arm crossed in front to support the right elbow, while the right hand cupped its chin, as if contemplating sothing or gazing into the distance. And the figurine's face was none other than Li Ang's own.
The Special Effect of the Evil God Handicraft Clay required the clay to be shaped into the likeness of a divine being, with a note hinting that it might connect to the wrong deity. To prevent any disastrous errors, Li Ang had sculpted the clay into his own likeness, without adding embellishnts like the Dragon Head Mask. It would have been quite embarrassing if the clay's Special Effect had erred and connected to the Dongshan God—a deity with a dragon's head and human body from the Shanhai Classics.
Beneath that unremarkable face, there's a cleverly hidden hint of handsoness and charm. Within the cool expression, a touch of profundity and lancholy is revealed. A walking David, a descended Angel. Perhaps this is . The more I look, the more captivating it becos.
Li Ang nodded at his dium-sized figurine, then stood still for a mont to let his Sanity Value recover slightly. Then, following a subtle prompting in his mind, he took half a step forward and gently touched the figurine's surface with his index finger, projecting his consciousness into it.
THUMP!
His heart lurched violently. Li Ang felt a part of his consciousness being stretched, elongated, and extended infinitely. The scene before him twisted and warped. His thought processes seed to slow imnsely, and he gradually lost all sense of ti and space.
The sensation was fleeting. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself above an "ocean."
This "ocean" consisted of dense, viscous, and finely textured gray clouds. They churned with an extre slowness, flowing sluggishly. Corresponding to this "ocean" was a deathly still, somber gray sky, where identical clouds drifted. The entire world was devoid of sound and showed no trace of living beings.
Li Ang floated alone, his dulled mind gradually recalling his mories.
Is this the inner world of the figurine? He looked around. Strange, how do I get out of here? According to the item description, I should be able to directly contact the divine entity whose likeness the figurine bears—which is myself...
The instant the thought of contacting himself arose, the entire ocean of gray clouds began to roil violently. Li Ang felt a howling Gale surge from beneath, lifting him high into the sky. When he regained his senses, he had already soared above the cloud layer.
Before him stood a colossal, magnificent statue—precisely the one he had just carved.
So, this is it?
Li Ang gazed up at the mountain-like, motionless statue and took a deep breath. He then silently intoned, Hello? Lord of Flesh and Swamp, are you there?
The next second, a faint voice echoed in Li Ang's ears:
"Hello? Lord of Flesh and Swamp, are you there?"
He had heard the prayer of a believer—his own voice.
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