MC Creative Mode: Wholesale Perpetual Motion Machine

Chapter 294 Demanding a Silence and Different Perspectives
The first snow of late autumn quietly arrived, covering the entire mountainside in silver, and the world was a tranquil white.

However, outside the cold, the home of Zhang Kun, the shaman of Tuanjie Village, was a scene of bustling activity.

Upon learning that their daughter had almost been eaten by the cat-faced old woman, Zhang Kun's sister and brother-in-law rushed back from the city overnight and are currently extremely busy.

Zhang Kun's brother-in-law and his father were busy in the yard, slaughtering chickens and sheep; his sister and mother-in-law were inside, busily preparing today's main dishes.

Before long, the aroma of the food wafted out of the house along with the rising steam.

Sitting on the warm kang (a heated brick bed), Zhang Kun, who was doing nothing and not helping out, teased his niece in his arms, smelled the fragrance, and looked up at the white expanse outside the window.

He took a piece of milk candy out of his pocket and handed it to the girl in his arms: "Little girl, go to the village entrance and call your big brother, come eat."

"Oh!" The little girl happily put the candy in her mouth, gave a sweet reply, and then skipped and jumped out of the door.

"Big brother, time to eat..." At the entrance of Tuanjie Village, a little girl who had just turned three was still clutching an unfinished candied hawthorn in her hand. She was smacking her lips as she called out in a childish voice to a blurry, distorted figure in the distance.

……

"Big brother, dinner's ready..."

"Big brother, dinner's ready..."

The dull and hollow sound, like theatrical singing, rang out simultaneously from all directions, echoing in the snow.

Standing in the snow outside the village entrance, Fang Zheng turned his head and his gaze fell on the thing that kept waving at him.

That thing wasn't a person; it was more like a strange doll dressed in bright red and purple paper clothes, with a frighteningly pale face and glaringly bright blush on its cheeks—it looked exactly like a paper doll.

Its scarlet mouth remained closed; it simply stared intently at Fang Zheng with its dull, empty eyes.

As the repeated shouts continued, Fang Zheng watched in disbelief as the once pristine white snowfield gradually transformed into a ground covered with countless pale incense ash and paper money.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw many twisted and strange shadows writhing at the edge, approaching him step by step. But as soon as he turned his gaze, those shadows vanished without a trace.

An indescribable sense of fear, originating from the deepest part of the human heart, makes one almost lose control and scream as they run away.

Of course, only a person would be so afraid. Fang Zheng ignored the strange "paper doll" and instead turned his attention back to the dilapidated and small earth god temple in front of him.

This is a strange thing that he stumbled upon while he was out for a stroll.

Fang Zheng, who originally planned to leave the village for a stroll, or even take a walk in the starry sky, found that he could not leave the village normally.

The entire village became a closed, independent collective system, and there was no such thing as an "outside" except for the village itself.

After walking around the village, he noticed that a non-existent earth god temple had suddenly appeared at the previously empty village entrance, blocking the main road.

Upon closer inspection, there were no clay statues of the Earth God or Earth Goddess in the temple, only a pile of messy incense and candles surrounding a small, dried-up weasel carcass.

It looks like a large, drained rat, not very big, even smaller than an average house cat.

Its entire body was extremely shriveled, its skin clung tightly to its bones, and its fur was a dark brown color.

Its thin, long tail had almost all its fur gone, leaving only a bare, curved tailbone, like a withered twig. Its mouth was pointed, with teeth faintly visible, and the areas around its eyes and nose had sunken in, forming two black holes.

Its body was covered with a layer of dry, hard skin, and its posture was forced into a cross-legged sitting position similar to that of a Taoist priest or a Buddhist monk.

Up close, Fang Zheng could smell a nauseating stench, a mixture of musty and animal odors.

"Do I look like a god or a man to you...?"

A faint, intangible, and indescribable sound suddenly entered Fang Zheng's ears.

The originally eerie weasel corpse now had two distinct, lifelike human eyes that had somehow squeezed into its two shriveled, dark eye sockets, staring straight at Fang Zheng through the gaps in the eye sockets.

Fang Zheng looked at those strange eyes with curiosity and asked, "Are you asking for a hush money?"

He remembered that the human Fang Zheng had read in some ghost stories that spirits like the weasel would dress up and find a lucky person to ask for a blessing after they had cultivated to a certain level.

If you say it's like a god, it can become an immortal; if you say it's like a human, it can transform into human form.

However, those who are challenged to be granted titles often come to a bad end, either suffering severe damage to their vitality or having their luck cut off, turning from lucky ones into unlucky ones.

Fang Zheng was quite curious. What benefits could this weasel-like creature possibly gain from asking him for a title?
He was quite curious, so he casually replied, "You look like a god to me."

"Hehehe..." An uncontrollable, chilling laugh erupted.

As Fang Zheng answered, time seemed to accelerate.

The dilapidated and small earth god temple began to grow wildly, and in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a magnificent and splendid celestial palace.

The twisted, mummified weasel carcass grew and expanded endlessly, transforming into a colossal shadow that reached the heavens and the earth, as if it had truly become a god who created the world.

At this moment, Fang Zheng found himself inexplicably standing in front of a huge white jade door, so large that he could not see its entirety.

The enormous, distorted shadow stared at him, letting out a deafening roar: "Bold mortal! How dare you trespass into the Heavenly Palace! According to the law, you shall be executed!"

In that majestic voice, as powerful as the heavens, the entire world seemed to compress towards him, transforming into ferocious fangs, as if to instantly bite and devour him.

Fang Zheng didn't care about this at all. While being devoured, he curiously looked around before slowly reaching out his hand to grab the huge shadow.

As his fingertips touched it, the void seemed to twist and tremble violently, as if a stone had been thrown into the water.

The palace, which was still expanding endlessly at this moment, seemed to be even more enormous than the entire starry sky and the vast universe. Yet, it was now being grasped by Fang Zheng with what appeared to be a casual grab, and began to collapse inch by inch.

The enormous figure, whose full form could not be discerned, was relentlessly twisted and compressed amidst its constant roars and screams, ultimately transforming into an indescribable point that flickered with chaotic light.

Fang Zheng looked down at his palm, as if analyzing the chaotic, bizarre, and unsystematic "power" contained within this point.

He slightly bent his finger and gently crushed it, and the point shattered silently and vanished without a trace. "Hmm, the strength is not bad."

“However…” He looked up and saw that the dilapidated earth temple still stood there, but the strange weasel corpse from before had disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed.

Fang Zheng tilted his head, pondered for a moment, and then his body began to shrink, turning into a wisp of smoke. He drifted into the earth god temple and sat steadily on the altar where the dried corpse had just been sitting.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, everything before him had been turned upside down.

The simple everyday clothes he used to wear were gone, replaced by a magnificent robe that was exquisite and dazzling.

Her exposed skin was smooth as jade, fair and translucent, and her face was so exquisitely beautiful that she seemed almost otherworldly, like a celestial being from mythology who lived on dew and wind.

The once dilapidated earth temple, made of mud bricks and tiles, has now been transformed into a magnificent and towering temple.

Outside the temple, on the vast and boundless land, countless figures of people and strange beasts were prostrating themselves with each step, trekking from all directions, just to worship the gods in this temple.

Fang Zheng, seated in the temple, raised his head. His gaze seemed to pierce through the clouds, through layers of barriers between heaven and earth, revealing a palace complex of unimaginable size above. Countless shadows, some humanoid and some inhuman, sat within it. He then turned his gaze toward the temple gate, trying to pinpoint the location of Tuanjie Village, but saw only a scene as tiny as an anthill.

“So that’s how it is… Different locations and different angles produce drastically different views…” At the top of the temple, the breathtakingly beautiful deity murmured to herself, then rose and slowly walked out.

His figure split as he moved, turning into two identical human figures.

Stepping out of the temple, Fang Zheng sensed the changes in the world around him and actively reversed the direction of the other "projection" that had just been extended, according to the corresponding changes.

When he stepped out of the earth god temple again, he still maintained his deity posture and turned around to look at "another self" who was still sitting on the throne.

However, what came into view was only a filthy, ugly, and foul-smelling mummified weasel carcass.

Inside the temple, the beautiful, ethereal deity watched as "herself" walked towards the tiny, ant-hole-like Tuanjie Village, gradually transforming into an empty, distorted, indescribable humanoid silhouette.

“Interesting…” the figure in the temple murmured, “This seems somewhat similar to the observer effect? ​​The world that everyone sees, the world seen from every different angle, seems to be…not quite the same.”

He shook his head, stopped thinking about it, stood up, and in one step crossed the seemingly endless spatial distance, drifting straight towards the unreachable palace complex in the sky.

……

Outside the earth god temple, Fang Zheng, standing like a deity, cast his gaze toward the strange doll in the distance that looked like a lifeless paper effigy.

His body swayed, his posture twisted and changed again, returning to the normal way he used to look.

As he regained his composure, the scene before him began to fluctuate.

Not far from the village entrance, the strange paper doll also twisted and shrank, turning back into a soft and cute little girl who looked about three or four years old.

The little guy, still chewing on a milk candy, mumbled, "Big brother, time to eat..."

"Oh, I'm coming right away!" Fang Zheng waved with a smile, and seeing her standing there waiting, he walked towards her with light steps.

"I want candy..." The little girl tugged at Fang Zheng's clothes and reached into his pocket as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Fang Zheng just smiled, flicked his finger, and conjured a piece of candy, stuffing it into her mouth.

As he led the child back, Fang Zheng couldn't help but turn his head to look at the direction of the village entrance.

When they returned to the village, the earth god temple that had stood at the village entrance was nowhere to be found, leaving only a lifeless ruin that seemed to have been abandoned for many years.

Different perspectives reveal drastically different scenes.

Is this an intersection of parallel worlds? A branching of history? Or something else entirely...?

Who knows...

Back inside, the warmth dispelled the chill from the outside.

Zhang Kun greeted him warmly and insisted on stuffing a bowl of steaming, oily mutton offal soup into Fang Zheng's hands.

"Little Fangzheng, come and have a taste! My sister and brother-in-law used to be chefs in a big restaurant in the city, and their skills are absolutely authentic!" Zhang Kun shoved another bowl into Fangzheng's hands. There wasn't a single grain of rice in it; it was full of large chunks of hand-pulled mutton.

Freshly slaughtered and simply boiled in water, with minimal seasoning, preserving the original flavor of the lamb. Eat it by hand, tearing it apart and dipping it in a little salt or simple seasoning. The meat is tender yet firm, making it irresistible.

To be honest, Fang Zheng hadn't had a proper meal in his human form for a long time, so he was quite happy eating. He chewed it down in a few bites, not even having to spit out the bones.

At the dinner table, Zhang Kun glanced at Fang Zheng with some surprise and muttered, "The little guy has pretty good teeth."

He himself was equally unreserved, his bear-like body crowding in front of the table, chewing heartily.

After finishing the hand-pulled mutton, we immediately started eating hot pot.

In the extremely cold Northeast, where winters are bitterly cold, it's no joke that water freezes instantly when splashed. To combat the frigid temperatures, one must consume enough calories.

A steaming hot pot is an excellent choice.

Lamb slices are an important ingredient in hot pot, and the key is to make them "thin, even, fresh, and tender". The soup base can be clear broth, sauerkraut soup, or pork bone broth, and the dipping sauces are also a matter of personal preference. However, lamb is cooked very quickly in the boiling soup, and its tender texture makes it an excellent dish to warm the body in winter.

A short while later, after finishing lunch, Fang Zheng looked at Zhang Kun, who was gulping down Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) by the window, and casually asked, "Do you know the local earth god temple at the entrance of your village?"

"Huh?" Zhang Kun stopped what he was doing and looked at Fang Zheng with suspicion: "The village's earth god temple... you actually know about that thing?"

He explained that about 50 years ago, in Tuanjie Village, an elderly widow was possessed by some evil spirit in a dream. She used her savings to build a small earth god temple at the entrance of the village, but there was no statue of the earth god. She offered incense and candles to the empty earth god temple day and night.

Then one morning, the villagers realized that the old woman hadn't appeared for several days. After searching together, they found her sitting cross-legged in the local temple, her face emaciated, as if she had starved to death. Her body had been gnawed on by something, and blood was everywhere.

The villagers felt it was unlucky, so they demolished the land god temple. However, the next day, the temple was restored to its original state.

The villagers continued dismantling, and on the third day, everything was restored to its original state.

Starting from the third day, every three days, someone in the village would disappear in the middle of the night, only to be found dead sitting cross-legged in the local temple the next day, causing widespread panic.

After three people died in succession, the people they called out finally found Zhang Kun's grandfather, who was out performing a religious ceremony.

Grandpa Zhang Kun rushed back and performed a shamanistic ritual to summon the dog spirit. After the earth god temple was demolished, it was not restored to its original state the next day.

While the villagers were cleaning up the ruins, they found a weasel that had been crushed to death in the ruins of the local earth god temple.

"Later..." Zhang Kun smacked his lips, "My grandfather disposed of that thing, taking off its skin and bones to make magical artifacts, and feeding the remaining meat to the hunting dogs that have been passed down through generations in my family."

“But…” Zhang Kun looked at Fang Zheng with suspicion, “Little guy, how do you know about that thing? If my grandpa hadn’t told me, I would have forgotten that there was a local shrine at the entrance of the village. Did you go out for a walk and hear some old man bragging about it?”

With a blink, the square posture instantly transformed into the inhumanly beautiful deity he had just been in.

From this perspective, Zhang Kun, who was just sitting on the kang picking his nose, has turned into a twisted, filthy, skinned dog meat monster. His scarlet dog face has a creepy smile, drool dripping from his deformed mouth, and his eyes are staring straight at Fang Zheng.

With a thought, Fang Zheng switched back to the normal perspective, and the ferocious monster transformed back into a burly man picking his nose.

"It's nothing," Fang Zheng shook his head slightly, his tone indifferent. "I was just asking casually."

……

After picking his nose and taking the last swig of wine, Zhang Kun suddenly perked up, patted Fang Zheng on the shoulder and said, "By the way, Fang Zheng, you were able to beat that cat-faced old lady last time, you must not be an ordinary person, right?"

He leaned closer and lowered his voice, "Besides, you're not in a hurry to find your parents. You've been wandering around outside for so long. People like us, ordinary people might only encounter evil spirits a few times in their entire lives, but we encounter one every few days."

"I got another job this morning. Interested in coming with me? It'll be good to broaden your horizons and gain some experience."

"Oh?" Fang Zheng became interested and tilted his head. "What kind of work?"

Zhang Kun scratched his head, let out a loud burp, and mumbled, "It seems like some evil spirit climbed through the window and ate people in the middle of the night on that old green train nearby?"

(End of this chapter)