Dude, my main account is Chaos God?

A city of order.

The area where the inner city and the outer city meet.

Here, there is neither the chaos and filth of the outer city nor the strictness and luxury of the inner city's core area. It is like a blurred buffer zone where order and chaos blend together.

An unassuming beige building sits here.

It belongs to the Church of the Goddess of Life and is called the House of First Healing.

The interior walls of the building are painted in soft, warm colors, and there are carefully placed potted plants and vines everywhere.

However, upon closer inspection, one will find that the seemingly vibrant plants all have leaves with an unnatural curl at the edges.

These are plants that have been 'shaped'.

A strange scent filled the air, a mixture of the fragrance of grass and trees, and a faint, almost imperceptible...

A sense of corruption.

The room was very soundproof, but occasionally one could still catch a faint, suppressed sob coming from deep within another room.

Or it could be intermittent, incoherent ramblings.

However, these voices are always fleeting, quickly replaced by complete silence.

Here.

It is a specialized institution for dealing with the aftereffects of the Enlightenment.

When those hopeful children receive God's gift for the first time, they suffer mental breakdowns, physical deformities, or fall into self-doubt because they cannot bear the distorted price.

The Home for First Healers is their first stop, and often their last.

Of course, in some cases, elderly believers who have become mentally unstable due to fighting or other reasons are also sent here for treatment.

A middle-aged man walked out of a quiet room and gently closed the door.

His face was gentle, with a compassionate smile on his lips.

This is the price he pays for being a believer in the goddess of life—empathy.

He can clearly feel the pain of others and transfer some of it onto himself in order to comfort them.

This divine gift cost him his left arm.

The arm was completely woody, its skin a withered, grayish-brown color, stiff and cold.

At the same time, the smile on his face was fixed; no matter how grief-stricken he was inside, he had to maintain this expression.

This made him look both sacred and strangely eerie.

"Rich and noble child."

A slightly tired woman's voice came from behind him, "The batch of students for the Faith Enlightenment will be sent over soon. It'll be a busy day. Why don't you send the one inside back first and have him come back tomorrow?"

The middle-aged man turned around helplessly and looked at the woman who came out of the room.

Her name is Aqin. She is also a believer in the Goddess of Life, and is also his assistant and partner.

"Aqin, how many times have I told you, when there are guests, please call me by my believer's name—Abel."

Aqin's hands were still stained with some dark red blood, and she impatiently shook them off.

A few drops of blood fell on the cold floor, and in an instant, defying the laws of nature, a tender green blade of grass sprouted.

However, the green grass only showed a fleeting moment of vitality before quickly withering and turning to ashes.

"You're sick in the head." Ah Qin curled her lip and retorted without any politeness, "Why do you have to use a Western name? What are you trying to prove?"

"I inherited my teacher's name as a follower."

Abel shook his head helplessly; he was already used to Aqin's sharp tongue.

"Tch, you just don't like the sound of your real name, Li Fugui."

The woman rolled her eyes, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.

Abel, or rather Li Fugui, fell silent.

He couldn't refute it, because that was indeed one of the reasons.

In this distorted world, a sacred name can at least bring some illusory comfort.

Seeing his silence, Aqin's expression also softened. She glanced towards the quiet room and lowered her voice:

"The situation with the person inside isn't so easy to resolve."

"Two-thirds of his body has been mechanized, and many of the neurons in his brain have been replaced."

"Most importantly, he betrayed the faith of the God of Machines, and the Cyber ​​people won't let this go easily."

"If we continue to take him in, we'll probably get into big trouble."

"But we can't give up on him." Beneath Abel's unwavering smile, his eyes revealed a resolute determination.

"If the teacher were still alive, he would never abandon any soul seeking refuge. Salvation is the first principle engraved in our doctrine."

He paused, then sighed:

"This child has simply trusted the wrong god... The blessings of the god of all machines are never so easy to bear."

"Cold steel will gradually replace warm flesh and blood, and eventually even thought will turn into precise code."

"Now that things have come to this, all we can do is try our best to soothe his broken spirit and allow him to at least live like a human being."

Abel turned to Aqin, his face filled with even deeper sorrow:

"Aqin, get ready. The students who just finished their faith enlightenment will be sent back soon. I wonder how many of them will go crazy this time. We'll be busy."

"You know that too?" Ah Qin sighed, her voice filled with helplessness.

She walked to Abel's side and gently stroked his completely woody left arm, her eyes filled with pity and worry.

"Every act of religious enlightenment is like a cruel selection process; at least half of them will go mad, right?"

"After all, yesterday he was a normal, lively person, and today he's either rotting and oozing pus all over his body, or his body has been sewn into a doll, or he's grown dozens of eyes... How could those teenagers possibly withstand such an impact?"

Her fingers slowly moved upwards along Abel's withered, tree-like arm, resting on his warm shoulder.

"But how long can you hold on? You keep absorbing the pain of others, and your body is constantly being assimilated by faith."

"The ultimate destiny of every believer in the goddess of life is either to become an immovable tree of life or to transform into a pool of unconscious spring of life."

"Fugui'er, tell me, does all of this... really make sense?"

"Watch your words!" Abel's expression changed slightly, and he immediately made a shushing gesture, glancing warily at the ceiling.

He lowered his voice and said seriously:

"Ah Qin, do not doubt the gods!"

-----------------

Before long, the appointed time arrived.

The door to the newly healed house was pushed open, and a commotion rippled in.

Abel and Aqin quickly composed themselves and prepared to greet today's "patient".

However, when the thirty young men were brought in, Abel immediately sensed something was wrong.

The atmosphere is really off.

In the past, every newcomer sent here was in a terrible state.

He was either being supported by his companions, his face ashen, and his expression dazed.

They were either bound by specially made restraints, rolling and screaming on the ground, looking like madmen.

Even worse, their bodies have undergone irreversible and terrifying mutations, emitting a nauseating odor.

But these children in front of me...

They were all in high spirits, heads held high and chests out.

They were even excitedly whispering and discussing their newly acquired abilities.

That appearance suggested that he had just experienced a brutal spiritual awakening.

Or perhaps they were a group of students who had just returned from a spring outing?