Evil God? My servants are players!

Seeing the monster turn to ashes, Shen Yuan withdrew his attack.

The suddenly appearing cylinder was not Shen Yuan's tentacle, but merely a method of ranged attack.

According to Shen Yuan's calculations, this kind of attack was the most economical and effective.

After all, the monster was a product of the combination of the polluted core (pseudo), emotional energy, and the Earl's accidental combination.

There is still a portion of Shen Yuan's power in it. The purpose of the cylinder is to mobilize this power to directly annihilate other matter.

This significantly reduces the cost of long-range strikes. In addition, the combination of multiple rituals and hyacinths further reduces the cost of long-range strikes to an outrageous level.

Roughly speaking, hyacinths reduce the cost by 10% for a fixed amount, several rituals combined reduce the cost by 20%, and the power of mutual annihilation reduces the cost by 50%.

In summary, Shen Yuan only used 20% of his existence points to eliminate the troublesome monster.

Although this used up half of Shen Yuan's inventory.

Shen Yuan looked at his wallet with some worry:

[Existence Points: 960,000] (Two million existence points are needed to break the fourth layer of the seal)

That's right, 960,000, even after spending half of it. The events in Hamlet Town caused Shen Yuan's emotional energy to explode.

The consequences were obvious: Hamlet was half-destroyed, the number of ordinary townspeople decreased by a third, and countless refugees perished in the slums.

The top leadership is almost entirely dead, and all kinds of organizations and government agencies are paralyzed and at a standstill.

It's fair to say the entire town is finished.

But how to put it, although Shen Yuan did not deliberately plan it, in fact, this situation actually suited Shen Yuan's wishes.

After all, a half-ruined town is much easier to manage than a well-functioning one.

Although Veronica is still alive, the bureaucratic system of Hamlet Town is now defunct, and she has no control over the town.

However, Shen Yuan did not intend to actually sideline or seize power from Veronica, since a small border town meant nothing to him.

Shen Yuan is not a worldly lord who needs people, land, and resources; he only needs the townspeople to provide him with emotional energy over a long period of time.

But there's a lot to say about how to provide emotional energy.

While religion and faith are a good option, it may be too early to start missionary work now.

Shen Yuan has not yet systematically understood the political situation on the surface, although he can roughly deduce that it is now the end of the empire.

But Shen Yuan didn't know what kind of empire's end was being depicted in this copy, whether it was a case of divine right replacing royal power, the rise of heroes in various regions, or an invasion by natural disasters.

Therefore, Shen Yuan planned to first collect emotional energy through some gentle means, such as entertainment.

Shen Yuan planned to leverage the players' initiative and let them stir up emotional fluctuations among the natives.

For example, writing books and operas, becoming an actor and singer.

When the time is right, we will begin to formally proselytize, since compared to faith, these entertainment-related things are basically a one-off deal.

I've read, seen, and heard it, and then I forget almost everything.

Religion is different; it can entangle a person for a lifetime, and even into the next life, that is, their children.

When a person begins to have a devout faith, Shen Yuan can also obtain a continuous source of energy from it.

But running an entertainment industry isn't so easy.

First, Shen Yuan doubted whether the players could actually do this well. After all, compared to popular singers, the players would most likely become abstract bloggers who bite lighters when they have nothing to do.

Moreover, most players may not be interested in this gameplay, since most of them are here for the thrill of combat.

Even if Shen Yuan chooses to increase rewards to get players to work, it would be counterproductive if the rewards he distributes exceed the emotional energy collected by the players.

In the end, only a small number of players may choose this approach, so proselytizing is still a more reliable option.

Secondly, the review process is also a major headache. After all, if players are given complete creative freedom, who knows what they might come up with?

Furthermore, if Shen Yuan really intends to get into the entertainment industry, using a pseudonym is something he can't escape.

If players continue to commit crimes while disguised as undead, the directionality of emotional energy will become less effective, resulting in a reduction in the amount of emotional energy Shen Yuan receives.

Fortunately, Shen Yuan was prepared for these things. The mission to rescue Veronica was not just to have more combat power; her identity was far more important than her fighting ability.

For example, we could use her words to create a plausible alternate account for the players, such as:

As is widely known, the Earl of Hamlet performed an evil ritual that caused many townspeople in Hamlet to undergo physical mutations.

Some of the townspeople in Hamlet have undergone particularly severe mutations, and even just looking at them is enough to instill fear.

Moreover, under the influence of the anomaly, the minds of these townspeople have become strange, and they often speak incoherently.

This excuse can relatively perfectly solve the problem of players using multiple accounts.

Finally, there's the issue of the players' appearance.

If mimicry is enabled, it will affect the collection of emotional energy. But if the mimicry skill is turned off and the players' true appearance is revealed, how many people do you think would still be able to stand it?

Although recreational activities such as writing do not involve physical appearance.

However, this kind of entertainment is too poorly targeted and won't bring much emotional energy, unless the article is specifically about Shen Yuan.

However, these are all Shen Yuan's ideas for the future development. Right now, he still needs to deal with the aftermath of Hamlet Town.

Another issue is dealing with the impact of this incident, and preventing powerful forces from noticing this place.

------

After the Count's mutated monster turned to ashes, all the Chaos Eggs automatically burst open.

Some Chaos Eggs had already begun to form new twisted creatures within them. Fortunately, the situation was dealt with in time, otherwise these Chaos Eggs might have really spread rampantly.

The crowd, still reeling from the shock, took a moment to react.

"Is this a victory?!" Sasha murmured, putting down her bow.

"Yes, we won." That was the soldier's response.

"But what just happened? Why did the monster suddenly turn to ashes?"

It seems Sasha did not retain the memory of when she looked at the mysterious cylinder.

"I don't know either. When I came to my senses, the monster had turned to ashes, just like when I had lost consciousness."

The thief covered his head in response, seemingly distressed by the loss of his memory.

"Yes~" The pastor spat out his saliva as soon as he spoke.

"What's wrong with you?" The pastor's appearance left everyone completely baffled.

"I don't know, it's like looking at a delicious meal for ages but not getting a single bite—my mouth is full of saliva!"

When asked by his teammates, the pastor simply shared his feelings.

After all, they'd known each other for so long, and the pastor's shameful deeds had already made her lose face; there was no need to hide it anymore.

Even after she explained it, no one understood what was going on.

Just then, Veronica arrived. Seeing everyone unharmed, she said:

"So everyone's alright? That's great."