It's time to become an evil god.

After calming himself down, the Prime Minister asked softly, "What if I'm not able to persuade them? Aleister is a madman who's the only one who can get away with anything in London, especially with his summoning magic. I've witnessed it firsthand..."

The director of the Endymion Academy abruptly interrupted him, saying, "But he is colluding with his suspected ally, France."

"Fuck!"

The Prime Minister couldn't help but curse. In his eyes, no, even in the eyes of the entire British people, colluding with the enemy France was a more serious matter than Russian espionage.

As for why we're not worried about Russian players?

Because worrying won't help.

The hunter players among the Russians are far more terrifying than the grotesque and monstrous ones from Britain.

Recently, the intelligence department of the Supernatural Bureau learned that Moscow has formed a mind control team, and the player leading this team is a bald man who looks remarkably like Comrade Vladimir, named Yuri...

And then there was this middle-aged man, Daigo Tsukiko, who liked to hold a pipe and looked extremely similar to Comrade Joseph, who was recently canonized by the Orthodox Church. He kept muttering, "I've returned from hell." Wherever he went, smoke and smog filled the air. Behind him followed a large group of Red Army ghosts carrying Mosin-Nagant rifles and PPSh guns, roaming the European continent...

If all of this is true, then King Arthur's daughter is the last hope of the British people.

“Alright, if we find out that the other party is colluding with the enemy, I will handle it officially. If the Dean of Endymion Academy can help us eliminate this traitor, that would be best.”

"It would be best if we could actually convince him."

The other person's voice was deep, with a hint of threat, "Otherwise, I regret to inform you that the feud between Endymion and the Tower Magic Association may have spread to the entire city of London."

"..."

The British Prime Minister took a deep breath of the cold air to calm his mind. To others, he might be the absolute Prime Minister, but in front of players with all sorts of strange items and abilities, he was just as useless as an ordinary person.

After weighing the pros and cons, he, as a politician, nodded solemnly and said, "Then we can speak frankly. The British Royal Family wants to ally with Endymion Academy to break down the Supernatural Bureau, the alliance between Hogwarts and the High Towers Magical Society, regain power, and help us support King Arthur's ascension to the throne."

"Tsk tsk tsk, I didn't expect them to go to such lengths to seize power. Is this considered colluding with foreign powers, inviting wolves into the house, and suppressing the domestic people?"

Bai Ge pursed his lips and whispered, "As a leader, are you the Prime Minister of Great Britain or a paperhanger of the Qing Dynasty?"

Having reached a consensus on their interests, the Dean of Endymion Academy, to show his sincerity, continued, "In that case, I might as well tell you another secret."

"According to ancient cuneiform inscriptions, the game is about to pass its initial stage and begin its first truly high-level player dungeon trial."

"If the timing is correct, this terrifying trial will begin in the next few days. All the top-level players in the world will enter this trial. According to previous records of cuneiform script and various lost civilizations, the pass rate for this player trial is only fifty percent."

Chapter 166 The World Is Changing

This is a supplement to yesterday's missed update, as the author went to a hotel.

Sure enough, a few days later, bizarre and strange events around the world began to increase at an alarming rate, and some bizarre videos even began to circulate widely online.

Even more terrifying cries have been heard from the depths of the Catacombs of Paris, which were previously sealed off due to strange events. The cries continue at night. However, the French Bureau of Investigation, together with other players, conducted an in-depth investigation, but remained tight-lipped about the results. Instead, they claimed to the media that it was a prank, that there were no Tomb Masters, Lords of Cinder, or Fire Keepers. They urged Dark Souls players not to believe in any holy water from the church or holy crosses blessed by Jesus. They warned that insurance companies would not cover accidents caused by reckless behavior when venturing alone into the Catacombs of Paris.

Some people even claimed online that they heard strange scratching sounds coming from Napoleon's coffin inside the Invalides.

A bloody coup occurred in Washington, with the president, his senior team, and his advisors mysteriously disappearing almost overnight. In their place, former President Trump swiftly moved into the White House, declared martial law, and quickly stabilized the chaotic situation.

However, he is completely different now. With his long, curly blond hair, sharp, hawk-like eyes, and his "napkin speech" that rallied the public and made America great again, he became the most popular president in history in a very short time.

Strange phenomena have also occurred at a dilapidated shrine in the Fukushima region of Japan. A broken torii gate with a shimenawa (a type of rope) hanging from it has inexplicably appeared, and the old wooden beams emit an eerie green light, as if leading to the land of the dead.

Once a curious person steps in, the steps behind the torii gate leading to the shrine will continue to extend until no one can return.

The disappearance case has drawn great attention from society. Many veteran anime fans believe that the torii gate sealed by the shimenawa must be the Hidden Leaf Village, the Age of Exploration, or some other anime fantasy world that fans of Fury love to dream of. So they rack their brains to try to travel there, and even risk their lives to break through the military blockade.

It wasn't until the Japanese government issued a statement falsely claiming that scientific research showed the other side was very likely connected to subspace that many people gave up the idea, leaving only a small group of fanatical believers who shouted all day long that they wanted to share their loyalty with the merciful Father Nurgle.

This strange phenomenon has occurred not only in France, the United States, and Japan, but also in China. Tourists have captured images of flying apsaras from Dunhuang murals that appear to come to life. The apsaras, with halos, oval faces, adorned with earrings, and wearing a topknot and an Indian five-jeweled crown, seems to have suddenly come to life. Her eyes are shifting, and she is coldly looking at the tourists around her. Even the figures in the murals seem to emit a dazzling light, causing chaos at the scene.

As the light faded, all the various images on the mural vanished without a trace.

The official explanation was ambiguous, urging people to trust science and not be superstitious.

The anomalies have now escalated. What started as minor urban legends of ghosts on the streets are now far more complex than simple disturbances.

This was the first mission in the Evolution Game that players were given after leaving the starting village, and Bai Ge had a bad feeling about it.

Since returning to Xu City from London, life has been peaceful. Despite the commotion they caused in London, the government simply dismissed it as a gas pipeline explosion and leak, and even the High Tower Magic Association remained silent. There weren't many discussion posts on the forums either.

At this time, the paper effigy naturally launched a life-saving package for ordinary people after encountering supernatural events, and guaranteed that the ghosts sent were all professional. Ordinary vengeful ghosts could only guarantee that you would be brought back with your whole body intact, but professional ghost bodyguards could not only guarantee that the employer would return alive, but also train female ghosts to work on the assembly line of an electronics factory to earn money.

Gradually, most of Xuchang City came to know that there was a folklore research association that made money off this, right under the nose of the Special Affairs Bureau, which turned a blind eye and tacitly approved of it. If it weren't for the fact that their Douyin app was banned due to a name clash, they wouldn't be called the Paper Effigy Master now, but rather the Paper Boss.

Bai Ge entered the basement containing the monster breeding box and added the last piece of material—a fragment broken off from the golden mask. At this point, a blurry outline could be vaguely seen beneath the fungal membrane, signaling the start of the final countdown.

Bai Ge put the monster training box into his quest item inventory, which might have an unexpected effect on his first quest after leaving the beginner village.

Just as I put the monster box into my inventory, the skill and item prompts suddenly turned gray and indicated that they were unusable.

What's going on?

Bai Ge frowned.

In daily quests, there are almost no situations where skills and items cannot be used. After all, the real world is more complex and intricate than the simple worldview of a dungeon. If you were to investigate some strange events as an ordinary person, even experienced veteran hunters would risk failure.

Before Bai Ge could react, a notification appeared in bold red text on her quest item inventory.

There were no specific notices or instructions, only a simple name and a line of nonsensical prompts.

"The first mission tests [possession by an evil spirit]?"

Bai Ge stared at the name on the task list and muttered to himself, "The task is definitely not that simple. It might be carried out in batches like the previous tasks. As the investigation deepens, the dungeon will become more and more dangerous. And what exactly does it mean to receive visitors?"

Bai Ge stepped out of the basement, preparing to enter the flea market. Recently, some unofficial sources had leaked information that the secret of the Evolution Game's upcoming high-level player dungeon had spread like wildfire, causing a surge in the prices of items in the flea market.

As soon as Bai Ge entered the lobby, he heard a familiar yet anxious voice.

"Mr. Bai, Mr. Bai!"

Bai Ge turned around curiously. Captain Xing walked in alone, his face full of gloom. Before Bai Ge could speak, the man grabbed his collar, looking somewhat flustered, and said palely, "Mr. Bai, please, you must save me!"

"What's wrong? Aren't you the section chief of the Special Affairs Bureau?"

Bai Ge sized up the other person and said, "So many players in the Special Affairs Bureau can't solve the paranormal event you encountered? Wait, you don't happen to be drowning in debt, do you? You can't come to me for help, you can only pay off your debts yourself."

Section Chief Xing, looking haggard, twitched at the corner of his mouth and slowly said, "Actually, I encountered a bizarre incident this time that even the Special Affairs Bureau couldn't solve."

Chapter 167 Don't panic, it's not a big problem.

Section Chief Xing rubbed his cheeks, sighed silently, and hesitated for a moment before saying in a low voice, "Actually, this matter is rather difficult to talk about."

Suddenly, Section Chief Xing felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a paper effigy standing behind him, mysteriously handing him a bottle of Indian herbal oil. The effigy assured him that using it would restore his dignity as a middle-aged man, guaranteeing it would be harder than granite. If he didn't believe it, the effigy would find him a female ghost right now, as there were no laws or regulations in my country that prohibited prostitution or hiring a female ghost.

Section Chief Xing's lips twitched. How come he never noticed before that this guy's thought process was so unique? He's practically a modern-day Zhuge Liang and a young phoenix.

"Oh no, thank you. I didn't mean that aspect was difficult to talk about."

Section Chief Xing declined the other party's offer, took a deep breath, and said, "I've been having a lot of dreams lately, and every single one of them is very bizarre. At first, I only had dreams every two days, but later the nightmares became more and more frequent, and I even felt like I couldn't take it anymore."

He kept rubbing his hands, seemingly unwilling to recall the horrific events.

"Nightmare?"

Bai Ge's first thought was that it was a curse of some kind of meme, similar to the spread of videotape memes that had occurred before.

A player used a bizarre USB drive to copy horror movies onto a videotape and projected it into the real world. This triggered a series of "Sadako climbing a well" video curses overseas, causing many viewers to suffer heart attacks due to fear. Ultimately, the tragedy was stopped only by a television with a built-in beauty filter successfully transforming the vengeful ghost into a beautiful older woman.

"At the time, I thought I was cursed by some kind of meme, so I specially applied to the Special Affairs Bureau's Psychic Ability Department for a player detection and removal. The result showed that my mind and body were very healthy and there seemed to be no problem at all. I suspected that I was under too much work pressure recently."

"Tell me about your nightmare?"

Bai Ge nodded solemnly like a psychologist and said, "Oh? Is it like my friend, who dreamed of being pinned down on the bed by several interesting girls with over 200 pounds of body weight and pulling down your crotch? Luckily, my friend Wu Tong didn't feel anything during acupuncture and let him off the hook."

Section Chief Xing paused for a moment, then asked hesitantly, "Wait... your friend has this kind of experience? Is he the author with the strange sexual fetish?"

The paper effigy beside him stared at Bai Ge with an expression that seemed to ask, "Is this friend you're talking about really you?"

Bai Ge quickly waved his hand and said, "Oh no, I didn't, don't talk nonsense."

"Tell me more about the nightmares you've had."

Looking haggard, Section Chief Xing lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. He had quit smoking long ago, but today he picked up a cigarette again to ease his inner fear and unease. He asked, "You don't mind having a smoke, do you?"

"fine."

Bai Ge shook his head, indicating that the other person could do whatever they wanted. He calmly said, "I used to tell my mom that I wanted to quit smoking and asked her to supervise me. My mom thought it was strange, so I had to be honest with her that I didn't have enough living expenses and wanted to save money. But my mom told me that it's okay to smoke more, that even if I live a few years less, I'll still save money."

"..."

"As a result, I later had to extend my own lifespan by secretly eating longevity noodles on other people's birthdays."

"Good grief, are they exploiting a bug here?"

Section Chief Xing's heavy mood eased slightly, and he began to recount his experience: "The first time I had a nightmare, I dreamt that when I was a child, I was walking into an old house with some friends. Inside was a paper house, which was burned for the dead. There was a picture of an old lady in the house. Suddenly, someone pushed me from behind. My friends pushed me to the ground, turned around and ran away, and locked the door from the outside, leaving me alone in the house."

"Suddenly I heard someone muttering behind me. When I turned around, the old lady in the photo spoke, with a sinister smile on her face. I was so scared that my legs went weak."

The second dream I had was about keeping vigil for my deceased grandmother. It was late at night, and the wind in the ancestral hall was quite strong, rattling the paper windows. In the dream, I was drowsy and wanted to take a nap. Then I heard the sound of footsteps on dry twigs outside the window behind me. I turned around abruptly and saw the head of an old woman with white hair floating outside the dark window, smiling at me. Can you imagine a terrifying head suddenly appearing in the pitch black outside?

"After waking up from the second dream, I couldn't sit still anymore. I used a little trick from the Special Affairs Bureau to find my childhood friends and call them. And then..."

At this point, Section Chief Xing licked his dry, wrinkled lips and said in a low voice, "It turned out that all of these people had died three years ago, all in a traffic accident. They were on their way to a class reunion at the time, but I didn't get on that bus because of work."

“From the second dream onwards, I felt that things weren't so simple. In the third dream, I wasn't playing myself anymore, but another stranger. I woke up in a hospital bed, wearing a blue and white hospital gown. I saw a strange, unfamiliar face in the mirror, and outside the mental hospital, there were eerie, terrifying wails, and I could hear some clanging noises. Oh, and in the dream, I also heard the caregivers whispering about how the robbers who kidnapped and robbed people in a coffee shop and tried to threaten the police by eating feces were forcibly brought in for treatment.”

"..."

"I found a wire, knocked on the door, and slipped out. And do you know what I saw?"

Section Chief Xing, his face pale, pointed at Bai Ge, "I saw you tied to the platform cart and being pushed towards the end of the corridor. I was annoyed at the time, thinking, 'How the hell are professional players like you competing in a mental hospital? Didn't the referees prohibit it?' I wanted to run after you, and then I saw..."

"That old lady was following you the whole time!"

"Behind me?"

Bai Ge's expression changed slightly; he never imagined that he would appear in that old woman's dream.

"The mental hospital in the dream is the Xushi Mental Hospital in reality where people died unexpectedly before. I now suspect that the old lady in the dream is a strange meme curse."

Section Chief Xing slammed his fist on the table in frustration and said, "However, the players from the Special Affairs Bureau have no way to solve this damn situation."

He looked at Section Chief Xing in front of him and asked, "Is this why you came to see me? But I can't help you just by being asleep, since I don't have any tools to enter a dream."

"Yes, a member of the Special Affairs Bureau obtained a dream-sharing technology in a previous mission. After the Special Affairs Bureau restored the technology, they obtained a prototype dream machine."

A hint of wariness flashed in Bai Ge's eyes, "Building a dream together?"

"It's not about building a shared dream, but about being invaded by a dream."