Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!-Chapter 2177: How Interesting

The Divine Temple in Purple Lake City is modeled after the Holy Land Goddess Temple. From the outside, apart from being smaller in scale, there’s not much difference, except for the incomprehensible patterns on the Divine Hall’s Main Gate and the Saintess performing rituals around the hall.

When they arrived, the Saintesses were going around the hall, and many were watching nearby. The ritual wasn’t short and didn’t require silence, yet everyone naturally lowered their voices. A number of people followed the Saintesses around the hall, praying for the Goddess’s protection.

Unlike typical religions that focus on "prayers" and "sins," the believers in the Goddess Church seem to have a clear understanding of boundaries. They neither pray to the Goddess for selfish desires nor reproach themselves excessively for repentance. In some ways, they are extremely calm; besides recognizing their limitations as ordinary people, they also wish well for the Goddess.

"Sounds inspirational," Huang Mao remarked in surprise. "They’re not asking the Goddess to make them rich, but rather to acknowledge their hard work and then reward them."

"And not many people bring valuable offerings either."

The offerings from the believers are mainly fresh flowers and fruits, and not all of these are intended for the Goddess but also for the Saintess, the Divine Envoy, and other cultists in the temple.

"If it’s really divine, why make the five-in-one rule to trouble people?" A player from the Outer Zone scoffed. "If the Goddess treats everyone equally, does it really matter if you enter the five Satellite Cities?"

This remark drew angry glares, and a believer said, "You’re just visiting; how can you compare to those who truly believe? I warn you, don’t think about causing trouble in the temple, or the Divine Envoy will not spare you!"

The player, disdainful of arguing with a layman, gave a ’you’re nuts’ look and walked away.

"It likely has to do with the historical development of the sections," Xu Huo then responded to Huang Mao’s words. "According to legends and the rise of religion, this section suffered catastrophic damage long ago. Coupled with physical peculiarities, not only did the economy fail to develop, but it faced extinction at one point."

"Ancestors survived in desperate times, and it took considerable time to reach today’s state. Apart from the support of religious belief, it also required the effort and hard work of the zone’s people, shaping their mindset in the process."

Positive feedback generates positive thinking, which is both a result and a self-affirmation.

"Simply put, they were too poor before, and now they’re content with having a bit of money for living, without other demands. Whether they get rich or not doesn’t matter," Huang Mao summed up in one sentence.

"You could say that," Xu Huo chuckled, with a slight difference being that here, the ’Goddess’ is not just an ordinary religious deity but something that directly affects reality.

After waiting at the entrance for a while, when the ritual ended, the Saintesses returned to the temple, and others could begin to queue to enter.

Bored residents had lined up early, so Xu Huo and his two companions got pushed far away in the line, which looked like a wait of at least an hour just for queuing.

The line moved slowly, and before long, Huang Mao grew impatient. He asked Xu Huo and A Hai if they wanted anything to eat while he went for a run and took a break.

A Hai kindly shared some of his own dry rations.

Huang Mao took it reluctantly and handed it to Xu Huo, "I’ve already eaten nearly two months’ worth of dry rations; just looking at this stuff makes me nauseous. I’m going to eat something else. What do you want? It’s on me."

A Hai was about to refuse when Xu Huo stopped him, "I also want to try some local specialties."

"Thanks a lot," A Hai declared cheerfully.

Huang Mao shook his head and hands and walked away.

"He’s so strange," A Hai observed Huang Mao’s back. "He’s different from the other players we saw entering the city."

"People can’t all be the same," Xu Huo said as he waved over a young fruit vendor and asked for some fruit to quench his thirst.

A Hai took one, rubbed it on his clothes, and bit into it, "Sweet. We don’t have many fruit trees back there, usually only when vehicles come into town can we have some fruit. If only our place could be as abundant as Purple Lake City in the future."

The line continued to move forward, but before long, a commotion arose at the temple entrance when a player suddenly experienced a headache and nausea before the main gate, causing quite a stir.

Just like in the government building during the registration process, the temple’s personnel and local residents watched coldly, lacking the previous hospitality shown to out-of-town guests.

"That person had ill intentions," A Hai whispered. "He must have had bad intentions coming to the temple, which is why it won’t let him in."

"What are you saying!" The player, who had restored himself behind the hall entrance, asked angrily around at those commenting on him.

The crowd fell silent, and no one actually wanted to tempt fate. However, when he tried to enter the temple again, the temple’s personnel came out to stop him.

"You can’t enter the temple today. Come back tomorrow."

Standing in his way was an ordinary person, yet they showed no fear facing a player, instead adopting a counseling tone, "There’s a reason the temple won’t let you in. Unless you change your mindset, it will be the same tomorrow."

Yet the player raised an eyebrow, his face menacing, "What are you saying?"

The temple personnel immediately took a few steps back towards the hall entrance, refraining from further words, and when the player tried to advance again, he was suddenly beset with an uncontrollable headache.

This bout was more severe than before, and after retching twice, he fell straight to the ground.

The temple staff sighed and dragged him aside to lie down.

With this precedent, the following players curbed their disdain, and fortunately, no second refusal occurred, while those who successfully entered seemed puzzled but said nothing.

"As long as you’re not a bad person, the Goddess generally won’t reject you," A Hai said to Xu Huo.

In some ways, Xu Huo might indeed find himself barred at the door.

A while later, A Hai returned full of energy, carrying packed meals for them, bringing along his own portable table and chairs.

"Luckily, believing in the Goddess Church doesn’t require abstaining from meat. The meat dishes here are well made. You two eat, and I’ll wait in line."

After Xu Huo and the other finished eating, the queue had shortened considerably.

Upon reaching the entrance, Huang Mao entered first, walking in without any mental burden, and when Xu Huo was pushed in by A Hai, he too felt the pressure, as if all the chaotic motifs on the main gate had suddenly turned into eyes. Under this intense gaze, he instinctively went on guard.

But nothing happened. The eyes’ scrutiny disappeared in an instant, as if he had seen them wrongly. On a second look, they were just as chaotic as before, not revealing any discernible pattern.

"How interesting."