Chapter 151: Weakness of the Dark Web Bank

The emergence of the dark web was not groundbreaking, but it was definitely unexpected, a real shock!

It not only shook the monopoly position of the Internet, causing a stir among the Internet God alliance;

But it also shocked the gods of the multiverse, putting them in a position to reshuffle the playing field.

……

In an abandoned quarry near the edge of the Cordillera Mountains, within the United Nations of Saintord and the Grand Duchy of Raleigh, without warning, dust spiraled into the air beside a boiler reduced to a stone skeleton.

Teleportation arrays lit up on the ground, and figures began to appear.

In the glowing light, anti-magic spells spread like devil vines, isolating the area from the gods’ sight.

The figures emerging from the teleportation arrays were none other than the Five Prime Gods controlling the United Nations of Saintord.

No, one was missing—the Underworld God, who wielded the Divine Spark of the Underworld.

The dust settled, and the shaky building fell silent.

The four gathered gods were collectively silent for some reason.

“The stinking corpse created the dark web, does anyone have any thoughts?”

The God of War was the first to speak, his face somber like a volcano on the brink of eruption.

Things had not been going well for the God of War lately.

The siege of Quever not only cost him dearly in men and resources, but his base, Sparta, was reduced to ruins by the Internet God.

Worse, he sold it to the Three Gods of Pran, a real ‘losing both the bride and the army’ situation.

Before he could lick his wounds and gather strength for a comeback.

His ally and nemesis, the Underworld God, had fashioned an equivalent of the Internet—the dark web!

The multiverse quaked, and the Five-God Alliance was dumbstruck and chilled to the core!

For now, the Underworld God seemed poised to become a dominant force!

“The Underworld God is truly something!”

The God of Life sounded sarcastically praising.

“Hmph, the thorn that is the Internet already gives us a headache! Now with the dark web, I fear our preaching areas will be thoroughly infiltrated!”

The mature and intellectual Goddess of Earth looked troubled.

“Yes, unlike the Internet God with weak foundations, the Underworld God has the underworld as support, commanding an endless undead army! Previously, his control limitations hindered him from maximizing his advantage. Now, emulating the Internet God by creating the Fifth Plague, he not only squeezes the Source Essence from believers, but the undead army has multiplied several times over. This means as many believers as there are, that’s how big the army is. His power is likely well beyond ours!”

The God of Life’s voice was cold as he stated the facts, eyes filled with dread.

“Now, there are only two choices: either submit to the stinking corpse like the Goddess of Music submitted to the Internet, or before he solidifies his foundation, at all costs, unite and break through the underworld, destroying his foundation completely!”

The God of War’s expression twisted with madness, Battle Qi spilling out.

The other three gods were silent.

Submit to the Underworld God? It’s easier said than done.

One moment they were equals;

The next, they had to follow him, which was a huge psychological gap!

Moreover, they each ruled a major plane, why would they submit to another god?

As for breaking through the underworld?

That sounds easy; the underworld is the Underworld God’s territory. Any non-undead creature entering would have their power suppressed, so how to fight?

Unless full mobilization!

But that would mean abandoning countless small and medium planes.

Other evil gods wouldn’t let such a window of weakness slip by.

So who would dare make such a crazy decision?

Even if they broke through the underworld, without dominion over it, how would they rule it?

And they couldn’t destroy the dark web because as long as the knowledge of it survived, the Underworld God would never lack users.

This was a quagmire!

This was why the Five Prime Gods formed an alliance to maintain a relative balance.

Everyone had the ability to upend the board or the wisdom to not do so.

Unfortunately, now the Underworld God had broken the balance!

“Neither of those choices is possible!” The God of Life sneered.

“Do we just watch the Underworld God grow strong? He’s not targeting us yet only because he doesn’t want to provoke us! Once he’s conquered, his forces will surely aim at our preaching areas!”

“By then, even small planes won’t keep the Source Essence for us! Don’t forget how the Fourth Plague dealt with the orcs! What it did to Khazad-dûm!”

At this, the God of War couldn’t help but curse the Internet God again:

“Damn the Internet God, damn the Azure Star, don’t let me find this plane, or I’ll make you taste the spread of war!”

The Sea God, scales climbing up his neck, remarked lowly:

“To curb the Internet, one needs the Internet! Instead of discussing how to deal with the Underworld God, why not think about recreating an Internet with our power? This is not the time to hold back, whatever Divine Sparks you have concealed, show them now?”

He had long suspected that his allies might hold other Divine Sparks.

After all, they all ruled over a major plane;

Most of them lived for thousands, even tens of thousands of years.

Gods, although elusive, sometimes revealed coordinates due to various reasons, suffering fatal hits.

So the Sea God had reasons to suspect his allies held other Divine Sparks.

Maybe these Divine Sparks weren’t prominent;

Maybe they were weak.

But catching someone off guard, they could still have terrifying power.

“Hmph, if I had other Divine Sparks, would the Underworld God have existed?” The God of War snorted.

“I don’t have any!”

“Neither do I.”

The God of Life and the Goddess of Earth shook their heads, firmly denying.

Who knows if they really had none?

Or if the concealed Divine Sparks couldn’t construct an Internet.

Or if, able to construct one, they would have done so quietly and easily.

“Is that so!”

The Sea God laughed, eyes mocking:

“In dire times, everyone is still selfish, what a Five-God Alliance! With all due respect, I have a plan for the Internet. You three may discuss countermeasures, I won’t be staying.”

Failing to uncover his allies’ hidden cards, the Sea God vanished swiftly.

Thousands of years of alliance gave him deep familiarity with his allies.

Ruling a major plane wasn’t a matter for pushovers.

He was just fishing for information; if nothing came out, it didn’t matter.

He saw it, now that the Underworld God mimicked the Internet trajectory, the Five-God Alliance was no longer united.

The once-unbreakable alliance was on the verge of collapse.

With everyone harboring ulterior motives, the alliance was not worth maintaining!

After all, holding sea power provided natural independence.

He had little ambition for land.

All he aimed to do was safeguard his basic territory amidst the grand shifts and seize other Divine Sparks for new developments!

“What did you say?”

The God of War, the God of Life, and the Goddess of Earth exclaimed in unison, looking at the disappearing Sea God with shock.

In the teleportation light, the Sea God smiled without answering, vanishing completely!

The God of War, the God of Life, and the Goddess of Earth exchanged glances.

The Underworld God created the dark web, and the Sea God even had a plan?

No, if he dared to utter it, he might have built the framework, waiting only for content completion!

So of the five prime gods that once stood on equal footing, only three remained without the Internet this great weapon?

For a moment, an absurd feeling of being left behind by the times emerged among the three gods.

A single butterfly from the Azure Star eventually stirred up a storm across the multiverse.

This storm would sweep up the dust!

……

……

The dust of the times, when it falls on everyone, becomes a mountain.

“Dong dong dong!”

The sound of waist drums echoed through the village, as the Underworld Church preachers’ voices rang out, again and again.

“By decree of the Underworld God: All residents must log on to the dark web, learn magic and master necromancy without fail! Anyone found using the Internet will be rewarded with a gold coin!”

In the fields, several tenants looked up.

“The preacher lords are at it again!”

“They’re really diligent these days?”

“Indeed, indeed!”

The tenants couldn’t help but discuss!

“Is there a need for such promotion? Even the three-year-olds in our village know the dark web.”

“The great Underworld God, truly ruler of the realm of death, I never imagined entering the underworld one day!”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect the afterlife to look like that! I’m truly amazed.”

“Oh, when I first entered the underworld, I was scared stiff, corpses everywhere, scarier than the Skull Chapel!”

Just-turned adult Philip straightened up from the field.

He listened to the farmers’ discussions, feeling a tinge of contempt and superiority.

Look at their little understanding?

I’ve known all this for months!

Know about the Internet?

No, right?

The dark web is just a copy of the Internet!

No one knew Philip was already an Internet user.

He remembered months ago when countless paper sheets fell from the sky.

He picked one up by chance, and reciting it instinctively summoned the Internet.

His mental world was turned upside down that day!

The Internet’s divine miracle nearly shattered his faith.

As he logged on more often and learned more, his faith in the Underworld God grew increasingly spotted.

He eventually became a false believer!

“Philip, what area are you in? Want to play together tonight?” called a companion nearby.

“Sure, I’m in Area Twelve too.”

Philip responded, letting out a faint sigh in his heart.

It’s good that the Underworld God’s dark web was developed; he no longer feared logging into the Internet daily.

Honestly, after experiencing the Internet, he couldn’t endure days without a network.

If he didn’t log in daily for a glance, he’d feel uneasy all over.

Though the dark web still had many shortcomings compared to the Internet, and he wasn’t used to using it, it was more or less like the Internet.

No longer needing to go online in constant fear, Philip was satisfied.

……

……

While Philip was satisfied, Jerry, also an Underworld God’s subject, felt uncomfortable.

He was a famously old bachelor nearby.

For no reason, he liked to cause a stir at widows’ doors, earning frequent insults and beatings!

Months ago, the Internet evil god invasion killed many, greatly increasing the number of widows.

He buzzed around like a fly drawn to stench, darting left and right, nearly getting his legs broken.

This notorious lazybones—no one knew he could read, and not just a little.

Even fewer knew he was the blasphemer those preacher lords spoke of—an Internet user.

Old bachelor Jerry especially liked the Q&A community.

After he accidentally saw a question about widow troubles, somehow he kept seeing similar questions in the Q&A community.

Widows, family scandals, first-person answers of all sorts, made his eyes light up.

During that time, he’d rather hide and read these stories than learn magic knowledge.

Honestly, if he were thirty years younger, he’d really be interested in magic.

Now, at fifty or sixty, he had long lost interest, and couldn’t understand even if he wanted to.

Only those little emotional stories between sexes became his favorites.

After the Underworld God created the dark web, he was thrilled.

He thought he could finally openly read that stuff.

But when he logged on, he was dumbfounded.

What nonsense Q&A? It’s all magic and Battle Qi questions, I can’t understand these, what’s the use of showing me this?

He spent a long time entering some keywords to search.

Well, look at what came up. It was all boring, dry answers.

Where could it compare to the Q&A community on the Internet?

Those stories made one drool, wanting to dive in and take their place.

Every time he read those stories, it was like hiding in the woods, peeping at the widow Tess across the fence, though seeing nothing, but wanting to rush forward.

Alas, he’d have to hide and read the Internet in secret.

Damn, why didn’t the Internet show up in the soul?

That would be secretive, wouldn’t it?

……

Having witnessed the precision content delivery by the Internet’s big data, Jerry was unsatisfied with the dark web.

But Gallop, a necromancer who had also seen the convenience of the Internet, was overjoyed by the dark web’s emergence!

Especially the dark web bank.

After the great Underworld Lord launched the dark web, he also launched the dark web bank.

He emulated the Internet God’s strategy, requiring that all tax revenue and major transactions in the preaching areas go through the dark web bank.

This posed no issue.

Honestly, having seen the Internet bank, Gallop went from not understanding it at first to becoming accustomed to it, eventually even envying the citizens of the Kewell Empire for enjoying bank interest.

Actually, not just Gallop, most elite believers in the Underworld’s teachings didn’t resist this.

Because most had seen the Internet, even the Internet bank.

Curiosity is, after all, the instinct of intelligent beings.

So, when the Internet God sent out flyers, honestly, who among the literate hadn’t seen the Internet?

As the ruling class of aristocrats, who wasn’t drawn by the Internet’s knowledge?

Even with the Underworld Church’s heavy pressure, countless people secretly logged in.

So they were very familiar with things like the Internet bank.

Thus, after the dark web bank launched, countless nobles, necromancers, and undead knights took out their savings and placed them in the dark web bank.

Then, watching the growing balance each day, they silently praised the greatness of the Underworld God!

Unbeknownst to them, real economy forms the basis of finance.

Without the support of a real economy, finance is like a flower in the mirror, a moon in the water, an illusion like a bubble that bursts with a touch.

Without understanding the principles, the Underworld God didn’t know that some things could be mimicked while others, without understanding their workings, would be fatal to mimic.

[A big chapter of four thousand words, combining two into one. There will be another chapter today, but it won’t be out before twelve, probably by one, so don’t wait up.]