They all call me an Outer God.

"fake?"

Ria raised an eyebrow, and Sofia, seemingly pleased with Ria's reaction to the news, continued her explanation.

“We all know that the sun is the main faith of the citizens of Endlers. Sun worship is popular here, and the large number of believers will provide a lot of faith for the radiant sun, enough to provide it with a continuous source of divine power while it sleeps.”

"But guess what?"

A barely perceptible hint of mockery flashed in Sofia's eyes: "Radiant Sun, this incredibly powerful Outer God, the meme symbolizing the [Black Merchant], is growing weaker day by day. I estimate he won't be long before he dies."

"You're saying that Radiant Sun is a black market meme!?"

"Is it hard to imagine? His church earns enough from indulgences in a year to buy three Cranbea. You underestimate the power of faith. At the command of God, believers are even willing to die for Him."

"Isn't this good news for us? The Black Market Meme is going to die, and then we will have fewer obstacles to becoming gods. It is because of this news that Perlmand is so eager to advance to Meme One."

But I think he's too impatient. Even if the black marketeer is dying, it's not something we can covet.

The evil gods probably set their sights on Him even earlier than we have, and those beings more despicable than anything else will spare no effort to devour the radiant sun.

Just like cells acting on instinct, white blood cells automatically seek out pathogens and foreign substances to engulf them. This has nothing to do with intelligence; it's purely the most fundamental autonomous behavior of life.

"But even so... the Church of the Rising Sun is still thriving, and the sun is still shining brightly. What do you think that means?"

Ria's face darkened: "Who has replaced the sun?"

"Yes, the sun has been replaced. The other party has silently taken its place, taking over the inexhaustible faith and even keeping it from the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

On this point, I'm more inclined to believe that the Radiant Sun has become a puppet, not completely replaced, but rather parasitized by an external force.

To the believers of the Radiant Sun, Sophia's words were utterly incomprehensible. If his words were to spread, Endlers would be thrown into chaos. But Ria knew that this was probably the truth.

The truth is buried by lies because the truth is not accepted by people, and its appearance will inevitably cause turmoil.

"It's truly a tragedy for black market merchants. It seems we can't escape the fate of being replaced by the real and the fake. Compared to working hard to earn money ourselves, replacing someone to acquire their status, position, and wealth seems to be the simplest, most brutal, and quickest way to get rich."

It's worse than robbery.

Black market merchants are beasts who appear civilized on the surface, and their appetites are never satisfied. All they want to do is "eat," to "eat" like crazy.

It's like a money bag frantically accumulating wealth; in the end, the bag will be cut open, and all the money inside will benefit others.

It was at this moment that Ria truly felt the weight of the word "famine" in the Famine Knight.

The digestion of the Famine Authority accelerated significantly in an instant.

At the very least, he can now be considered half a Famine Knight.

"Alright, I've told you everything I need to say. It's too early for us to even dream of Meme Zero with our current capabilities."

Sofia snapped her fingers as she spoke, and the parchment scroll that had been floating in mid-air immediately disappeared.

He turned and walked to the leather sofa not far away, flipped himself down, and even bounced a few times on the sofa.

The man picked up a men's cigarette from the crystal table next to the sofa, lit one for himself, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled a neat smoke ring: "Want one?"

"I don't smoke."

"Are you trying to quit smoking recently?"

"No, it's just that I don't have that habit."

"To maintain such a good sleep schedule under so much pressure every day, your willpower is truly terrifying..."

"If you don't smoke, here's a box of cigarette-shaped candies. They look like cigarettes, but they're actually just sugar powder compressed into the shape of smoke. If you bite into one, it'll produce smoke. They're sweet. Would you like to try some?"

“Okay.” Sofia thought Ria would refuse, but to her surprise, he reached into the crystal plate of sugar and took a “cigarette” for himself, putting it in his mouth.

The young man stretched out a hand and waved it over the "smoke," as if lighting it. In the next instant, the thing turned into a real cigarette and lit up, but it was essentially still compressed powdered candy.

"It has a very unique taste, but it's poisonous. Wouldn't it kill an ordinary person if they ate it?"

"This doesn't work on you... Hmm, magicians' abilities are quite interesting."

"gentlemen."

Ria slowly exhaled white smoke: "Now that I have listened to every word you have said, it means that I have agreed to your request for an alliance. All we need to do now is find a way to break Perlmand's advancement ritual. I can't concern myself with anything else."

Please also be mindful of boundaries. I don't think we're close enough to make jokes like this casually...

Of course, I'm only referring to myself and you in the present moment. If you want to experience a replica of your image after the six gates I went through, you can continue to try to provoke me.

Ria pulled out the tentacle that Swarth had boredly stabbed into his neck, without drawing a single drop of blood.

The golden pupils were exactly the same color as the hundreds of eyes that appeared on the tentacles.

Sofia, a cigarette dangling from her lips, casually looked up to meet his gaze. After a moment, she maintained the posture and exhaled a neat smoke ring, the ash from the cigarette falling off: "Looks like I'm allied with a formidable monster... What a culprit."

It's possible that what's behind the Gate of Gluttony really angered Ria, as he's in a terrible state right now, and the fact that he can still maintain his human form is purely due to his strong willpower.

"Haha, alright, now is indeed not the time for us to fight amongst ourselves. You also know the conditions for passing through here: earn 10 billion in an hour. With your abilities, I believe it's not difficult for you to do that."

But the problem is, casinos need chips. Do you have any chips right now?

"Chips?"

Without hesitation, Ria replied, "Anything can be my bargaining chip, including the money of the gambler across the street."

"How to say?"

"Like this."

Lia stepped forward calmly, like a chess player who had everything under his control.

The young man's voice rang out above Sofia's head.

“Mr. Sofia Miller, I need all the funds you have as my bargaining chip. Hand them over to me now.”

Sofia was stunned: "You're just asking me for it?"

“You think I would…” Sofia originally wanted to mock Ria’s naivety, that he actually wanted to try to get leverage from him, and in such a stupid and crude way.

However, before he could finish speaking, he found himself unable to utter another word.

In an instant, countless eyes flashing with eerie golden light appeared in his mind. Those eyes uttered strange but remarkably consistent sounds at him, constantly tormenting his consciousness.

They said—

[Give it to him]

[Give it to him]

[Give it to him]

[Give him][ ...

(End of this chapter)