Chapter 26: Thankfully, I Stopped Myself
There's a myth from Western India.
The goddess of prosperity, who controlled gold and food, gave birth to 160 million children, all of whom later became gods. But the goddess's favorite was her first child, "Hastar."
Hastar was inherently greedy; he stole all the goddess's gold and even tried to steal all the grain.
When the gods discovered this, they tore him to pieces.
To save Hastar, the goddess hid him back in her womb and sealed him away.
Unable to find him, the gods joined forces and cast a curse: Hastar would never receive the worship of mortals and would be burned by unclaimed food.
Within the goddess's womb, Hastar possessed endless wealth but also endured endless hunger.
A village in Western India called Tumbbad was the location of the goddess's womb.
The local Rao family, driven by greed, built a temple for Hastar, and from then on, Tumbbad was plagued by continuous rain.
The story can be roughly divided into three stages. In 1918, Sarkar Rao was the village chief and the only one who knew the secret of the treasure. He had a mistress and two illegitimate children.
Sarkar never revealed the secret of the treasure until his death, but his great-grandmother had been bitten by Hastar when she entered the treasure vault, transforming into a long-lived monster with a rotting body and insatiable hunger.
In 1933, Sarkar's mistress's eldest son, Vinayak Rao, grew up and learned the secret of the treasure from his monster great-grandmother. He successfully obtained the gold coins and lived a wealthy life until he was killed in his old age by his son Pandurang's 'greed'.
Marcus had written a densely packed piece of paper.
This film is mainly about greed, and the most important thing is the treasure pouch on the waist of the god's son "Hastar."
He sorted out the plot, tore the paper into pieces, and flushed it down the toilet.
He locked his apartment door, put on his disguise, touched the tower seal, and entered the lighthouse.
Standing in the plaza inside the lighthouse, the darkness outside, as vast as the ocean, made him feel even more insignificant.
Marcus wandered around the plaza and surprisingly saw an area with rows of signs, each listing what they sold and the trading time.
"Selling exorcism crosses, capable of blocking ordinary entities, 1000 survival points, Lighthouse certified, requires 1 point of Lighthouse time and 5 minutes of online time daily."
"Selling century-old burial shroud, possessing dark energy, capable of deterring minor spirits, 900 survival points, Lighthouse certified, requires 1 point of Lighthouse time and 3 minutes of online time daily."
The signs listed various items, including eerie paper umbrellas, bone fragments, exorcism talismans, and holy water.
These were all low-priced items with weak effects; the Lighthouse certification meant there was no chance of finding a bargain, and nothing particularly powerful.
Marcus spotted a stall with someone manning it. Two customers were at the table. Approaching, he saw the sign:
"Selling gold, cash from various countries, various modern technological items, individual weaponry, real-world services, real-world data modification, and various real-world item pre-orders."
The stall owner, dressed in futuristic silver battle armor with glimpses of blue-scaled skin showing through, sat upright behind the table, registering the needs of the two customers.
The two customers before him quickly disappeared, and it was Marcus's turn.
"Hello, what do you need? This is our catalog. It's quite extensive, but you can also ask me directly."
The stall owner pulled out a thick, illustrated catalog and handed it to Marcus.
"This catalog is yours to keep. You can browse it at your leisure. Come to our stall anytime if you need anything. We're open 24/7. You can also ask us if anything isn't listed."
Marcus flipped through the catalog. The first page read:
One million US dollars, 5 Survival Points.
One kilogram of gold, 3 Survival Points.
He flipped through the rest: Shotguns, Submachine Guns, Miniguns, Drones.
"I want 2 kilograms of gold, a Remington 870 shotgun with 50 rounds of buckshot, two commercial drones, four 500ml blood plasma bags, and a modern tech starter pack."
The first item, currency exchange, seemed to have a higher profit margin than selling ginseng, but Marcus didn't dare to use the exchanged money casually. This person was clearly a salesman for some faction.
"60 survival points in total. Pick up your goods and pay in 10 minutes,"
the stall owner said casually while writing it down.
Marcus turned around to look at the other stalls, but the stall owner seemed to remember something he hadn't said.
"Hey!"
"Is there something else?" Marcus turned back, puzzled.
"Um... welcome back next time," the stall owner added stiffly.
"Oh."
Ten minutes later, Marcus looked at his overflowing personal space: 10 exorcism talismans, 2 kilograms of gold, a shotgun, two drones, four 500ml blood plasma bags, a modern tech starter pack, and an ice crystal sphere.
The briefcase took up too much space, so Marcus didn't bring it. He then activated the tower seal: "Enter the story world ahead of schedule."
[Identity information locked, lighthouse number: SL914]
[Anchored world this time: Tumbbad]
[Teleportation countdown: 5 seconds.]
[4 seconds!]
[3 seconds!]
In the blink of an eye, Marcus had passed through a barrier and appeared high in the sky. Below him flowed the Ganges River, with a group of ant-sized people gathered along its banks.
Marcus sensed the information transmitted by the tower seal.
World: Tumbbad
[Survival Mission: Survive for one week (Complete mission, reward 500 survival points.)]
[Story Mission 1: Enter the God's Well (Complete mission, reward 1000 survival points)]
[Story Mission 2: Kill the Son of God (Complete mission, reward 3000 survival points)]
[Number of Entrants: 1]
[Descent Countdown: 10 minutes (Enter Now)]
"Enter Now."
Cold raindrops slid down his face, and Marcus instantly opened his eyes.
He looked down and saw that he was wearing a dirty, worn-out gray-white shirt, loose plain-colored pants, and black cloth shoes, with a flat-topped white cloth wrapped around his head.
Marcus sensed his current story identity; he was just an ordinary laborer, with only a few fragments of memories. It seemed the newbie bonus period was over.
He looked around.
A light rain was falling from the sky. On the left side of the muddy street were rows of mud houses, and on the right were wooden sheds covered with gray canvas. People were carrying goods and selling merchandise.
Several dark green military vehicles from the British colonial forces were parked by the roadside.
People on the street were dressed in hand-sewn black and white clothing; occasionally, a few men in all-white traditional robes and a few women in red saris covering their hair hurried by.
According to the information from the plot, this was Pune in 1935, located in Western India, then a British colony.
"Arjun, you lowly dog, so you've been hiding here. Come with us to see Raghav; your interest has exceeded three times the principal."
Two middle-aged men in black vests and tight-fitting clothes, their hair tied in buns, surrounded Marcus, blocking his path. The dark-skinned man sneered.
"You mean Raghav?"
Hearing this name, Marcus stopped his right leg, which was about to kick out.
He felt it was all so easy; he had originally thought he would have to painstakingly search for the plot character.
After being imprisoned in the mental labyrinth of Hell, all his memories of his past life were now crystal clear.
Raghav is an important supporting character in the film. He covets the protagonist Vinayak Rao's method of obtaining the gold coins, secretly follows him, but is tricked by the protagonist into the God's Well, bitten by 'Hastar' and turned into a monster, and then burned to death by the protagonist.
"Very good, very good, please lead the way!"
Marcus said calmly, looking at the two thugs in front of him.
These two, clearly dressed like enforcers, had suddenly grinned maliciously and blocked his path; he almost kicked these two fragile thugs to death on instinct.
Thank God he'd stopped himself. They might actually be useful.
(End of Chapter)
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