Chapter 212: The Old Ones [Double Release]

Chapter 212: The Old Ones [Double Release]

When the answer bearing the "Prophecy God" verification tag was pinned, the vast Q&A community almost instantly erupted in excitement.

The frenzy quickly spread across the entire internet, even reaching the Dark Web, drawing countless onlookers.

After all, the Q&A community presided over by the Prophecy God Phoebus was one of the most active sections of the internet. Here, all kinds of questions and answers could satisfy anyone's curiosity, thirst for knowledge, or even vanity!

Thanks to big data recommendations, users always "naturally" stumbled upon topics that interested them.

In the multiverse, the slang "Ask the Q&A for everything" had even emerged.

Yet, amid this bustling community, the Prophecy God had never left a trace—until now.

His sudden appearance was nothing short of astonishing.

Especially since the Prophecy God was answering on behalf of the enigmatic Internet God, addressing the hottest movie of the moment. Naturally, it sent shockwaves across the entire network, igniting a frenzy among all!

This was, for most intelligent beings in the multiverse, the closest they had ever come to the Internet God.

Countless people swarmed in.

Fortunately, godhood was a force of rules, unbound by bandwidth limitations—otherwise, the Q&A community would have crashed instantly under the overwhelming surge of traffic.

Under the question, "Why is Young King more popular than The Prince's Revenge?" the Prophecy God Phoebus wrote:

"I am the Prophecy God Phoebus, and I share your curiosity about this question.

"After hearing the answer from the great Internet God, I was deeply moved. I believe no one is more suited to answer this than the Internet God, so I shall relay his words.

"The following is the Internet God's response, with minor adjustments in phrasing but the essence unchanged.

"After Young King sparked a frenzy across the internet, I asked the Internet God: Why is Young King more popular than The Prince's Revenge? Was The Prince's Revenge poorly made?

"The Internet God smiled and told two stories:

"1. Long, long ago, there was a king who married a queen named Mary. Once, when the kingdom suffered a great famine, a guard informed Queen Mary that countless commoners could not afford bread and were starving to death. Upon hearing this, Queen Mary exclaimed in surprise: 'If the people have no bread, why don’t they eat cake?'

"2. Two farmers sat on a ridge, imagining the extravagant life of the emperor. One farmer said, 'The emperor must eat bread until he’s full every day!' The other replied, 'No, no—when the emperor works the fields, he must use hoes made of gold!'

"After sharing these stories, the Internet God laughed and said:

"'These are amusing tales, but they were real events.

"'People always define what they do not know based on their own limited perspectives and experiences, then rashly criticize what doesn’t align with their values.

"'Yet such criticism only exposes their own shortsightedness and ignorance.

"'What is the essence of film?

"'It is a form of entertainment for the spirit.

"'If the audience enjoys it, then it is good.

"'If the audience dislikes it, even if the gods deem it good, it is still trash.

"'Was The Prince's Revenge poorly made?

"'No, it was made well—exceptionally well.

"'Ten years from now, a hundred years from now, if it is revisited, countless people will still praise it. Even a thousand years later, there will be those who love it.'"

"Saving Princess Hedi" and "Young King" are different.

In less than ten years—perhaps even just one—no one will care for them anymore.

Because if Interconnected Film continues its current trajectory, the audience’s tastes will inevitably grow more refined. Their horizons will broaden, and they will no longer spout laughable remarks like "the emperor's golden hoe"! Naturally, their demands for movie quality will also rise. At the very least, they won’t tolerate illogical settings anymore.

But should "Saving Princess Hedi" and "Young King" never have existed?

No. A towering edifice rises from the ground—everything develops step by step.

Some, through historical opportunity or sheer luck, manage to become mages, even Grand Archmages or Saint Magi, and from then on, they look down on commoners as lowly, as filth, as dust, as muck, mocking their shallow and ignorant perspectives.

Little do they realize how laughable and pitiful such mockery truly is.

How powerful are the people? Look at the Keville Divine Kingdom and see.

Countless mortals, with their hardworking hands, have transformed machinery, creating firearms, bullets, and even airships that rival the power of magic.

With devout hearts, they study the mysteries of nature, master magic, raise their blades against gods and demons, and shelter all beings within Magic Towers!

Under the heavens, all beings are ants.

We, the ants who by chance have lifted our heads to gaze at the stars—even grown wings—should instead be like great trees, rooted in the soil, growing toward the sun.

...The above are the words of the great Internet God. I was fortunate to hear His teachings and feel deeply honored. Now I share them with you all, for mutual encouragement.

This brief response, once published, shook the multiverse!

Not only because it thoroughly explained why "Young King" was more popular than "The Prince's Revenge"—

But also because, for the first time, a lofty god had praised the greatness of mortals and extolled their strength!

The vision displayed by the Internet God was nothing short of awe-inspiring!

This was the fundamental reason it sent shockwaves through the multiverse.

One could say that the wiser one was, the more one could grasp the profound depth of the phrase: "Under the heavens, all beings are ants."

These few short lines carried different meanings for different people.

……

……

Clairement, Chief of the Interconnected Bank, sat in the Willis City branch, rereading the Prophecy God’s response, her heart trembling.

To be honest, she was one of those who couldn’t understand why "Saving Princess Hedi" and "Young King" had become such hits!

As a member of royalty, she naturally appreciated "The Prince's Revenge" and could enjoy it.

But the childishness of "Young King" held no appeal for her.

She had even privately questioned why the great Internet God would produce such low-intellect dramas.

Even if the Internet God was extremely busy and delegated the task to subordinates, wouldn’t He at least review it?

After all, this was the first drama released on Interconnected Film!

She couldn’t make sense of it.

Even after "Saving Princess Hedi" exploded in popularity on the internet, she still couldn’t understand.

She had even entertained the Wisdom Goddess’s thought—"Wild dogs that have never tasted meat would go mad with joy at the sight of a bone!"

But when "Young King" surpassed "The Prince's Revenge" in acclaim, she was stunned.

This complete defiance of her common sense left her bewildered and afraid!

Now, through the Prophecy God's retelling, as she watched the Internet God highly praise the God of Death's The Prince's Revenge while belittling his own Young King, Clairement suddenly understood—and an indescribable awe rose in her heart!

To appreciate one’s opponent, to praise them, to see them clearly, unswayed by worldly prejudices—the Internet God’s vision and perspective left her utterly humbled!

Using this as a mirror, Clairement realized in a daze that ever since the Interconnected Bank’s frenzied expansion across the multiverse, she too had grown arrogant.

She had always believed the Internet God forced her family to withdraw from ruling the Keville Empire to maintain balance.

Only now did she see how childish that thought was!

How could the Internet God, who saw himself as nothing more than a winged ant, care about something as insignificant as the Keville Empire?

If he wanted, he could reshape the world at any moment.

If she wasn’t mistaken, what the Internet God truly sought was perhaps nothing more than a fairer environment for ordinary people.

The great Internet God was trying to awaken more ants to look up at the starry river.

The starry river?

Clairement’s heart trembled with sudden insight.

……

Not everyone possessed Clairement’s enlightenment.

Still, though the two examples the Internet God gave were exaggerated and absurd—much like the dramas he produced—they vividly explained why his plays were so wildly popular!

The wise saw truth in these examples.

The vast class divide limited the imagination of common folk.

They couldn’t comprehend The Prince’s Revenge, but the straightforwardness of Saving Princess Hedi resonated deeply.

This proved that the Internet God understood the common people better than any other deity!

Considering how the internet had resolved countless life pain points and brought hope to so many, it was no wonder his towering image stirred such excitement and inspiration among the masses.

……

While the multiverse rejoiced, the gods were overwhelmed with mixed emotions.

"Since his emergence, barely two years have passed, yet the Internet God now stands among the Six Great Righteous Gods. Even so, he still considers himself an ant gazing at the stars. What, then, does that make us?"

The usually sharp-tongued Wisdom Goddess fell into confusion after reading his response.

"Indeed, the Titan Gods have been gone too long—so long that we’ve grown arrogant and deluded!"

The God of Dark Night murmured with a trace of nostalgia in his eyes.

In the days when the ancient Titan Gods ruled, the gods were merely strong ants hiding in corners, and humans were but aphids tended by those ants.

The Titans vanished, and under the river of time’s flow, the gods had forgotten the terror of their dominion.

If the Titans were to return one day, would the gods even stand a chance?

The answer was painfully obvious.

"The Internet God speaks like one who has lived through the Titan Era. No wonder the Azure Star in his prayer chant has remained untraceable! Then again, how many still remember events from ten thousand years ago?"

The Goddess of Luck exhaled, as if enlightened.

The Luck Godhood she wielded was born from the shattered Fate Godhood, granting her partial authority over destiny—making her particularly adept at tracing an enemy’s origins.

Alas, even now, she remains unable to discern the fate of the Internet God.

Now, she finally understands why it has been so difficult to perceive!

Because the passage of time is enough to erase all traces.

The words of the Goddess of Luck sent a shudder through the Gods of Kaman, stirring complex emotions within them.

To have survived the Old Ones of the Titan Gods, endured to this day, and even rebuilt their glory—just this record alone is enough to unsettle the heart.

"If the Internet God truly emerged from the Titan Era, why has he never revealed himself until now?"

"The reasons are complicated. Perhaps he was severely wounded and slumbered, only recently awakening. Or perhaps he has been lying low, researching godhood all this time."

"If it’s the former, then so be it. But if it’s the latter… such patience is truly terrifying!"

"Indeed!"

For a moment, the Gods of Kaman grew even more wary of the Internet God.

……

……

While the Gods of Kaman, lacking sufficient information, arrived at a mistaken judgment—

The Four Pillar Gods, who had personally besieged and killed the God of Contracts, Tang En, naturally did not believe the Internet God was some relic from the era of the Old Ones.

Yet, they were still shaken by the Internet God’s vision.

"We must admit, we underestimated the Internet God. He is a true genius! We’ve been gods for too long—we’ve forgotten the perspective and thinking of mortals."

Among the Four Pillar Gods, the God of the Sea sighed with emotion.

His privately developed "internet" was already prepared and ready for release.

In fact, he had originally intended to launch it immediately. But just then, the Dark Web happened to unveil the [Opera House].

Reluctantly, he decided to plagiarize the [Opera House] before releasing his own.

Yet as soon as he finished copying the [Opera House], [Interconnected Film] emerged.

Seeing how [Interconnected Film] was now at its peak, he knew that without a differentiated approach, his project would be crushed by the Internet God’s.

Helpless, the God of the Sea could only delay further.

Now, he was also deeply grateful for his patience.

Because the Internet God’s answer had resolved his greatest confusion.

Otherwise, the dramas he had prepared would likely have suffered the same fate as the God of Death’s—only a few elite humans would appreciate them, while the common folk would ignore them entirely.

Little did the God of the Sea know, he would soon be betrayed by his own "perfectionism"!

"Great wisdom appears foolish, great skill appears clumsy! The Internet God has truly taught me a lesson. His insight into human nature is frightening! If he chose to preach, his church would be no less formidable than ours."

The God of Life sighed, ashamed of his earlier underestimation.

"Great wisdom appears foolish? Hmph, you overestimate him too much! What ‘ants looking up’? I see nothing but a self-aggrandizing piece, pretending to praise the God of Death while actually elevating himself!"

The God of War sneered in disdain.

Clearly, not all gods approved of the Internet God.

For the God of War, he had always scorned convoluted philosophies.

He believed only in force!

Absolute power was the only eternal truth.

To convince him, rather than dazzling rhetoric, one must prove themselves in battle with a blade worthy of respect!

"Absolutely right! Look at the Keville Divine Kingdom—decrees change daily, official titles shift monthly, and currencies are reformed yearly. With such instability, how dare they claim to be 'rooted in the soil, growing toward the sun'? They’re no different from those boastful wandering bards!"

The Earth Mother Goddess sneered, her eyes burning with undisguised jealousy.

And truth be told, she wasn’t wrong.

Ever since the Keville Empire transformed into the Keville Divine Kingdom, new decrees had been issued incessantly, with official positions undergoing drastic changes. To the more tradition-bound gods, this was nothing but a wasteful burden on the people.

But the Earth Mother Goddess, unable to grasp the efficiency of the internet, failed to realize that unchanging policies were the true mark of stagnation.

Even among the Four Pillar Gods, there were voices of disdain and scorn—let alone the rest of the pantheon.

Just as many gods assumed the Internet God had enlisted the Prophecy God to flaunt his own prestige, his next move left these narrow-minded deities utterly dumbfounded.

After the Prophecy God Phoebus answered the top-ranked question, Interconnected Film underwent a major update.

The splash-screen announcement stunned the multiverse once again.

The details were lengthy, but the essence boiled down to one sentence:

The Internet God would open Interconnected Film to all intelligent beings, allowing them to upload dramas. Based on viewership duration, creators would split Source Essence 50-50—or opt for payment in Interconnected Coins instead.

The gods were floored.

Truly, utterly floored.

Any rational being who controlled the internet—a weapon of such magnitude—would never willingly share Source Essence.

What were a few dramas, after all?

Even if they lacked the time to produce them themselves, they could always delegate the task to subordinates. Who didn’t have a few illusionists under their command?

And this was the Internet God, ruler of the magic nation of Keville!

Wouldn’t it be better to produce dramas independently and monopolize the Source Essence?

Why share it at all?

Was there some hidden scheme at play?

In an instant, suspicion and doubt spread among the gods. Some even hesitantly began testing the waters.