I've Become the King of Villains in the Game

Name: Chen Lun

Race: Human (Eastern Continent)

Template: NPC (Countdown to 1.0 version public beta: 407 days, 5 hours, 18 minutes, 07 seconds)

Level: 3

Experience: 0/120

Life: 26/40 (hungry, trauma to the back of the head)

Physical Strength: 40/60

Sanity: 4/5 (slowly recovering)

Main Occupation: None

Sub Occupation: [Fisherman LV3]

Attributes: Strength 4, Agility 6, Endurance 5, Intelligence 3, Faith 3

Special Attributes: Charm 7 (+2), Willpower 5, Insight 3, Luck 3

Skills: Quick Reflexes LV1 (Passive), Seafearing Balance LV1 (Passive)

Combat Power: 4

[Evaluation: A slightly handsome young fisherman, beyond that completely useless, a small piece of trash.]

...

"—— Aaahhhhh!!"

A piercing scream awakened Chen Lun.

He swiftly climbed up from the ground, knelt, and looked up to see the woman in the opposite cell screaming in agony. Half hidden in darkness, her legs exposed under the firelight were sprouting numerous erratically moving eyeballs.

Densely packed and terribly horrific.

"Get back! Look again and I'll smash your bones!"

With a shout, Chen Lun's view was blocked by a tall, thin shadow.

Looking up, he saw a guard standing in front of him, looking down through the bars of the cell. The backlit figure's eyes, full of malice and icy cold, made Chen Lun feel very uncomfortable, but as the situation was out of his control, he silently returned to a corner of the cell and sat down.

"Ignorant fool! Wretched creature! Don't be so curious about everything..."

The guard glared fiercely around at the other people in the cell, his small mustache slightly curving upwards.

"Nobody is allowed to look out! Look once, and I'll chop off a fingertip!"

He adjusted the short sword at his waist, the guard and sheath making a slight, sharp noise as they rubbed together.

The inmates of the cell shrank back in fear, turning their heads away from the sight outside.

The guard huffed coldly, then turned away satisfied, but continued to grumble under his breath, with Chen Lun faintly hearing him complain about words spoken by the Will monks.

"Quick! Move quickly!"

"Batch 4's sacrifice has mutated, get her out and handle it!"

Quick footsteps resonated in the corridor outside, Chen Lun maintained his bowed head, lifting his eyes only slightly to observe through the corner of his eyes as three or four guards in leather coats and rimmed hats lifted the woman from the opposite cell, threw her into a sack, and carried her away.

They moved very swiftly, not wasting a moment, as if any delay would trigger something terrible.

Chen Lun slowly exhaled the foul air from his chest, having already secretly guessed the truth.

Based on his many years of gaming experience, the woman was very likely contaminated by something mysterious. Her body had mutated, and once her Sanity Value dropped to 0, she would completely lose control and turn into a monster.

By then, she would definitely be dead, only her body moving, a lump of decaying flesh driven by a mad will...

"What should I do..."

Chen Lun began to think.

Being in the dungeon, he had no idea of the time outside, but he knew that the nighttime sacrifice was drawing increasingly closer.

Sacrifice!

The term wasn't hard to understand, but in "Era of Mystery," a fantasy world containing elements of Cthulhu and new strange tales, it only served as a generic term, not merely a sacrifice to the Gods.

Chen Lun knew very clearly that the Red Apple Church's sacrifices were intended for the "Mysterious Objects" they gathered with tremendous human and material resources, and the offerings included various living beings, humans included.

But in a way, these so-called sacrifices were more like a form of research.

The Red Apple Church had always been covertly researching "Mysterious Objects," attempting to fully grasp the mysterious powers they held.

At this moment, Chen Lun's identity was that of a "sacrifice" for the "Mysterious Object" that the group of monks from the Will was responsible for!

"Mysterious Objects" in "Era of Mystery" could be understood as "Spiritual Treasures" from fantasy martial arts novels, but unlike "Spiritual Treasures," these "Mysterious Objects" were even more bizarre and uncontrollable. Their origins were unknown, their mechanisms of effect were unclear, and their characteristics and uses were all mysteries...

Even its form of existence was unclear.

Common objects such as pens, coffee cups or a gun... slightly larger items like tables, chairs or even houses and cars. It could also be animals or living beings, like insects, kittens, puppies, creatures flying in the sky or swimming in the sea... It could even be a person.

These "Mysterious Objects," unless a significant or massive number of lives were spent researching and experimenting, no one dared to use them casually, because it was very likely that one might die bizarrely before even beginning to use it.

Seeing the woman's grotesque changes just now, Chen Lun thought of a notoriously dangerous "Mysterious Object" contaminated by the Red Apple Church. The hallmark of anyone contaminated by it was their body being covered in eyeballs.

"If it really is that thing..."

Chen Lun wiped off his cold sweat, feeling a bad premonition.

In his previous life, he was not a powerhouse player. Unlike most, he was not keen on pursuing strength, only remaining in the middle tier; instead, he was more fascinated by the game's background stories and worldviews.

His favorite activities, aside from digging into the game's side stories and traveling to experience local customs, were browsing various interesting posts about the Era of Mystery world on forums.

Chen Lun remembered having read a detailed introduction about the Red Apple Church, which included information about that "Mysterious Object."

"A-grade Mysterious Object: Sun-avoiding Potted Plant"

Transformed from a saint who renounced the faith of the Sun, it possesses a strong repulsion, especially deadly to the Transcendents of the Solar System.

Legend says that the Tresor Empire's Bixi Royal City had to be rebuilt once, and it was all because of it.

This "Mysterious Object" belongs to one of the bosses of the Red Apple Church, the Deathly Quiet Nun, Floey.

"Blood rains down on me as I calmly watch the sunflower bow its head after the rain, just as the sunflower watches the Sun burn to death." — Floey

...

"I hope the 'Sun-avoiding Potted Plant' is not here..."

Chen Lun felt the sweat flowing more and more, his back soaking wet, with a slightly sticky cold feeling.

"I don't want to be extremely unlucky and be buried along with these people!"

"I have to find a way to escape quickly!"

According to the timeline, the "Sun-avoiding Potted Plant" had not yet been fully mastered by the Red Apple Church at this time. They would definitely keep crazily sacrificing lives to experiment with it, but the problem was that this "A-grade Mysterious Object" was too dangerous, like a nuclear bomb ready to explode at any moment.

These damn lunatics keep pushing the limits on the brink of destruction, but I cannot afford to become collateral damage.

Chen Lun forced himself to calm down, took a few deep breaths, and thought seriously.

He remembered fainting from the loss of Sanity Value after witnessing the woman's deformation, and it seemed that he had also activated his panel at the last moment.

"That's right, the panel!"

Chen Lun hurriedly pulled up his character panel, planning to find a way to save himself from it.

After spending several minutes carefully reviewing it, he knitted his brows tightly.

First, what caught his attention were his NPC template and the countdown to the public test.

The initial joy from the panel's appearance quickly faded because it seemed he had lost his player status and the resurrection ability relied upon as the Fourth Calamity.

It also meant that his life was the only one he had.

Meanwhile, the countdown reminded Chen Lun that his current timeline was set one year before the opening act of the game, just before version 1.0 when the Red Apple Church rampaged through the Empire.

This signified that the Red Apple Church was still in hiding, with strength far less than their period of full glory.

On the other hand, since the headquarters of the Red Apple Church was in the Royal City, they dared not sacrifice massive numbers of lives to experiment with "Mysterious Objects" under the royal family's watchful eyes; hence, Chen Lun guessed that the dungeon he was in must be a remote branch of the Church.

"This also means that they are understaffed here, which is good news."

But Chen Lun did not let his guard down, as he still possessed no supernatural abilities, just an ordinary person.

As for his inherent "Fisherman LV3," forget it, would he really show these brutally fierce church guards some high-end fishing skills?

"The key lies in the Charm Value..."

Charm Value affected the natural affection of NPCs towards players, along with Willpower, Insight, and Luck Points, grouped as special attributes. The special thing about these four attributes was that they couldn't be increased by adding points, making them particularly valuable.

But the key Chen Lun mentioned was not about using his charm to persuade the guards to let him out, but the additional 2 points in the bracket following his Charm Value.

"These are Charm Values added by equipment!"

Chen Lun was all too familiar with this, which is why he noticed the key point at a glance.

He hurriedly stood up and began searching himself.

But like the other prisoners captured, Chen Lun wore only a tattered linen shirt, simply tied at the waist with a cloth band.

"What could it be?"

Chen Lun frowned, then suddenly looked down—

He had a handmade seashell necklace hanging around his neck.

"B-grade Mysterious Object (Damaged): Mermaid's Song"