Chapter 1: The Book of Salvation

Wen City, Cultural Affairs Bureau Special Office.

The night was dark outside the window, but the office was brightly lit.

“Knock knock knock.”

“Come in.”

The young woman leaning over the desk lifted her head. Her long black hair was tied up in a high ponytail, revealing her delicate oval face.

A petite and beautiful girl with short hair pushed the door open and locked it from the inside.

The short-haired girl leaned down to whisper into the woman’s ear, “Li-zu, there’s news from No. 0…”

“He’s already collected the target’s information… Also, after this mission, No. 0 has requested to withdraw from the undercover mission.”

The woman called Li-zu was stunned for a moment before she said, “That’s true. No. 0 isn’t an Apostle after all. He could be in danger at any time while doing this kind of undercover work.”

Li-zu took off the ponytail tie, and her long hair draped softly down. She rubbed her temples with her slender and fair fingers, looking somewhat tired.

“Hah, we’re a little short on hands… Oh right, among the new recruits being interviewed next door, is there anyone suitable?”

The short-haired girl walked behind the office chair and gently massaged Li-zu’s shoulders. “There’s one called Lin Xun. He has a lot of experience playing games and his soul strength also meets the game’s requirements. With some guidance, he’ll be able to enter the game soon.”

“Should we directly summon him?”

Li-zu closed her beautiful eyes in pleasure and leaned back against the short-haired girl’s flat chest. “Observe him for a few more days…”

The short-haired girl massaged Li-zu for a while before leaving the office.

In the old rental house at midnight.

Lin Xun took his hands off the keyboard and nodded in satisfaction at the screen.

“Very good, this plotline didn’t collapse.”

He clicked publish and was done for the day!

He stretched, and his bones cracked.

“4,000 words is indeed the limit for humans. The ancients didn’t lie.”

After graduation, Lin Xun had also lived a 996 life like countless other wage slaves.

Having been ground down by life, he resolutely chose to take the civil service exam and applied for a position as a clerk at the Cultural Affairs Bureau.

Don’t ask. If you do, he’ll say he wanted to be a salted fish with a nine-to-five job and two days off.

After passing the written exam, he attended the interview this morning.

Unexpectedly, an unexpected incident occurred. Judging by the expressions of the examiners, his interview had likely failed.

Fortunately, he still had a side job—writing webnovels.

Although as a flop author, his royalties were very meager, they could still barely cover his living expenses.

Lin Xun pulled out his phone and skillfully opened a game—King of Glory.

After writing, it was of course time to play games.

As for sleep? Young people who didn’t stay up late cultivating weren’t young people.

After a long time, Lin Xun forced himself to resist the urge to throw his phone away and angrily exited the game.

After a few rounds, he kept encountering useless teammates. Even if he was MVP every round, he couldn’t change the situation. He couldn’t even 1v9, and was beaten down by the ELO system until he lost again and again.

“Time to try a new game. If I play King of Glory any longer, I’ll be dead for the rest of my life!” Lin Xun cursed as he opened the App Store.

The top game on the charts was a brand-new game he’d never heard of before: Book of Salvation.

Book of Salvation? Lin Xun hadn’t heard any news about it recently.

As a hardcore gamer, Lin Xun was proficient in mobile, PC, and console games alike. He would pre-order any major game that was about to be released.

Without thinking, he clicked to download and install the game.

A thick and luxurious book appeared on the phone screen.

The cover of the book was extremely ornate, probably made of pure gold. The dazzling golden light shimmered and flowed, and various precious gems were inlaid around it. A strange foreign language was engraved in the center.

An invisible hand flipped open the book…

On the yellowed sheepskin pages, lines of inked text appeared one by one.

【 Preface 】

【 That land is called Gaia, a rich homeland flowing with milk and honey, a divine kingdom established by legendary beings. 】

【 In this place, the glory of gods is everywhere. 】

【 But at some point, a book called the Book of Salvation quietly circulated in the world. The prophecy of the destruction of the beautiful land began to spread, and the people of their homeland fell into panic. 】

【 People attempted to interpret the contents of the Book of Salvation, hoping to find clues to prevent the end of the world. 】

【 The chapters in the book were each a terrifying and unique end of the world. After reading them, normal people would often lose their minds and fall into madness. 】

【 Only those rare few who were favored by the gods could enter the scenes of the prophecies in the book and explore the origins of the ends of the world. 】

【 They were regarded as saviors; they were called apostles. 】

【 And you are one of the apostles! 】

【 Please create your soul mark. 】

A text-based game?

No stunning animation performance, no moving background music, only lines of simple text.

Lin Xun felt that this game could become number one on the charts only by hiring paid internet trolls.

The only highlight was probably that he could “explore various terrifying and unique ends of the world.”

He patiently continued playing.

【 Please create your soul mark. 】

A text box appeared on the screen, asking for a game ID. Lin Xun thoughtlessly entered his usual game name and pen name.

【 Swordsmith

【 Soul mark successfully created! 】

【 Click to flip through and enter a chapter. 】

The pages turned with a rustle, and the thick book seemed to have no end…

【 You have entered an end of the world chapter. 】

【Chapter 323】

In a dilapidated church, a weak and small soul from another world slowly awakened.

The moonlight shone through the broken dome of the church, and the thick clouds in the night sky were visible. The cold wind howled like the roar of a demon from the Abyss.

New Apostle, weak and small soul, swordsmith, you have awakened.

It seemed that a fierce battle had just taken place in the church. The ground was covered with dozens of corpses, most of which were torn to pieces like broken dolls.

You looked around and discovered only three relatively complete corpses.

The body of a guard knight, a young and strong knight. The savage claws had torn through the crucifix shield and chest armor, opening his stomach. He had died a very violent death. Compatibility: 88%

The body of a black-robed priest, an old priest with a hunchback. He held a prayer book tightly in his arms, and there was a crimson corner of his mouth. On the ground in front of him was a spray of organ fragments, so it seemed that his body was completely empty. Compatibility: 79%

【 Sister of the choir’s body. A young and beautiful sister, her lower body covered in blood and filth. Her face twisted in despair, two streams of blood tears flowing from her eyes. This tragic scene reminded you of the saintess you rescued from the goblin cave. Compatibility: 72 percent. 】

【 Apostle, please choose the body you wish to possess. Of course, you can also refuse and use the weak soul to explore and adventure. 】

Why was this game’s description text so sinister?

Lin Xun frowned slightly and began to ponder.

“This should be choosing the initial class,” he thought to himself. “Using a wandering soul to possess a body is quite a novel way to start off. But what does the compatibility mean…?”

According to the literal meaning, Lin Xun guessed that it might be the compatibility between the wandering soul and the body.

He had always preferred to play wizards in games, and the three bodies before him were a knight, a priest, and a nun, which corresponded to warrior, mage, and priest classes.

Lin Xun firmly chose the black-robed priest’s body.

【 Your soul’s compatibility with this body is below 80 percent; possession failed. 】

Out of the three bodies, only the knight’s compatibility was above 80 percent, reaching 88 percent.

“Can only pick a melee class and even let people choose from three bodies? If zombies saw the game designer’s head, they would sigh in disappointment and leave.”

Lin Xun had no choice but to pick the Knight.

【 A weak wandering soul has possessed the body of a guard knight. 】

【 You have mastered this strange body, and the memories of the knight still remain within it. 】

【 These memories are fragmented, and you can barely understand a small portion of the world’s history. 】

【 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. The people of God lived and繁殖 in the warm light, and the light was the faith that sustained the lives of the people. 】

【 The appearance of the blood day has corrupted the light that the people believed in. The sun that has been unchanged for eternity in the sky has been infected by the power of the blood day, becoming a strange scarlet color like it had been soaked in blood. Under the blood day, even the most devout follower of the divine light will fall into a deformed demon. 】

【 The oracle no longer appears in this world; God has abandoned His people… The ancient kingdom’s national religion—the Church of the Divine Light—has split. As a guardian knight of the White Moon Church, purifying the fallen of the blood day church is your main creed. But unfortunately, tonight’s victory belongs to those blood day followers who have fallen into corruption. 】

【 The fragmented memories came to an abrupt stop. 】

“This is getting more and more interesting. According to the knight’s memories, the source of this world’s end was the sun being polluted by some unknown reason. Sunlight… Perhaps it was radiation that distorted humans into monsters.” Lin Xun stroked his chin and pondered.

【 Unlike the weak wandering souls, the strong knight body makes you feel the solid strength of your flesh. 】

【 You clenched your fists, and the surging power in your body made you feel incomparably powerful and invincible. 】

【 Brave Apostle, do you wish to push open the church door and explore the source of the end? 】

It seemed that the body he had possessed was very strong. This was a good start.

Lin Xun, who hadn’t selected the Master of Law, finally felt a little relieved.

He impatiently clicked on pushing open the door.

【 The howling cold wind had already calmed down at some point. The hair-raising creaking of pushing open the door sounded especially piercing in the silent night. 】

【 The loud noise attracted the attention of a certain monster… 】

【 Outside the church door, a monster with its back facing you suddenly turned around, its scarlet eyes staring at you. 】

You were attacked by a monster. The heavy injury to your chest and abdomen made it impossible for you to defend.

In a daze, you saw that the deformed monster seemed to be wearing church uniform, and the red sun on its chest was especially eye-catching.

You died!

The words “DIE” appeared in large, bright red letters on the screen.

What?

Lin Xun looked left and right. He clearly saw the word “GAME OVER.”

Wasn’t this game supposed to have overwhelming power and invincible might?

There was no choice of class, and the plotline was a killing spree. Even Miyazaki knew to give players a relic at the start of the game. This game was really hellish.

“This isn’t just a masochist high-difficulty game? You think I’ll give up so easily?”

Lin Xun was a little excited for some reason at this level of difficulty.

He continued playing while complaining.

Your first death has earned you the favor of the Book of Salvation.

You have obtained a soul page.

You opened your eyes and found yourself reborn as a wandering soul in the dilapidated church. The church’s furnishings were just as you had seen before. The only difference was that there were only two complete corpses left on the ground, and the knight’s body had disappeared.

“This is a beginner’s gift?”

Lin Xun noticed two new options on the screen.

【 Inventory 】

【 Rebuild Body 】

【 Do you want to rebuild the ‘Guardian Knight’ body? 】

【 Rebuilding this body requires consuming one point of soul strength. Current soul strength: 2/2. 】

【 Apostles’ soul strengths recover one point every 12 hours. Please use them wisely. 】

Lin Xun, as a veteran player, immediately understood that consuming soul strength to rebuild the body was similar to using resurrection coins in games.

He didn’t rush to rebuild his body and instead clicked on the inventory to store the ‘soul page’ he had just obtained.

Lin Xun opened the item description.

【 Soul Page 】

【 The Book of Salvation’s favor bestowed upon newly promoted apostles. Using it will activate the apostle’s soul talent. 】

“Oh? It’s time for the exciting blind box opening part.” Lin Xun was eager to try it out.

Just as he was about to use the item, he suddenly felt something on his hand.

When he looked closer, all the hair on his body stood up, and goosebumps rose all over him!