The Only Player in ‘Child of Stardust’
Chapter 248 - 169 Faith Ascension_2

Chapter 248: Chapter 169 Faith Ascension_2

As soon as this matter was exposed, everyone immediately realized that offending an extraordinary person on the internet could genuinely get them killed through an internet connection.

So, the atmosphere on the internet instantly became harmonious. Even places known as "internet cesspools" toned down their aggression, since nobody knew if they might provoke an extraordinary person and bring disaster upon themselves.

Zhou Yuan scrolled around and finally, with great determination, searched for Night City reality shows on major video platforms. There were videos, but the views were pitifully low, and there were hardly any comments.

After all, the most popular videos now were extraordinary people demonstrating Aoneng Power or introducing amazing abnormal items.

Just then, the hospital room door opened, and a group of medical staff poured in. They conducted a detailed examination on him, and only after confirming there were no issues did they leave one after another.

Zhou Yuan casually handled his discharge paperwork, changed clothes, and left the ward. As soon as he stepped out of the medical department, his phone rang.

It was Gu Chacha from the Holy Crow Church.

"What’s up?"

"Saint Heir, please come to the Xinyue headquarters," Gu Chacha said. "The goddess has new instructions."

If there were instructions, why not just tell me directly... Zhou Yuan grumbled inwardly. After leaving the Control Bureau, he headed straight for the Holy Crow Church headquarters in Xinyue.

·

Due to the previous presence of Zhen Wuliang, a menace, the Holy Crow Church headquarters in Xinyue didn’t have a fixed location; otherwise, it would be built and torn down by angry factions every time.

The temporary headquarters was in a villa, which was under Gu Chacha’s name. It was hard to believe this high school girl was also wealthy.

A lot of people gathered in the villa. They were all high-ranking members of the Holy Crow Church in Xinyue. When they saw Zhou Yuan arrive, a loud voice instantly shouted:

"Everyone stand up!"

"Welcome, Saint Heir!"

Everyone stood up with a swish and bowed, "Greetings, Saint Heir!"

Zhou Yuan took a deep breath and nodded calmly:

"You may rise."

He knew too well the character of this group. If they found it uninteresting, they wouldn’t bother with this nonsense in the future.

So he waved his hand like an emperor, signaling everyone to rise, and then sat on the sofa, "What does the goddess instruct?"

Gu Chacha placed a stack of photos on the table and spread them out with her hand.

All of them were photos of Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan was taken aback, picked up the photos to look at them one by one, and couldn’t help but frown:

"What is this?"

"AI-generated photos of you,"

Gu Chacha said seriously, looking at Zhou Yuan, "Saint Heir, to save the Holy Crow Church, please debut as an idol!"

"Goddamn idol debut!"

Zhou Yuan laughed angrily and threw the photos onto the table. "When did the Holy Crow Church need me to save it? No, when did it need saving?"

"Right now,"

Gu Chacha said earnestly, "As the veil lifts, all major factions are busy expanding themselves and recruiting new blood. If the Holy Crow Church doesn’t follow the trend, it will sooner or later be eliminated.

You’re so handsome, if you become an idol, you could definitely become world-famous. Then our Holy Crow Church could benefit from your fame, gaining money, status, connections, believers, and everything else endlessly."

"More importantly,"

Gu Chacha’s voice deepened, "you could use this to walk the path of faith-based ascension."

"The internet era is the best time for walking the faith-based ascension path. Especially now as the veil lifts and the extraordinary is revealed, it’s a great opportunity to gather believers. Missing this chance would be a real loss.

As far as I know, even the Control Bureau and other major factions are trying to become idols and gather the power of fan faith for ascension.

In the upcoming era, there will definitely be fierce competition in the idol industry!"

Zhou Yuan fell silent.

To be fair, it made sense.

The path of faith-based ascension required faith power the most. Becoming an idol and gaining a large number of fans would allow one to collect faith power from them. After all, some fanatic fans’ faith in idols was no less than that of religious zealots!

More importantly, the development of the internet connected people worldwide. An internationally renowned idol could have fans in the billions. Even if the quality of faith was not high, the sheer quantity could quickly accumulate faith power.

But...

"It sounds like a hassle,"

Zhou Yuan sighed. "Not only would I have to handle a lot of relationships, but I’d also need to consider the church’s development, and I might even have to compete with other idols. Besides, if I lose followers, my power would plummet or even disappear. It doesn’t seem as straightforward as the path of self-ascension."

"But it’s fast, and the path of faith-based ascension isn’t unchangeable. You could start with faith-based ascension and switch paths later on. We need to secure this opportunity first," Gu Chacha said.

After a brief contemplation, Zhou Yuan thought this was indeed a decent path, and it was a rare opportunity.

The path was laid out in front of him. How could he not take it?

"Then I’ll give it a try. What should I do specifically?"

Gu Chacha rubbed her chin and exchanged glances with the others:

"For you, it’s simple, just shoot some videos.

The sooner we start, the better, to avoid being outshone by others!"

·

Thus, Zhou Yuan was dragged away and spent an entire afternoon shooting videos.

And the results were just as Gu Chacha had predicted. With his face and body, just putting on some stylish clothes and striking a few poses could attract a lot of viewers.

By seven in the evening, in just half a day, Zhou Yuan’s fan count across platforms had reached an astonishing two million.

With a charm value of 23, he didn’t need any special skills, just his natural handsomeness.

And once he became popular, Zhou Yuan immediately felt a wave of heat from the raven mark on the back of his left hand.

The exhausted divine power was actually growing slowly.

"Is this the effect of faith power?" Zhou Yuan was astonished.

Then the Eyes of Identification popped up a prompt:

[Raven rewarded you with a fragment of divinity for your efforts.]

This...

Zhou Yuan was stunned. A divine fragment? When did Raven give it to him? Why didn’t she tell him? Hmm... Ever since she returned, she hadn’t made a move. She must be refining that Evil God, right?

The value of a divine fragment was unquestionable. Even an ordinary person, after absorbing a divine fragment, could gain divinity and step onto the God Ascension Step.

However, even after stepping onto the God Ascension Step, there was still a long way to go.

Zhou Yuan studied it carefully. This divine fragment seemed to have been stripped from Raven herself, containing divine power related to darkness, death, calamity, and sleep...

It was quite suitable for a Shadow System extraordinary person, after all.

Zhou Yuan observed for a while. The growth rate of faith power wasn’t fast, currently not enough to even cast a skill.

That was to be expected. After all, it had just started. Gathering faith power wasn’t that easy. If fans could generate faith power casually, that would be unusual.

"Saint Heir, there’s a new mission. Do you take it?"

Gu Chacha came in at this moment.

"What mission?"

Gu Chacha said eerily:

"Exploring a haunted building. I suggest you live stream the entire process. I’ll arrange for some hot searches to be bought, and your follower count will definitely skyrocket."

Zhou Yuan didn’t really want to go and shook his head, "I just finished a dungeon. Let me rest."

Just then, his phone rang.

The caller was Chen Guangxi.

Zhou Yuan’s hand shook, and he instantly panicked.

He stared at the phone screen for a long time and finally, as if possessed, hung up the call and sent a text message, saying he was busy.

Gu Chacha was about to leave when Zhou Yuan suddenly called her back.

"Wait, I’ll take this mission."

"Didn’t you say you needed to rest?" Gu Chacha was puzzled.

Zhou Yuan puffed out his chest and said righteously:

"How can we cultivators let evildoers run rampant? It’s our duty to exorcise demons!"