Entry 7:
A new god descended upon the land and saw what it had become. He chose to help the people, offering treasures to improve their lives. But the hearts of the people had long since grown greedy. And they wanted more.
Entry 4:
Years passed, and he began to change. He no longer provided the treasures he once gave so freely. I tried to speak with him, but I was met only with a harsh smile. He was no longer the same god I had known. I still managed to ask why he had changed, and his answer made me realize that everything had been false from the very beginning. "Because it felt right." He had taken everything this world could offer, and now it was time for his departure. He vowed to take everything with him. He had been watching all of us—learning from our actions, understanding what it meant to live as a mortal. All of it had been part of his plan.
Entry 5:
The world as we knew it was gone. The land was consumed by death and destruction. People's eyes no longer held the same light they once did. Everything felt hollow. This was the price of greed.
Entry 1:
The land had been in chaos for a long time. It resembled a wasteland more than a city where people lived. When I first arrived, the common folk greeted me warmly, but their eyes held no hope for the future. It was not until the arrival of a god that everything changed. He was powerful and beautiful, his hair flowing like water, cascading gracefully from his head to his feet. He helped the common people and raised their livelihoods until the land became what now looks like a metropolis. From a barren wasteland to a bustling city, the god truly transformed their world.
Entry 2:
I spoke to him. I asked why he helped these people when it brought him no benefit. At that moment, he held my hand and guided me to sit on his lap. From that angle, I couldn't help but be mesmerised by his beauty. He whispered his reason to me. "Because it felt right." That answer made me realize that this god acted not for gain, but for the people themselves. Helping them was what made him happy.
Entry 3:
I spent many days with this god. I guided him as he learned about the world. We walked through busy streets, meeting smiling people along the way. Their smiles were forced, each one laced with greed. It is common for people to act differently in the presence of someone of higher standing. I found it natural, and judging by his expression, I believed he understood it as well. When it was over, he thanked me.
Entry 6:
The people sought out ancient texts and trapped the god, sealing him away forever, and used him for their own gain. Was it truly necessary? Must all things end this way?
-----------------
The journal entries were arranged in this sequence, making the reader believe that the newly arrived god was kind to them regardless of how much greed the people had for his treasures. This was what Xu Yuhan had understood as well. Greedy people destroying the life of a god for their own benefit, and it sounded as if the writer of the book wanted to free him. But if one were to arranged the entries chronologically, it was all wrong.
Entry 1:
The land had been in chaos for a long time. It resembled a wasteland more than a city where people lived. When I first arrived, the common folk greeted me warmly, but their eyes held no hope for the future. It was not until the arrival of a god that everything changed. He was powerful and beautiful, his hair flowing like water, cascading gracefully from his head to his feet. He helped the common people and raised their livelihoods until the land became what now looks like a metropolis. From a barren wasteland to a bustling city, the god truly transformed their world.
Entry 2:
I spoke to him. I asked why he helped these people when it brought him no benefit. At that moment, he held my hand and guided me to sit on his lap. From that angle, I couldn't help but be mesmerised by his beauty. He whispered his reason to me. "Because it felt right." That answer made me realize that this god acted not for gain, but for the people themselves. Helping them was what made him happy.
Entry 3:
I spent many days with this god. I guided him as he learned about the world. We walked through busy streets, meeting smiling people along the way. Their smiles were forced, each one laced with greed. It is common for people to act differently in the presence of someone of higher standing. I found it natural, and judging by his expression, I believed he understood it as well. When it was over, he thanked me.
Entry 4:
Years passed, and he began to change. He no longer provided the treasures he once gave so freely. I tried to speak with him, but I was met only with a harsh smile. He was no longer the same god I had known. I still managed to ask why he had changed, and his answer made me realize that everything had been false from the very beginning. "Because it felt right." He had taken everything this world could offer, and now it was time for his departure. He vowed to take everything with him. He had been watching all of us—learning from our actions, understanding what it meant to live as a mortal. All of it had been part of his plan.
Entry 5:
The world as we knew it was gone. The land was consumed by death and destruction. People's eyes no longer held the same light they once did. Everything felt hollow. This was the price of greed.
Entry 6:
They sought out ancient texts and trapped the god, sealing him away forever, and used him for their own gain. Was it truly necessary? Must all things end this way?
Entry 7:
A new god descended upon the land and saw what it had become. He chose to help the people, offering treasures to improve their lives. But the hearts of the people had long since grown greedy. And they wanted more.
The people's greed remained present, but it shifted from just the greedy people wanting to use the god for their own benefit to a god who wanted to kill them because they had no other use. And the god mentioned in the last entry was the real kind one who helped them.
Qin Feng didn't know whether to sympathise with the people or feel bad for the god. They were still victims of an evil god, but their greed also fueled it. The god learned to be greedy from them; it learned to lie and desire everything in the world.
The room remained quiet for a moment. To the three people, this was just a fun little story created by those ugly creatures, but it was compelling enough to make solving the puzzle engaging and fun. Qin Feng wasn't enjoying it.
"What now?" Amos asked to break the silence. "We found out the truth, but how do we leave?"
Qin Feng doesn't know how to answer. If they leave now using the method Xu Yuhan used, it still feels incomplete. But if they continue to unlock the puzzles, they would be releasing an evil god. All the answers don't sit right with Qin Feng.
"The first floor has a secret room," Amos stated. "Judging by the layout of this one, it should also have a secret room."
Qin Feng and Xu Yuhan both looked at the shelf similar to floor 80 that was covering the secret room. "Could it be the same book?"
"What book?" Amos asked.
Qin Feng turned to look at him.
Amos shrugged. "There were milk and biscuits that looked like they could make you small or big, I tried that and solved the room in a deadly way,"
Qin Feng nodded. So it really was true that the way they solved it was really different and probably incomplete. "The Little Prince book has a button behind it that opens the secret room."
Amos hummed and walked towards the bookshelf. He looked for the little price book and pulled on it.
"Oh! The chandelier-" Before Qin Feng could finish, he saw Amos pull the book and heard a click.
So it seemed that the mechanism is different.
"So, had I not met you two, it would have released the evil god." Amos laughed. "These things are really smart."
The shelf moved and opened to a secret room, but this time, there was no egg.
The room had a similar round table with a record player sitting atop it.
Qin Feng was the first to walk in. He looked at the record player and pressed play.
"If you're hearing this, I am long gone." The recording was of a man, maybe around his forties, speaking with a shaky yet resolute voice. "I spoke to him once more. I wanted to know what he wanted, to know if he still wants to destroy this world."
"He answered my question, but only raised more confusion."
"He didn't have desire. He was an empty husk who lived to learn."
"All the action it took was because of human greed. He learned their greed and showed humanity what it looked like."
"When the people trapped him, he lost his reason to kill humanity. He saw more things to learn about them. That's all he was. He learns, repeats, and destroys when he has exhausted what he can learn from people."
The recoding ended.
Qin Feng frowned. So the story didn't stop with the god being sealed. In fact, he found something new to learn, thus it was both beneficial to the people and himself.
"No." Qin Feng shook his head. "It's wrong."
Amos and Xu Yuhan looked at Qin Feng. The other was rubbing his chin with a furrowed brow and clenched jaw.
"When Xu Yahan first solved this room, it's not that it's incomplete." Qin Feng looked at both of them and added. "It was complete, but he ended up freeing the evil god. He wasn't trapped by the puzzles we solved, but rather the room itself is the trap."
Qin Feng rewinded and played the recording again. After that, he rewinded it again and listened more carefully.
From the first rewind, he noticed the dripping of water in the background. Subtle, but it exists. The second time, he listened more carefully. "There's a code in the background."
The two other people in the room moved closer to the recording and tuned out the voice and listened only to the dripping of water.
"Chandelier… Window… Table… Left bookshelf… ceiling…" Amos said as he listened.
Qin Feng and Xu Yuhan looked at him. Xu Yuhan asked. "You know how to decipher the code?"
Amos nodded. "It's Morse code. I once worked with seamen, and they taught me about them. It isn't as hard as people assume it to be."
"I'm a marine biologist, but I still don't understand it. You're better than me." Qin Feng shook his head with a smile.
"You flatter me." Amos laughed. "Let's go check what the record meant. "I'll check the Chandelier and ceiling, you two check the window, table, and bookshelf."
The group looked at the aforementioned areas. The more they look, the heavier the feeling in their chest becomes. Unlike the drawings on the stacks of papers, the symbols on the papers here looked more intricate, carrying some resentment and fear.
"Their sealing talismans." Xu Yuhan studied the paper. "Don't remove them."
"So that's how they locked him." Amos nodded. "What do we do now?"
"They're incomplete." Xu Yuhan said. "It's missing a component that can truly lock that thing here." He took out a cinnabar ink and a brush from his pouch, intending to draw the finishing touch to the mechanism.
"Wait." Qin Feng pulled the hand that Xu Yuhan was going to use to finish the seal. "If we lock it forever, it doesn't solve the issue. That god seemed to only want to learn. It has no real intent."
"You're saying that you want to teach it to be… good?" Amos deciphered what Qin Feng meant. "Will it work?"
"I don't know, but I know that it wasn't his fault he turned out like this," Qin Feng remembered a time in his life when his parents taught him the way of the world.
They were accountants who knew nothing but to work in an office, typing away on their keyboards. Growing up, he assumed he would be like them, so he copied how they work, he learned what they know, and even took a senior high school program that led to being an accountant.
It wasn't until he turned 18 that he realised that he hated accounting. He wanted nothing more than to hate the people who made him believe that his future is just this. But they aren't at fault, nor was he; he just learned something that wasn't meant for him. In college, he finally took the path he wanted.
In the story, both god and humans were at fault, and at the same time, you can understand their situation. That god doesn't deserve to be locked in this room just because he learned wrong. There's always hope for change.
"I want to talk to him."
As these words left Qin Feng's lips, the room started to vibrate and shake. The light flickered as the chandelier swung in all directions. A low thundering murmur came from the ground as a projection of a man in white hanfu with hair that reached his feet. His eyes were sunken in with dark bags lining the bottom. He looked at Qin Feng with a smile. "I know who you are."
The three people stared at the man who had once been described as beautiful and magnanimous, now looking like death itself. Their hearts were leaping out of their chest, beating inconsistently.
For a minute, no one spoke until Qin Feng held onto the sleeping Punla and steadied himself. "Can you tell us your name?"
The projection touched Qin Feng's cheeks, used his thumb to sculpt his features as if carving him into. his memories. "I am what should never become." He spoke in a low voice, soft yet sharp. "I am the end of all. A thing that destroys." He took a step back and gazed at the other two people, landing on Amos before saying. "I learned to survive. For 'He' took my life."
"He?" Amos asked.
The god shook his head. "I myself do not know who he really is, just that he is selfish and greedy." He looked at the journal lying on the table, touched it, and sighed. "It's been years since I was trapped here. The E.N.D. took advantage of my people and transferred me into this room."
"For years, I learned just how horrible I became to my people." He sighed, yet a slight smile hung on his lips. "There were people who came here before you, I learned form them interactions, their interests, and their love. I understand now that my love for those people outweighs my desire to kill." He turned to Qin Feng again. "You got something wrong though. Had the immortal simply exited the room, I would have remained here, trapped. The E.N.D. would make it look like I escaped, but how can they let me? I am one of the challenges. If I really escape, there won't be a floor 79." He gritted his teeth and balled up his fist, nails digging into this holographic hand. After the outburst, he steadied himself and smiled at Qin Feng. "Thank you for hearing me. I have committed an unforgivable crime against my own people. If you truly wish to free me, find a way to leave the E.N.D. and wake up the God known as Life. He will know what to do."
Xu Yuhan took a deep breath and bit his lower lip in frustration. "How do we know that what you say is true?"
The god shook his head. "You can't, but we are on the same side here." He thought about something and added. "That man they call boss."
"Death." Qin Feng whispered. "I heard those things call him Death."
"No, that can't be." The god frowned. "He is not Death. He is someone else impersonating Death." He bit his thumb, trying to remember all the information related to that man. "He's not Death, but close to it. He was once called Entropy."
Then, as if he had exhausted everything he could, the projection vanished, and the room went back to the way it was before. And for some reason, the door they came from opened again. But instead of the staircase they came down from, there was an elevator.
"He already learned to be good." Qin Feng looked at where the god stood before. "We can free him now."