Light drizzle tapped against the prison's iron bars, pattering softly.

An Su groggily opened his eyes.

He hung his head, looking at the reflection of a young boy in the puddle, and froze.

That wasn't his face.

The boy's features were delicate, appearing to be no more than fourteen years old, with pale blue eyes reflecting a cool light, his skin pallid almost to the point of transparency.

He was dressed in luxurious noble attire, a robe trailing along the soil paired with his long grey-white hair, enveloping his bare feet.

The frail noble boy contrasted drastically with the gloomy and damp surroundings, like a mismatched scene from two different paintings.

"Hss..."

An Su's head throbbed with intense pain.

Memories from his past life flooded in like a tide.

He was once the most famous speedrunner in the world, undertaking a challenge in a western fantasy game named "Nether."

This was his seventeenth run, he was attempting to beat the fastest world record for completion, and by the way, the current world record was his from the sixteenth run.

He was pulling an all-nighter, then suddenly everything went dark, and the world transformed.

He had reincarnated into the world of Nether.

As memories merged, An Su's expression grew increasingly grim.

——It seemed he was off to a fatal start.

It appeared... he had reincarnated into a character destined to be sacrificed at the beginning.

Literally to be offered up by cultists.

His name was An Su Moningsta, the heir to one of the wealthiest families, the Morningstar Family. While his household was abundantly rich, An Su was not destined to be the protagonist.

First, his dark attributes were outstanding, a once-in-a-century phenomenon, while his holy attributes were so lacking it was heartrending, earning him the title 'Child of the Curse' from birth. If not for his progressive father, he would have ended up drowned in a hog cage.

Second, he was born into a noble family and had quite the disdainful character, aloof and eccentric from childhood, his greatest skill being running away from home.

These two characteristics were the main reasons the cultists kidnapped An Su.

A 'Child of the Curse' with high dark attributes was one of the best offerings to the Evil God.

The Mother Goddess had a particular taste for children with high dark or high holy attributes, finding the mixture of salty and fresh flavors rich yet not greasy.

And kids who loved to run away from home were the easiest targets for cultists to kidnap.

According to An Su's memories from his previous life, this should be the opening CG phase of the "Nether" storyline.

This time, the cultists had kidnapped two children.

One was him, and the other was one of the heroines of this game, the future Church's Holy Maiden, a paragon of virtue who despised evil – Luojia Fast.

As everyone knows, the opening of a game is always designed to set the stage for the protagonist's debut, and An Su, unfortunately, was just a stepping stone for the protagonist's entrance.

According to the original story, the cultists would sacrifice the two in succession; An Su would die on the spot and be taken by the Evil God.

And An Su's death would trigger Luojia, the heroine, who would then awaken her potential as the Holy Maiden and vanquish the cultists.

With this in mind, buttering up the Little Holy Maiden and clinging to the protagonist's coattails, using his previous life's walkthrough knowledge to find a way to activate Luojia's constitution as the Holy Maiden, might just save his life.

To cling to the protagonist's coattails.

——That was the standard and correct solution.

In such a situation, any sane person would know what to do.

There were no issues with that.

As An Su pondered, he found his train of thought to be unusually clear, and his composure unnaturally calm.

He stood up, walked to the next cell, and looked at the girl in the neighboring cell.

She was only a year older than An Su.

Luojia lowered her gaze, her silver eyelids like a layer of frost, and beneath them, her golden eyes reflected a cool light.

Dressed in a whitewashed nun's attire, her pale hands hugged her knees, sitting in the other corner of the room.

The dim torchlight flickered over her cheeks, her shoulders trembling slightly, like a restless kitten.

Perhaps sensing An Su's gaze, she lifted her head, paused, then dropped it again, turning her face away.

"The Lord will protect us,"

Luojia suddenly said.

It was unclear whether she was comforting An Su or herself.

"My name is An Su, what's yours?" An Su politely inquired.

"Luojia."

"Luojia, listen,"

An Su called her name, earnestly saying, "I have a plan that could save our lives, and you are the most critical, most important part of it."

The most critical... most important?

Luojia lifted her head, locking eyes with An Su.

For some reason, she inexplicably felt a sense of trust towards the noble youth before her.

Perhaps it was his sunny smile.

After all, he was handsome.

Luojia asked, "What do I need to do?"

An Su looked into her eyes and said slowly,

"That is, to swear to the Goddess of Contract, if we get out, you're not allowed to report me..."

"...?" Luojia was baffled, tilting her head, her silver hair draping over one shoulder, "What?"

"And," the youth added, "you can't beat me up later."

Years later, Luojia, who had become the Church's Holy Maiden, would look at her pontiff and often recall this dark and damp autumn afternoon, the innocent smile of the boy as he made her swear to the Goddess of Contract—and feel a sincere regret.

---

Time slowly passed, and the drizzling autumn rain outside had stopped.

An Su remained silent the whole time, never revealing his plan to Luojia, simply leaning against the wall, waiting quietly.

The preparation for the cultist ritual was complete.

A priest wearing a radiant golden sun mask opened the cage, first removing the shackles from An Su's hands, then pushing him forward to leave.

The golden mask.

It was a hallmark of the adherents to the Mother Goddess sect, consistent with the game's settings.

"Nether" is a game with a high degree of freedom, and the sect of the Mother Goddess is one of the eight great esoteric sects players can choose to join, worshiping the original Mother Goddess— the Mother Goddess of Life.

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