In the taxi.
His sister still seemed immersed in the grief of their parents' sudden death, her head resting on Jiang Yuan's shoulder, occasionally sobbing.
It seemed she had already believed Jiang Yuan's words and didn't ask any more questions.
Jiang Yuan composed himself and looked out the window.
Tall buildings, busy traffic, all kinds of pedestrians.
Young men and women looking down at their phones; couples walking sweetly hand in hand; happy families of three with children.
The shops along the street were bustling with activity, with vendors' calls, bargaining, and laughter.
Joyful voices, prosperity as far as the eye could see.
At first glance, it really didn't seem any different from Earth.
Who would have thought that beneath this beautiful veil, the world was so terrifying, ugly, and evil.
About forty minutes later.
The taxi stopped in front of the so-called 'Heavenly Staircase Hall'.
Jiang Yue paid the fare, and they got out of the car.
Looking at the many grief-stricken people in the Heavenly Staircase Hall, Jiang Yuan guessed this must be a funeral parlor?
"Xiaoyuan, let's go. Uncle and should already be here."
Jiang Yuan nodded and followed.
...
He guessed correctly.
The Heavenly Staircase Hall was indeed a place similar to an Earth funeral parlor.
Families with deceased loved ones would hold funerals and memorial services here.
The difference was that the remains of these deceased people wouldn't be cremated, but instead would be offered as a sacrifice to the gods they worshipped after the funeral.
In a bathroom at the Heavenly Staircase Hall, Jiang Yuan searched for information about the hall on his phone. The more he read about the introduction, the more shocked he became.
The beginning was okay.
When it came to 'sacrifice', the introduction on the webpage explained without reservation what 'sacrifice' meant!
The deceased, both body and soul, would the heavenly staircase to the embrace of the gods, and from then on, stay by the gods' side forever.
To put it more practically, their souls would be made into soul incense.
Their bodies would be ground into meat paste, mixed with other substances, and made into flesh candles.
Every time the flesh candles and soul incense burned, they would take another step closer to the gods.
This was the so-called 'sacrifice' and ascending the 'heavenly staircase'.
This was also the origin of flesh candles and soul incense!
Jiang Yuan covered his face with his hands and rubbed them. Behind his covering hands, he tremblingly spat out a word—
'Fuck...'
...
Some of the funeral customs here were similar to those on Earth.
For example, keeping vigil.
Evening came.
Distant relatives and the parents' friends left one after another after paying their respects.
Only Uncle, two granduncles would stay.
As for grandparents and maternal grandparents, they were all gone.
There had been a grandfather.
But...
He had been sacrificed during his eighteenth worship ceremony.
Jiang Yuan didn't know if he had died of natural causes at that age or if he had been directly sacrificed while still alive.
He guessed... it probably wasn't such a coincidence that he died naturally.
Besides... that basin of internal organs had been very fresh.
None of these relatives had mentioned this to him, and Jiang Yuan didn't dare to ask about it.
The events of the past two days had made Jiang Yuan greatly question this world—
Was this really a modern, prosperous world?
Hell couldn't be worse than this.
In the mourning hall.
Jiang Yuan and his sister sat one behind the other, in the middle of the two ice coffins, accompanying their parents for their final journey.
At the same time, Jiang Yuan kept thinking about countermeasures to get through this difficult situation.
At this moment, he was almost 100% certain.
If he truly worshipped a demon god, there would be a mysterious power that would brainwash him, or even control his thoughts.
He didn't know if this mysterious power really came from the so-called 'gods', or even if 'gods' really existed.
These things didn't need to be explored for now. The most important thing right now was that he absolutely could not participate in the worship ceremony!
But how to avoid it was what troubled him the most.
Maybe...
Jiang Yuan glanced at his sister, who was sitting in front, her arms resting on their mother's ice coffin, her sad eyes fixed on their mother's remains.
His sister was very tall, but also very thin.
And she was a woman.
If worst came to worst, he could just refuse directly. Even if his sister also went into a frenzy, wouldn't he be able to control her?
As soon as this thought appeared, he suddenly recalled the scene from last night at this time, when his frenzied father had held a kitchen knife and slashed out a scarlet blade qi. He quickly dismissed this crazy idea.
If his sister could also do something like that, he wouldn't even know how he died.
So Jiang Yuan began to worry again.
But just then!
Before his eyes, those mysterious characters suddenly appeared again!
Jiang Yuan was stunned.
Because the characters were no longer blood-red, but green.
And the content displayed was completely different!
Congratulations on successfully escaping a pursuit and surviving for 24 hours.
Comprehensive calculation, reward: 28 survival points.
As these green characters slowly disappeared, lines of values appeared!
Name: Jiang Yuan
Strength: 9
Endurance: 9
Divine Power: 0
Speed: 8
Spirit: 18
Strength Level: Ordinary
Survival: 28
...
"This, this is..."
Jiang Yuan blinked hard, making sure he wasn't seeing things.
Actually, when the characters saying "Cannot Worship" had first appeared before his eyes yesterday, he had wondered if this was a cheat, a system, a plug-in?
But over the past day, they had only appeared a few times, and each time they had just been warnings.
They didn't seem to be of much use for surviving in this world.
He never thought it wasn't that the system was useless, but that he had to meet certain criteria to use it!
Yesterday's worship ceremony must have been the activation criterion.
He had escaped his parents' pursuit and survived for a day, meeting the usage criteria!
Jiang Yuan was excited.
Although he wasn't yet clear about this... let's call it the Cannot Worship System for now, he wasn't sure what it could do.
But he thought it should be able to help him become stronger and get through difficulties.
Just as Jiang Yuan was excitedly planning to study the Cannot Worship System, his sister asked in confusion: "Xiaoyuan, what's wrong with your eyes?"
Jiang Yuan quickly looked away, and the lines of data characters before his eyes immediately disappeared.
"I didn't sleep well last night, so my eyes are a bit dry right now."
"Then why don't you go rest?"
Jiang Yue looked concerned.
Jiang Yuan shook his head, looking at his parents in the ice coffins, and said in a deep voice: "No."
"This is my last chance to fulfill my filial duties. I don't want to miss it."
Jiang Yue sighed softly, nodded, and didn't say anything more.
She continued to lean on their mother's ice coffin, tears streaming down.
Seeing that his sister was no longer paying attention to him, Jiang Yuan concentrated, and the disappeared screen appeared again.
Strength, endurance, and speed were easy to understand; they meant exactly what they said.
Spirit—this should be mental strength? Or soul strength?
This value was the highest, a full 18 points.
Jiang Yuan guessed that this might be related to him being a transmigrator.
Divine Power—he didn't know what that was.
The most likely possibility was the supernatural power his father had displayed yesterday.
Strength Level: Ordinary—there wasn't much to say about that.
Finally, Survival—this should be the survival points rewarded for living 24 hours.
He didn't know what these survival points were used for.
As soon as this thought arose.
Below each value except for name and strength level, another line of text appeared.
He looked closely.
It was a detailed explanation of these values!