PGVCW 63

 

Playing God in Various Catastrophic Worlds

Chapter 63: A Gentle Encounter

Half an hour after boarding the vehicle, Xia Wang'an realized that these individuals were remarkably weak. Entities that appeared to her no more formidable than cicadas or pythons were enough to cause these seasoned fighters to treat them with absolute, solemn vigilance.

[Presently, it is not that they are weak, but rather that the Host has grown immensely stronger once again.]

007 delivered an objective verdict.

Inwardly, Xia Wang'an emitted a mental "oh," though she remained entirely unsurprised. She had long since grown accustomed to the general feebleness of others, where the only variable was whether they were mildly weak or exceptionally weak.

Even so, she genuinely liked these people; they treated her with considerable kindness and even secured her seatbelt. One young woman went so far as to delicately braid her hair into a neat fishtail.

While her hair was being braided, Xia Wang'an sat in docile obedience, her eyes half-closed and her fair neck tilted backward in an expression of sheer, unadulterated enjoyment.

This relaxed posture only reinforced the vehicle occupants' conviction that she had been raised in isolation by an Anomaly realm. Under normal circumstances, who would expose their vulnerable neck to a stranger upon a first meeting? From this angle, if the braider named Qingyang chose to flick a blade downward, the young girl would be instantly done for.

"Do you know your own name?"

Once they cleared the jurisdictional boundaries of the Spider-Woman's domain, Team Leader Cheng Hu turned his gaze toward the young girl they had rescued.

Xia Wang'an answered every question put to her: "Xia Wang'an."

Having replied, she turned her curious gaze through the vehicular window to examine the chaotic, anomaly-infested landscape outside: "What has happened here?"

Cheng Hu felt no surprise at her apparent ignorance, assuming she was simply another sheltered human raised by anomalies—innocent and entirely unversed in worldly affairs. "Do you know about Anomalies?"

Xia Wang'an shook her head.

"Do you still remember your family?"

Xia Wang'an nodded. Naturally she remembered; right before she went to sleep last night, the recorder had even warmed a cup of milk for her.

Cheng Hu nodded without betraying his internal thoughts, choosing instead to open his terminal, search for a keyword instructional file titled Early Childhood World Education, and hand the playing video over to Xia Wang'an. "Take a look; once you watch it, you will understand."

In truth, his mood remained heavy. She remembered her family, but whether her relatives were still drawing breath was questionable. And if they were alive, what family would willingly harbor an impractical dependent who had been sheltered and rendered helpless by anomalies?

The Misunderstood "Stray Cat"

The surrounding team members wore expressions of quiet excitement. It was their first time rescuing someone, let alone such an attractive and youthful girl, and curiosity rippled through their ranks.

Taking advantage of their shared gender, Qingyang reached out to lightly poke Xia Wang'an's cheek, letting out an involuntary exclamation: "So soft!"

Because Anomalies drastically reduce their active hunting frequency under direct sunlight, the surviving humans of this world endeavor to travel during daylight hours; consequently, individuals across all demographics are baked a deep, sun-scorched bronze. Qingyang, for instance, possessed a deep wheat-complexioned skin tone, speckled with a few sunspots across her cheeks, while her hair was woven into multiple small braids cascading loosely behind her.

Xia Wang'an, however, was a stark contrast. She clearly avoided prolonged sun exposure, boasting porcelain-white arms and a flawless complexion devoid of blemishes or tan lines. To Qingyang, she looked precisely like the delicate porcelain dolls she used to unearth from ancient ruins during her childhood—with the sole exception of a somewhat unsightly necklace.

The male team members maintained a polite distance due to propriety, but still cast frequent, curious glances in her direction. Overall, because they had performed a noble deed and the rescued girl appeared pristine and docile, the team's morale was remarkably high.

Team Leader Cheng Hu, however, shared no such lightheartedness. His internal predicament felt equivalent to pulling a stray cat off the roadside: the crew felt delighted, cooing over how cute the kitten was, how soft its fur felt, how sweet its meows sounded, and how deeply they adored it.

Yet the team leader's internal monologue ran along entirely different lines: The kitten is barely past newborn status; it cannot lap milk or walk properly. Abandoning it outside would mean certain death, but adopting it... when we can barely scrape together enough food rations to sustain ourselves, taking in a burden spells absolute trouble.

Yet his conscience lacked the callousness required to cast her aside; looking at her clean, unblemished face, he knew leaving her outdoors meant she would be carved up and devoured by anomalies within five minutes flat.

Massaging his temples in exasperation, Cheng Hu could only offer an internal prayer that upon reaching the forward base, the girl would successfully locate her family.

Unaware that she had been mentally categorized as a stray cat, Xia Wang'an had already channeled her academic work ethic into scrutinizing the educational video on the terminal.

The other team members hesitated to interrupt her concentrated studying expression.

A Xianxia Textbook in an Apocalyptic Wasteland

[Anomalies... are these not simply malevolent evil spirits and ungodly specters?]

Xia Wang'an's xianxia literature consumption had not been in vain; after reviewing the instructional definitions of anomalies, she immediately cross-referenced them with the concept of evil deities and wandering apparitions from her internal knowledge base.

In mortal frameworks, malevolent entities referred to supernatural ghosts and spirits causing harm; within scientific paradigms, they manifested as paranormal phenomena possessing diverse, capricious operating parameters.

Conversely, within xianxia literature, whenever protagonists accepted sect bounties, they held a seventy-five percent probability of drawing eradication tasks targeting regional specters or evil gods.

Having classified anomalies as malevolent entities, Xia Wang'an began rummaging through her mental repository to select appropriate countermeasures. Although she could obliterate them with a casual flick of her wrist, maintaining appropriate behavioral protocols suited to an immortal cultivator remained a matter of personal standard. More importantly, dealing with specters constituted an exact professional match for an immortal cultivator.

[Let me check my references...]

While Cheng Hu remained preoccupied pondering where to billet Xia Wang'an should her relatives prove unreachable, the young girl sitting behind him suddenly produced a thick volume out of thin air.

He blurted out in astonishment: "Where did that book come from?"

Lowering her gaze toward her necklace, Xia Wang'an answered truthfully, "I brought it myself; these are my study notes."

Indeed, the necklace bestowed by the Light God featured spatial tunneling capabilities which she had subsequently upgraded using spiritual qi, excavating a substantial storage matrix within the pendant's internal architecture. What self-respecting immortal cultivator travels without a dimensional storage ring?

Failing to observe Xia Wang'an retrieve the tome from her inventory space, Cheng Hu naturally assumed the book had been in her possession the entire time. Moreover, because her sleepwear featured pockets—even if the volume appeared too bulky to fit comfortably inside—he refrained from overanalyzing the logistics. Throughout their harrowing escape across the Spider-Woman's territory, everyone's psychological tension had remained elevated, precluding meticulous observation of what items she held upon boarding. Accepting her response at face value, he assumed she had carried it along continuously.

Xia Wang'an flipped open the bound manuscript.

Equipped with dimensional storage, she had stashed away every material she deemed critical, including five massive crates of standard examination papers alongside the volume currently resting in her hands: Comprehensive Talisman Compendium (Vol. 27).

This specific manual represented the culmination of countless mental cycles expended by hundreds of specialists within the data research division, who cross-referenced classical esoteric manuscripts and deployed precision diagnostic instrumentation during empirical testing to verify energy flow mechanics before transcription—fusing ancient metaphysical traditions with rigorous empirical science.

Though Xia Wang'an periodically attended talismanic lectures, her primary developmental focus remained centered on spiritual qi cultivation; coupled with the fact that Volume 27 had only been finalized days prior, she felt a brief review was prudent.

The remaining vehicle occupants reacted to her explanation with mixed expressions. The phrase "study notes" sounded as archaic as a tyrannosaurus rex. Following the descent of anomalies, human civilization suffered catastrophic fractures where simple survival demanded exhaustive labor, leaving no societal bandwidth for academic education. Formal instruction had long since been superseded by experiential survival training imparted by elders.

A junior team member in his early twenties exchanged a subtle glance with his neighbor, whispering quietly: "Looks like she's been locked away in isolation for a very long time."

Unbothered by external perceptions, Xia Wang'an remained entirely focused. Maintaining an immortal cultivator persona without breaking character among supportive mortals required steady alignment with traditional behavioral norms—or failing that, she could simply wait until her spiritual connection grew dense enough to request a targeted strategic directive from headquarters.

Past dimensional deployments proved that Xia Kingdom's administrative command excelled at engineering strategic frameworks to harvest faith power far more efficiently than her brute-force methodology.

Abandoning complex strategizing, Xia Wang'an comfortably directed her cognitive energies toward her favorite pastime: studying.

The Complexities of Talismanic Engineering

Talisman crafting proved exceptionally intricate.

Among all standard cultivation modules, Qiu Zhuang universally despised talismany—not merely due to his lopsided academic strengths, but because formal scholastic investigation revealed that talismanic engineering bore zero resemblance to cinematic tropes where characters tossed messy strokes onto paper and achieved instant activation.

While complex spellcasting permitted universal shortcuts like shouting "Infinite Bounds of Heaven and Earth" for general kinetic deployment, talismany brooked no sloppiness.

Classification alone was enough to induce systemic despair for struggling students: talismans were categorized by operational function into domestic warding, funerary rites, matrimonial blessings, exorcisms, earth-breaking rituals, therapeutic healing, cognitive stimulation, military mobilization, meditative cultivation, and combat dueling, among dozens of sub-genres.

Furthermore, secondary categorizations dictated target demographics: juvenile-specific talismans, maternal talismans, livestock talismans, universal unsegmented talismans, and inter-generational talismans.

Crucially, each functional category maintained a minimum baseline of seventy-two distinct operational applications; memorizing a single sub-category alone threatened total hair loss. Beyond functional taxonomy, students were required to master subsidiary parameters including paper composition, brush selection, ink formulation, mental incantations, vocal mantras, and spatial footwork stances. Advanced applications even incorporated meteorological conditions, spatial array layouts, and the practitioner's astrological birth data into the crafting sequence.

Consequently, whenever Qiu Zhuang attended talismanic lectures, his facial expression mirrored that of a corpse ravaged by mutant beasts—embodying sheer existential vacancy.

Xia Wang'an, conversely, approached the subject with academic zeal. Though her formal instruction periods were brief due to overlapping world-saving commitments, last-minute preparation held zero resemblance to the frantic cramming of academic slackers; for a high-achieving scholar, it constituted comprehensive pre-exam review.

For Xia Wang'an, navigating talismany was akin to a martial artist accustomed to crushing skulls with her right hand being instructed to execute the identical kinetic motion with her left. While minor awkwardness existed, the underlying biomechanics remained identical; her primary operational risk lay solely in accidentally applying excessive force and vaporizing the medium into fine ash.

Accepting that parameter, she dedicated the remainder of the transit journey to absorbing the contents of the heavy, brick-like compendium.

Volume 27 focused explicitly on exorcism methodologies—specifically targeted toward suppressing and eradicating evil deities.

Qingyang, who had shifted seats to sit beside her, glanced curiously over her shoulder at the dense, archaic script. The visual density of the text induced drowsiness almost instantly, yet examining the accompanying diagrammatic illustrations, Qingyang noticed geometric anomalies. The diagrams bore no resemblance to standard mathematical equations.

"Wang'an, what kind of book are you reading?"

Xia Wang'an paused her review: "The Comprehensive Talisman Compendium."

"Talismanic scripts?" Qingyang blinked. Anomalies had plagued humanity for decades without eroding basic historical lineages; she naturally recognized the concept of talismans. Yet she had never heard of an anomaly-reared human maintaining an active hobby in talismanic study.

"Where did you acquire this book?" Qingyang inquired with guarded caution.

Xia Wang'an replied cheerfully: "My family gave it to me."

Within her mental framework, every administrative personnel back at headquarters constituted family, making her answer technically accurate. Eager to share academic insights, she slid the manual toward Qingyang: "Would you care to read along?"

Observing the young girl's genuine, innocent enthusiasm, Qingyang felt a quiet wave of sympathetic sorrow.

During the initial decades of the anomaly outbreak, human survivors had briefly sought refuge in Taoist and Buddhist iconography, desperately scavenging spiritual paraphernalia and engaging in mass monastic ordinations. Implements like peach-wood swords, cash-sword talismans, and master-inscribed charms commanded astronomical black-market valuations.

Instantly, the vehicle team members constructed an internal narrative accounting for the origins of Xia Wang'an's compendium. They deduced that during her early childhood, her relatives had procured the volume as a desperate protective talisman against the encroaching apocalypse; and despite her prolonged captivity within the Anomaly realm, she had treasured and retained the artifact throughout her upbringing.

Yet presently, as anomalies grew steadily more powerful—rendering ineffective even religious heirlooms that had absorbed decades of incense offerings—public fervor toward religious mysticism had cooled into quiet disillusionment.

Naturally, the talisman compendium in the girl's possession held zero practical efficacy.

Yet observing her earnest, dedicated demeanor—

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