MEGC Chapter 5

That voice—it sounded like someone the original host knew.

The safest course would have been to pretend she wasn’t home. But Shang Jingyan paused, then opened the door—she couldn’t avoid the original host’s acquaintances forever.

Over these past days, Shang Jingyan had gone through every piece of the original host’s memories she could access. The girl was actually very young—only seventeen. She grew up in a single-parent household and had lived on the exile planet since birth.

But her only mother disappeared when she was seven, and from then on her life shifted from ordinary to one dependent on relief subsidies.

Raised this way, the original host had become rebellious and brooding, often skipping school, hanging out with bad company, and staying out all night. This June, she barely scraped through compulsory high school education. As for her future plans—an utter mess. Whenever asked, she would only say: “I’m going to be a Dreamweaver.”

Last year, she even borrowed thirty thousand Star-Coins from Ms. Cui, claiming it was for her Dreamweaver work. But Shang Jingyan hadn’t seen a single trace of that investment.

The young man sauntered in with a grin. When he saw her, his eyes widened:
“Whoa, little black sheep, what happened to you? Why do you look so wrecked?”

Shang Jingyan: “…”

Little black sheep? What was that? A nickname?

“Don’t call me that.”

Something stirred at that name, a vague echo of memory. Without even thinking, Shang Jingyan frowned and blurted out, “Call me Pan.”

The moment the words left her mouth, she froze. What? Is that a codename? Why does it sound so pretentious?

“I knew you’d say that again.” The young man shrugged. “Fine, fine—P-a-n, Pan. What’ve you been up to lately? You’ve been out of touch for so long the higher-ups were getting annoyed, so they sent me to check in.”

Shang Jingyan: “…………”

Higher-ups? Sent you? All this secrecy—it couldn’t be anything good!

It sounded like some kind of organization, and the original host was part of it. Members even used codenames with each other. So was that missing chunk of the original host’s memory tied to this?

Unbelievable. I just wanted to direct films—do I really have to moonlight as an underground operative too??

Her mind felt like it was splitting apart, but outwardly she remained calm.

“Same as always.” She threw out a vague, noncommittal answer.

“I figured. I’m just here to go through the motions. I’ll report you were sick.” The young man pressed on, curious: “So, have you started releasing your work yet? What’s your pen name?”

Shang Jingyan glanced at him. The fact he was prying about her pen name meant their relationship wasn’t just organizational—there was some personal familiarity too.

She said nothing. Fortunately, the original host had always treated him with this kind of impatience, and he was used to it. He rambled on:
“Fine, don’t say. Anyway, if you keep this up, we’ll cross paths eventually. Oh, and try to delay your exposure as long as you can. You know ‘they’ don’t like this stuff.”

He shrugged dramatically. “Letting you do creative work out here on the exile planet is already a huge concession. If you really produce something that goes viral in the Central Star System, those old geezers will probably faint. Haha! Honestly, I’m looking forward to seeing that.”

Shang Jingyan: “Mind your own business.”

This isn’t about what you’re looking forward to, she thought silently. It’s going to happen sooner or later…

The young man grinned cheekily. “Fine, fine. I’m out. Bye~ Pan.”

He came suddenly and left just as quickly. The moment the door closed, Shang Jingyan immediately asked in her mind:
【System, can you scan for electronic devices?】

【Rest assured,】 X71 replied, already knowing her thoughts. 【I’ve checked—there are no surveillance devices in this apartment.】

Shang Jingyan exhaled a little, rubbing her brow in frustration.

So many secrets… Looks like this life won’t be a peaceful one. Being a Dreamweaver alone won’t be enough…

Still, the original host’s codename in this mysterious organization was “Pan”?

Pan—Pan the god, the legendary goat-headed figure who spread fear. No wonder that young man had called her “little black sheep.”

And it matched her own branding—her Eldritch God account also used a goat-headed black silhouette as its avatar. It was a motif she had favored even in her previous life.

She felt the urge to smoke again—a bad habit carried over from before, something she craved when the pressure mounted.

She sat for a while, then suddenly recalled why the young man had seemed familiar. It wasn’t from the original host’s memory—it was from the StarNet actor face-rental site.

When she had rented the faces for the male and female leads of Eldritch God a few days ago, she had seen his. A somewhat obscure local actor, name: You Yao.

Shang Jingyan: “…”

No wonder he said, “If you keep this up, we’ll meet sooner or later.” No wonder he and I were… what, partners in crime? Or rather, comrades in mischief.

The organization clearly disapproved of Dreamweavers—and probably looked down on actors too. So how could You Yao show his face so openly? Was he using a fake one?

You deal with the problems as they come. Shang Jingyan didn’t dwell on it further—her priority was still to earn her first pot of gold.

Three days passed in another creative sprint. When she finally scheduled the second installment for release at midnight, the system chimed:
【Host, you might want to check your fan creation section.】

With the entertainment industry so developed now, every platform had a “fan creations” section. Good fanworks could even feed back into the original—it was an unspoken consensus. Eldritch God, of course, had one too—but it had been empty.

Shang Jingyan refreshed—and the tag #MarriedToAnEldritchGod# had grown from 0 to 1.

“Hm?” Her brows lifted in mild surprise. Already?

Almost no creator dislikes fanworks born from genuine passion. Shang Jingyan clicked—and was stunned at first glance.

It was a spiritual power creation. Though labeled as a “painting,” it was more like a three-dimensional model—something you could step into and experience within the StarNet.

The artist, 【Qing Se Xue】, had depicted the rose garden outside the castle. Under the red moon, the roses bloomed wickedly, clustering around the white Madonna statue. One of her hands and the holy child in her arms were shattered, replaced by coiling rose vines that resembled tendrils.

The once-sacred expression on her face had become eerie beneath the cracks, her lips twisting into a strange smile.

Shang Jingyan had only made a rough draft of the Eldritch God’s rose garden, but this scene modeler not only captured her intent perfectly—they elevated it. She liked and recommended it at once.

【Damn, this is incredible—bowing to a god-tier artist!】
【Was this created in a single day?? Unreal!】
【So beautiful, but also kind of unsettling. What’s the original about?】
【You have to watch Eldritch God yourself—no spoilers or it won’t hit as hard, hehe…】
【The streamer actually made art again after all these years! Look up their ID—back in the day, they won the Central Star Domain Teen Scene Modeling Award!】
【I’m sold—going to watch now.】
【Another viewer recruited, hehe…】
【? Why do your fans act so weird? It’s kind of scary.】
【Hehehe (doge)】

This fan creation was exactly the kind that could draw others to the original. It quickly climbed to the top of the daily rankings in the overall fanwork section.

Images were more immediate than videos, and thanks to it, Eldritch God finally broke into the top 100 of the voting charts after three days.

Central Star System.

The curtains were drawn thick, the room dim, only a single lamp by the bed.

Ao Qingxue sent her post, stretched, and smiled brightly:
“Finally done!”

She had spent the whole day recreating that scene. Exhausted, yes—but her spirit was surging.

As her spiritual power had hollowed out over the years, so too had her creative drive.

But after rewatching Eldritch God again and again, an intense urge to create welled up.

Since it was her first time encountering such a style, she had cautiously chosen to refine one of the original’s settings rather than something major.

Her excitement hadn’t faded yet. She went to make a bowl of instant noodles, and when she came back, she saw a notification:
【The original creator liked and recommended your work.】

Ao Qingxue: “!!”

She slapped her thigh in excitement—then saw that 【Jingyan Suoyouren】 had released the second installment. She forgot all about her noodles and rushed to start a livestream.

【Streamer’s art is amazing! Props!】
【Qingqing is so fast! The sequel just dropped and you’re already streaming—I didn’t dare watch it alone, let’s watch together!】
【Why are you still eating noodles, streamer? From experience, don’t—you’re going to spit it out!】

Just like before, the moment Eldritch God started, the barrage of comments exploded.

Normally, with data spiking like this, Ao Qingxue would have at least posted a celebratory update, but today she had no time.

Only when her livestream received a data anomaly warning did she notice:
“?”

【?? LOL what the heck, we sent too many!】
【Shut up, no one’s botting! We’re all real people!】
【Aaaah it’s starting—don’t block it, you’re ruining my horror experience!】

The online administrator hesitated—then was surprised to find they really were all genuine users.

Usually, this kind of anomaly happened because a work had a rabid fanbase willing to boost a small streamer’s numbers.

But she had just checked: the stream wasn’t playing any famous title. She had never even heard of it.

Curious, the admin slipped into the stream quietly. And then—

“Ah!!”

She shot up from her chair with a scream, startling her coworkers.

On the screen, a man sat drowsing in a bathtub. But when he lowered his head, the clear water suddenly turned crimson, and the rose petals floating on the surface became dozens of bloodshot eyeballs!

The chat went wild with 【Aaaahhhh!】, and the admin’s hand slipped—in the sea of white comments, a golden official-marked one appeared:

Admin03: 【Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!】

Admin: “…”

【??】
【LOL was that the admin’s account just now?】
【Admin03 stop slacking off! Get back to work and let us watch our horror film!】