Survival of the Heretics

Jiang Yuan transmigrates by accident and plunges into a bizarre world where everyone worships evil gods. Upon arriving, he is surrounded by the warmth of his “parents” and the affection of his “older sister.” He thinks he has found a new life, unaware that this is a death trap woven by an evil god. Three days later, before his guilt over the original body’s lingering soul has even faded, the “worship ceremony” on the night of his eighteenth birthday tears away every disguise. Candles made of flesh conceal human fingernails, soul-incense seeps with warm human blood, and Grandpa’s organs are laid out on the altar. When he refuses to kneel before the evil god, “the Benevolent Holy Deity,” out of fear, his parents, who had been gently serving him food only moments earlier, turn bloodshot-eyed, brandish knives, and roar, “Heretics must die!”

As he flees, Jiang Yuan sees the absurdity of this world. On the surface, technology is advanced and police cars and elevators work as usual, but underneath, faith has twisted everything. The Public Safety Bureau turns a blind eye to human sacrifices and obsessively hunts “heretics” instead. A neighbor greets him with a smile, then turns around and reports him to the authorities. Even his older sister, Jiang Yue, who claims to be “worried about him,” has an inscrutable calculation in her eyes. The blood-red words that repeatedly flash before him, [Do not worship], become his only warning and source of support.

To survive, Jiang Yuan is forced to wear the mask of a “believer,” making up lies under questioning by the Public Safety Bureau and hiding his true feelings from his sister’s probing. He gradually discovers that “earnestly worshipping the gods to gain divine power” is nothing more than bait for evil gods to devour human nature, and every “normal” face around him could belong to the next enemy to raise a knife against him. This escape is not merely a physical struggle to evade pursuers, but also a fight against mental indoctrination. When the whole world has fallen into madness, how can a clear-minded “heretic” break free from the cage of the evil gods’ rule?