As a gaming enthusiast, Su Ning had played countless games, but none held her interest for more than a week.
Then she found From Zero: A Life of Infrastructure Building. In it, she played a creator god who started with a tribe of primitive people as her subjects.
As Su Ning played casually, she marveled at how realistic the game's environments and scenery looked. Every primitive NPC who appeared had a distinct backstory, personality, and identity. She couldn't help admiring how much care the developers had put into the game.
Until a child who worshipped her and had grown up by her side was eaten by a beast.
Su Ning: "???"
Su Ning tried to reload her save and change the child's fate that day. But just as she was about to stop the child from going out to hunt, the words that came out of her mouth turned into gibberish.
The System helpfully prompted her: "As the creator god, you cannot change the fate each person is meant to follow."
Su Ning: "What kind of garbage game is this!"
To keep her subjects from dying tragic deaths, the deity Su Ning played led her tribe in developing civilization and technology, and taught them knowledge, culture, and everything else.
By the time technology had advanced to the interstellar era, Su Ning had stopped logging in for a long time.
To her surprise, when Su Ning opened her eyes again, she found herself in the game's fantastically prosperous interstellar era.
Before her was the game System interface, visible only to her.
In the year 4067 of the interstellar era, the Empire was ruled by George XIII. Day after day, the people indulged in revelry, losing themselves in all kinds of entertainment to numb themselves with fleeting illusions.
The borderlands had been at war with the Federation for years, even though everyone knew this was a meaningless war.
The Empire and the Federation were both children of the Creator. They should have been one family.
But the long absence of their god had filled everyone with fear. They didn't know whether it had been thousands or tens of thousands of years since the god had last appeared. Like children throwing tantrums to get their mother's attention, they waged war in the hope of drawing their mother's gaze.
In the past, during the age of barbarism, the various nations waged war against one another. Each time, the god would descend into the mortal world, comfort the wounded, and put an end to the fighting.
Everyone had gone mad from the god's long absence. But why wouldn't the Mother Goddess pay attention to them anymore? Did she no longer love them? Had they disappointed her by failing to measure up?
Was their technology not advanced enough? Were they too weak? Had they become incapable of pleasing the divine?
The scientists devoted themselves to research and innovation day and night. At last, humankind, small as it was, grasped the mysteries of time and space. This time, they finally captured the Mother Goddess.
Everyone murmured, one after another: "The Mother Goddess has finally returned."
Blurb excerpted on September 29, 2022
Theme: Everyone breaking down the barriers between them
