Chapter 12: The Mechanical Prosthetic

Although Chen Fan was feeling somewhat panicked, he still tried his best to maintain his composure. He raised his head and stared straight at the burly man standing in front of him, who was at least a head taller.

"Not bad," the man said with a hint of surprise, and his mocking smile faded a little. "I thought all the chosen ones were just weaklings who bully the weak and fear the strong. Didn't expect someone like you in this batch of chosen ones. Interesting…"

"Don't worry, I won't lay a hand on you," the man laughed heartily, then slapped Chen Fan's shoulder in an entirely disrespectful manner. "After all, you're a chosen one, so we ordinary people should show some respect."

The next second, the smile quickly disappeared from his face as he leaned forward, bringing his head close to Chen Fan's.

"Kid," he said, his voice lowering, "you're a chosen one, so I'll give you face today. But don't forget, a month from now, it's the Ceremony of the Chosen. You'll be serving the gods in their realm."

"All the previous chosen ones never came back from the gods' realm!"

"You can protect them for a while, but not forever!"

After speaking, the man scoffed and pushed Chen Fan aside, strutting out of the room.

Watching the man leave, Chen Fan's expression darkened. From the few words of the man, he could already confirm that most of the information in the original owner's notes was accurate!

Without a doubt, this shattered the last shred of hope he had!

…

"Lord, thank you for sending your messenger to help..." A voice from behind the idol came, and Chen Fan turned to see the middle-aged woman standing up, cautiously offering her thanks.

"Why thank him for doing nothing?" A cold female voice suddenly interrupted, cutting off the middle-aged woman's words. "Don't forget, another month of delay means another month of interest!"

"When he goes to serve the gods, what will you do then? Are you really planning to hand over Xiaowen's arm to those rats?"

Chen Fan froze in place. Wait a minute, did I just help make things worse?!

"Xu Huai!" The middle-aged woman quickly shot a glance at Chen Fan and urgently whispered, "How can you speak to the Chosen One like that?"

Before she could finish, Xu Huai stood up and left the room.

As she passed by Chen Fan, Xu Huai scoffed in disdain.

Watching her disappear into the corridor, Chen Fan couldn't help but smile bitterly and shake his head.

Just as the original owner's notes had described, Xu Huai wasn't like the other neighbors; in fact, she seemed to dislike Chen Fan, the Chosen One.

Meanwhile, the gossiping neighbors outside were talking among themselves. As expected, their chatter was about how Xu Huai's behavior was disrespectful to the gods.

Although Chen Fan didn't want to pay attention to their gossip, one remark quickly caught his ear: "Xu Huai, she used to throw the god idol on the ground, and now she treats the Chosen One like this…"

Recalling the idol he had seen earlier, casually placed on the ground, Chen Fan's expression became serious. Disrespect toward him was one thing—he wasn't exactly beloved by everyone. But if she treated the gods like this…

That was worth investigating!

In an instant, Chen Fan made a decision. He needed to find a way to contact Xu Huai. Perhaps she knew something about the truth of this world!

Seeing the strange look on Chen Fan's face, the middle-aged woman misunderstood and quickly tried to defend Xu Huai:"Lord, please don't take it to heart. Xu Huai is always like this..."

Chen Fan smiled and waved his hand to stop her: "It's okay, Aunt Shen. Let's not talk about Xu Huai for now. Tell me, what's going on here?"

He then turned his attention to the young boy sitting next to her, whose eyes were still red from crying—more specifically, to the boy's mechanical prosthetic arm, which was far more advanced than anything Chen Fan could have imagined.

The middle-aged woman sighed deeply, pulled the boy into her arms, and began to explain in a low voice.

"This all started last year…" she began. "Xiaowen has had problems with his right hand since he was little, you must know that."

Chen Fan didn't say anything but silently nodded.

"For years, I've been praying to the church, hoping the Lord would perform a miracle. But… the Lord never responded to my request." She paused and then added, "Until last year!"

"After a prayer, a church deacon came to me."

The middle-aged woman spoke with a hopeful smile, "He told me that the Lord was moved by my sincerity, and that the Lord would grant Xiaowen a miracle to restore his disabled right hand."

Chen Fan's expression immediately changed at this news.

So the mechanical prosthetic was indeed linked to these so-called gods!

This meant…

[Initial judgment complete. The gods worshiped by this distorted civilization are most likely a technologically advanced civilization.]The voice of "Yi" echoed in Chen Fan's mind: [Interfering with the development of lower civilizations and enslaving individuals with theology is a severe violation of intergalactic laws!]

Unlike the usual playful tone, Yi's voice now had a serious edge.

[Chen Fan, find a way to examine the boy's mechanical prosthetic. I need to estimate the level of technology in this civilization.]

Chen Fan mentally agreed to Yi's request and turned his gaze back to the well-crafted prosthetic.

Unaware of his intense focus, the middle-aged woman continued to speak, lost in her memories. "But… that deacon told me that the church needed me to donate 10,000 gold coins to prove my loyalty to the Lord."

"I couldn't raise that much, so I gathered what I could, but I was still short by 2,139 gold coins."

"With the day of the blessing approaching, I had no choice but to borrow one last sum of money."

"When borrowing, they asked for collateral. I didn't have anything they wanted."

"Just when I thought I was out of options, Gao Li came to me, saying he could use Xiaowen's future god-given gifts as collateral."

The middle-aged woman seemed to recall something and added, "Oh, by the way, Gao Li is the one who just came to collect the debt."

Chen Fan's eyes lit up with understanding.

Though the middle-aged woman hadn't explained much, he had already pieced together enough to guess the story's aftermath. It was a matter of being unable to repay the debt in time, leading to skyrocketing interest, which then spiraled into this mess.

According to Gao Li's words, this world had no laws regulating these illegal loans. On the contrary, the church even guaranteed them.

Adding the fact that the Chosen One's "validity period" was only a month, the whole situation seemed like an insurmountable knot!

But…

To Chen Fan, there seemed to be an even bigger problem hidden in this story.