Because she didn't use supernatural powers, nor did she rely solely on her own abilities; instead, she used witchcraft that relied on external forces.
The idea of witchcraft relying on external forces sounds unpleasant, while the idea of supernatural powers being achieved solely through one's own efforts sounds appealing. However, anyone with a modicum of social experience knows, and must acknowledge, that in reality, to become powerful, or even simply to survive, one inevitably needs to rely on other forces.
Pazuzu possessed astonishing supernatural powers, enough to rival a Vajrapani tactical squad. However, the modern climate control system of the New God Corporation could shut it down with a single finger.
Without relying on any social connections or the help of outsiders, even if one cultivates their supernatural powers to the highest level, they would only reach the level of the Peacock King. His supernatural powers are unparalleled; he can move mountains and fill seas at will, and a single, full-force sword strike can cleave the continental shelf.
But if a Bodhisattva were to use all of his wealth, plus all the power he could borrow, to wear him down, the overwhelming magical power would probably shake half the earth.
Although this Bodhisattva faces the risk of eventual bankruptcy, the peacock will still be worn down after exhausting all its energy... No, these ancient gods descended from the heavens are immortal. Even if they burn away their primordial fire, they will only turn into stupid chunks of flesh like Terasque, and ultimately they will not die.
But then again, becoming an undead lump of flesh with intelligence roughly equivalent to a dog seems worse than death. Let's not talk about that.
Seeking external help may sound unpleasant, but don't forget—in the age of capitalism, those who can borrow money are the ones in control.
Therefore, this magical girl who is performing witchcraft is definitely not Pazuzu.
The question is, who exactly is she?
Who exactly is the person behind this virtual streamer?
Who came up with this virtual streamer?
"Ugh. I promised myself I'd rest for a month, not cause trouble or work, so why is trouble just randomly coming my way?!"
Hayden felt particularly annoyed at the thought.
This wasn't a task assigned to him by Comrade Karen, nor was it something he brought upon himself, nor was it because Angela had maxed out his credit card again, nor was it even an undeserved disaster.
He simply saw it.
Having seen the possible shadows and traces of Pazuzu, Hayden couldn't just ignore it. He couldn't pretend he didn't see it, sit down and continue playing games, and enjoy a month of leisurely holiday life.
The reason was simple: Hayden wasn't that kind of person. He worried that there might be a living Pazuzu behind this, or some other bad guy trying to do something.
On the contrary, Angela tilted her head and thought for a while, seemingly less worried: "Master, what would you like to eat for lunch today? Would you like me to make scallop and seafood porridge?"
"You really aren't nervous at all."
Hayden rubbed his temples and complained.
"Alright, we'll have porridge for lunch. Her next livestream is in three days, and nobody knows if any trouble will happen during that time. I need to find out about this magical girl's background as soon as possible."
Investigating the magical girl's origins sounds trendy, but it's really just simple online intelligence gathering. Hayden already had his own intelligence network in the city's mercenaries, and now, with even greater influence, he learned the first thing within minutes:
First of all, this magical girl Pazuzu is a corporate entity, meaning she belongs to a company and has corporate support and resource allocation for her virtual streamer—which is actually obvious. Even a fool could see she's not an independent streamer. Creating such a sophisticated virtual space and character would cost a fortune even in this day and age. Not to mention the immense cost of casting a spell on all her viewers online just now; just how much would that require?
Hayden simply couldn't believe that this was something anyone could have done alone.
However, Hayden then investigated and discovered that this "magical girl Pazuzu" actually belonged to a small entertainment company that had only been registered last month and that he had never heard of before, called [tzitzimitlentertainment].
Qiqi Miti? What kind of weird name is that?
Others might have just thought it was a strange name, but Hayden immediately understood. After all, his knowledge of ancient mythology was among the best of all mortals.
Zizimiti is a title for a minor goddess in the Aztec pantheon, specifically within the Smoke Mirror Life Construction Company. Like the Valkyrie of the Wotan Company and the Vajra Warrior of the Mithra Group, it's a collective term for a pantheon, a category name rather than an individual deity's name.
However, this lesser god race is different from the two famous war god races; its reputation is much smaller. This is largely thanks to the unique background of the Smoke Mirror Company. Unlike legitimate new god-based corporations like the Mithra Group and Wotan Corporation, they have too many ties to the old gods, making it impossible for them to completely conceal their mythological information. Therefore, their intelligence work is far less effective than that of other giant corporations.
So Hayden knew the word "Qiqimiti" because in Central and South American mythology, it refers to a race of female deities who were the tiny stars that orbited the sun during a solar eclipse.
Yes, they are not a combat-oriented, specialized female divine race like the Valkyries, which is why they are not well-known. Even Hayden doesn't know many details, only that the Zizimiti are somewhat related to the underworld in Aztec mythology.
...The underworld of Aztec mythology?
...Isn't Miktikashiva, the death goddess of the Smoke Mirror Company, the same executive on the board of directors of the Smoke Mirror Company who used to keep Terasque as a pet, got lost, and was then found by Hayden?
As Hayden thought about this, his mind began to race.
The fact that Terasque was lost and then found, and that the Goddess of Death, Miktikashiva—to be honest, that's too long a name, so we'll just call her Mikt from now on—is, strictly speaking, a favor owed to Hayden by a board executive of the Smoke Mirror Company. While it wasn't a particularly valuable favor… such favors always have a chance to be repaid.
And it's not necessarily required to seek redemption from Micket himself.
To put it bluntly, this favor is just helping to find a missing dog. For a director of a large company like Smoke Mirror, for a powerful capitalist like him, what does such a favor really mean?
To put it bluntly, this kind of social favor is hardly respectable. Hayden's current social status is quite unique. Although he is neither a capitalist nor a god, many gods consider him to be the future son-in-law of the Peacock King and the goddess Hela, and indeed, their only son-in-law.
This son-in-law helped Mikt, the Goddess of Death from the Smoke Mirror Company, find her lost dog. This kind of thing is only something the gods would talk about over tea, not something to use as leverage or bargaining.
On the other hand, for those who lost the dog of capital, this favor is very meaningful.
Hayden took out his phone and found the contact number of the senior executive assistant from the one he had lost with Terasque last time.
Her name was Ek Ku-puc, which, frankly, was another strangely pronounced name. However, the Smoke Mirror Corporation used the ancient Navarre language, so names were often pronounced oddly. Fortunately, this senior assistant wasn't a particularly eccentric person. Considering she was just an ordinary Protoss with no special background, yet she became a senior executive assistant to a board member of the Smoke Mirror Corporation, someone with a truly eccentric personality would never have reached that position.
To be honest, Ms. Eike is actually a very easy-going businesswoman. Considering that Ms. Eike owes Hayden a favor, if Hayden were to discuss a mutually beneficial business deal with her, where neither party would lose out but the profit margin would be relatively small, Ms. Eike would likely not refuse.
...That being said, after Hayden dialed her number this time, no one answered.
He waited patiently for a while and called twice more, but still received no response.
Hayden's heart sank immediately.
This is a bad omen.
The contact number Ms. Aiko gave him was exclusively for her, as her senior administrative assistant. Unless Ms. Aiko had already been dismissed, how could such a number be unreachable?
...Unless Ms. Aiko has already been dismissed. If she has been promoted, there should still be a way to get through using this communication code.
Hayden realized what was happening and rubbed his temples.
Given this, it's likely that the Goddess of Death, Mikt, already knows that Ms. Eko was careless while walking her dog, allowing Terasque to be secretly captured by the King Kong tribe's demi-humans.
He had originally planned to use his contact with Terasque to establish connections with mid-level managers at Smoke Mirror Company, hoping to build a relationship and eventually steal data from Smoke Mirror's life magic-related research institute. Now it seems that his plan has backfired.
However, the most important thing in the world is always what's in front of you. This can be dealt with later. Hayden investigated in another direction for a while, and finally could only try a clumsy method—to visit the [Qiqimiti Entertainment] company through legitimate business channels.
After all, Hayden now holds a certain social status. If this most honorable method doesn't work, he'll have to resort to force and use Alastor's Dragon Balls to hack into the investigation.
You ask why we don't just hack into and investigate now? After all, doing that wouldn't be in the right, and it would be such a shame if we were caught and killed by the executives of Smoke Mirror Company.
So Hayden quickly dialed the contact number of the official producer of "Magical Girl Pazuzu". All this sounds complicated, but in reality, Angela hadn't even invited him to dinner yet.
However, when the call connected, both parties on the phone screen were genuinely surprised to see who the other was.
"...Isn't this Mr. Hayden?"
When the other person saw Hayden's face, they were first surprised, then immediately smiled slightly.
Hayden was even more astonished when he saw the other person's face: "Huh? You, who are you?"
He was, of course, extremely surprised. Because the person who called out Hayden's name—was actually a skeleton!
[I'm Ico Coo-P. The one who secretly asked your military company to help me find the missing Terasque.]
The skeleton gave a wry smile. Despite having no flesh and blood, it spoke in a voice as gentle as a grown woman's.
The board found out I'd lost my Terasque, and I was suddenly saddled with an astronomical sum in compensation, which I had to pay off by working odd jobs.
145: Vampire Capitalist
What the hell is this "working ghost" thing?!
Although the thought immediately crossed Hayden's mind, he quickly realized what was happening and felt a chill run down his spine.
Many people say that capitalists are evil; their accumulation of wealth and acquisition of the means of production is filled with sin, bloodshed, and plunder. They are dripping with blood and filth from head to toe—yet despite this, some people, even many, still harbor a beautiful illusion about certain large companies and big capitalists. Some people in the world, who are clearly just hardworking, toiling dogs for their companies, still feel that their company's treatment is actually quite good.
Because people are judged by comparison.
No matter how good a capitalist is to his employees, he will still exploit them. But some capitalists only suck your blood and sweat, while others will drain you dry.
As the ancients said, you may fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time. But you cannot fool all the people all the time. The people's reaction may be a little slow, but they are not truly foolish. Which companies are relatively benevolent, and which are utterly malicious, certainly involves a great deal of propaganda; good propaganda can indeed distort the truth and confuse people—but this has been going on for centuries, and there's a limit to how much you can fake it.
In reality, to be fair, companies like Mitra Information Group and Wotan Mystery Technology Company don't actually exploit their employees as much. As for Smoke Mirror Life Construction Company, although their business scope is all-encompassing, even ordinary people know that they have a terrible reputation.
Mitra Group knows it's best not to go to extremes, lest things escalate and lose face. So they say, "Working for us isn't exploitation. We provide you with compensation and a platform to strive, and your efforts create value for the company—a win-win situation, right? Double win! Of course, it's also your luck and good fortune to have such a great company and platform like ours. Don't you think you should be grateful and repay the company for this blessing with various 997 work schedules?"
Let me reiterate: companies like the Mitra Group are large, socially responsible corporations that absolutely do not forcibly dismiss employees over the age of 35. There is absolutely no such rule; we really don't. The company adheres to mature personnel regulations and strictly complies with the law and the spirit of contracts!
Mithra is the new god of contracts! At most, his company would require you to buy the Rejuvenation Potion when you get old. How could he possibly do something as brutal as forced dismissal?
...Well, that's roughly how it is.
This isn't even a real moral issue; it's simply a matter of different corporate decisions and priorities. Companies like Mitra Information Group care more about their reputation among the people. A good reputation benefits their profits. Therefore, Mitra Group is less likely to ruthlessly eliminate its employees to maintain a good reputation.
In contrast, the Smoke Mirror Company goes far beyond mere annihilation. They suck the last drop of blood dry, continuing to exploit even the dead.
Because creating and manipulating undead creatures is precisely the area of expertise for Smoke Mirror Corporation.
Living, I'm a worker for the company; dying, I'll be a working ghost for the company!
"Ms. Eko, just because you lost Terasque before, the company turned you into a skeleton!?"
Hayden looked at the skull projected onto his phone screen and felt a chill run down his spine.
Aiko Ku-P, formerly a senior executive assistant to Micket, the goddess of death and director of the Smoke Mirror Company. In the era of the Old Gods, such a position would be equivalent to a minor deity or messenger of a high-ranking god. An ancient saying goes that even the gatekeeper of a prime minister's house was equivalent to a seventh-rank official. However, even emperors and generals, life is short, and unless one is a god, everything is ultimately just a fleeting dream.
Then how honorable and noble must a minor deity be to serve as an assistant to a high-ranking deity?
Unfortunately, even with such prestige, climbing to a mid-level management position and becoming a winner in life, she was still just a bubble that could be burst with a single prick from the powerful figure above her. To mortals, this seemingly high-ranking divine messenger could be brought down with a single word from her superior, leaving her even worse off than ordinary people.
This is just like an ancient legend, where a heavenly general, because he accidentally broke a glass cup, was immediately demoted by his superior and thrown to the ground to become a monster.
Oh, it's not really that exaggerated.
On the contrary, Miss Echo, who was the person directly involved and had become a skeleton, seemed quite open-minded.
[I wasn't actually turned into a skeleton, I just look like one. I was merely demoted to a lower-ranking undead creature. If I perform well in my current position, I still have a chance to be promoted back.]
Have you seen the name of my current subsidiary? I'm now Qiqi Miti!
……ah?
This was mythological knowledge that even Hayden was unaware of.
Ms. Skeleton Echo made no attempt to hide this, after all, it wasn't some inside secret that couldn't be discussed at all.
It turns out that these so-called Zizimiti are Aztec female deities who are the tiny stars orbiting the sun during a solar eclipse. And their appearance—yes, that's right, they really are skeletons.
Their appearance is that of obsidian-constructed skeletal undead creatures, sometimes translated as "Eclipse Star Skulls." Although they look like skeletons, they are actually very powerful undead beings. In the Aztec mythology of the Old Gods era, their job was to guide the dead and assist in childbirth, a very important position at that time.
They are gods among the undead, far more powerful than liches or anything like that. If a lich were promoted to the rank of Qiqimiti, it would be overjoyed.
...However, Ms. Aiko was originally demoted from a higher-level executive assistant position.
"So, in other words, that magical girl Pazuzu is a new virtual idol streamer launched by Smoke Mirror Company, and now Ms. Eko, you are in charge of being her producer?"
Hearing this, Hayden, though still horrified, gradually began to understand the reason behind it all.
"Is Smoke Mirror Company also starting to enter the virtual idol business?"
While every giant corporation is economically omnipotent, otherwise it would be easily exploited and defeated by enemies, Hayden had never heard of Smoke Mirror Company operating virtual YouTubers for profit, let alone investing such a high cost. The current performance and quality of the virtual character [Magical Girl Pazuzu], while probably not much for a large company, were already quite alarming to Hayden.
"Is this your first foray into the virtual idol business, and you're spending so much money on just one?"
【yes.】
Ms. Aiko did not hide it.
New technologies, new investments, new fields—it's all about testing the waters.
Why was she so open about these things with Hayden?
On one hand, it was because she owed Hayden a favor—Hayden had at least helped her find Terasque, so Eiko was only demoted a few ranks instead of actually losing Terasque and being reduced to a mortal or worse.
On the other hand, although Hayden is still biologically mortal, the upper echelons of modern capitalist gods have gradually begun to regard him as a god. After all, everyone sees him as Kallen's boyfriend or fiancé, and even if things fall through in the future, his performance is enough to make him a mid-level management position among the gods under the Peacock King.
In the current upper echelons of the divine race, those who don't know Hayden might be overlooked (after all, he's not particularly famous), but those who do believe that sooner or later, the Peacock King will invest in him, genetically modify him, and transform him into a new divine being. Given this, other divine races naturally begin to treat Hayden as one of their own, not as an inferior. Otherwise, they wouldn't even remember the name Hayden. Why would the divine race care what the name of such a common mortal is?
However, for those who are on the same side, some things that were originally secrets may no longer be secrets.
Of course, things that are too secretive can't really be revealed like that. But Ms. Eckel still owes Hayden a favor, after all.
"I see. But why is it the magical girl Pazuzu?"
So Hayden quickly seized the opportunity to continue asking questions.
"As you may know, I just fought the real Pazuzu last month. It was eventually killed by Miss Karen using the Neo-Yatu climate control system. I saw the video of 'Magical Girl Pazuzu' today, and I was quite shocked by it."
Ms. Skeleton nodded in understanding.
The Protoss society certainly knew that last month, Kallen temporarily rented the climate control system to kill Pazuzu. It wasn't a big deal, but the relevant Protoss members were definitely aware of it.
So Hayden could use it as a reason: "This virtual idol is so well-made. When I first saw it today, I really thought it was Pazuzu resurrected or possessing a human! How did you guys do it? Can you share your secrets? If you want to talk about cooperation terms first, that's fine too."
Similarly, it is precisely because the gods regard Hayden as the future son-in-law of the Peacock King and Karen's fiancé that he can use the tiger's skin as a banner, saying things that mortals are not qualified to say and doing things that mortals are not capable of doing.