A gentle breeze brushed past, the bright moon casting a silvery light.
On the rooftop of a super tall building, Cheng Shi sat on the edge, His legs dangling high above, swinging back and forth, enjoying His spoils of the day.
What He was chewing in His Mouth was the most common Blood Finger Bread from the [Food Trial] rewards. This bread's shape was exactly like a human finger, and even the texture was indistinguishable.
Only when tasting the burst of cranberry jam inside the finger upon entry could one confirm that this thing was truly just food and not a severed finger.
Unfortunately, the bread was like wax, and the jam was very sour. C-grade food wasn't delicious.
But none of this prevented it from providing energy, and providing energy meant it could extend life.
Yes, in this world now, being alive was the most important thing.
Since the [Gods] descended half a year ago, the real world had already been transformed into an absurd [Faith Game].
Everyone in the world had to choose to step onto a [Fate] and believe in a certain [God] within it, barely surviving in this fragmented and unreal reality with the God's blessing.
The reason it was called fragmented was because the entire world had been divided into countless fragments by the Gods.
Everyone, or what were now called [God Believers] or [Players], were all randomly assigned to survive within a fragment.
Just like Cheng Shi, the place He was assigned to was the rooftop of an unknown building.
The rooftop was about two hundred square meters. Although the space was large, there was no cover. Not only was it exposed to wind and sun, but there wasn't even a piece of cloth to wrap oneself in.
The most difficult thing was that there were air walls all around the rooftop, both above and below. Even if the door downstairs was right next to Him, He couldn't pass through the air wall to go downstairs.
Only by initiating a "Trial" related to extending space and successfully clearing it could the surrounding air wall obstacles be broken through, granting a larger living space.
And this also involved the "unreality" mentioned before!
The world was physically divided, society had completely stopped functioning, and the reason Players who had lost all resource support could still survive for half a year was entirely because the game could give them everything They wanted.
In this game, all "resources" had to be obtained by participating in [Praying Trial], from "clothing, food, housing, and transportation" to "God-bestowed power". As long as you dared to make a wish, the Gods would descend [God's Trial Ground] and match you with corresponding teammates.
By teaming up with teammates to clear the Trial, everything you prayed for would be granted by the [God] and appear before your eyes out of thin air.
The more outrageous the wish, the higher the Trial difficulty.
Not only that, each Trial would also add various scores, allowing you to go further on the path of Trials.
Of course, if you were socially anxious, you could also choose a single-player Trial. However, single-player Trials wouldn't add any scores, and the rewards given were only barely usable.
The Players who had survived until now had long since gotten used to everything within the game. Many of them had already become experts in this game.
Cheng Shi sat on the rooftop, swallowing the food in His Mouth with difficulty, and looked up at the game information in His field of vision.
[Current Global Believer Count: 8478114678]
In just half a year, only two-thirds of the world's 12 billion people remained.
[Faith Game] was not an absolutely safe game. death in the game meant death in reality as well.
But if you didn't accept the God's Trial, you wouldn't be able to obtain the materials and resources needed to survive.
Therefore, the purpose of the game was obvious: only by constantly becoming stronger could you survive until the end.
"One day left..."
Looking at the striking red text reminder in the center of His vision, Cheng Shi sighed.
[Faith Game] wouldn't allow Players to just scrape by. Every seven days, it would automatically match Players with a [Special God's Trial].
This Trial was extremely difficult. If Players didn't successfully clear it, even if they were lucky enough to survive, They would be stripped of the ability to participate in [Praying Trial] during the next cycle.
In other words, failure meant no income for the next week, and They could only consume Their stored food!
To be honest, Cheng Shi had quite a bit of leftover food on His rooftop. After half a year of managing, He had already built two warehouses on the rooftop.
Although the materials in the warehouses were of poor quality, They at least provided sufficient security for His survival.
"Hope the teammates matched this time are a bit more reliable. After being screwed over the week before last, I already wasted a lot of food last week. The stock in the warehouse has already dropped to the warning line..."
Just as He was thinking about how to deal with tomorrow's challenge, a greeting suddenly came from a distance.
"Hey, buddy, how was your harvest today?"
Cheng Shi looked up at the opposite side and found that the voice came from the "resident" on the rooftop next door, a young man with long hair and a trendy style.
The colorful and oddly shaped clothes He was wearing were the "latest" styles obtained from participating in Trials.
Young man surnamed Xie
Although the real world was separated by air walls, these invisible walls didn't block light or sound, and didn't even prevent people from throwing items at each other, other than restricting Player movement.
Because of this, most neighborly relationships were not friendly, as you never knew when your neighbor would pull out a submachine gun and shoot you.
The game didn't prohibit Players from killing each other.
There were indeed several neighbors where Cheng Shi lived, and the one on the rooftop opposite was one of them.
The two sides were about twenty to thirty meters apart, and communication relied solely on shouting.
He claimed to be from Jiang Province, a senior civil engineering student, surnamed Xie.
He was a bit quirky but not bad.
Before the Gods descended, He was worried about finding a job. He didn't expect that after the Gods descended, He would be directly employed.
After all, there were no jobs in the world anymore, and speaking objectively, [Professional Player] could indeed be considered employment.
So He was one of the few "Advent Faction" members, believing that the Gods saved the world, or at least saved the world's employment rate.
Cheng Shi shook the canned Tentacle Slime Drink He held in His hand, smiling and indicating that this was His spoils.
"Holy crap, snot water! Buddy, I've never been impressed by anyone in my life, but I'm damn impressed by you. How can you drink that stuff?"
The young man surnamed Xie looked shocked, His face turning a bit pale as He looked at the drink in Cheng Shi's hand.
"Snot water" was the nickname for this drink. Tentacle slime was green, extremely viscous, and looked exactly like the snot that flows during a wind-heat cold, hence the name.
But even so, it was still a good thing for quenching thirst, and because it was too viscous, it even had some effect of filling the stomach.
Cheng Shi smiled and said, "How do I drink it? Once it enters my Mouth, I can't bite it off. It just goes down with a gulp."
"..."
The other person's face got even paler. He gagged a few times and said speechlessly, "It can't be that bad, buddy. I see your face is quite stable every time you come out. Your Ladder score shouldn't be low. Why do you torture yourself every day by doing solo dungeons?"
Of course, it was because solo Trials had low difficulty and less pressure.
Everyone knew about this matter, so Cheng Shi smiled and didn't say anything.
"Hey, by the way, we've been neighbors for so long, and I still don't know which God you follow. Tell me about it, maybe if we get matched next time, we can coordinate in advance." The young man shouted again.
"What about you?" Cheng Shi asked back.
"Me? Didn't I tell you? I believe in [Order]. Doesn't it look like it? civilization rises, Order lasts!"
The young man surnamed Xie said this and then stood at attention, performing a gesture of lightly tapping His left shoulder with His right fist, which was the iconic gesture of [Order] believers.
The person opposite did it very standardly and skillfully, but Cheng Shi knew He was lying.
This wasn't a conclusion drawn from observing the other person's micro-expressions and movements. Besides, He couldn't see the opposite person's expression clearly from over ten or twenty meters away.
This was Cheng Shi's ability.
Or rather, this was the [Faith Talent] bestowed by the God.
Ever since He believed in [That One], He had become extremely sensitive to lies.
As long as someone lied, He could sense it. Although He couldn't pinpoint exactly which sentence in the other person's words was the actual lie, looking at the context of the conversation before and after was enough for Cheng Shi to guess something.
But even though He knew the other person was lying, He didn't expose it.
After all, having a neighbor like this, occasionally chatting a bit to relieve boredom was quite good. There was no need to make the relationship too stiff.
Even if the other side wanted to expand their boundary and encroach on His survival area, they would still need His consent to start the Trial.
Regarding "Trials" that extend space, if the target space has no owner, it can be initiated freely.
But if the target space has an owner, the owner's consent must be obtained to decide whether to start a competitive Trial or a cooperative Trial.
Regardless of the Trial, Cheng Shi definitely wouldn't agree.
"Hey, buddy, I say it's boring for you to hide things. Saying it won't affect anything. Could it be that you and I are in a competitive relationship?"
The other person was probing.
Cheng Shi curled the corner of His Mouth and began to counterattack.
"What's your [ladder of audience] score, and what's your ID? I'll see where you rank."
When the young man surnamed Xie heard this, His whole body stiffened, and He asked with slight surprise and doubt, "Are you really a believer of [Order]?"
Cheng Shi shook His head, His smile playful:
"No, I am a believer of [Chaos]."
"..."
The person opposite was clearly shocked. His pupils contracted violently for a moment, and His brows also furrowed.
Cheng Shi's tone when saying this was very calm, so calm that it was as if He could truly check the ranking of [Order]'s [ladder of audience].
This surprised the young man a bit. He originally thought that Cheng Shi, who often chatted idly with Him, was a Player with a more positive Faith.
But He didn't expect Him to actually be a believer of [chaos].
In [Faith Game], Fates have opposing sides.
Just like [civilization] and [chaos], they are two opposing Fates.
And some Gods within opposing Fates have a situation of [Faith Opposition].
For example, the first God of the civilization Fate, the Prelude of civilization [Order], and the first God of the Chaos Fate, the Prelude of Chaos [Chaos], are opposing Faiths.
The essence They pursue is worlds apart, and the will They advocate is vastly different. Therefore, Their believers hate each other under the instruction of Their Lord.
However, the two sides with opposing Faiths share the same [ladder of audience] ranking. They can see each other on the leaderboard.
The ranking on the [ladder of audience] is related to the opportunity to "face the True God and receive God's favor". Therefore, if the top rankings are all people of opposing Faiths, then before the next [Audience], the weaker side might not have an easy time.
The young man surnamed Xie's expression changed repeatedly. He didn't report His score and didn't continue to question.
Because He was indeed not a believer of [Order].
At this moment, the moonlight shone on His face, but it still couldn't illuminate the gloom on His face.
He couldn't quite see through Cheng Shi's reality.
"You didn't lie to me?"
Cheng Shi smiled: "I Never Lie."