I Am a Follower of Order

A gentle breeze brushed past, and the bright moon cast down its silvery light.

On the rooftop of a supertall building, Cheng Shi sat on the edge with both legs dangling over the vast drop, swinging back and forth as he enjoyed the spoils of his day.

He was chewing the most common Blood Finger Bread from the Food Trial rewards. Its shape was exactly like a human finger—even its texture was indistinguishable from the real thing.

Only the burst of cranberry jam inside the finger when he bit into it could confirm that this thing was merely food, rather than a severed finger.

Unfortunately, the bread was as waxy as a candle, and the jam was extremely sour. C-rank food was not tasty.

But that did not stop it from providing energy, and having energy meant it could extend his life.

Yes, in this day and age, staying alive was the most important thing.

Ever since the gods descended half a year ago, the real world had long since been transformed into an absurd Faith Game.

Everyone in the world had to choose a path and believe in a god from that path, clinging to life in this shattered and unreal reality with the god's blessing.

The reason it was called shattered was that the entire world had been divided into countless fragments by the gods.

Everyone—or rather, the players now known as Deity Followers—had been randomly assigned to a fragment to survive in.

Just like Cheng Shi. The place he had been assigned was the rooftop of an unknown building.

The rooftop was about two hundred square meters. Though the space was large, it had no shelter whatsoever. Not only was he exposed to the wind and sun, but he did not even have a piece of cloth to wrap himself in.

The hardest part was that there were air walls all around the rooftop, above and below. Even though the door leading downstairs was right beside him, he could not pass through the air walls to reach the lower floors.

Only by activating a Trial involving spatial expansion and successfully clearing it could he break through the surrounding air walls and obtain a larger living space.

And that was also related to what had been called "unreal" earlier!

The world had been physically divided, society had completely ceased functioning, and the reason players who had lost all outside resources 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 Prayer Trials. From "clothing, food, housing, and transportation" to Divine Power, as long as you dared to make a wish, the gods would send down a Deity's Trial Ground and match you with suitable teammates.

Clear the Trial together with your teammates, and everything you prayed for would be approved by the gods and appear before your eyes out of thin air.

The more outrageous the wish, the higher the Trial's difficulty.

Not only that, every Trial would also increase various scores, allowing you to go farther along the path of Trials.

Of course, if you were socially anxious, you could also choose a Solo Trial. However, Solo Trials did not increase your score at all, and the rewards they gave were merely adequate for use.

The players who had survived until now had long since grown accustomed to everything within the game. Many of them had already become experts at it.

Cheng Shi sat on the rooftop and swallowed the food in his mouth with difficulty. Then he raised his eyes toward the game information in his field of vision.

Current Number of Global Followers:

In just half a year, only two-thirds of the world's twelve billion people remained.

The Faith Game was not absolutely safe. Dying in the game meant dying in reality as well.

But if you did not accept the gods' Trials, you could not obtain the supplies and resources needed to survive.

Thus, the purpose of the game was obvious: only by constantly growing stronger could one survive to the end.

"One day left..."

Looking at the conspicuous red warning in the center of his vision, Cheng Shi sighed.

The Faith Game would not let players scrape by forever. Every seven days, it automatically matched them with a Special Deity Trial.

The Trial's difficulty was extremely high. If the players failed to clear it, then even if they were lucky enough to survive, they would lose the ability to make wishes in Prayer Trials during the next cycle.

In other words, failure meant that they would have no income for the entire following week and could only consume their stored food!

To be honest, Cheng Shi still had plenty of food stored on his rooftop. After managing it for half a year, he had already built two warehouses up there.

Although the supplies in the warehouses were all of poor quality, they at least provided ample protection for his survival.

"I hope I get more reliable teammates this time. After being sabotaged the week before last, I wasted a lot of food last week. The supplies in the warehouses have already dropped to the warning line..."

As he thought about how to deal with tomorrow's challenge, a greeting suddenly came from the distance.

"Hey, buddy, how was your haul today?"

Cheng Shi looked up at the rooftop opposite him and saw that the voice had come from its "resident," a trendy young man with long hair.

The man's colorful, bizarre clothing had all come from Trials and was the "latest" fashion.

Young Man surnamed Xie

Although the real world had been separated by air walls, aside from restricting the players' movements, those invisible walls did not block light or sound. They did not even stop everyone from throwing objects at one another.

Because of this, most neighboring relationships were not friendly. You never knew when your neighbor might pull out a submachine gun and riddle you with bullets.

The game did not prohibit players from killing one another.

There were indeed several neighbors where Cheng Shi lived, and the man on the opposite rooftop was one of them.

The two rooftops were about twenty or thirty meters apart, so communication relied entirely on shouting.

He claimed to be from Jiang Province, a fourth-year civil engineering student, and his surname was Xie.

He was a little eccentric, but not a bad person.

Before the gods descended, he had been worrying about how to find a job. He had never expected that after the gods descended, he would become employed directly.

After all, there were no jobs left in the world. And objectively speaking, professional gaming did count as employment.

That was why he was one of the few members of the Adventist Faction. He believed that the gods had saved the world—or at the very least, saved the world's employment rate.

Cheng Shi shook the canned Tentacle Slime drink in his hand and smiled to indicate that this was his spoils.

"Holy crap, snot water? Buddy, I've never respected anyone in my life, but I freaking respect you. How can you drink that stuff?"

The Young Man surnamed Xie looked utterly shocked. His face paled several shades as he stared at the drink in Cheng Shi's hand.

"Snot water" was the nickname for this drink. Tentacle Slime was green and incredibly viscous, looking exactly like the mucus from a cold. Hence the name.

Even so, it was still excellent for quenching thirst. And because it was so viscous, it even had some ability to fill one's stomach.

Cheng Shi smiled and said, "How do I drink it? Once it gets in my mouth, I can't bite through it. It just goes down on its own—glug, glug, glug."

"..."

The other man's face paled further. After dry-heaving several times, he said speechlessly, "That's a bit much, buddy. Every time I see you come out, your complexion looks pretty steady. Your Ladder score can't be that low. Why torture yourself every day by running Solo Trials?"

Of course it was because Solo Trials were easier and less stressful.

Everyone knew that, so Cheng Shi only smiled without answering.

"Oh, right. We've been neighbors for so long, but I still don't know which god you follow. Tell me. Maybe we'll get matched together next time and can coordinate in advance." The young man shouted again.

"What about you?" Cheng Shi asked in return.

"Me? Didn't I tell you? I follow Order. Doesn't it look like it? When civilization's fire rises, Order Endures!"

As the Young Man surnamed Xie spoke, he stood at attention and lightly tapped his right fist against his left shoulder—the signature gesture of a Follower of Order.

His movements were precise and practiced, but Cheng Shi knew he was lying.

This conclusion did not come from observing the other man's microexpressions or movements. Besides, it was impossible to see his expression clearly from ten or twenty meters away.

It came from Cheng Shi's ability.

Or rather, it was the Faith Talent bestowed upon him by his god.

Ever since he began believing in that god, he had become exceptionally sensitive to lies.

As long as someone lied, he could sense it. Although he could not determine exactly which part of what they said was a lie, the context of the conversation was enough for Cheng Shi to figure out the truth.

But even though he knew the man across from him was lying, he did not expose him.

After all, having a neighbor to chat with occasionally and relieve the boredom was nice enough. There was no need to make things too tense.

Even if the other man wanted to expand his borders and invade Cheng Shi's living area, he still needed Cheng Shi's consent before activating a Trial.

A Trial involving spatial expansion could be activated freely if the target space had no owner.

But if the target space belonged to someone, the owner had to agree and decide whether to begin a competitive Trial or a cooperative Trial.

Regardless of the type, Cheng Shi would definitely not agree.

"Hey, buddy, what's the fun in keeping it hidden? It won't affect anything if you tell me. Are you saying we're competitors?"

The other man was probing him.

Cheng Shi curved up the corners of his mouth and began to counterattack.

"How many points do you have on the Ladder of Audience? What's your ID? Let me see where you rank."

The Young Man surnamed Xie froze when he heard this. Then he asked with slight suspicion, "Are you really a Follower of Order?"

Cheng Shi shook his head, his smile turning playful.

"No. I'm a believer in Chaos."

"..."

The man across from him was clearly shocked. His pupils contracted violently for an instant, and his brows sank.

Cheng Shi's tone had been utterly calm when he said it—so calm that it sounded as though he really could view the Order's Ladder of Audience rankings.

That surprised the young man. He had originally thought that Cheng Shi, who often joked around with him, was a player whose beliefs leaned toward Order.

He had never expected Cheng Shi to be a believer in Chaos.

In the Faith Game, paths had opposing sides.

Civilization and Chaos, for example, were two opposing paths.

Moreover, some gods on opposing paths were themselves locked in Faith Opposition.

For example, Order, the Prelude of Civilization and the First God of the Civilization path, and Chaos, the Prelude of Chaos and the First God of the Chaos path, had opposing beliefs.

What they pursued was diametrically opposed, and the wills they advocated were worlds apart. Therefore, at the direction of their Lords of Grace, their followers hated one another.

However, the two sides in Faith Opposition shared the same Ladder of Audience rankings, allowing them to see one another on the leaderboard.

The Ladder of Audience rankings affected one's chance to "face the True God and receive divine favor." Therefore, if the higher rankings were occupied by followers of an opposing belief, the weaker side might have a difficult time until the next audience.

The Young Man surnamed Xie's expression shifted repeatedly. He did not reveal his score, nor did he continue questioning Cheng Shi.

Because he was indeed not a Follower of Order.

At that moment, moonlight bathed his face, yet it still could not illuminate the gloom upon it.

He could not quite see through Cheng Shi.

"You didn't lie to me?"

Cheng Shi smiled. "I Never Lie."