I Am a Follower of [Order]

A gentle breeze rustled, and the bright moon cast its silver light.

On the rooftop of a super high-rise building, Cheng Shi sat on the edge, his legs dangling high in the air as he enjoyed his day's spoils.

What he was chewing in his mouth was a "blood finger bread," the most common reward from the [Food Trial]. This bread was shaped exactly like a human finger, and even its texture was indistinguishable.

Only when the cranberry jam inside burst out upon taking a bite could one confirm that this was indeed just food, not a severed finger.

Unfortunately, the bread was like wax, and the jam was very sour. C-grade food wasn't tasty.

But none of that stopped it from providing energy, and providing 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 been transformed into an absurd [Faith Game].

Everyone in the world had to choose a [Life Path] and believe in a certain [Deity], surviving in this broken and unreal reality with the blessings of their chosen deity.

The reason it was called "broken" was that the entire world had been divided into countless fragments by the Gods.

All people, or [Players] as they were now called, who were [Deity Followers], were randomly assigned to survive within one of these fragments.

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, it offered no shelter. Not only was it exposed to the sun and wind, but he didn't even have a piece of cloth to wrap himself in.

The most difficult part was that there were air walls all around the rooftop, both horizontally and vertically. Even though the door to go downstairs was right beside him, he couldn't pass through the air wall to get down.

Unless he initiated and successfully cleared a "trial" related to spatial extension, he could break through the surrounding air wall obstructions and gain a larger living space.

And this also related to the "unreality" mentioned earlier!

The world was physically divided, and society had completely ceased to function. The only reason players, who had lost all resource support, could survive for half a year was because the game could provide them with anything they desired.

In this game, all "resources" had to be obtained by participating in [Prayer Trials]. From "food, clothing, housing, and transportation" to "[Divine Power]," as long as you dared to make a wish, the Gods would bestow a [Deity's Trial Ground] and match you with suitable teammates.

By teaming up with teammates to clear the trial, everything you wished for would be granted by the [Deity] and appear before you out of thin air.

The more outrageous the prayer, the higher the trial difficulty.

Not only that, but 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 solo trials, but solo trials wouldn't add any scores, and the rewards given would only be barely usable.

Players who had survived until now had long become accustomed to everything within the game, and many of them had become masters of this game.

Cheng Shi sat on the rooftop, swallowing the food in his mouth with difficulty, and looked up at the game information within his field of vision.

[Current Global Follower Count:]

In just half a year, out of the 12 billion people on Earth, only two-thirds remained.

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

But if you didn't accept the trials of the Gods, you couldn't obtain the necessary supplies and resources to survive.

So the purpose of the game was obvious: only by constantly becoming stronger could you survive until the end.

"One day left..."

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

The [Faith Game] wouldn't allow players to merely scrape by. Every seven days, it would automatically match players for a [Special Deity Trial].

This trial was extremely difficult. If players failed to clear it, even if they survived by chance, they would be stripped of their ability to participate in [Prayer Trials] for the next cycle.

In other words, failure meant no income for the next week, and they could only consume their stored provisions!

To be honest, Cheng Shi had quite a bit of leftover food on his rooftop. After half a year of management, he had built two warehouses on the rooftop.

Although the supplies in the warehouses were of poor quality, they at least provided sufficient guarantee for his survival.

"I hope the teammates matched this time are reliable. After being screwed over the week before last, I wasted a lot of food last week, and the stock in the warehouses has dropped to the alert line..."

As he was pondering how to deal with tomorrow's challenge, a greeting suddenly came from a distance.

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

Cheng Shi looked up at the opposite side and saw that the voice came from the "resident" on the adjacent rooftop, a young man with long hair and a trendy style.

The colorful and bizarre clothes he wore were the "latest" models obtained from participating in trials.

The young man surnamed Xie.

Although the real world was separated by air walls, besides restricting players' movements, these invisible walls did not block light or sound. They didn't even prevent people from throwing objects at each other.

Because of this, most neighborly relationships were not friendly, as you never knew when your neighbor might pull out a submachine gun and gun you down.

The game did not prohibit players from killing each other.

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

The distance between them was about twenty to thirty meters, and communication relied entirely on shouting.

He claimed to be from Jiang Province, a senior student majoring in civil engineering, and his surname was Xie.

He was a bit eccentric but not bad.

Before the Gods descended, he was worried about finding a job. He never expected that after the Gods descended, he would be directly employed.

After all, there are no jobs in the world, and speaking factually, being a "Professional Player" is indeed a form of employment.

So, he was one of the few "Adventists" who believed the Gods had saved the world, or at least saved the world's employment rate.

Cheng Shi shook the canned Tentacle Slime drink he was holding, smiling as he indicated it was his spoils of war.

"Holy crap, snot water. I've never admired anyone in my life, but I'll be damned if I don't admire you. How can you drink that stuff?"

The young man surnamed Xie looked shocked, his face paling slightly as he looked at the drink in Cheng Shi's hand.

"Snot water" was the nickname for this drink. The Tentacle Slime was a viscous, greenish liquid that strongly resembled the snot produced during a bad cold, hence the name.

But despite its appearance, it was still a good thirst quencher, and due to its extreme viscosity, it even had a slight satiating effect.

Cheng Shi chuckled and said, "How do I drink it? Once it's in my mouth, I can't chew it, so it just goes down with a gulp."

"..."

The other man's face turned even paler. He gagged a few times and said speechlessly, "It's not that serious, man. I've always seen you looking pretty stable after every outing, your Ladder score should be pretty high. Why do you keep putting yourself through the wringer by doing solo dungeons?"

Naturally, it was because solo trials were less difficult and put less pressure on him.

Everyone knew this, so Cheng Shi just smiled without saying anything.

"Oh right, we've been neighbors for so long, and I still don't know which Deity you follow. Tell me, maybe we'll get matched up next time and can coordinate beforehand," the young man called out again.

"What about you?" Cheng Shi asked back.

"Me? Didn't I tell you? I believe in Order. Isn't it obvious? Civilization arises, Order endures!"

As the young man surnamed Xie spoke, he stood at attention and performed a gesture of lightly tapping his left shoulder with his right fist, the signature move of an Order follower.

His execution was standard and practiced, but Cheng Shi knew he was lying.

This conclusion wasn't drawn from observing micro-expressions or body language; besides, it was too far to see his expression clearly from twenty meters away.

This was Cheng Shi's ability.

Or rather, it was a Faith Talent bestowed by a Deity.

Ever since he started following The One, he had become exceptionally sensitive to lies.

He could detect when someone was lying, and while he couldn't pinpoint exactly which part of their statement was false, combining it with the context of their conversation was enough for Cheng Shi to figure things out.

But even though he knew the other person was lying, he didn't call him out.

After all, having neighbors to chat with occasionally to relieve boredom was nice; there was no need to make the relationship too strained.

Even if the other person wanted to expand their territory and encroach on his living space, they would still need his consent to initiate a trial.

Regarding trials in extended spaces, if the target space had no owner, a trial could be initiated freely.

However, if the target space had an owner, their consent was required to decide whether to initiate a competitive trial or a cooperative one.

Regardless of the trial type, Cheng Shi definitely wouldn't agree.

"Hey, man, what's the point of being so secretive? It doesn't affect anything if you just say it. Are we rivals or something?"

The other person was probing.

Cheng Shi curled his lips and began to counterattack.

"What's your score on the Ladder of Audience, and what's your ID? Let me see where you're ranked."

Upon hearing this, the young man surnamed Xie froze, asking with a hint of surprise, "Are you really an Order follower?"

Cheng Shi shook his head, his smile playful.

"No, I'm a follower of Chaos."

"..."

The other person was visibly shocked. His pupils contracted sharply for a moment, and his brow furrowed.

Cheng Shi's tone when he said this was very calm, as if he could genuinely check the ranking on Order's Ladder of Audience.

This surprised the young man. He had initially thought Cheng Shi, who often chatted with him, was a player with a more conventional faith.

But he hadn't expected him to be a follower of Chaos.

In the Faith Game, Life Paths had opposing forces.

Just like Civilization and Chaos were two opposing Life Paths.

And among the Deities of opposing Life Paths, some had Faith Opposition.

For example, Order, the Prelude of Civilization and the first Deity of the Civilization Life Path, and Chaos, the Prelude of Chaos and the first Deity of the Chaos Life Path, were in faith opposition.

Their fundamental pursuits were diametrically opposed, and their promoted wills were vastly different. Therefore, their followers, under the instruction of their patrons, harbored mutual animosity.

However, opposing faiths shared the same Ladder of Audience ranking, and they could see each other on the leaderboard.

The ranking on the Ladder of Audience determined the opportunity to "directly face the true God and receive divine favor." Therefore, if the top rankings were occupied by people of opposing faiths, the weaker side might not have an easy time until the next Audience.

The young man surnamed Xie's expression shifted multiple times. He didn't reveal his score, nor did he continue to press for answers.

Because he was indeed not an Order follower.

At this moment, the moonlight shone on his face, yet it couldn't illuminate the gloom clouding it.

He couldn't quite gauge Cheng Shi's true strength.

"You're not lying to me?"

Cheng Shi smiled, "I never lie."