A Coincidence-I Happened to Be a Standard Follower of Destiny Too...

It was cold, damp, musty, smelled of urine, and smelled of blood.

Before he was fully conscious, his sense of smell was awakened prematurely, and the mixed stench that rushed into his nasal cavity made Cheng Shi instinctively shiver.

He took only one breath and realized that the air in the place where he was undergoing this Trials was quite polluted, much like being in the sewers of some city.

As his hearing gradually returned, a cacophony of whispers and occasional shouts and wails filled his ears. After listening intently for a moment, he came to a conclusion that was both laughable and absurd:

Prison.

The place beneath my feet is a prison.

What a coincidence, we're back in prison again. Could this Trials be about a prisoner?

Good grief, even Order couldn't put me in jail, but Chaos has sent me here.

You two work really well together.

Within seconds, he gradually regained feeling in his limbs. He felt his head was heavy, his neck was sore, and the pressure from his cervical spine made him feel as if he had been hit on the back of the head with a club.

He tried to raise his hand to rub his neck, but unexpectedly touched a large metal lump on his neck.

"?"

Cheng Shi was startled and suddenly opened his eyes.

But what came into view was not the expected prison cell, but a pitch-black iron surface with several bright little holes carved out of it.

!!

What is this?

Prison Helmet?

What did I do wrong to deserve wearing such a big iron helmet?

Cheng Shi blinked in surprise, suddenly realizing that the pressure on his neck was not from pain or injury, but from a huge steel Prison Helmet that had been locked over his head!

He reached out and squeezed the iron lump, finding that the Prison Helmet was hard and had no signs of being pieced together, so it didn't look like an ordinary torture device.

The Prison Helmet had seven holes, corresponding to his eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth. Looking out through the horizontal eye holes, he could see that he was being held in a small iron cage.

There were five other prisoners who looked similar to him, wearing iron helmets and red prison uniforms!

Could these five prisoners dressed identically be teammates in this game?

Apart from the six of them, the enormous prison was filled with countless cages. The other prisoners were also wearing the same type of Prison Helmet, or rather, everyone in the prison was wearing Prison Helmet, except that the colors of the prison uniforms worn by different prisoners were not the same.

Cheng Shi glanced at it briefly and roughly discerned some patterns.

There weren't many criminals wearing the same color prison uniforms; some had three or four, some had seven or eight, but there were no more than ten in total. Moreover, these criminals of the same color were locked up together in order, and their cells were marked with conspicuous wooden tags with numbers.

Cheng Shi couldn't see his own cell, but by observing the numbers of the others, it wasn't difficult to determine that his cell number was... six.

He was the last of the six red prisoners, the number six that he himself despised at the Path of Fate's Beginning.

6.

Even so, I couldn't escape this... great Destiny!

Just as Cheng Shi was looking around, the other five players wearing red prison uniforms finally reacted. They woke up and were quickly shocked by everything around them.

Although their expressions were not visible, their stiff limbs and tense backs spoke volumes about their astonishment and surprise.

Like Cheng Shi, these teammates tried to remove their Prison Helmet the moment they woke up, but no matter what they tried, they couldn't succeed.

Cheng Shi silently observed everyone's actions while simultaneously Ear to gather any information he could hear nearby.

His current identity is no longer that of a conman with the talent of a "Master of Deception," but a gambler who holds the real Dice of Destiny. Therefore, if he wants to take the initiative in future exchanges and cooperation, he must establish an advantage in advance.

Intelligence advantage is the most important element.

The six players' cells were not lined up in a row, but arranged in a circle. This circular structure was common in this harsh prison, and all the cells holding prisoners of the same color were arranged in a circle.

The rings come in different sizes, so that almost every prisoner can see their "teammate" of the same color.

Behind Cheng Shi were five prisoners dressed in white prison uniforms, their five cells forming a small circle, where a fierce argument was taking place.

They seem to be fighting over a woman.

"Bullshit, you're all talking nonsense! I'm Dolly's man! I won her at the Horse Catching Ceremony! She's mine!"

"You scum, tui—you want to fight me? I'll show you who's the Horse Catching Ceremony queen!"

"You bastards, you're all eyeing my woman! Just you wait! I'll chop you all down in the arena, leaving not a single one alive, just like I won the final showdown at the Horse Catching Ceremony!"

"Stop talking nonsense. If you beat me, Dolly is yours. Do you dare to accept?"

"Dolly is mine! You disgusting animals! Come on, let's fight!"

Cheng Shi listened intently for a long time but couldn't glean any useful information. His only thought was how beautiful Dolly was that five men were fighting over her like this.

Further away, there was a seven-cage ring where the yellow-clad prisoners were also arguing, but their voices were drowned out by the loud noise and were not very clear.

All that could be heard were scattered words like "Memory," "chaos," and "Order," as well as extremely angry shouts.

Many prison guards carrying long whips patrolled the area, and if any prisoner in a cell shouted too loudly and annoyed them, they would whip the prisoner inside.

As he watched the whip fall and leave welts on the body, and saw the prisoner writhing on the ground in agony, he couldn't help but think of someone—no, someone... a filthy thing.

Ugh, what bad luck.

Cheng Shi shook his head to clear the terrifying figure from his mind, and just then, one of his teammates in front of him finally spoke.

His voice sounded strange, but it was undoubtedly a male voice. In fact, it was clear that there were no women in this Trials.

Each person's voice, muffled and resonating within the iron helmet, was "polluted," mixed with a muddy buzzing sound that made it difficult to hear clearly.

"There are always new styles every year, but this year there are especially many."

I never imagined I'd become a prisoner again. This familiar feeling is truly nostalgic.

Why are you guys so silent? Are you all mute? You've been gone so long, at least say something!"

"Squeak." Cheng Shi replied politely.

"..."

The one who just spoke was a teammate from room 5. He looked at Cheng Shi and laughed heartily, while shooing away the rats at his feet and tapping his "iron head".

"This metal hood is interesting; I can't seem to remove it. It seems there's something special about it—is it... the power of [Order]?"

Yes, it is indeed [Order].

In fact, the moment Cheng Shi saw the prison guards around him, Cheng Shi had already seen the shadow of [Order]. These guards were wearing the knight uniforms of the Grand Inquisition, which meant that this Trials should be in a prison in one of the cities of the Grand Inquisition.

Okay, really okay.

The Trials of [Order] inadvertently led me to the arena of [Chaos]. This time, [Chaos] came knocking, but forcibly placed me in the territory of [Order].

The way you two are constantly bickering and arguing suggests that it's going to be difficult to end things without getting married.

As soon as teammate number 5 finished speaking, teammate number 1 to Cheng Shi's left responded, his tone slightly serious:

"There's something wrong with this Prison Helmet. My prophecy tells me that no one but the one who put Prison Helmet on us can break the 'shackles' of this 'Order'."

Everyone turned to look at him, utterly astonished.

"Prophet? You're Prophet, what number did you roll? Were you accurate?"

"Ah, Destiny."

"Wow, that's impressive, bro. How many points did you get? You dare to reveal your hand?"

Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow and looked at the "Prophet" with a happy smile.

Colleague here, what a coincidence! I happen to be a B in this game too... a standard Believer in "Destiny".

Even before the Trials, I was a Prophet!

The prophecy I saw was: I won this Trials.

Although the number I threw was 1, my intuition told me that this outcome was inevitable.