Over the next few days, Cheng Shi's life suddenly grew hectic.
The reason, naturally, was food.
After two months of spending without earning, his warehouse provisions had dipped below the warning line. He needed to stockpile food before the next Special Trial arrived, just in case.
So he began running solo dungeons like a madman, determined to fill both his warehouses this week—ensuring he wouldn't waste energy on food until the year-end Audience eting.
The saved ti could then be devoted to studying how to effectively climb the ranks and beco a Chosen One.
Cheng Shi's current Ladder of Ascent score was 172. His [Deceit] ranking was 47th, trailing the current [Deceit] Chosen One, Li Jingming, by 42 points. His [Fate] ranking was 39th, trailing the [Fate] Chosen One, Blind One, by 34 points.
He was a clearheaded person, and a cautious one. He knew that wanting to climb didn't an endlessly queuing for different trials—that was too risky and exhausting. That's why he researched how to climb "effectively."
Based on his past performance and scoring patterns, he could reliably earn two to three points per session. At that rate, over the four-plus months remaining before year's end, he only needed a steady twelve points per month to be close enough to the target position before the Audience eting.
Of course, everyone's scores were constantly shifting. Even though the Chosen Ones' peak scores had plateaued around 210 for a while, nobody could predict what changes the coming months might bring. So the climbing plan couldn't be that crude.
He planned to assess his progress against the gap at mid-month and month-end every month, supplenting with additional Wish Trials as needed to cover any shortfall.
This way, he could advance steadily—inching closer to the Chosen One position without facing a barrage of top-tier players early in the climb.
The Chosen One title depended solely on Ladder of Ascent ranking. As for Road to Ascension ranking, Cheng Shi couldn't have cared less.
After all, his Road to Ascension score was flexible—the exact number depended entirely on his mood.
anwhile, based on information from various chat channels over the past few days, most of the Chosen Ones had returned to their rightful brackets—only a handful were still stuck below. Even "True Heart True Intention" had climbed back into the top ten.
The ga was finally returning to normal.
Though many more people had died, the chat channels stayed lively. Even the usually quiet residential blocks would occasionally ring with laughter and cheer.
It almost reminded Cheng Shi of the early days when everyone had first been assigned to different zones.
But... it was precisely because everything was too normal that Cheng Shi found it abnormal.
He'd always believed the saying: madness is always bred beneath the calm.
Especially when the current calm was false. Superficial.
Because one of Them had fallen.
[Prosperity] had fallen. One of the gods who had signed the Pact and descended the Faith Ga—gone without a trace. And aside from Hong Lin and himself, not a single player had noticed.
Even though he'd made so effort to spread the news of [Prosperity]'s death, there'd been zero relevant feedback in the chat channels. His little sche had failed.
Of course, the fact that no outsider had noticed was partly because Hong Lin had inherited part of Her Pact authority, carrying out Her "duties" as proxy. But it still unnerved Cheng Shi.
The essence of the Faith Ga was to make players walk different paths of faith, constantly drawing closer to the deity at the end of each path. But when the guide at the road's end had vanished, leaving only an empty Divine Throne—what was the point of drawing closer?
After all, Her death was the ultimate negation of every follower blindly trudging down that road.
Furthermore, if the presence or absence of a deity on the Divine Throne didn't actually affect one's approach toward faith—then who could guarantee that the being standing at the end of any other faith's path was truly the original deity of that faith?
Or—even more terrifyingly—did They actually exist at all?
Cheng Shi had pondered this question more than once. Ever since witnessing [Prosperity]'s fall, he'd been contemplating the aning of the Faith Ga. If faith had grown so fervent that a deity needed to self-destruct to fulfill Her will, then what exactly were the players—these beings who endlessly participated in the gods' trials—in Their eyes?
The "conspiracy theories about the gods" that had circulated among players all lost their aning, because [Prosperity] had never intended to do anything to the players She'd "selected." Instead, in pursuit of so-called universal prosperity, She'd blown Herself up.
No matter how Cheng Shi turned it over, he couldn't construct a logic that even satisfied himself. So he set the thought aside for now—walking, watching, and thinking as he went.
He told himself that perhaps there simply wasn't enough intelligence about Them yet. He needed to gather more before new insights would co.
And as it happened, an opportunity to exchange intelligence with other players was approaching.
The diocre Person Society!
The golden card he'd recovered from the Wanderer had recently changed. When his gaze happened to sweep across it, he noticed a countdown and an invitation had appeared on the card's back.
The countdown was asured in days. It had started at three, and today, three had beco one.
The delicately penned invitation was refreshingly direct: Welco to the stage of the diocre.
This was unmistakably a mysterious gathering organized by so player who fancied themselves "diocre." Previously, Cheng Shi would have had zero interest in extracurricular etings with other players—he didn't enjoy unnecessary risk.
But now, this kind of novelty stirred sothing in him. He desperately wanted to grow. He yearned to expand his intelligence network and connections, to understand more about the true nature of the Faith Ga.
Cheng Shi had a vague sense that this was so kind of summoning chanism, and the card was more like a key to another space. If he held the card when the countdown reached zero, he would likely appear on this so-called diocre Person Society's stage.
As for what awaited on that stage—he wasn't sure. But one thing he could be certain of: there would definitely be a clown there. Oh wait—a Fate Weaver.
During recent calls, he'd asked Hong Lin about this organization, but she didn't know much either. She'd even teased him, saying the Destined Ones were definitely not diocre people and had no need to attend gatherings of self-proclaid diocrities. Instead, they should pull all the Destined Ones together for a sharing session.
Cheng Shi thought that phone calls with Hong Lin already constituted the Destined Ones' sharing sessions—after all, this great organization sheltered by [Fate] had a grand total of two mbers.
No—to be precise: one person plus one Envoy.
This was perhaps the most prestigious player-founded organization since the Faith Ga's descent. Regardless of actual combat power, at least it had one of Them in it.
Thinking about all this, Cheng Shi couldn't help but curve his lips. Holding the card whose countdown was about to expire, he thought:
'I hope tomorrow's performance doesn't disappoint.'
...
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