【You will be killed by a Hunter in fifteen seconds. Please evade immediately.】
“……”
Standing at the corner, Luo Shengle lowered her head and glanced at the message. A flicker of panic and hesitation flashed across her eyes but in the end she gritted her teeth and chose to believe the mysterious person on the other end of the phone.
Like a seasoned cheetah, swift and silent, she slipped into the narrow alley to the left. Taking advantage of her small frame, she wedged herself into a pile of clutter and pulled on her prop, the “Rain Fearing Invisibility Cloak.” Holding her breath, she began silently counting down to fifteen.
Tenth second
Everything around her remained deathly quiet, utterly still. Not a sound, not a single hint of danger approaching reached her ears. Luo Shengle’s nerves gradually loosened, though she forced herself not to relax.
Fourteenth second
Through the thin gap between stacked cardboard boxes, Luo Shengle peeked outside, a faint doubt rising in her heart as she stared at her phone. Was the warning fake?
Fifteenth second
A shriveled, bony old man materialized out of thin air at the entrance of the alley. His eyes, narrowed into a thin slit, swept across the area. He let out a soft chuckle. “Ah… looks like I’m a step too late. A little mouse slipped away.”
Luo Shengle didn’t dare move a muscle. She curled up within the clutter like a carved statue, not even daring to breathe.
Fortunately, the old man didn’t linger. He quickly locked onto his next target and vanished as silently as he had appeared.
In the distance, a sharp, blood curdling scream echoed faintly.
Just as she exhaled a breath of relief, another message popped up on her screen,
【On March 19th, 3020, Player No. 42744 died. Thirteen players remain in Zone B. Forty seven remain in total.】
Luo Shengle clutched her phone tightly, her face full of lingering fear and relief.
In truth, the existence of this phone wasn’t exactly a secret among players. It was more like a rare, elusive urban legend,
According to the rumors, copies of this phone might appear randomly in any dungeon, dropping at any location. Whoever obtained it would gain an ability akin to foresight for the duration of the dungeon: with the information sent to their device, they could avoid almost all fatal danger and use the hidden clues to clear the dungeon at incredible speed.
On the game forums, some players even joked and called it the “Future Diary.”
All one had to offer in return was a personal paranormal experience, a ghost story they had truly lived through but most players believed this price was merely a distraction. Behind such a simple requirement, something else, something far more complicated, was surely hidden.
After all, the phone itself was already the most terrifying “urban legend” of them all. How could something like that be satisfied with merely collecting stories?
Luo Shengle had always regarded the “Future Diary” as something vague and unreal, a legend that hovered around the edges of the forums. She never expected she would actually encounter it, much less that it would save her life.
“Since it appears in the form of a chat app… does that mean I can talk to it?”
After thinking for a moment, Luo Shengle cautiously typed a message:
【Hello and thank you for saving my life. May I ask… how should I address you?】
On the other end of the line, Yi Fengchu recognized this familiar question, something countless players had once asked him timidly and couldn’t help but smile.
Even at the age of ten, when he had first obtained the phone, he knew he could never give out his real name.
What if those players came looking for him after returning to the real world? They had all sorts of methods.
So, from the age of ten, Yi Fengchu had given himself a codename. He had never once changed it. Whenever a player tried probing his identity, he always offered that name.
But this time was different. This was Yi Fengchu’s first time picking up someone he actually knew from the Playground of the Gods. He stared at the familiar face on his screen, the corner of his mouth lifting. His natural mischief, buried deep in his bones, urged him to tease her a little.
So he replied playfully:
【Don’t you all call me… “Future Diary”?】
A reply! She actually got a reply!
Luo Shengle nearly hugged her phone but the moment she read the words that appeared on screen, her excitement froze into a stiff smile.
Th… That nickname was just a joke!
Players only used it because they all thought you were a mythical being, a rumor at best! If they had known such a mysterious existence truly existed, none of them would have dared to joke about it, not even with a hundred borrowed courage!
And now… the real “Future Diary” had seen the joke.
Luo Shengle’s whole body stiffened. Her toes curled in embarrassment but her fingers moved quickly.
Considering this being might be incomparably powerful, she wrote with utmost respect:
【I apologize. It was presumptuous of us. Please forgive us for not yet knowing your true name.】
After so many dungeons, Luo Shengle had long learned to mask her genuine emotions but in the end, she was still a young woman who hadn’t even graduated from university. She hadn’t yet achieved the level of complete emotional restraint.
Yi Fengchu had known her for two years. Naturally, he saw right through her panic and embarrassment.
He stopped teasing and responded with deliberate mystery:
【You may address me as “Narrator.”】
Yi Fengchu found the codename fitting. Rather than a “prophet” or “seer” as players suggested, he was simply a witness, an observer to the stories of countless players. Their experiences within the Playground of the Gods lay silently sealed within his memory.
Just as he sent the message, several lines of text auto generated above the typing bar. He immediately warned her:
【In ten seconds, the Hunter’s ‘Eye’ will lock onto your position again. Leave immediately.】
Luo Shengle jolted in alarm. She didn’t even have time to ask about the Hunter’s ability before she burst out of the alley.
With the help of her supernatural skill, her speed far surpassed anything a normal human could achieve. The wind shrieked past her ears as she sprinted,
Once Luo Shengle escaped the dangerous zone, her phone vibrated again with a new notification:
【There are two Hunters in Zone B of this dungeon. One is the “Eye,” whose ability allows him to lock onto the target’s location. After every three uses, there is a twenty minute cooldown. The other Hunter possesses the ability to teleport. For the sake of game balance, once he acquires the target’s position, he must wait one minute before joining the hunt.】
Staring at the rules that surfaced on her screen, Luo Shengle couldn’t help letting her imagination run wild about who or what the “Narrator” on the other end really was.
What kind of existence could bypass the game system entirely, peer through every rule that should have been hidden and then casually choose a random player to whisper fragments of truth to?
Their desperate struggle between life and death… all of it seemed to be nothing more than light chatter to that mysterious entity.
Was this, perhaps, the true meaning behind the name “Narrator”?
Although Luo Shengle had heard before that within the Playground of the Gods, aside from humans and humanoid creatures, there also existed many lifeforms closer to divinity, some said even direct descendants of true gods walked among them, this was the first time she had personally come into contact with such a mysterious and inhuman being. It was impossible not to feel shaken.
Seeing her standing frozen on the spot through the phone’s interface, lost in thought, Yi Fengchu sent another reminder:
【The Gate of Escape is inside the clock tower located at the border between Zones A and B.】
As a beginner level dungeon, the rules were extremely simple. No puzzles, no forced plot death and the area was so large that players didn’t even have to worry about internal conflict. As long as they avoided the Hunters and found the “Gate,” they would pass easily.
Future dungeons, however, were far, far worse.
Yi Fengchu thought of the many dungeons that had never produced a single survivor. A faint sense of sympathy rose in his chest for Luo Shengle.
In the Playground of the Gods, no one could truly accompany her to the end. Life or death, everything depended on her own decisions and her own struggle.
He could only wish this friend he knew from the real world good luck…
When those around you become entangled, even someone like Yi Fengchu, who’d witnessed countless massacres and horrors since he’d received the phone, found it hard to remain detached.
Clearly, his senior from school, Luo Shengle, was just an ordinary university student like he was yet here she was, forced to fight for her life in the Playground of the Gods. In recent years, the hands of the gods were stretching farther and farther.
A few years from now, would everyone in the world be forced into the “Playground Deluxe Package”?
While Yi Fengchu fell into contemplation, Luo Shengle was darting rapidly through the winding, twisting alleys, her body light and fast like a gust of wind.
Yi Fengchu watched quietly for a while, then suddenly mused aloud, “Is she a wind type ability user?”
【Luo Shengle. Ability: “I Am the Gentle Breeze.” Current Level: 3. Potential Level: 7. No ranking yet.】
A line of text quickly appeared across the screen.
“For a wind type… her potential is quite good.” Yi Fengchu judged based on experience. “Potential Level” referred to the highest limit an ability could reach, though it didn’t directly represent actual combat strength.
Up to now, the Playground of the Gods had never produced two identical abilities, so evaluating their power levels was incredibly complicated. Strength, characteristics and field of influence were all part of the assessment.
In other words, an ability’s level did not always correspond to its destructive power. Even a high level ability might simply belong to a rare field.
Abilities tied to existing divine domains made up the majority. Many of them were powerful and aggressive but their potential levels were often lower than the more unusual, domain less special abilities.
When ability users touched the edge of “Ascension,” the Playground judged their ranking based on their influence in their field. After the deity presiding over that domain fell, the first ranked successor inherited the godhood.
Which meant that an ordinary ability user wanting to ascend had only one choice: wait endlessly for a god above them to die.
Yet even for ranked successors, outlasting a true god’s lifespan was extraordinarily difficult.
As for special ability users like Yi Fengchu, their ranking depended on how much authority their powers could exert. The more bizarre or multi field their abilities were, the further back they were placed.
According to the phone, they could ascend only by killing every other ranked ability user in the same domain and reclaiming all the fragmented authority. Only then could they ascend to the divine throne.
Yi Fengchu had tried, many times, in fact, to subtly pry information about his own ability from the phone but all he ever learned was that he belonged to the Special category. Everything else remained hidden.
Was this temperamental, prone to playing dead phone really his ability?
Yi Fengchu gazed calmly at the plain ordinary looking phone in his hand.
“Is my corresponding field something like machinery? Advanced tech?” He tapped the unresponsive phone. “Or… precognition?”
Still receiving no reaction, he added fuel to the fire. “Tch, it’s such a strange type of power. If I ever get a ranking, it’ll definitely be near the bottom.”
【……】
At last, the phone seemed unable to endure the insult. It vibrated sharply, as if expressing its displeasure.
【Heh. I advise you to treat your golden finger a little better. Your attitude has me constantly teetering on the edge of running away from home.】
“Ahem, I was just joking but seriously, why would a precognitive ability even need a physical form? Isn’t that kind of clumsy and inconvenient? If you really are my ability, does that mean my addiction to electronics is so deep it’s been carved into my soul?”
Yi Fengchu muttered under his breath. Seeing that the phone was on the verge of getting truly angry, he quickly added something to placate it.
“Don’t be mad, don’t be mad. I’ll go buy you the most expensive screen protector in the entire city.”
Saying so, he stuffed the phone into his pocket and headed out the door.
But Yi Fengchu did not notice that, deep within the darkness of his pocket, the phone’s screen flickered for a brief instant. Several words flashed into existence, then vanished as the screen went black again.
【You were once the First Successor.】
✦ ✧ ✦
Nycreth
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
A little coffee for the person who made these words happen? (｡•́‿•̀｡)
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
Next →
ChaptersChapter 1 · Mysterious letterChapter 2 · Divine MessagesChapter 3 · Gamer ForumChapter 4 · Invitation from GodChapter 5 · JudgeChapter 6 · TerminalChapter 7 · Destruction of recordsChapter 8 · Whale Bone Aquarium (1)Chapter 9 · Whale Bone Aquarium (2)Chapter 10 · Whale Bone Aquarium (3)Chapter 11 · Whale Bone Aquarium (4)Chapter 12 · Whale Bone Aquarium (5)Chapter 13 · Whale Bone Aquarium (6)Chapter 14 · Whale Bone Aquarium (7)Chapter 15 · Whale Bone Aquarium (8)Chapter 16 · Whale Bone Aquarium (9)Chapter 17 · Whale Bone Aquarium (10)Chapter 18 · Whale Bone Aquarium (11)Chapter 19 Part 1 · Whale Bone Aquarium (12)Chapter 19 Part 2 · Whale Bone Aquarium (12)Chapter 20 · Interlude: His ApostlesChapter 21 · Echoes in the pupa (1)Chapter 22 · Echoes in the pupa (2)Chapter 23 · Echoes in the Pupa (3)Chapter 24 · Echoes in the Pupa (4)Chapter 25 · Echoes in the Pupa (5)Chapter 26 · Echoes in the Pupa (6)Chapter 27 · Echoes in the Pupa (7)Chapter 28 · Echoes in the Pupa (8)Chapter 29 · Echoes in the Pupa (9)Chapter 30 · Echoes in the Pupa (10)Chapter 31 · Echoes in the Pupa (11)Chapter 32 · Echoes in the Pupa (12)Chapter 33 · Echoes in the Pupa (13)Chapter 34 · Interlude: Investigation by the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs (1)Chapter 35 · Interlude: Investigation by the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs (2)Chapter 36 · Interlude: Investigation by the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs (3)Chapter 37 · Small World: God’s Chessboard (1)Chapter 38 · Small World: God’s Chessboard (2)Chapter 39 · Small World: God’s Chessboard (3)Chapter 40 · Small World: God’s Chessboard (4)Chapter 41 · Advertisement Coming Soon (1)Chapter 42 · Advertisement Coming Soon (2)Chapter 43 · Advertisement Coming Soon (3)Chapter 44 · Advertisement Coming Soon (4)Chapter 45 · Advertisement Coming Soon (5)Chapter 46 · Advertisement Coming Soon (6)Chapter 47 · Advertisement Coming Soon (7)Chapter 48 · Advertisement Coming Soon (8)Chapter 49 · Advertisement Coming Soon (9)Chapter 50 · Advertisement Coming Soon (10)Chapter 51 · Advertisement Coming Soon (11)Chapter 52 · Advertisement Coming Soon (12)Chapter 53 · Advertisement Coming Soon to EndChapter 54 · Interlude – Tonight No One Sleeps (1)Chapter 55 · Interlude – Tonight No One Sleeps (2)Chapter 56 · Interlude – Tonight No One Sleeps (3)Chapter 57 · Interlude – Tonight No One Sleeps (4)Chapter 58 · Childhood Ghost Stories (1)Chapter 59 · Childhood Ghost Stories (2)Chapter 60 · Childhood Ghost Stories (3)Chapter 61 · Childhood Ghost Stories (4)Chapter 62 · Childhood Ghost Stories (5)Chapter 63 · Childhood Ghost Stories (6)Chapter 64 · Childhood Ghost Stories (7)Chapter 65 · Childhood Ghost Stories (8)Chapter 66 · Childhood Ghost Stories (9)Chapter 67 · Childhood Ghost Stories (10)Chapter 68 · Childhood Ghost Stories (11)Chapter 69 · Childhood Ghost Stories (12)Chapter 70 · Childhood Ghost Stories (13)Chapter 71 · Childhood Ghost Stories (14)Chapter 72 · Childhood Ghost Stories (15)Chapter 73 · Childhood Ghost Stories (16)Chapter 74 · Childhood Ghost Stories (17)Chapter 75 · Childhood Ghost Stories (18)Chapter 76 · Childhood Ghost Stories (19)Chapter 77 · Childhood Ghost Stories (20)Chapter 78 · Childhood Ghost Stories (Complete)Chapter 79 · Interlude: His Kingdom (1)Chapter 80 · Interlude: His Kingdom (2)Chapter 81 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (1)Chapter 82 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (2)Chapter 83 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (3)Chapter 84 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (4)Chapter 85 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (5)Chapter 86 · Interlude: An Epic of Faith (Complete)Chapter 87 · Fate casually rolls the dice (1)Chapter 88 · Fate Casually rolls the dice (2)Chapter 89 · Fate Casually rolls the dice (3)Chapter 90 · Fate Casually rolls the dice (4)Chapter 91 · Fate casually tosses the dice (5)Chapter 92 · Fate casually tosses the dice (6)Chapter 93 · Fate casually tosses the dice (7)Chapter 94 · Fate casually tosses the dice (8)Chapter 95 · Fate casually tosses the dice (9)Chapter 96 · Fate casually tosses the dice (10)Chapter 97 · Fate Casually tosses the dice (11)Chapter 98 · Fate casually tosses the dice (12)Chapter 99 · Fate casually tosses the dice (13)Chapter 100 · Fate casually tosses the dice (14)Chapter 101 · Fate casually tosses the dice (15)Chapter 102 · Fate casually tosses the dice (16)Chapter 103 · Fate casually tosses the dice (17)Chapter 104 · Fate casually tosses the dice (18)Chapter 105 · Fate casually tosses the dice (19)Chapter 106 · Fate casually tosses the dice (20)Chapter 107 · Fate casually tosses the dice (21)Chapter 108 · Fate casually tosses the dice (The End)Chapter 109 · Interlude