Yi Fengchu kept his promise. After giving his phone a brand new, glossy screen protector, the device finally ended what felt like their hundredth cold war.
He pulled the phone from his pocket and held it carefully in both hands as he walked, never once letting his attention drift away from Luo Shengle’s situation on the screen.
He had never bothered hiding his phone usage in public. No matter how strange the phone behaved, to other people it always looked perfectly normal, just another common electronic device anyone could buy on the market. Even if someone else got their hands on it, they would only regard it as an ordinary phone.
On the screen, Luo Shengle was groping her way through the darkness, moving slowly and cautiously. Yi Fengchu couldn’t help frowning at the sight, his mood rising and falling in sync with the dangers she encountered.
“Are you… Yi Fengchu?”
As he walked, a young man suddenly stopped in front of him, his voice carrying uncertainty and hesitation.
The man stared at him for a moment, eyes widening with pleasant surprise. “Ehh! it really is you! It’s been years since graduation, who would’ve thought I’d run into you today of all days!”
Two lines of text quietly appeared on Yi Fengchu’s phone:
[Meng Siyou. Player No. 3247. Currently incorporated into the National Bureau of Abilities Research and Management.]
[Ability: ‘Silent Command.’ Current Level: 7. Potential: Level 9. Ranked twenty seventh in the Silence Domain.]
As expected, so the country had set its sights on the “Divine Playground” as well…
Yi Fengchu flicked his thumb across the screen, amused rather than surprised. Given how aggressively the gods forced players into their games, both in number and frequency, notice was inevitable.
This was, however, his first time encountering another “Playground” player in the real world. He withdrew his attention from the phone, lifted his gaze and subtly examined Meng Siyou.
He offered a polite smile. “Long time no see, Meng Siyou.”
A flicker of astonishment crossed Meng Siyou’s expression. “You… still remember my name?”
“…”
Yi Fengchu froze for half a second, unsure how to answer. In truth, he had forgotten the man’s name long ago.
Fortunately, his phone had provided the reminder.
Still, with that prompt, his memory began stirring. He remembered now, Meng Siyou had been his high school classmate.
He had been preparing for the art school entrance exams, only to abruptly withdraw before the college entrance examination without warning. After that, he completely disappeared from the circle of their high school classmates.
So his sudden departure was related to the Divine Playground?
Yi Fengchu fell into silent contemplation.
“Ah, sorry, that probably sounded rude… It’s just, in my memory, you never really talked to me much.”
Realizing he might have misspoken, Meng Siyou quickly tried to fix it. His eyes dropped and he offered a soft, apologetic smile.
His smile was warm and sincere, dissolving the awkwardness with quiet ease and even creating a natural sense of closeness between them.
Truly worthy of someone who survived the Playground,
They were all experts at reading people…
Yi Fengchu sighed inwardly. He even suspected that Meng Siyou’s earlier “slip of the tongue” had been intentional, paving the way for further conversation and guiding where the topic should go.
Meng Siyou looked straight into Yi Fengchu’s eyes, quietly observing every subtle shift in his expression, while outwardly keeping the tone light and friendly. “Back in university, you.. ”
“You probably don’t know this,” Meng Siyou continued, his tone casual as if recalling an old memory. “After I withdrew from high school, I suddenly developed an interest in folk culture. I started traveling everywhere, gathering stories and customs, hoping to eventually create a work of my own.”
He paused, then shifted the topic with apparent ease.
“Speaking of that… have you noticed anything unusual happening around you recently?”
“…What exactly do you mean?”
Yi Fengchu pretended to ponder for a moment. He knew perfectly well what Meng Siyou was hinting at, the Divine Playground but he kept his expression appropriately puzzled, answering with a faint tone of confusion.
Strange.
Now that they were standing closer, he couldn’t sense any abnormalities at all.
Had his earlier perception been mistaken?
Seeing Yi Fengchu’s perfectly natural expression, Meng Siyou began to doubt his own senses. He had clearly felt an ability fluctuation just moments ago, brief, fleeting yet carrying a depth that gave it a mysterious, almost unfathomable quality. In more colloquial terms, it had felt like brushing past a “master occultist.”
Initially, he suspected that Yi Fengchu or perhaps someone close to him, might be an ability user who had slipped past the Bureau’s supervision. That was why he had stopped him and initiated the conversation.
But now…
Maybe he had simply been running back to back instances between game dungeons for too long and his exhaustion had led to a misperception.
Meng Siyou rubbed at his temples, though he still mentally noted Yi Fengchu down as someone to observe. He planned to look for another opportunity to approach him later.
“It’s nothing,” he said quickly, waving it off. “Just the occupational hazard of interviewing people everywhere. Gathering material, that’s all.”
Seeing that Yi Fengchu appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary person, he hastily glossed over the subject.
At that moment, his wristwatch gave a subtle vibration. Meng Siyou glanced down, making it look unintentional and with a slight lift of his right hand, he shielded the display from Yi Fengchu’s view.
A message appeared on the watch:
[Captain Meng, hurry back to the institute! A new post about that “Future Diary” has popped up on the forums, suspected to be based on a real incident…]
[Also, a crazed zealot showed up out of nowhere in front of the institute. Looks like he just came out of the Playground. He’s practically dying but still screaming nonsense at the gate, clinging to people trying to preach that creepy cult of his… seriously, he’s sick in the head!]
Since Meng Siyou clearly had business to attend to, Yi Fengchu offered a courteous smile. “Since you’re busy, why don’t we leave it here for today? We can talk properly next time.”
“Sure! Let’s stay in touch.” Meng Siyou flashed a cheerful grin and quickly took his leave.
After parting ways, he walked down the street for a while before suddenly turning into a shadowed, narrow alley.
A middle aged man, with a stubbled chin and draped in something resembling a medical white coat, was already waiting there. The man lifted his gaze wearily and upon seeing Meng Siyou, lazily waved a hand.
“Captain Meng, you finally made it…”
Meng Siyou stared at the man’s dark, smoke like under eye circles for a few seconds, his headache intensifying. “How many days has it been since you last slept…? Three? Five? Honestly, I’ve lost count.”
“Three? Five? I’m not sure myself,” the man in the white coat replied dismissively. “But it doesn’t matter, we can’t die anyway, right?”
As an ability user’s power grew, their physical endurance and constitution increased exponentially.
Those who ranked high enough to appear on the domain lists had bodies that could no longer be described as human ordinary illnesses, from colds to sudden organ failure, no longer threatened them.
They were resistant to fire and water, capable of surviving extreme temperatures and impossible conditions.
Some, especially those aligned with the Life Domain, could even recover from being torn into pieces, given sufficient time and resources, they could regenerate back to perfect condition.
However, the inability to die was not an excuse to recklessly push one’s limits. Though their bodies didn’t fatigue easily, their minds absolutely could. Mental exhaustion still required rest.
“That may be true,” Meng Siyou said, expression complicated, “but resting is still better than not resting at all.”
He knew the man wouldn’t change his habits, so he kept his advice brief, not wasting more breath.
The middle aged man reached out and tapped Meng Siyou’s shoulder. In the next moment, the two of them vanished into the depths of the alley.
“Gentlemen! Please, don’t be alarmed! I promise I’ll only take a small moment of your time, please allow me to introduce the omniscient, omnipotent, supreme Lord…”
The instant they arrived at the institute, they were greeted by the sight of a man strapped to a medical bed, flailing wildly as he preached with feverish devotion.
“He is the source of all fear and malice! He is the terrifying Mother who reigns over death! He is the final destination where all things wither, praise be to my Lord!”
“Judging by that epithet, that entity’s authority lies in a rather… unsavory domain,” Meng Siyou murmured, turning to a researcher who was scribbling notes beside the bed.
“For humans at least, that sounds far from friendly. Why didn’t you stop him earlier? Aren’t you afraid of drawing the attention of a higher being?”
The researcher shrugged helplessly. “We intended to stop him but by the time we reacted, he had already recited the entire invocation multiple times. Luckily nothing happened. It was probably one of those gods who ignores their followers completely. To a being like that, this man’s prayers are probably no more than the buzzing of a persistent but insignificant flea.”
“Actually… that title rings a bell… ” the middle aged man remarked thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. “I remember seeing it in a high level dungeon. According to the murals in a temple, that being is one of the three Supreme Deities, indifferent to believers and rarely granting miracles.”
“As for this fanatic, he likely stumbled upon information about that deity by accident but learning about a god means instantly absorbing an immense amount of knowledge tied to that domain’s laws and truths. That’s far beyond what a human mind can handle. Mental shock and contamination are normal reactions, he’ll recover after a period of care.”
Just as he finished speaking, the researcher who had been quietly recording data suddenly cried out, startling everyone.
He froze mid motion, eyes widening in terror as he pointed at the readings on his detector. “What did you two do before you arrived?! The numbers spiked into a vertical cliff! Unless you’re carrying some ultra high grade artifact, it means an unknown higher entity is watching this place right now!”
Just as every ability user had their own unique energy signature, higher dimensional gods could cause distortions in the surrounding environment simply by casting an unintentional glance.
The rules governed by a god’s domain would rise to dominance the moment they cast their gaze upon the world, pushing aside, overwhelming, even outright replacing every other natural or supernatural law.
Under such pressure, living beings might undergo changes that were unpredictable, uncontrollable and irreversible.
Meng Siyou instinctively turned toward the detector. His breath caught in his throat.
The numbers on the display had already shot up to an impossible value and were still climbing.
All of them exchanged horrified looks as faint, wavering shadows began flickering through their vision.
“This is… our future selves?”
Meng Siyou had barely opened his mouth when a voice identical to his own suddenly whispered right beside his ear, so close it felt as though the speaker’s lips were brushing his skin.
The researcher noticed Meng Siyou’s tense expression and slowly explained, “Your body is covered in projections… All of them look like you but in different states. That sentence you heard was something the ‘future you’ was supposed to say.”
He paused, lowering his voice. “As we all know, distortions caused by divine observation usually relate directly to the authority that particular god governs…”
He didn’t finish the sentence. Under the gaze of the unknown entity, none of them dared to speak carelessly.
But even without saying it, Meng Siyou understood perfectly:
This being was most likely related to the domain of time.
Meanwhile, Yi Fengchu, secretly watching everything unfold through his phone, stared at their solemn faces guessing wildly and nonsense. His phone suddenly displayed a line of text:
【They’re all wrong.】
Yi Fengchu assumed the phone was referring to their outrageous suspicion that he was a god. He nodded quickly.
“Seriously, what kind of absurd conclusions are they jumping to? Gods don’t just wander around waiting to bump into someone.”
【Heh.】
The phone let out another cold laugh. Without clarifying what exactly Yi Fengchu had gotten wrong, it abruptly changed the subject:
【Want to pull a prank on them? Since you’re such a newly minted ‘god’.】
“That wouldn’t be appropriate…” Yi Fengchu pretended to hesitate with modest restraint but his fingers were already itching, his heart beating with a faint, undeniable excitement.
Aside from collecting supernatural stories, the one hobby Yi Fengchu could never tame or get rid of was playing pranks. It sounded childish, almost ridiculous on the surface but the reason behind it wasn’t without cause.
Yi Fengchu had been born with unusually muted emotions.
He learned to cry, laugh and converse just like any normal person but the ripples inside him were always shallow, barely perceptible. He acted based on what he believed other people would do, what counted as “normal.”
He didn’t feel fear, so he was drawn to bizarre and terrifying tales.
He couldn’t feel surprise, joy or anger… so he relished watching others express those emotions sincerely because of his mischief.
On the phone screen, Meng Siyou and the other two gradually calmed down or rather, they had adopted a sort of fatalistic resignation.
Whoever this being was, it was far beyond their level. If it had intended to harm them, they would have been gone already.
Panicking was pointless.
In the near frozen air, surrounded by layer after layer of overlapping future phantoms, the detector’s screen suddenly went pitch black. Then, with a faint electronic click, it lit up again, this time rapidly displaying several lines of text:
【I heard you’ve been investigating me?】
【“Future Diary,” hm? You people always manage to amuse me.】
Yi Fengchu watched their horrified expressions bloom and felt deeply satisfied. A soft, delighted sigh escaped him as he allowed himself a small, wicked grin.
“…Honored Eminence,” the researcher said, taking a deep breath. Against the stunned disbelief of the other two, he continued, “may we be permitted to know your divine name?”
Meng Siyou shot frantic looks at the middle aged man beside him. Has he lost his mind? Voluntarily speaking to an unknown entity?
The man in the white coat merely shrugged, his already haggard face looking even more worn.
With a small, helpless shake of his head, he seemed to say:
‘Don’t look at me. I’ve got no idea. How did someone this reckless get hired into the Bureau?’
The detector’s words paused for a brief moment, as if considering something. Then the previous text was wiped away by an invisible hand, replaced with lines written in shimmering silver:
【I am the witness and storyteller who walks beyond life and death, the ouroboros coiled upon the threshold of worlds.】
【I am the fate of all beings.】
Before the researcher could ask anything else, the text faded and the detector returned to normal.
One by one, the phantom projections dissolved into pale fragments of light, scattering and vanishing into the laboratory, like devout believers dispersing in the wake of their god’s withdrawn gaze.
“Are you out of your mind?” The middle aged man in the white coat exhaled deeply, then stared incredulously at the researcher still savoring the aftershock of what had just occurred.
After the existence of gods had been confirmed, the nation had established three unbreakable rules:
Do not look at a god.
Do not listen to a god.
Do not interact with a god.
Studies had shown that not only could divine observation become a death sentence for humans but merely knowing too much about a powerful deity could result in disastrous consequences, spiritual corruption, physical mutation…
Compared to gods, humans were far too fragile, even those who had already advanced far along the path of ability users.
There was no doubt: The researcher’s act of initiating contact with the god had been reckless and dangerously insane, blatantly violating all three rules.
If the deity had been even slightly displeased, the man would have been erased on the spot.
“I’m not insane,” The researcher insisted, pushing his glasses back up his nose. “It’s called the pursuit of knowledge.”
“You’ve heard of the grandmother paradox, right?”
Without waiting for Meng Siyou or the middle aged man to answer, he launched into an excited explanation:
“Ever since learning that gods exist, I’ve been wondering, what exactly does the authority of time look like? If a deity controls time, can They truly rewrite the past at will? Communicate freely with the future?”
“Are you saying that… no, that’s way too insane.” The middle aged man, a fellow research fanatic, denied it out loud yet his eyes brightened with uncontrollable curiosity. His mind had clearly run off in the same direction already.
…So am I the only one completely lost here? Meng Siyou’s gaze bounced between the two men and he couldn’t stop the corner of his mouth from twitching helplessly.
“Time! A concept so untouchable, so impossible for humans to resist or grasp yet for Them, it might be as simple as the progress bar of a video.” The researcher raised a hand, gesturing animatedly in the air, his tone filled with fervor.
“Just a flick of a finger and They could go back to the past, step into the future at will! But not every god is capable of rewriting established facts, ”
“…Only a deity that already embodies limitless possibility could do that.” The middle aged man muttered under his breath, his expression a mix of awe and confusion. “Earlier, Meng Siyou clearly didn’t speak that sentence aloud yet the projection said it in his place. That alone creates a paradox.”
“If he never said it in the end, then how could that future have existed in the first place?”
“Isn’t it incredible? This is the grandeur of a god’s power! What we saw wasn’t some shallow, rigid ‘authority over time’ we humans clumsily imagine. It was…”
The researcher’s grin stretched wider and wider, almost manic, as if he had toppled headfirst into boundless fantasies. “It was the endless intertwining of cause and effect. From ‘cause,’ They already perceive the ‘result,’ and through the ‘result,’ They can reshape the ‘cause.’”
“Time, to us, can only travel along a single, predetermined path toward the future but They can manipulate infinite possibilities! Every person’s thoughts, habits, every tiny choice, laid bare before Them as clearly as words printed on a page.”
“…Calm down before you transform into a full blown cult believer. I have no desire to wake up one day, be assigned a mission and discover the target I’m supposed to arrest is you.” Meng Siyou rubbed at his temples, exasperated. “By the way, what exactly happened on the forum that made you drag me back so urgently?”
“Oh, that.” The middle aged man shoved both hands into his coat pockets, answering with the air of someone reporting a trivial matter. “Compared to what we just experienced, it’s nothing.”
“An ability user anonymously posted a thread titled: ‘Digging Into the Bigshots Once Saved by Future Diary.’”
“People love gossip, naturally. The comment section exploded and the thread shot to the top. You should read it yourself later.”
The researcher, now finally collected, added calmly, “I don’t think this possibly fabricated post is that important but someone higher up does. There’s a meeting at seven tonight specifically to discuss it.”
✦ ✧ ✦
Nycreth
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
(￣ω￣;) the translator is staring at the coffee button
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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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