Foolish Game of the Gods - Chapter 69

There was a cool sensation on his face.

Is it… raining?

Cheng Shi’s consciousness slowly returned.

Around him, there was the sound of scattered raindrops, the smell of moist air, and a cool breeze against his skin.

He blinked his eyes open and saw mist swirling before him, with clouds hanging low.

Indeed, it was raining.

A light drizzle.

A gentle, persistent rain, soft but continuous.

He didn’t mind the rain soaking his hair and clothes, nor did he rush to pull out an umbrella from his personal storage. Instead, his first instinct was to survey his surroundings.

It seemed they were on the mid-slope of a mountain. As far as his eyes could see, he was surrounded by towering peaks.

The air was fresh and crisp, the greenery lush and abundant. The long-forgotten fragrance of the wild filled Cheng Shi with a rare sense of clarity and peace.

Ah, nature’s scenery—the best cleanser for negative emotions.

As he spread his arms to embrace the raindrops falling into his hands, his teammates were also waking up one by one.

“Whoa, buddy, what are you doing, praising the rain gods?”

“Are we in the wild?”

“Ah… cough, cough… cough, cough, cough…”

“The humidity is too high… and the low pressure… It’s going to storm soon.”

“Sorry to interrupt everyone’s peaceful rain-watching moment, but I have some bad news:

Our personal storage spaces have been locked.”

“?”

Cheng Shi froze, immediately lowering his arms and attempting to access his personal storage space.

But the once familiar sensation of reaching in to retrieve items… nothing. No reaction at all!

“!!!”

It was true—his personal storage space had been sealed!

Damn! First time for everything, huh? Every new trial is a fresh kind of nightmare.

Most [Oblivion] trials were about survival, often involving life-or-death escapes. In these trials, players had learned—after many beatings from the system—to always prepare survival gear.

Personal storage spaces weren’t large, so players like Cheng Shi often packed essential survival tools at the last minute.

But unexpectedly, this trial had sealed away their personal storage.

This was unprecedented.

Cheng Shi glanced at the ring on his hand and silently sighed in relief.

Luckily, he hadn’t left the semi-divine artifact in his storage space out of fear of losing it. Otherwise, he’d be in real trouble.

The items in his storage were just supplementary, and losing them wouldn’t significantly affect his strength or survival chances.

This was why Cheng Shi had always focused on improving his own abilities—relying too much on external items was risky.

Though, of course, he’d never say no to latching onto a powerful ally for the long haul.

“Shit, this is real?”

One of the male players cursed after trying and failing to access his storage space. He wiped the rain off his face, looking frustrated but not necessarily hopeless.

Clearly, this guy had some confidence in his own abilities.

But as for the others…

Cheng Shi rubbed the rain from his face, and while doing so, subtly adjusted his expression to look a bit more panicked. Through the gaps in his fingers, he quickly scanned the other teammates.

There were five players in total, aside from himself—three men and one woman.

Each had a different expression.

An older man with white hair kept coughing, one hand on his knees and his face twisted in discomfort. Yet, despite his frail appearance, Cheng Shi noticed his stance was rock-solid. Even while coughing, his feet were firmly planted in the rain-soaked mud, unmoving.

A boy with a backpack frowned slightly, quickly spreading his jacket over the bag to shield it from the rain. Judging by the shape of the bag, it likely contained some kind of weapon—something small and numerous, perhaps.

The person who had spoken earlier, who had shared the bad news, was a sharp-featured man—clearly a warrior type. His piercing eyes and muscular arms suggested he specialized in offense. The thick calluses on both his hands, particularly on his thumbs, indicated he might be a hunter.

As for the last person…

Huh, a bit eye-catching.

She was a slim, petite girl with pink hair.

Her bright eyes sparkled as they darted around the area, and she wore a slight smile, seemingly unconcerned about her storage space being locked.

Cheng Shi’s gaze quickly passed over her face. She looked familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere before.

But his face-rubbing act was over too quickly for him to think much about it.

Then, to his surprise, someone called out her name.

“Wait, are you… Tao Yi?!”

Who?

Cheng Shi looked to the young woman in surprise, seeing that everyone else was also glancing at her with varying degrees of shock.

The pink-haired girl squinted her eyes and flashed a playful fox-like smile.

“Hello, everyone. Yes, I’m Tao Yi.”

The moment she spoke in her clear, bell-like voice, Cheng Shi finally remembered where he had seen her before.

She was a rising star, a young actress who’d been in the entertainment industry for about seven or eight years with little fame—until she landed a small maid role in a palace comedy and suddenly shot to stardom, becoming a household name.

The show was called “Spring Breeze and Unexpected Affairs,” and it told a ridiculously absurd love story about a common girl who was accidentally married into a royal family and ended up falling in love with a cross-dressing prince.

Tao Yi had played the servant of the evil second female lead, who had a one-sided crush on the main female character.

Her mischievous and meddlesome nature, along with her antics, basically handed the main characters their happy ending on a silver platter.

Everyone loved Tao Yi’s character, and she became the show’s most popular cast member, even surpassing the lead actress.

Cheng Shi had never watched TV dramas, but after hearing his colleagues gossip about it non-stop, he had picked up enough information to know about her.

Seeing a TV star in the flesh, Cheng Shi couldn’t help but think:

She’s even skinnier in person than in the photos.

Man, the world is strange. Who knew trials would bring me face-to-face with a celebrity?

“No way, it’s really her! I almost didn’t recognize you with the pink hair. What a bummer that your acting career’s just getting started, and then this whole game descends…”

The man who’d recognized Tao Yi kept rambling, as if he had an endless supply of words.

“Uh, actually, I prefer singing more than acting.”

“So… you’re probably a Bard then?”

“Uh, no. I’m a Mage.”

“?”

Cheng Shi couldn’t hold back anymore and let out a small burst of laughter.

Buddy, with that conversation opener, you’re definitely striking out.

Tao Yi kept smiling sweetly and pointed at herself:

“Let me reintroduce myself. Tao Yi, follower of [Life], Mage, 1783 points.”

The guy who had been talking non-stop continued rambling:

“Well, what a coincidence, I’m a Mage too. And I’m actually an actor as well.”

“I’ve been fascinated by space and science fiction since I was a kid, and as I grew older, I fell in love with it even more. I always wanted to be in a sci-fi movie, but I missed my chance to audition for The Three-Body Problem adaptation. So, I’ve been working in smaller productions to gain experience.”

“I’ve played the third male lead in many shows. The most popular one was The Great Starship Immortal Emperor, where I played a Demon General named Zhu Chao. My character ranked pretty high on the fan-favorite list. Have you seen it, Tao Yi…?”

As his words spilled out faster and faster, the expressions of the other players grew increasingly awkward.

Cheng Shi could barely hold back his laughter; his face was starting to cramp. He felt like crouching down to check if he had dug a hole beneath his feet to hide in yet.

This is so painful.

Bro, forget about starring in The Three-Body Problem, you’d be a perfect fit to play the lead in Three-Body Syndrome. Male lead material, for sure!

Perhaps noticing the strained expressions around him, the rambling “Demon General” finally realized his introduction had gone awry. He let out an awkward laugh, scratched his head, and quickly added:

“Sorry, sorry. I got a bit too excited meeting Tao Yi. My name’s Su Yida, follower of [Existence], Mage, 1864 points.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Shi raised his eyebrows in surprise.

The Demon General just lied.