Chapter 158: Chapter 158: The Game Descends, Tokyo Battle Royale

Holding his own Dice of Fate, Lu Ce tested it many times with some irrelevant stuff.

The effect was pretty interesting—if he had to explain it, it seemed to match the result shown by the dice.

It was just a bit of a stretch, making Lu Ce wonder if this was really the dice’s doing.

If it’s related to fate, then is this thing foreseeing fate, or changing it?

If it only foresaw fate, then it’s honestly not that useful. But if it could change fate, then wouldn’t that be a bit too god-tier...?

After thinking about it over and over, Lu Ce didn’t dare to mess around too much. He grabbed his Dice of Fate, threw on his Windcoat which transformed into a school uniform, and headed to class.

...

Actually, given how things are now, “going to school” was already something totally unnecessary—classes could’ve been canceled altogether.

After all, with how much the Game had impacted the world, every industry had taken a massive hit. Lots of things were frozen.

It was like industrial society had been put on pause in an instant. Most governments were just barely managing to keep agricultural production going.

Now, the main purpose of “going to school” was more like population tracking.

They were trying to ensure that people still held their familiar social roles, that they could still be noticed in the social fabric, and to prevent huge groups of people from suddenly going “missing” and becoming societal drifters.

That would really cause chaos.

And as for school content—it wasn’t even important. Most of the time, it was just self-study.

“How many times has it been self-study now...”

Lu Ce sat at his desk, bored out of his mind, watching his classmates.

Young people’s energy seemed endless. The classroom was as noisy as ever, not that he knew what they had to talk about.

But now, as a seasoned player, Lu Ce found himself with a strange kind of instinct.

—He seemed to have a knack for noticing when someone’s aura had changed.

That kind of change was irreversible. Once you were familiar with it, it was easy to pick up on.

They were probably Chosen Players.

And as time passed, the ratio of Chosen was clearly on the rise.

Xie Antong walked in through the door. Looked like she was late today, but no one cared.

Lu Ce looked at this girl who seemed quite different from her in-game self and noticed her mood seemed kind of low today.

She walked to her seat with her head down and then just stared blankly into space.

Her mood didn’t seem fully recovered yet.

“Ahem.” Xie Antong glanced at Lu Ce. She looked kind of awkward, her expression a little stiff.

“Uh, so... my sister was messing with my phone yesterday. She didn’t send you anything weird, did she?”

Lu Ce: ?

He could see her face visibly turning red, and her whole vibe starting to crack as she said:

“Do you think I’ve lost my brain, or are you the one who got dumber? How did you even come up with that line?”

“It’s fine, wasn’t it just some emo text? I won’t go print it out and stick it on the school bulletin board or anything.”

Xie Antong took a deep breath, her fists clenched.

“That stuff really wasn’t sent by me...”

“How do you know what I was talking about?” Lu Ce shot back.

Xie Antong: ......

The last dose of Drug she took had been way too strong—even for a skilled brain manipulator like her, she hadn’t really recovered yet.

Honestly, she was still feeling down. Rationality had taken over now, so she could keep herself in check.

When she woke up the next day and saw what she had texted Lu Ce, she felt like the sky had fallen...

Long periods of low mood could make people feel “dumber.”

Trying to explain it away too much only made it worse.

She could only tough it out and pretend like nothing had happened.

Wait a sec...

Suddenly, something didn’t seem right. Her high IQ was back online.

Wasn’t her impression that Lu Ce wasn’t the type to joke around like this? Had he always been this way?

She gave him a quick up-and-down glance, feeling instinctively drawn to look at his hand.

Her brows furrowed slightly. A side effect of brain overclocking was that her brain sometimes did its own thing. She didn’t even know why she was doing certain instinctive actions.

Lu Ce also sensed something was off and subtly covered his hand.

In the last game, that woman had stared at his hand for ages...

“How’s your recent game experience been?” Xie Antong asked casually. “Have you ever been in a Hell Mode Game?”

Having gone through a Hell Mode Game herself, Xie Antong was wary—that was a whole different world from normal games. The pressure of death was overwhelming.

Lu Ce: ......

“It’s been alright. Haven’t run into anything too hard.”

“Be careful. If you’re in another one in a few days, memorize the maps of all hundred cities first. This game’s getting scarier and scarier....”

Xie Antong wasn’t as lively as usual. She chatted with Lu Ce for a bit and then laid her head down to digest her emotions.

What the hell... Why does seeing Lu Ce make my head even more scrambled...

“Oh right,” Xie Antong seemed to remember something, “Wanna add each other as friends?”

Lu Ce: ......

Their conversation didn’t have much substance. Lu Ce couldn’t even remember how he got home—anyway, in the end, they didn’t add each other.

After interacting in-game, chatting in real life made Lu Ce feel full of holes.

Luckily, she was still emotionally down and didn’t think too much. She didn’t seem as sharp as she was in the Game. Thank goodness—he probably didn’t blow his cover.

...

【Please make necessary preparations in advance.】

【Please choose whether to join as a Spectator or a Player.】

“Player!”

Lu Ce had long since gotten used to the process. For him, not participating wasn’t even an option. No need to explain—

He just joined.

But very quickly, something different popped up.

【Ding! Congratulations, Player “Sin.” Due to your outstanding performance, you’ve been selected for a special mode in this game.】

【This time, your Game Scene will be the Real World.】

Lu Ce’s pupils shrank—he’d really been picked?

【Please prepare accordingly.】

【Game Location: Tokyo. (Besides being set on this planet, everything else follows standard game rules. Exit Tokens can be used. No need to worry about language barriers.)】

【Game Difficulty: Hell Mode!】

【Game Loading... Tokyo Battle Royale!】