As soon as the words fell, Lu Ce instinctively lowered his head slightly, his eyes sweeping the classroom from the corners.
The class instantly erupted into chaos. Everyone was glancing around, whispering and chatting, trying to see if anyone around them had personally experienced it.
Lu Ce kept his head low. He usually had no close friends and was practically invisible in class—no one paid him any attention.
He thought to himself:
A global supernatural event that defies all scientific explanation… At a time when no one knows what the future holds, the smartest move is to observe first. Anyone who exposes themselves too soon is a fool. There's no way anyone would—
"Teacher! Me! I was chosen!"
A boy by the window proudly raised his hand, his face barely able to contain his excitement. The students who had been gathered around him before were now looking at him even more intently.
Lu Ce: "..."
The one who raised his hand was Zhang Tao. They weren’t particularly close. Zhang Tao was the type who had a bit of family money and loved to show off at school.
When they first met, Zhang Tao had looked down on Lu Ce for being an orphan and even considered bullying him. That idea disappeared quickly after Lu Ce beat him up. Since then, they had barely interacted.
Even though he found this level of foolishness hard to process, Lu Ce still turned his gaze toward Zhang Tao, wanting to see how other "Chosen Players" viewed this situation.
"Oh?" Teacher Liu's eyes lit up as he looked at Zhang Tao and asked, "You were chosen? Are you directly participating in the game, or are you a spectator?"
"I'm a spectator. I saw the livestream," Zhang Tao said weakly before quickly adding, "But in the next game, I’ll have the right to participate!"
The moment he said that, the whole class erupted in a synchronized "Wow!" of amazement.
After all, in the monotonous grind of senior year, an event that turned the world upside down was too exciting to ignore.
Zhang Tao thoroughly enjoyed the envious looks from his classmates, his smug grin nearly impossible to suppress.
"Anyone else?" Teacher Liu sent a message on his phone before scanning the classroom again.
"I hope everyone reports honestly. This matter is very important to the country—and to you as well."
Silence.
No one else raised their hand.
"Alright, self-study for now. Zhang Tao, come with me."
Zhang Tao strutted out of the classroom like a victorious general.
"F**k, I’m so jealous! Why him?!"
"Zhang Tao barely studies, right? Mr. Liu used to call him a slacker all the time, but now he’s treating him so nicely…"
"Study? Study my a**! This is supernatural stuff—what's there to study?"
"Have you guys seen the videos online? The game looks like it's in another dimension. They say you can gain superpowers there!"
"Superpowers?! No way… Do we have a chance of being chosen later? Isn’t this just the first batch?"
With their teacher gone, the class turned into a buzzing hive of gossip. Everyone had their phones out, sharing the latest news and videos.
At first, Lu Ce was confused.
Why were they so excited?
Didn’t they realize that this so-called "game" was anything but fun?
He had been strapped to an operating table, had his limbs amputated, his organs harvested, his stomach cut open by some deranged woman.
If it weren’t for the fact that he had been born without pain receptors and had already suffered through enough hardships… and if it weren’t for his Chosen of Agony ability that let him defy fate at the last second…
Otherwise, the level of torture in that game—these ordinary students wouldn’t last a second.
But as he listened, he started to notice something.
Everyone's initial game seemed different.
Most involved tests of survival, but cases as extreme as his—brutal torture and death—seemed rare.
And he clearly remembered what the game had announced during the results screen:
"The Initial Game will not cause real death, but players who fail to clear it will lose their qualification to continue."
That meant that under normal circumstances, death was a very real possibility in this game.
Yet, none of his classmates seemed to care—or maybe they had no idea.
To them, Chosen’s Paradise was just a game. Like leveling up in an RPG, fighting monsters, gaining power. They weren’t thinking about the consequences at all.
But Lu Ce, having truly experienced it, could feel the hidden cruelty of it.
This was a battle where people would live or die.
"I just saw a guy from the U.S. who participated in the game," someone in class said. "He mentioned some sort of temporary ranking system!"
"A special forces soldier claimed he ranked 67th and won a body enhancement reward. He says he can now crush a bottle cap with just his fingers—super strength!"
"Seriously?! If he keeps playing, won't he become Superman?!"
Listening to the endless chatter, Lu Ce remained silent.
He reached into his desk, picked up a bottle cap, and casually squeezed.
With minimal effort, he crushed it like it had been put through a shredder, rolling the metal into a tiny ball between his fingers.
The corner of his lips curled up slightly.
Feeling the power in his hands…
That game was brutal and twisted.
But he only wished it could be even more extreme.
Compared to the rigid, rule-bound real world, he liked it there better—where life and death were decided by strength alone.
"Hey! What are you grinning about? Had a wet dream last night?"
As Lu Ce’s smirk turned increasingly sinister, a crisp voice rang beside his ear.
It was his deskmate, Xie Antong.
They had been desk partners for three years.
Because of his past experiences, Lu Ce had developed a sharp intuition for reading people. Although Antong never acted arrogant, her mannerisms and clothing made it clear—she came from a completely different world than he did.
Yet, the more he tried to keep his distance, the more she seemed to enjoy teasing him.
"Nothing. Just remembered something funny."
He discreetly hid the crushed bottle cap ball inside his desk and replied without turning his head.
Suddenly, he felt a tickling sensation near his ear—Xie Antong had leaned in close and whispered,
"Quit pretending. You got chosen too, didn’t you?"
Lu Ce’s heart skipped a beat.
He feigned calm. "What are you talking about? Why would you think that?"
Their eyes met.
Xie Antong’s were slightly narrowed, filled with playful amusement.
For some reason, Lu Ce felt an unexplainable sense of guilt.
His initial game had spectators too—there was no way she could’ve been one of them, right?
After all, his Chosen of Agony ability, his unlocked genetic potential, his ruthless decision to kill—compared to the things his classmates were talking about, his experience was in an entirely different league. He had to keep it secret.
To test her, he gave her a casual glance and lifted his right leg—the one that had been amputated in the game.
"See? My leg’s fine…"
Xie Antong lowered her gaze for a second, then smirked.
"Oh? So white, so long, so tender—can I touch it?"
And before Lu Ce could react—she reached out and grabbed it.
Lu Ce: "?!?!"