Chapter Three: What Nonsense. Never say anything that insults my intelligence in front of me again!

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ROLL means to coil, tumble, scroll, sway, or throw dice... In this lottery function, it naturally refers to the lottery option.

Chen Mo carefully studied the rules of the chat group's lottery function.

Every group member possessed one chance to draw upon joining the group. Once the draw began, a random value from 1 to 100 would be rolled. The higher the value, the better the quality of the prize, and no ability related to luck, causality, or anything else could interfere with or influence the result.

The things each person could draw were limited to what group members could obtain within their respective worlds. The prizes could be items, abilities, or any number of other things. In short, they varied greatly. Moreover, the higher a group member's strength, cultivation, karmic ties, and other such factors, the richer the prizes available in the pool would be, and the higher the upper limit. Prizes corresponding to values above 90 were generally of very high quality.

For example, if an ordinary person from a world without magic drew from the pool, the worst they could receive might be a useless pebble, while the best might be an athlete's physical talent, a scientist's research ability, or perhaps some money.

If an ordinary person from a high-magic world drew, the worst they might receive could be a minor spirit stone, while the best might be an ordinary cultivation method or magical artifact.

But if a powerful individual drew—for instance, a Nascent Soul cultivator—the worst they could obtain might be an item or ability usable by a Golden Core cultivator, while the best might even be something that Soul Formation cultivators would covet.

In short, the stronger a person was, the better the things they might draw.

Chen Mo pondered for a moment.

He could be considered a reincarnator now. Although he possessed only the strength of an ordinary person, the fact that he had entered the Lord God's dimension meant that, in terms of karmic ties, he could hardly be considered insignificant. So perhaps there was still a chance he might draw something good.

Unfortunately, there did not seem to be any way to increase the number of lottery attempts, apart from rolling a perfect 100 and thereby earning one additional draw.

At that moment, a cold wind swept past. Chen Mo noticed that the passersby, who had originally ignored their existence, were now turning their gazes toward the entire group. Meanwhile, the newcomers who had been unable to step outside the Lord God's barrier now took a step outward, no longer hindered by it.

The plot had begun.

The newcomers also sensed the disappearance of the Lord God's barrier and gradually made their way onto the street. Several of them even grabbed passersby and demanded to know where and when they were, causing a brief commotion. Fortunately, a handsome middle-aged man resolved the misunderstanding with his polished rhetoric and prevented the situation from escalating.

Chen Mo looked around and saw Chu Hao walking directly toward a distant street. He was probably planning to unlock half of his genetic lock in order to test whether he had been subjected to mental control—or whether he had fallen into a brain-in-a-vat scenario.

“Hey! You still haven’t answered me! How exactly did you know all this?” Jenny tugged at the corner of Chen Mo’s clothes from behind, clearly displeased.

Chen Mo glanced at her and pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose.

“Quietly follow that Asian newcomer who just left and bring him back. Once you’ve done that, I’ll tell you what I know.”

“Really? You’re not going to trick me, are you?”

Looking at the clear, foolish gaze in Jenny’s eyes—the sort one might expect from a college student—Chen Mo turned his head away and answered seriously.

“Of course not. I have no reason to lie to you about this.”

“All right.”

Jenny nodded and immediately chased after Chu Hao.

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While the newcomers were still busy trying to verify what had happened, Chen Mo took the opportunity to glance at the chat group again.

[Tokisaki Kurumi: Where’s the newcomer? Why aren’t they saying anything?]

[Emiya Shirou: Are you still not used to this? Don’t worry, newcomer. Everyone here is a good person. No one will hurt you.]

[Kaguya Houraisan: Perhaps they’ve run into some danger. Lu Mingfei, have you found any information on the newcomer?]

[Lu Mingfei: I searched, but Baidu didn’t turn up anything. They should be like Miss Kurumi and Miss Aqua. Still, that name looks Chinese... Maybe they’re a fellow countryman?]

[Lu Mingfei: @Chen Mo, don’t worry. This isn’t Old Ma’s business. No penguin is going to rush over and ask whether you want to buy some game credits.]

The chat group was currently his greatest support.

How should he introduce himself?

Pretending to be some mysterious diviner probably would not work. Judging from Lu Mingfei’s words, this was not a version of the chat group in which he alone, as a transmigrator, knew about information from other worlds. For someone like Lu Mingfei, who lived in a modern world in the twenty-first century, the events of anime and novels should proceed more or less as he knew them, barring some major incident. He could search for information about the other group members’ worlds online. Any attempt to pose as an all-knowing mystic would be exposed instantly.

Then should he come clean? Play the good guy? Kneel down and beg the group members to show mercy and send him fifty bucks... He meant, send him an item that could keep him alive.

He had to admit, that last option was rather tempting.

After weighing it over, Chen Mo was just about to speak when he noticed the newcomers gathering again. They had assembled in an inconspicuous alley.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you that, just as this gentleman said, we have indeed encountered something that science cannot explain.” The handsome middle-aged man spoke first.

“This is Los Angeles, United States, and the date is June twenty-sixth... By the way, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ares Emmons. You may simply call me Ares.”

After Ares introduced himself, a tall, powerfully built Black man immediately followed with a question.

“You can call me J. I won’t be giving out my name. Mr. Ares, are you certain this is Los Angeles, United States, and that today is June twenty-sixth?”

“Of course. I’m certain.” Ares helplessly spread his hands. “You’ve all noticed it too, haven’t you? The temperature here is highly unusual. Most of us must have been experiencing winter before we came here, yet this city is currently in the middle of a scorching summer. And while I was speaking with that gentleman just now, I glanced at the date on his phone. It clearly displayed June twenty-sixth.”

“My God...” J sighed.

“So we really have been dragged into this supernatural reality by the ‘Lord God’... But is the Lord God actually a true god?”

“D-Don’t be ridiculous!”

The bespectacled man stubbornly objected.

“You really believe all this absurd nonsense?” His voice rose, disbelief written across his face. “How could we possibly have suddenly arrived in another world? This must be some kind of high-tech hoax or mass hypnosis! Do you really think we’ve been controlled by some so-called ‘Lord God’? This is insane!”

“It must be him.” The bespectacled man pointed at Chen Mo, his face twisted with hatred. “It must be this Asian! He deceived us with slick words and high technology. He wants to kidnap us and take us to northern Myanmar to harvest our kidneys! Heh, you Asians love cheating and swindling people. You’re born evil. I’ll—”

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“Moron,” Chen Mo said.

“Wh... what?”

“What the hell did you just say?”

Chen Mo’s patience had run out. Faced with the bespectacled man’s hysterical nonsense and outrageous accusations, he chose the most direct response possible—a tremendous slap.

The crack of his palm rang through the surroundings. The bespectacled man staggered and fell, his glasses flying off as a bright red handprint appeared on his face.

“Utterly ignorant. Don’t ever say anything insulting to my intelligence in front of me again.”

The bespectacled man stared in disbelief as he clutched his face. The searing pain and humiliation brought tears of rage to his eyes.

He sprang to his feet and lunged at Chen Mo, but someone moved faster. J seized the bespectacled man by the arm and held him firmly in place with his thick, powerful limb.

“Hey, calm down, man.” J’s voice was low, his eyes fixed on the bespectacled man. He bared his teeth in a grin. “What we need right now is unity, not infighting.”

“But he hit me!” The bespectacled man shouted like a child.

“Damn it, I told you to calm down! Didn’t you hear me?” J had always hated self-important idiots who shouted at the top of their lungs, so he roared back even louder. “Every single person here has gone through the same thing. Do you think you’re the only smart one? Do you take all of us for fools? Stop your damn screaming. If there’s a next time...” He chuckled darkly.

Confronted with the unmistakable threat—and even killing intent—in J’s eyes, the bespectacled man fell silent like a startled quail. His lips moved soundlessly for a moment, but he did not utter another word.

Ares quickly stepped forward to smooth things over.

“All right, all right. This is no time for infighting. Sir, what you did just now was a little excessive, but we understand your position. And you, sir, we understand your feelings as well, but you shouldn’t have said those racist things that undermine our unity. Right now, we’re all grasshoppers tied to the same rope.”

“Now then, sir.” Ares turned toward Chen Mo, his eyes flickering slightly. “What do you think we should do? You seem to have a very good understanding of our current situation.”

“Wait.” Chen Mo uttered only one word. “Wait for those two to return... Ah, they’re here.”

The others turned around and saw Jenny and Chu Hao walking toward them. Their clothes were disheveled, and blood stained their hands. It looked as though something unfortunate had happened.

“They’re back.”

After watching the two rejoin the group, Chen Mo said nothing more. Instead, he turned his gaze toward everyone present.

“Now that we’re all here, it’s time to make a decision. I know many of you still don’t trust me, but I don’t care. If you still believe I’m a con artist who used high technology, hypnosis, or some other method to deceive you, then you’re perfectly free to leave now and find the police or your embassy. I won’t stop you. But after that, we will have nothing more to do with one another.”

“If you believe me, then come with me. Oh, and I suppose I should introduce myself as well. My name is Chen Mo. You can call me Chen or Mo.”

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