The Miracle from the Dice

Critical Failure!

Tai Zai Zhi's heart seemed to stop beating, but the result of the dice roll could no longer be changed. The frozen time and space began to flow again. With a loud bang, the bullet not only failed to fire as intended, but the gun in his hand instantly exploded!

The explosion started from the cylinder. The immense impact shattered the magazine, instantly blowing the gun to pieces. This power was no different from detonating a small landmine. All the components collapsed, and the shards spun through the black smoke, shooting straight toward the surroundings.

The one most directly affected was Tai Zai Zhi, who was holding the gun. The flames flared up, brushing past his temple and instantly shattering his orbital bone. Two parallel pins flew out; one embedded itself in his chest, while the other flew toward Luan Bu beside him!

Luan Bu's eyes widened, his shrinking pupils reflecting the component rushing straight toward his eye.

Tai Zai Zhi suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Ignoring his bloody, mangled left eye, he quickly shouted, "Zhong Ye!"

"Ah, I know!"

Zhong Yuan Zhong Ye blew away the gunstock flying toward him with a single palm strike. As Tai Zai Zhi's voice faded, he had already closed in. Activating his gravity ability, Zhong Ye leaped into the midst of the scattering shards. A hand suddenly pierced through the gunsmoke, grabbing that pin!

At the same time, all the gun components crashed to the ground. Luan Bu panted heavily, his soul shaken. Zhong Ye's fist wind brushed past his eyelid; just one step slower, and that thing would have pierced through his eyeball and the back of his head.

Everything happened in just a few short seconds. Zhong Ye gripped the component tightly. Without stopping, his sharp gaze swept toward Sigma. He swung his arm and spun around, and the component instantly pierced through the air, carrying the violent momentum of gravity, rushing straight toward Sigma like a bullet!

Sigma's wrist was instantly pierced, a spray of blood blooming, but he smiled—the final stroke of the pen had landed, and he had finished writing the entire sentence.

— I do not exist.

The page instantly took effect. The fresh blood spraying from Sigma's body evaporated without a trace before even touching the ground.

Even though the long-haired, purple-and-white-haired youth was standing right in front of them, everyone's brains experienced a momentary blankness. Memories of Sigma quickly slipped away, and his figure also began to fade like a ghost dissolving into the air.

But at this life-and-death moment, Sigma calmed down instead, his face showing a serene and quiet expression.

"O Deity."

He clasped his ten fingers, pressing his palms together, and bowed his head with closed eyes.

"Please allow me to call upon Your name."

Li Nai idly toyed with the dice, glanced over, chuckled, and snapped his fingers.

Sigma instantly opened his eyes, his pupils dilating. He felt a heartbeat. Just a single beat. Myriads of hearts in different chests beat simultaneously, overlapping into a loud echo deep within his soul.

In the next second, the believers scattered throughout Heng Xin raised their heads at the same time. Countless lips opened, countless vocal cords vibrated in unison.

"O Deity!" they chanted in unison, "Please allow us to call upon Your name!"

Everyone in the Zhentan Agency looked out the window in horror. The chanting merged into a massive wave of sound, rising from every corner of the city, echoing throughout Heng Xin.

Fei Tu suddenly fell from his chair, clutching his neck, his expression ugly to the extreme.

"O Deity..."

Sigma's figure solidified once more. His eyes were filled with tears, and his face bore the happy smile of a wanderer returning home as he chanted in a low voice: "The master of all chaos, the smiling discord, the creator of madness and joy..."

The sound waves outside echoed in response, and the walls trembled slightly. The entire city seemed to have only this sound left.

"O Deity! The master of all chaos! The smiling discord! The creator of madness and joy!"

The page trembled violently. Two sheets of paper, one real and one fake, flew up, the text on them twisting simultaneously. The phantom of the "Tian Shu" unfolded in the sky above Heng Xin, its pages turning as fast as the wind.

The situation was already bad to the extreme, but at this moment, something even worse happened—the text on the fake page twisted and reorganized, then slowly stopped, turning into a malicious smiling face.

This was bad.

The moment that thought flashed, the entire world began to shake. In contrast to Sigma's solidification, everyone else's figures began to dissolve.

"What is going on!" Zhong Ye suddenly turned his head. "Tai Zai!"

A flash of white light sparked in Tai Zai Zhi's mind, and he suddenly understood.

"This is... the real consequence of that Critical Failure... Although my action was 'firing the gun,' my stated purpose was 'stopping Sigma's actions'!"

Under the Critical Failure state, the consequence of firing was a barrel explosion and injury. Then, what was the consequence of stopping the action?

— Was it promoting the action? Or even... elevating it to a higher level?

"Right now, we're not just falling into a paradox of real and fake conflict! That page is completely reversing reality and falsehood!" Luan Bu suddenly stood up. "At this rate, everything real will disappear, and only Sigma will exist in the entire world!"

Even Sigma's face changed. The smiling face on the fake page widened, its chaotic and evil eyes enjoying everyone's panic with delight.

"What... are you all waiting for..." Fei Tu sat up, holding the edge of the table. A ring of blue-purple handprints was clearly visible on his neck. His eyes were cold as he said hoarsely, "Do you really want to... disappear together here?"

"What's the use of saying that!" Zhong Ye roared. "What can we even do now?!"

"There's no way out of this situation..." An Wu looked at his gradually transparent fingers and smiled bitterly. "To think we wouldn't even have a chance to struggle in front of Li Nai... Is it going to end here?"

"No, not yet." Tai Zai Zhi suddenly spoke. "We just need... a miracle."

"What..."

Zhong Ye was stunned. A cold, hard object had been placed in his palm.

— It was the 20-sided die.

"Are you crazy? Everything turned out like this because of these ghostly things!" Zhong Ye was shocked. "Are you planning to place our hopes on Li Nai's item?!"

"The die's alignment is 'neutral.' At least she won't deliberately steer us toward a disastrous ending. What's the harm in trying again?" Tai Zai Zhi smiled.

"If Sect Leader Sigma can bet with his life, why can't we?" Tai Zai Zhi laughed aloud. "Add to the wager, put everyone's lives on the line—let's make a bet, Zhong Ye!"

"...I think you've really been by Li Nai's side for too long. The craziest person here is probably you. But... fine, the situation can't get any worse anyway."

Zhong Yuan Zhong Ye gripped the die, a wild smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

"Bring it on!" He tossed the die high and shouted, "I want—to restore Heng Xin to its original state!"

Time and space froze. The emotionless female voice rang out again.

[Please state the action you wish to perform]

"I want..." Zhong Ye paused. He suddenly realized a serious problem. Although he had heard Tai Zai talk about how to use it, he had absolutely no idea what attributes existed, let alone what his own stats were!

"Uh..." Zhong Ye tried asking, "What is my highest attribute?"

[Strength]

It actually answered! Zhong Ye paused. Instead of stating a specific action like Tai Zai did, he continued to test: "Then I... roll the die for Strength?"

[...]

The female voice fell into a subtle silence. In an instant, Zhong Ye recalled the description of the die. Rumor had it that praying to the deity during use could increase the probability of success...

Normally, he would disdain such things, but right now, the lives of countless people in Heng Xin rested on his shoulders. Therefore...

"Goddess of the Dice!" Zhong Ye clasped his hands together and bowed earnestly. "Please!"

[...]

The female voice said nothing more, but the heavy sound of the die falling seemed like a helpless, tacit approval. The die rolled a few times and stopped in front of Zhong Ye.

[Zhong Yuan Zhong Ye performs a Strength check: D20=17/19, Success.]

The frozen time and space began to flow, and the smile on the floating fake page suddenly froze.

Zhong Yuan Zhong Ye raised his head, a spark of inspiration flashing in his mind. He stared at the fake page in the air and sneered. Immediately after, his gravity ability activated, and he soared straight into the air, unleashing a thunderous strike!

The fake page tried to flee, but Zhong Ye's arm had already wrapped around the twisting patterns. The immense gravity pressurized, sealing and pressing down from all directions. The page could not escape.