Hearing the sudden voice in his ear, Lu Ce's gaze instantly sharpened—he was already prepared for battle.

This kind of crisis response didn’t require any training for him. It came from his early experiences, even without the baptism of the Game.

And now, he was confident in his own strength.

“Who is it? Want to come out and meet face to face?”

Lu Ce clenched his fists. In-game, only his cloak and tire came out with him, but it didn’t matter—he himself was the strongest weapon.

What he did regret a little now was not bringing Confessions of the Disillusioned. That kind of supernatural stuff really was hard to handle.

“Are you blind? Why the hell are you yelling?”

“If you’ve got cognitive issues, I can take you to the mental hospital. If your brain’s just senile, let’s hit up a retirement home, we’re almost there anyway.”

That flippant voice rang out again, echoing around the small room. On the second listen, Lu Ce could pinpoint the direction it came from.

His eyes widened slightly as he stared blankly at the Black Knight in front of him.

“This thing’s that advanced...? Legendary Weapon comes with AI now?”

“What do you mean AI? Why are you low-level species talking with that arrogant tone?” said the Black Knight with clear discontent, shifting slightly in the room.

“Y’all aren’t even that smart to begin with, and you treat intelligence like it’s a human privilege. Real funny.”

“You’re the f***ing robot. I’m starting to regret—”

This Black Knight looked like a vicious brute, but when it talked, it just wouldn’t shut up. Lu Ce said one sentence, and it fired off three.

Lu Ce was kind of dumbfounded. How was this thing’s intelligence level so high...

But he accepted the setting quickly and went straight to the point:

“You—what do you do?”

“Me? I’m useless. I’m trash. I just wanna lie down.”

The Black Knight flopped down onto the ground with a loud bang, sending dust falling from the ceiling.

A baby that weighed who-knows-how-many kilograms.

Lu Ce’s expression darkened. He clenched his fist and stood up from the bed.

“Hey man, c’mon, what the hell’s this? If you’ve got something to say, spit it out.”

The Black Knight got up from the ground in blatant defiance of the laws of physics and started speaking more properly.

......

In the relatively quiet classroom, the students were doing self-study.

It had been a long time since Lu Ce had been at school, and suddenly it all felt like another lifetime, watching the distracted classmates around him.

Ever since Chosen’s Paradise descended, the scope of The Chosen Ones had gradually expanded, and its influence increased. The whole world felt like it was grinding to a halt.

Forget school—even basic industrial production was struggling. Chosen’s Paradise was the most critical issue worldwide.

A few more Chosen Ones had appeared in the class, and some had vanished without a trace.

Even the homeroom teacher, who used to keep trying to talk them out of participating and persuade the school, had stopped showing up.

Maybe there were new policies or decisions from the higher-ups.

And today, the seat next to him was empty again—Xie Antong didn’t come to class.

Lu Ce’s long-silent phone finally got a message from her.

【Xie Antong: Did you go to school today? If you did, say something on my behalf. There’s some stuff going on at home.】

Lu Ce stared at the message, wondering if last time’s incident had affected her more than he thought. He finally replied with a simple “okay.”

Bzzz bzzz!

The vibration sound came—not from his phone this time, but from the metal sphere in his other hand.

—That was the Black Knight.

Last night, after their “nuclear-positive” conversation, Lu Ce finally learned more about the Black Knight.

Mechanical Heart, as the name implied, gave machines a heart.

Only after merging could it achieve this level of intelligence.

Another benefit—it could also turn into a heart-sized metal sphere at will, making it easy to carry and communicate.

A faint electric current flowed through Lu Ce’s palm, across his body, reorganizing the signal in his ear to form spoken words.

“Bro? Just ‘okay’? That’s it?”

“You got a hormonal imbalance or something? Low on testosterone maybe?”

“Shouldn’t you be asking what’s going on at her place? Make a bold move, spark things up, heat up the relationship—marry next year, have a kid the year after…”

Lu Ce realized this thing was seriously out of line. He squeezed the metal sphere hard—in his hands, that was a serious threat.

But the Black Knight couldn’t care less and kept going:

“You crush me, that’s two Legendary Weapons down the drain. Your call, bro.”

Lu Ce: ......

###！

Really wanted to punch this guy—but was worried he’d enjoy it.

After seeing Xie Antong’s Legendary Weapon, Lu Ce had a deeper understanding of her background.

So he didn’t plan to pry. Families like that always had their own issues, especially in a world teetering on chaos—they’d be way more on edge than normal folks.

It had nothing to do with him. All he had to do was fight his way to world number one.

He was already zoning out, tuning out the chatter from the Black Knight, just waiting for the next Game.

Challenge Mode counted as an extra game, so this time, his schedule was tighter than ever.

“Bro, you’re just heading back to your doghouse? Not taking me somewhere fun?”

On the walk home from school, the Black Knight was still babbling. Maybe because it was the first day it could talk, it was scared of wasting a single word.

“What, drop you off at a motorbike repair shop so you can pick a cutie?” Lu Ce shot back.

“Why a repair shop? Can’t I get a brand new ride?”

......

Amid the banter between the two “people,” the time for the fourth Game had arrived. That familiar countdown appeared again before his eyes, and Lu Ce focused completely.

【Please make the necessary preparations in advance.】

【Please choose whether to join as an Audience Member or as a Player.】

“Player!”

Even though it wasn’t his first time, every time Lu Ce felt like he could hear his own thunderous heartbeat.

He belonged here! This was his Paradise!

【Hello Player, you have a short window to prepare...】

【Sin Mask in use. Please choose whether to use an unlocked form: Greed, Gluttony, or Wrath?】

“No!”

【Confirmed. A previously unused form will be randomly selected during the Game.】

......

【Game Initialized. Preparing to begin!】

【Welcome to Chosen’s Paradise!】

A wave of dizziness hit him. When it passed and he opened his eyes, another wave came—it felt like he was somewhere swaying nonstop.

As soon as he entered, before he had a chance to observe the surroundings or people around him—

Suddenly, a golden spotlight illuminated everything in blinding brilliance, and a booming voice exploded above everyone’s heads!

【Welcome, Players, to Hell Mode’s Chosen’s Game—Ocean Casino!】