On the day the apocalypse arrives, all of humanity is forced to become “players.” At the Awakening Ceremony, while everyone else draws fire, lightning, or enhanced strength, Chen Xiang gets a mouth.
“Bluffing into Reality”: If at least three people are within ten meters, anything he boasts about becomes real, up to three times a day.
So in the first week of the apocalypse, he casually reassures his neighbors: “This building won't collapse.” And it doesn't. He times his next boast perfectly: “Tomorrow morning at six, supplies will appear in the lobby.” At six sharp, thirty crates of provisions rain down from the sky.
The whole city starts talking about a god in the western district whose words become law.
Only Chen Xiang knows it's all just talk. The bigger the boast, the harder it is to take back. Until, at the city's trade fair, right in front of He Zheng, his old boss who has held a grudge for years, he makes the biggest boast of his life
“Before nightfall, that mutant in the western district will die on its own.”
The sun sets, and the news comes back: the mutant charged into a dead end and died on its own.
The crowd erupts. He Zheng is terrified of him down to the bone and warns him that they'll see about that.
The moment a boast comes true in public is glorious. The moment it's exposed is deadly. And Chen Xiang is only just getting started.
