Chapter 1 Part 1

An albatross spread its wings and soared above the vast, endless expanse of deep blue sea, overlooking the colossal behemoth cutting through the waves on the ocean surface.

This was a private Cruise Ship weighing fully fifty thousand tons, with a total of thirteen decks.

Though it could not compare to the world’s most renowned luxury liners in size, as private property, this space—sufficient to accommodate at least a thousand people—was currently occupied by only three hundred.

Much more of it had been converted for pleasure: opulent guest rooms, an opera house, a golf course, a ballroom… and other entertainment facilities beyond imagination, with costs far exceeding what anyone could fathom.

Of course, all these lavish venues were reserved exclusively for the esteemed “guests.”

In the cramped lower cabins beneath the deck, the ordinary service staff’s rooms were stifling and damp, narrow and plain. The single beds on either side still emitted a faint musty odor from the bedding.

“How am I supposed to sleep at night like this?”

The young man standing in the narrow passage between the beds muttered his complaint softly.

His voice was soft and tender—not cloyingly sweet, but with a youthful raspiness. The habitual drawl at the end of his sentences made it sound like coquetry, involuntarily softening the listener’s heart.

“This is really awful. Can’t you arrange a better room for me?” He made his demand directly.

The cold, mechanical System in the young man’s mind stuttered for a moment.

“This is the lowest-grade Newbie Dungeon. The accommodations are already the best available. Please do not be willful, Player,” the System refused mercilessly.

“Remember your role. An ordinary service attendant only gets a room like this.”

The young man pursed his lips. “Fine… Your game really lacks humanity.”

The System: “…”

It was not the first time the System had encountered a Player who was so brazenly self-assured yet utterly clueless. Usually, it ignored them, but this young man felt entirely different.

His beauty alone was unprecedented and one of a kind.

The lower cabins saw no sunlight, only the dim, pallid glow from the overhead lamps.

The entire environment was drab and decaying, yet the young man’s presence transformed it all, like a light in the darkness.

Even rough fabric could not hide his attractiveness. His exposed skin was porcelain white, his limbs slender and elongated. At one hundred and seventy-two centimeters tall, he had a model’s golden proportions.

The highlight was his face—lips red, teeth white, features delicately exquisite. Most striking were the faint ethereal blue glimmers in his eyes and the misty blue tips of his silver-white hair, setting him starkly apart from ordinary people.

The young man entered the bathroom and examined himself in the palm-sized mirror.

The more he looked, the more he felt something was missing.

After pondering for a bit, he scrunched up his little face, as if straining toward some distant place.

Then, with a “pop,” a pair of fluffy ears symmetrically emerged from the top of his silver-white head, one on each side.

The ears were cat-like yet rabbit-like—wider than rabbit ears, longer than cat ears, covered in long, hazy blue fur.

The young man turned around, braced himself against the sink, arched his waist, and thrust out his hips. He twisted his flexible waist and saw a bulge at the back of his pants. He pulled them down slightly, and sure enough, there was a tail matching the color of his ears.

“…What is this thing?”

The System was stunned.

The young man touched his chin thoughtfully. “I think… I’m a Rabbit.”

The System: “…?”

Though it had never encountered such a thing among Players before, the System quickly accepted it.

This was a complex and vast world, divided into multiple Instances. New Instances refreshed constantly, as did Players—born and perishing endlessly.

Previously, the game world had been governed by four deities. They selected favored Players, granting boons or blessings. Those who passed the Instance trials earned a chance at rebirth, delivered into the deities’ own new worlds to gain immortality.

These Players had all met untimely ends in their original worlds without exception before arriving here.

As for their pasts?

The deities did not care, so the System did not either.

Thousands of Players died in various games every day. There was no need to waste mental energy or time on it.

In essence, the game world had been created merely as the deities’ pastime.

Previously, Players had been fairly normal, but recently, a change had occurred—the world had welcomed a fifth New God.

Consequently, a small portion of bizarre new Players had appeared.

Whatever. It was unimportant.

Even if he was a bit special, the System did not believe the young man would survive long.

With such thoughts, the System could not help repeatedly observing his every word and action, generating an inappropriate curiosity.

“Just who are you?” Even the System was not omniscient; it could not trace the young man’s records.

The Player’s status panel only showed basic data from the scan.

【Player: 14527

Age: ?

Gender: Male

Level: D-rank (A total newbie~)

Stamina: D-rank (But those legs seem unusually strong?)

Intelligence: B-rank (Somewhat clever, but not much)

Appearance: SSS-rank (World-class beauty!)

God’s Favor: SSSSSSSSSS-rank (……)】

No matter how many times it checked, the System stuttered at the ten S’s in the final line.

The New God was indeed mad.

“I should be… Zhong Nian?”

The young man pressed his index finger to his brow and circled it, struggling to recall. “I’m a Cat Rabbit.”

While updating the status panel, the System asked, “Anything else?”

Zhong Nian scratched his head. “I don’t know. My memory might not be great. Do you know, Mr. System?”

The System: “…No.”

“Your game lacks humanity, and now the System isn’t even smart.” Zhong Nian let out a long sigh. “So useless.”

The System: “?”

Before the System could retort and prove itself, Zhong Nian had already retracted his ears and tail with ease and walked out of the cabin on his own.