A Million Possibilities

A Million Possibilities is a long science fiction novel by web author Pian Que, serialized on Qidian Chinese Network under the "Science Fiction · Super Technology" category. The full text runs about 2.22 million characters and is completed. The story is set in a modern city in a world where spiritual energy has revived: an ordinary boy, Cheng Lin, unexpectedly gains a "deduction" ability through a game, with a button he can press. Each press draws one of the countless possible paths Earth could take and evolves it into a complete rise and fall of a civilization—sometimes heavenly fire destroys the world, sometimes the climate changes drastically, sometimes life quietly emerges. Cheng Lin experiences these deductions as both an observer and a participant, completing tasks and earning rewards and experience within them. After each deduction ends, the remnants of those doomsdays and civilizations descend upon the real world in the form of "projections" and "secret realms," which humanity can enter to obtain resources and knowledge, and where they also see the various traces Cheng Lin has left behind. Amid these fragments, Cheng Lin is mistaken by the world for a hidden and powerful being. He simply goes along with the misunderstanding, hiding his true identity while using his foreknowledge of the projections' inner workings to stay one step ahead in reality and secretly guide the direction of human civilization. The novel blends simulated deduction, secret-realm exploration, and behind-the-scenes scheming. Each "doomsday instance" is mostly the author's original creation, with a grand scale and strong atmosphere, and it is one of the representative works often mentioned by fans of the behind-the-scenes and world-creation genres.