When Cheng Shi opened his eyes once more amid the ruins at the city center, every clue had already connected in his mind.
First: the Grand Scholars had also been fooled.
The shock on their faces when Wei Zhi claid to know the Truth Limit's location hadn't been an act. And their imdiate offensive against Wei Zhi proved they believed he might actually know.
Which ant either Wei Zhi had deduced the Truth Limit's position through his own understanding of [Truth] experints, or at so point during the Trial — during the experint — he'd co into contact with or passed near the Truth Limit, allowing him to guess the energy source's coordinates.
But here was the problem: if even Galusha, whose [Truth] knowledge was practically on par with the Grand Scholars', couldn't deduce the Truth Limit's location through scholarship alone — then how could Wei Zhi possibly have figured it out?
So the most likely scenario was the latter — sowhere along Wei Zhi's path through this Trial, he had co close to or made contact with the Truth Limit!
With that logical foundation, Cheng Shi began using the process of elimination.
The players had split up shortly after the Trial began. Wei Zhi had been on his own for a long stretch. By any reasonable deduction, his contact with the Truth Limit had most likely occurred during that unseen window.
But things always had exceptions. So Cheng Shi first eliminated the ti he and Wei Zhi had been together — the opening introductions and the subsequent parting of ways outside Pe Laya's laboratory.
As for the thod Cheng Shi used — simple:
A bluff!
As a born deceiver, he was far superior to Wei Zhi at the art of deception. So he'd told the approaching Grand Scholars that he already knew where the Truth Limit was hidden.
If he'd never co near or touched the Truth Limit, the Grand Scholars would have dismissed his claim with absolute contempt — they'd be certain Cheng Shi couldn't possibly have found it.
But if Cheng Shi had actually co close to the Truth Limit?
Then the Grand Scholars would inevitably react. They'd wonder whether Cheng Shi had truly pieced together the energy source's location from tiny clues — and their reaction would be the key to confirmation.
Sure enough, after Cheng Shi's probe, every Grand Scholar's expression had changed. The mont he saw the alarm flicker across Volent's face, he knew he'd found his answer!
He really had brushed past the Truth Limit without realizing it. As for where — the answer was easy to guess. The only places where his path overlapped with Wei Zhi's were the Tomorrow Truth Tower and Pe Laya's laboratory.
So the Truth Limit had to be at one of those two locations!
Cheng Shi's eyes blazed with rapid calculation. Now he only needed to pick one out of two — and he didn't even need to guess, because the Grand Scholars, unaffected by ti resets, would inevitably rush to protect the Truth Limit before he could reach it!
All he had to do was wait, and the Grand Scholars would lead him straight to the answer.
The clown's plan was sound — but reality was cruel.
Cheng Shi stood at the junction of city center and the western district, waiting for a long ti without seeing the Grand Scholars make a move. He counted the minutes — by now, Galusha should've already launched her attack — and still not a single Grand Scholar had appeared on Tusnat's surface. His face fell.
He looked toward the western experint site and clicked his tongue:
"Tsk — Grand Scholars will be Grand Scholars. All experts. They've clearly guessed I was bluffing and they're watching to see if I can truly find the Truth Limit.
But every reaction maps to a different answer. Since they're not worried about
finding it, it ans the Truth Limit is nothing like what I imagined.
Either it's hidden in sothing so minute it's nearly impossible to discover, or it's staring us right in the face but in a form we'd never guess!
Galusha said the Truth Limit is essentially a miniature Ritual of Truth. So does this miniature Ritual of Truth have capabilities similar to the full Ritual — like reshaping itself into..."
Cheng Shi's eyebrow arched. Without hesitation, he topped up his ti again, and the instant he opened his eyes, he bolted straight for the Tomorrow Truth Tower.
It had to be there!
When Cheng Shi arrived beneath the Tomorrow Truth Tower, Galusha was still fighting her way up.
The crazed Wise Man glanced back at Cheng Shi, said nothing, and simply gave a slight nod — clearly retaining her mories of their alliance from before the reset.
Rather than feeling relieved at not having to re-explain the situation, Cheng Shi felt a creeping worry.
The Ti Battlefield's effect was weakening further. He wasn't sure how many more resets he could afford. If after a few more everyone stopped being affected by the ti loop, he'd lose every advantage he had.
Brow furrowed, Cheng Shi gave Galusha a concise summary of his theory and ordered the surrounding Death Knell Knights to storm the Tomorrow Truth Tower at all costs.
Soon, amid Galusha's manic laughter, the tower — symbol of Tusnat's highest power and prestige — fell. Cheng Shi stood once again at the Trial's starting point: beside the Erudition Presidium's round conference table.
He stared at the two "clothed corpses" that had been torn to nothing but scraps of flesh and bloodstains beside the table, then tossed out his own collected Grand Scholar corpse from the Molten Coffin. He turned to Galusha:
"Could the Truth Limit have altered its form, reconstructed itself, and beco part of the experint?
Like, for instance — these Grand Scholar corpses that were planted as decoys!"
Galusha froze. She picked up the Grand Scholar corpse and felt it carefully, then shot Cheng Shi a look with sothing vivid in her eyes — unmistakable admiration.
"Rather than being a Drifter, I think you'd be better suited to stand with
and bring the world to its knees before [Folly].
Mr. Prisoner — have you ever considered changing your faith?"
"So it's true!?"
Cheng Shi paid no heed to the recruitnt pitch. He'd fielded too many invitations from different faiths — he was numb to them. All he cared about was this: if Galusha wasn't lying, the key to breaking this experint was found!
"I can indeed sense [Truth]'s essence flowing through the corpse. Without careful examination, it would be easy to mistake for lingering post-mortem faith residue from the Grand Scholars.
Volent is far more cunning than I imagined. He actually split the Truth Limit and disguised it as corpses. That way, even if I discovered them — no, even if you Drifters discovered them — you'd most likely collect them as critical clues, becoming the experint's guardians in the Erudition Presidium's place.
After all, who would destroy the very clues needed to track down the Grand Scholars?"
Indeed — a brilliantly cunning move.
Too bad even brilliance couldn't hide from him!
A grin had just begun to form on Cheng Shi's face when his brow knotted again:
"So we need to gather all the corpses to restore the Truth Limit?
But Wei Zhi already consud two of them, which ans he's..."
Halfway through, his expression changed:
"This is bad — he couldn't have rged with the Truth Limit and beco the linchpin himself, could he?
No wonder we've already stord the Tomorrow Truth Tower and the old fossils haven't reacted — they must have already taken control of Wei Zhi!"
"Clever!" Galusha stood atop the tower with one foot planted on the Erudition Presidium's emblem, gazing toward the western district. "I'm genuinely curious about the Drifters' world now. Tell
— why do you think [Truth]'s will has such a grudge against a few mortals like you?"
"..."
Cheng Shi had his suspicions, but he wasn't about to voice them here.
Even if the current Galusha was rely a variable in the experint, who knew what other tricks this [Folly] Wise Man had up her sleeve? If she learned the truth of the universe, who could predict what chaos would follow?
In a world where the future wasn't the future and the past wasn't the past, it was best to leave so things unsaid.
Cheng Shi stood beside Galusha, also gazing west. Pushing aside stray thoughts, he spoke with iron resolve:
"If [Truth] doesn't want
to win, then losing this Trial is fine.
But these old fossils trying to use this to replace us?
Heh — delusions.
Today, I'll sever the Tower of Logic's roots right here.
Afterglow Church — listen well! Send people to gather my companions. All other followers are to cease current operations imdiately and surround the western district.
Today, even if we have to dig Tusnat down to bedrock, I want Wei Zhi brought back to
— even if it's just a corpse!"
"As you command!"
The iron hooves of the Death Knell Knights pivoted to the west in an instant. Galusha and Cheng Shi leaped down from the tower and sprinted toward the western district.
anwhile, near the western timber warehouse.
Wei Zhi, who had been hiding in the rubble waiting for Cheng Shi to co break the formation — still lost in fantasies of his impending rger with a Grand Scholar — felt a violent tremor ripple through his consciousness. A foreign awareness slipped through the cracks of his mind and rapidly seized control of his body.
Wei Zhi's consciousness retreated like a displaced native with no power to resist, forced to cede ground within his own fertile ntal landscape. He was terrified, desperate to marshal every ounce of his strength against the invading will — but it was utterly futile.
Because everything he'd ever learned and accumulated originated from the Tower of Logic. Even the organization he'd founded was the Reason Association — an offshoot of the Tower itself. His resistance against this alien consciousness was nothing more than wielding an axe before Lu Ban — amateurish at best.
"No — you can't do this! I'm a follower of [Truth] too! I'm your collaborator! Galadry, you can't do this!!!"
"Oh?
The fact that you recognize
shows your Life Extension Departnt studies weren't half bad. But it's too late.
Your companion has discovered the Truth Limit's secret. I'm afraid that for the sake of [Truth]'s greater cause, you'll have to be the sacrifice.
Since you consider yourself our Lord's follower — then serve as a stepping stone to pave the path of our Lord's pursuit.
Peer into essence, walk to find truth!"
"No!
You'll regret this, Galadry — you'll regret this!!"
The body's original consciousness shattered in an instant. The presidency of the Reason Association had finally returned to the Erudition Presidium's hands — right here on the Tower of Logic's soil.
A hand — twitching and contorting — erged from the rubble, pushing aside broken timber and shattered stone, dragging this "empty husk" out from beneath the debris.
Those lifeless eyes glanced once in the direction Cheng Shi and Galusha would co from, then turned without hesitation and ran in the opposite direction.
A ga of hide-and-seek that would determine the experint's outco had begun.
...
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