Cheng Shi's operation wasn't really about taking advantage of the Dragon King.
He couldn't deny the thought had crossed his mind — but the primary motive was rescue.
His first attempt was to have his shadow look into the mirror!
Shadow Cheng Shi was now an intelligent life form enlightened by [Truth]. Logically, he should be capable of triggering the mirror. The cautious Cheng Shi would never look into the mirror himself, so his shadow was the natural first choice.
In Cheng Shi's subconscious, he didn't consider Shadow Cheng Shi an independent individual. He treated it more as a convenient "prop" — after all, it had been born from the Clown Substitute.
So he reasoned: if the rules Zhen Xin described were correct, then having Shadow Cheng Shi look into the mirror to swap out the Dragon King, then using his own talent and dice to perform a reversal — wouldn't that perfectly solve the problem of That Dream My Nightmare having consud the Dragon King?
But reality proved this sche overly fanciful.
When Shadow Cheng Shi stood before the mirror, That Dream My Nightmare showed zero response. This ant either Zhen Xin's rules were wrong, or shadows couldn't trigger the mirror's chanism. Since Cheng Shi didn't dare test it himself, he could only pocket the mirror and brainstorm later.
Over the next several days, Cheng Shi sat atop the rest area's rooftop with the mirror, racking his brain — not only about how to crack the mirror, but why the Dragon King had been trapped inside in the first place.
One thing was certain: the Dragon King had definitely gone in. Otherwise, he'd never have allowed a fake Dragon King to "inherit" everything and walk around under his identity.
But what was his reason for entering?
After much deliberation, Cheng Shi could only arrive at one answer: whether the Dragon King entered willingly or was lured by a Nightmare Shadow, the mirror must have contained sothing he found irresistible!
But this mirror had fallen into his hands before the Joker Society. If the Dragon King were truly interested, he needn't have waited until after the gathering to act.
So two possibilities explained the timing:
Either what interested the Dragon King only appeared after the Joker Society — and since everyone had conveniently looked into the mirror during the eting, this suspiciously designed coincidence likely ant That Dream My Nightmare had effects beyond rely reflecting one's innermost desires. The Dragon King had concealed this, and those effects probably related to mory. The Dragon King had gone in specifically seeking those mories.
Or the Dragon King had foreseen the mirror's danger. Before coming clean, he hadn't dared enter alone. Only after letting the Jokers learn of the mirror's existence did he have the courage to investigate — because he knew his fellow con-artist Jokers would definitely co to rescue him.
Not out of "goodness" — but because these schers also wanted to know the secrets he'd glimpsed.
Either way, the Dragon King's manipulation of the other Jokers was a fact.
And it was an open sche at that. Even though Cheng Shi had figured this out, he still had to follow the Dragon King's script, because he too was interested in the mirror's secrets!
Think about it — Li Jingming had taken on the most dangerous part alone. All they had to do was rescue him, then trade on that "debt of gratitude" for everything he'd seen. Zero risk for full intel. Even if so of those secrets concerned Cheng Shi himself, there were still four others' secrets to gain.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a net gain...
Still, it was infuriating. The Dragon King had played him again. That crafty Taoist priest really couldn't lose no matter whose hands he was in.
'What a grandson!'
But how to proceed?
The mirror needed a living being to trigger it. He couldn't very well go back to Dolgod for this.
Sure, Dolgod had inexhaustible life. But if Aph Ros learned That Dream My Nightmare was in his possession, that razor-sharp mind would imdiately realize the earlier visit hadn't been for explanations at all — just to find leads on the mirror.
That would undo all the "reconciliation" — and he'd have to waste more breath talking his way out.
Unacceptable!
Nor could he pray for a trial just to grab an NPC for help.
Not that he couldn't — but caution demanded otherwise.
Right now, trials had too obvious a target. Once inside, you couldn't tell friend from foe among teammates, and divine wills were unpredictable. Bringing the mirror along would be walking into a trap — the most reckless option imaginable.
If trials were out and he couldn't use allies as guinea pigs — forget secrecy, whoever swapped the Dragon King out would get sucked in themselves, making the whole exercise pointless.
An enemy would be perfect — but where to find willing victims right now...
[Oblivion] followers?
Not impossible. But if he was going to use That Dream My Nightmare to sche against an [Oblivion] follower, he might as well aim straight at Herobos. If a [mory] artifact could trap this [Oblivion] Envoy...
Wait!
An Envoy?
Right — why limit himself to players? Gods were the ideal target!
That Dream My Nightmare was a "demon-revealing mirror" that exposed the desires in one's heart. True, it was only a fragnt of mory Delusion, re Servant God relic — but what if it worked on gods?
Then he could peer directly into a god's mind!
Like [Deceit]. Like [Fate]!
Even if it couldn't reveal [Void]'s ambitions, he could bla the whole thing on the Dragon King afterward — claim the Dragon King had begged him to do this to save him. Even if the gods got angry, they'd have to pull the Dragon King out of the mirror first before passing judgnt, right?
Once the Dragon King was out, what was a little injustice?
Besides — the injustice wouldn't even fall on him!
'I'm a genius!'
Cheng Shi's eyes blazed. He was ready to act — but the surge of excitent imdiately stalled, because he faced a new choice:
Whom should he pray to?
Whether [Deceit] or [Fate], Cheng Shi wanted to glimpse their deepest intentions.
If That Dream My Nightmare truly worked, reflecting [Deceit]'s desires would be an offensive move — aiding future planning. Reflecting [Fate]'s desires would be defensive — useful for self-preservation.
Both paths were acceptable. But from another angle...
The Dragon King was also a [Deceit] follower. When it ca ti to shift bla, even if the Fun God held Cheng Shi accountable, He'd most likely still fish the Dragon King out.
But [Fate] was different. He had zero connection to Li Jingming. [Void]'s wrath would definitely land on the Dragon King's head. Though that had its upside too — thanks to Fixed Destiny's protection, Cheng Shi himself would escape unscathed.
One option ant predictable self-suffering. The other ant the Dragon King catching trouble as expected. The choice was obvious.
Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow and decisively pulled out...
The dice of [Fate].
He was going to see [Deceit] one more ti!
"As grandpa, I have to look out for my grandson. I really am too kind."
With that, Cheng Shi gripped the dice and chanted devoutly:
"Cannot distinguish true from false, need not debate void from real.
O great god of [Deceit], your devout — wait wait wait—"
Whoosh — and Cheng Shi vanished.
...
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