Foolish Game of the Chapter 1125: Fate's Turning Point

"Yu Xi, precisely."

Every ti he introduced his alter ego to soone else, Cheng Shi felt a crushing wave of secondhand embarrassnt.

He lived in constant dread that one day all these masks would fall away and the world would discover that everything had been a single player improvising his way through every gap—and at that point, he'd truly be reporting for full-ti duty before Death's Bone Throne.

"Co to think of it, I once shared a stage with this Envoy of Deceit—we played the sa mortal."

"That Fate Weaver is without a doubt the finest opportunity for approaching Void. Should you have the chance to et him again, the two of you would do well to grow closer."

"In the era of Void, drawing near to Void can never be wrong."

That might be true, but in Cheng Shi's private definition of Void, Fate had already been quietly excised.

Hu Wei nodded thoughtfully, thinking: 'Cheng Shi and I are brothers—comrades who've stared death in the face together. We're already as close as it gets. Next ti I see him, I'll definitely pump him for more of Void's secrets.'

Da Yi was also nodding enthusiastically. From every angle, he had no reason to oppose the Fate Weaver. After all, Cheng Shi had saved his life at the 0221 Experint Site—even if he'd split half the credit with Lao Hu.

Cheng Shi shot Da Yi a peculiar glance, fairly certain the twitching corner of the man's mouth was him suppressing a colorful expletive.

Perhaps sensing his lord's gaze, Da Yi instantly schooled his expression, standing at rigid attention. 'Finally, my turn.'

Lao Hu's path to fusing with Deceit had been charted. So where was his guidance?

He'd been waiting for this day for so long that before Cheng Shi could even open his mouth, Da Yi blurted out: "My lord, then what about ..."

Faith fusion was ultimately the gods' decision, but under the circumstances, it seed only right to ask the individual in question.

If Da Yi's wish was too outlandish—wanting to fuse with the "untouchable" Folly, or the reclusive Birth—then Cheng Shi's hands would be tied.

Then again, looking at Da Yi, the man probably didn't have the brain for becoming a Wise Man, and he certainly didn't seem inclined to father a litter of Little Yis...

So after a mont's thought, Cheng Shi tossed the question back:

"What are your thoughts?"

As it turned out, Da Yi really had given this so thought.

Since his Benefactor and his lord were both moving toward Void, and Lao Hu wanted to fuse with Deceit, maybe he should go for...

Fate?

Fate was also Void. And the Fate Assassin—the Fate Thief—to a certain extent carried the ability to confuse and misdirect.

When the Refracting Phantom could steal an enemy's destiny on the battlefield, the only outco awaiting that enemy was death—no second possibility.

This idea hadn't materialized overnight. It had started as a seedling, but given the current state of affairs, he felt the odds were good.

So he steeled himself, made his decision, and voiced his plan.

And when Cheng Shi heard this choice...

"..."

'You'd have been better off with Folly or even Birth.'

He couldn't spell out the reason directly, so he tried to nudge him away: "Fate... isn't entirely out of the question, but He's far too aloof. Much harder to approach than Deceit."

Da Yi shook his head vigorously:

"Grand... boss, He's not that alo— He's not so aloof anymore."

"Uh, my lord, what I an is that the old Fate was indeed aloof, but He's changed!"

"You've been busy with important matters and may not have noticed the shifts in the ga, but recently, many players—even those below peak level—have been praying to fuse with Fate."

"And as long as you pray, He agrees!"

"Aside from Oblivion players, who've never succeeded, I've already heard of nurous successful dual-faith cases involving Fate. That's why I figured if I could get your approval to fuse with Fate right now, I might even be able to infiltrate and investigate—to see what changes are happening within Void on your behalf!"

'Fate has opened the floodgates on faith restrictions and started fusing indiscriminately?'

'How co I didn't know about this?'

Cheng Shi's heart lurched, and an ominous premonition rose instantly.

It had been so ti since he'd had an audience with Fate. What had triggered this change?

Had he learned of this before today's encounter with the Fla of Hope, he might have puzzled over it for a while. But after their exchange, a possibility clicked into place imdiately:

Fate was using this to expand His faith pool!

He seed to be going all in!

In hindsight, the early stages of faith fusion among the gods had been cagey—veiled maneuvers, mutual probing. No one was certain who to rge with. Only Deceit had a clear objective, consistently working to bolster the Fear Faction's ranks.

The middle phase saw accelerated fusion, with probes coming from all directions. Occasionally, the gods would bestow a second faith to forge alliances or broker deals with target faiths.

Of course, "early" and "middle" were relative terms for those in the know. For the uninford gods, perhaps only now were they seeing the tidal wave of faith fusion rushing toward them—and Fate was among them.

Fate had indeed undergone a dramatic turn, but what had caused it remained unknown to Cheng Shi.

The one thing he was certain of: this was Fate seizing new power!

According to Da Yi, this shift might have started before the Truth experint even erupted—aning Fate had begun His territorial expansion in the realm of faith before the Real Universe was even revealed to the gods.

This would certainly let Him rapidly concentrate more power of faith, but it also invited more covetous gazes.

What the gods who'd agreed to fuse with Him were truly scheming in their hearts—nobody could know. Especially the Fear Faction...

'Wait—the Fear Faction?'

Cheng Shi frowned and asked:

"With all the recent work on our Benefactor's behalf, I've had no ti to spare for you."

"You just said Fate has been lavishing second faiths left and right. Have you heard of any Deceit followers fusing with Fate?"

"Yes!" Da Yi wasn't stupid. He could see the gravity of the situation, and his expression turned stern: "Cheng Shi is one such case."

"..."

'I didn't an , you—!'

'I ant besides !'

Hu Wei, being the sharper of the two, noticed the lord's montary pause and realized his brother didn't count. After a brief think, he shook his head:

"No, my lord. At least among the current peak players, Deceit's followers have each found their own paths, but none have fused with Fate."

"That said, this is only what I've personally observed. I hadn't been investigating this specifically. If you'd like to know more..."

"Mm, look into it. Let's see what kind of storm Void is about to stir up."

Cheng Shi nodded casually, then sank into renewed contemplation.

Oblivion's absence made sense—Oblivion wanted to annihilate Fate's sacrifice, and Fate would never leave the door open for that.

But if the Fun God hadn't made a move either...

Was it because He didn't want to, or because Fate wouldn't allow it?

Either way, both scenarios pointed to the sa conclusion: Void's fracture seed imminent. The internal Void war that had raged for so ti was the clearest proof that the opposing wills within Void had reached a breaking point.

And once Void truly split, what would happen to him—currently the only known Void walker—in terms of his power? What kind of changes would he face?

At that thought, Cheng Shi paused.

Because he realized the Fun God seed to have planned for this contingency long ago. His shadow had already been carrying a separate set of faith, split from the main body...