Foolish Game of the Chapter 1132: Gathering Clues

"Cheng Shi, I know who you are."

While Cheng Shi was still sizing up Ji Yue from the corner of his eye, she took the initiative to introduce herself.

Those words made Cheng Shi's heart skip a beat, thinking she'd recovered her mories. But her very next sentence was:

"The great hero who thwarted the 0221 experint and saved countless players!"

"..."

Cheng Shi's expression froze, though he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness. Being praised was a bit awkward, but at least it seed she didn't actually rember him.

He turned to face Ji Yue, studying her striking silver hair, and smiled:

"'Hero' is too generous. I just happened to be there and fought for survival—for myself and my friends."

Hearing such modesty, Ji Yue raised an eyebrow, clearly gaining a asure of respect for Cheng Shi:

"A gentleman judges deeds, not intentions. You saved people—that's a fact. You've earned the title of hero."

"My friend also suffered greatly in that experint. In a way, you're his benefactor."

"I'd like to thank you on his behalf."

"?"

The more Cheng Shi listened, the odder it felt. He was certain Ji Yue had an ulterior motive for approaching him, yet she seed to harbor no hostility. For the mont, he couldn't figure out what this Erudite Scholar was scheming, so he could only mask it behind his practiced fake smile.

"You're too kind. It was Fate that watched over him. As I said, my fight for survival was purely selfish."

"For your friends—hmm, it must be nice to be your friend."

Ji Yue studied him up and down with evident interest. Noticing Cheng Shi's heels lifting slightly, as if about to leave, she quickly steered the small talk back to the trial itself:

"Though Folly's trials co with no clues, they aren't entirely untraceable."

"Our identities are most likely the key to cracking this. So the cri that took place yesterday is probably the only lead."

"Unfortunately, it seems we didn't inherit the prisoners' mories. Any thoughts on that, Fate Weaver?"

Cheng Shi frowned, wondering if Ji Yue had simply pegged him as stable enough to team up with for the trial.

Not impossible, but she'd clearly entered with a specific objective—one very different from his reconnaissance purpose. Recklessly teaming up would do neither of them any good.

Add in the external threats lurking in this trial, and without understanding Ji Yue's current position, Cheng Shi couldn't afford to get too close to any teammate who'd approached him voluntarily.

Even if this teammate had once been his teammate.

So, erring on the side of caution, Cheng Shi recalled Ji Yue's previous behaviors while carefully choosing his words of refusal:

"You should have so idea of my identity."

"As a follower of Deceit, I naturally have no advice on recovering mories."

"If your purpose in finding

is to clear this trial, I'm afraid you've got the wrong person."

"I was just bored sitting around in the rest area and picked a random destination for so sightseeing. Whether we pass or fail this trial, I couldn't care less."

"Of course, with a scholar's vast knowledge and understanding of your rival faith, I'm sure you can find your own answers without any help. Am I right?"

Cheng Shi smiled, waving goodbye. "I'm just going to wander around. Do as you like."

With that, he turned to go.

But the next mont, Ji Yue extended a hand to block his path, her expression an ambiguous half-smile as she fixed him with her gaze and spoke word by word:

"If I'm not mistaken, this is our first eting, Fate Weaver."

"Since we've never t before, how did you know I'm a follower of Truth?"

"My score and reputation haven't reached the point of being common knowledge."

"!!!"

'Damn—I kept ntally revisiting our previous encounter and slipped into the old perspective without thinking!'

Cheng Shi's heart clenched, but his face betrayed nothing.

For a swindler, getting called out in real-ti was just another day at the office. Besides, as long as he could talk his way back, the whole exposure thing was still up for debate.

His eyes flicked, and the explanation ca imdiately:

"At this tier, if you still need a prior introduction to identify a teammate's faith, what's the point of all that score?"

"You can only be a Truth follower!"

"The only ones who can see sothing and instantly deduce its underlying principle are followers of Truth and Folly. But Folly never shares. So from the mont you told

'it's the wind,' your way of thinking already revealed your identity."

"Still want to block , Scholar?"

"This isn't the Tower of Logic. Even if tickets were being checked at the gate, it'd be Folly's followers doing the checking."

"As a Truth follower, you'd do well to keep a low profile on your rival's ho turf."

With that, Cheng Shi casually pushed Ji Yue's arm aside and strode past her with a smirk.

Ji Yue frowned slightly but accepted the explanation.

Though she'd forsaken her oath, Truth's blessing still lingered, and she retained a Truth follower's way of thinking. Being identified wasn't unusual.

'But why do I keep feeling this inexplicable sense of familiarity about him?'

'Is it his thods? Or so faint magnetism of goodwill? Or is it the sa mysterious Fate-linked sensation as the Fla of Hope?'

She wasn't sure. She turned to watch the direction Cheng Shi had disappeared and fell into thought.

Cheng Shi could sense that Ji Yue had grown suspicious. He quickened his pace, and the mont he passed an intersection, he ducked into the crowd filling the alley, weaving through rapidly until he was well beyond the town center before resuming his leisurely intelligence-gathering.

Aside from its less-than-friendly residents, Redi Core was actually a well-built city.

Every blade of grass and tree, every wall and road—everything exuded a near-obsessive refinent.

Cheng Shi could easily picture the craftsn who'd laid these roads and planted these gardens thinking: "My roads and gardens are the finest in the land. These fools can't hold a candle to !"

Perhaps it was precisely this "I'm the best there is" attitude that had produced such a stunningly beautiful mountain city.

He wandered along a quiet footpath, no longer asking questions directly. Instead, whenever soone passed by, he casually stopped to eavesdrop on their conversations.

This kind of passive intelligence-gathering let him get a feel for local gossip when he had no leads, and gossiping was one of ordinary citizens' favorite pastis—even Folly's followers weren't immune. Such gossip tended to reflect current hot topics, always tied to whatever was happening in the present.

Sure enough, after listening to several conversations, one na kept surfacing:

Koshna.

The dead Executioner.

Everyone who ntioned Koshna wore a conflicted expression, their words becoming hesitant.

Nobody in town seed to believe those arrested prisoners could have actually killed a physically imposing Executioner. Yet, confronted with the established facts, they chose to accept it anyway, convincing themselves that jealous rage had unlocked the prisoners' hidden potential.

Cheng Shi could easily see why the townsfolk chose acceptance. If they raised doubts but couldn't produce evidence, the doubter themselves might be charged with Knowing Folly—reduced to the sa criminal status as the prisoners who'd murdered the Executioner in a jealous rage.

And even if they did have evidence, they probably wouldn't use it to overturn the case, because...

Folly never shares.

Those in the know were likely sitting sowhere, watching the birth of yet another foolish act with amusent.

Little did they know that while they sneered at folly, they were performing it themselves.

Cheng Shi wasn't in a hurry to investigate Koshna. He wanted to observe a bit longer, to see if any recent gossip connected to the Eye of Mockery. But after listening and listening, the closest thing to "eyes" he found was the townsfolk themselves...

Every last pair of eyes in this town might as well have been the Eye of Mockery—not a single person spared their scorn.

Cheng Shi sighed and decided to expand his search radius to other districts.

But just as he was about to leave the street, a gleam of light flashed at the far end of the lane.

A shiny bald head appeared in his field of vision.

"..."

"Brother-in-law?! Hey, don't walk away, brother-in-law!"