Foolish Game of the Chapter 1166: Who Are \

Cheng Shi dragged the corpse behind him with one hand, coughing up blood as he walked back to the earlier battlefield.

Ji Yue was still lying dead there. He couldn't just leave her.

Yes, the Torchbearer had truly died. The fight wasn't staged — though both sides had been acting, the combat itself was completely real. Even Ji Yue's final self-destructive strike was a genuine trump card she'd never revealed before.

Anything less would never have fooled a shrewd Historian.

It was precisely because both sides had gone all-out, holding nothing back, that Cheng Shi's critically wounded state had appeared so authentic. After all, acting could only go so far — and Cheng Shi really had been blown into spitting blood.

He hadn't expected Ji Yue to be so committed to the role. The sheer resolve behind that final detonation was indistinguishable from a genuine fight to the death between mortal enemies...

In the instant he'd been blasted away by the inferno, Cheng Shi had even wondered if she'd done it on purpose — as payback for his deception.

'But wasn't she afraid I wouldn't co back to revive her?'

As it turned out, whether Ji Yue had been afraid or not, Cheng Shi couldn't live with himself otherwise.

He couldn't abandon a teammate who had sacrificed her life for his plan without so much as exchanging a glance beforehand.

This had indeed been Cheng Shi's plan. The mont he'd realized Zhao Xishi might tamper with Ji Yue's mories, he'd worked everything out. The problem was that at the ti, under the enemy's watchful eyes, he'd already lost any chance to communicate with Ji Yue openly. So in the split second their backs pressed together, Cheng Shi had silently used his left and right elbows to trace two characters on Ji Yue's waist:

"Kill ."

Ji Yue was brilliant. She'd imdiately understood Cheng Shi's intent. She didn't know exactly how to act well enough to deceive Zhao Xishi, but she knew she had to convincingly pretend to turn on him — attack him, but not kill him.

As long as the Priest wasn't dead, everyone on the field could be saved.

But if the Priest died, all that was left to do was wait for death.

As for how far to take the betrayal — that would depend on how aggressively the Fate Weaver escalated things during their staged fight.

What she hadn't anticipated was that the mont she received Cheng Shi's plan, Zhao Xishi's plan arrived as well.

The "dead" mories ca rushing back, and Ji Yue instantly rediscovered the light that had guided her toward the Torchbearers!

Cheng Shi!

This silver-tongued liar had used an outrageous deception to trick her into joining the Torchbearers — an organization he wasn't even part of!

In that mont, Ji Yue was genuinely furious.

[War]'s ferocity amplified her indignation, while the Torchbearer's discipline kept her restrained. But as Cheng Shi hit harder and harder, Ji Yue knew this performance had to be utterly convincing.

So, under the cover of their act, she unleashed her truly genuine fury at Cheng Shi.

The beauty of it was that from start to finish, she hadn't spoken a single lie. Outsiders naturally couldn't tell what was real and what was fake.

Right up until the mont lightning poured through her body and she closed her eyes with composure, her final thought was:

'When the Fate Weaver revives ... how embarrassed is he going to be?'

He was already embarrassed.

Cheng Shi stood beside Ji Yue's corpse, toes curling inside his shoes.

Youthful delusions of grandeur were cringe-worthy enough in hindsight, but who would've guessed that a lie told re months ago could give a seasoned liar goosebumps all over?

'When I bring the Torchbearer back to life, what's the first thing she'll say?'

'Are you Cheng Xin, or Qin Shi?'

In Ji Yue's original understanding, he was supposed to be the one who founded the Torchbearers, wasn't he?

'A madman who tried to beco a god for the sake of passing the torch...'

'Heavens, the sins I've committed.'

But leaving her dead wasn't an option. Cheng Shi took several deep breaths, pulled out the Lush Horn Crown, and hauled Ji Yue back from death.

As fresh skin blood across charred flesh, Cheng Shi averted his gaze. The mont he turned away, he heard the Purgatory Bishop ask from the ground in a half-amused tone:

"So — are you going to tell

you're also the man behind Qin Xin?"

"..."

'Since when does Qin Xin have so many n behind him?'

'No... what kind of nonsense is this?'

Cheng Shi shook his head and sighed.

"We're all fighting to survive. Everyone's been deceived at so point. If you want to punish , just say the word — no need for the passive-aggressive treatnt.

I can take the scolding, but Qin Xin doesn't deserve to be dragged into this."

"Oh, now you feel sorry for him?" Ji Yue stood up, casually pulled out a fresh set of clothes and got dressed. She looked at Cheng Shi's back, wanting to say sothing more, but in the end it all dissolved into a sigh.

"You're really not a Torchbearer?"

Cheng Shi shook his head. "You should have seen my will clearly enough by now. I have no fire to pass on. I just want to stay alive."

"Then what about all that talk about becoming a god..."

"!!!"

Cheng Shi panicked.

'Seriously, lady? You're still digging up that corpse?'

'Yes, I lied, and that was wrong of . But you practically begged to be deceived — don't you bear any responsibility?'

Cheng Shi glanced back at Ji Yue. eting those eyes still flickering with a trace of expectation, the retort died in his throat. He stiffly changed the subject:

"The Prisoner is still fighting Mo Shu. As his comrade, you should probably be worrying about him right now."

"..."

Ji Yue went quiet for a mont. Though she said nothing, Cheng Shi caught the fleeting look of awkwardness in her eyes and read the unspoken thought behind it:

'If the one who died was the Prisoner... that wouldn't be the worst outco.'

What made it even more awkward was that Ji Yue also read Cheng Shi's fleeting expression — and saw agreent with that very sentint...

An uncomfortable silence settled over them.

After a mont, Ji Yue's gaze fell on Zhao Xishi's corpse behind Cheng Shi, her eyes turning cold.

"Did you get anything out of her?"

"Didn't ask. Can't give villains too much ti, or they'll stage a coback." Cheng Shi smiled. "But there's still ti to ask now."

He produced the Finger Bone Brooch and held it over Zhao Xishi's corpse.

"The 'we' you ntioned earlier — 'we are quite interested in you' — who exactly are 'we'?"

Cheng Shi was clever. He didn't need to extract the full truth from Zhao Xishi. He only needed to know who was targeting him so he could stay on guard.

If these people were truly enemies, there would eventually co a day when they'd clash again — and the full picture would reveal itself.

Zhao Xishi's limp head slowly straightened under the pull of [Death]'s power. Her eyes glowed an eerie green as she croaked:

"Jie Shu, Mo Shu, and a stranger I've never t."

Jie Shu?

Cheng Shi clearly recognized the na — or at least had heard it before — but he couldn't quite place it. He looked up at Ji Yue, who furrowed her brow:

"Ranked second on the Road to Ascension. His score isn't leagues ahead of the runners-up, but there's still a considerable gap.

More importantly, he's also a follower of [Folly] — a Fool Hunter who rose to sudden fa just months after the Faith Ga descended.

He claims his idol is Wei Mu. And that his only rival is Wei Mu."

"?"

'Another [Folly] follower?'

'And a Fool Hunter at that?'

Being singled out by clever people was never good news.

A thought suddenly struck Cheng Shi — he recalled the teammate in this Trial who had vanished so early on.

If Jie Shu considered himself Wei Mu's rival, perhaps this was the perfect opportunity to sic Wei Mu on this pursuer walking the path of [Folly]?

But where on earth had the man who was leagues ahead as number one on the Road to Ascension disappeared to?

And the other stranger Zhao Xishi had ntioned... who could that be?