The instant Hong Lin felt the killing intent, her entire body tensed. With her strength, she could have instinctively broken free of Cheng Shi's embrace at any ti. But she didn't. Instead, she clenched her fists, furrowed her brow, and asked cautiously:
"Easy — it's . What happened?"
It was precisely her restraint that loosened the knot in Cheng Shi's chest. Yet he still couldn't believe the timing of Hong Lin's appearance was this convenient — arriving at the exact mont of his deepest despair, claiming she had sohow gotten here first.
The excuse was masterfully crafted. None of them had ever breached the spaceti barrier head-on, and no one knew whether temporal distortion existed within the Real Universe. Cheng Shi couldn't find a flaw in the logic, so he could only tentatively accept that the Big Cat before him was real.
Of course, "real" here ant she was an actual living being, not so hallucination born of his own delirium. Whether this living being was actually Big Cat remained to be seen.
Cheng Shi frowned and thought for a mont. He didn't move the dagger. Instead, with his other arm still locked around Big Cat, he produced a die and gently pressed it against her back.
Hong Lin understood. She slowly, carefully pulled out her own die and murmured:
"The road we've co..."
Cheng Shi relaxed slightly. He withdrew the scalpel, touched his die to hers, and completed the phrase: "...all is destined."
Hearing those words, Hong Lin visibly eased. Her expression softened as she surveyed their surroundings:
"This is the Real Universe?
Why is there nothing here?
Cheng Shi, what happened?"
Cheng Shi stared straight into Big Cat's eyes. First ca a self-deprecating snort of laughter, then a sigh and a shake of his head:
"I should be the one asking you that.
When I got here, you were nowhere to be found. So I spent ten days searching for you in this desolate universe.
Ten entire days!
And now you're telling
you just arrived..."
Hong Lin stiffened in alarm, disbelief written across her face: "How is that possible! I only felt a single instant of darkness! When I opened my eyes, I saw you! How could it have been ten days?!"
Cheng Shi studied her expression carefully. He found nothing unusual. Frowning, he shook his head:
"I don't know either. But at least I found you.
Though my supplies are running low for what cos next. Do you..."
Before he could finish, Hong Lin reached into her personal storage and pulled out the food she had prepared.
"Here — I packed plenty. More than enough!"
Cheng Shi smiled with relief. With food to sustain them, they could indeed continue the search for the Authority. But the instant Hong Lin turned to gaze into the distance, a razor-sharp glint flashed through Cheng Shi's eyes.
'She is absolutely not Hong Lin!'
Even if nothing in their conversation had been a lie, the food in her hands couldn't be faked.
He had to rember who Hong Lin was now. She was Frazor, the eldest daughter of [Prosperity] — the [Prosperity] candidate recognized by the Convention to hold a seat at the Assembly of Gods Convention. She bore the Authorities of both "Vitality" and "Abundance." She had no need for external supplies whatsoever. Why would she stock food in her personal storage?
Even if she had stored so food for ergencies to share with friends, she would never have said "more than enough." She only needed to share her Authority to let both of them roam the Real Universe freely. Yet this Big Cat hadn't ntioned [Prosperity] at all!
This discovery set Cheng Shi's nerves on edge once more.
If this had happened inside a trial, Cheng Shi had ten thousand ways to determine the imposter's identity. After all, the only ones capable of such tricks were players, and the pool of suspects would narrow to just five.
But this was the Real Universe — a place Cheng Shi had never set foot in before. He didn't even know whether anything happening here could be explained by the rules of the original world!
Take the Hong Lin before him. Was she so "intelligent predator creature" roaming the Real Universe? Or a cunning native of this wasteland, skilled at playing roles?
Or — more terrifying still — could she be a Hong Lin from another starry sky?
If so, the Big Cat before him wasn't an enemy at all. At most, she was a familiar stranger. But if not...
Then Big Cat's identity was nothing less than a landmine buried at Cheng Shi's side.
Given Cheng Shi's usual steady approach, he would never keep such an uncertain threat nearby. But this ti was different. He chose not to expose the "lie."
When an unknown lifeform tries to approach you through deception rather than direct predation, it ans either it can't take you head-on, or it wants sothing from you.
And as it happened, when it ca to out-scheming those with "ulterior motives," Cheng Shi had yet to lose.
After all, he wasn't just a liar — he was a gambler. A reckless gambler.
Since this Hong Lin was "fake," her apparent bewildernt toward the Real Universe was likely "fake" as well. If he played along for now, he might be able to unravel clues from her words and actions — getting closer to the truth about the Real Universe.
So Cheng Shi held his ground, putting on a thoughtful expression:
"Based on my days of exploration and what I've gathered, the Real Universe is nothing like what we saw from within our world.
It's vast, barren, and endlessly silent. We could exhaust ourselves and still find nothing. So I suspect there are chanisms here we don't understand — related to ti, or space — that could let us explore more efficiently."
As he spoke, he glanced at Hong Lin. She furrowed her brow deeply, looking utterly lost — clearly knowing nothing.
Seeing how guarded she was, Cheng Shi continued:
"Of course, that might just be my imagination. The Real Universe is truly infinite. We humans are simply too small — naturally, we can't comprehend the 'reality' of Reality.
But regardless, let's get moving. If there's no road, we'll carve one ourselves."
Hong Lin nodded and asked: "Which direction?"
Cheng Shi smiled and raised a die: "Let it tell us."
Hearing this, Hong Lin rolled her eyes: "Your dice never have answers. Let
do it."
With that, she tossed a 12-pointed die, rolled a 7 in her palm, glanced to the rear-left, and jerked her head:
"Shall we?"
Cheng Shi eyed the seven o'clock direction, lost in thought.
That was the exact opposite of his own one — the direction diatrically opposed to his own roll. The last ti he had walked this way was during the [War] trial.
'Defying fate again?'
Cheng Shi said nothing. He nodded, fell in behind Hong Lin, and set off toward seven o'clock. Before long, he asked:
"How do I get back to the original world?"
Hong Lin, leading the way, seed not to have heard. She stopped and turned: "What?"
Cheng Shi smiled and shook his head: "Nothing. Let's hope this trip goes smoothly."
...
On the other side.
Hong Lin — the real Hong Lin — had spent ten days searching for Cheng Shi without finding a trace, and she was losing her mind.
Unlike Cheng Shi, her strategy was simple: search, search, and search so more. [Prosperity]'s Authority could sustain her until the world crumbled and the Authority faded. But at this rate, she feared the original world might be destroyed before she ever found Cheng Shi.
'The Real Universe is this enormous, and I lost Cheng Shi.'
Big Cat was both despondent and furious.
At her most desperate, she had even considered charging in a single direction like [War] had — just so Cheng Shi could see she was here. But she was terrified that "awakening" the Creator would cause Him to purge everything in the Real Universe.
Not finding soone ant at least she could tell herself he was alive. But if He intervened... then there really would be no one left to find.
Hong Lin grew more frantic, more helpless. She kept herself as far from the "starting point" as possible — terrified that simply looking at it would flood her mind with the scene of standing before the Destined Ones and trying to explain.
She couldn't bring herself to tell them Cheng Shi was gone. She would rather it had been herself.
But she had no choice. She had to go back for reinforcents.
And it was at that exact mont — right as Hong Lin chanically returned to the starting point — that a figure suddenly appeared at the "starting point" that had been empty for ten days.
"Cheng Shi?!?"
Hong Lin's eyes went wide. She slapped herself in disbelief, then without a word shifted into a leopard and pinned the wretched Fate Weaver beneath her paws.
She extended a single claw, pressed it against the Fate Weaver's forehead, and roared hysterically:
"Cheng Shi!!!
Why are you only showing up now?! Why are you ten days late?!
Do you have any idea what these ten days have been like for ?!!"
As she spoke, the leopard's eyes turned red.
Pinned beneath her, Cheng Shi's eyes were filled with nothing but bewildernt.
"Hong Lin, what happened?
What ten days?
I ca right after you..."
...
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