Foolish Game of the Chapter 1225: [Silence]'s \

Cheng Shi had been duped — duped by his own greed.

The instant Shadow Cheng Shi set foot on the Silent Puppet's skull, a familiar force seized him in its grip.

Senses fading. Consciousness dimming. Movent slowing. Speech silencing...

He was being assimilated.

Cheng Shi had never imagined that dwelling in the Silent Puppet's shadow for so long would leave him untouched, yet the mont of physical contact triggered the assimilation.

What was this?

A trap to lure the greedy in and kill them?

Cheng Shi's expression darkened, but he didn't panic. He had left contingencies for every possible outco. His only uncertainty was whether his shadow's predicant was a trap set by [Silence] or a stroke of Misfortune from [Fate].

That was right — he had activated Fate Has Divergence.

To be precise, Shadow Cheng Shi had activated it before setting foot on the Silent Puppet. Though this [Fate] talent would make everything worse, it wasn't without its advantages.

At the very least, supplented by [Ti], this talent could serve as a "temporal anchor" — a starting point for temporal regression.

Ti Has Path!

[Ti]'s blessing allowed Shadow Cheng Shi to regress to the mont before fate diverged. This ant the shadow gained one additional chance to make a mistake on the tiline.

More importantly, regardless of Shadow Cheng Shi's class, he could use this talent. The cost was rely a lengthy cooldown on Fate Has Divergence.

But cooldown ti weighed nothing against a life saved.

So before the very last shred of consciousness was stripped from Shadow Cheng Shi, he decisively triggered Ti Has Path and reverted to the instant before "landing."

When consciousness flooded back and all five senses returned, Shadow Cheng Shi rocketed backward and rged with Cheng Shi.

Watching Cheng Shi's expression cycle rapidly, Hong Lin asked tensely:

"What happened?!"

Cheng Shi looked up at the "corpse" with grim eyes, his heart sinking. Uncertainly, he said:

"I concluded this was [Silence]'s corpse because It had lost the power to assimilate everything.

Believe it or not, I once had the 'privilege' of being assimilated by [Silence]. I'll never forget the feeling of the world sinking into dead silence.

So when I was this close without being assimilated, I determined It was 'dead'...

But just now, the instant my shadow touched the corpse — the shadow was assimilated!"

Hong Lin's eyes went wide: "How can you separate your own shadow?"

"???"

Cheng Shi was thrown off by this completely unexpected question. Hong Lin instantly realized her focus was off. Her face froze, followed by a flash of alarm in her eyes.

"You an... It's still alive?!"

Big Cat bristled. In a flash she beca a leopard, scooped up Cheng Shi, and bolted. Under such bizarre circumstances, Cheng Shi didn't dare linger either. He stayed silent, only staring upward at the colossal puppet, wondering what had turned a god into this.

A perverse [Silence] that no longer broadcast Its will, only assimilating whatever touched It?

Why would It do this? Why "play dead" here?

Or perhaps It truly was dead, and Its death in the Real Universe had transford into a drifting tomb — the only thing left being Its body, narrating Its final vision?

Regardless, what Cheng Shi wanted wasn't on this corpse. It seed those two swindlers had been fooled by the corpse as well. There was nothing atop the puppet — only the dregs of [Silence]'s will.

Lying flat on the leopard's back with the wind howling in his ears, Cheng Shi's mind raced.

Everything in the Real Universe was vastly more complex than the original world. The gods' positions and the threads of history from beneath their world offered zero reference in this sprawling expanse of spaceti.

Here, virtually every occurrence instinctively traced back to the Creator, aning the terror descending from higher dinsions was inescapable.

The oppressive atmosphere clashed starkly with the vastness of the starry sky. The dissonance was maddening.

Cheng Shi could only count himself lucky that he had enough tricks up his sleeve. Otherwise, escaping [Silence]'s "deception" unscathed would have been nearly impossible.

Yet even with no real "losses," his brow stayed tight. The two of them were now facing the sa question all over again: where to go next.

Given the Real Universe's incomprehensible vastness, all they had discovered so far were two swindlers and a "corpse." As for the whereabouts of [War]'s Authority — there was still no lead whatsoever.

In the heavy silence, it was Big Cat who spoke up first with a suggestion.

"Since He died on the road of His charge — do you think..."

Cheng Shi imdiately grasped her aning. His face changed sharply: "Don't even say it!"

Hong Lin knew her idea was even more dangerous than Cheng Shi touching the Silent Puppet. But she was completely out of options. They couldn't very well go back and ask those two "natives" for directions to the Authority, could they?

Actually — Cheng Shi was genuinely considering that.

He was thinking: if he proactively offered the "secret" of the corpse as a bargaining chip, would they tell him where [War]'s Authority had been lost?

After all, Authority was tied to faith. His world's Authority would be utterly useless to them. So would this be a fair trade?

...

On the other side.

When Qin Xin spotted two figures in the distance, his shock was no less than when he had first heard from the Fla of Hope that [War] had fallen.

'Why are they here?'

'What are they doing here?'

'How did they get here?'

Questions abounded, but the surprise of eting familiar faces far from ho still lifted his spirits. Especially after wandering alone for so long, finding a sliver of comfort in the Real Universe was precious beyond words. Seeing that the other party had noticed him too, Qin Xin imdiately called out a tentative greeting.

Unfortunately, his greeting was not t in kind.

The two figures froze for a beat upon spotting him, then imdiately assud defensive stances and started shouting at him.

"Still trying to fool us! Still?!

You know a lot, we'll give you that — but you think we'll fall for it again?!

Where are we? This is the Real Universe! There's no way Qin Xin would be out here!

He's no ordinary player — he's a Torch... bah, I'm not telling you.

Don't think one successful con makes us idiots!

If you've got guts, stand still! Let's settle this the old-fashioned way!"

As he ranted, the shouting man pushed his female companion in front of him. Clearly, he was in charge of the cursing, while the other handled the hitting.

Watching this eerily familiar scene, Qin Xin stood dumbfounded.

From that tirade, he could be fairly certain those two were indeed Cheng Shi and Hong Lin. The problem was — they didn't believe he was the real Qin Xin.

Setting aside why they were here, just the information packed into that rant told him their experience had been far more eventful than his.

It sounded like... there were other tricksters in this Real Universe?

Who?

Natives of this place, or "Prisoners" who had "broken out" from a smaller world like he had?

Qin Xin frowned, remained skeptical, and after a mont's thought, spoke firmly:

"I am Qin Xin. The genuine article.

I won't bother proving my identity. Instead, you two need to explain why you're here.

Otherwise, I will treat you both as illusions born of the madness that has kept

lost and trapped here — and eliminate you without rcy."

With that, the [War] follower drew his bow. The man-height giant bow bent into a full moon. Its string let out a teeth-grating creak, and even the wind around them seed to hold its breath in terror.

...