The spaceti storm was a phenonon unique to the Real Universe.
Despite being called a "storm," it was actually quieter than a real-world gale. Because it involved the distortion of spaceti, it resembled a storm only on the spaceti dinsion — hence the na.
Cheng Deceit and Cheng Fate hadn't coined the term. They had learned everything from Old Cheng Shi. As for who the original nar was — perhaps not even Old-Old-Old-Old-Old Cheng Shi would know.
Perhaps the spaceti storm had drifted through the starry sky in solitude for countless eons before the first "jailbreaker" ever set foot in the Real Universe. It only gained a na when it first blood before a jailbreaker's eyes.
At fixed intervals, at certain spaceti-fluctuation nodes, the storms ford with chanical regularity.
Storms were supposed to be synonyms for chaos and destruction, yet in the Real Universe they were strangely "obedient." Their intervals were stable. The locations of their fluctuation nodes were relatively fixed. Even the duration from inception to conclusion was consistent. The only unpredictable elent was the person caught inside — no one knew where the storm would carry them.
But regardless of destination, the storm was never lethal. It just ensured that every survivor was left with a bone-deep understanding of their own insignificance — and of what they called "fate."
Cheng Deceit and Cheng Fate had been through one. Since then, they had sworn never to endure a second.
In their words:
'The lucky stay lucky. The unlucky stay unlucky. The ones who should "suffer" aren't us — it should be those greenhouse flower buds.'
So they had calculated ticulously, laid the trap with care, and personally shepherded Cheng Shi's trio right into it.
After being swept up by the storm, Cheng Shi's consciousness went through four stages: collapse, reconstitution, haze, and clarity. When he realized the Real Universe's terrifying accident hadn't annihilated him outright, the joy of survival and the chill of retrospective terror hit simultaneously, leaving his mind blank for a long stretch.
He couldn't tell whether those chaotic black spheres were the culprit behind the vanishing howard path, nor whether this disaster was pure accident or deliberate sabotage.
The sa old refrain: the Real Universe was simply too complex. Too complex to judge — using the original world's experience — whether this was a conspiracy or a random catastrophe.
Regardless, Cheng Shi knew he had to get out. His vision was still pitch-black. The boundless darkness was more terrifying than the Void.
At least the Void's blackness was stable and didn't spread. But the darkness here was like a virus, relentlessly corroding his field of vision — churning, shifting, warping, advancing as if to consu him entirely.
Hong Lin and Qin Xin had disappeared again. After a long search, Cheng Shi found no other living being in this dark space.
He tried using Elusive Chip to hop to the past or future, but that failed too. Spaceti here seed self-enclosed. He could swap positions freely within the darkness, but couldn't break through it or reach whatever lay beyond.
As a last resort, Cheng Shi pulled out the [Corruption] Container to drain his fear, forcing himself to calm down. He began scanning his surroundings, seeking a way out of the endless dark.
Perhaps [Fate] was watching. Perhaps the storm simply wasn't as dangerous as imagined. After observing for a while, he actually found a single wisp of white light amid the churning blackness.
An ordinary person's survival instinct would drive them toward that light imdiately. But Cheng Shi was no ordinary person. With his steadiness amplified to its peak by the [Corruption] Container, he pretended not to see the light. He continued probing the darkness until he had circled the entire area, confirming there was no second light source. Only then did he accept that the white glow was this crisis's sole "guide."
A choice had to be made.
Cheng Shi stood still, looking down toward his invisible shadow:
"Who'd have thought — right when Fate Has Divergence is on cooldown, fate's divergence actually arrives...
This ti, [Ti] might not be able to save us. All we can do is trust [Fate]."
He held a die, establishing an anchor for Shadow Cheng Shi.
Shadow Cheng Shi separated instantly, becoming a streak of darkness that glided toward the white light. An instant later, it slipped into the glow without resistance — and then went silent!
Cheng Shi panicked. This was the first ti he had ever lost contact with his shadow.
Even on [Silence]'s corpse, he had at least felt Shadow Cheng Shi's consciousness gradually stiffening. But now he had completely lost all perception of the shadow. His expression turned gravely dark.
Instinct scread that he shouldn't stay. Yet the shadow's loss made him dread leaping into what might be a white-light trap. Caught between fight and flight, Cheng Shi faced the greatest crisis since the gods' descent.
Right now, he had no Benefactor's protection. No experience to draw on. Facing the unknown fork ahead, Cheng Shi gritted his teeth and...
...kept gritting his teeth for a while.
By the steadfast school of thought: so long as this spot was safe and the final deadline hadn't arrived, there was no reason to rush into unknown risks. His only ans of testing had been lost. All Cheng Shi could do now was wait.
Wait for the storm to dissolve. Wait for fate to shift. Wait for the crisis to leave on its own. Wait for a lifeline to stumble into view. He had no other cards to play.
Of course, it wasn't pure idle waiting.
During the agonizing wait, he tried tossing everything that could prove his identity into the white light. Nothing responded.
He even threw in his mask and his dice, hoping the other side was a space his two Benefactors could sense — so They would know he was in jeopardy.
None of it worked.
In that mont, Cheng Shi suddenly understood Skart's despair. In a darkness where no cry for help was answered, the only thing he had left seed to be... his body.
Cheng Shi fell silent. The Fool's Lips hadn't spoken in ages. Brother Tongue, Brother Eye, Brother Ear — all silent. The only option seed to be throwing one of his Eyes in, relying on the link between the pair to see what lay on the other side of the white light.
He held no hope — after all, even his shadow had been lost in there. But he couldn't sit waiting for death, either. So he plucked out an eye and tossed the silent Eye of Mockery into the light.
The next second... nothing happened.
The Eye of Mockery remained silent. Cheng Shi resigned himself to fate.
He was certain this storm would end eventually. He just wasn't sure whether his mortal lifespan was long enough to outlast a cosmic-scale accident.
Thinking this, he couldn't help wondering: if it were Big Cat and Qin Xin, would they have found a way out?
...
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