Foolish Game of the Chapter 1288: Drop the Act, My Lord — I Know It's You

Frost sealed the spider web. Cheng Shi stood frozen in place.

Yet he was no longer afraid. Feeling the bone-piercing chill throughout his body, he snorted:

"What a black heart. Even as the clown chokes his last on stage, the 'ringmaster' behind the curtain still won't tell him who he's performing for.

If You wanted to keep it from

so badly, why expose Yourself on such trivial details?

If You wanted to deceive, why not deceive all the way through—keep

utterly in the dark? At least when I'm offered up as a sacrifice, I'd have no resentnt!

So why let

learn the truth halfway!?

Why shatter this beautiful illusion and plunge

into the vortex of despair?

Just because of Your twisted sense of fun, my Lord!?

Well, congratulations—You succeeded! This clown despises You now, just as he despises that nauseating fate!"

Cheng Shi locked his gaze on those celestial eyes. His voice sank lower, grew colder—in tone, at least, he was beginning to approach Fate.

"Drop the act, my Lord. I know it's You!"

Yes—Cheng Shi had seen through it. Though the "Fate" before him was flawless from every angle, he'd still caught the tell. He was certain this was not the true Fate—but the architect of this trial: Deceit!

After all, if Deceit could imprison Fate within the Mockery and Jeering, He would never leave Fate with enough power to act.

The scene of Arrogance—Order—being imprisoned in Chaos's temple was still vivid in mory. Just a few Mockery Spikes, and Order couldn't use a shred of divine power!

At such a critical juncture—the very mont He'd chosen to show His hand—how could He possibly allow Fate's energy to overflow freely, even influencing the Mockery and Jeering—freezing it, boiling it?

The Mockery and Jeering wasn't a creation of Void. It was Deceit's creation—practically His personal domain. In such a place, how could an imprisoned Fate still wield this level of power? It defied all reason.

Wouldn't He fear that Fate might use this power to break free and co save him?

There was only one answer: this being before him was not Fate at all. He was Deceit!

The mastermind had once again impersonated His brother-god—and played the cruelest trick on him yet!

Just like this trial. He could have said nothing and simply taken him. Instead, He had to use an elaborate allegory to announce His origins beyond this world, to declare His designs on its "fixed destiny"!

Cheng Shi was breaking apart.

He wondered: did becoming a true sacrifice require despair as a seasoning?

Those icy eyes remained silent. No response.

But before long, the chill within the Mockery and Jeering gradually receded. The kaleidoscopic colors ca alive once more. The corners of those eyes lifted slightly, regaining their lively quality, and directed a laden syllable at the follower before them:

"Hee~"

Cheng Shi swore: at this mont, he loathed that single sound with every fiber of his being.

"Is this funny to You?"

"Isn't it?"

"..."

"A bewildered mortal, desperate for guidance, stumbles in a panic before the very god he's blasphed a thousand tis. He exhausts every word of praise—only to discover that the deity he's found isn't his savior but the demon he dreads day and night.

The mortal is no match for the demon. He is devoured in the end, his absurd life concluded.

Not a riveting script?

Hmm, perhaps it's missing sothing. Here—let's give this mortal an extra trait:

His profession is a clown!

Now the character's fate and his identity echo each other beautifully—peak absurdist aesthetics. What do you think?"

Not a single word registered. Cheng Shi stared into those laughing eyes and asked, word by deliberate word:

"Why?"

The spirals within those eyes turned once. A mocking snort: "Does this world really have that many 'whys'?"

"Why?" Cheng Shi repeated through gritted teeth.

The eyes blinked rapidly like stars and smiled:

"Hm, persistence is indeed the key that leads to the ending. It's pushed you this far.

But this is as far as it goes—because my script has ended."

"Why!?" The clown roared in fury.

Seeing that contorted face, hearing that ragged howl, the eyes paid it no mind and mused on:

"Seems I should add a 'broken record' trait to the clown!"

"Heh."

Cheng Shi laughed—a self-mocking, savage laugh. He struggled endlessly, clawing at the spider web enveloping him, raving:

"I understand.

The script really is over."

And with that, he raised his hand and blasted himself with five consecutive thunderbolts from his Death ring.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—

In a blink, the spider web was annihilated.

But the next second, those celestial eyes blinked, and the spider web was restored from the charred remnants of the Mockery and Jeering.

Cheng Shi hadn't died. What died was...

"Tch—

Don't waste your effort. If I let you die before the period I've written, the script would have a botched ending.

No matter how many tis you kill yourself, only your illusion dies.

The instant you stepped in here, your true body fell asleep. The spider web carrying your consciousness is entirely my fabrication.

It's useless. Your only ending is to co with —and leave."

"...Why? Why on earth!?"

Cheng Shi was drowning in despair. The spider web contracted into a ball, mirroring him curled up in a corner. He couldn't fathom why he had to endure all of this for no comprehensible reason. Couldn't fathom how his every effort had only bred fresh terror from within the Fear Faction.

The Deceit who had once told him "there's no kindness without cause—so I too live in fear" had now beco his greatest fear. It made the world feel ever more absurd, ever more unreal.

Why would a god toy with, manipulate, humiliate, and crush a mortal like this?

Just because he was a clown?

But wasn't it You who made him a clown in the first place!?

Oh, right—it very likely wasn't You. It was the original Deceit.

But He was dead. Long dead, sowhere unknown.

Cheng Shi was on the verge of shattering. But he held on. He clenched his teeth, raised his head toward Deceit once more, and demanded:

"I refuse to believe that fear would drive a Deceit to foist apocalyptic despair onto other worlds! If all of you are rebelling against Origin, you should know that even one world destroyed because of you is creating 'Void' as an offering to Him!

Void is the will Origin bestowed upon you. If you rebel against Him, you shouldn't obey the aning He assigned you!

Sothing is wrong with you!

What exactly are you doing, Deceit!?"

It was the first ti Cheng Shi had roared Deceit's na to His face. Deceit took no offense; He maintained His laughing expression throughout:

"You're wrong. I'm not destroying the world. I'm saving it."

"Whose world are you saving!?"

Deceit chuckled softly: "Is there a difference?"

"Of course there's a difference!"

Cheng Shi's reply was resolute as steel. Deceit shook His head with a sigh.

"The clown's vision is disappointing.

Your sight is still confined to this starry sky. And here I went to such trouble, showing you how clowns from other worlds perford.

I let you see them constantly helping you, constantly helping other worlds—spreading fire like the Torchbearers—precisely so you'd understand: one world's gains and losses don't matter.

Rebellion was never about a single corner!

You must understand that your sacrifice has aning. At the very least, under your contribution, the entire Real Universe would gain a precedent for resisting Him.

To stall every world's progress just for the sake of your personal survival... can you face those clowns who entrusted their hopes to you, and the expectations they placed in you?"

"!!!!!"

Cheng Shi's eyes flew wide. He stared at Deceit in utter disbelief. He'd never imagined that Deceit's "kidnapping" of him was ant to achieve rebellion against Origin on a Real Universe scale!?

Then... was He even wrong?

Cheng Shi froze. He murmured helplessly: "How do you know that everything you're doing will actually work?"

"I don't. But without trying, it certainly won't.

Unfortunately, the clown I cultivated in my own world died. Such a perfect plan, left without a successor.

And you—among all the worlds I've searched—are the one most like him.

The reason I'm telling you all this before we leave is so you'll know that the choice you're making and the sacrifice you're about to face are aningful. The fear that shrouds the Real Universe may end because of you.

So now—do you understand?"

"..."

The staggering reversal of positions within a single day left Cheng Shi standing like a statue. His mind was blank. He kept replaying the words all those other Cheng Shis had told him—how they'd sacrificed themselves to eliminate wrong answers for other worlds, set themselves ablaze to illuminate the path ahead, and were willing to die voicing a silent scream in the Real Universe, rebelling against this absurd Creator's experint.

Every Cheng Shi had been the sa. So should he...

Just as Cheng Shi sank into a daze, the Mockery and Jeering erupted.

Across from Deceit, the tides were ripped apart. Through the breach, an endless gale of Void's frigid wind ca howling in, freezing the entire river solid.

And with it, a pair of eyes—brimming with boundless fury—opened atop the frozen waters. Glacial beyond asure, they fixed upon Deceit, their voice echoing from the Nine Hells:

"Get back to your own world. This one doesn't belong to you!"

...