"Call them all in. The Jokers probably need to hold another eting."
Cheng Shi let out a long sigh.
The Fun God had chosen to "lay his cards on the table" this way — so Cheng Shi would do the sa with the Jokers.
To earn the Jokers' full support, he couldn't keep hiding things from them. Besides, they had fought so desperately to save him during the Era's Curtain Call performance. That debt of gratitude had to be acknowledged.
The mont Zhen Xin heard those words, she knew sothing massive was coming. Last ti, the Fate Weaver had pulled back the curtain on the Real Universe — this ti, what earth-shattering secret would follow?
She nodded and quickly went to gather all the Jokers. The special trial had just ended, so everyone was easy to reach — except for... Zhang Jizu.
When the Jokers had all assembled with one Gravekeeper conspicuously absent, Cheng Shi — standing before the [Death] tombstone — didn't wait. He opened the eting imdiately.
Everyone exchanged confused glances. Long Jing raised an eyebrow at the tombstone, muttering thoughtfully:
"Gravekeeper couldn't make it?"
Cheng Shi smiled and nodded. "Yeah. He's off handling sothing life-or-death. But don't worry — he'll co back safe."
Everyone present was sharp enough to read between the lines. Though Cheng Shi's tone was breezy, his eyes kept drifting away, unable to et their gazes directly — and that told them Zhang Jizu's absence was anything but simple.
Thinking back to Cheng Shi's total amnesia regarding the recent trial and the grave weight he'd carried ever since, Zhen Xin felt a vague suspicion begin to take shape in her mind.
The small prelude quickly passed, and Cheng Shi wasted no more ti. He cut straight to the heart of things, sharing with them the despair he had just lived through.
He said:
"Just monts ago, the world took a wrong turn.
In what I will temporarily call a 'simulation' — a false Era's Curtain Call — the world was destroyed.
You didn't notice because certain divine beings erased all your mories.
And this wasn't the first ti your mories were wiped. There was one world reset before this as well, and none of you retained that either..."
"...?!"
Cheng Shi's opening words landed like a bomb, detonating in the already-restless hearts of every Joker present.
Every pair of eyes that turned toward him was blank and bewildered. Collectively, they were all thinking the sa thing: Fate Weaver, when you say "the world" — do you an the one we're currently standing in?
Surely you're describing so dream world, right?
Because none of this matches our perception of reality at all.
When soone presents a so-called "fact" that contradicts everything everyone else knows — can it still be called a fact?
Under ordinary circumstances, no.
But it depends on who's saying it.
Said anywhere else, no one would believe it — people would just think they'd stumbled across another ng Youfang with a uniquely bizarre brain.
But this was the Jokers — the one place where every impossibility had a chance of becoming possible. And the one saying it was none other than the Fate Weaver himself.
So every last one of them stood there, stunned, eyes wide and hungry, hanging on every word, waiting for Master Cheng to reveal the truth.
Professor Cheng's lecture was now in session.
Cheng Shi continued:
"Things this ti are extrely complicated.
Honestly, seeing your reactions now only confirms that none of you rember what happened — well, perhaps one person does, but he..."
Cheng Shi turned his head slightly and glanced at the [Death] tombstone, his expression impossible to read.
Since old Zhang had swapped places with his counterpart from another world, it ant that everything in this world — whether the simulation or the reset — would no longer affect him.
He would rember it all. At least the final scene before the world ended.
But unfortunately, he wasn't here right now.
Cheng Shi paused, then continued:
"Forget it. Since he's not here, I won't talk about him.
During the last world reset, I cross-referenced my mories with others and confird beyond any doubt that those events truly happened.
But this ti — up until now — it remains solely my 'delusion.'
I've confird this with the Mask fragnts, but they shared my perspective, so they can't serve as independent verification.
So what exactly happened during that trial may only be settled once I've sought confirmation from the divine beings themselves. But I can't afford to wait — while my mories are still intact, I need to back them up first.
Help
think through what they were trying to express with this Curtain Call performance.
Whatever the answer, one thing is certain: our world is teetering on the edge of collapse..."
The conversation had turned heavy again, casting a shadow over every Joker's heart.
Perhaps Cheng Shi, having confronted despair firsthand, had built up so resistance to it. But the Jokers rembered nothing — they couldn't begin to grasp why, when the ga was still ongoing and the universe still being explored, the world would already be on the verge of ruin.
"I know. Ever since the very first Joker Society eting, you've all had your doubts about my identity. A re player shouldn't have access to this many secrets — especially when I seem to know more than certain divine beings.
First, I owe everyone an apology. I lied to you.
These secrets were never told to
by Yu Xi. I knew them myself."
"!!!"
Everyone froze — and then sothing even more staggering arrived.
"Because I am Yu Xi!" Cheng Shi exhaled with a rueful sigh, and casually glanced over at Long Jing out of the corner of his eye.
"???"
That single glance shattered the composure of President Gong.
No way. Buddy. What?!
Though the world's return to normal at the end of the trial had erased President Gong's mory of that breakdown mont, Yu Xi had thoughtfully returned that mory to him — whether in the wrong path or the right one, there was always a clown getting emotionally wrecked and pressing forward.
And that wasn't limited to just one.
The mont Cheng Shi said the na "Yu Xi," the Doctor quietly retreated into the shadow of a nearby tombstone.
He couldn't face anyone right now.
Every single "Praise be to Yu Xi" he had uttered at Cheng Shi now ca back to haunt him, and with each one, his toes curled a little tighter into the dirt.
He desperately wanted to turn and walk away — but his sincere devotion to Yu Xi kept pulling him back forward.
And so, caught in the struggle between pious faith and burning sha, the tombstone's shadow beca like a steel saw, grinding back and forth across what little face he had left.
The other two had their reactions, but nothing nearly as intense as those two.
"I knew it was you all along!" Zhen Xin said — and yet she wasn't truly surprised. Or rather, she had this odd feeling, as if she'd already heard this confession once before.
That elusive sense of familiarity only deepened her certainty that Cheng Shi was right: they had absolutely forgotten sothing.
Li Jingming shook his head with a quiet laugh, as if sothing had just clicked into place.
"Should have seen it coming. This is so you.
So you fabricated an identity, then used that false identity's secret as a bargaining chip — trading it to others in exchange for their resources and intel?"
"!!!" Long Jing's fury flared even hotter at those words.
But President Gong wasn't angry because Cheng Shi had used this to deceive everyone — he was furious that he'd never thought of such a brilliant sche himself!
Boldly impersonating Yu Xi was already the limit of his audacity, but inventing an Envoy out of thin air... what kind of unhinged genius had the nerve to pull sothing like that off?!
Even Zhen Yi had never gone that far!
Cheng Shi laughed too, shaking his head. "No — Yu Xi's identity isn't fabricated. He truly exists. And he truly is ."
"???"
The Jokers were all stunned.
President Gong's expression twisted again. "You actually beca an Envoy?!"
Cheng Shi nodded. "That's right. It's a long and complicated story — you just need to know that I haven't deceived you."
As he spoke, Cheng Shi set the [Deceit] Container down in front of everyone.
"This. Is the proof."
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