Having lived through an entire false Curtain Call, Cheng Shi hadn't forgotten to revisit the insights he'd gained in the depths of despair.
It was painful — nearly equivalent to reliving that hopelessness all over again — but he did it anyway. In the brief window before Zhen Xin finished gathering the Jokers, he sorted through his thoughts and brought clarity to what had been chaos.
Fixed Destiny was no longer an abstract concept to him. It was a clearly visible dead end.
When [Void] first descended, it had arrived alongside [Fate] — and embedded within its will was a devout conviction to forge a divine throne for [Origin] as a sacrifice. That was Fixed Destiny.
[Deceit], on the other hand, had harbored a desire from the very mont of its descent to shatter that throne. Whatever the throne represented, it was a symbol of [Deceit]'s rebellion.
So [Deceit] had set its sights on [Fate]'s Fixed Destiny — and used the half-truth, half-fiction maneuver known as "Yu Xi" to draw Fixed Destiny into the Fear Faction's camp.
Though Cheng Shi held the [Deceit] Container, [Deceit] had never formally acknowledged him as its own. Every attitude the god had shown toward the Yu Xi identity was one of teasing mockery — consistent with its subtle manipulation of Fixed Destiny.
[Deceit] couldn't allow Fixed Destiny to be tainted by other faiths. Because if it were, even a drastic maneuver to stop [Fate] from building the throne might cause the world to lose its ending altogether.
In the trial [Deceit] had granted, Chen Xi and Xi Mu originally had no ending — it was the "reversal" hinted at through the Deceit trial that got players to patch together a conclusion for that false history.
This, without a doubt, proved that [Deceit] cared about this world. It didn't want the world to lose its future.
So Cheng Shi, in turn, could not expose everything. He could only follow the Fear Faction's intent and help conceal the Fun God's lies.
He also needed the Yu Xi identity for himself. With the full truth still untold, the identity of a divine being spoke louder than any words — it could make even unbelievable facts feel credible.
Of course, Cheng Shi hadn't forgotten the terrifying scene of [Deceit] ripping away its disguise to beco the Outer God [Fate]. He wasn't certain that the current [Deceit] wasn't an Outer God — he only knew that since the Curtain Call was false, there had to be at least one divine being standing on his side.
So everything he was doing now wasn't truly for the Fear Faction's sake. It was for this world — and for himself.
He needed to borrow every power available to him and insert himself into the final chapter of [Void]'s fate.
He could not bear to watch the tragedy play out again. He refused to accept that his own future was just another plunge into despair. Like the Outer God [Fate] had said during the false Curtain Call — having failed once, I am now that much closer to success.
Cheng Shi wasn't sure if this was the purpose behind the Fun God granting him this trial, or whether it was [Deceit]'s guidance to him before [Void]'s final curtain fell. But he hoped it was.
Never before had his fear resonated so perfectly in sync with that of the truly terrified [Deceit].
"This is...?" soone murmured.
"A container." Cheng Shi turned the [Deceit] Container over in his hand. "The key to divinity — it gathers faith and distills it into godhood.
Every divine being carries one. They use it to 'produce' divinity. Divinity is never assembled from pieces — it drips down from the container. Which ans every research direction the Tower of Logic has pursued over the centuries has been wrong.
And yet — not entirely wrong.
Because divine beings can't see [Origin]'s container, and don't know how its divinity condenses. So [Truth] had no choice but to let its followers run endless experints, hoping to spark inspiration and find a path closer to [Origin].
Unfortunately, it died before it ever found one."
"Wait!" The Doctor jolted out of his stupor. He stepped out of the shadow, voice edged with shock. "Is [Truth] dead? Praise be to Yu Xi."
"..."
Cheng Shi blinked.
The question itself was fair enough — but following it imdiately with "Praise be to Yu Xi" made it sound like the Doctor had been hoping his own patron god would die and that Cheng Shi was sohow the culprit.
[Truth] destroyed itself. What does that have to do with ?
Then again... it did, sort of, have a little to do with him.
Cheng Shi's expression went through several interesting phases before he nodded. "Correct. [Truth] is dead."
"Then who is [Truth] now? Praise be to Yu Xi."
"... [Deceit]. The Fun God has taken on the role of [Truth]."
"!!??"
The Doctor's eyes went wide. When the truth hit him — his world didn't shatter.
He had long since decided that [Deceit] was the real truth. He just hadn't imagined it would be quite this literal.
From this mont on, every confusion he'd ever felt about [Deceit] rged completely with his devotion to [Truth]. Combined with his heartfelt reverence for Yu Xi, he felt he had beco the person on the [Deceit] path who understood [Truth] best.
So the Doctor spread his arms and cried out with genuine feeling:
"Praise be to Yu Xi!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
If none of those present had ever t Yu Xi, the Doctor's behavior could at most be written off as an eccentric player or a fanatical worshiper.
But the problem was — Yu Xi was Cheng Shi, and Cheng Shi was standing right in front of them. All Jokers stood on equal footing. When you kept endlessly chanting "Praise be to Yu Xi" like a sycophant, what was everyone else supposed to do with themselves?
Long Jing couldn't take it anymore. He pressed his hands over his ears. "Shifu, please stop. Can we all convert to [Silence] just for the next hour? Otherwise how is this eting supposed to go?"
The Doctor seed to realize he'd lost himself. He straightened, bowed solemnly, and stepped back. "You're right. My apologies. Praise be to Yu Xi."
"..."
Cheng Shi was also at a loss. He shook his head with a helpless laugh and continued:
"[Truth]'s death revealed to this world the true nature of the Real Universe — allowing the gods to glimpse the terrifying reality of the Creator. [War]... also died at the Creator's hands.
Unfortunately, [Ti]'s reset caused many divine beings to forget those mories.
That was the first ti I was referring to when I said your mories were wiped.
There may have been others, but since I don't rember them either, there's nothing I can say about them.
When a divine being dies within the Real Universe, their Authority is lost there. During my absence, I traveled to the Real Universe to recover the Authority that [War] left behind.
And now — I've brought it back."
"[War]'s Authority?!" Long Jing's voice cracked. He practically vibrated with the urge to feel a true god's Authority for himself — but the next second, Cheng Shi doused his excitent with a bucket of cold water.
"Don't get your hopes up. It's not on . Qin Xin has it.
At this point, there are things I can no longer keep from you.
In this world, we are not the only ones carefully scrutinizing our relationship with the gods and quietly pushing back against them. Qin Xin is doing the sa — and he's even built an organization around it."
Zhen Xin hadn't expected Cheng Shi to reveal the Torchbearers here, but she raised her brows and smoothly picked up the thread:
"The Torchbearers."
"Exactly. The Torchbearers." Cheng Shi nodded. "They carry the torch for this world, guard humanity's hope, and protect whatever each of their brothers and sisters holds dear.
They are the most trustworthy people in this world — and the ones most deserving of protection.
The Jokers... can't be judged in simple terms of good and bad. But when it cos to how we treat the Torchbearers, I only ask one thing:
Never extinguish another person's fla.
This world needs them. We need them too. If we want to stand against fate — against [Origin] — the support of divine beings is indispensable.
When the original gods can no longer be trusted, a new divine being can give us hope.
So one of our goals going forward is to ensure that Qin Xin ascends to the [War] throne.
Don't look at
like that. Relax. Trust
— it's not going to be difficult."
"..."
The Jokers went quiet.
In the art of deception, they could go toe-to-toe with anyone. When it ca to maneuvering close to divine beings, each had their own hard-earned tricks. But pushing a human onto a divine throne...
Hold on. Was this the right room? Were they really still a player organization?
Since when had the Jokers beco powerful enough to decide who sat on a divine throne?
Everyone felt like they must have missed ninety-nine Joker Society etings — because last ti they'd been discussing how to leverage a god's influence, and now they were talking about putting soone on a throne?
But Jokers were Jokers. After a brief stunned silence, a strange light flickered through every pair of eyes.
"If I'm guessing right," Zhen Xin said with a aningful smile, "Qin Xin becoming a god is probably only the first step in the 'blood exchange'?"
Cheng Shi rubbed his chin. He liked that phrasing.
"Blood exchange...
That's a good way to put it. The gods have held their thrones long enough. It's ti for so fresh blood.
I trust that everyone present has at least so interest in their thrones?"
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