A faint note of levity finally broke through the heavy atmosphere.
This was how the Joker Society had always been at its core — gravity and laughter, never one without the other.
Before long the Jokers settled back into quiet, each lost in their own thoughts about the road ahead. Then the Doctor spoke, pulling everyone back from the vast cosmic perspective and into the ga itself.
"Count the days — it's about that ti.
There are 5 days left until the one-year anniversary of the Faith Ga's arrival. That ans this special trial was probably the last one before the anniversary, and though the Road to Ascension may be a long journey, the Ladder of Ascent is about to produce its results.
According to the ga rules, at the end of the first year, the gods will summon the top ten players from each faith on the Ladder of Ascent for an Audience eting — a display of divine favor.
When the ga began, everyone dread of gaining an audience with a god through this. But now... those who needed to et the gods most likely already have. Still, as a special event in the Faith Ga — are you all prepared for the Audience eting?
Praise be to Yu Xi."
"?"
The mont Cheng Shi heard "Audience eting," he felt almost disoriented.
So much had happened to him recently, so much endured, that he had completely forgotten that more than a hundred days had already passed in the real world since his return from the Real Universe.
Ti to et the gods?
But hadn't he been running into gods practically every day anyway?
Cheng Shi pressed his lips together. He suddenly wondered — was the Fun God ignoring him because he was busy preparing for the Audience eting?
The Fun God had lured him into the Real Universe, "fast-forwarded" the world's tiline, then hit him with a false Era Curtain Call he couldn't refuse — plunging him into despair — and then refused to summon him, simply waiting for an Audience eting to arrive...
Anyone who claid that wasn't part of the Fun God's plan wouldn't be believed by anyone.
But what was the Fun God actually arranging? The hysteric despair of that experience still lay buried sowhere deep — and even if the Fun God was no Outer God, even if he was genuinely a mber of the Fear Faction, truly devoted to resisting the Creator — how would he break free from the experint's shackles and achieve victory over [Origin]?
Cheng Shi couldn't picture it.
The Fun God had once promised that if Cheng Shi attended the Audience eting as a Chosen One, he would bestow upon him the ability to deceive gods. And now...
Cheng Shi quietly glanced at the Ladder of Ascent rankings.
[Ladder of Ascent (Existence — mory) / (Void — Deceit)]
1. True Heart (Deceit) — 235
2. Li Jingming (Deceit) — 234
3. mory, are you okay? (Deceit) — 230
4. Seriously, mory, are you okay? (Deceit) — 228
5. This Longing Endures (mory) — 227
6. mory's hopeless, the one above is a widow (Deceit) — 226
... (3 more Deceit, 8 more mory omitted...)
18. Flawless Jade (Deceit) — 200
19. Middle-Aged Dentia (mory) — 197
20. I Never Lie (Deceit) — 196
...
Dead last...
Perhaps everything had indeed been calculated in advance. After completing that trial of despair, Cheng Shi found himself sitting at exactly the tenth and final spot in the top ten of [Deceit] — barely scraping in, having "luckily" secured a ticket to the Audience eting.
The top few nas were all familiar faces. No real surprises there. Only the player ID at rank 18 — "Flawless Jade" — gave Cheng Shi a mont's pause, as if sothing in him was trying to surface.
But he shook his head a mont later. He was probably overthinking it.
[Deceit] was barely in the clear. [Fate] was a little better — but not by much.
[Ladder of Ascent (Existence — Ti) / (Void — Fate)]
1. Gods Forsake
(Ti) — 230
2. I See You (Fate) — 228
... (8 more Ti, 7 more Fate omitted...)
18. I Never Lie (Fate) — 196
19. Nothing (Ti) — 195
20. It's All Because Of (Fate) — 194
...
Scanning both lists quickly, one question jumped into Cheng Shi's mind: what exactly was the difference between second-to-last and last?
Answer: none. Because they were the sa person.
He laughed at himself and shook his head.
"What do players need to prepare? If anything, the gods should be the ones preparing.
For instance — a certain cat who acts on behalf of [Prosperity] yet has never once shown her face to her followers. And a certain Qin who is about to ascend to the [War] throne and show his faithful who the true Grand Marshal really is...
Don't look at
like that. I an exactly what you think I an. You're all sharp people — you understand.
We've already staked our claim in two of those thrones. Which throne we challenge next — we'll need to gauge the gods' attitudes about the false Curtain Call first.
So among the divine beings may still retain their mories. Before the Audience eting, I need to try gaining audiences with them individually.
Today's Joker Society eting ends here. I'll be heading out — reach out any ti."
Without hesitation, Cheng Shi left. There were still far too many things he needed to untangle, and the Audience eting looming up ahead felt like a new net being cast wide open, waiting for a clown to stumble in and be caught.
Before the Fun God's next "trap" sprung on him, Cheng Shi had to map out the current state of the world as clearly as he could.
He returned to the rest area and began his attempts to seek an audience with the gods.
After Cheng Shi left, the remaining Jokers were in no hurry to disperse. They looked to one another and slipped naturally into the next conversation.
Li Jingming's brow was tightly knit, each word chosen with deliberate care.
"Whether it was the false simulation or the forgotten mories — [Existence] has already entered the board.
It seems [Existence] is also standing on [Deceit]'s side. What I still don't know is what the ending of the Era's Curtain Call in that trial actually ant.
If Fixed Destiny is ultimately destined to be broken — then surely [Fate], with its ability to see through to the heart of things, would already know that?
The future is a fog for ordinary people — an unwritten blank. But for [Fate], it should already be filled in with answers.
If so, then why does [Fate] still insist the Fate Weaver is Fixed Destiny?
Is the problem with [Fate] itself — or have we simply been misunderstanding what Fixed Destiny ans?"
Zhen Xin raised an eyebrow, tapped her finger rhythmically against her arm, and spoke with a peculiar expression.
"Could the problem simply be the Fun God?
In the Curtain Call that the clown described, the Outer God [Fate]'s seizure of Fixed Destiny almost fooled everyone.
But it was just a story — a script. Doesn't that an the Fun God's portrayal of [Fate] was convincing enough to fool even the believers? He understood [Fate] — understood Fixed Destiny even better than the [Fate] that burned itself out.
Doesn't that strike you as strange?
The surface appearance of [Void] — could it really be more profound than [Void]'s true nature?
No — that doesn't track. The Fun God never offers aningless guidance. Whatever answer he intended to give us was probably hidden inside that Curtain Call performance.
Unfortunately, we've all forgotten it. No details — no way to guess at his intent."
"But Fixed Destiny hasn't forgotten!" Long Jing — fool as he might play among the Jokers — was nothing of the sort when it counted. By any asure, on the path of [Deceit], he ranked second only to Zhen Xin.
However you counted, that was second.
President Gong rubbed his chin with a aningful smile.
"That ans either [Deceit] has placed all its hope on Fixed Destiny — or it's laying the groundwork for an even greater despair.
Not going to lie — the lead perforr really does get better treatnt than all the supporting roles put together.
But supporting roles deserve their own mont in the spotlight too. Since the mories of this false Curtain Call still exist sowhere in this world, we'll find a way to retrieve them. What do you think — you, the [mory] believer?"
Li Jingming blinked, then smiled and nodded.
"I'll think of sothing."
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