Truthfully, though Li Jingming was surprised that he had managed to obtain the [mory] Container, he wasn't entirely unable to understand it. After all, of everyone walking the [mory] path, he had gone furthest. And [mory] was different from other divine beings — it hadn't poured too much of its attention on any particular artifact of [Deceit].
What he couldn't quite work out was why [mory] had chosen this mont to bestow the Container.
This had undoubtedly been a "bestowal." The Sea of mory survival ordeal was only the "ceremony" of the bestowal.
Li Jingming's puzzlent didn't escape Cheng Shi's eyes. One mont Cheng Shi was laughing and making light of himself — the next, the smile was gone, his expression quiet. He looked in the direction of that blurry artifact and let out a faint sigh.
"It left."
Li Jingming blinked, montarily unable to parse what Cheng Shi ant. He blurted out: "Who left?"
But before the words were even out of his mouth, they caught in his throat. His whole body shuddered.
"[mory]... left?! And it left this Container behind for
because of that?"
"Yes, roughly so." Cheng Shi nodded. "[Ti] told
that [mory] felt there was no longer any need to preserve the records of this starry sky's future. So it went to the Real Universe in search of more mories."
"..."
That news hit Li Jingming hard enough that even long after hearing it, his heart could not settle.
He furrowed his brow, thoroughly confused.
"How can that be? Past or future — those are rely states of existence. As a true divine being who governs [mory] and embodies [mory]'s will — how could it suddenly abandon its fixation on mory and go to the Real Universe? I don't understand it. It feels more like a desecration of its own will.
Cheng Shi — don't you find sothing wrong with this?"
"Desecration is the highest form of devotion, Long Jing! Besides, are the mories of the Real Universe not mories? Could it not...Actually, forget it. That joke doesn't land right."
Cheng Shi laughed at himself and touched his nose. "Of course I think sothing is wrong. The mont [Prosperity] self-destructed in front of , I felt that this entire world was wrong.
But what use is that?
The gods' decisions will never be moved by our will.
I can't understand why [mory] would abandon this world's mories either. [Ti] didn't explain much. I can only speculate — perhaps [mory] felt that the future would no longer produce any more mories worth preserving? Now that the rhythm of this era's ending rests in [Void]'s hands, when all is reduced to void, naturally there would be no more mory to speak of?"
Li Jingming shook his head with a grave expression.
"No — based on my understanding of [mory], even if no new mories are generated afterward, the era's ending would itself be one of the most important mories of this age.
I genuinely cannot understand why it abandoned such a significant mory — unless [Ti] had already described the world's future to it, and [mory] had used that to inscribe the future's mories in advance."
As he spoke, Long Jing's eyebrow rose. "Yes — that must be it. Even mories not worth inscribing — it would still find sowhere to bury them. The mory dump inside the That Dream My Nightmare mirror is the best proof of that. So it's not that it isn't inscribing — it's that it already has.
[Ti] must have already seen that future. Cheng Shi — you said you had an audience with it. Didn't [Ti] give you any guidance at all?"
Yes it had — but it might as well have given nothing.
Cheng Shi was at a loss. He recounted what [Ti] had said to Long Jing. Li Jingming listened to the end and was equally baffled.
"Draw closer? We're at this point already. What does that even an?"
"That's exactly what's so difficult to understand. I can't picture how what is currently 'distance' could beco 'closeness.' The only thing I'm certain of is that the Fear Faction is real, and [Ti] is genuinely trying to look out for this world.
But as for this so-called answer that requires drawing closer — perhaps the only way to find it is to wait for the Assembly of Gods Convention, et the Fun God, and ask it directly.
Let's set aside what we can't figure out and talk about what's right in front of us. Long Jing — are you prepared to inherit [mory]'s throne?"
Li Jingming blinked, montarily at a loss.
In the Joker Society eting that had just concluded, the Fate Weaver had still been talking about scheming for a few thrones — and now, the Magician had already beco [Chaos], and the [mory] throne was gradually moving toward him.
All of this felt so unreal that even the usually resolute Li Jingming found himself questioning — no, questioning not himself, but the world itself.
"Gods abandoning their thrones. Mortals taking their places. If this is the world's answer, then it falls to
to inscribe these mories for the world..."
That was as good as a yes.
Cheng Shi smiled faintly — though he knew this was absolutely not the world's answer. The other world that had completed the full blood exchange had already fallen sowhere along the path. That version of Cheng Shi who inherited [Deceit]'s authority was still nowhere to be found.
He wouldn't repeat an already-proven failure. And he trusted that the Fear Faction wasn't constructing a larger nightmare.
"Prepare yourself, Long Jing — the throne has been placed in front of you. But in order to fight for a stronger voice within the Convention, I still need to take advantage of the current montum and lock in [Order]'s vote."
With that, Cheng Shi said a simple farewell to Li Jingming and went back to find Li Wufang.
He needed to take Li Wufang sowhere, and reclaim from there everything that belonged to [Order].
The Investigator was genuinely scared at this point. All the way there he kept asking: "Who exactly are we going to see?"
Cheng Shi smiled with mysterious calm. "You'll see when we get there."
With the new god [Chaos]'s assistance, Cheng Shi and Li Wufang soon found themselves standing before a cage. At the sight of the prisoner locked inside that enormous cell, Li Wufang went pale.
"This is..."
Blazing flas surged and cascaded. Blinding light radiated in every direction. Sensing the temperature that could burn through rock itself, Cheng Shi introduced the occupant.
"The Wrath of Abomination. Also once known as the Blazing Sun — one of the Inquisitors personally commissioned by [Order]."
"!!!"
Li Wufang knew who the Wrath of Abomination was. Every follower of [Order] knew. The Elental Judges' forbidden spells had made life miserable for anyone who dared desecrate [Order], and more than a few bystanders had been reduced to ash by the teor Fire Rain. That was exactly why the Wrath of Abomination had such a fearso reputation.
But right now — this tempestuous, infamously violent [Chaos] Envoy was huddled in the corner of the cage as far from the door as possible, compressing its flas with every ounce of effort, making absolutely certain not a single spark would touch the Cheng Shi standing at the entrance.
If the Fear Faction judged solely by fear — without asking why soone was afraid — then the current Wrath of Abomination would unquestionably qualify as one of the Fear Faction's core mbers.
It was absolutely terrified.
Not of the mortal standing in front of it. What it feared were every one of the true divine beings standing behind that mortal.
[Deceit], [Fate] — [Void] alone was enough to make it feel hollow inside. And behind this mortal stood [Death], [Silence], [Ti]...
It wasn't blind. It had seen what just happened in the void — seen this person corner and kill its patron. Whether that had been [Chaos] or [Order], the point was: its patron had changed hands. The new patron was this mortal's friend — a Magician who followed [Deceit].
A figure who could withstand the Convention's pressure and make Justice (Order) itself "flee the scene" — who wouldn't be intimidated by soone like that?
The Wrath of Abomination wasn't thinking about anything else right now. Its entire head was filled with one thought: this nightmare of a person couldn't be eyeing its cage, could he?
Take it. Please take it. As long as you want it — you can even have the prisoner's identity that goes with it.
And right at that mont, Cheng Shi directed a brilliant, warm smile at the trembling Wrath of Abomination inside the cage.
"Do you still rember , Wrath of Abomination?"
"..."
Was it too late to say no?
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