Wei Mu's conjecture was completely coherent. Even as speculation, Cheng Shi couldn't find a single flaw.
The countless signs of the universe seed to have already revealed the ending to those who could read them — that [Origin] was simply impossible to defeat. Even the Fun God had no choice but to use sothing that looked like escape as its thod for fleeing this despairing Creator experint.
But could it actually escape?
As Qin Xin had wondered — what gave [Deceit] and [Ti] cause to believe they could deceive the Creator of this cosmic experint? Was it that sliver of [Origin]'s power which the clown had drawn out in the false Curtain Call?
But once the new world beca entangled with [Origin]'s power again — would [Origin] truly not know?
These questions were a bottomless abyss. No one, no matter how long they thought, could co to an answer.
The only thing Cheng Shi was certain of was that he had already, undeniably, been walking the "fixed-destiny" path. He was carrying out the Fear Faction's will — dragging every divine being that drew close to [It] off its throne, one by one. This wasn't simple resistance against the Creator. It was [Deceit] landing its pieces, one precise move after another.
Because it knew — while the old world's divine beings still lived, the new world's "[Origin]" could never be "born."
So that was what [Ti] had ant by "departing." They had already made all their preparations. They only waited for the era to reach its ending.
And in that mont, Cheng Shi finally understood why the Cheng Shi of the other world had clung so fixedly to the blood exchange.
Yes — the blood exchange was necessary. But the unfortunate truth was that the other Cheng Shi had exchanged the wrong position. He should not have taken [Deceit]'s place — because the throne waiting for him should have been... "Origin."
The room fell silent.
When they understood that the Fate Weaver beside them was quite possibly about to beco this world's "Origin" — no one could help but fall silent.
Even Wei Mu stopped pursuing his deductions. He shook his head in self-deprecation.
"Much as I continue to look down on [Folly] — I cannot deny that it has truly seen through the universe's essence. Once [Deceit]'s foolish act begins, the world may no longer [Exist], and may no longer be [Void]. This is probably the most 'foolish' — and most 'perfect' — answer it could submit in this era."
Cheng Shi's mind was a churning storm of thought, consciousness scattered in fragnts. He — who had always so desperately wanted to find answers from the Fun God — now found himself, in this mont, sowhat afraid to pull back the curtain on the truth.
As long as the Fun God hadn't confird it in person, everything discussed today would remain conjecture forever.
But once these conjectures were confird by the Fun God...
Cheng Shi didn't know how to face the so-called answer — or the future.
[Deceit] — born to defy everything — apparently wanted to carry out its defiance in this way. But per Wei Mu's reasoning, it would die. And the Fear Faction's gods would die too.
[Death], [Silence]... did they know? Would they agree?
And — if the [Void] era's ending was like this, what did the false Curtain Call the Fun God had personally directed even an?
Cheng Shi's brow stayed tightly furrowed. Wei Mu read his thoughts and exhaled quietly. He said nothing. He had already dimly guessed at [Deceit]'s intent — but he couldn't speak it. There were things he had no right to ddle in on soone else's behalf.
"Then what about the mask?"
Cheng Shi was reluctant to accept the Fun God's "compromise." He began to deceive himself. "Crown's mask can't be without aning. The truth hidden in the [mory] Collection Hall — couldn't it be another path?"
A puppet was a puppet. Cold wood had no feelings for anyone. He punctured Cheng Shi's wishful thinking once more.
"The mask won't be without aning. But it isn't necessarily the answer.
Before you told
about the Real Universe, I had already guessed that beyond this world lay another starry sky. At the ti I wondered — when the gods face what lies beyond their world, are they cautious explorers or brazen conquerors?
Now that I know everything, I can say: neither.
They are lowly prisoners. Helpless beggars. Before the vast expanse of the Real Universe — even 'infinitesimal' is too grand a complint for them.
That brings us to a question.
How did a group of divine beings ruling over the universe learn that another domain existed outside their world? Before making that discovery, they would never have considered themselves re variables in an experint.
So I think what the mask has sealed within it is very likely the reason they ca to see through the universe's truth. It's hidden in the [mory] Collection Hall — so naturally it would be a mory. And the only past significant enough to occupy a scher's mind like that, when I think about it from every angle, could only be... the terror of that mont's discovery.
When a divine being realizes it is not truly divine — I imagine that feeling would be more despairing than any mortal witnessing a god descend."
"..."
Far more than that.
Just revisiting the scene in the mind was enough to bring a suffocating feeling from the depths of the soul. If that was truly what happened — no one dared imagine what kind of collapse the one who first glimpsed the truth of the universe must have experienced.
Was it the Fun God?
Or [Ti], who had been calibrating the universe's ti since the beginning?
Whoever it was — that despair had been stretched by ti into fear, and had beco the force driving them to turn their back on [Origin].
The irony was that a group of gods trying to break free from [Origin] seed to be building an "Origin" with their own hands. And even more ironic —
I am "Origin"?
Cheng Shi's chest was full of a thousand tangled feelings. He looked at Qin Xin with a complicated expression, then at Wei Mu, not knowing what face to make.
"So... in that new world — you should be [War], you should be [Folly], and you..."
He turned slowly toward the Fla of Hope. The upside-down Candle Man looked back at him with a calm smile and tilted its head.
"There's probably no place for
in that world. I am a remnant of the old era — I don't belong to that new world. I'll die, and then return to [Fate].
Why are you looking at
like that — don't be so sad. You said it yourself: only when change returns to [Fate]'s embrace can the final Container be left behind. I'll leave the [Fate] Container for whoever needs it. That's... a small final thing I can do for this world.
If this world is truly just one of the Creator's countless specins — then helping it break free from the experint and beco a real world, isn't that its own kind of fla of hope, burning from the smallest ember?
It turns out it wasn't lying to
after all. It always stood beside .
And I... will stand beside you, in that beautiful future."
"..."
Looking at the Fla of Hope before him, for just one instant, two words flashed instinctively through Cheng Shi's mind: "[Fate]."
[Fate] — co on, do sothing!
Was this kind of future a wrong path, or was it fixed destiny?
Since returning from the Real Universe, [Fate] had disappeared entirely. Had it refused the road [Deceit] had painted out for it — or had it reconciled with a different way of drawing close to "Origin"?
Was this truly the only path left for the world?
No. I don't believe that.
Cheng Shi clenched his fist. After a long ntal storm, he seed to reach so sort of resolution. He looked at Wei Mu, and smiled again with that characteristic crack of confidence.
"A good conjecture. I'll go find confirmation from the gods themselves.
But before the Fun God's plan is fully revealed — I'm not willing to just accept this. Wei Mu — wait for my word. I'll need your help soon."
The puppet blinked. Its eyes rotated once. It looked back at Cheng Shi with genuine interest.
"My lord — you are preparing to embrace another foolish act?"
"A foolish act?" Cheng Shi nodded, smiling mysteriously. "Exactly right — another foolish act!
If the road ahead is nothing but foolish acts — I don't ask to be the first to recognize the folly. But I will be the first to commit every last one of them.
The Fear Faction is not the Despair Faction.
As long as they still stand at my back — I won't despair. I still want to try."
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