Cheng Shi finished listening with an expression of complete shock — and Zhang Jizu was no less shaken. He had been so vigilant about the source of the sounds below the pit — how could he have imagined it was just a divine throne producing them?
"You're saying you took that throne?"
Cheng Shi gave a firm nod. "Yes. At this very mont it's in my personal space."
As he spoke, he produced one of the throne's puzzle pieces. As luck would have it, it was the broken, tightly-shut Starry Eye.
Zhang Jizu blinked. "[Deceit], it..."
"This isn't its body. I also have no idea which divine being these remnants belong to — I detached this piece from the throne. It's enough to prove the throne is in my hands. So why would another throne be here?"
The two looked at each other and their expressions simultaneously darkened.
Mortal logic simply couldn't explain any of this. To investigate the cause, the only option was to go deeper again — to the space beside the pit's wall — and see with their own eyes whether a new throne had appeared.
Cheng Shi was clearly inclined to go. But Zhang Jizu grabbed him first.
"Any anomaly is a harbinger of danger. You didn't know there was another throne here before you ca — which ans this wasn't your purpose. Finish the main task first. Other things can wait."
Typical Old Zhang — steadiness as always. Cheng Shi nodded. Under the current circumstances, he could only choose to be steady too.
Zhang Jizu was still puzzled. He half-shut his eyes. "Since you already took the throne, what did you co back for?"
Cheng Shi gestured at the divine bodies surrounding them and said in a grave tone: "To collect materials."
"These corpses?"
"Yes. I intend to use them for an experint to glimpse the future."
"?"
Zhang Jizu blinked. By his understanding, there didn't seem to be any experint in the world that needed divine bodies as ingredients — or rather, across the entire long history of the Tower of Logic, there had never been such a thing either. Faith had persisted to the present, and however fanatical a believer, even they couldn't bring themselves to drop their patron into an experint chamber. They might want to. They simply couldn't do it. And today, Cheng Shi was doing exactly that — because he had an abundance of material right in front of him.
The clown spoke as he moved, rearranging divine bodies around him. "Bring as many as we can. I'm not certain how many I'll need, or whether the experint will succeed — but it has to be tried. A lot has happened while you were away. I went to see Wei Mu and laid out so of the universe's truths to him. Using that cheat-code brain of his, he told
the future the Fun God described for the world might not be what any of us imagined.
[Origin] cannot be defied — so the hope the Fun God offers looks more like despair born from having no other option. I'm not willing to accept that. I keep feeling there's still a path out there..."
As he said this, Cheng Shi's expression was extraordinarily complex. He wasn't certain inside. Even the gods hadn't been able to find a better way — and he was just one mortal carrying a "fixed destiny" title. Could he?
But his tone was firm — because he understood that if even he, who was supposed to be the world's key, gave up, then what reason would the Jokers, the Destined Ones, the Torchbearers, and this world have left to keep fighting?
Zhang Jizu was a sharp man. He heard the lost uncertainty buried in Cheng Shi's words — and equally heard the courage in the clown choosing to step to the front. So he cut Cheng Shi off promptly, not allowing those words to land without an answer. He just nodded, steadily and unreservedly, and said:
"There is always a path. Even if there isn't one — everyone will carve a new one together. Fixed Destiny may be the world's hope — but this world is also everyone's world. Don't carry all the weight on your own. At least the Jokers... will always share the burden with you."
And with that, Zhang Jizu got to work.
For a Gravekeeper, handling corpses ca with better storage thods than even a personal space. That was a delightful bonus Cheng Shi hadn't counted on — because on his own, he would have struggled to carry back this much material.
The two of them worked heads-down at the pit's edge, deeply focused on laying a solid "foundation" for the experint — or at least stockpiling enough for extra failed attempts — and completely forgot how Cheng Shi had gotten here in the first place.
Far away on the Spaceti Dolphin Bridge, a certain Big Cat was waiting, ready to make her charge!
When Cheng Shi didn't return for a long ti, Hong Lin's brow sank. She jumped off the bridge directly and dropped into the Corpse Field of Gods. Whatever her own mission was, letting a Fate Weaver she had personally sent into danger vanish without returning — that she couldn't do. No matter which world this Cheng Shi ca from, since she had gotten involved, she would see it through to the end.
So she ca — and found two porters grunting and "stealing" things in the pit.
At that sight, even the seven-colored divine aura surrounding Hong Lin couldn't stop her eyelid from giving one very hard, very involuntary twitch.
She felt as if she were looking at the sa hopelessly lying, utterly unreliable Fate Weaver from a long, long ti ago. Back then, he'd been exactly like this too — reach for anything that looked useful without a mont's hesitation.
Still, seeing this, Hong Lin didn't rush them. She stood quietly at the center of the pit, keeping watch over the two thieves.
Zhang Jizu never stopped being alert. A short while later, he detected soone approaching from behind — startled, he shoved Cheng Shi into the pile of corpses and drew his scalpel in one move, standing guard at the pit's edge to face whatever quiet threat had arrived alone.
But when he saw the newcor was Hong Lin, Zhang Jizu's eyes went montarily wide.
"Hong Lin?"
Hong Lin gave that maximally-half-shut gaze of his a glance of amused interest and snorted.
"Not exactly
— but also . Have you two stolen enough? If you have, co back with . My deal with the Fate Weaver is still ongoing. My ti is limited. We should set off."
"?"
While Zhang Jizu was still stunned and confused, Cheng Shi crawled out from the pile of bodies, patted Zhang Jizu on the shoulder to signal "it's all right," then tilted his head back and smiled up at the Hong Lin hovering above.
"Enough, enough — just one last step. Very simple. We only need to take one look, and then we go."
Hong Lin raised an eyebrow. She guessed what Cheng Shi wanted to see. Her gaze swept across the abyss at the bottom of the pit, her tone layered with too many things to na.
"You don't need to look. I'll tell you instead. Your guess was right — the divine throne has 'refreshed.'"
"!!??"
Cheng Shi's whole body jolted. His pupils contracted. "What do you an, refreshed?!"
Hong Lin exhaled, seed to think of sothing, gave a smile of resigned acceptance, then explained for the benefit of the two bewildered figures below her:
"Literal aning. Approximately every so often, the throne here reappears. So — not just you. Many versions of you have probably taken that throne. Including the you from our world."
"!!!"
At those words, a chill shot from the base of Cheng Shi's spine straight to the top of his skull.
From beginning to end, he had believed that taking the throne was his own daring act of adventure — and because of it, he had finally understood the true nature of [Fate]'s Fixed Destiny.
And now Hong Lin was telling him countless versions of him had taken the throne?
Then what was this throne? Was it a mission checkpoint that kept refreshing with each instance of Fixed Destiny as they arrived across different tilines?
But descending into the pit had clearly been his own choice — influenced by no one. How had it beco a "mass-replicated" act?
Cheng Shi's mind was in complete chaos. A faint, half-ford fear began spreading inside him.
Seeing this, Hong Lin exhaled.
"I shouldn't have said this to you. But even if I hadn't, you would have gone down, and the result would be the sa. Let's go. You've finished your task — it's my turn now. This is not a good place."
Hong Lin raised her spear in a wide sweep — and in an instant, whisked both figures out of the pit.
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