"I heard the Chosen One gets different treatnt from the rest of the top ten — a private divine audience. Zhen Xin is probably already in a one-on-one with the Fun God as we speak. Want to impersonate Zhen Yi and stir up chaos? I'd advise a certain soone to be careful not to turn themselves into the entertainnt while trying to create it."
[Deceit] believers would not necessarily resort to violence — but they would absolutely resort to sarcasm.
After a few scattered "heh"s landed, the silent stage felt like soone had yanked away a curtain, and things suddenly ca alive.
"Ha. You think I'm Long Jing?"
The scoffing voice ca from the male [Deceit] believer standing at the highest occupied position. He was completely unclothed — with only a mask positioned below him, covering critical areas, preserving the story's tonal integrity.
With the top three absent, he was the highest-scoring person on stage. Though this fraudster had often aligned his Ladder of Ascent remarks with President Gong's stated positions, he clearly wasn't very satisfied with Long Jing being ranked above him.
He let out a snort of contempt toward those below him, leaped nimbly, and landed on the platform that belonged to Long Jing — looking around briefly, then frowning and muttering:
"Really not here? Strange. Long Wang and the Zhen girl — fine, they're Chosen Ones, their absence is their business. But him, the eternally second-place guy — where did he run off to join the excitent?"
"?"
Long Jing, who had already been feeling that people were talking about him, had been on the verge of stepping out and reasserting his presence — to give these crowd a little taste of his bearing. But upon hearing those words, President Gong's eyes swiveled — and he quietly retracted the hand he'd been using to grip the mask's edge, slipping back to the shadowed side of the mask where no one could see him.
In the darkness, a pair of wickedly amused eyes glead with quiet light — the look of a predator waiting for prey to expose a weakness.
Let's see just how you end up embarrassing yourself.
The gathered fraudsters below watched as the unclothed fourth-place player jumped to the third-place mask platform without any visible "rule punishnt," everyone's expressions making a show of their own — and then the jibes started flying.
"You really are sothing. Can't beat President Gong on the Ladder of Ascent, but at the Convention you just jump up and take his spot. I'd say you look less like an Acrobat and more like a clown.
Strange world we live in — the Acrobat acts like a clown, the Victim acts like an Acrobat. So who's left to act like a Victim?"
Before the voice had even finished, an arrow scread through the air and exploded that mocking-smiled skull. The arrow was swift beyond asure — but drew no blood, since it had only punctured an illusion. The real Master of Trickery had already taken cover elsewhere.
The crowd saw this coming. Not a flicker of surprise — just a collective chorus of "what a pity."
The archer on the ninth mask platform raised their bow in a display of dominance, scoffing: "Sorry — I thought you were angling to be the Victim."
A cold voice ca from the shadows of the eighth mask platform.
"Gutsy, Du Qiyu. You dare throw punches at the Convention? Keeping that sharp a mind ans you've done plenty of beast-taming. If you didn't bring all your beasts in with you, watch yourself — don't end up dying here."
The bandaged man touched his bow, unbothered, and scoffed again.
"I just shot an arrow at the air. By what definition is that 'throwing punches'? Are you hurt? Are you dead? No? Well then, ha — what exactly are you barking about? Even if you know I'm a Beast Tar and you're trying to act like a good dog to earn my favor, there's no need to be so desperate."
"Your mom's dead."
That wasn't an insult. It was a statent.
No one who made it this far was a simple character. No one here would lose composure over a war of words — but before deciding to actually act, talking cost nothing.
The Master of Trickery hiding in the shadow of a mask spoke with deep disdain. "How did a freak like you end up in a fraudster's crowd?"
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