Foolish Game of the Chapter 1400: Seeing His Past Self

There is no need to recount everything that followed in detail.

As a perforr with professional integrity, apart from the improvisational act of guiding Su Yida toward the future, Long Jing spent the rest of his ti adhering scrupulously to the actor's code — reproducing, with painstaking fidelity, every event Cheng Shi had lived through.

Since it was every event, Cheng Shi's death was naturally an unavoidable scene.

This was arguably the most satisfying act Long Jing had ever perford. Cursing the Clown to his face without fear of reprisal — the sheer unbridled pleasure of it nearly broke his composure and made him laugh several tis.

Yet when he wrapped his hands around the Clown's neck and squeezed the life out of him, even knowing it was scripted, his heart still lurched.

'It's all Su Yida's fault!'

'How did the script ever devolve into this?!'

Cheng Shi's corpse crumpled to the ground. Long Jing glanced down at the body, his face still performing the role — but inside, the storm of emotions was so intense that character and actor rged seamlessly into one as he sighed:

"I killed Cheng Shi. Ha. Who would believe it?"

The subsequent standoff with the Torchbearer, Zhao Qian, didn't appear in Cheng Shi's mories, so Long Jing had to improvise once more.

By rights, in this fabricated history there was no reason for the Torchbearer to die again. The problem was that the Jokers couldn't be certain whether leaving Zhao Qian alive would affect this world's path forward. So they made the decision on behalf of this admirable Torchbearer — persuade him to die here, then resurrect him in another world.

That was also why Su Yida hadn't done the deed himself. As Cheng Shi had said: a Joker must never blow out another's torch.

And so, Zhao Qian took his own life once more.

Long Jing carried Zhao Qian's charred remains to Su Yida, who was waiting in the Void, and tossed him the Epiphytic Wood:

"Target and token. Good luck."

Su Yida was beside himself with excitent. Barely suppressing his trembling, he asked: "How do I get back?"

'Back...'

'How easily you say "back." You've certainly slipped into character fast.'

Long Jing smiled mysteriously:

"Wait. Wait for the right mont to leave. Take this, hide yourself well in the Void, and soone will co to send you on your way."

Su Yida caught the die, confusion written across his face.

'A die of Fate?'

'The one coming for

is a follower of Fate?'

'Is there a second person on this mission?'

After bidding farewell to Su Yida, the remaining acts progressed smoothly. Long Jing witnessed, as he'd hoped, the Fate Weaver who from this point onward would steadfastly uphold "kindness." When he pulled the fragnt of Prosperity divinity from his pocket in the ice plain and tossed it to Cheng Shi, he felt as though the torch inside his heart had been given physical form.

But...

'I strengthened your shadow. Shouldn't you at least say thank you, Clown?'

Yet Cheng Shi had collapsed on the ice plain during the Trial and couldn't possibly give him the response he wanted.

The Oblivion Trial swiftly approached its end, and Long Jing, amid the Wood Elves' cunning scheming, quietly exited the stage. His soul returned to the Epiphytic Wood.

At the sa ti, Shadow Cheng Shi took up the baton and made his entrance upon Destiny's stage.

The instant the Trial concluded, he erged from the Prosperity divinity, rose into the Void above, produced his Mask, and used it to request an audience with his Benefactor — Fate.

He had been crafty about it: he sent a secret invitation to Fate through the Mask. Fate, upon hearing it, chose not to relay the ssage to Deceit, but ca in person to et this follower who shouldn't have been here.

Looking upon Fate — whom he hadn't seen in so long — Cheng Shi, who understood everything now, held back his anguish and forced a smile:

"It's been a while, my Benefactor."

Fate was as cold as ever. Even though this Cheng Shi was indeed Cheng Shi, he was not this world's Cheng Shi, after all.

"You should not be here."

That icy gaze could raise bitter gales in the Void with a single glance, yet Cheng Shi found the howling wind around him unexpectedly warm.

'This is also Him. It has always been Him...'

Fortunately, the faith carried by the shadow was Fate, which ant Fate bore no real hostility toward his presence. It also ant He had been willing to accept the invitation and co here — to et this Fixed Destiny that belonged to the future.

"It seems Ti's Deduction was not entirely useless. At minimum, even the oversights of Existence acknowledge that Fate is the fixed future.

You... what brings you here?

Existence does not tolerate errors. You will not survive here for long."

"..."

The Fate of this era still knew nothing of the Universe's truth. He still believed Cheng Shi to be an error escaped from Ti's Deduction.

And that, in itself, proved that the so-called "Fate who sees through all truth in the Universe" could no longer see through anything at all...

Cheng Shi didn't reveal the truth. He simply smiled and said:

"My Benefactor — Fixed Destiny is so terribly dull."

Before the words had fully left his mouth, the gales of the Void lashed out as if to tear Cheng Shi apart. But Cheng Shi showed no trace of fear. Instead, he opened his arms wide and embraced the chill of Fate, eyes tinged red, his smile unchanged:

"The Fixed Destiny of Fate is immutable, running through the entirety of an era.

I don't reject Fixed Destiny. I understand it's what brought

this far. But my Benefactor — you play favorites far too much...

True, Fixed Destiny is Your Authority. But so is Change!

Since the beginning and end of every era bear Fixed Destiny's silhouette, might the middle of the era give Change a little more of the stage?

That wouldn't do any harm, would it, my Benefactor?"

Cheng Shi's tone was a tangle of contradictions — deep yet sunny, radiant yet choked with grief. Even Fate, who prided Himself as the Void sovereign who saw through every truth in the Universe, couldn't discern where this follower, who had walked out of an error, truly ca from.

But it was undeniable: he drew close to Fate and upheld Fixed Destiny. That alone was enough.

Fate fell silent.

He championed only Fixed Destiny and had no fondness for any form of Change. Yet sensing the sorrow — its origin unknown — emanating from this follower, He found Himself unable to speak a refusal.

After long deliberation, He chose leniency once more.

"What do you wish to do?"

"I..."

For a mont, Cheng Shi didn't know what to say. His heart was brimming with boundless emotion and sighs. Everything Cheng Dashi had once done was now playing out upon his own stage, scene by scene.

'So he really did co here.'

'So... he is .'

"It's not about what I want to do. It's that You, my Benefactor, should treat both equally — and give Change a chance to show itself.

Of course, since I'm already here, please indulge a small wish of mine before Existence corrects the error.

I want to see him — just once. I won't disturb him. One silent look will be enough.

May I, my Benefactor?"

Fate said nothing. He turned and departed.

And Shadow Cheng Shi, wrapped in the aura of Fate, was personally placed by Fate into that unforgettable Trial of Fate. As the Stars Dagger materialized before the younger Cheng Shi's eyes, the gear called Destiny began its repetitive turn once more.

When the Trial ended and the Zhen Yi who had been probing repeatedly vanished at last into the Void, Shadow Cheng Shi erged silently. He rubbed his own neck.

"...Will any of this even matter?"

Considering his current situation, he shook his head with a rueful smile and slipped away in silence.

Cheng Dashi had been here.

He had seen his past self.

...