The marvel of Ti is that it can be shortened just as easily as stretched.
Regardless of everything Shadow Cheng Shi had experienced beyond the Real Universe, Cheng Shi in reality had waited just over a day.
He had assud that sending the shadow out would let him receive both sets of mories simultaneously, but he'd been overoptimistic. The spaceti barrier severed all impressions from the shadow's side — just like the mont they'd parted inside the spaceti storm. Only when Shadow Cheng Shi returned would those mories co back with him.
During that day, the Jokers imrsed in the plan hadn't been idle either. They probed Jie Shu continuously, trying to uncover his true aim.
As a follower of mory and a forr mber of the History School, Zhao Xishi naturally collected information at all tis and places, so having her play the interrogator didn't seem the least bit out of character.
She had already asked countless questions — on topics stretching from above the gods to below the mortals — until Jie Shu was nearly sick of answering. Yet she didn't find any of it tedious. Every now and then, she'd throw in another:
"Your plan appears to have failed. It's been over twenty-six hours, and the Master of Trickery still hasn't returned.
I can't fathom what you an by 'getting what we each need.' All I've witnessed is a murder — a brazen murder."
"You're a follower of mory, not a devotee of Ti. There's no need to announce the hour every hour," Jie Shu replied with a sidelong glance and a cold snort.
"When I first contacted you, I didn't see you take this much interest in my plan, much less such concern for the Master of Trickery.
What — have you taken a fancy to him?"
Zhao Xishi shrugged off the barbed jest. "Not a fancy. Purely curiosity."
"Curiosity? I'd say it's not the Master of Trickery you're curious about — it's ."
Zhao Xishi arched a brow. Rather than deny it, she ran with Jie Shu's words: "Both, actually. Since we're killing ti anyway, why not share? I can trade. You know mory followers are privy to plenty of secrets."
"Other people's secrets don't interest . I'm only interested in my experint."
Experint?!
The word made everyone's head snap toward him.
Jie Shu swept his gaze around, drinking in their reactions, his mocking eyes suggesting he'd anticipated this all along. He chuckled:
"That's right — this isn't just a plan. It's an experint.
I didn't lie to you. Su Yida really is a competitive Master of Trickery with no self-awareness. His desire to kill Cheng Shi was genuine. And I happened to need an experintal subject to verify the spatiotemporal-trace resonance theory I've been researching.
We hit it off instantly — a perfect win-win. What's wrong with that?"
Wait!
The color drained from everyone's face.
If Jie Shu's so-called spatiotemporal-trace resonance theory had never been proven, then how had he used that unverified theory to send the Master of Trickery out?
'This is bad — the Wise Man set us up?'
A sinking feeling gripped the Jokers as the realization hit.
Jie Shu's plan wasn't full of holes at all. Rather, he had weaponized those apparent holes as an "invitation" — a lure!
He was fishing!
The only question was: who was he fishing for? The Jokers as a whole? One of them specifically? Or... Cheng Shi?
Jie Shu gave a light laugh — whether in praise or mockery, it was impossible to tell:
"I told you — getting what we each need.
A certain soone among you is also using my plan to accomplish what they want to do, aren't they?
Since you've hitched a ride on my vehicle, surely it's not too heartless to let
ride along for part of the way?
A partnership benefits everyone. Isn't that... what you're best at, Cheng Shi?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
Who was Cheng Shi?
Zhao Xishi — no, Zhen Xin — kept her expression unchanged. A casual wave of her hand pulled the rooftop back into the domain of Chaos. The three liars exchanged glances, all thinking the sa question:
Was this a genuine probe, or a bluff seeking peace?
Cheng Shi, disguised as Mo Shu, gave a soft chuckle. Watching the befuddled Jie Shu slip into Chaos without noticing, he waved Zhen Xin off:
"It would be strange if the Wise Man couldn't guess. Don't bother with him — let him speculate all he wants.
With your Chaos identity, the most he can do is guess.
Though this does clear sothing up for . No wonder he wasn't in a rush about the plan — turns out this was an experint too.
He was certain soone would be interested in Su Yida — no, he was certain I'd be interested in Su Yida. He was even certain I'd ddle.
Which ans the performance he and Mo Shu put on in front of the Dragon King and Long Jing was most likely theater. He leaked the information on purpose — and poor Mo Shu never even realized.
That also ans his understanding of Su Yida is far deeper than ours. He knows the relationship between the Master of Trickery and
— and likely knows things even I don't...
Interesting. We've been piggybacking on his plan, and the Wise Man has been leveraging our strength.
But what he couldn't have anticipated is that the strength he's trying to borrow doesn't belong to us. It was a gift from another world's Cheng Shi to Long Jing.
Countless accidents puzzle-pieced together into coincidence. And when you stack this many coincidences... can you still call them coincidence?
Spatiotemporal-trace resonance...
What is he trying to find using those connections?"
"You?" the Dragon King offered, raising an eyebrow.
"No. If it were really , he's already found ."
Unable to puzzle it out, Cheng Shi shrugged it off. "Forget it — whoever he's after, once the shadow cos back, maybe it'll bring answers.
If not, once the plan wraps up, we follow him. I want to see just what this Wise Man is really up to."
The three Jokers exchanged glances and nodded in unison. To avoid blowing their cover, Zhen Xin dispelled the Chaos field, and the rooftop quickly returned to normal.
Jie Shu noticed nothing amiss, though seeing Zhao Xishi smirking at him — neither confirming nor denying — he frowned, unexpectedly thrown.
'Wrong guess — she's not Cheng Shi?'
Jie Shu knew Cheng Shi had certainly inserted himself into this plan, but whether Cheng Shi was here in person, and if so who he was disguised as, remained beyond the Wise Man's grasp.
Today he felt oddly sluggish, far less sharp than usual. He didn't realize it was Chaos's doing; he simply assud the others were hiding extraordinarily well.
Jie Shu scanned left and right. Seeing everyone sitting in silence with closed eyes, he frowned again and sank into thought.
The rooftop returned to stillness.
This silence didn't last long. Before long, violent spaceti fluctuations rippled across the rooftop, and the tunnel Jie Shu had left behind shattered on cue.
Then, from the stairwell leading to the abandoned high-rise's rooftop, ca a single "click."
A hand pushed open an ordinary wooden door.
The four people outside opened their eyes simultaneously, each wearing a different expression as they watched the man who staggered in dragging a charred corpse.
They were supposedly looking at the man, but in truth every eye was on the charred body in his hands. Clearly, it was not the Fate Weaver's corpse.
The assassination plan had failed — but the Fire Passing Plan had succeeded.
Because the returning shadow had already transmitted all its mories from beyond the world to Cheng Shi.
At that, Cheng Shi exhaled deeply. All that remained now was rescuing Long Jing and Zhao Qian.
As for the Master of Trickery who'd survived to walk back... no one cared.
Even Jie Shu had said this was an experint — one designed to verify the spatiotemporal-trace resonance theory. The target's safe return ant the Wise Man had already reaped his harvest from the experint.
The four present reached an instant, silent understanding. Long Jing, on the far left, sighed: "Seems like bad news."
Zhao Xishi, on the far right, scoffed and turned to leave.
Mo Shu in the center — unusually quiet for once — and the unsurprised Jie Shu stared at the man a while longer, then spoke simultaneously:
"Who's going to handle this?"
"You do it?"
Jie Shu wanted to slip away, but Mo Shu wasn't having it.
Long Jing grinned with amusent. Feeling he ought to contribute sothing to the plan, he said:
"I'll do it. Leave it to ."
Jie Shu scoffed and vanished in an instant. Mo Shu followed right behind, disappearing without a trace.
Long Jing, whistling casually, flung the wide-eyed corpse of Su Yida — along with the charred remains — off the high-rise.
Down below, Zhang Jizu had been waiting for so ti. From the charred corpse that plumted before him, he retrieved the Epiphytic Wood and quietly resurrected the soul clinging to it.
When the real Long Jing opened his eyes once more and stood before the Gravekeeper, he threw his head back and laughed, clapping Zhang Jizu on the shoulder:
"Old Zhang — long ti no see."
Zhang Jizu's eyes narrowed into a smile. "It's been exactly three days and four hours since the last Joker gathering. That should be the shortest interval between etings since we first t. Hardly 'long.'"
"..."
Long Jing's grin froze in an instant, his expression turning wonderfully complicated.
"Old Zhang, you are... genuinely no fun.
Whatever — let's save people first."
At the ntion of saving people, Zhang Jizu's smile faded. His eyes narrowed to slits, and he said in a low voice:
"There's been an accident. This one... can't be revived."
...
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