It was hard to imagine what kind of life and experiences could have nurtured a girl as kind as Nangong.
Perhaps before the Faith Ga descended, she too had a happy ho.
For reasons he couldn't explain, Cheng Shi suddenly thought of Old Jia. And Nangong, caught in the sa somber atmosphere, thought of her grandfather.
A reminiscent light entered her eyes, her tone carrying the relief of soone who had made a montous decision:
"I did it. Grandpa would be proud of , wouldn't he?"
Cheng Shi said nothing. He knew this mont belonged to Nangong.
Sure enough, before long, Nangong bowed her head and began to murmur:
"When I was little, my family was very poor. Grandpa and Mom were both sick. We had no money for treatnt. Everything in the house that could be pawned was sold — and still it wasn't enough.
We couldn't go on. Dad still refused to give up. Eventually... she found release, leaving only
and Dad to look after Grandpa, enduring one day at a ti.
Suffering can drive a person mad.
Dad went mad. He heard sothing from sowhere and decided — since life was already this bad, why not bet everything on one throw? Could it possibly get worse?
What's scary isn't dying. What's scary is wanting to die but being unable to, and not daring to...
So that day, he made up his mind. He sold the family's only house. Twelve hundred and twenty-three yuan. With that money, he bought three bus tickets and took
and Grandpa south.
He left us sitting at the entrance and told us: whether we live or die depends on whether God takes pity on us today.
Then he turned around and walked into... a casino."
"?"
Cheng Shi froze for a mont. He never would have guessed that being driven mad ant being driven into a casino.
Nangong's smile was bleak:
"Dad won. He won a huge amount of money. God knows how much — so much that several carloads of security showed up.
They sealed the casino off completely, verifying the final sum.
We were shoved to the side. I cried and called for Dad. Grandpa covered my mouth.
But soon Dad ca out. In the fastest way possible — he jumped from the casino's top floor and landed right in front of .
Chips scattered everywhere.
He was dead.
Right before my eyes.
Countless security guards sward out and surrounded his body. They said Dad had been cheating, refused to admit it, and even tried to escape by jumping off the building with stolen chips that didn't belong to him...
Jumping to escape. I'd never imagined life had pushed him that far.
In that mont, my world collapsed.
And on that sa day, my ailing grandfather beca my entire world.
He told
this was all fate. His luck had been bad, and it had dragged Dad down with him. He knew life in this family was suffocating and had actually wanted to die long ago. But he was afraid his son would lose his father, so he didn't dare die — couldn't bear to die.
Now he dared even less, because I was still so young. A little girl couldn't survive alone in a city this big.
And so, the old man who had always lain bedridden carried
through a strange city and sohow managed to scrape by.
We lived in an alley not far from the casino, surviving on handouts from gamblers who'd won big.
Every day, Grandpa would carve characters into the wall — recording the gamblers who gave us money. He said gambling was wicked, but people's hearts leaned toward good. One thing was one thing; as long as you were alive, you must never forget the hands that were once extended to you.
Grandpa didn't know their nas. He could only note what they looked like — long overcoat, yellow blouse, pleated skirt... Over ti, the alley walls were covered, and the writing even beca a gimmick the casino used to attract custors.
Every gambler passing by would toss Grandpa a lucky coin for good fortune. Under those circumstances, life improved a little.
But not that much. Because Grandpa was fading.
In the days before he passed, he t the person who pulled
out of that sea of misery.
The man was also a gambler — a high roller, in fact.
He frequented that casino, and every ti he showed up, soone was waiting to receive him personally.
One day he noticed Grandpa begging at the entrance and sat with him for a while.
Grandpa, riddled with illness, had figured out so pain managent techniques after years of being sick. The man seed to have sothing wrong with him too. He watched Grandpa for quite a while, found it useful, and rewarded him with a single chip.
It wasn't until casino staff ca to exchange it — all smiles and courtesy — that we learned a single chip was worth a hundred thousand yuan. That the security guards could be pleasant after all.
For a city drowning in luxury, it was a modest sum. But for Grandpa and , alone in the world, it was staggering. So much money it was frightening.
Grandpa's conscience wouldn't rest. He wanted to return it. But when they t again, the man simply said:
'Think of it as the last thing your son won for you. Casino money — what's there to return?
Losing isn't frightening. Being unable to lose — that's frightening.
The casino was in the wrong here.'
Only then did we learn he had been one of the witnesses that day. That Dad hadn't cheated at all. He'd simply won too much...
Fate truly smiled on us — but abandoned us on the very sa day.
Before long, the man gambled the casino into ruin and 'returned' half the money to Grandpa.
But Grandpa didn't take it. He didn't dare. He donated everything and kept only enough for my schooling. He enrolled
in school, and then said his goodbye to this world.
From that day on, I 'inherited' everything from Grandpa.
I'm grateful to everyone who's been kind to , and I want to repay every person who's ever helped.
No matter how much suffering there is, I want to listen to him — and be soone useful."
Nangong wept.
Suffering had never let her go, but she had found a way to triumph over it.
Cheng Shi's expression softened. He departed in silence.
Nangong's strength was sufficient to protect her vulnerability. What she needed now wasn't comfort — it was a quiet space to tend her wounds.
After leaving the Fire Passing Hall, Cheng Shi didn't imdiately summon the soon-to-be successors. Instead, in the final hours while Decay still drew breath, he petitioned for one last audience with Decay.
Decay agreed.
When Cheng Shi's figure appeared before the god — now little more than a heap of disintegrating, sand-like bones — he heard Him leave the world His last syllables of Decay.
"I... am Decay...
You... who are you..."
Cheng Shi's expression was complex. "The sovereign of the era. The destination of Void. Deceit."
Decay was like a dying old man. He seed to have lost the clarity to judge.
"You... are Deceit...
Why do you carry... my Authority..."
"Only when the world returns to Void does the true curtain fall. Your Authority rests in
— you should find comfort in that.
Decay, what's done is done. I won't judge whether your choices were right or wrong. But I'm telling you — the old era is about to end. If you want Decay's Will to still resonate in the new one, then leave behind your Authority and your Divine Throne. Go.
You've done enough for Him. It's ti to think about the future Decay."
The bones crumbled away. The voice grew ever more hoarse.
"You... are not Deceit...
You are Cheng Shi... a mortal..."
Cheng Shi shook his head, his gaze inscrutable:
"I am no mortal. I am... Origin.
Trust . Draw near. I will grant Decay's Will continuation, and give the new Decay... legitimacy."
His words had barely settled before bone scattered into sand.
Decay fell — completely, irrevocably.
The black blood of the Septic Final Tomb ceased its dripping at last. It pooled calmly in the lake, as if waiting for the arrival of the next era's Benefactor.
...
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