The Void.
When Cheng Shi found the Prisoner, the Ascetic Monk was standing in the Void, head tilted back, gazing at sothing. The surroundings were utterly quiet, exactly like the domain of Silence.
Anyone who had been granted an audience with Silence would have no trouble understanding the Prisoner's posture — to look directly at that colossal Leaking World Silent Puppet, one truly did have to crane their neck upward.
The problem was, there was no Leaking World Silent Puppet in front of the Prisoner. Boss Death had said that Silence had already departed alongside Ti. So what exactly was the Prisoner staring at in this empty expanse of Void?
Cheng Shi drew closer, but the Prisoner showed no reaction. He didn't even spare a sideways glance — he simply stood there, motionless, staring straight at the place where the Leaking World Silent Puppet had once existed.
In that mont, Cheng Shi felt a pang of empathy.
He never would have guessed that the Prisoner was the one who found it hardest to let his Benefactor go. Perhaps many couldn't bear to see their Benefactors leave, but few would express that sentint as openly as the Prisoner...
Even though Silence had been gone for a long ti, the Prisoner still stood here, refusing to leave.
But then again, who wanted them to go?
Cheng Shi sighed softly. "Prisoner, the old days are gone. It's our turn to take the stage now. You..."
The Prisoner didn't move a muscle.
"..."
Cheng Shi thought for a mont. Out of respect for Silence, he chose to stand alongside the Prisoner for a while.
After all, Silence had shouldered an era's worth of secrets for the Fear Faction and had, at every critical vote, stood firmly behind Fixed Destiny. A proper send-off was the least they could do.
But to his surprise, the mont Cheng Shi fell silent, the Prisoner beca restless instead. He began frantically signaling to Cheng Shi with his eyes.
Yet Cheng Shi was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him, facing forward, his mind drifting with scattered thoughts — he hadn't noticed the Prisoner's gestures at all.
The Prisoner grew anxious. He lunged in front of Cheng Shi, his face full of indignation.
"Brother-in-law, did you do that on purpose?"
"?"
Cheng Shi had long since resigned himself to the issue of what the Prisoner called him. Seeing the Prisoner suddenly snap out of that emotional state, he assud the man had made peace with it and chuckled softly.
"Not really. We should at least see Him off."
"See Him off?
More like you're trying to see
off!
Do you have any idea how long I've been standing here to win this ga?
You weren't even here from the start — what gives you the right to join halfway through?"
"???"
The Prisoner was fuming. Cheng Shi was utterly bewildered.
Wait — what ga?
He looked at the Prisoner, then back at the spot where the Leaking World Silent Puppet had once stood, his face stunned. "You're... playing a ga?"
"Obviously!"
"With... whom?"
"With my Benefactor — who else?
Na one other deity who can go this long without speaking!"
Cheng Shi's expression shifted. His pupils contracted sharply. "You and your Benefactor — is Silence still here?"
He stepped around the Prisoner and peered into the Void, but it was utterly empty. There was no trace of Silence anywhere.
The Prisoner was still nodding.
"Of course.
My Benefactor suddenly summoned , handed
a Silent Puppet, and then vanished into the Void.
Being the sharp mind that I am, I imdiately grasped His intent and joined this ga of 'whoever moves first loses.'
You knew I always want to chat with you — yet you chose THIS mont to co find . Tell
— did my Benefactor send you here specifically to make
lose?"
"...?"
For a mont, Cheng Shi's mind was in utter chaos.
'Are you kidding ...
I thought you were standing here motionless out of sorrow over Silence's departure — and now you're telling
you've been playing a ga with thin air?'
'Prisoner, oh, Prisoner — has your brain been silenced too?
How else did you beco as surreal as Old ng?!'
'No, wait — he was always surreal.'
Cheng Shi fell silent again. In that mont, he felt the Prisoner had practically inherited the Authority of Silence already.
Cheng Shi even wondered whether the Prisoner might be using this absurd performance to deceive him — that he actually missed his Benefactor terribly but was putting on an act as though Silence had never left.
But looking into the Prisoner's clear, guileless eyes, Cheng Shi decided he was overthinking it.
The man was simply surreal by nature.
"..."
Cheng Shi's mood had been thoroughly derailed. He took a deep breath and told the Prisoner, with utmost seriousness, that Silence had left.
The Prisoner blinked, glanced back over his shoulder, and suddenly laughed. "No wonder He didn't dare show Himself — turns out He sneaked off! Ha — does that an I won?"
"..."
Cheng Shi was defeated. Utterly, unconditionally defeated.
He spent so ti reorganizing his emotions and gathering his words before speaking again.
"Prisoner, stop fooling yourself. Silence has left this starry sky and gone out into the Real Universe. He left the universe's silence to you..."
"..." The Prisoner's smile vanished in an instant. He turned away for a mont, then said, "Why? Is it because there are no good people here either?
But everyone here is actually quite decent."
"..."
Hearing this, a complicated smile — a tempest of emotions — pulled at Cheng Shi's face.
"Everyone IS quite decent, and there are plenty of good people here.
But other places have far too few. He wanted to go help — to go to the places where good people are scarce and lend a hand to those lonely souls.
That's a wonderful thing, isn't it? This way, there will be good people everywhere. There will be hope everywhere.
You are part of His hope, too."
The Prisoner clearly agreed with that. A smile blossod across his face once more. He turned back around and gave Cheng Shi's shoulder a hearty slap.
"That's my brother-in-law for you — always sees things so clearly!
Gone is gone. Everyone has to leave soti. Granny already taught
that lesson.
Anyway — what did you co to find
for?
I'm not stupid. Sothing big must have happened in the universe, and you need
to handle it. Go ahead — did you and my sister get into another fight?"
"..."
Cheng Shi's smile couldn't even survive a full minute on his face. He directly bestowed the Authority and the Divine Throne of Silence upon the Prisoner, and then pulled out the Dyeing Container.
Cheng Shi knew that the seemingly unreliable Prisoner was actually very much worth trusting — otherwise, his own contingency during the False Curtain Call wouldn't have activated. Since that was the case, there was no need to waste more words on this headache-inducing Silence.
By now, the Dyeing Container had been dyed by Oblivion and had transford into a cyclic hourglass — two celestial bodies inverted against each other, one collapsing while the other reconstructed. The Prisoner stared at the hourglass for a mont and said:
"The Silent Puppet He gave
seems a bit like this..."
"Dye it. Then shut up."
"..."
The Prisoner clearly wanted to say more, but seeing how serious Cheng Shi's expression was, he took care of business first.
When the Container had been dyed into a blank, rigid puppet hourglass, Cheng Shi said nothing further. He stowed the Container and left imdiately, dropping a single sentence behind him:
"The era is ending. Be ready. Wait for
to co find you."
The Prisoner stood in the Void, feeling the true power of Silence coursing through him. He gazed off in the direction his brother-in-law had departed and mused:
"Is it my turn to keep the universe's secrets now?
Don't worry, brother-in-law. I've got a plan."
...
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