Cheng Shi sent the Dragon King to gather all the friends who had inherited — and hadn't yet inherited — their Divine Thrones, while he himself dragged a bone-deep weariness ahead to Dolgod.
He had finally returned to the place that had once lifted the curtain on the gods' secrets for him, and once again he saw the good brother who had been waiting for his return all along — Aph Ros.
He looked exactly the sa as ever. A black robe inlaid with gold and silver moonlight draped like the night sky, framing that face of sacred purity intertwined with desire — a face luminous as the moon.
He leaned against the doorfra, watching Cheng Shi approach, His smile complicated.
"My brother — should I thank you for still rembering
after you've gained the universe?"
Cheng Shi walked up close. He could feel that Aph Ros's desire was no longer brazen, that those bright eyes no longer coveted. A fleeting pang of emotion washed over him before he quickly returned to calm.
"You know everything already?"
"Hard not to.
The Void Era certainly exceeded my expectations — no, I should say it shattered my understanding entirely.
In a remarkably short ti, I t not only several new gods, but also the newly appointed warden... He found my existence quite fascinating. Unfortunately, not in that way.
If they hadn't all carried Authority, I might have thought you'd reclaid everything and were pretending to be them just to toy with .
If only that were the case. I think I could die content in such a beautiful dream.
But reality is too cruel. They are who they are, and their interest in that girl far exceeds their interest in .
As expected — mortal or divine, once you step into Ti's trap, you'll sooner or later beco yesterday's news.
You've... co for her too?"
Cheng Shi wanted to muster a smile, but his face had turned terribly stiff. Expressionless, he looked at Aph Ros and told a "kind" lie.
"I ca for you."
Aph Ros froze. Then delight crept up to His brow, moonlight brightened, petals fell and robes slipped — He wanted to burst through the door, but stopped Himself just in ti, catching His sliding robe and leaning back against the door fra.
He rembered what the newly appointed warden had told Him: as long as He didn't use Corruption to pollute Yu Xi, there was a chance He would be granted freedom.
Though freedom held little aning for Him now. His mother, Birth, had beco Miss Sun...
While Miss Sun had indeed once been His mother, having the moon bow beneath the sun felt wrong. This was not the paradise of joyful descent He envisioned — and on this point at least, He did not feel joyful at all.
So His "concession" wasn't for freedom — He simply saw that Yu Xi had a reason he couldn't avoid going to find that girl.
Aph Ros studied Cheng Shi's expressionless face and exhaled in a soft, lingering sigh.
"This is exactly why I wanted to build a paradise. People carry too much, live in too much pain. Why can't everyone follow their hearts and embrace joy?"
Cheng Shi was silent for a mont. "I'd like that too. But I don't have a choice."
Aph Ros's expression shifted. He bit His lip, as though steeling Himself, and took the risk of saying: "You can choose, my brother. Starting now, let everything go. Let sorrow fall away, and let joy rise."
Let everything go?
'You an — after Deceit has laid plans spanning an entire era, after the Fear Faction willingly paid the price of self-destruction to clear the stage — you want
to let everything go?'
'Or — after witnessing countless worlds crumble and be erased, after countless versions of Cheng Shi reached out their hands to lift
forward — you want
to let everything go?'
'Or — when all my friends trust , believe I can lead this world to a future under the Origin's gaze — you want
to let everything go?'
No.
'I can't let go.'
Even though none of this brought him joy, letting go would certainly bring no joy either.
Cheng Shi looked into Aph Ros's eyes — tinged with sothing close to pity — and shook his head. "That wouldn't be my joy."
He dropped the matter and asked instead, "Where is she?"
Aph Ros closed His eyes, no longer looking at Cheng Shi.
"In your courthouse. Go find her."
Cheng Shi strode past the door without pause. As he brushed shoulders with Aph Ros, he didn't slow, leaving behind only one sentence:
"I'm sorry. I never found Tria's killer."
Aph Ros opened His eyes at the sound but didn't turn around. He stood staring at the full moon hanging over Dolgod's horizon, murmuring to Himself:
"My faith demands lies, so I spoke a lie to you. I embraced my own desire, then used it to draw closer to Corruption as a show of sincerity.
Ha. What beautiful words.
He drew close again — no, twice more.
This era wasn't exactly boring, but it was far too absurd. Those words are probably the finest thing to co of it. Let the next era hurry up and begin.
No matter who he is, I still hope to et him again in the next era. My brother..."
...
Dolgod. The Honesty Court.
Even though Cheng Shi's heart had been weathered by too much to show any emotion easily, upon seeing those enormous characters on the signboard, his eyelid still twitched.
He stepped inside. Before him lay a massive experint ground resembling a sandbox, clearly simulating the terrain of the Land of Hope.
Cheng Shi understood imdiately. Zhen Xin had definitely been here already, and had discussed with Galusha the things Deceit had left behind in the Temple of Chaos.
He scanned the sandbox. Galusha was nowhere in sight, but her voice reached him first.
"Had your reunion with your good brother?
I thought you two would spend more ti together. After all, the way He misses you reminds
of Pe Laya — back before she'd joined the Erudition Presidium."
Galusha walked out from behind the sandbox with a smile, looking slightly taken aback by Cheng Shi's blank expression before quipping, "Looks like the moon will be heartbroken tonight."
Cheng Shi glanced at her, ignoring the nonsense, and said flatly:
"Since you've t them, you must have guessed why I'm here."
"Of course I know." Galusha seed entirely unsurprised. She smiled. "From the mont I slipped out of your so-called Trial, I knew I'd beco a contingency piece and a backup.
Let
tell you sothing you don't know — I've t Him."
Cheng Shi's brow furrowed. "Who?"
"Deceit.
After that Trial, He summoned
and told
to stay alive — alive until the mont you needed .
I believe now is that mont.
So, Mr. Prisoner — have all your Folly friends t with accidents?"
"..."
Galusha clearly knew quite a lot. Hardly surprising — anyone who had t all those new gods would have noticed things, and her being a follower of Folly only made it more obvious.
But to bring this traveler from the Land of Hope up to speed with everyone else, Cheng Shi laid out in full detail the current state of affairs facing the universe, every truth about the Creator's Experint, and said at the very end:
"You still have the right to refuse. I can't guarantee what lies ahead, and becoming a god is far from the glory mortals imagine.
Mortals have no control over their lives. Gods... are no different."
...
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