anwhile.
While Cheng Shi was "saying goodbye" to Big Cat, the entirety of Dolgod roared into motion.
As the prison's sole prisoner and its nominal master, Aph Ros now had no say whatsoever over what happened to Dolgod.
All He could do, under Miss Sun's protection, was watch helplessly as the gods transford His cage. What they intended to turn this place into, no one knew — because the experint was already underway.
After transcending mortality and ascending to godhood, the Doctor's talents were finally free of the constraints of laboratory equipnt and facilities. The Ritual of Truth reached its full potential in his hands. He was utilizing the knotted ti of this place to ceaselessly search for the mont that could evade the Origin's gaze.
The Dragon King and Long Jing were helping. Galusha was sparing no effort either.
Everyone else was busy too — so left, so gathered, but all were working toward the world's future in their own way.
Qin Xin, the Prisoner, and Nangong were the first to depart. They left Dolgod imdiately after Cheng Shi. What the Torchbearers intended to do was anyone's guess, but An Mingyu had a suspicion.
The three remaining Destined Ones drew together instinctively. The Blind One watched Qin Xin's receding silhouette with visible concern.
"Qin Xin... I'm afraid he has other ideas."
Li Wufang blinked. "What kind of ideas?"
"The return of his original self has rekindled the fire in his heart. Having worked with him this long, I know well that he isn't soone who likes to endure in silence. He's held back because he had no choice — he carries the hopes of two Qin Xins on his shoulders, the future of the Torchbearers, the expectation of protecting Fixed Destiny and saving the world. So he endured.
But now that he has a fallback — no, now that he has soone to lean on, a new hope — will he keep enduring?
He IS War. The beast forged in blood and fire harbors war's savagery within. He used to lock everything inside, unable to vent. But now... the ti to unleash may have co."
Li Wufang and Tao Yi understood, but that didn't an they could guess where Qin Xin had gone. Both had their own concerns weighing on them, and they didn't dwell long on the Torchbearers' affairs.
Tao Yi was fighting through the grief of parting, over and over, trying to convince herself to accept everything.
When Cheng Shi had left to say goodbye to Hong Lin, she hadn't even dared follow. She didn't want to lose Hong Lin, of course — but the universe couldn't afford to lose Prosperity either. If she wasn't strong enough, it could very well doom Fixed Destiny's mission to save the world and rob it of a future. Worse, it might make Hong Lin's departure aningless.
She couldn't accept that outco. So she had to suppress her grief and beco stronger.
Li Wufang's mind was in turmoil too. As the embodint of Order — the faith that craved universal order above all else — one concern had never left his thoughts:
Corruption!
He had never forgotten how Order died. And it wasn't just Order — War, Deceit, the Sin of Desirelessness... every god that had entered the Sea of Desire had t a terrible end.
So things hadn't been laid on the table, but that didn't an no one harbored theories.
To Li Wufang, the Sea of Desire was the single biggest ticking bomb in the universe!
With the future approaching and a new order on the horizon, he had to help the universe defuse this bomb. Even if it couldn't be defused, at minimum they needed to understand how it worked — so it never detonated again as it had in this era.
But he knew there was a very real chance he wouldn't co back. So after much deliberation, he ca clean with the Destined Ones.
"I want to go to the Sea of Desire."
"!!??"
Tao Yi and An Mingyu stared in shock. Before they could voice their refusal, Li Wufang continued:
"Like A Dream's return inspired . Soone has to do these things.
Don't panic. And don't tell the boss about this yet. This isn't a rash decision — I've thought it through carefully.
I know the universe needs Order, but I'm not the only candidate for Order.
Mo Li and Fang Yuan both drew close to Fixed Destiny, and both carried Order in their hearts. If I die in the Sea of Desire, at least Order will have successors. Right?"
Wrong. Absolutely wrong!
Even if Order had a contingency, they had already lost one Destined One. The Wood Elf and the Prophet could not accept losing another.
Seeing the worry on their faces, Li Wufang reassured them with a cheerful grin.
"I don't want to die either. I want to follow the boss, to walk alongside the Destined Ones, alongside everyone, and witness the future together. But sobody has to do this!
The Sea of Desire is too bizarre and too unstable. We can't carry an old era's festering wound into a new age.
It's decided. You two — keep my secret!"
With that, Li Wufang vanished from Dolgod's courtyard.
At the sa ti, by sheer coincidence, the Jokers were discussing the very sa subject.
During a previous Joker Society eting, they had debated this issue. Long Jing had even offered an outrageously bold hypothesis: that the Origin might be hiding within the Sea of Desire!
The theory was too extre and had quickly been dropped. But today in Dolgod, in Long Jing's absence, the topic resurfaced.
With Existence helping Truth's experint, the Jokers' little side-eting beca an intimate council among Zhang Jizu and the Zhen sisters.
The ever-steady Mi Laozhang voiced his concern. He, too, believed the problems of the Sea of Desire and Corruption had to be resolved now — they couldn't be left for the day the future arrived. He proposed scouting the way himself. Under the protection of Death's power, he might be able to survive — but all of it would require Deceit's cover, or the mission would be impossible.
He hadn't even finished the proposal before Zhen Yi shut it down.
"If Death could truly survive the Sea of Desire, why do you think Deceit never invited Death to go sightseeing inside when He was still around?
Didn't find it appealing?"
"..." Mi Laozhang was left speechless.
Of course he knew Death couldn't survive either. But precisely because death was inescapable there, he believed he was the most suitable candidate — because he WAS Death.
He owed it to the Will his Benefactor left behind, owed it to the Divine Na he carried, and owed it to the words he had once spoken:
Before he himself died, no god would fall.
Yet before the Zhen sisters, Mi Laozhang had absolutely no say.
Zhen Xin smiled at the two of them and said, in the calst tone imaginable:
"Death, mory, Ti, Deceit — none of them can be risked. Truth is occupied with the experint, so that's out too. That makes
the most suitable.
I'll go.
Under Chaos, there are still Hu Wei and Da Yi. Even though those two have no attachnt to this world, there's no denying they're still viable successors.
Besides — getting to walk this far alongside everyone, getting to see my little Yi Yi from this perspective... I'm already more than content..."
Zhen Xin looked at Zhen Yi, who was perched on her shoulder. But Zhen Yi bolted upright, all traces of playfulness gone, and shook her head with fierce resolve.
"No! Absolutely not!"
"No! Absolutely not!"
It wasn't just Zhen Yi. An Mingyu had sohow overheard Zhen Xin's voice and was already walking over, shaking her head with unwavering determination.
"I know what you're all thinking. The Sea of Desire does need to be investigated. But I don't think anyone has to risk their lives for it.
I've inherited Fate now. I could use prophecy to—"
"You are NOT allowed to prophesy!" x4
A collective Prophet-related PTSD erupted. Among the Jokers and Destined Ones present, four pairs of eyes as sharp as a hawk's talons locked onto An Mingyu simultaneously, "pinning" her hands in place.
At this point, if An Mingyu so much as produced a single Dice, forget about Cheng Shi — everyone here would lose their minds.
What if the Origin truly was hiding inside the Sea of Desire? Who could fill Fate's position then?
Anyone could go, but prophecy was absolutely off the table!
An Mingyu, all of Fate's power rendered useless, could only press her lips together and sigh.
"You're too late. Order has already left."
"!!!"
...
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