After Prosperity ca Death.
When Zhang Jizu stood before Cheng Shi with his hands clasped behind his back, it was actually Cheng Shi who broke the silence with a smile.
"Your Lordship got along well with Silence, sure, but since when did you and Silence get this close?
The Prisoner couldn't have taught you this, could he?"
Zhang Jizu squinted at Cheng Shi for a long ti — until the smile on Cheng Shi's face was on the verge of cracking — before he spoke earnestly.
"Suppressing emotions will only drive a person mad. If you could actually let yourself have a good cry, the rest of us would feel more at ease.
But right now... the harder you force your smile, the more unhinged you'll beco later."
"..."
Cheng Shi couldn't bring himself to et those eyes that saw through the heart. He turned his head aside.
"Doctor Zhang, do you really have to hold a consultation right now?
Besides, you're not even a doctor. How dare you hand out diagnoses?"
Zhang Jizu's gaze didn't waver. He continued:
"I'm certainly no doctor. I just happen to be a Priest — and, like a certain soone, also a Clown. I also happen to have been blessed by both Death and Deceit. So putting myself in your shoes, I can more or less guess what the Clown is thinking."
"Then you must know Long Jing very well."
"I know you better." Zhang Jizu sighed. "Don't do anything reckless. You can live. At least you have a future—"
Before he could finish, Cheng Shi's voice dropped, cutting him off.
"I'm already dead. And there is no future. Mi Laozhang, you're talking a bit too much today."
Zhang Jizu was quiet for a while. "That's not very steady."
Cheng Shi let out a laugh — half scoff, half self-deprecation.
"When you think sothing isn't steady, has it occurred to you that maybe your version of steady is outdated?"
Zhang Jizu said nothing more. In his mind, he thought:
'I hope so. Perhaps so. It must be so.'
'Let's hope his version of steady really has kept up with the tis...'
Seeing the other fall silent, Cheng Shi went quiet too. He had already witnessed one farewell from Death. He never imagined the second would co so soon.
He looked at Zhang Jizu and noticed sothing hidden behind his back.
"What's that?"
Zhang Jizu said nothing, producing a small skull from behind him. Cheng Shi recognized it, rembered the past, and chuckled in spite of himself. "What, you want
to take the bla again?"
"Wanted to remind you — overthinking only adds to your troubles. Like this skull. Having no brain isn't so bad.
But it seems I'm the one overthinking.
Cheng Shi, just be yourself. You know — the Jokers will always have your back."
With that, Zhang Jizu squinted both eyes shut, turned to the throne that had been assembled from two fragnts, and erupted into a torrent of pale bones that surged into the throne. He didn't give Cheng Shi even a mont to say goodbye.
A stroke of deathly white painted the blueprint. The throne moved one step closer to completion.
Cheng Shi opened his mouth, expression suddenly lost, but in the end he slowly swallowed the words he'd ant to say.
The Void sank into darkness again. A thick aura of decay began to spread.
Decay had arrived.
Nangong was no longer the girl she used to be. And Cheng Shi no longer had the heart to tease his friends.
Everyone was changing. The only constants were the convictions within each heart.
She walked up to him. Her first words brought bad news.
"Poison, she..."
Cheng Shi's smile went rigid. Amid farewell after farewell, he had nearly forgotten — after Death, the next wasn't Decay. It was Corruption.
Nangong's eyes dimd as well. "She didn't want everyone to see her off. She went back into the Sea of Desire. She didn't want anyone to worry. She was smiling when she left."
Silence hung for a ti.
Cheng Shi offered no response. Nangong naturally didn't push further. She knew this was agonizing to face. But she believed Cheng Shi could overco it — believed in him even more than she believed in herself. She knew Cheng Shi would lead the world to a future. Whatever kind of future it was. She might not understand it, but she trusted that Cheng Shi's choice would always be better than her own.
It was hard to believe — but it seed only Decay felt that everything was getting better.
With that thought, Nangong spoke from the heart. "I've finally earned the right to be worthy of this Divine Throne. Cheng Shi, thank you."
Cheng Shi was smiling. It felt almost vengeful — as though he were cramming every lost smile into this single day, giving them all back to his friends.
"Your resilience and courage have always been your own throne.
Nangong, thank you, too."
"There's nothing to thank
for. But if you insist — oh, right." Nangong suddenly unclasped the Pendant from her neck and held it out. "This is a Lucky Tree Branch. It brings good fortune. I know Fate watches over you and luck follows, but you can never have too much luck. Besides, I won't need it anymore."
Before she could finish, Cheng Shi produced an almost identical branch of his own. It was the one Tao Yi had given him. She had once said the third branch went to another friend — and that friend was Nangong.
Nangong blinked, and a radiant smile broke across her face. "So all the luck really is with you."
Cheng Shi nodded. "Keep it. In the future, it will bring you luck too."
Nangong pulled it back, eyes bright with anticipation. "I still have a future?"
"Of course. Do you trust ?"
"Mm. I've always trusted you."
"You have a future. Everyone has a future. We will all et again."
Nangong gazed toward the distant Void, then at the throne beside her, and nodded with a smile. "Then... see you in the future?"
"...See you... in the future."
The mont the aura of decay was ripped from the Void in an instant, Cheng Shi bowed his head. He knew he hated farewells — he just never imagined he would hate them this much.
He also knew he hated the Origin — but he hadn't imagined he would hate himself this much either.
Before long, the Scavenger arrived.
This ti, the scene wasn't quite as sorrowful. Mo Shu stood like an actor about to take the stage, staring straight at the throne, his mind elsewhere as he asked:
"This is the stage?"
Cheng Shi nodded. "Rember what I told you?"
"I do. Where's my script?"
"The show's undergone so changes. You probably won't see the script until you're onstage. But the three rules still hold — and right now is still part of the performance.
So get ready to take the stage, Pastry Chef."
Mo Shu's expression was complicated. He didn't know how to articulate what he was feeling. He was only mired in the aning of Oblivion — but he wasn't stupid. Whether Oblivion's aning was hidden in there was debatable, but Death... definitely was.
So was this opening Oblivion's door, or walking into Death's grave?
He took one last look at Cheng Shi. "Are you lying to , Fate Weaver?"
Cheng Shi smiled. "What do you think?"
Mo Shu paused, recalling everything — recalling the ti he had sought death yet didn't die — and shook his head. "I trust you. Otherwise I wouldn't have made it here today.
Then let's not waste ti. You have many friends. Unfortunately, I'm not one of them."
As Mo Shu's words faded, the blueprint completed its march from Life through Descent.
The throne was now one-third assembled. The divine power sparking around it was gradually taking on color.
If Grand Scholar Selius were present, he would have cheered at this sight. The Divinity Germination he had pursued his entire life had finally succeeded in this mont — only the faith resonance now wasn't born from "the sa self," but from "he is Cheng Shi." That trustworthy Cheng Shi.
The drear yearned for a lifeti; the achiever felt no joy.
Cheng Shi would rather not have this power. He didn't want to draw close to the Origin. But he could only beco the Origin.
Because only then would he have a chance to keep his friends "alive."
...
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