But before attending the gathering, he had one more thing to do—the cheating issue he'd discussed with Hong Lin on the phone.
He needed to get his hands on the ntal-strength item before the eting, so he could attend the unknown performance ard to the teeth with backup plans.
And so, today, Cheng Shi prepared to launch his Wish Trial.
Early that morning he sat at the rooftop's edge, enjoying breakfast at leisure while scrolling through chat channel ssages as digital entertainnt to accompany the al.
To keep gathering intelligence, he still maintained his [Fate] faith disguise. After burning through a few more masks, Cheng Shi was fairly confident the prophecy's effects had dissipated. Not completely, but True Heart True Intention had climbed back into the Ladder of Ascent's top ten, and other Chosen Ones had gradually returned as well.
To keep pace with peak players, Cheng Shi had spent these past few days deliberately building preliminary impressions of each faith's current Chosen One.
[Birth] needed no introduction. Hu Xuan's Night Curtain Spring Whistle was still sitting in his spatial storage, and every ti he saw it, his brain auto-played that spine-tingling "Co."
[Prosperity] hardly needed discussion either. Big Cat was arguably the biggest winner from the last trial—aside from his Benefactor [Fate] Himself.
[Death]'s Chosen One had been "Cetery Managent" before he dropped in rank. He'd been stuck around the thirties and forties on the Ladder of Ascent for a while with no movent, and nobody knew what he was up to.
[Corruption]'s Chosen One was called Poison. Cheng Shi suspected he might know this person, because shortly after the ga's descent, he'd been matched with a female player who called herself Poison—a [Corruption] assassin who'd left an extrely deep impression. Their encounter had actually preceded the trial where he'd t the Grand Marshal, Hu Wei, making Poison the first Chosen One Cheng Shi had ever encountered—though she hadn't held the title back then.
[Decay]'s Chosen One was Lin Xi—a na he'd only recently heard. This Plague Cardinal who'd walked on foot to the Septic Final Tomb had originally been Big Cat's greatest rival. But now... he could only pray for his own safety.
[Oblivion]'s Chosen One was very low-profile, with scant information. But they were probably a Scavenger. Cheng Shi had picked up a few words about this person from Hu Wei, who'd called them "a janitor." Among [Oblivion]'s professions, only the warrior class Scavenger fit that description.
[Order]'s Chosen One had mountains of intel. Cheng Shi had even seen his work résumé posted in the mage channel. His na was Mo Li—an Arbiter—reportedly the consensus pick for the Faith Ga's best support player.
[Truth]'s Chosen One had no na, only a serial number: "0221." Strangely, despite being an Erudite Scholar, his ntions in the mage channel were extrely rare.
[War]'s standard-bearer was his "generous" big brother Hu Wei. Not much more to say.
[Chaos] remained as mysterious as ever. All three faiths' Chosen Ones were seldom ntioned. But from Hong Lin, Cheng Shi did learn the na of the [Silence] Chosen One: The Prisoner.
As for [Existence] and [Void]—aside from the [Ti] Chosen One "Lao Deng" being sowhat mysterious, Cheng Shi basically knew the rest.
These sixteen people might not be the strongest in the ga, but they were certainly the most aligned with Their will—and the ones he needed to be most wary of going forward.
'I just wonder how long it'll be before I beco one of those sixteen... and who the unlucky soul I squeeze out will be.'
Stop!
'Nah—better not jinx it. If I fail to climb and end up eating my words, that'd be way too clownish.'
Cheng Shi shook his head with an amused smile. His eyes filtered through streams of ssages as he finished his breakfast. But just as he was about to stand, his gaze drifted involuntarily to the opposite rooftop.
Xie Yang had vanished again. Or rather, since their last encounter, he'd been gone for an entire week.
His routine over the past couple of weeks had been peculiar. He'd pop up briefly each ti, always wearing a contented smile, chat for barely two sentences, and disappear again—leaving Cheng Shi deeply curious about how the girl downstairs was keeping him entertained.
But a few days ago, the girl downstairs had vanished too. Cheng Shi noticed that the window in that residential unit—the one that was always pushed open—hadn't been opened again. Not only that, it was now spattered with flecks of blood.
Cheng Shi's imagination conjured an indescribable romantic drama. He badly wanted to ask Xie Yang if his guess was right, but since discovering all this, Xie Yang hadn't shown his face.
This follower of [War] had beco even more mysterious.
"Well, if I want to think positive about it—maybe it wasn't the girl who died, but Xie Yang?"
"That way no one was actually hurt, and my neighbor's disappearance would be explained. Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds?"
Lost in these thoughts, he laughed out loud.
Once all preparations were complete, Cheng Shi's expression turned serious. He produced the Die of Fate and began his prayer.
"Cannot distinguish true from false, nor discern void from real."
"Your devout follower prays to You—open a trial..."
"A trial of [Prosperity] that is extrely short, absolutely safe, and easy to clear!"
He'd prayed for this type of trial once before, long ago—only without specifying a particular deity.
Even back then, he'd already been testing every loophole in the Faith Ga. The reason for praying for these "speedrun" trials was simply to farm so resources. But the Faith Ga had apparently anticipated this, because such trials were invariably absurd—either a day-long wilderness sightseeing tour, or a one-day excursion through the Grand Tribunal's city dungeon, and so on. All utterly worthless trials where you couldn't scavenge a single thing.
Aside from wasting ti, they were completely useless.
But this ti was different. He had soone on the inside. Even if it was just a day of idle wandering, he could still get what he wanted.
'Now that's satisfying to think about.'
But what Cheng Shi absolutely did not expect was this: when he closed his eyes with a smile on his lips, the ssage that appeared before him wasn't quite what he'd prayed for:
[Wish Trial (Born Equal: [Birth]) has been initiated]
[Matching teammates (1/6)]
[Trial Objective: Every life has the equal right to be born, even if it should not have been born. (Ti Limit: 7 days)]
'Hold on—what?'
'WHAT???'
Cheng Shi was dumbstruck. Staring at the scarlet characters "[Birth]" in his field of vision, his heart lurched and his legs clenched together instinctively.
'I prayed for a [Prosperity] trial! How did it turn into [Birth]!?'
'What's going on here!?'
'Great Benefactor—did You do this on purpose? Or did You do this on purpose?'
'Are You kidding ? We just said He wanted to et , and You send
straight to Him?'
'Could You maybe consult the person in question before making decisions!?'
"..."
'Though honestly, it has been a while since I was matched into one of His trials. The last [Birth] trial was that solo leftovers dungeon three months ago.'
[Birth]'s followers, in their zeal to make offerings to their Benefactor, often did things that were unfathomable—or downright unwatchable. Cheng Shi only hoped that in this trial, he wouldn't encounter too many of His followers. That way, perhaps he'd still have a chance to avoid becoming a father... or a mother.
'It probably just changed [Prosperity] to [Birth], right?'
'They couldn't have changed all my other stipulations too.'
'If You're really that heartless, then don't bla
for using a mask next ti I pray for a trial...'
'Sigh—what even is my life.'
Cheng Shi's face went dark. His body vanished from the spot.
[Match successful (6/6) — Entering trial]
...
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