After hearing Cheng Shi's effortless lie, Zhang Jizu widened his eyes slightly. He smiled helplessly to himself, recalling the scene in the Fishbone Hall when his Benefactor had summoned him.
"I... made... a deal... with [Deceit]."
"The contents... you... need not know."
"After this... audience... you will return... and pray to Him... for a trial."
"Then... during the trial... try your best... to keep... a certain follower of His... alive."
Zhang Jizu, transford into a skull, stared at his Benefactor in disbelief and asked:
"[Deceit] made a deal with You... to protect one of His followers?"
The green fla in the massive skull's eye socket upon the Bone Throne flickered, then gave a heavy "Mm."
Upon receiving the affirmative, Zhang Jizu imdiately thought of one person—Zhen Xin!
Only she—only the Chosen One of [Deceit]—could possibly warrant a True God's personal intervention.
Had she... no, had that unreliable sister of hers gotten her into trouble again?
Trouble so dire that it required True Gods to communicate between themselves to resolve?
But if the deities had already taken action, why not just save her directly? Why drag him into it?
The baffled Zhang Jizu asked bluntly:
"So, my Lord—am I going to be Zhen Xin's bodyguard?"
"Not. Her."
"!!!" The perpetually composed Zhang Jizu panicked. For the first ti, his eye sockets went perfectly round, his voice trembling: "Bodyguard for Zhen Yi???"
"Also not. Her."
"Phew—" But confusion quickly returned. "My Lord, which liar has caught [Deceit]'s eye this ti?"
"If I'm to protect him, I should at least know his na."
"His na... is Cheng... Shi."
"?"
'Honest? Cheng Shi?'
Zhang Jizu blanked, then suddenly recalled the gossip that had swept through the entire peak player circle.
Wasn't Zhen Yi's new fla—the Fate Weaver—also nad Cheng Shi?
'That's quite a coincidence.'
'Sa na?'
The massive skull seed to read Zhang Jizu's confusion and offered a sparse response.
"It is... exactly... the person... you're... thinking of."
"But isn't he a [Fate] follower?"
Zhang Jizu was utterly lost. He had no idea what had transpired behind the scenes, let alone why his Benefactor would issue an edict assigning him bodyguard duty.
But after a mont's thought, a possibility occurred to him: this Cheng Shi, like Zhen Xin, might have a secondary personality—one that happened to be a [Deceit] follower!
Only that could explain how a Fate Weaver and a [Deceit] follower could be the sa person.
'This is absurd. [Deceit] went to [Death] and asked [Death]'s follower to protect Zhen Yi's little boyfriend—who's very possibly a multi-personality player like Zhen Xin and Zhen Yi!'
'Is everyone on the [Void] path this... void?'
The mont the logic clicked, Zhang Jizu's mind went blank.
He looked up at the Bone Throne in bewildernt, hoping the divine oracle might elaborate. But that Lord clearly had no patience for further explanation. All Zhang Jizu saw was a bone whip lashing toward him—and then everything went dark as he was whipped back to reality.
From the mont he returned, he'd worn a complicated expression while following his Benefactor's instructions, praying to [Deceit] for a trial. Absurdly, [Deceit] had never responded.
Until today. He'd tried on a whim first thing in the morning—and finally matched with this honest liar!
He really was "honest" indeed. First ti Zhang Jizu had ever seen a Wood Elf who lied without batting an eye!
Gou Feng heard Cheng Shi's claim and shook his head with a sigh:
"C'mon, brother—lying isn't cool. Could it be that soone in our group is your rival, so you're hiding your faith?"
"Are you a [Fate] follower?"
At the sound of [Fate]'s Divine Na, the little assassin Scorpio suddenly fixed Cheng Shi with a grave stare. If this group leader was from the antagonistic [Fate], he'd need to watch his back.
Mo Shu, on the other hand, quietly exhaled in relief. At least one of the two 2,400-level teammates wasn't [Death]—pretty good news for him.
Before Cheng Shi could respond, Gou Feng scratched his head again:
"Actually, doesn't seem right either. [Fate] is all mysterious and cryptic—you don't look like a charlatan."
"Don't tell
it's [Corruption]?"
"You're my rival?"
"All about embracing—what, control? Toying with teammates, commanding everything?"
"If you're really one of His, just say so. I'm a team player. I can work with a rival—but if you hide it, I'm not going to like you as much."
"..."
'Dude, that pitch almost makes
want to defect to [Corruption].'
Cheng Shi shook his head with an amused smile. He knew that without proof, nobody would believe him. So he extended his hand and subtly emanated a wisp of Le Le'er's aura.
This was the aura of ancient [Prosperity]—far purer than the [Prosperity] energy players carried.
The reason he chose not to activate the "Vitality" Authority or [Prosperity] divinity was naturally out of caution.
Cheng the Steady, even when going wild, did so steadily. He wasn't about to reveal all his trump cards at the start.
He knew this wisp of ancient [Prosperity] aura would most likely fool these teammates. And if there were any holes, a lie or two could patch them easily enough.
Sure enough, upon sensing this distant, ancient [Prosperity] aura, everyone froze.
"Bro, you really are a Wood Elf? But your hair..."
"Interesting. The scent of ancient [Prosperity]. Being at 2,400 really is different. I genuinely like you."
"..."
Zhang Jizu likewise felt this wisp of ancient [Prosperity] aura and chuckled inwardly.
He considered himself quite shrewd, but even he couldn't avoid being jerked around by liars—because there were always liars more cunning than him. And at this level, there were plenty.
But today was different. This was the first ti he got to watch a scam unfold from an omniscient perspective. Watching his teammates get played, he suddenly understood why liars were so obsessed with deception.
Watching a monkey show was genuinely entertaining—especially when you weren't the monkey being made a fool of.
Seeing the group's doubts mostly assuaged, Cheng Shi smiled. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimr of amusent at the corner of squinty-eyes' expression. He blinked thoughtfully but said nothing.
Scorpio, being an assassin, had sharper perception than the rest. While the others had been chatting, his ears had been subtly twitching, listening for sounds from within the walls. Once the conversation died down, he spoke with a peculiar expression:
"Strange. I've been listening for a while, and the compound inside seems to... have no one."
"No one?" Cheng Shi blanked, glancing up at the sky. The sun hadn't reached its zenith yet—this was clearly during the Theocracy of Growth's working hours. How could nobody be there?
He furrowed his brow, sensing things might not be as straightforward as he'd imagined.
"Let's go in and see. Seeing is believing."
Everyone nodded, then—each displaying their own unique talents—made their entrance.
The assassin Scorpio vanished into the shadows on the spot. Gou Feng looked up at the towering walls, coiled his strength, and launched himself clean over the top.
Mo Shu cautiously edged away from Zhang Jizu, gave the two a smile, then annihilated a person-sized hole in the wall and walked straight through. Cheng Shi was about to piggyback through, but the hole sealed itself after Mo Shu entered.
Watching this, Cheng Shi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
'Now that's a Scavenger who's good at creating!'
'But seriously—are you all this antisocial? I guided you all the way here, and this is the thanks I get?'
'Fine then—let
show you what a clown can really do.'
Yes—Cheng Shi was a clown this round.
He hadn't brought any masks with him. The reason: when he'd started the prayer, he'd never expected to land in a real trial.
Before praying, he'd deliberated at length. He'd figured that praying to [Fate] might get him thoroughly manipulated, so he'd switched back to clown mode and prayed to [Deceit] instead. And yet he still got thoroughly manipulated.
So now he'd lost the Hero of Today's divine protection and beco a "powerless" priest.
But the current challenge wasn't combat, and a priest had a priest's thods.
Just as he was about to pull a rope ladder from spatial storage and fling it over the wall, the squinty-eyed man who'd been standing to the side spoke up.
"That big tree has a nice shape. Wood Elf—how about using it to make a tree ladder and carry
over?"
Cheng Shi's lips curved in anticipation. He'd deliberately hung back, waiting for Zhang Jizu to approach him. And sure enough—the man was suspicious!
His gaze had lingered on Cheng Shi for far too long. Either he'd heard Cheng Shi's na from previous teammates, or he'd known him from the start.
'Interesting. Whose friend is this one?'
But Cheng Shi betrayed none of this. Since the priest brother was also hiding things, they might as well compete over who could hide better.
He put on an "oh, right!" expression, turned back, and looked at Zhang Jizu apologetically:
"Forgot—there's a priest here too. Don't worry, let this Wood Elf take you in."
With that, he extended his hand.
Zhang Jizu froze internally, wondering if this [Deceit] follower was perhaps a Master of Trickery with the Lies of Yesterday talent—who'd swindled a [Prosperity] follower last round and literally turned into a Wood Elf.
'A Wood Elf isn't bad. At least climbing walls is easy.' So he smiled and reached out.
But the instant Cheng Shi gripped Zhang Jizu's wrist, he...
...shoved one end of a rope ladder into the man's hand.
"???"
Looking at the dumbfounded squinty-eyes, Cheng Shi explained with perfect solemnity:
"I'm a mber of the Plant Protection Association. I never abuse plants, nor do I force them into manual labor."
"This is a rope ladder I made by using [Prosperity]'s power to accelerate the growth of so found vines. Throw it over the wall, and we can climb up nice and safe."
"How about that—convenient and efficient?"
"..."
The retort opportunities in that sentence were so nurous that Zhang Jizu had a whole salvo of colorful language jamd in his throat, unable to decide where to start.
He was so exasperated that he laughed. While laughing, he snatched the rope ladder from Cheng Shi's hand and, exactly as described, flung it over the wall. Then he tidied the bottom end and side-eyed Cheng Shi with a wry smile:
"[Prosperity]'s power can do that?"
Cheng Shi blinked. He looked at Zhang Jizu's palm and noticed a white product tag still dangling from the ladder's end. Only then did he recall that this rope ladder hadn't co from a prayer at all—he'd looted it from soone's backpack during a past trial.
'How strange—it's the apocalypse and people still use tagged products?'
But he felt zero embarrassnt. Without so much as a blush, he defended himself shalessly:
"Clearly my Lord is very sentintal—He even recreated details that only existed before the Ga descended."
"So you see!"
"Who says prosperity only exists in the present? Look at this spray-printed tag—isn't it living proof that the manufacturing industry once prospered?"
"..."
'He can tie even this to [Prosperity]?'
'Okay, okay, okay—you really know your [Prosperity]!'
Zhang Jizu was numb. He decisively shut up, swallowed all his retorts, and stood quietly to the side.
Seeing that the other man refused to go first, Cheng Shi had no choice but to climb up ahead, with Zhang Jizu close behind. Once both reached the top, Cheng Shi pulled the ladder over to the other side and climbed down slowly.
When he'd safely reached the ground, Zhang Jizu—still atop the wall—twitched irritably and jumped straight down from the towering height.
THUD—
Cheng Shi saw dust explode in front of him. Through the cloud erged a figure rubbing his knees.
His gaze sharpened as he studied this physically robust priest. A slow smile spread across his face.
'This squinty-eyes... has so tricks up his sleeve.'
...
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