Once again with Cheng Shi in the lead, the two descended the staircase one after the other, faces etched with solemnity.
Halfway down the spiral stairs, they spotted a blood-drenched figure who'd crashed into a filing shelf and was struggling feebly on the ground.
Their gazes sharpened. They recognized the injured person at once.
Scorpio—the Another Day Assassin!
And they could guess who'd wounded him, because the little assassin's body was practically covered in residual [Oblivion] energy.
But even with a dying, critically wounded man downstairs, Cheng Shi didn't rush over. He walked while watching all sides. Zhang Jizu trailed behind, raising his hand to toss a healing spell down—keeping the little assassin alive.
Only after both confird there was no imdiate danger did they slowly approach Scorpio, hoisting the poor teammate—right shoulder blown through, flesh and blood ruined across his body—off the floor.
Scorpio's face was deathly pale. Seeing his two teammates rescue him, gratitude flickered in his eyes, but despite opening his mouth for a long while, no sound ca out.
Zhang Jizu raised his hand again, casting a Purification spell. Its glow was slightly different from standard purification—Cheng Shi couldn't imdiately identify the talent behind it.
He could only tell it was highly effective, because the instant the light faded, Scorpio imdiately found his voice.
"Watch out for Mo Shu! Sothing's wrong with him!"
Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow. Though facing Scorpio, his eyes kept sweeping the surroundings.
"Why did he attack you?"
"Don't know."
"?"
The two looked at Scorpio in surprise. His face was grim as he continued:
"I truly don't know."
"I was the first into the compound. I stood in the shadow of the courtyard wall, waiting for the rest of you. The Chieftain dropped down next to . We exchanged a look and watched each other's backs."
"Mo Shu appeared right after. He approached us with zero signs of hostility—then attacked without any reason whatsoever. One punch blew through my right shoulder!"
Cheng Shi's brow furrowed deeply. This didn't make sense.
Assassins were the most alert profession by nature. Especially on a trial's first day, when everyone had just t—how could Scorpio possibly have let his guard down?
Scorpio clearly saw through Cheng Shi's doubt. His face turned even darker:
"He's strong. Far stronger than I expected."
"Not to sound harsh, but before you two saved —I didn't trust a single person in this trial. I'm an assassin who lives in [Ti]'s corners. I don't trust easily. So I was wary of everyone."
Cheng Shi studied Scorpio with a half-smile: "Even now?"
Scorpio's voice hitched. He nodded stiffly: "Yes. Even now."
Truth be told, Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu had already noticed Scorpio's vigilance. His right shoulder was wrecked, yet his left hand had never pressed the wound—instead staying behind his back in an awkward posture as they'd pulled him up.
He was guarding against both of them. Understandably so—he'd just been obliterated by a seemingly harmless pastry chef.
"Stop wasting ti. Keep going—faster."
Zhang Jizu was an exceedingly practical man. He healed Scorpio while urging him to lay out the full story.
"That's what I an when I say Mo Shu is powerful. I've never encountered a Scavenger in this tier who could annihilate their own killing intent."
"The vast majority of [Oblivion] followers I've t have powerful [Oblivion] techniques, but because of a personal talent of mine, I can sense their destructive urges—and thus cautiously avoid them."
"But this man was different. He had every sign of being alive and human, yet was completely devoid of destructive urges. So when I sensed him approaching 'without hostility,' I didn't think twice."
"But then..."
"Then he ambushed you and Gou Feng. You instantly fled into a projected future, while Gou Feng was chased into the inner hall."
The rest could be pieced together from the scene. Scorpio nodded, confirming Cheng Shi's deduction.
"It's my automatic defense chanism. You should know that Another Day Assassins get only one chance per day to escape into a projection. As an assassin, unless I have a target that absolutely must die, I always save that chance for the last possible mont—a contingency."
"But today's 'contingency' ca way too suddenly."
Cheng Shi's eyebrow rose at this.
"So you're saying you're out of backup plans now?"
Scorpio jolted, then scrambled half a step backward in fright. Even Zhang Jizu shot Cheng Shi a startled look, wondering if he was considering murder and robbery.
But then Cheng Shi flashed a roguish grin and spread his hands, silently mouthing:
"Just lightening the mood. Relax."
"..."
Scorpio nearly burst into tears. 'Lighten the mood?! I was perfectly calm before—now my legs are jelly!'
"Since you projected into the future here, tell —what did you see?"
Scorpio studied Cheng Shi for a long mont, inching slightly closer to Zhang Jizu, then shook his head:
"Nothing. The [Oblivion] energy in Mo Shu's attack was too terrifying. I burned through every defensive asure I had. It took thirty-one projections before I barely managed, on the last one, to withstand the [Oblivion] power eroding my entire body. I barely clung to life and overwrote that projection onto the present."
"During all of that, I couldn't pay attention to my surroundings at all. But I can confirm there was definitely no one here—at least not on the first floor."
"Because if even one stranger had been present, I might have died inside the projection and never returned."
"That's odd." Cheng Shi's frown deepened. He looked at squinty-eyes in confusion: "Why didn't he attack the two of us?"
Zhang Jizu was clearly pondering the sa question.
At the mont everyone had split up to enter the compound, Mo Shu had been the third to move. If he wanted to annihilate teammates as an offering to his Benefactor, he could easily have chosen the priest and mage outside the wall instead of the warrior and assassin inside.
After all, the professions outside appeared far easier to deal with—and Zhang Jizu was his faith rival.
By that logic, Mo Shu should have gone for Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu first.
Even if the Gravekeeper could keep soone alive, if Mo Shu had truly hidden his strength—as Scorpio described—he could have banished them both into the world of [Oblivion] to fend for themselves until their last drop of ntal energy was spent.
But he didn't.
Even stranger: during self-introductions, Mo Shu hadn't lied. The Master of Deception hadn't flagged any hidden scores or false identity.
Given all that, Mo Shu was either a high-ranking [Oblivion] warrior with ans to bypass the Master of Deception, or a [Deceit] or [Chaos] follower who possessed powerful [Oblivion] techniques.
Cheng Shi leaned toward the forr. An impersonator would typically emit so destructive intent deliberately—otherwise they'd draw suspicion. Soone like Mo Shu who led with a faith-contradicting persona would get flagged imdiately. That wasn't a con artist's playbook.
'High-ranking... [Oblivion]... warrior...'
Cheng Shi's brow creased. He looked at Zhang Jizu:
"That janitor—you should know him, right?"
Squinty-eyes blinked, then narrowed his gaze further and nodded:
"You suspect it's him? Not impossible. He should have those capabilities."
Cheng Shi was taken aback: "What do you an 'not impossible'? If you know him, can't you recognize him?"
"Knowing him is just knowing he exists."
"He's extrely secretive. You should know—his ID is 'Complete Deletion.'"
"I only know he's a Scavenger. As for his real na, his face—not only do I not know, no one else probably rembers either. Among us, probably only Li Jingming would know, since he rembers everything."
"?"
'Hold on—Dragon King is currently our [Deceit]'s Chosen One. Talking about him like that is a bit disrespectful to the Fun God.'
Cheng Shi grumbled internally but wasn't particularly shocked. The na, however, hit Scorpio like a thunderbolt.
'What? Who? Li Jingming?'
'Isn't that the forr [mory] Chosen One—now the [Deceit] Chosen One?'
'How'd the conversation end up on him?'
He blinked in bewildernt, asking hesitantly: "You just ntioned... Li Jingming? The Chosen One who broke his oath from [mory] to [Deceit]?"
Zhang Jizu nodded: "Yes. Though he broke his oath, he still walks his path of mory."
"But what does Li Jingming have to do with any of this?" Scorpio was lost.
Cheng Shi smiled: "I'd like to know too. And speaking of which—as a fellow Chosen One, haven't you ever been matched against that janitor?"
Zhang Jizu nodded, then shook his head:
"I have been matched with him. But all I rember is that such a person exists. Everything else—his appearance, his personality—is extrely blurry."
!!!
That one sentence told Cheng Shi exactly what squinty-eyes ant.
[mory]!
The [Oblivion] Chosen One had likely chosen [mory] as his secondary faith!
'Well, well, well. Truly impressive!'
Bai Fei had once said she walked the path of [Oblivion], endlessly giving away her own mories in pursuit of rebirth through others' mories.
This [Oblivion] Chosen took the exact opposite approach—constantly annihilating others' mories of him, maintaining his own mystique.
'Two diatrically opposed practices, both earning His favor? How does that work?'
'Could this be another [Prosperity]-type situation?'
'Wait, that doesn't track—didn't He try to swoop in when [Truth] besieged [Prosperity]? If the two of Them are similar... born from the sa root, why the rush to burn each other, brother?'
While Cheng Shi's thoughts andered, Scorpio's brain was overheating.
He'd clearly connected "fellow Chosen One" with the [Death] Chosen One's ID "Cetery Managent" and the [Life] priest standing before him.
And when it all clicked... his CPU exploded.
'Zhang Jizu is the [Death] Chosen One?'
'Mo Shu is possibly the [Oblivion] Chosen One?'
'What??'
'What did I do to deserve getting hunted by the [Oblivion] Chosen One, then rescued by the [Death] Chosen One?'
'Is a little 2,100-point assassin supposed to be caught up in a clash between gods?'
At this thought, Scorpio swallowed hard, nervously straightened his back, and turned his gaze toward Cheng Shi.
If those two were both on the list, then what about this one?
Who was he?
A [Prosperity] follower...
'Could he possibly be... Bald Uses Rejoice?'
...
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