Foolish Game of the Chapter 352: Bro, Are You Serious Right Now?

"Did you know Gou Feng is dead?"

Zhang Jizu looked at Scorpio, carefully studying his expression.

Scorpio blanked, shaking his head in confusion. Then his face went another shade paler.

"That [Oblivion] Cho—... Scavenger attacked

first. I imdiately fled into a projected future. I had no idea what happened to Gou Feng—I only learned from Bal—... the Wood Elf that he'd been attacked too."

"He's dead?"

Cheng Shi caught the aborted "Bald" and found his expression shifting to sothing exceedingly strange.

'What—does he think I'm Baldy?'

'Not entirely unreasonable. But if I impersonate Big Cat, she's not going to beat

up afterward, is she?'

Mulling this over with a faint smile, he casually continued:

"Mm. Struck from the front, one-hit kill. Death by short spear. Doesn't look like an [Oblivion] technique—more like... an assassin's."

With that, Cheng Shi also narrowed his eyes at Scorpio.

Zhang Jizu internally marveled that not a single honest word left a liar's mouth, yet had to admit that this half-truth, half-bluff technique was genuinely useful.

Scorpio's pupils contracted at Cheng Shi's words. He hadn't expected Gou Feng to have been killed not by [Oblivion]'s power, but by a thrust. But he quickly realized the two big shots were pressuring him to clear himself.

Since he hadn't done it, he had nothing to fear. He grimly drew his weapon—a miniature circular blade resembling a curved dagger.

"The Arc of Ti Restoration. My weapon. A [Ti] curved blade that can delay opponents. I also use it to excise my own flesh to mitigate pain. Before healing , the Gravekeeper should have sensed this blade's residual energy on my wounds."

Cheng Shi didn't even glance at Zhang Jizu for confirmation, because he knew Scorpio wasn't lying. But if the little assassin truly was a victim, then that Scavenger was also a kill specialist no less deadly than an assassin.

"Since you're cleared, Gou Feng's death gets interesting."

"After killing Gou Feng, why did the Scavenger deliberately leave [Oblivion]'s residual energy behind?"

"Does he want everyone to know it was him?"

"If he doesn't mind being exposed, then why has he vanished?"

These were the biggest questions on everyone's mind. Zhang Jizu squinted hard, thinking for a long while before shaking his head:

"If it really is him, probably no one can guess what he's planning."

"We can't spend too much energy on the investigation and manhunt. Staying here isn't safe either. If you think there are still clues here, we could take the archive books. We'll find another location to study them. If there aren't any clues, we leave first."

"A murderous teammate plus an abandoned Inquisition—two negatives stacked together work against us."

Zhang Jizu was indeed a pragmatic man. He disliked wasting ti and was cautious by nature—no dancing beneath crumbling walls.

But he didn't realize this suggestion froze Cheng Shi right where he stood.

'What do I do? He wants to take the files. If Brother Mouth keeps refusing to help and I have to fabricate translations for all these archives by myself—wasting saliva is one thing, but leading the team astray is way worse.'

'But if I don't take them, this might be the trial's only lead. Leave it rotting on the ground and then what?'

'Hmm? Wait—hold on!'

Cheng Shi suddenly realized he'd overlooked sothing: who said these crumbling archives were the trial's only clue?

This seemingly-abandoned Inquisition still had staff mbers who visited regularly!

Furthermore, the hanging dead infants on the second floor could be another lead. So rather than hauling away unreadable files nobody wanted, it'd be faster and more accurate to track down those staff mbers directly.

Interrogating people would yield better intel than poring over books he couldn't read.

Having thought this through, Cheng Shi spoke with absolute seriousness:

"Let's head out. Go back to Dolgod's church and ask around about who's assigned to this place—one person or several. Then we work them over."

"As for Gou Feng's corpse... just leave it."

"If whatever's on the second floor was secretly set up by a staff mber, they'll clean it up for us. But if it's the church's hidden secret, then the church will quietly try to find whoever broke into the second floor—and the killer."

"Maybe they'll get lucky and find our two missing teammates before we do?"

Zhang Jizu nodded approvingly. The two imdiately started walking.

The freshly-healed Scorpio blanked, then hurriedly fell in behind them with maximum caution.

Sensing the little assassin's non-hostile reaction, Cheng Shi quietly relaxed his grip on the ring.

'Tsk—sha. Didn't get to kill a [Ti] follower to entertain the Benefactor.'

'Then again, having a [Ti] tool running errands is more efficient than just him and the Gravekeeper.'

The three proceeded cautiously until they reached the Inquisition's sealed front gates. Just as they prepared to leave, they spotted a familiar figure creeping through the alley shadows toward them, visible through gaps in the iron gate bars.

Cheng Shi stopped. His lips curved upward.

'What a coincidence—running into him here!'

'Then again, given a [Folly] follower's intellect, finding this place in such short ti isn't surprising.'

Indeed—the figure erging from the alley shadows was none other than the [Folly] follower who'd looked down his nose at everyone in the lounge before storming off alone.

And the instant the three spotted him, that ever-vigilant Nostrils likewise noticed his "teammates" behind the gate.

What he hadn't expected was that these foolish teammates had sohow gotten ahead of him—and appeared to have already finished exploring this mysterious, little-known Evil Infant Inquisition.

'How... is that possible?'

And just as the [Folly] follower froze in shock, the three inside the gate were equally rooted to the spot.

Scorpio, standing behind the two big shots, mumbled in bewildernt:

"Uh, guys—I'm pretty sure our [Folly] teammate... was a man?"

Zhang Jizu studied the figure through narrowed eyes for a long while, his gaze traveling from head to toe over the [Folly] follower's now noticeably more... curvaceous fra. He let out a strangely-toned "Mm."

Cheng Shi's jaw nearly hit the floor—but a mont later, his grin stretched ear to ear.

'Bro, are you serious right now?'

'Even if it's for a disguise, did you have to go this far?'

'And if it's not for a disguise, then why on earth did you sneak off to the Prayer Room?'

'Don't tell

you walked into the wrong door. The Prayer Masters in there listen to the full prayer and triple-confirm before granting anyone the right to change sex.'

'So...'

'You just betrayed your little buddy downstairs?'

'Tsk. No comnt.'

But credit where credit was due—[Folly]'s follower was genuinely clever. He—no, she.

She had managed to identify both of Dolgod's church institutions in such a short ti, personally experienced one of them, and then found her way to the other's doorstep.

Cheng Shi had no idea what this [Folly] follower had been through or why—he only knew that the spectacle before him was too good to pass up. If he didn't play along, he'd be disgracing the Fun God's blessing.

So he shook his head emphatically and addressed his two teammates with perfect solemnity:

"You're seeing things. This trial always had five n and one woman. Our teammate here has been female from the very start. A flawless woman."

"It's simply that her roomy robe hid her figure, and she happens to have slightly androgynous features—which is why you didn't notice."

"?"

Zhang Jizu was long since accustod to Cheng Shi's nonsense. But Scorpio's forehead was plastered with question marks—at least until he caught Cheng Shi's drift. His eyes lit up and he nodded enthusiastically:

"Right—totally right, big bro!"

Cheng Shi was instantly overjoyed.

'This little assassin—he gets it.'

...