They didn't end up going through the window. Turadin procured a set of core church personnel robes from sowhere, and after Cheng Shi changed into them, the two strolled brazenly out of the tower.
The library sat at the deepest end of the church's outer compound. On the way through the corridors, they encountered Scorpio and Gao Ya in a rear courtyard, and the four rged into one group heading toward the library.
Turadin didn't bat an eye at Zhang Jizu's absence. He understood that an organization like this had many irons in the fire—one or two fewer mbers was no big deal.
But the other two teammates were curious. After a long hesitation, Gao Ya finally frowned and whispered:
"Where's the Gravekeeper?"
Cheng Shi answered without hiding a thing: "Bathroom. Constipation. Won't be back for a while. No need to wait."
"..." Gao Ya's expression after hearing this was indistinguishable from actual constipation.
Scorpio, anwhile, seed to be growing accustod to Cheng Shi's rhythm. He only smiled without comnting.
The church grounds were sizable—the library wasn't nearby. En route, Cheng Shi gradually leaked bits of his plan. There were no absolute idiots in this tier; upon hearing his wildly ambitious approach, both teammates froze.
Scorpio asked in a dazed whisper: "What if there actually is a life in this trial that shouldn't be born?"
Cheng Shi rubbed his chin: "Then it shouldn't be born."
"..."
"Bro, I don't even think this counts as cheating—you've basically given yourself a whole new problem set. Can this really work?"
"We still have six days. No reason to rush."
"Why not rush? The whole point of a speedrun is speed."
"Never mind whether my answer's right—just tell : is it fast?"
"..." Scorpio had no rebuttal. He could only nod.
'It's pretty fast, yeah...'
Gao Ya listened to their exchange with a scoff, trailing behind in silence.
Not because she didn't want to join the discussion—she simply didn't want to be the one getting mocked. In her assessnt, Cheng Shi's approach wasn't crude at all—it was actually quite elegant.
She'd seen this kind of "edge-case" problem-solving in other trials. But it was exclusively the domain of top players. Ordinary players couldn't replicate it—partly because nobodies lacked the ability to rally an entire team behind their sches, and partly because normal human brains simply didn't produce ideas like this.
Since she could ride along for a speedrun, she'd naturally prefer an early finish. After all, there was still a Scavenger out there watching and waiting. His hunting ga probably wasn't over yet, and being marked as prey was deeply uncomfortable.
At this thought, Gao Ya frowned again and asked quietly:
"The cake Mo Shu made earlier—any left?"
Cheng Shi paused mid-step and looked back at Gao Ya in surprise: "What—hungry?"
Gao Ya's expression was conflicted. After a long silence, she reluctantly nodded.
Watching her refuse to lower her head, Cheng Shi nearly lost his composure. Without thinking, he jabbed: "Not worried about it being tampered with anymore?"
"..." A aningful glint passed through Gao Ya's eyes. She replied: "I'm worried it isn't."
Cheng Shi seed to understand. He smiled:
"If you want to eat—sure. Trade for it."
"If you don't want to trade, out of humanitarian aid I can also offer you sothing else to eat. Bug juice or sothing. Plenty of it. If you're not picky, it'll fill you up. Want so?"
"?"
When Cheng Shi actually produced two bottles of Mucus Water, the expressions on both Scorpio and Gao Ya's faces shifted dramatically.
'What kind of respectable 2,000
player eats that?'
'No—what living person with any self-respect still eats that stuff?'
Gao Ya shot Cheng Shi a venomous sideways glare. After a mont's hesitation, she decided to "submit." She pulled a scale from her spatial storage.
"B-grade item. Scale of Evil Bearing. Stick it on an enemy to increase damage they take by thirty percent. Half a cake."
The little assassin gawked at the faintly blue-glowing scale. 'Are you serious? Half a cake for a B-grade item?'
But Cheng Shi pursed his lips dismissively: "Trash. If I could get close enough to stick this on soone, I'd have already twisted their head off. I don't need this. The enemy doesn't have 1.3 heads for
to twist."
"..." Gao Ya was montarily choked. She glared at him, teeth grinding: "A Wood Elf can twist heads off?"
"Didn't you say I'm not a Wood Elf? Maybe I'm a Druid."
"..." Gao Ya was furious. She was about to fire back—but when Cheng Shi suddenly retracted his bottles of Mucus Water, she bit her tongue. Then she pulled from her spatial storage a pair of gossar-thin gloves.
The gloves appeared to be woven from translucent, crystalline threads. Worn, they were nearly invisible on the hand. When folded, faintly reflective contours erged.
"A-grade item. Puppet Grip. Derived from the Civilization Lonely Tower's research on [Silence] assassin Puppet Masters during the late Chaos Era. Wearing them lets you create illusory puppet strings to freeze opponents mid-air. This is one of my escape tools. Worth at least half a cake!"
Seeing these gloves, the little assassin Scorpio's eyes sharpened.
'A-grade? What kind of cake warrants an A-grade item?'
When sothing consistently defied logic, the anomaly wasn't the thing—it was the person who couldn't see through it!
He imdiately suspected the cake was the key. He started replaying everything about the cake in his mind—but before he could connect all the threads, Cheng Shi had already smiled and nodded.
"You're really going all-in. These are genuinely good. Half a cake isn't enough for these—take a whole one."
He produced an entire cake. But just as he held it out—a spark of intuition flashed through his mind and he said casually:
"Co on out. I know you're there."
The instant those words dropped, Scorpio and Gao Ya tensed, scanning their surroundings. Even the quick-striding Turadin froze and stopped.
Turadin frowned and looked around, unable to believe anyone in the church would dare openly confront him. But guilty conscience won out—he cautiously retreated a step, backing up to Cheng Shi's side, whispering: "What's going on?"
Cheng Shi was about to laugh it off as a joke—when the cake in his hand vanished into thin air with a whisper of sound.
!!!
His pupils contracted violently. He tackled Turadin to the ground, then in the sa motion slashed to his side with everything a clown had—a strike both fast and precise. But as the blade-tip passed through space, everyone clearly saw half the scalpel simply... vanish into thin air!
[Oblivion]'s power!
The Scavenger was here—and right beside them!
Scorpio, as an assassin, should have had the sharpest instincts for danger and killing intent. But the attacker specifically possessed the ability to annihilate all killing intent—reducing him to a "normal player" on par with Cheng Shi. All he could do was watch.
But this only solidified his conviction: anyone who could detect an enemy approaching through this utterly normal-feeling environnt was no amateur. This [Prosperity] follower absolutely had to be Bald Uses Rejoice!
Yet even with the [Prosperity] Chosen One as a teammate, surviving the [Oblivion] Chosen One wasn't guaranteed. So the instant Cheng Shi's scalpel vanished, Scorpio summoned his Arc of Ti Restoration and slashed a circle through the air around himself.
He intended to lay a swamp-trap of [Ti]'s delaying power as a defense—forcing the attacker to reveal themselves within [Ti]'s grasp.
As a singer, Gao Ya was even weaker in direct combat. But nobody reaching this score tier was truly helpless. Everyone had at least so contingencies.
She swiftly pulled on the Puppet Grip and clenched toward the spot where Cheng Shi's scalpel had vanished.
The grip yielded results—puppet strings fired from the gloves and went taut, apparently latching onto an invisible target. But a heartbeat later, every last thread snapped. Gao Ya was yanked backward by the recoil, and the gloves ripped right off her hands.
She'd underestimated a warrior's raw strength—and the agility of [Oblivion]'s power.
Seeing this, Cheng Shi frowned. He shoved Turadin away from the corridor, barking a low "Go"—then ducked and combat-rolled, imdiately snatching the fallen gloves into his spatial storage.
Gao Ya watched her equipnt get taken without a crumb of cake in return. Her expression was complicated, but she said nothing—just scrambled upright and moved toward Cheng Shi's position.
She was smart enough to see that this self-proclaid Wood Elf was the only teammate capable of holding the line against the hunter.
As for the little assassin? Heh. Forget it. His back was drenched in cold sweat.
Fear was an emotional burden for Scorpio—but for Cheng Shi, it was a godsend. Between all three teammates' contributions, his [Death] Fun Ring had finally charged to full capacity.
Which ant the previously helpless clown suddenly had a sliver of bargaining power against the opponent.
As the three drew together in the corridor, the cagey Scavenger finally revealed himself with a smile—stepping into view in the courtyard outside. Three startled cries erupted simultaneously:
"The Scavenger!"
"Mo Shu!"
"I knew it was you!"
The Scavenger, who'd been hunting all afternoon, still wore that sheepish expression—completely at odds with his black trench coat. It looked as if the person who'd just ambushed them wasn't him at all, but soone else entirely.
Seeing that deanor, Cheng Shi's heart dropped.
'Great. We've got a psychopath on our hands.'
...
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