When Cheng Shi had thrown the Substitute Death Doll, he'd calculated the distance with precision. Squinty-eyes had told him the doll only bonded to the nearest life form—so he'd positioned it a few crucial centiters closer to Mo Shu.
During a standoff, those few centiters might seem insignificant. But that tiny margin was enough for the doll to designate Mo Shu as its replacent target—absorbing the fatal blow on Mo Shu's behalf!
And after the thunder subsided, Cheng Shi's first move was to grab the not-yet-disintegrated doll remains and flee.
He didn't know how to steal soone's identity—so he had to find Zhang Jizu for help imdiately.
As for whether squinty-eyes would cooperate... From his Lord's perspective, from a friend's perspective, or from the perspective of screwing over his rival—he had absolutely no reason to refuse!
That's why Cheng Shi appeared before Zhang Jizu at this mont.
It was a massive gamble. Betting that Mo Shu didn't recognize the Substitute Death Doll. Betting that Fate Has Divergence could truly catalyze the Thundering Judgnt. Betting that his Vitality authority could withstand five bolts of thunderous force.
But it wasn't purely a gamble—because Cheng Shi had also stacked the deck. Though his cheating couldn't change the outco directly, it gave him far greater confidence.
Squinty-eyes had told Cheng Shi the Substitute Death Doll was extrely rare, with very few people knowing its function. This beca his first chip.
He'd experienced Fate Has Divergence's effects. He believed the talent's essence was to invoke the Misfortune authority in [Fate]'s hands—driving all affected lives toward misfortune. And the greatest misfortune was the erasure of life itself. This was his second chip.
The Vitality authority belonged to the true god [Prosperity]. Even partially wielded, its Status shouldn't be inferior to [Thundering]—a god killed by [Order]. So Vitality should be able to overco Thunder. This speculation beca his third chip.
But the third chip was unstable. Cheng Shi couldn't stake his life on a guess—so he kept a trump card. At least one that could preserve his life.
The Lush Horn Crown!
This SS-grade resurrection item had been pulled out the instant the thunder detonated, hidden behind his back. During [Thundering]'s rampage, he'd secretly fired a healing chain toward Mo Shu!
Healing chains bounced between targets. Since Mo Shu couldn't die thanks to the Substitute Death Doll, the healing light would inevitably return from Mo Shu to Cheng Shi.
If his Vitality authority failed to withstand the Thundering Judgnt and he died, the healing chain imbued with the Lush Horn Crown's essence would revive him.
But if he survived the Thundering Judgnt without dying, the precious resurrection charge wouldn't be wasted.
This was precisely why Cheng Shi considered it a massive gamble!
He was spending a rare resurrection opportunity to bet on killing the [Oblivion] Chosen One in that cramped room!
Did he win?
Obviously—he won!
The mont Zhang Jizu began resurrecting the Substitute Death Doll, Cheng Shi knew he'd won big!
Because he'd never seen such excitent blazing in squinty-eyes' gaze!
When the miniature Mo Shu opened his eyes, he saw two enormous heads looming above him. His mind buzzed for a mont before he identified them.
That charred survivor from the mutual-destruction blast—Cheng Shi. And his rival—Zhang Jizu!
Mo Shu was shocked. For the first ti, he failed to contain his terror. His eyes went wide.
'What is this?'
One second he'd been contemplating amid the thunder-scorched ruins. The next—his vision went black and he was here?
'Where is this? What are those two horrifyingly enormous heads?'
But before his confusion and dread could fully form, a scalpel larger than his entire body descended from above—piercing his heart and pinning him to the ground.
It wasn't Cheng Shi's blade. It was Zhang Jizu's.
While Mo Shu was drowning in successive waves of shock and terror, Zhang Jizu struck with lightning speed—killing the resurrected miniature Mo Shu on the spot.
"..." Cheng Shi blinked in blank amazent. "That's it?"
Zhang Jizu nodded solemnly, then suddenly allowed a smile: "That's it."
But it wasn't just "that's it"—because even as he responded, he'd already picked up the unfinished gasoline can and poured it over the dead miniature Mo Shu.
But at that very instant—another mutation!
The blood-and-flesh figurine pinned to the ground suddenly twitched. Its body began inflating like a balloon, skin stretching paper-thin.
Both n's eyes sharpened. They retreated simultaneously, and countless scalpels flew like rain, embedding themselves in the fleshy balloon.
The sudden external force detonated it. They heard a POP—and the thin mbrane stuffed with blood and flesh burst open, releasing...
Confetti and strears!
Colorful ribbons and paper scraps rained down, covering both n head to toe. Faint laughter drifted through the air, as if mocking them for not dodging.
When the confetti finally settled, the spot where the Substitute Death Doll should have been was completely clean of any trace of flesh. In its place sat a clown doll with a red nose and a wide grin—staring at them with an eerie smile.
???
!!!
Cheng "Steady" and Zhang "Steady" were both completely stunned. No amount of imagination could have prepared them for what just transpired.
They exchanged glances. Neither had words.
Silence arrived on cue. But before long, Cheng Shi's expression turned remarkably animated.
Zhang Jizu raised an eyebrow. He noticed Cheng Shi seed to recognize the thing—unsurprising, given that this clown puppet clearly bore [Deceit]'s hallmarks. Squinting, he asked: "You know what this is. What's the situation?"
Cheng Shi nodded, then shook his head. He walked over, picked up the clown doll from the ground, examined it briefly, and laughed despite himself:
"This is what I was after. But before you killed him—I never imagined the 'identity' that got stolen would be this kind of identity."
Zhang Jizu understood instantly. Though he didn't know the clown puppet's function, the word "identity" triggered an imdiate connection—the Substitute Death Doll was always linked to identity theft.
"I knew a single Substitute Death Doll couldn't truly kill him. But what is this thing?"
"You'd better tell
it's worth sothing. Because that Substitute Death Doll wasn't cheap."
Cheng Shi smiled aningfully:
"No matter how valuable that Substitute Death Doll was, I can compensate you."
"But you're right—this Clown Substitute in my hand is also very valuable."
"Most importantly, it was bestowed by my Benefactor. It's just that this ti... the 'thod of bestowal' was a bit... unconventional."
"..."
'Bestowed?'
Zhang Jizu's narrowed eye twitched. He was thinking: 'Wasn't this Mo Shu's property?'
'Hold on—do you [Deceit] people seriously dress up "robbery" this eloquently?'
...
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