Foolish Game of the Chapter 379: Bro, That's Not What You Said Last Night!

The night passed uneventfully.

Just as Squinty Eyes had predicted, the Theocracy of Growth's people were busy all night, mobilizing large numbers of personnel to sweep every corner of Dolgod for suspicious signs. They caught plenty of petty thieves and troublemakers, but found absolutely nothing related to heretics.

After all, there were no actual heretics. The whole affair was nothing more than Lis Field exploiting the chaos to make a move against Turadin's Head of Church father.

And even if there were heretics, every last "heretic" had hidden inside the ruins of the Inquisition — a place the Church personnel deliberately avoided during their search. Small wonder they ca up empty.

The next day, before dawn had even broken, Cheng Shi took Scorpio and departed from the main group, heading toward the place Turadin said they could find Lis Field.

The two of them had barely slept a few hours, yet showed no trace of fatigue as they threaded cautiously but swiftly through the early-morning crowds toward their destination.

As for why Cheng Shi had specifically brought Scorpio along — Ti's power was the easiest to demonstrate visually and had the most dramatic impact. Whether for fooling people or making an impression, it was the best choice.

Moreover, Scorpio was an assassin with razor-sharp senses. Even if he did nothing else, having him serve as a human alarm system was worth plenty.

Scorpio naturally had zero objections to this arrangent. He practically wanted to strap himself to Cheng Shi's leg, lest the man sprint off and leave him behind.

When you thought about it, this little assassin was actually the smartest of the bunch. His mind might not be the quickest, but he'd been faithfully practicing what he'd declared at the very start: treat the big shots sincerely, and let them carry you to victory.

When it ca to clinging to a strong teammate's coattails, he was nothing if not consistent.

The two walked briskly. Scorpio scanned the surroundings with vigilance while Cheng Shi observed the crowds. The citizens of Dolgod still wore visible traces of unease — the previous day's chaos had clearly spread. Despite the Church's best efforts to contain the situation, panic had seeped through the population.

After all, when a God Descent appeared, ordinary people who didn't know the inside story couldn't help but assu the worst.

They feared evil spreading through Dolgod and dreaded heretics hiding among the populace, sowing discord. Little did they know that at this very mont, the biggest "heretics" were walking right beside them — and listening to every word of their conversations with crystal clarity.

After walking for so ti, Scorpio — trailing behind Cheng Shi — couldn't hold back any longer. He furrowed his brow in confusion and asked uncertainly:

"Bro, where are we going?

We seem to be heading in the wrong direction.

Tura... Aph Ros said Lis Field's house is behind the market northeast of the Church. But this road...

looks like it's heading back to the Church?"

"You're right. This is the road back to the Church."

"Huh?" Scorpio felt he'd been trying very hard to keep up with Cheng Shi's thinking, but he'd failed yet again. This man never seed to play by conventional logic — if sothing didn't go sideways, it apparently didn't count as following the plan.

Cheng Shi smiled. "Change of plans. We're not going to find Lis Field. We're going straight to the Church to find... Berios."

Scorpio stumbled mid-step, his face aghast.

"The Head of Church? We're going to find Turadin's father?

Bro, that's not what you said last night!"

"You said it yourself — that was last night. The moon in the sky has already turned into a sun. Is it really so strange for

to adjust the plan?"

"..."

Scorpio forced a stiff smile and obediently followed without another word.

He wished he had the kind of brilliant mind that Folly followers possessed, but he simply didn't. What he did have over most Folly followers, though, was obedience and a willingness to set aside his pride.

Seeing that Scorpio had stopped asking questions, Cheng Shi clicked his tongue. It seed to remind him of a certain past acquaintance who'd never been good at playing along. He sighed, then went ahead and explained unprompted.

"Turadin made a good point: faith, humanity, and wisdom — a person can have at most two of the three. Which two do you think her father Berios chose?"

Scorpio pondered for a mont, then ventured:

"Faith and wisdom?

Even a tiger wouldn't eat its own cubs. But he killed his own child, so he's clearly lost his humanity."

Cheng Shi nodded, then shook his head.

"Half right. He does lack humanity, but...

he also lacks faith.

I said at most two of three. There can also be cases where soone takes only one. And Berios took only wisdom.

He is a cunning, deeply calculating power-broker!"

"What?" Scorpio was stunned. He shook his head vigorously. "He's the Head of the Theocracy of Growth! How could he possibly have no faith?"

"That's exactly what interests

most. Think about it — even Turadin admitted her father is an old fox. If even Turadin could see through Lis Field's true nature, do you really think Berios, as head of the Church, couldn't?

Unlikely. As rivals, Lis Field might understand Turadin's father better than Turadin does. By the sa logic, how could Berios not understand Lis Field?

Yet even knowing his opponent was a power-hungry scher who wasn't particularly devout toward their Benefactor Birth, the esteed Head of Church never dealt with his rival.

If he were a truly devout follower of Birth, the re fact that soone 'lacked faith' would have been enough to cast Lis Field into the abyss.

But he didn't.

After thinking it through, I can only reach one conclusion: our dear Head of Church is no devout believer himself. He probably lets his rival make small moves deliberately, then reasserts his authority by quelling the resulting chaos.

He's a masterful ruler — but not a faithful devotee.

The Theocracy of Growth in Dolgod may well be rotten to its core.

Since nobody here is truly devout, and since Berios is himself a political player, why should we go to a middleman when we can deal directly with the man himself?

We can cooperate with him. Offer mutual benefit. In the propagation of an evil faith throughout Dolgod, we each get what we want — he reinforces his power and standing, while we craft our Holy Infant's legend.

That way, the Church can reap a wave of public admiration without lifting a finger, and with the biggest insider helping us, we slip underground when the incident ends and happily conclude the trial.

Everyone wins. Isn't that wonderful?"

Scorpio's eyes grew wider with every word. He swallowed hard, gazing at Cheng Shi with sothing close to reverence.

'Is every 2,400-point player this terrifying at reading people?'

He wanted to ask what would happen if Cheng Shi guessed wrong, but after opening and closing his mouth several tis, the words never ca. His subconscious told him the big shot's deduction was very likely correct. Yesterday's events were still fresh in his mind — so far, the man hadn't been wrong once.

"In that case — if the cooperation goes through, could we fra the Scavenger as the real heretic and have the Church's God Descent eliminate the... threat for us?"

Cheng Shi glanced back at Scorpio with a hint of surprise, thinking, 'The little assassin's quite sharp. No real fools at this tier.'

"Good idea. But it's no longer necessary — the Scavenger is already dead. You're safe."

"???"

Scorpio froze in his tracks, his mind detonating like a thunderclap. He was completely dumbstruck.

The Chosen One of Oblivion — dead?

How? Killed by the combined forces of the Chosen Ones of Prosperity and Death?

When? Oh right — the thunder! The earth-shattering thunder from last night! It was then!!

So in that brief window when those two had vanished, they'd joined forces and killed the Scavenger?!

'How — is killing a Chosen One really that easy?'

"Bro, you guys..."

"We what?" Cheng Shi sensed Scorpio's shock and cut him off with a vigorous head-shake before he could finish. "It wasn't us. Last night, the heavens were in a bad mood and casually hurled a couple of lightning bolts that just happened to land on his head. By the ti I found him, he was already dead. Nothing to do with ."

'Sure, sure — nothing to do with you at all!'

Scorpio didn't believe a word of it. His eyes practically blazed with adoration.

'Bro, let

ask you sothing — can you just glue

to your leg?'

'I desperately want to level up. Please, carry !'

...