Just as The Prisoner was endlessly "stating" his statents, President Gong rose from the wreckage with a grim face.
Seeing the trap-setter completely unscathed after such a barrage, the smarter players in the hall began pulling back into defensive stances. But so still burned with fury, ready to literally tear through the ceiling of this diocre Person Society.
The chaos escalated.
Yet the turmoil made the front-row players all furrow their brows. Clearly, to their eyes, soone was fanning the flas behind all of this.
Just then, President Gong twitched his lips with a dark expression. After scanning the room, he snarled toward an empty spot:
"Zhen Yi! I partnered with you, not so you could screw
over! If you let any more of this crap land on my head, don't bla
for fighting back!"
The instant he spoke, every streak of skill-light vanished before the crowd's eyes. In that mont, it was as if an invisible net had descended over everyone, catching every attack.
Or perhaps the artist had simply erased her own canvas.
Most people had never heard the na "Zhen Yi" and had no idea what President Gong was talking about.
But the front-row crew was different. The mont they heard "Zhen Yi," every face darkened.
Even the ever-running-his-mouth Prisoner went uncharacteristically quiet, lips twitching.
Evidently, the "sister" he'd claid was a one-sided relationship — not sothing he could brag about in front of the actual person.
Cheng Shi's expression grew heavy. He'd guessed President Gong was connected to Zhen Yi. He'd even guessed President Gong might be Zhen Yi. What he hadn't guessed was that they were two separate swindlers — and that they'd once been the forr Deceit Rank 1 and Rank 2.
'What is this?'
'A Deceit annual convention?'
And the information density in President Gong's outburst was staggering. It sounded like he'd struck so cooperative agreent with Zhen Yi — but the mont Cheng Shi exposed the fake doors, she'd seized the opportunity to backstab her own partner!
'So what exactly did she take from Long Jing?'
Cheng Shi's gaze swept the hall. Then a flash of inspiration struck: if he possessed Dream from Nothing, how would he create maximum entertainnt?
The answer was...
Manipulation.
Just plant a few instigators among the crowd — and the entire venue could beco a playground of chaos!
With that thought, a scalpel materialized in Cheng Shi's hand. Without rcy, he slashed at The Prisoner beside him!
The Prisoner didn't even dodge. He glanced back, let Cheng Shi's scalpel sink into his waist without complaint — and far from anger, he nodded with sudden understanding. Then he threw his head back and let out a piercing cry:
"Ahhhh~"
"..."
"..."
"..."
That single note — loaded with indescribable overtones — didn't just freeze the tense situation into silence. Its soundwave resonated through every person present in an unthinkable way, making their hearts quake in sync.
Cheng Shi felt his heart seize — as if soone had suddenly squeezed it for an instant — and he nearly coughed blood.
Every attendee was hit simultaneously. But before anyone could cry out, a series of "pop pop pop pop—" detonations sounded, and countless figures throughout the hall burst like popped balloons — dissolving into nothingness.
The remaining real players saw this and their faces drained of color, their minds reeling. Everyone wondered what kind of power this bald man wielded to kill so many in a single instant.
But only those in the front row understood. Their expressions darkened further.
Dream from Nothing!
It was indeed Dream from Nothing!
Cheng Shi's face was black as pitch. He'd suspected Zhen Yi might have planted fake people in the audience. What he hadn't expected was that two-thirds of the entire hall... were all fake!
One seductive cry from The Prisoner, and the real players left standing numbered less than a third of the original crowd!
Cheng Shi's eyes raked across the survivors. Then he realized: all those "players" who'd responded to Long Jing's passionate speeches...
Were gone!
Every. Single. One!
aning everything that had "happened" in this hall was nothing more than a two-person show — a self-directed, self-acted double act by two peak Deceit swindlers!
Not one of the surviving real players had spoken a single word!
'Hah!'
'So were these a crowd of cautious clever people, or a crowd of diocre people played like fiddles by Deceit?'
What's more, Cheng Shi noticed that the ones who'd attacked the stage earlier were also...
Dream-conjured fakes!
In other words, the entire attack had been Zhen Yi using the chaos to puml Long Jing!
No wonder Long Jing was furious. He'd clearly realized all of it was Zhen Yi's sabotage — she'd turned on her partner mid-collaboration and started beating his ass!
'Classic her!'
And if that was the case, then the players who'd "unhesitatingly" walked through the doors were probably her illusions too!
She'd used them to trick real players into entering. What she hadn't anticipated was that Cheng Shi's appearance had blown up her sche.
'So — is Zhen Yi targeting
right now?'
Cheng Shi's heart clenched. He instinctively wanted to change position again. But right then — another "Cheng Shi" suddenly appeared across from the crowd. The instant this doppelganger materialized, he gave an awkward little laugh, then turned grave and shouted toward the front row:
"Brother Hu, watch out — she's Zhen Yi!"
"???????"
Cheng Shi was stunned. No — he didn't even have ti to be stunned before an arc of blood and fire burst through the hall's ceiling and ca roaring down toward him.
The Prisoner in front of him blanched, leaping back over ten ters. Then he turned, staring at Cheng Shi in shock, and blurted:
"You were impersonating my brother-in-law?!"
"..."
Cheng Shi's heart sank. He couldn't waste ti trading jabs with The Prisoner anymore, because the situation was dire!
The instant the fake "Cheng Shi" appeared, Long Jing — for reasons unknown — had swiveled every spotlight in the venue toward Cheng Shi's position. Combined with the blazing flas, every shadow and dark corner around him was eliminated.
Which ant he couldn't switch back to Fate in ti and use the Never-Lost Gamble to escape the eye of this storm!
'It's over. This is going south!'
But that wasn't even the worst part. The worst was that Mo Li — who'd been sitting quietly all along — had also slipped into the battle. The mont Hu Wei's blood-and-fire greatsword ca crashing down, Mo Li proved for the first ti exactly why people called him "Chief Grand Secretary."
"Here — illusions are forbidden!"
"Here — teleportation is forbidden!"
"Here — resistance is forbidden!"
"Here — fire may not be extinguished!"
"..."
'Here — YOUR "here" is forbidden!!'
Cheng Shi panicked. In that lightning-fast instant, he realized that what was already a terrifying inferno of blood-fla, boosted by a peak Arbiter, had suddenly beco a teor strike. The scorching blade wreathed in crimson fire had already slamd into the space right in front of his eyes.
And he couldn't even resist!
Cheng Shi's face had never been darker. So dark that not even a thousand spotlights could brighten it.
For one fleeting instant, he wondered whether tonight's entire setup had been aid at him. After all, the diocre Person Society card No. 15 had been handed to him personally by Zhen Xin.
But when he caught — in that split second of crisis — Long Jing's ashen face, The Prisoner's wincing brow, Mo Li's cold fury, and Hu Wei's erupting rage — he knew this night was pure accident.
An accident where he'd wrecked soone's plan and gotten instant karma right back.
And propelled by the fake "Cheng Shi" across the way, things had spiraled far beyond his predictions.
Fate Has Divergence hadn't activated. Yet Cheng Shi felt his fate had thoroughly diverged...
'Fine!'
'You all insist on playing it this way?'
'Then don't bla
for pulling sothing BIG!'
Cheng Shi's eyes sharpened. He closed them, and calmly accepted this "trial of blood and fire."
"BOOM—!"
Hellfire poured down. Blood sprayed in all directions. The hall...
Fell deathly silent.
...
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