The two figures supporting Cheng Shi from behind were none other than Gao Ya and Gou Feng— the sa teammates he'd recently encountered again during a trial.
The Soloist who'd promised to give Cheng Shi a major shock upon their next eting had kept her word. Her appearance here had indeed given him a shock.
As for the Chieftain who'd swallowed an Envoy's flesh in a bid to seize divine power... he, too, had finally achieved his heart's desire— becoming a genuine part of an Envoy.
After all, who could argue that a desire puppet wasn't part of an Envoy?
Seeing his forr teammates reduced to this state, Cheng Shi felt a tangle of complicated emotions.
It wasn't that he couldn't bear it. He was simply lanting that these two had vented their desires in entirely the wrong direction. Among all the people and things that could've satisfied their ambitions, they'd had to pick the progenitor of desire itself.
Well then. They'd thoroughly beco part of desire now.
Aph Ros, seeing Cheng Shi's peculiar expression, chuckled:
"If you'd like to—"
"Thanks, but no. We're not close. Let's move on."
Cheng Shi seed to have guessed what the Envoy was about to say and swiftly raised a hand to cut him off, then righted his chair and sat back down.
His brisk deanor made it look as though he'd never known those two teammates at all.
Hu Xuan also returned to her seat— had she not, Cheng Shi wouldn't have dared sit back at the table so readily. She studied the two puppets with curious interest, then smiled:
"I can sense traces of [Birth]. It seems one of them was a follower of my Lord."
She glanced sidelong at Aph Ros.
"You turned one of my Lord's followers into a puppet right before my eyes. Are you testing my devotion?"
Aph Ros blinked in montary surprise, then threw back his head and laughed.
"Fascinating, truly fascinating.
"I've figured it out now. You're not my brother's Miss Sun at all. On the contrary, my brother is more like your...
"Mr. Sun?
"You're working so tirelessly to earn him leverage with — could it be that you want him to break his oath and join His embrace? To beco a real... Offspring Priest?"
"..."
Cheng Shi was speechless.
He genuinely appreciated Hu Xuan's help, but as he'd noted before, Hu Xuan was not a suitable negotiator. She was far too direct— her objectives sat right on the table, just as straightforwardly as her desire for a child.
But Cheng Shi was deeply grateful. In this three-way conversation, she was clearly on his side.
That was enough.
Though admittedly, Aph Ros wasn't an adversary either.
Like Hu Xuan, the Envoy had designs on Cheng Shi, but under [Fate]'s watchful eye, such designs could only be pursued gradually.
Faced with Aph Ros's teasing, Hu Xuan didn't deny it. She openly admitted her designs on Cheng Shi, which only made Aph Ros beam wider.
"It seems we are the sa kind of people."
Hu Xuan nodded with elegant composure: "In certain respects, I concede the point."
With that, they exchanged a glance, then turned in unison toward Cheng Shi.
"..."
Cheng Shi was terrified. His current predicant felt even more nerve-wracking than his very first audience with a god.
The air was thick with the intermingled auras of [Corruption] and [Birth]. He didn't dare breathe, afraid that one inhalation might turn three people at this table into four— or even five.
And the most horrifying part? You wouldn't know whose belly the fourth or fifth would show up in.
'Help... HELP!'
After holding his breath and locking eyes with the two Envoys for a tense mont, Cheng Shi finally summoned the courage to shatter this unbearably awkward impasse by changing the subject.
"So, um... you can't eat an entire feast in one bite. I've heard plenty of bombshells today— I need ti to digest.
"After all, I already know you're stuck here and can't leave— er, that's not what I ant. What I an is..."
Before Cheng Shi could correct himself, Aph Ros smiled softly and telekinetically moved the Umbilical Shackles from beside Hu Xuan across the table to Cheng Shi's side.
"What you an is that you have the ability to co see
anyti. Am I right?
"Your Miss Sun here has surely been wanting to give this to you. The only reason she held back was to gauge my attitude first.
"Now you know.
"My attitude is perfectly clear. If giving this to my brother ans he'll always rember — perhaps even visit from ti to ti— then I'm more than happy to oblige.
"And of course, if you're also willing to—"
"I'm willing to accept it." Cheng Shi hastily stowed the shackles away, dabbing cold sweat as he cut off Aph Ros mid-sentence. He absolutely could not let this [Corruption] Envoy unleash any more explosive statents in front of a [Birth] Envoy thirsting for a child.
Aph Ros wasn't surprised in the least. He smiled happily but refrained from further teasing.
"Phew— let's discuss serious matters, Aph Ros.
"I don't know if you have a clear understanding of our identities, but I can tell you this: in this so-called [Void] era, the Land of Hope has beco ancient history. Humans like us are the mainstream of this age.
"We call ourselves players. And what we've encountered— all of you— is called...
"The Faith Ga.
"A ga about faith!"
"A ga?"
Aph Ros slowly savored those two words, then roared with laughter.
"How very [Void]!
"But I must remind you, my brother: never treat history as re history. It is rely a label that [Ti] affixes to different presents, and a reproduction that [mory] fishes from the Sea of mory.
"When They place what They cherish under the spotlight, even history... can beco the present."
Cheng Shi nodded slightly. He'd heard similar views from his Benefactor [Deceit]. The gist was that history was relative, and the present was relative too.
In a world where gods existed, whether the past was history or the future was history remained an open question.
But dwelling on such abstractions was pointless. Cheng Shi hadn't changed the subject to debate philosophy with Aph Ros. He had far more practical objectives in mind— such as...
How to handle those peak players still hanging from the do.
"Regardless of how you view history, the bottom line is: for us, players are the protagonists of the [Void] era.
"So, Aph Ros, I'd like to make another deal with you."
"Oh? What kind of deal?"
"I've improvised a script. The only problem is it's still short on actors. So I'd like you to return my actors—"
Before Cheng Shi could finish, Aph Ros was already laughing.
He seed to have guessed exactly what Cheng Shi ant.
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