Foolish Game of the Chapter 492: Wait — Since When Do You Have Guests!?

After Cheng Shi had knocked several tis, the door finally responded.

Aph Ros, draped in a gilt-and-moonlight black robe, pushed the door open. Gone was the previous [Corruption] deanor — He stood before Cheng Shi with a grave and solemn expression.

Seeing that face, Cheng Shi's heart lurched. He was about to ask "what happened" when behind Aph Ros, in the ink-black hall of the Evil Infant Inquisition, a pair of eyes he would never forget in his lifeti suddenly opened.

Eyes of stars!

Nebulae ford the dial. Stars served as markings. A flowing river of light ceaselessly eroded the riverbed of the void, shifting and redirecting — like a swinging hour hand that "ticked" within those eyes.

The stars within those pupils flickered bright and dim, as though harmonizing with the flow of ti. The flickering was blindingly fast, yet sohow each glimpse felt like gazing at the end of ti itself — slow and eternal.

Cheng Shi locked eyes with those pupils completely unprepared. By the ti he realized who this [Existence] being inside Aph Ros's ho was, it was too late — his soul had already ascended to a higher dinsion, surveying every past and future of the place where he stood.

Ti coiled into circles, twisted into knots. No matter how many temporal trajectories of the universe swept past, this independent knot of ti floated silently within the [Void] — still and lonely.

He was awed by the sight. A crushing, infinitesimal sense of insignificance welled up within him. But before he could fully savor that bleak smallness, his consciousness snapped back into his body. His eyes glazed, and he stood rigid.

Aph Ros, seeing His brother in this state, offered no explanation, no comfort — He couldn't even squeeze out an apologetic smile.

Because in His presence, no one dared overstep.

"..."

Cheng Shi's consciousness swam for a mont. By the ti he fully erged from the shock, cold sweat had soaked through his shirt.

He bit down hard and stiffly turned to face Aph Ros. His eyes overflowed with the universe's most panicked, most helpless light.

'Bro, since when do you have house guests!?'

'You could've said sothing about having company!'

'If you'd so much as uttered "today's not a good ti," would I have kept knocking? Would I have dared!?'

'Well, this is great. Now what? Face-to-face with the rival faction!'

'Who could this be? Who else could it possibly be!? One look and anyone could tell this [Existence] was [Ti]!'

'I just got screwed over by one of [Ti]'s followers, haven't even gone back to settle the score, and now — great — the big boss showed up first.'

'Excuse , does [Ti] play fair!?'

'If You're really not going to play fair, then don't bla

for...'

'Holding it in!'

'My Benefactor says I need to learn patience. I'm being patient!'

Aph Ros was equally caught off guard. He didn't know why [Ti] had suddenly appeared here — He hadn't exchanged a single word with this [Existence]. The deity had descended just now!

One second before Cheng Shi knocked!

Aph Ros had been anxious, but seeing Cheng Shi made Him suddenly less uneasy, because He realized this [Existence] behind Him most likely hadn't co for Him — but for... His brother who never failed to bring surprises.

"It's been a long ti."

[Ti] spoke. As concise as ever.

But no one dared respond to this "long ti no see." The silence stretched.

Cheng Shi didn't dare answer because he assud [Ti] wasn't addressing him. After all, this was his first audience — no, "audience" was too formal. His first run-in with [Ti]. So the "long ti no see" had to be directed at Aph Ros before him.

And Aph Ros... closed His eyes and went straight into playing dead.

He was [Ti]'s prisoner — a convict caged within ti's prison. Having guessed that the warden's visit wasn't for Him, He naturally wasn't about to invite trouble.

Seeing Aph Ros shut his eyes, Cheng Shi's heart lurched with worry.

'Bro, this is the deity who sentenced you! How dare you act this defiant — throwing a tantrum and refusing to answer!?'

'Do you think [Birth] can protect you? Or [Corruption]? If either could, you wouldn't be locked up here!'

Cheng Shi was losing it. He was terrified [Ti] would bla Aph Ros's insolence on him and toss him into a temporal cage too.

So he stiffly winked and signaled at Aph Ros, but the eyes-shut Herald couldn't see his frantic facial gymnastics. The silence dragged on and on.

Cold sweat multiplied on Cheng Shi's back. He was approaching collapse.

Then, in that impossibly awkward, death-inducing atmosphere — soone spoke.

The voice ca from Cheng Shi, but the words weren't his.

"It has been a long ti."

The Fool's Lips had spoken.

The instant Brother Mouth uttered those words, both Cheng Shi and Aph Ros were stupefied.

Aph Ros's eyes snapped open. He stared at Cheng Shi with blazing intensity, as though trying to determine whether his brother harbored so deeply hidden, unknown identity.

And Cheng Shi...

Was absolutely terrified.

He'd been presented before many deities. But this was the first ti Brother Mouth had voluntarily spoken in a god's presence!

It hadn't even acknowledged the Fun God. Yet here, before [Void]'s rival [Ti], it had opened its mouth!

'Wait — Brother Mouth, don't tell

you're... one of [Existence]'s lackeys... ptui ptui ptui. One of [Existence]'s people?'

The gaze of Ti's Eyes swept over Cheng Shi. No joy, no sorrow. No grief, no pleasure. His tone carried the cold indifference of ti's passage — impossible to read:

"You found it."

"Yes. I found it."

???

Cheng Shi was terrified, but that didn't stop him from spectating while being terrified. It was like a hostage at gunpoint — trembling all over, knees buckling, but ears still perfectly functional for eavesdropping on the kidnappers' gossip about sobody's wife.

'After all, it's my legs that are weak. What do my ears have to do with anything?'

'My ears aren't weak.'

'So — what had Brother Mouth found?'

"But He has not found it yet."

"That is none of Your concern."

!!!

'Brother Mouth, you're trying to get

killed!!!'

Cheng Shi was genuinely trembling now. Even if the speaker was the Fool's Lips, the body standing before [Ti] was his!

A human telling a deity "that's none of Your concern" — the terror of such an act was beyond comprehension for anyone who hadn't lived it.

Put another way: in the entire recorded history of the gods, this was probably a first.

A blasphemy delivered face-to-face, worthy of being recorded in history!

Cheng Shi desperately wanted to explain himself, but held back. He figured that at a mont like this, he couldn't undermine his own side's morale — and "his side" was clearly Brother Mouth.

So he clenched his teeth and stood firm, ntally reassuring himself that he was rely an old man at the village entrance overhearing two elders' gossip.

But rcifully, [Ti] showed no anger. Ti was always changing, yet those eyes before him seed eternally unchanging.

"Ti will prove everything."

The Eyes of Ti released a sigh, then quietly closed and departed — just as He had arrived. No one knew why He'd left, nor why He'd uttered those cryptic words.

Of course, "cryptic" was Cheng Shi's and Aph Ros's assessnt. Whether Brother Mouth understood... Cheng Shi had been internally screaming the question.

But the Fool's Lips went silent after [Ti]'s departure, reverting to its aloof state, unresponsive to Cheng Shi's frantic bombardnt.

Just as Cheng Shi's curiosity was about to boil over, Aph Ros launched his own... bombardnt.

"My dear brother, don't you think you owe

an explanation? What exactly just happened, and...

"Why?"

As He spoke, Aph Ros twirled and shifted into female form.

It wasn't intentional. After the shock, surprise, and a flood of pent-up emotions released by [Ti]'s departure, the [Corruption] power within could no longer be contained.

She shed the robe and reached toward Cheng Shi, trying to pull him into the true Abyss of Desire. But Cheng Shi completely ignored Her. He simply stepped back, wedging himself outside the door where Her hand couldn't reach, then continued his frenzied interrogation of Brother Mouth.

The Fool's Lips, harassed beyond tolerance, decided to teach Cheng Shi a small lesson. And so the head-bowed Cheng Shi suddenly spoke:

"I'm sorry. I've just recovered so mories and now realize that I am actually..."

Aph Ros froze. Pressing against the impassable air-barrier at the doorfra, She stared with burning eyes:

"Who!?"

By the ti Cheng Shi realized sothing was wrong, it was too late. He raised his hand to clamp his mouth shut, but two crisp, resonant words had already escaped:

"Your daddy."

"..."

'That's it. Let the world end.'