"So what should I do now, my lord?"
Da Yi repeated the question in his gruff rumble.
The atmosphere sufficiently grood, Cheng Shi considered for a mont and laid out his plan.
"Hunt [Ti] with a blade. Show [Fate] our goodwill.
"There's a [Ti] follower in this trial. His identity isn't simple, but no matter — since we've crossed paths, his fortune is simply poor.
"Purging a blemish for [Fate]'s sake should make for a suitable excuse to please Him.
"I've already set them in motion. Under a different identity, naturally.
"You need not concern yourself with those identities. [Chaos]'s will shall guide the lost forward.
"Since the Gift of Sores has vanished and there's nothing better to do, go join them.
"Bring
the [Ti] follower's corpse. Preferably... in one piece."
'Jiang Chi...'
Da Yi's gaze hardened. He bowed his head with genuine devotion: "Da Yi accepts."
But he didn't leave imdiately. After a beat of hesitation, he asked with cautious hope:
"My lord, if we can't find the Gift of Sores, will we still... have the chance to hold audience with the supre and most exalted?"
'Oh?'
'Audience with whom? [Chaos]?'
'So they hadn't even had an audience yet?'
'Now this was interesting.'
Cheng Shi's eyes shifted. After a mont, he smiled: "What — want to walk the Chaos Steps?"
Da Yi froze. His expression flickered with surprise — a micro-change that Cheng Shi instantly caught. He now knew Da Yi didn't even know the Chaos Steps existed.
'Buddy, your version is seriously out of date.'
'But then again — more room to maneuver.'
"To voluntarily ascend to His temple, one must cross the Chaos Steps. With a mortal's body and soul, you can't make it through.
"So if you want our Lord to summon you — show Him your talent, or show Him your loyalty.
"I shouldn't have to spell this out every ti, should I?"
Da Yi's expression shifted. He lowered his head in assent.
By this point, Cheng Shi was essentially certain the identity he was playing was Ultraman. Not because he'd parsed any reveal from Da Yi's scraps of speech, but because the man's total lack of pushback told the real story.
Cheng Shi had no idea how many Envoys [Chaos] had. But the Envoy he'd improvised according to his own logic had t zero challenges or contradictions from Da Yi. And this wasn't a performance before so stranger — Da Yi had clearly interacted with this Envoy before.
'Even so, not one crack had been spotted!?'
'Was the performance that flawless? Was his luck that explosive? That he'd perfectly matched the speech and manner of a [Chaos] Envoy he'd never t?'
'That seed impossible.'
'Even if his Benefactor was [Fate], this kind of fortune was beyond belief.'
So there was only one explanation: this Envoy was Ultraman himself.
Ultraman wasn't a real entity. He was an identity that [Deceit] had fabricated by warping [Existence] — and [mory] had then legitimized his existence, allowing Kataro to stand in whenever the original was absent.
And this was the sole logical anchor of Cheng Shi's deduction: Kataro was impersonating him!
Not impersonating Ultraman. Impersonating him — Cheng Shi!
Only this explained why Da Yi hadn't raised a single eyebrow during their entire conversation. In Da Yi's understanding, this was simply how Lord Ultraman behaved.
So [Chaos]'s promise of "keeping the seat warm" hadn't been empty words. He'd even paved every road, waiting only for a single response from Cheng Shi.
A response acknowledging he was Ultraman.
And at the ti, Cheng Shi had refused.
But now, he'd picked it back up.
"..."
'People really were fickle. You only learn to cherish what you've lost.'
Cheng Shi gave a self-deprecating laugh, then thought: 'If given a second chance... I'd still refuse.'
'Because I have to be Cheng Shi first before I can be any other jumbled-up identity.'
'Nas — no matter what — cannot be changed.'
With that thought, he suddenly said sothing aningful:
"I've always served before the temple, paying little attention to mortal affairs. But since impersonating this Fate Weaver, I've heard so... interesting things. For instance...
"My na."
"..." Da Yi went rigid. Honestly, he'd long since accepted this lord's na. He'd seen it enough that he didn't even make the connection anymore. But he never expected the lord himself to bring it up.
'Hot damn, that was just weird.'
But could he respond to this?
No.
So Da Yi's face twitched, and he said nothing.
Watching the reaction, Cheng Shi felt utterly, definitively confird.
"Go. I have other matters to consider.
"Let's hope for so good news this ti."
Da Yi wasn't entirely sure whether "good news" referred to whatever his lord was pondering, or to the Jiang Chi hunt. But orders were orders. He bowed reverently and withdrew.
After Da Yi was gone, Cheng Shi knocked on Aph Ros's door again.
Between the knock and the opening — barely one second. Seeing Aph Ros's face brimming with gossip-spectator energy, Cheng Shi could only sigh.
"Entertaining?"
Aph Ros wasn't the least bit embarrassed. He didn't even smile. He studied Cheng Shi with open suspicion, eyes full of scrutiny:
"My brother — are you [Deceit]'s Envoy, or [Chaos]'s Envoy?"
"?"
Cheng Shi burst out laughing: "You believed it?"
"..."
Embarrassing as it was, Aph Ros nodded. Whether or not Cheng Shi's performance was a lie, it had once again rewritten His understanding of [Deceit]'s authority as a new god.
"It's not that I want to doubt you. It's that your emotions told
the deception in this particular con wasn't as dense as when you told
you were Yu Xi.
"Compared to claiming you're Yu Xi, you clearly find it far easier to accept being so [Chaos] Envoy.
"So, my brother — you wouldn't happen to be like ... a dual Envoy, would you?"
'Spot-on guess. Except I'm not a dual Envoy — I'm a dual-fake-Envoy.'
'Of course, that only described the present. Who knew whether in a few days he'd evolve into a triple-fake-Envoy or so other stacking monstrosity...'
Cheng Shi smiled. Looking at the puzzled Aph Ros, he chuckled and nodded:
"Indeed. I've finally confird it — the intelligence you display is rely a persona you've built for yourself.
"I much preferred the shrewd you from when you were searching for Miss Moon. Right now, though...
"Hmm, sorry. I shouldn't say that. Your reaction is undeniably a complint to my deception.
"I should thank you, Aph Ros.
"Thank you for the validation."
"..."
Aph Ros's expression finally turned the tiniest bit sour. He looked Cheng Shi up and down for a long while, then slowly reassembled his previously confident and composed deanor.
"My brother, you've given
new inspiration.
"I'm thinking — if I could approach Him through you, is it possible He might help
deceive my two Benefactors, and then...
"Trick Them into rging?"
"..." Now it was Cheng Shi's turn to fall silent.
'Bro, stop trying to pull off these epic stunts.'
'Last era's epic stunt got you imprisoned. And before you're even free, you're already planning the next sentence?'
'Then again — the Fun God would probably love this.'
'After all, fun trumped everything.'
'Damn. Going to need to keep more distance from Aph Ros in the future.'
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