Foolish Game of the Chapter 508: It's Hunting Hour!

Cheng Shi hadn't knocked on Aph Ros's door for any special reason — simply to thank the Herald for his generosity.

They exchanged a few idle words and parted. He returned once more to the civilian quarter of Kannar.

Da Yi had already left to join the hunt. Cheng Shi looked around, confird no one was nearby, and sank into the couch the sa way Da Yi had. He began considering how to conclude this trial.

After all, this was first and foremost a [Decay] trial. The scramble for the Gift of Sores was rely a subplot within it.

Undeniably, so participants had matched in specifically because they'd prayed for the Gift of Sores. But items of this caliber weren't automatically granted just because you prayed. Otherwise, Poison wouldn't have spent so long searching fruitlessly.

It was like the [Fate] trial Cheng Shi had once entered. The window for obtaining the Conjugate Whisper Fruit had lasted a single instant. Seize it and it was yours. Miss it, and the players who'd prayed for it rely served as historical wallpaper once more.

And that was also why, upon learning the First Prince had been eaten, Cheng Shi abandoned the search and pivoted to other matters.

The trail had gone cold.

The sole witness who might have recalled where the dagger ended up was dead. Death alone wouldn't have been insurmountable — Cheng Shi could've interrogated a spirit. But eaten? That was another matter entirely.

So he'd decisively shifted strategy and started pursuing other gains. He couldn't have risked entering a trial only to walk away empty-handed, could he?

He redirected toward the players themselves. If this trial netted him a few intelligence channels and so useful pawns, it would be a guaranteed return on investnt.

At this point, Cheng Shi was quite satisfied.

But there was still room for improvent. For instance... winning the trial itself.

Everything today had moved at breakneck speed. From start to now, multiple rounds of scheming and combat had played out — yet incredibly, this was still Day One. In a five-day trial, Cheng Shi appeared to have already cleared every obstacle, freeing up ti to study the trial chanics and secure victory.

After all, a trial win earned serious points.

He mulled it over carefully, combing through every scrap of knowledge about [Decay] in his mory. Ultimately, he realized the key to cracking this trial might lie in precisely what Aph Ros had called "compassion."

[Decay]'s trials were fascinating. Though this deity's will championed deterioration, His trials never forced players to deteriorate.

Each trial had a single objective: following the given clues, convert one or more specific targets to [Decay]'s faith!

Yes — His targets weren't the players but the NPCs who'd long vanished into history.

In a sense, His trials resembled those of [Prosperity], His opposite: [Prosperity] needed to sustain prosperity; [Decay] sought to spread decay.

Based on previous [Decay] trials, once you identified the conversion targets, you essentially gauged the difficulty.

For example: converting an unaffiliated commoner in a city teeming with competing faiths — trivially easy. But converting a tribal high priest or chieftain in a rainforest deeply devoted to [Prosperity]? The difficulty spoke for itself.

Cheng Shi's situation was more complex than preaching [Decay] in a [Prosperity] tribe — because he stood on [Decay]'s own holy ground. Everyone here already worshipped [Decay].

The only group that seed insufficiently devout had already fled Kannar through a Teleportation Array.

'He couldn't possibly be expected to convert the World Destroyers lurking outside the walls to [Decay], could he?'

'That would be absurd.'

'[Decay] hadn't yet devolved into [Oblivion]. Was [Oblivion] supposed to reverse course and regress back to [Decay]?'

"..."

'Unlikely.'

Cheng Shi had been wondering whether they'd arrived too late, and whether the trial's objective was specifically to restore the Rosna royals' piety.

But later, after his conversation with Aph Ros, enlightennt struck.

He thought he'd found a way to win this trial.

'Making [Decay] more decayed... just like making [Prosperity] more prosperous. Both were excellent theses...'

Once his thoughts were in order, Cheng Shi exhaled long and deep, rose from the couch, and headed outside.

He didn't know what stage the hunt had reached, but now — ard with a plan — he could join in.

Certainly, part of him wanted to reinforce the hunters. But the bigger motivation was prudence: if the prey broke free from the encirclent, it might turn around and charge at him — a lone, separated hunter.

'I'm a priest. Can't beat a warrior in a straight fight.'

Speaking of priests...

"Tis like this really show how important Mi Laozhang is — he never worried about any of this, because he literally can't die."

Cheng Shi laughed at himself, then pushed out into the driving snow and the steadily darkening sky, tracking the traces through the city.

...

anwhile, on the other side.

Jiang Chi had reached his limit. They'd caught up.

He swore he'd started running early enough. He'd even given Cheng Shi's vindictiveness its due respect.

In his estimation, the mont Cheng Shi finished with Poison, the three hunters would double back for him. And Da Yi, that shrewd brute, wasn't worth continuing to cooperate with. Left with no alternative, he'd slipped away ahead of ti.

What he hadn't expected: despite hiding for so long, he still couldn't evade them.

It was a textbook chase between hunters and prey. He'd been confident in his concealnt, but the problem was the hunting party included an actual hunter!

The [Silence] Chaleon was too good at finding people. He'd quickly dismantled every decoy and misdirection Jiang Chi had scattered through the city, then zeroed in on his true location.

The hunters still numbered three. But the Fate Weaver was absent. Instead, his forr partner Poison — not only alive but converted into a new hunter — had taken his place.

Staring at this absurd tableau, Jiang Chi's expression grew complicated.

"Miss Poison, since you're alive... is our partnership still on?"

Poison stood at the trio's far right, studying the trapped Jiang Chi at the wall's base. She raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

She recognized the divide-and-conquer gambit. But the man had no idea what kind of bond held her hunting team together.

She wasn't entirely sure herself. But she knew the anchor of that stability wasn't present at the scene.

Which ant no matter how silver-tongued Jiang Chi beca, he couldn't soften these hunters' killing intent by even a fraction.

She smirked: "Sorry — I'm just a Desire Puppet controlled by a persimmon. No idea how to answer your question."

"..."

'Playing dumb again!'

Jiang Chi's face darkened. He turned to the snarling Gongyang Jiao in the center: "He killed you, and you're helping him? Gongyang — since when does the Screaming Earl, who feeds on fear, start feeling fear himself!?"

Gongyang Jiao grinned savagely and spat: "Whether I'm afraid or not is none of your business. You being afraid is enough!"

"..."

Jiang Chi's expression blackened further. He turned toward the direction where the Chaleon lurked, opened his mouth, and found no words.

"..."

'Impossible. This match was simply unplayable.'

"It seems... I have no choice but to fight for my life!"

With that, Jiang Chi's eyes turned grave. Right hand raised the Hour Hand Sword vertically before him. Left hand drew a pocket watch from his coat. Amid the driving wind and snow, every nerve drawn taut, he waited for the hunters to make the first move.

In this situation, he couldn't strike first. The instant he moved, the two who weren't his target would imdiately exploit the opening and end him.

Seconds crawled by. None of the four moved.

Wind grew wilder. Snow fell harder. Darkness thickened.

Minutes ago, the light had been fading gradually, like silk unraveling. But in the space of a few blinks, the luminous canopy overhead was violently torn apart.

Night fell. Kannar's darkness arrived. The pocket watch in Jiang Chi's hand even chid the hour.

And the very instant nightfall descended on cue, a blinding streak of light slashed from the highest point of the wall above Jiang Chi's head — plumting like a teor.

"Hot damn — waited and waited and nobody moved. I don't have that kind of patience!"