Once the decision was made, the [Silence] hunter felt no more hesitation — only excitent about what awaited him beyond the door.
He craved an audience with a god with desperate intensity. Especially after learning, bit by bit, that one Chosen after another had begun eting Them. The yearning had grown unbearable.
Otherwise, he'd never have agreed to cooperate with Gongyang Jiao in hunting a Chosen.
Even if Poison wasn't known for combat, she was still a rank-one player. Difficult to deal with, and deliberately targeting her risked drawing the unfriendly gaze of her Benefactor, [Corruption].
But the Chaleon didn't care. He even welcod [Corruption]'s unfriendly gaze!
Yes — this [Silence] follower's desire for a divine audience had reached such fevered insanity that any attention from any god would suffice. Good or bad — just as long as it existed!
Hidden beneath [Silence]'s veil, his low profile ant few outsiders understood him. But today, the mont Cheng Shi saw through his heart, the desire he could no longer contain... erupted.
He expected a monuntal surprise behind that door — while warning himself this could just as easily be smoke and mirrors. After all, a hunter knew better than anyone how bait lured prey. And this person had killed his partner, which made an ambush entirely plausible.
But even at one-in-ten-thousand odds, he had to try. Even if it was a trap, he'd accept. The worst case was losing one life.
The cunning hare had three burrows. Surely a seasoned hunter had at least a second life.
So the Chaleon gritted his teeth and walked through. And the instant his vision adjusted from infinite darkness, he saw two figures standing before a magnificent, ancient structure—
No. One god and one human!
The man standing inside the doorway, breathtakingly handso — flawless, even — couldn't possibly be mortal. The [Corruption] aura billowing from every inch of Him was dense enough to suffocate. A single look sent endless desire flooding through your veins.
A being like this was at minimum a Servant God!
And right now, this Servant God and that "teammate" from earlier stood shoulder to shoulder on either side of the threshold — studying him with evident interest!
The Chaleon's mind went blank.
He suddenly realized his wish had co true. Even if this was only a Servant God — who said a Servant God wasn't a Him!?
He didn't care which faith's deity deigned to receive him. He simply wanted to stand before one Him — a being fundantally different from mortals, representing the universe's ultimate truth!
Yes, the Chaleon believed every god embodied this world's essence — the root source of all creation. Because he was a zealous mber of the God Worship Society!
And as the unmasked fervor in the Chaleon's eyes blazed ever brighter, Cheng Shi finally recognized the issue. Now he understood why this [Silence] follower had cooperated with Gongyang Jiao over so absurd a pretext.
'Ah. One of the God Worship Society's maniacs.'
'They'd stop at nothing for an audience with a god.'
'Given his rank — sixth on the [Silence] leaderboard — his standing in the Society was probably substantial.'
The Chaleon stood trembling, lips moving soundlessly, too overwheld to speak. Aph Ros gave him a curious glance, then looked at Cheng Shi and smiled:
"This is the interesting player you ntioned? A mute who can't talk?"
Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow: "You know he's one of His followers, and you still dare say that? Aph Ros — I detect a whiff of blasphemy in your tone."
Aph Ros shrugged: "Even if He were present, He wouldn't escape being called a 'mute.' They all call Him that. I'm rely following the trend."
"?" Cheng Shi's interest piqued. Having already confird that Aph Ros was unaffected by [Ti]'s reset, he'd told the Herald that entertainnt might follow soon. Now, seeing Aph Ros's dismissiveness toward [Silence], his amusent deepened: "Seems He's quite adept at endurance."
"Endurance? Perhaps. But I'd lean toward 'spectating.'
"[Silence] is a boring audience mber. He never speaks, never critiques. He rely watches everything in the universe in silence — thinking who-knows-what. Nothing piques His interest, yet nothing bores Him either.
"He's like a stone imrsed in its own world, never once changing.
"I don't agree with His will, but I quite enjoy observing His followers. In the era when I beca [Corruption]'s Envoy, that was one of the few entertainnts available.
"His followers want to demonstrate devotion to Him, yet refuse to abandon their desire for expression. In the constant tug between faith and human nature, the most delightful sparks fly.
"Oh, and I suspect your Benefactor would enjoy these things too."
"..."
'He wasn't wrong.' The Fun God had probably observed these people long ago. In fact, He might not have been watching [Silence]'s followers at all — He might have been watching [Silence] Himself!
'What could be more entertaining than goading a "stone" into anger?'
'Tsk. Hard to judge.'
Over here, the conversation flowed animatedly. Over there, the listener hung on every word.
Despite these two openly mocking his Benefactor, the Chaleon felt no offense whatsoever. If not for the last thread of devotion still pulling at him, he would've loved to join the Envoys' chat — playing the sycophant who self-deprecatingly mocked his own Benefactor.
Yes — he was now certain his mysterious teammate was also an Envoy. From fragnts of conversation, he'd even deduced the man was most likely a... [Deceit] Envoy!
After all, among all the deities one could associate with the word "amusent," [Deceit] would sit alone at the very top.
'So the teammate who'd killed two others was a [Void] Servant God!?'
'What did that even an!?'
'As far as he knew, since the Faith Ga had descended, not a single piece of information about any [Void] Servant God had ever been collected!'
'And today, he seed to have witnessed one with his own eyes!'
Looking at Cheng Shi's brilliant smile, the Chaleon clenched his fists until his knuckles went white.
'So this was the smile of [Deceit] incarnate?'
'He had disguised Himself as an ordinary player to deceive everyone, then used a ga of desire to lead him before another [Corruption] Envoy.'
'Mystery, power, truth, origin...' For a god-worshipper, today was historic enough to etch into the annals. But the Chaleon didn't care about records. What he cared about was how to earn Their...
Recognition!
The God Worship Society's fundantal desire was never simply an audience. It was recognition — becoming one of Them!
In other words, the ultimate goal for the vast majority of Society mbers was to beco an Envoy of the gods, like the two before him now. And if there existed a rank beneath Envoy that still carried comparable divine prestige, they'd happily accept that too.
God Worship Society — the word "god" was inescapable.
He desperately wanted to break [Silence] and pour out his excitent and reverence. But what remained of his reason told him: now was not the ti.
Before demonstrating his worth and earning their appreciation, any self-deprecating or Benefactor-mocking behavior would only lower their impression of him. The era before [Silence] had been the era of [Folly]. Its followers hadn't inherited [Folly]'s arrogance, but they had absorbed the wisdom of the previous faith-era. They knew exactly how to seize an opportunity.
And he knew precisely who had given him this chance to seize.
Thinking this, the Chaleon fixed his burning gaze on Cheng Shi. His eyes were painted with scorching, fervent madness.
Aph Ros noticed the little mute's zealotry shifting targets and smiled:
"So, my brother — you brought him to see . Do you have so fresh story to tell?
"I don't see anything interesting about him. Where exactly is this entertainnt you promised?"
"..."
Cheng Shi smiled. 'At last.' Aph Ros's curiosity was step one of the plan — and ideally, this step needed to land before any second player wandered in.
He wasn't sure anyone else would follow. But he could cover every possibility with a single quip.
He rubbed his nose, then grinned:
"He's not the entertainnt. The real fun is coming next.
"I bumped into your Benefactor's Chosen. You probably know what 'Chosen' ans by now — the mortals' self-amusing title. But there's no denying that [Corruption] has shown her so favor.
"This door hasn't closed. And she's right outside.
"Think about it — a player who embraces desire is, at this very mont, resisting her inner desire and refusing to follow us in. Isn't that...
"Entertaining?"
The instant the words left his mouth, a head with black-to-teal gradient hair peeked through the pitch-dark doorway. She looked at the three people inside, blinked, and said:
"May I... co in?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)