The seating arrangent at the terrace's long table had changed.
Aph Ros didn't place a chair at the head of the table where He should have sat. Instead, He pulled a chair to the side opposite Cheng Shi.
The two sat facing each other along the table's length, leaving the head seat for Hong Lin, who was still surveying her surroundings.
Hong Lin raised an eyebrow and, without ceremony, sat down at the head. She took in the surrounding scenery, watching devout servants file in with food and wine. Then, with a hint of amusent, she looked at Cheng Shi and said in a peculiar tone:
"You call this a cage?"
That single line told Cheng Shi that even if Hong Lin knew sothing about Aph Ros, her knowledge was limited. Perhaps she'd rely heard of this person, knew so of His history, but not what had actually happened to Him.
So he smiled and explained the situation in Dolgod. Then, with practiced finesse, he wove Aph Ros's story in, drawing the two closer.
"So you see, this prisoner of Existence is actually a friend of ours in Void. Wouldn't you say, Frazor — the enemy of our enemy is our friend."
Reasonable as it sounded, Hong Lin still couldn't let her guard down around Corruption. She knew all too well what these people were like — They'd stop at nothing for desire.
Aph Ros noticed Hong Lin's wariness but felt no resistance. Nobody knew Corruption's reputation among the gods better than His own Herald.
He couldn't ask a "true god's heir" to change her view of Him. If Go Lis's consciousness weren't so obsessively frenzied, He would've much preferred to face this fellow Life guest in that other form.
So He was quite satisfied with Cheng Shi's introduction. After Cheng Shi finished, Aph Ros applauded with a smile.
"I know my status as a sinner may not qualify
for Void's friendship. But I will certainly never be Void's enemy.
I love this era. I love everything about it. However, I do have one curiosity.
My brother — why would you and this distinguished Lady Frazor both... claim Void?"
"..."
'Crap. Slipped up. Forgot about that.'
Cheng Shi's expression stiffened. Hong Lin froze, then her face darkened. In their mutual understanding, this detail should have been concealed as long as possible — buying ti to quietly build an information barrier and gain more leverage in future interactions and confrontations.
But now, in trying to bridge their relationship, the Void hook had been exposed.
This was nothing a performing clown couldn't handle, though.
Cheng Shi's expression shifted rapidly — an awkward laugh, then a much graver look.
He fixed his blazing gaze on Aph Ros and, in a solemnity the Herald had never seen, spoke word by asured word:
"Aph Ros, I'm not sure whether your Corruption is tugging at my desires right now, making
lower my guard..."
Truth be told, as a Corruption Herald, Aph Ros's aura constantly pulled at surrounding emotions. But this faint tug could be fully countered by the door key in Cheng Shi's hand alone — zero impact.
He was purely deflecting bla, while simultaneously applying pressure. He was deliberately manufacturing tension and mystique. The purpose, naturally, was deception.
Every trick a liar played was in service of deception.
"...enough to carelessly let slip so little Void secrets.
But I'd suggest that until you've decided to fully trust
and align with Void, it would be best to forget what you just heard."
'Sure enough — all of this, exactly as I suspected, involves Void's contest for Their authority!'
'But... forget?'
Aph Ros smiled, a grin blooming with desire.
'Forget? Easier said than done.' He was a devotee of desire — asking a Corruption follower to abandon the craving in their heart was no different from asking them to break their oath.
Absolutely impossible.
But Aph Ros was no fool. He grasped Cheng Shi's aning perfectly: if you want to learn more about Void's story, you must draw closer to Void.
So He grew cautious too.
He had to consider the fact that this was a Deceit Herald. Cheng Shi's words just now might not have been a slip at all — they could've been deliberate. Designed to push Him one step further, nudging Him slowly toward... the abyss of Deceit.
Though in the Void era, drawing closer to Void wasn't necessarily wrong. But Deceit was too false, and Fate too arcane. Everything He knew about Void so far ca from a single Void wanderer's mouth. He couldn't be certain whether this Deceit Herald was lying to Him, and He feared a rash decision might bring irreversible consequences.
Aph Ros might be trapped in Ti's cage, but His endless cycles of rebirth, year after year of waiting, surely weren't self-punishnt. It was for the day He could resu His grand ambitions.
He was weighing whether drawing closer to Void would fulfill that wish — or sink Him into nothingness, never to exist again.
Before, dealing with Cheng Shi alone, He hadn't needed to overthink this. This "brother Yu Xi" wasn't all that powerful — at least not until He recovered His mask.
So Aph Ros had believed there would be ample ti to study this era before Void's dominance demanded a choice.
But now, ti seed to be running out. Especially after seeing a... Frazor who wielded Prosperity's authority.
This Frazor's identity was surely false. Aph Ros had t the real Frazor. The Mother of Prosperity's eldest daughter hadn't possessed such a beautiful, healthy face and physique.
She'd been gaunt. Under her mother's divine oppression, her growth had been anything but flourishing.
Moreover, she was long dead — she'd died in her mother's arms.
So this fake Frazor was probably another Void wanderer like Yu Xi? Or a Herald?
'Has Void already begun brazenly seizing the gods' authority?'
'Even if this kind of thing is a dirty secret all gods know about, how did Void wrest authority from Prosperity's grasp?'
In Aph Ros's understanding, Prosperity would never share Her authority with Her children — let alone a Void wanderer.
'What happened to the second god of Life?'
Unable to trace the cause and effect, Aph Ros suddenly fell into turmoil. He should have followed His heart and obeyed His desires, but now even desire had forked. Both the conservative and aggressive paths looked promising — leaving the bewildered seeker standing at fate's crossroads, hesitant and lost.
This inner conflict manifested externally: Aph Ros's aura began to fluctuate, growing chaotic. The surrounding Corruption pull strengthened gradually.
He looked at Cheng Shi with a complex expression and said quietly:
"My good brother. Deceit's Herald. Lord Yu Xi...
Are you... lying to
again?"
Before Cheng Shi could react, Big Cat moved first.
Her pupils contracted sharply as she looked at Cheng Shi. Those eyes, sharp as a leopard's, overflowed with confusion. The expression clearly asked:
"Since when are you Deceit's Herald?"
"..."
Cheng Shi went numb. He could only simultaneously respond to both sides with an awkward laugh, while screaming internally:
'Bring it on — let the lies co faster and harder!'
...
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