Within two seconds, the door was shoved open. An ethereal, slightly anxious female voice rang out first, followed by a woman in a black blindfold who hiked up her tattered black gauze dress and rushed in.
"Qin Xin!! Is that you?"
The mont she entered, she spotted Qin Xin on the floor. Without a word, she retrieved a healing potion from her inventory.
When she sensed soone staring blankly at her from the corner, she froze—then grew even more startled:
"Cheng Shi?"
Those black-cloth-covered eyes slowly "looked" toward Cheng Shi's legs, their "gaze" locking onto his feet.
"Those feet. That's you?"
"???"
'What feet?'
'Whose feet?'
'I have no feet!'
Cheng Shi's mind blanked. His first instinct was to deflect bla—and when he realized there was no bla to deflect, he snapped his gaze to his own feet.
For so reason, under this woman's "stare," he suddenly wanted to hide them. But then it hit him: the "feet" she was talking about weren't his current physical feet. They were... feet from a prophecy?
'She saw
in a prophecy?'
Entirely possible. After all, she was a Prophet—the Chosen of Fate—the one they called the Blind One: An Mingyu.
Indeed, Cheng Shi had recognized her. He'd never actually t her in person. Her appearance alone wouldn't have imdiately connected to the Blind One—there were plenty of eccentrically dressed people in this world, and who knew what teammates were hiding under their odd outfits.
But the mont he heard that faintly familiar voice, the blank image of "the Blind One" crystallized in his mind. He confird she was the An Mingyu he'd spoken to on the phone.
'Another Chosen. Another Chosen-level match!'
The interesting part? She was the Chosen of Fate. And as it happened, Cheng Shi ranked highest on Fate's Ladder of Ascent. So if he were to take out this Chosen right now—
"You didn't attack him, did you?" An Mingyu knelt beside Qin Xin, slowly pouring the potion into his mouth. She turned to look at Cheng Shi, more puzzled than accusatory.
Cheng Shi was even more lost.
'Lady—where did you learn this instant-familiarity thing? We've only spoken on the phone once. You don't even know for sure it was . How are you already tossing bla and suspicion?'
'I'm a law-abiding citizen. How could I possibly—'
'Oh wait. I actually did attack. But testing the waters counts as attacking? And that little tap couldn't even scratch his armor—no way I knocked him out.'
'He fainted from an old wound. What's that got to do with ?'
A thousand rebuttals flashed through his mind, but in the end Cheng Shi just shook his head slightly.
He chose not to explain. Because as the Blind One administered the potion, another person strolled in through the door.
A tall, lean man in casual clothes. Expression sowhat stern, but not unapproachable.
He first frowned at Qin Xin on the floor, then gave Cheng Shi a brief nod—a greeting. His alert eyes swept the room twice before he remarked thoughtfully: "Looks like we've got a familiar-faces match."
He clearly wasn't referring to himself—but to the three before him.
Cheng Shi's lip twitched. His expression turned odd.
'Familiar? Sure—we all know each other's nas. But that's literally the extent of it. This is the first ti we've actually t.'
'Great. A first-eting "familiar faces" match.'
Qin Xin's thunderous crash had drawn every eye in the inn. Soon, a crowd of rubberneckers gathered at the door.
From his position deep inside the room, Cheng Shi glanced sideways and noticed the inn's guests seed... unusual.
So dressed lavishly, others in rags. Every ethnicity seed represented, with almost nothing in common—except for one detail: they all gave off the vibe of shrewd, calculating rchants. Pairs of beady, rat-like eyes glittered as they sized up the room, clearly assessing whether this "commotion" might be profitable.
Before long, two more players pushed through the crowd—unmistakably players by their gear.
Leading the way was a man in fitted leather, smile radiant and manner sunny. When soone blocked his path, he'd offer kind words while politely squeezing past. Of course, if soone refused to budge, his broad shoulders would teach them a quick lesson.
Behind him followed a woman with a short bob and princess-cut bangs, wearing a pure-white trailing mage robe. Her face was ice-cold—eyes brimming with barely restrained killing intent.
She kept close behind the man. As she passed, the inn's guests shrank back a step from her bone-chilling aura. Those too slow earned a venomous glare—eyes that all but scread: 'Do you want to die?'
The pair shouldered their way in. Leather-jacket politely dismissed the onlookers with a couple of throwaway lines, then closed the door behind him, mopping his brow.
At last, all six players of this trial stood face to face in the sweltering room.
anwhile, Qin Xin—revived by the potion—opened his eyes on the floor. Those sharp hawk-eyes swept across the faces before him, and the taut wire of tension in his chest loosened a fraction.
"Mingyu. It really is you. I—"
He cut himself off mid-sentence. Then slowly tilted his head upward—toward Cheng Shi's feet.
The sudden attention made Cheng Shi flinch. Worse, as Qin Xin turned to look, every person in the room followed his gaze—all staring at Cheng Shi's feet.
"..."
'Okay, people—if I've done sothing wrong, just kill . Don't let
die of embarrassnt like this.'
'You're all staring so hard I don't even dare curl my toes. Afraid it'll turn into a foot performance for your entertainnt.'
Perhaps sensing Cheng Shi's discomfort, Qin Xin thumped back flat on the ground with a BANG and burst out laughing:
"So those feet... they're him?"
An Mingyu shook her head with a helpless smile—one that seed to be growing louder by the second.
Cheng Shi had reached peak speechlessness. Eyes twitching, he addressed the two giggling conspirators:
"You two. If you don't explain what this is about, and keep laughing like that, don't bla
for wiping the smiles off your faces."
At this, everyone in the room perked up. The other three mbers, eager spectators, each took a step back—fully committed to their ringside seats. The Blind One's eyebrow arched upward. She actually looked... expectant.
As for Qin Xin, he reined in his laughter. His lips still strained with suppressed amusent, but clearly, he was trying to give Cheng Shi due respect.
"I'm curious about you, Cheng Shi. Before I explain anything—I'd rather see just how you plan to wipe the smiles off our faces."
It was the Blind One speaking. Her face was covered in black cloth, yet Cheng Shi could swear he saw a pair of curious eyes gleaming underneath.
Those eyes didn't look like Fate. They looked more like... Deceit.
'Fine. You really think I have no temper.'
Cheng Shi gave a cold snort. In an instant, his expression transford. He whipped out a several-ter-long white cloth strip from his inventory and, in the blink of an eye, swaddled both legs and feet like a mummy—wrapped tight from top to bottom.
Everyone stared in stunned silence. Then, one by one, their expressions beca more spectacular than the last—because clearly printed at the end of that white cloth were four bold characters:
PAY TO VIEW.
He hadn't just written these on the spot. He'd simply pulled out a pre-made strip, which ant the Fate Weaver standing before them had been keeping a "PAY TO VIEW" cloth in his inventory all along.
So... what kind of normal person stores a "PAY TO VIEW" banner in their inventory?
The Blind One stared, slack-jawed. She'd been half-considering pushing Qin Xin to test Cheng Shi's combat prowess—but he hadn't made a single aggressive move. And yet he'd genuinely stopped her laughter, because he'd snuffed out the very source of their amusent.
"..."
An Mingyu tilted her head dazedly. After several furtive "glances" at the cloth on Cheng Shi's legs, she finally conceded with genuine wonder:
"No wonder Xin Xin had such a strong impression of you. You... really are an extraordinary person."
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