"..."
Cheng Shi walked away without looking back. The Blind One followed silently behind. If she wanted to tell him sothing, she naturally wouldn't insist on a pointless direction choice. And she wasn't the stubborn type.
But as they headed toward the town center, neither spoke. Cheng Shi kept his eyes sweeping, ears tuned, without the slightest intention of breaking the silence. The Blind One seed the sa. So the two-person party drifted into quiet.
Eventually, Cheng Shi couldn't stand the awkward atmosphere. He stopped and turned to face this blind woman who couldn't see the road yet never walked crooked:
"Found anything useful?"
"What do you want to know?" The Blind One looked up.
"?" Cheng Shi blinked, then laughed in exasperation. "Anything I want? I'd like to know where we are. Where the trial's anomaly is. Where Ti's foreshadowing is. Where Fate's trap is. You can tell
all of that?"
The Blind One frowned, pondered briefly, then nodded with perfect gravity:
"This is Falling Gate—the closest town to the northeast of the Abyssal Volcano. Its surface equivalent sits in the woodland southwest of Gasmira.
This is a notorious shuttle broker stronghold, reputedly the first Civilization outpost developed by underground creatures yearning to return to the surface.
Its defining feature is proximity to the volcano. So the trial's anomaly is most likely volcano-related. Instead of wandering through town, we'd be better off heading down to the Magma Crystal Mine outside town—check in with the miners. That's more likely to yield results.
Also—Ti never writes foreshadowing. The one who loves scattering setups everywhere is our Benefactor, Fate.
And Fate has never set traps. What lures people in and locks them there... is typically our counterpart, Ti."
"..."
The Blind One's barrage left Cheng Shi completely stunned.
'Lady—you actually know all this?'
'If you knew so much, why didn't you say so earlier? I walked all that way for nothing!'
Cheng Shi's expression beca suprely peculiar. He studied the sealed eyes beneath the black cloth for a long ti before blurting:
"You haven't gone and opened a third eye like Erlang Shen, have you?"
The Blind One shook her head with a smile: "Everything I know ca not from seeing—but from Fate's guidance."
"..."
Cheng Shi pursed his lips. He suddenly suspected this Fate Chosen was actually... rather lively?
"Alright, stop steering every topic back to Fate. Does your god even know you're doing that?
What do you really want to tell ?
Asking about my audience with Fate?
If you truly see the full picture, you should know—that was an accident.
Based on others' descriptions, I always imagined you as this serene, mysterious player. But today... your obsession with divine audiences runs pretty deep.
Are you jealous of ?"
The Blind One laughed softly and shook her head:
"Precisely because I see the full picture, I know it genuinely summoned you.
Cheng Shi, don't forget—Xin Xin was in that trial too. Even if you shifted the bla to Zhen Yi, Xin Xin knows it was fake.
And I'm not jealous of your audience. Because... I've seen it too."
"!!!"
Cheng Shi's pupils contracted. Shock flooded his voice: "It summoned you? Recently?"
Truthfully, Cheng Shi hadn't learned that "Fate never summons anyone" from Fate itself—he'd heard it from other players. He didn't know why Fate was reluctant to et its followers, but he knew Big Cat had been summoned.
So Fate wasn't heartless. At least before the predetermined ending, it would still grant audiences.
In that light, summoning the Blind One wasn't strange at all.
But what concerned Cheng Shi was the timing. After he'd been "forced" to approach Chaos, the previously unsummoned Chosen was suddenly called. It felt suspiciously like soone whose main account had been wasted deciding to level up an alt.
'Fate... didn't actually get angry, did it?'
His expression turned complicated. But before he could think further, the Blind One spoke again—still shaking her head:
"No. It didn't summon . I saw it."
Cheng Shi froze: "What do you an?"
Seeing his bewildernt, the Blind One finally let out a soft laugh:
"Li Jingming always likes exchanging mories. He's traded with
a few tis. I think it's a good thod. So, Cheng Shi—why don't we try sothing similar?"
'Exchange mories?'
'No no no—we Deceit followers don't do mory things. We have our own way of communicating.'
A sharp gleam crossed Cheng Shi's eyes. His gaze toward the Blind One gained an edge of scrutiny.
"You want a heart-to-heart?"
"Heart-to-heart?
That sounds like con-artist speak. You—"
"Can I trust you?" Cheng Shi cut her off.
"..." The Blind One fell silent. She was the first person to et that question with utter stillness—no reaction at all. Her response was so strange that Cheng Shi's brow creased slightly.
"You... can trust . At least for this trial, you can trust
completely.
But after this trial ends, Cheng Shi—I won't rember what happened between us. So I can't guarantee I'll still trust you then."
"?" Cheng Shi's frown deepened. "What does that an? Chosen An, if you want sincerity, stop playing the riddler.
Don't forget—I'm also a follower of Fate. If we keep talking like this, seven days won't be enough to finish our riddles.
Be honest. At least, as you said—be honest within this trial."
An Mingyu nodded gently. She did look genuinely more sincere. But what Cheng Shi didn't expect was that her first honest sentence would make the Clown's face change dramatically.
"I know about the Torchbearers. And I also know that you, Cheng Shi, once helped several Torchbearers. Among those who received your help without knowing it, one was a Torchbearer Fire Seeker nad Fang—"
Before she could finish, Cheng Shi's scalpel was pressed against An Mingyu's throat.
His gaze was ice-cold as he stared at this Fate Chosen who'd just dropped an earth-shattering secret:
"There's no way you could know these things. Prophecy isn't so master key to every question. So—who are you, really?"
An Mingyu showed no fear. She smiled lightly and tilted her chin up to et those eyes—so cold they could kill:
"Why couldn't I?
Have you ever considered—if soone knows the Torchbearers exist... couldn't she also be a Torchbearer?"
"!!!"
'You're a Torchbearer?!'
'You've got to be kidding!'
Cheng Shi was stunned.
'Even if Fate never summoned you, you're still Fate's Chosen—the person who's walked furthest on Fate's path. How could Fate allow you to join an organization protected by the Fun God?'
'The Torchbearers are obviously the Fear Faction's "toy." You're the Approach Faction's frontrunner, and you're telling
this?!'
'You're a mole?!'
"You don't seem to believe . Then what if I told you I'm not just a Torchbearer but one of only two Fire Seekers—how would you feel about that?"
"..."
'I don't dare feel anything.'
Cheng Shi silently withdrew his scalpel.
He knew the Blind One wasn't lying. She truly was a Torchbearer—and very likely one who wanted to recruit him.
'How convenient. The Torchbearers have exactly two Fire Seekers, and I've t them both. And they both want to pull
into this organization that guards all things beautiful.'
'So the Blind One's earlier testing wasn't pointless foolishness. She'd probably been integrating her impressions, building a three-dinsional profile of him—evaluating him as a "candidate," just like Fang Shiqing had.'
'Except Fang Shiqing had taken a leap of faith after observation. While the Blind One...'
'She knows too much. Possibly more than even Fang Shiqing herself. Or rather—Fang Shiqing wouldn't rember those things.'
'So...'
"How do you know all this?
Also—are you a City Defender, or a City Builder?"
"Borrowing the greatness of gods, striving to build a new nation. I'm not a conservative—but I am the most conservative person among the radicals.
There's much more I know. And the source of every secret is that gathering of the diocre Person Society—the one you attended disguised as Zhen Yi!
Cheng Shi, aren't you curious why Qin Xin and I were badly wounded?"
'Qin Xin...'
'So this "modern-day Xiang Yu" is also a Torchbearer!'
'He's genuinely injured though. As for you... jury's still out.'
'But honestly—at the Chosen level, Qin Xin can't be a nobody within the Torchbearers, can he?'
Cheng Shi's brow furrowed. He was about to ask more when the Blind One lobbed an even bigger bombshell—one that blew his mind clean open.
"Your identity was exposed. Your connection to the Torchbearers was exposed. Several people learned who you are. So to protect you, the Torchbearers had to... handle it.
Unfortunately, one person refused to forget. So we had no choice but to... kill him.
Just now. Right before the trial."
"!!!!!"
Cheng Shi's pupils shrank to pinpoints. Sothing grave flickered through his eyes.
"Who?"
"Lao Deng. The Chosen of Ti."
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