In truth, Cheng Shi didn't care much whether the Blind One before him was the "real" one. He didn't share Zhen Xin's deep friendship with her — his only interaction with the original Blind One had been a single phone call.
And frankly, if the current Blind One turned out to be the universally acknowledged "warm" version from the trial, that was actually better for Cheng Shi.
He never dwelt on the past. Once he learned the Blind One's identity had been swapped, he imdiately recognized his opportunity.
And for the clown, this was genuinely a god-tier opening hand.
Rember why Cheng Shi had wanted to recruit the Blind One into the Destined Ones?
For the History School — the one in Zhen Xin's hands!
He'd used the Origin as bait to hook the Blind One, all to "share" first-hand materials from that organization. But given the sisterly bond between the Blind One and Zhen Xin, the logistics of that plan had remained... complicated.
But now — every problem solved itself!
Because An Mingyu was no longer the original An Mingyu. Most importantly, given the deep friendship between the Blind One and Zhen Xin, Zhen Xin would never sever that bond. She'd even make concessions — on multiple levels — to maintain it.
And the Blind One before him was even more perfect: she not only trusted him, she could barely trust anyone else. She was An Mingyu from another world. Until she knew how people in this tiline felt about cross-tiline players, he was her only real ally!
Zhen Xin counted as half. Qin Xin counted as half. But Cheng Shi counted as a full one!
Especially after he'd rescued her right in front of Destiny — this Destined One seed about to beco a truly Destined One after all!
Of course, the "destiny" here might not be Destiny's kind — but the kind where Cheng Shi saved her life!
At this thought, Cheng Shi's eyes blazed with brilliance.
'Praise Destiny — this inexplicable effortless win feels absolutely incredible!'
He smirked at the Blind One. Seeing her still dazed, he knew the day's events had been devastating. She didn't need to think right now. What she needed most was proper rest, then to slowly accept reality — because she almost certainly couldn't go back.
The Fun God had said everything from the last trial was Ti's "extrapolation trick." Cheng Shi hadn't fully believed it then, and now, having t An Mingyu from another world, he believed it even less.
Those parallel worlds clearly existed. But perhaps they truly functioned like Ti's extrapolations — when no "caster" was actively performing the extrapolation, no one could detect their existence.
So Cheng Shi now leaned toward a different interpretation of the Fun God's words: researching this dinsional "parallelism" was pointless, because the opportunity to cast wasn't in the players' hands. Players only got one shot. Miss it, and it was gone. The parallel worlds people currently theorized about were still the countless universes where Prosperity had fallen — not the one where Decay had.
Connecting this to his earlier speculation that "Ti has no ti because He's battling other Tis," Cheng Shi formulated an even bolder hypothesis:
What they'd experienced in the last trial couldn't simply be called parallel tilines. It was a higher-dinsional state, clearly distinct from ordinary parallel tilines. He coined a na for this possibility:
Slice Universe.
The "hard to pass the torch" Qin Xin's theory was probably right — the gods the players knew were likely slices of the True Gods.
But that Qin Xin's understanding had been wrong. It wasn't that every parallel tiline had slices of the True Gods. Rather, each Slice Universe contained sixteen divine slices — and beneath each Slice Universe lay countless parallel worlds.
Those worlds were what the Fun God ant by "parallel worlds do exist"!
In other words: Cheng Shi believed his current spaceti contained countless tilines, all sharing one commonality — Prosperity had fallen.
Step outside that dinsion, and in another Slice Universe, perhaps Prosperity hadn't fallen at all — Decay had instead. So every parallel tiline beneath that Slice Universe would feature Decay's fall.
The last trial had caused specific parallel worlds from four different Slice Universes to converge — producing "identical" players from completely different tilines.
So for the Blind One to return ho, it wasn't just a matter of crossing the parallel-tiline barrier. She'd have to leap out of this entire Slice Universe, locate her original one, and only then — under that universe's divine slices' gaze — return to her world.
Nearly impossible. Because Cheng Shi suspected the gods — or more precisely, the gods of this Slice Universe — very likely didn't know other Slice Universes existed.
Which ant only the Fun God and Ti had discovered the universe's truth. And the Fun God had discovered it far earlier than Ti — which was why He'd beco the first Fear Faction mber!
Of course, this was still speculation. And the reason he dared make such a bold conjecture was entirely because of Ti's attitude shift.
Everything Deceit had done today had received Ti's full support. An Existence deity singularly focused on approaching the Origin had beco the "sole Fear Faction mber's" ally. Without so earth-shattering upheaval or cognitive reversal, Cheng Shi simply couldn't fathom why Ti would change this way.
This hypothesis was terrifying. If true, and if any of the other deities found out, it could trigger the next round of divine chaos.
But Cheng Shi doubted the gods would learn of it soon — at least not before Deceit and Ti devised a "solution."
Otherwise, Folly — the supre intelligence — wouldn't have asked about "foolish acts" during his recent audience. He would have directly peered into Cheng Shi's experiences and deduced the universe's truth!
So the Fun God had concealed the facts. He'd deceived every deity — except Ti!
And now Ti was likely the Fun God's true ally!
If the divine landscape was structured this way... then what about Him?
'No — absolutely not going there!'
Cheng Shi suddenly went cold all over. He forcibly suppressed the thought, refusing to let his mind reach toward that higher existence. After several deep breaths, he redirected his attention to the present.
He looked at the gradually recovering Blind One. Sothing resolute settled in his expression:
"Chosen One An — don't use that Rembrance Needle."
An Mingyu froze. She looked up, face solemn:
"You're afraid I'll forget this debt of gratitude?"
"No — I'm afraid you'll forget where you ca from. After all, during that trial, you were practically glued to my side.
I know this isn't easy to say, but I'll say it anyway: ho is the only place in this wretched world worth longing for. We've both lost our hos. But now you have one again — at least a destination that looks like 'ho.'
I believe you can handle this. Just as I believe in the other Destined Ones."
With that, Cheng Shi curved his lips into the most sincere smile he had.
Hearing "Destined Ones," sothing complex flickered across the Blind One's face. But she quickly produced the dice Cheng Shi had given her and declared solemnly:
"The coming path, the going road — all are... Destined!"
Destined indeed — the "destiny" of Destiny... and the "life" the Fate Weaver had saved.
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