"The number you have dialed is currently unavailable. Please leave a ssage after the tone..."
"...This is Zhen Xin."
Cheng Shi was about to hang up, but hearing that na made his eye twitch. "Beep."
"..."
The other end paused for a mont, then solemnly left a ssage:
"Did she... leave any words behind?"
Hearing that, Cheng Shi was ninety percent certain the caller really was Zhen Xin. After all, the bond between her and the Blind One couldn't be faked. But even if there was only a one-percent chance, he had to guard against being made a fool.
Getting played by a mouth and a tongue was humiliating enough. If soone on the other end of a phone line pulled the sa trick today, it would beco a permanent black mark in the Clown's history.
So Cheng Shi pondered for a mont, then offered a cautious response.
"She did. But I'll need a password."
'A password?'
Zhen Xin frowned on the other end, but after only a few seconds of thought, she realized what the "password" was. The sheer absurdity of it even montarily diluted her grief, drawing an involuntary laugh. "Fine. Do you want the old password or the new one?"
"Both!" A keen light flashed in Cheng Shi's eyes as he held his breath, terrified of missing a single word.
"There are too many old passwords to go through. Let
hit the ones you'd be most interested in.
I know who you're worried about. No need — things went smoothly. We found Lu Xia.
Hu Xuan turned out to be a decent teammate — reliable, at least when our goals aligned. She wanted to persuade Lu Xia to return to Birth's side, but...
The Birth Holy Voice didn't believe that crowding around a Benefactor's throne in worship was the sa as devotion. So He refused Hu Xuan's request and stayed behind in the history of the Land of Hope.
Of course, He has been revived, which ans He can leave that history at any ti. But I think He seems to be waiting for soone.
Birth has recovered another one of Her children, and as a mber who made a modest contribution along the way, I was granted an audience after the trial. As for the content of that audience..."
'An audience with Birth...'
Cheng Shi's lip twitched. He could picture the scene, but he couldn't imagine what Birth had said.
Of the entire Life path, this Prelude of Life was the one he understood least. So he was exceptionally curious about the content of Zhen Xin's audience.
"What did She say? Don't tell
you aligned with Birth?"
Zhen Xin chuckled lightly. "That's not part of the password. If you want to know, trade sothing you know for it."
"?" Cheng Shi blinked, then smiled. "What a head of the History School you are — not willing to take the slightest loss. Aren't you afraid I'll hang up and you'll never know what the Blind One said?"
"So she really did leave a ssage."
"...?"
'Damn. Got played into being the clown again.'
Cheng Shi's eyelid jumped violently. He had assud that given Zhen Xin's intelligence and her bond with the Blind One, she must have been certain the Blind One left sothing — hence the call. He hadn't expected that she, too, had been probing.
But probing was good. If it had been a probe, that ant Zhen Xin also wasn't entirely sure of the Blind One's attitude — which in turn ant their bond as close friends wasn't quite as unconditional as he had assud.
The Blind One had been right: they were first and foremost independent individuals, and only then the kind of friends who shared everything.
And given the current situation — with the Blind One having been swapped — that worked in his favor.
So Cheng Shi didn't dwell on being outmaneuvered. Instead, he agreed openly.
"She did. And only I know what she said.
Relax — unlike certain people, I don't enjoy lying. I may not know you two well, but I deeply admire the genuine bond between you. As long as your password checks out, I'll tell you what the Fate Chosen left behind.
Honestly, even if you hadn't called, I would have told you the next ti we t. But since you're eager to know now, 'early access' cos at a premium — that's a universal truth.
So keep going. Tell
the new password."
"..." The other end fell silent again. Muffled muttering drifted through — Cheng Shi could only make out snippets like "this guy," "Zhen Yi," and "so similar" — and then, through this unexpected phone call, he received a bombshell he wouldn't have dared imagine.
"Internal intelligence the School hasn't yet decrypted: the Stars Dagger experint was interrupted. Zangier... escaped."
"!!!???"
Cheng Shi froze. Each of those words sounded familiar on its own, yet strung together they felt utterly alien.
"What do you an, escaped?" Cheng Shi stared, his brain grinding to a halt.
"Vanished. He had already stolen enough pseudo-god divinity a long ti ago. No one knows how he managed to 'hoard' that much divinity right under the Erudition Presidium's nose, but he did.
Combine that with the body of the Hanged Man of the End — tempered through countless ages of resisting divinity — and he may have already beco... Him.
A pseudo-god. No — more accurately, a wild god cobbled together from fragnts of stolen divinity.
So during one of the Stars Dagger's routine 'consumable' replacents, He seized the opportunity and fled. Every experinter performing the replacent died on the spot — including one mber of the Erudition Presidium.
I'm not telling you this as re history anymore. I'm warning you. Back then, Hu Xuan was likely His first escape plan, but thanks to certain interference, He failed.
So be careful. Never underestimate the ambition and vindictiveness of a Grand Scholar."
"..."
Although Zhen Xin was perfectly capable of lying without batting an eye, Cheng Shi still believed this so-called "new password." It fit his understanding of Zangier too perfectly. He — no, He — had always been that kind of madman.
With that in mind, Cheng Shi pulled Zangier's Severed Finger from his personal storage.
Indeed — the key tool of the divinity-tempering experint had fallen into his hands. Originally, he hadn't wanted the thing after the experint ended. He knew it was valuable, but its karmic entanglents were too massive... He was afraid of getting dragged into yet another inexplicable incident.
Conveniently, the Torchbearers needed divinity, so he had planned to leave it with them. But at the ti, Qin Xin was lying on the ground, and the Blind One hadn't accepted it either. She had rely copied a set of the Doctor's experint manuscripts, then handed all the divinity and the finger over to Cheng Shi.
Cheng Shi had felt... rather embarrassed. After much deliberation, he accepted the finger, and in return, he bundled up every scrap of Decay divinity stripped from the Folly believers and gave it all to the Torchbearers.
He knew Decay no longer cared about such things, so this essentially "free" divinity was the best aid he could offer the Torchbearers.
Now, hearing this news, Cheng Shi's expression turned grim. He shouldn't have taken it...
The thing hadn't even ward in his hands before trouble started brewing.
That said, Zangier's jailbreak wasn't too big a problem for him personally. After all, everything back then had been played within the rules of the ga. Besides, He couldn't pin the bla for His first failed escape or His severed finger on Cheng Shi.
But Hu Xuan — the warrior who had demanded a child from the Eternal Sun right in front of Him — was probably in for trouble.
Then again, given her current status, Birth probably wouldn't let a pseudo-god snatch away one of Her children... right?
Cheng Shi sank deep into thought. The other end of the line didn't press him either, and it wasn't until he shifted position, producing a faint rustle, that Zhen Xin finally spoke again.
"I've given you the password. Where's my answer?"
This ti Cheng Shi held nothing back. The other party's sincerity was evident — or rather, during this call, he finally appreciated the fairness of Big Cat's old assessnt of Zhen Xin.
"She's soone who's very good at cooperating."
Indeed. Setting aside her sister, Zhen Xin herself seed more approachable than most liars. Within limits, of course — she was still a liar at heart.
Recalling the covert sparring at the diocre Person Society, Cheng Shi shook his head and smiled wryly.
'Stop overthinking. Just treat her as an intelligence mine.'
And he was the tireless miner with a pickaxe — oh wait, the pickaxe was broken. He'd need to get a spare.
After a few seconds of idle musing, Cheng Shi relayed what the Blind One had left behind. It was only a few words — short enough that the "password" he'd received in exchange seed like an unfair trade.
But Zhen Xin didn't see it that way. Her voice changed audibly — even trembling slightly with barely suppressed emotion.
The voice on the other end disappeared for a ti. When it returned, it carried a single word:
"Thank you."
The gratitude was so genuine that Cheng Shi, unaccustod to sincerity from a liar over the phone, paused for a beat.
He wasn't used to trading real emotions with a deceiver through a phone line, so he smiled and steered the mood.
"How about sothing more practical?"
"Sure."
"?"
Cheng Shi blinked again, about to say sothing more, but the line had already gone dead.
'Wait — she just hung up?'
'So is the "sothing practical" coming or not?'
...
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