In that instant, Cheng Shi realized with sudden clarity: the bargaining chip the other side wanted from the so-called "deal" wasn't Zangier's finger at all. It was...
Himself!
Cheng Shi himself!
'Damn — they're after the authority I carry!'
Cheng Shi's expression darkened.
He was right — at least half right.
Zangier had indeed set his sights on Cheng Shi. But the Grand Scholar hadn't actually detected the authority. In the end, Zangier was just a thief who'd stolen divinity and "assembled" himself into a pseudo-god. Until he truly crossed the threshold of godhood, he couldn't sense genuine authority.
All he'd noticed was that Cheng Shi's body was far more suitable for his "descent" than 0221's faith-stitched form. So he'd changed his plans on the spot, aiming to take Cheng Shi's vessel instead.
What Zangier perceived as "suitability" was, unbeknownst to him, the harmony of the Prosperity and Decay authorities acting within Cheng Shi! He couldn't detect the authorities themselves — but he could absolutely sense how these two forces coexisted in perfect balance within Cheng Shi's body. That harmony was infinitely more refined than the crude faith-stitching in 0221's fra. If Zangier rged with Cheng Shi, the power accumulated in his Hanged-Man-of-Doomsday form might be preserved far more completely.
So you couldn't bla Zangier for getting ideas.
Any Truth follower who spotted superior "data" at the experint's final juncture would probably make the sa choice. So Zangier altered the experint in real-ti — manipulating the tentacle swarms' attack frequency and position to gradually funnel this "more suitable vessel" right here. And that was why 0221 had revealed himself earlier.
Of course, there'd been nothing "candid" about that candor. It was pure calculation. Zangier had no intention of asking Cheng Shi's consent. Once he'd confird the Fate Weaver wasn't an ally, he'd already begun the vessel-transfer sequence. 0221's appearance had been nothing more than a stalling tactic for Zangier's final preparations!
Yes — Zangier was already in the real world. This Grand Scholar of Creation Alchemy, who should have been lost to the Land of Hope's history, was now after one thing: seizing Cheng Shi's body!
He would bring a pseudo-god's will, stolen divinity, a thirst for Truth, and madness encoded in his very DNA — rging them all with this perfect vessel to complete the experint!
Afterward, the world would have one fewer Clown — but one more scholar who'd drawn ever closer to Them!
And so, the mont preparations were complete, the signal went out, and 0221 moved. Or rather, the mother-tree moved. In this instant, the massive tumor vanished from Big Cat's sight and materialized beside Cheng Shi. It had always been capable of instantaneous teleportation within the experint site — yet when returning to defend earlier, it had feigned being slowed and obstructed!
Perhaps every act of concealnt had been for this ambush. The tumor's sudden appearance left both the Fate Weaver and the doctor no ti to react.
"BOOM—"
The tumor detonated without warning.
Its sudden materialization was terrifying enough, but 0221 gave the two n zero chance to respond — detonating this thing the size of a terrestrial sun right before their eyes.
Both were blown away. The doctor coughed a gush of blood, imdiately downed the Prosperity of Yesteryear Cheng Shi had given him, then grabbed the Fate Weaver and plunged into the blood-and-flesh-filled shadows.
But when he erged in the shadow plane — he realized he'd grabbed... nothing?
No one was beside him! Cheng Shi was gone!
Wang Mou's eyes flew wide. His brow sank as he burst out of the shadows, searching frantically. But amid the sky-filling debris and blood-fog, even finding his bearings was nearly impossible — let alone a person. And what made things worse was that where the tumor had detonated, the space wasn't empty. At so point, a colossal tree had sprouted — towering into the sky.
The explosion hadn't annihilated the tumor. Rather, it seed to have released its enormous internal pressure, letting countless tentacles fully extend from within and knot together into massive, gnarled trunks that connected every tentacle in the sky to every tentacle in the ground.
In that mont, infinite tentacles shuddered and spread in unison, interweaving and interlocking, forging themselves into a cage that sealed the entire real-world space inside.
And it didn't stop there. The Birth-born horror wasn't done. Because Wang Mou could clearly see — on every twisted, writhing tentacle — eyes and mouths opening by the thousands. These humanoid organs weren't the deford mutations of stitched newborns. They looked more like remnants from actual players!
In that mont, he finally understood how this so-called aberrant mother-tree had been stitched together.
It wasn't purely a composite of Birth newborns. It was stitched from numberless Birth players as well!
So every murmur in this experint site, every whispered raving, every shriek — all of it might have been the death-dirge those Birth players sang for themselves, eyes unshut in death.
The doctor's expression worsened. He could see neither path nor hope. The road to Truth seed blocked by a contaminated "truth."
And then — just as despair closed in — a familiar voice sounded behind him.
"Tsk. Doctor, are you fighting or not?
If you're not fighting, could you move a little? You're standing in my way."
Wang Mou snapped awake and spun around — only to see Cheng Shi standing behind him, materializing from who-knew-where. He was drenched in blood, face covered in wounds, looking thoroughly wretched — but the blazing battle-intent in his eyes was impossible to hide.
"You..."
" what?
Think I was dead?
Heh — give
a break. If I went down here, what kind of... Joker would I be?
Relax. This show? It's barely even started!"
With that, Cheng Shi scoffed, stomped the ground, and launched himself skyward — the explosive force of his takeoff making it abundantly clear he was no longer an Another Day Thief, but a Pointer Warrior!
Yes — Cheng Shi had swapped masks.
In the split second of the explosion, he'd ducked into the shadows, torn off his face-mask, and slapped on a new one. In a combat situation like this, the Hero of Today was the most ferocious option available.
Especially after fusing with Pointer Knight. Cheng Shi's combat instincts skyrocketed. He could pick out the gaps between every tentacle-cluster strike, pre-positioning or dodging at speed. Under the storm of tentacle assaults, he was a small boat tossed wildly by towering waves — lurching into the air again and again, yet never once capsizing!
He charged up the tentacle staircase toward 0221 in the building's mid-level. And facing this suddenly powered-up Cheng Shi, 0221 showed no alarm.
He simply grew more and more intrigued by the vessel his ntor had chosen. So intrigued, in fact, that he began to wonder whether — before this experint concluded — he could squeeze in one extra experint of his own. Naly...
Stitching this "perfect" vessel together with himself!
That way, on the road toward Truth, he might walk "shoulder to shoulder" with his ntor once more.
"Heh heh heh... Welco! Welco indeed!
Fate Weaver — I have never needed you more than I do right now."
...
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