Regardless of whether the Players scavenging through the ruins found anything worthwhile, the biggest winner was certainly not among those present in reality.
At the sa ti, elsewhere.
On the familiar terrace in Dolgod, a fully alert Cheng Shi snapped his eyes open.
In truth, the mont he'd entered Go Lis's grudge, Aph Ros had already unbound him. But Cheng Shi had been fighting with his nerves wound taut for so long that both his mind and body were utterly spent. The instant he reached "safety," he simply collapsed into sleep.
Yet even this peaceful slumber was no cause for celebration — because he knew full well that no matter how exhausted he was, falling asleep in a place like Dolgod should have been impossible!
Setting aside how desperately his "dear brother" the Gate of Joyous Lust craved rging desires with him, the re fact that Hu Xuan was nearby should have been enough to keep the ever-cautious Cheng Shi on high alert.
But he'd fallen asleep anyway — which ant his slumber hadn't been the body's natural response to fatigue. It had been induced by an external force!
Soone had tampered with him!
The instant consciousness returned, Cheng Shi bolted upright, eyes darting in every direction. But what he saw sent cold sweat erupting across his entire body, soaking through his clothes in an instant.
Hu Xuan!
The woman stood before him with a radiant smile, her entire being exuding a rich, dense aura of Birth. The last ti Cheng Shi had seen her like this was in Far Dusk Town, in that modest courtyard, right after he'd delivered her baby!
Back then, the newborn Hu Xuan had carried this sa scent. So...
Who had she given birth with?!
Or rather — who was Hu Xuan's "Birth-father" right now?!
Cheng Shi's heart lurched. He blinked frantically, staring down at his trembling hands, praying it was all an illusion. But Hu Xuan's next words confird his worst suspicions.
"It seems you've already guessed...
Yes, I've just completed my tamorphosis. I gave birth to myself.
Although, saying it that way isn't quite right at this point. I should say I was born from myself. The
who beca the mother fulfilled her purpose and has exited the stage."
"..."
'Please stop talking. I'm terrified.'
'Let
exit this stage too — this Birth stage that ordinary people have no business standing on...'
Yet as Cheng Shi processed her words, he actually felt a wave of relief. Judging by her phrasing and deanor, he was fairly certain that Hu Xuan's "Birth-father" wasn't him.
This half-truth scare tactic might work on most people, but against a born liar, it was — well, amateur hour.
Waving an axe at the master carpenter's door.
Cheng Shi snapped out of his panic, gulped down two ragged breaths, and shot Hu Xuan an irritated sideways glance.
"You don't bother learning the good habits, but you pick up the bad ones instantly. Who taught you to lie like that?
What — don't tell
you're planning to fuse with Deceit too?"
Seeing that Cheng Shi had seen through her little ga, Hu Xuan pressed her lips together in a coy smile and regarded him aningfully.
"Deceit... Deceit... What a fine thing, Deceit.
Now that you ntion it, I'd nearly forgotten. Should I be addressing you as...
Lord Yu Xi?"
"..."
The mont he heard the na "Yu Xi," Cheng Shi knew Hu Xuan must have had a thorough exchange with Aph Ros. Only their shared status as children of Birth could provide the foundation of mutual trust for such a conversation. After cycling through every possibility, Cheng Shi concluded that no one else would have told Hu Xuan that na.
"Your Birth-father isn't Aph Ros, is it?!"
Cheng Shi's mind raced at blinding speed. From that single clue, he realized that Hu Xuan and Aph Ros's "thorough exchange" might have been far more thorough than he'd imagined. But Hu Xuan didn't address the question directly. Instead, she countered with an enigmatic half-smile.
"So the Fate Weaver who saved
and guided
to where I stand today — is he Cheng Shi, or Yu Xi?
Is he a Player, or a deity who lost His mories?"
"..."
The question silenced Cheng Shi. He could hear the doubt underlying Hu Xuan's words — doubt about his identity.
And this was a question he couldn't afford to answer carelessly. One wrong word might cost him this "arm of Birth."
The more holes you dig, the harder they are to fill. Every lie the Clown had ever spun about his identity would co back to haunt him, requiring excruciating effort to maintain.
Fortunately, lying was the Clown's greatest skill. He opened his mouth without hesitation. "I am—"
But just as he was about to weave together the various identity breadcrumbs he'd planted as contingencies, mixing truth with fiction for Hu Xuan's benefit, the Eternal Sun cut him off with a smile.
"I finally managed to scare you, Cheng Shi.
You don't need to waste any more brain cells crafting your next lie. It doesn't matter who you are, because to , you'll always be the man who lifted the Eternal Sun into the sky with his own two hands.
I don't care who you are. I only want to know — are you still you?"
"..."
The words gave Cheng Shi pause.
Of course. This was Hu Xuan through and through. What she clung to was never an identity — it was the person himself.
Put another way, if he truly were Yu Xi, she wouldn't have minded in the slightest. In fact, she might even have been more eager to share Birth's authority with him, given his status as an Envoy...
What a pure-hearted God Upholder she was. Apart from her thods of drawing closer to the divine being "slightly flawed," her devotion was beyond reproach.
Cheng Shi fell silent for a mont, then gave a firm nod.
"Yes. I've always been . Always Cheng Shi."
He paused, then added with a hint of awkwardness, "And also Yu Xi. I..."
Hu Xuan shook her head, cutting him off once more.
"I don't care how you beca Yu Xi, or how Yu Xi beca Cheng Shi. I only want to know — now that I've learned the truth, might I have the honor of discussing the path of Birth with Lord Yu Xi — no, Lord Cheng Shi...
just for a mont?"
Hu Xuan smiled and extended her hand toward him.
Cheng Shi retreated — a full three ters in a single step.
"Stop. Don't even start. Talk about serious matters. Why did I fall asleep?"
Hu Xuan gave Cheng Shi a deeply aningful sidelong glance, then withdrew her hand with a wistful sigh.
"I think you've already guessed. Yes — it was Her.
But She didn't do it on purpose. Go Lis's power imbalance sent Her into a period of labor pains. She's adjusting to her new body."
'New body...?'
A chill raced down Cheng Shi's spine.
He couldn't help where his mind went. Go Lis had just captured Zangier, and now She needed to adjust to a new body — She wasn't trying to inhabit Zangier's body, was she?!
Wait.
She hadn't seen that 0221's physical specs were similar to her own and decided to steal a Player identity from 0221 the way Zangier had tried to, had she?
So the master and student had been fighting to the death... and Aph Ros ended up being the real winner?
Cheng Shi was reeling. He wasn't sure whether an Aph Ros who had obtained a Player identity would still be an asset to him. Brow furrowed, he asked quietly.
"Where is She? Has She completed the fusion?"
"Fusion?
That's not inaccurate, I suppose. It should be almost done. I'll take you to Her now." Hu Xuan turned elegantly, extending one hand behind her back toward Cheng Shi and curling her fingers in a beckoning gesture. "Co~"
At that single word, cold sweat drenched Cheng Shi. He didn't dare move a muscle.
'Sis, could you maybe use a different word when inviting soone along? I'll be honest — that particular word might be giving
genuine trauma...'
Seeing that the Fate Weaver hadn't taken the bait, Hu Xuan glanced back at him, pursed her lips with a faint twinge of regret, and began walking ahead with light, airy steps.
Cheng Shi waited until she was well ahead before he dared to breathe again. Then he followed at a cautious distance, eyes scanning wildly, ears perked high, terrified that sothing else might go wrong along the way.
This was Birth, after all — you couldn't be too careful!
...
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