The ice-encrusted frozen ground was treacherous going. It took Zhang Jizu a long ti to finally reach the Theater's periter and climb the long staircase leading to its entrance.
Before him stood a door so massive it rose two stories high. The strange warm light leaked through the gap between its halves.
Two people were already there.
As it happened, a Fate Weaver was rolling his eyes while griping at a War Supervisor. Only when Zhang Jizu approached did the Fate Weaver turn around and click his tongue.
"Well, well — who do we have here? Oh, Zhang-lao! What's this — am I calling you 'old' and your body actually took it literally? What took so long?"
Zhang Jizu squinted, gaze bouncing between them before scanning the surroundings for anyone else. Seeing no one, he smiled.
"I'm not slow. I arrived at exactly the right ti."
Cheng Shi pursed his lips. "Can't take a joke, can you? I'm ribbing you — don't mistake it for praise. Do you have any idea how long we've been waiting? Ti's precious, Mi Laozhang."
"Oh? If ti were truly precious, neither you nor the War Supervisor would be standing here.
The fact that you waited ans you couldn't open this door without .
So yes — I arrived at exactly the right ti. Now tell : what do I do?"
Zhang Jizu's pragmatism kicked in imdiately. Cheng Shi gave him a strange look, but didn't belabor the point. He pointed at the right-hand door.
"You push right. War Supervisor pushes left. I stand in the middle. That gets us in." Cheng Shi moved into position, spread his arms, puffed his chest — looking every bit like a clown preparing to welco his audience.
"?"
Zhang Jizu blinked, frowning. "If only two people need to push, what's your role in the middle?"
"Ceremony."
Cheng Shi's grin was insufferable. But Zhang Jizu didn't buy it. If it were really just ceremony, those two wouldn't still be here. This door needed three people — simple as that.
So the others had realized the sa thing, refused to cooperate with Cheng Shi, and gone looking for alternatives?
Even so — with Cheng Shi's resourcefulness, why would a single door stop him?
Couldn't he have cooked up sothing?
Unless this door held so... trick?
Zhang Jizu peered through the gap. He'd hoped to see what lay beyond, but the warm light was sourceless — radiant void. Only light, no substance.
He gave up on looking and, frowning, elbowed Cheng Shi aside to take Cheng Shi's original position.
Now Cheng Shi wasn't happy.
"?"
"Mi Laozhang, your thinking has been dangerously bold lately. Do you realize what you just did?"
"Mm. I know. I'm enjoying the ceremony."
"...Has it occurred to you where your ceremony ca from?" Cheng Shi laughed in disbelief.
"Stole it from you. So — thank you. Now go push the door. Stop wasting ti.
Ti is precious. Your words."
"..." Cheng Shi was speechless. He squinted at Zhang Jizu for a long mont in imitation of the man's signature look. "You really have changed."
But he didn't argue. With a resigned sigh, he positioned himself at the door and prepared to push.
Ai Si had been ready ages ago. Seeing the two finally settle down, she rolled her eyes. "I'll count one, two, three and we all —
??? Surna Cheng, I haven't even started counting!"
"?" Cheng Shi heaved suddenly, shoving the door open a crack. He blinked with fake innocence. "Aren't you done?"
"You —"
"Stop 'you-you-you'ing. Door's open. Let's go, both of you. Ti to see what secrets this theater is hiding."
He squeezed sideways through the gap. Ai Si followed on his heels. Zhang Jizu lingered at the threshold, frowning at the ground. The array inscribed here looked ancient — and yet it also felt... recently laid.
'An illusion, or a temporal distortion?'
'And this atmosphere — who was responsible for it?'
He mulled it over. Said nothing. Filed everything away. Then followed them in.
The instant all three Players stepped into that warm glow —
HUMMM —
Every field of vision flared blinding white, then snapped back to normal. But before their eyes could adjust, a torrent of noise crashed over them.
Carriages, pedestrians, ladies, gentlen, conversations, argunts... the cacophony erupted from every direction without warning. It felt less like entering a theater and more like stepping into a marketplace.
Sure enough — when their vision cleared, what they saw confird it.
They'd arrived in a market. An icy bazaar belonging to San Dales!
And the theater they'd just walked through? It now stood at the far end of this bazaar, facing them from a distance. It looked as though space had been twisted and stretched, dragging them back outside the Theater.
"This is...!?"
Ai Si's eyes went wide. Disbelieving, she looked back — the three-person door was still right behind her. So what was all of this?
A second theater?
Another San Dales?
Her pupils contracted. She quietly tightened her grip on the great sword.
The other two were equally stunned. But after a mont's shock, Cheng Shi's gaze sharpened. He shook his head with a chuckle.
"The San Dales of the past?
Heh — interesting. Who would've guessed the theater doesn't hide a stage, but San Dales' own history?
Then again, this is a stage of sorts. Whether the actors are the variables who lived in San Dales, the Tower of Logic scholars hiding underground, or so teammate who got here first...
That much, we can't say."
Hearing this, Ai Si's gaze darkened too — but she wasn't scanning for external threats. From the corner of her eye, she was watching Zhang Jizu on the other side.
Zhang Jizu's eyes had all but vanished into slits. He was seeing far more than the other two.
Inside his sleeve, his fingers rubbed together for a mont. Then he confird it: within this "magnificent performance," he could sll traces of divine power.
And as luck would have it — that divine power was mory.
...
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