Of everyone watching, the one most deeply moved was the other clown.
If you've never been looked down upon, you may never understand what lives inside a clown's heart.
Cheng Shi stared at the scene. He didn't rush forward to slaughter the oblivious scholars. He didn't pity Crown or harbor any impulse to pull him out of his "sea of suffering." He simply... curled his lips and started laughing — right there between Ai Si and Mi Laozhang — like a man possessed.
The laughter carried layers too complex to parse.
Ai Si's expression was strange too. She turned away, a five-flavor storm on her face. Zhang Jizu alone seed unaffected — though his sidelong glance at Cheng Shi now held a probing edge.
He sensed that Cheng Shi's past, while perhaps not warm, had certainly been spectacular.
But he reined in his curiosity. This wasn't the ti to ask. He turned his attention back to the "plot."
After that encounter, Crown's deanor shifted noticeably. His disguise as a scholar grew more convincing, but sothing bright that should have lived in his eyes had guttered out.
He wandered the underground tunnels like a walking corpse, learning everything by instinct. He'd banter with scholars he t, draw laughs — all on autopilot.
Nobody could tell whether he was performing out of sheer muscle mory or consciously trying to claw his way back to the original Crown — the one who didn't know so many "secrets."
After exploring the tunnels for so ti, Crown had "had enough." The scholar in the alley above could wake any mont; invisible pressure reminded him that his little adventure needed to end.
But never in his life had he loathed his own curiosity so bitterly.
If he'd never climbed down, would none of this have happened?
That wasn't the Players' speculation — it was written all over Crown's face.
The San Dales clown turned a corner, found himself alone, and crumpled to the ground, hugging his knees, sobbing.
He couldn't hold it together anymore.
"Crown's broken," Zhang Jizu sighed. Brilliant as this mory was... brilliance didn't equal warmth. "Inhuman cold" was its own brand of brilliance.
But Cheng Shi shook his head.
"He hasn't broken."
"?"
"Because he's a clown. He's been fighting the cold all along. This blizzard is just harsher than usual.
Don't worry — he'll pull through."
The words barely landed before a turning point appeared — one nobody had foreseen.
Another sobbing scholar stumbled around the corner. When he spotted Crown hunched on the ground, crying, the young man lurched forward as if he'd found family. He threw his arms around Crown, and the two wept together in a tangled heap.
Crown was dumbfounded.
Through tear-blurred eyes he looked up at the young scholar. "You too...?"
Five simple syllables — and the young scholar cried harder.
He buried his face in Crown's chest, gasping between sobs.
"I knew it — you're one of us too. I knew you had to be.
Why is this world so unfair? Why does it treat us like this?!"
Not just Crown — all three Players were baffled.
'Who is this?'
Three uncertain glances confird it: this was no stray San Dales resident. He was a genuine scholar.
But Crown didn't see it that way. This was the only comfort he'd found today. So he clung to the young scholar and they wept together, offering each other consolation.
By the ti the question marks floating above the Players' heads clogged the entire underground pipe system, the two n's emotions finally settled. The young scholar wiped his face, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Sorry — I got your clothes dirty. I feel much better now. And I'm sure you do too.
Friend, Truth stands right before us. Even if a deity's mockery stands in our way, nothing can halt our pursuit of Truth!
Old Professor Gluo may not have proven his theory in the end, but he blazed a new trail for us younger scholars and led us to a new deity.
The Void Mass-Energy Departnt's research must not stop — will not stop. Once my secondnt here is finished and I return to Gasmira, I'll rebuild the void experints and continue validating the professor's hypothesis — until the day the results let
discover Truth!
And you, my friend — what about you?"
'?'
'I think I cried at the wrong funeral...'
Crown's expression froze. So did the three Players'.
Jaw hanging open, tears and snot dripping into his mouth, Crown tasted salt — then swallowed it all with a convulsive gulp. He nodded frantically.
"Right — I won't give up either.
Who would have thought that even deities mock mortals?"
Crown's answer was razor-sharp. He'd latched onto one keyword and kept the absurd, completely-off-topic crying party rolling.
The young scholar nodded fervently, eyes gleaming.
"I know saying this betrays Professor Gluo's mory — but that's precisely Their allure! Only by walking the path of Truth to the very end can we hope to understand what They truly are.
But before we see through that essence, I'll make a bold guess: this newly discovered deity... must be one who holds dominion over 'mockery' and 'joy.' Only such a god would pull the kind of childish pranks we've seen. Don't you agree, friend?"
"!!!"
'Agree?!'
'Yes — absolutely yes!'
'This couldn't be more right!'
In that instant, the light in Crown's eyes — nearly extinguished — blazed back to life. Fierce. Untad.
He seized the scholar's hands as though he'd found the one lifeline in an abyss of despair.
"You're saying... there's a deity who holds dominion over 'joy'?"
The young scholar jumped at Crown's inexplicable fervor, but recalling that his companion was another soul from the ill-fated Void Mass-Energy Departnt, he supposed it was understandable. He nodded, then shook his head.
"It's only my guess. Until it's been verified, we—"
"Yes! No verification needed — it's exactly that! It has to be!"
Crown cut him off, too excited to contain himself.
"Everything is a lie! Life is a lie! The gods' apocalypse is a lie! There is no apocalypse — which ans this world was always supposed to have faith! And I...
I'm no longer a clown nobody wants!
At the very least, my instincts tell
I've been enacting His will.
He rules over joy. I spread joy to people. Even my theater is nad 'Joy.' How is that not instinctive devotion?!"
Everyone in earshot was stunned.
The three Players were rocked. Now they finally understood how San Dales' past connected to Him.
So this was where it all began.
The mont Crown realized he was a true clown, he found his faith. He found his Benefactor. He found the deity so much like himself — despised by the other gods, yet spreading mischief throughout the cosmos...
Deceit!
...
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