When the divine na of Deceit echoed through the theater, every gaze turned to the stage was filled with shock and anticipation. Even Ai Si and Cheng Shi felt a glimr of "finally, things are getting interesting."
Only Zhang Jizu narrowed his eyes, finding everything profoundly strange. His mory told him that during Professor Gluo's failed experint, the Tower of Logic scholars had discovered Deceit's existence — but had never learned His divine na.
So this Crown had... issues!
But Crown himself wasn't the biggest problem. The biggest problem was what lay hidden behind the curtain he'd pulled aside!
Just as every San Dales resident expected to see a true god — just as the three Players expected perhaps a mask —
The most jaw-dropping thing happened. As the red curtain swept back, a second Crown appeared before them all.
"WHOAAA—"
The audience erupted.
"A trick? A gimmick? At a ti like this, this idiotic clown is still performing?"
"Why are there two Crowns? Who is he — Crown's twin?"
"That's Deceit? So what is Deceit — an optical illusion? How does that help against the cold?"
"I think I get it — if we just fool ourselves, we can pretend the cold doesn't exist?"
"?"
'Oh no — that one actually has high comprehension.'
The three Players almost laughed — but couldn't. Because the instant the curtain was drawn, they'd felt the sa eerie fluctuation from behind the fabric as the ghost in the fog outside the Devout Land.
So this second Crown was the very specter that road the Devout Land, harvesting invaders' secrets!
But right now it was far staler than the fog version. It resembled a true puppet — chanical and stiff, head rotating jerkily, blank-eyed as it surveyed the audience. Then its gaze slowly, very slowly, followed Crown's movents.
"This is..."
None of the three were fools. The sa bold hypothesis struck all three minds at once.
Cheng Shi's eyes sharpened. "The No-Faith... God?"
Exactly. The other two had reached the sa conclusion. In a place like San Dales, the only faith-adjacent aberration that could spontaneously erge was the No-Faith God — the entity the Tower of Logic had inadvertently created.
After unveiling his double, Crown's spirits visibly rallied. He walked to the duplicate's side and began circling it — round and round.
"Friends, I truly suffered a blow. The truth I exposed was treated as a performance by my own people. That helplessness nearly suffocated . I was terrified that my revelation would shatter San Dales' peace — and even more terrified that my people would be deceived forever.
I was lost for a ti. Frightened day after day. Until I found Him — no, It — here in this theater..."
Crown's face flushed red — the glow of a dying candle's last radiance.
He took his duplicate's hand and, like introducing a new troupe mber, proudly presented it to the crowd below.
"The mont I saw another , I knew He had already cast His gaze upon .
But the impact was imnse, my friends. Like you, I've never had faith. Yet when I learned my behavior aligned with a faith, I was ecstatic — because I thought I'd found a life-saving straw.
But when the power of a true deity manifested before my eyes, I felt the ultimate terror from within.
A god... A god who brought the apocalypse!
Even though the apocalypse never existed, the fear of it was already wired into my flesh and soul.
I didn't know how to approach Him. Didn't know how to please Him. Didn't know how to worship Him. Certainly didn't know how to avoid angering Him.
So I hid. Shut myself inside this theater. Until I found a way to save San Dales, I couldn't go back onstage to play the clown who only tells funny stories.
To be honest, even now — even with you all flooding in — I still don't understand.
But I think there's no need to figure it out alone. One mind is never stronger than many pooling their wisdom, right?
Everyone — friends — San Dales' salvation may be right before us. I don't know what other beings exist beyond this world, but I know that the only one casting His gaze our way right now is Him.
This other
must be His guidance to us. So what you need to do is not attack
— but believe in Him. Not fear Him — but have faith.
And yes, this guidance — this new Crown — is still sluggish and dull. I don't know how to make It more responsive, but I believe it's all tied to faith.
It... perhaps lacks sufficient faith. Let
put it more plainly: in a world brimming with faith, It probably views San Dales' current state as... not yet worth protecting.
Do you think... I'm right?"
Silence fell. For faithless San Dales, this bordered on heresy. But Crown spoke with such ironclad conviction that many nearly believed him.
If it wasn't real, what was the clown performing? Mocking everyone in San Dales' final hour to avenge years of contempt?
No — that made no sense. If the cold continued, he would die too!
If he hadn't witnessed the truth and found a lifeline, why would he say these things?
Even if the deity's na sounded... bizarre — San Dales had no other options.
After a long silence, the sa official asked, voice trembling:
"Crown... can you tell us how you discovered the observers?"
Crown nodded. He held nothing back — energized by his people finally believing — and recounted everything he'd experienced.
The official who heard it all didn't rest San Dales' future on his own judgnt. He sent people to the shaft in that alley to verify whether observers truly existed below.
But even that single step was agonizing. Nobody wanted to face their fears, let alone true unknowns.
In the end, it took Crown and the official together to lead a few brave souls down the shaft.
They only intended to peek — even one glance would do. But the mont San Dales was abandoned, the shaft's far end had been sealed.
That was enough. The people who saw the freshly bricked wall weren't fools — they recognized a passage had once existed here.
In a way, better this way. San Dales avoided the discomfort of confronting terror directly, yet confird the clown's claims.
But in another way, worse — because the mont people saw the truth, the real San Dales ceased to exist.
Everything had been an experint. And now this "inconclusive" experint had been abandoned by its mysterious creators.
San Dales faced its true apocalypse. But at least it also found its true hero.
Crown — the clown who'd tried so hard to bring joy to the town — had at last, before the end, brought San Dales genuine joy.
"Crown, will it even work if we start following Him only in a crisis?" the residents asked, anxious and uncertain.
The clown who'd reclaid his stage wasn't sure either. But he smiled — radiantly.
"Of course it'll work. Because faith is never too late."
...
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