Foolish Game of the Chapter 883: Fear Faction's One-on-One

When Cheng Shi opened his eyes and found himself still in the void, his cold sweat instantly renewed itself.

'What did I just do?'

'Fired Thundering Judgnt at Oblivion?!'

'Wait — Cheng Steady, you've been steady your whole life. How did you trip in the biggest pit of them all?'

'Can this even be called blasphemy? Isn't this attempted deicide?!'

'How did you dare?'

Cheng Shi was dazed. He kept questioning himself but still couldn't find an answer.

His nerves were strung taut. While reflecting, he was also scanning the void — first he needed to confirm Oblivion wasn't nearby, and only then could he think about which being had intercepted him this ti.

Fortunately, everything around him was safe. The void had returned to its familiar calm, which finally let Cheng Shi catch his breath and begin assembling a "defense" for his act of deicide.

He looked at the Death Fun Ring on his finger and thought — this was a tool crafted for him by that Benefactor. So was it possible that in that mont, it wasn't him who'd wanted to raise his hand and fire that bolt of thunder, but rather that Benefactor "borrowing" his hand to strike His own opposing deity?

Hiss—

There might be sothing to that.

But this excuse... whether or not that Benefactor acknowledged it, would Oblivion just pinch His nose and accept it?

Oblivion's arrival hadn't looked like an accident at all. The gaze He'd fixed on Cheng Shi had been brimming with the desire for annihilation — He'd clearly co for him specifically.

So why would a Descent deity want to obliterate him without any warning?

Hadn't He been drawing closer to Void all this ti?

Then why wasn't the look He cast his way one of favor, but murderous intent?

'So your idea of "getting close" is this kind, huh? Having Void embrace Oblivion?'

Cheng Shi furrowed his brow, sensing that he was forgetting sothing related to Oblivion. Just as he was rummaging through the corners of his mory for the lost past, a pair of cold, starlit eyes opened before him once again.

The mont He appeared, the void whipped up an endless, frigid wind. He gazed down at Cheng Shi and spoke, cold and deliberate, word by word:

"Your audacity grows ever greater — you dare commit such an act of deicide. Have you grown so spoiled by Void's protection that you've developed delusions of invincibility?!"

"..."

The words, paired with that glacial tone, were terrifying enough to count as a sentencing of Cheng Shi.

But strangely, the very sa Cheng Shi who'd just been quaking with fear suddenly felt unafraid. He stared at his Benefactor, utterly unimpressed, one eyelid twitching.

"Benefactor, please drop the act.

If the corners of Your eyes weren't turned up so obviously, You might have actually had

fooled.

Just laugh already — You don't have to hold it in.

Why put on airs for Your own follower? Isn't the Clown's whole purpose to be laughed at..."

The instant the words left his mouth, those previously cold eyes erupted into dazzling, kaleidoscopic brilliance. Stars flickered wildly, spirals spun in reverse like currents, and He gazed at His slightly fidgety follower with undisguised glee, thoroughly delighted.

"What? Where did your courage go — the courage you showed when you attacked Oblivion?

You've caused

this much trouble, and even I'm not nervous. What are you nervous about?"

Trouble? What trouble?

And besides, apart from Origin, what could possibly make You nervous?

Cheng Shi's brain was a tangled ss. He knew nothing about the history between Oblivion and Void, nor what had transpired in that stretch of void after he'd left. All he could gather from the Fun God's tone was that He was probably lying to him again.

Once the boss started piling pressure on the employee, it ant He was about to demand overti.

Cheng Shi didn't mind working, but he didn't want to work blindly. So he decided to ask clearly.

But instead of opening his mouth right away, a sudden idea struck him — he wanted to use the Secret Peeping Ear in his possession to eavesdrop on what was actually going on inside his Benefactor's mind.

Since obtaining the Secret Peeping Ear, it had changed completely from how it worked in San Dales. It could no longer spy on secrets through eavesdropping. Instead, only when the other party lied could it — through the Fool's Lips — speak aloud the truth hidden behind those lies.

This effect had been verified on Long Jing, but the problem was that anything involving Brother Mouth made it hard for Cheng Shi to trust every word it said.

Still, true or false, hearing an alternative take was valuable in its own right. He could sort out what was real and what wasn't on his own.

So Cheng Shi's eyes shifted slightly, and he posed a question back to those eyes:

"Benefactor, You were just trying to scare

again, weren't You?"

In the void, the corners of those eyes curled upward once more. He looked at Cheng Shi with a grin brimming with amusent and nodded.

"Yes."

"...?" Cheng Shi blanked. 'Hold on — since when do You tell the truth?'

'He's already seen through my plan?'

'Yeah, He must have. In this void, nothing can be hidden from Him. But since He didn't call

out, that ans my sche doesn't count as blasphemy, so... keep going!'

"Benefactor, so then — the trouble from Oblivion wasn't brought by ; the trouble found

on its own. Is that right?"

Those eyes blinked gently, feeling a trace of satisfaction at His follower's sharpness. Then He replied with perfect solemnity:

"Yes."

'Yes...'

Neither the Ear nor Brother Mouth reacted, so Cheng Shi tentatively took the Fun God's word at face value. But if it was "yes," did that an Oblivion's closeness to Void was a thing of the past? Had Oblivion already had a falling out with Void?

Why the falling out?

What had been happening among the gods recently?

And what was this "nervousness" the Fun God ntioned? How could a Descent deity make the ruler of the current era feel nervous?

Cheng Shi couldn't figure it out. He thought the only explanation was that the conflict between the two had beco irreconcilable and war was imminent — and that the Fun God had already been scheming against Oblivion. Perhaps only then, when plotting against a god still protected by the Convention, would He feel nervous.

And it would be the nervousness of excitent, not fear.

So — the Fun God wanted to devour Oblivion?

At this thought, Cheng Shi jerked his head up, looking at his Benefactor with uncertainty. But before he could even open his mouth, the Fun God let out a derisive laugh and denied it:

"No."

The instant the word landed, Cheng Shi's lips were "loaded and ready to fire" — but those eyes in the void narrowed sharply, their corners dropping, and the soone's mouth that had been about to move obediently snapped shut again.

Cheng Shi hadn't even felt his lips move. Had he guessed wrong?

Or was Brother Mouth simply too afraid to defy the Fun God — too afraid to join him in this "blasphemous act"?

The Clown wasn't sure anymore, so he silently asked in his mind:

'Brother Mouth, was the Fun God telling the truth? You didn't misfire, did you?'

The Fool's Lips heard this utterly upside-down questioning and fell into a long silence. At last, it spoke in a hollow voice:

"What on earth gave you the illusion that I can judge Him?

Was it the ridiculous brain rattling around inside that stupid clown skin of yours?"

"..."

'Alright. That was very aggressive — which ans the Fun God was lying just now. Otherwise Brother Mouth wouldn't have lashed out like that.'

Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow and silently shut his mouth, saying no more. He had already begun connecting every clue he possessed, trying to understand why the Fun God had squared off against Oblivion.

Deceit, who perceived every thought swirling in Cheng Shi's mind, only smiled more brilliantly. He didn't interrupt the brainstorming — just watched in silence.

But a mortal's perspective was ultimately limited. After thinking long and hard with no result, Cheng Shi decided to stop wasting ti and ask about sothing more imdiately important.

...