"Benefactor, Crown is Yu Xi, isn't he?" Cheng Shi asked the question without hesitation.
He'd asked before, but never this directly. Previously, he'd asked whether his Benefactor had an Envoy, and was told yes — and that it was him.
That had clearly been a joke. But this ti, after obtaining the container tainted with Deceit's colors, Cheng Shi felt more certain than ever that Brother Mouth and its companions must have a past they'd never revealed — not the tragic history of San Dales, but a past belonging to "Yu Xi."
After all, every experience during that "Return of the Past" had been his own revision of history. The true secrets buried beneath San Dales' blizzards were likely far more profound.
In the version of history without another Clown, no one knew what the Joy Theater had gone through. Yet the Clown was certain that beneath those painted-over mories lay Yu Xi's greatest secret.
That was what Cheng Shi thought, but the Fun God's answer fell far short of his expectations.
"No one is Yu Xi..." Those eyes let out a derisive snort.
"But—"
"...except you." The Fun God's tone shifted, and He burst into hearty laughter.
"..."
The predictable response left Cheng Shi speechless. But the Fun God wasn't finished — still greatly amused, He shot back with a question:
"Since my little skeleton friend already told you what he thinks, why don't you believe him?"
Cheng Shi paused, then pursed his lips.
"Following Your logic — if Yu Xi really is , then why would I still fear Yu Xi's recovery?
That's what You an, isn't it? You're worried I'm channeling my fear elsewhere?
Rest easy, Benefactor. Clowns are common, but fear is rare. I trust the Fool's... the Fool's Lips bear
no ill will. After all, they're Your creations.
However... Benefactor, I've been curious for quite so ti. Since I've already witnessed Crown's past, may I ask — why is it that during an audience with You, those companions of mine who are usually so lively beco more silent than the next?
Could it be that they, too, are afraid — afraid of You?"
As he spoke, Cheng Shi, for the first ti in Deceit's presence, produced the Tongue of Eating Lies and the Secret Peeping Ear. He cradled the two "organ brothers" in his palms and raised his arms as high as he could toward those eyes.
In the process, Brother Tongue — who normally loved to laze around and roll about — stopped rolling entirely. Brother Ear — who normally delighted in piercing others' secrets — went completely mute. They curled into tight balls and trembled, looking for all the world like schoolchildren about to face a teacher's furious tirade.
Those eyes observed the scene with keen interest and chuckled.
"What are you trying to say?"
A sharp glint flashed in Cheng Shi's eyes. His heart hamring, he tested the waters.
"I want to know if they are... fragnts of Your authority?"
"Oh?" Those eyes perked up. He glanced at the creations in Cheng Shi's hands and said with amusent, "You think I granted you authority through these?"
"I... don't think so."
No matter what the Fun God said, Cheng Shi always felt there was a trap in His words. He'd learned his lesson by now and developed a counterstrategy: deny the Fun God's premise first, then restate his own point clearly — avoiding getting dragged into the pit.
"I rely sense that their abilities resemble Your authority, so I'm respectfully seeking Your confirmation."
"Then why didn't you ask before?"
"Because before, I hadn't received the container of Deceit. Now I've been fortunate enough to receive this honor."
As he spoke, Cheng Shi brought forth the container tainted with Deceit's colors from within his consciousness.
Truthfully, he had no idea how to display the container, but before his Benefactor, he didn't need to fuss over the thod — he simply thought about displaying it, confident that the Fun God would perceive it.
And sure enough, when those eyes noticed the container Cheng Shi's consciousness wanted to show, His smile turned playful once more.
Seeing that smile, Cheng Shi's expression froze. He knew he'd probably gotten sothing wrong again.
It had practically beco the signature of being toyed with.
"Not bad — I did grant a certain Clown a container. But... who told you this was a container of Deceit?"
"!!??"
'Wait — what?'
While Cheng Shi stood there in stunned confusion, those eyes blinked gently and extracted the container from his consciousness. It was hard to describe what it looked like when the formless beca form, but from the Clown's perspective, the container before him — dazzling like a diamond, reflecting kaleidoscopic radiance — truly resembled a bizarre, twisted... hourglass.
The hourglass had no bottom and no top, its edges spreading infinitely. The gathered faith transford into grains of sand shaped like masks, and the dripping divinity emitted grotesque, giggly sounds. It floated before those eyes, and its reflection on the stardust pupils aligned so harmoniously with the starlight and the spirals that Cheng Shi felt this thing must inherently belong to Deceit.
But the next second, he knew he was wrong.
Because those eyes moved. The stars within them extinguished, returning to primordial ruins and transforming into surging yellow mist. The spirals disassembled and shattered, flowing into boiling chaos. Then a concentration of Chaos so thick it was terrifying erupted from every direction of the void's floor, engulfing both Cheng Shi and the container entirely. And then...
The previously clicking and laughing container of Deceit began to slowly fade, bleaching into pure, burning white — before gradually dyeing itself again in the hues of disordered distortion.
The container had been recolored — into the colors of Chaos.
From that mont on, "dripping" was no longer dripping, but erupting. Faith no longer crystallized into "grains of sand" but fused into the hourglass's outer walls.
Everything began operating according to the "rules" of Chaos. What had monts ago looked like a work of Deceit art was now, right before Cheng Shi's eyes, transford into a piece of "junk" tainted with the breath of Chaos.
"..."
Cheng Shi was stunned. Thunderbolts detonated inside his skull, and his heart quaked with shock.
It wasn't just because the container had changed its faith color — it was because the Benefactor standing before him...
'Hold on — why are You wearing Chaos's clothes?'
'Good lord, Benefactor — You're not even pretending anymore, are You?!'
'Just as I thought — everything about Chaos has been in Your grasp all along!'
Cheng Shi suppressed his shock with every fiber of his being. He stared, eyes blazing, at those eyes now flowing with chaotic yellow mist. Though he had never seen this form before — though Chaos typically manifested as a hand of swirling chaos — he was certain. This was Chaos. Pure Chaos. As pure as Order is pure.
Because the power of Chaos within him had already begun resonating with the churning yellow mist, growing fevered and boiling!
"Benefactor, should I address You as Deceit, or Chaos?"
Those turbid eyes of chaos curved upward at the corners, and He tossed the question right back, laden with aning.
"That depends on whether you're really Ultraman, or Yu Xi..."
"..."
Cheng Shi blinked, his gaze guileless, thinking — 'That's an easy one.'
'I'm Ultra-Xi.'
...
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