Foolish Game of the Chapter 891: Wait, Sis, You Actually Studied Dance?

The first step was "slander and abuse." The second step was "fury and brawling."

Neither of these steps fazed Zhen Xin in the slightest. She rely furrowed her brow in mild curiosity before stepping onto the third.

When "war and slaughter" appeared before her eyes, this clever Magician seed to grasp sothing. The Chaos staircase was clearly using a progressive approach to manifest His will. So what would the fourth step hold?

Zhen Xin steadied herself and climbed. What she witnessed was "madness and muteness."

Yet her expression remained unchanged. It was as though she had long since grown familiar with this suffocating madness, long since desensitized to this struggling despair. A flicker of distaste for the past crossed her features before she clenched both fists and endured it all.

Watching this, Cheng Shi fell silent.

Because the mory surfacing in his mind was that very sa unbearable past from Zhen Xin's childhood.

She had endured countless nights just like this — fists clenched, pushing through.

As expected, soone who had lived through inner chaos had long since been baptized by Chaos.

Cheng Shi had assud that at this stage, at least Zhen Yi would erge to "protect" her sister. But it was clear now that Zhen Xin's inner strength was far greater than he'd imagined.

She was formidable — admirably so.

But admiration aside — Miss Magician, your unflappable composure is making

look really bad here...

Cheng Shi pursed his lips, shoved aside the tangled thoughts, and continued observing.

Zhen Xin moved again — but only after a long pause before taking the next step.

It turned out that once old scars of the heart were torn open, they could indeed scab over quickly. But the pain that accompanied the process still needed ti to heal.

Her complexion grew calr the longer she stood still. Then, practically biting down on her teeth and dragging legs heavy as lead, she heaved herself onto the fifth step.

And when this determined Magician found her footing on the fifth step... the performance began.

Cheng Shi had been watching with keen interest, waiting for her to embarrass herself, expecting Zhen Yi to take over and deliver a spectacularly humiliating reaction. After all, as he understood it, the fifth step represented the abandonnt of self-identity — and under this kind of pressure, a dual personality was bound to trigger the second persona's resurgence.

But he was wrong again.

Not only did Zhen Xin not let Zhen Yi out — she began to fully release herself on this staircase of Chaos.

Her expression was a blend of bewildernt and confusion, yet her movents were anything but stiff. Just like Cheng Shi and Hu Wei before her, she danced to the disorder of her own heart — except her dance was leagues beyond the Clown's flailing and her "alien blood compatriot's" tap-dancing.

The Magician's arms flowed like water, her waist swayed like a willow. Her long legs, taut inside her trousers, moved to a soundless beat — lotus steps, light as air, like a celestial being exiled from heaven.

She began with the grace of classical dance, pivoted into the diversity of folk, transitioned into the wildness of Latin, and landed on the tips of ballet. She was like a dancer who had completely cut loose, pouring every style she'd ever learned into one uninhibited performance — a lavish annotation to her own definition of Chaos.

As the beauty within this disordered dance revealed itself, the smile on Cheng Shi's face slowly froze.

'Wait, sis — you actually studied dance?'

'How did the show I was so looking forward to turn into this?'

'When I climbed the staircase, I was the clown. When Zhen Xin climbs the staircase — I'm still the clown?!'

'So I'm the clown no matter what?'

Cheng Shi couldn't laugh anymore. His eye twitching furiously, he turned away from Zhen Xin on the staircase and glared, face dark, at Kataro in the yellow mist.

The perceptive Kataro knew exactly what his lord was thinking. Having once played his role, he understood Cheng Shi's mindset perfectly — which was why he'd already averted his gaze, terrified that seeing Lord Cheng Shi's rigid expression would make him burst out laughing.

With no one watching Zhen Xin's dance, Cheng Shi finally "reclaid a win."

'So what if you dance beautifully? There's no audience here!'

'And even if you dance well, you can't just keep dancing on the divine staircase forever! You think this is your Deceit stage?'

'This is the Chaos Temple!'

'Even the Fun God has to be called Chaos here!'

'This is NOT the place for you to "strut your stuff."'

After fuming for a mont, Cheng Shi decided to wake up this overly eye-catching Magician. But just as he raised his hand to pull Zhen Xin down from the staircase, sothing unexpected happened.

The dancing Zhen Xin alternated between calm and wildness. When calm, she could pirouette in place; but when wildness took over, her movents grew increasingly frenzied, one jaw-dropping technique after another — until mid-dance...

She stepped onto the sixth step!

But the instant her toes touched the sixth step, she crumpled like a swan struck from the sky, eyes shut, collapsing onto the staircase!

"Damn!"

Cheng Shi panicked. Kataro panicked too. They could feel Zhen Xin's vitality dissipating. Both rushed forward to pull her down.

Cheng Shi even produced the Lush Horn Crown, a healing spell already ford in his hand, ready at any mont to yank the Magician back from the Fishbone Hall of a certain deity.

But at that very instant, a beam of murky light descended from the Chaos Temple above them, enveloping Zhen Xin's body and teleporting this follower of Deceit directly into the temple.

Staring at this completely unexpected turn of events, Cheng Shi blinked in bewildernt.

He turned his stiff neck toward Kataro and asked, disbelief written across his face:

"He... was there all along?"

Kataro was equally stupefied. He had been instructed by the Benefactor to have Lord Cheng Shi handle this matter and had personally watched the Benefactor leave. But who could have fathod that their Benefactor would deceive even His own people?

Seeing Kataro's reaction, Cheng Shi knew Kataro had genuinely been in the dark.

Fair enough — a true god had no obligation to report His whereabouts to His servants and followers.

Still... 'Benefactor, please don't tell

You ca here just to watch the show.'

Yes, there had been a clown's circus here. But as for which clown was the star...

'Who cares. As long as I delivered enough laughs, I'm a devout follower of fun!'

Cheng Shi made peace with it. He straightened up, tucked his hands behind his back, and stood waiting for the Benefactor's summons. He knew that Chaos — no, Deceit — would definitely call him. Otherwise, when that beam of yellow light descended, he would have been slapped back to reality by the hand of chaos.

But he waited and waited, and the temple gave no response. Eventually even Kataro couldn't figure out what was happening up there. After a mont's thought, he leaned in close and whispered:

"Sir, shall I go up and inquire?"

Cheng Shi was about to nod, but his gaze swept across the staircase — and he froze. Then, with dawning comprehension, his face darkened.

"No need. Soone's waiting for

to walk up there...

Fine, fine — Your first collectible made it to the sixth step, so Your second collectible has to match. Is that it?

Sure. One performance or two — it's all performing. I'm the Clown anyway. Since when is a Clown afraid of looking ridiculous?"

With that, Cheng Shi took one long stride, bypassing the still-active first two steps, and planted himself on the third.

But instead of pressing forward imdiately, the Clown gazed up at the temple above and called out:

"Benefactor! If I make it to the sixth step, is there a reward?"

"..."

The temple offered no reply. Cheng Shi nodded.

"Silence ans consent. That's good enough. Even a clown's performance earns an entrance ticket — I'm a last-minute guest star here, so the least I can do is earn my appearance fee!"

With that, Cheng Shi took another step forward...

...