"Since you know the truth about the People in Coffin, you must also know what the Septic Final Tomb is about.
When this couple was lucky enough to find the Septic Final Tomb, they happened to arrive during a Sighing Sorrow Tide eruption. Even more coincidentally, at that mont in the Sighing Forest, Decay — dwelling within the Final Tomb — seed to be locked in a fresh round of faith conflict with Prosperity, who was quietly encroaching.
Under those circumstances, these two 'explorers' were caught in the aftermath of the clash between true gods and nearly beca ash beside that blood lake.
But fortunately, in that forest, Decay was everything.
The two of them lay by the blood lake, riddled with wounds, crying out to the tomb floating overhead — begging their Benefactor to spare their lives. Yet as their breath grew weaker and weaker, these two clever people realized their pleas hadn't moved their Benefactor one bit.
By this point, Lin Xi had given up. He didn't believe a re two-thousand-point player could earn his Benefactor's rcy. Despair set in. He accepted that everything had been a pipe dream.
That's when he finally looked at Chun beside him. He gave her one tender gaze. Though he said nothing, his eyes said everything.
Perhaps it was that single look — or perhaps Chun's love for Lin Xi had never wavered. Watching the light drain from her beloved's eyes, she squeezed every drop of survival instinct she had, refusing to let him die like this. So she..."
The electronic voice stopped.
"?" Cheng Shi frowned, looking at Sun Miao, whose fingers had suddenly frozen. "So she what?"
"Vice President — is this piece of intel... no, is this bit of gossip enough to trade for yours?"
"???"
'You're cutting it off here?!'
'Since when does a couple's romancing belong at the sa table as secrets of the gods?!'
Cheng Shi's eye twitched. He said nothing — just pulled out a handful of dice.
At the sight of them, Sun Miao's face locked up. Not long after, she grudgingly resud typing.
"She stabbed Lin Xi."
Hearing this, Cheng Shi wasn't the least bit surprised. Instead, he raised an eyebrow in appreciation and applauded.
"I understand. The one who truly guessed Decay's heart wasn't Lin Xi — it was Chun.
I'd wager she didn't just stab Lin Xi. She turned around and sent a gift to the invading Prosperity — one grand enough to slap Decay across the face.
Her oathbreaking wasn't forced. It was voluntary, wasn't it?"
"Clever." A flicker of change crossed Sun Miao's face — Cheng Shi clearly caught a hint of shock — but her typed tone betrayed nothing.
"No wonder Zhen Xin agreed to work with you. The History School welcos all clever people.
It's exactly as you guessed. Chun realized that earning Decay's pity wasn't as simple as being on death's door. After all, His followers self-mutilated constantly — how many walked the edge of death without ever catching His eye? Why would two dying nobodies be any different?
They were no more special than any ordinary follower.
Was it just because they'd found the Septic Final Tomb?
No — ordinarily, reaching the Tomb might have earned a sliver of attention. But their timing was wrong. They'd witnessed a divine faith clash, and the battlefield was Decay's own territory.
Prosperity had descended with naked aggression — as good as slapping Decay across the face.
If not outright humiliation, it was certainly no mark of honor. Two mortals who'd witnessed this mont at their Benefactor's darkest hour — what made them think they could attract His attention rather than His wrath?
It was precisely these thoughts that led Chun to devise a way to separate attention from anger.
She stabbed Lin Xi, pushing his essence further toward the brink, closer to Decay. Then she turned and prayed to the invading Prosperity — begging the intruder to save her life, willing to pay any price to survive.
What happened next isn't hard to guess.
Prosperity never let an opportunity to make the universe flourish pass Him by. Even absorbing one follower was just a small step — but one that happened on Decay's ho turf, a detail too sweet for Prosperity to refuse.
And so Chun broke her oath. To help her lover fulfill his dream, she shouldered the curse of betrayal and shoved Lin Xi toward Decay.
In her mind, Decay would punish her in the cruelest way possible: by saving her lover and letting Lin Xi hunt her endlessly.
She understood Decay too well. She knew this was Lin Xi's only chance.
And her gamble paid off.
The instant she defected to Prosperity, Decay poured limitless power into Lin Xi. And there, on this battlefield of clashing faiths, two players of opposing beliefs — mirroring their Benefactors — went to war.
Chun understood Decay. But she apparently didn't understand Lin Xi. She'd bet that, even after being saved, Lin Xi wouldn't truly carry out Decay's vengeance. But the facts proved otherwise...
Love, in the face of so people's faith, is worth nothing.
The instant Lin Xi was revived, he attacked Chun without hesitation or rcy. His eyes were full of rage and terror, without a shred of love — plunging Chun, who had forsaken her own faith for him, into total despair and madness.
And so, as you've already seen, they've been fighting from that day to this."
"..."
Cheng Shi understood. The story was undeniably lodramatic. Anyone who suffered betrayal would struggle to let go. But... he pursed his lips. "How do you know all this in such detail? Was soone from the History School at the scene?"
"No. Chun told us everything herself.
As the largest intelligence organization, she needed our network to find Lin Xi, so she shared this history with us."
Cheng Shi had guessed as much. Still, he asked:
"When you collect intelligence like this, is a Master of Deception present?"
"For genuine history — yes.
For lodramatic gossip — no."
"?" Cheng Shi blinked. "Then how can you be sure Chun was telling the truth?"
"We can't, of course." Sun Miao's hands trembled again. She was clearly suppressing shock, yet her face remained blank — the disconnect between behavior and emotion strikingly jarring. "History demands to be seen clearly. Gossip doesn't. It just has to be lodramatic enough.
And if it's not lodramatic enough, we add fuel to the fire.
You know how we are — the people who record history are the best at this kind of thing.
Seeing the essence through the surface isn't wrong, but not everyone wants to see the essence. People only believe what they see. That's why surfaces can deceive — and why, in this era, con artists flourish.
Rather than exhausting yourself explaining thankless truths to outsiders, it's better to simply show them what they want to see through unimportant stories.
Take gossip, for instance. What people want is Chun and Lin Xi's endless battle, their lodrama of salvation and betrayal. As for what's real and what's fake behind the romance... nobody cares.
We don't care either — unless declaring one side's position benefits the History School. At that point, the side that benefits us naturally becos the truth, and the side that harms us may shoulder all bla.
Centuries from now, the story we've painted becos what future generations call history.
And the history we witness today is rely a story that those before us once painted.
That's history's inevitability and its essence. Don't you agree, Fate Weaver?"
...
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