Cheng Shi woke up in his storage room, feeling an overwhelming hunger. He grabbed two cans of drink and quickly downed them both.
“Burp—”
That hit the spot.
His mind finally clear, he began reviewing the trial he had just completed.
In reality, there wasn’t much to review. The trial itself wasn’t very complicated; what was complex were the people involved.
A hunter who was being hunted. A liar. A precocious child. An honest old man. And a seemingly simple and innocent celebrity.
Cheng Shi reflected for a long ti, but his thoughts kept circling back to his fellow deceiver, Su Yida.
It was Su Yida who had introduced all the complications.
Those players in future trials, the ones who tried to backtrack and hunt him—who were they?
At least one of them was a follower of [mory]; that much was certain.
And what about [Ti]? Where had Su Yida’s [Ti] power co from?
Why had Zhao Qian been chosen…?
And, most importantly, why hadn’t his score on the Ladder of Ascent gone up after the trial?
To Cheng Shi, this was clearly a signal that his patron was displeased with him.
“But I didn’t even do anything!” Cheng Shi thought to himself, aggrieved.
Didn’t he?
All he did was expose Su Yida’s sches and ask him for sothing in return.
And that sothing wasn’t even for himself—it was for soone else! Even though it ended up benefiting him in the end, heavens know, his intention was to get it for soone else!
“…”
Well, at least it wasn’t a negative score.
It ant his patron wasn’t that angry.
And better yet, despite not getting any points, his ranking had actually increased.
Tsk tsk, looks like my patron really is in a bad mood these days.
It’s probably best not to provoke Him further right now. Keeping a low profile would be wise.
Cheng Shi took out the Dice of Fate and carefully placed it on a shelf in his storage room. He also removed his ring and inspected it closely to see if it had been scratched.
Strangely, the Screaming Mouths on the ring had lost all their charge after leaving the trial.
In hindsight, that was a huge loss.
Le Le’er had consud five portions of fear and only spat out two bolts of lightning. If you round it off… I just lost a billion dollars!
Ugh, I should’ve fried that dog Su Yida when I had the chance!
As this thought flashed through his mind, a void ripple surged on the rooftop above him.
“Crap!?? I didn’t even do anything! Can’t I just think about it?”
Before Cheng Shi could react, his vision was once again plunged into darkness.
The sa familiar starry sky. The sa familiar gaze.
The spiraling whites of the eyes remained still, but the stars in the pupils flickered rapidly.
Just one glance at that gaze, and cold sweat began pouring down Cheng Shi’s back.
This was bad. His performance got a D, and now his boss was calling him in for a “talk.”
There was no ti to sit and take the blow. He had to make the first move. No—He had to make the first move against a god!
“Praise the great God of [Deceit]! Your divine light illuminates the world, making every lie flawless and every truth fade into obscurity.
It is a trendous honor to be summoned by You once again. Your humblest, most devout follower, Cheng Shi…
Greets You.”
As he spoke, Cheng Shi even gave a graceful bow.
The stars in the eyes twinkled more rapidly, and after staring at Cheng Shi for a mont, the spirals in the sclera suddenly spun in reverse.
Then, from the infinite void, a hollow voice echoed out.
“Crap, is He really mad? I didn’t do anything to upset Him!”
“!!??”
Cheng Shi hadn’t expected his internal thoughts to be broadcasted so loudly. Panicking, he quickly began reciting his earlier praises in his mind, but to his shock, the void wasn’t reflecting those surface thoughts. Instead, it was broadcasting his deeper subconscious.
“You sneaky motherfucker, playing dirty—this isn’t how it went last ti!!”
“!!!!”
Now Cheng Shi was sweating bullets.
He was desperate.
Waving his hands frantically, he tried to explain:
“My dear Patron, please let
explain!
In our culture, ‘mother’ is a symbol of kindness, gentleness, greatness, and forgiveness… representing all the good things in the world.
So…
What I ant was that You nurture us, just like a mother cares for her children, and we are eternally grateful for Your boundless grace.”
The gaze remained unmoved, but the void was bursting with noise:
“Is this working? Will He still be mad?”
“Please stop broadcasting! I’m begging you!”
“If You keep broadcasting, I’m going to file a lawsuit for copyright infringent… oh, wait, I an, You don’t need permission, my dear Patron. Not at all.”
“Sigh, please just say sothing. I’m sweating buckets here.”
“Hello, hello? Are You… are You even listening?”
Cheng Shi gave up on struggling…
He shut his mouth and began communicating with his patron through the void.
After rambling on like Su Yida for what felt like an eternity, [Deceit] finally responded.
“You’re afraid. Interesting. Why?”
Before Cheng Shi could answer, the voice from the void cut in again:
“Afraid to die.”
“……”
Cheng Shi sighed in exasperation. “Alright, let
be honest. What You’re doing right now is very… un-deceitful.”
“Oh? Are you questioning ?” The gaze blinked, and the corners of its eyes lifted slightly.
“Of course not! This is just the most sincere suggestion from Your most humble follower,” Cheng Shi tried to explain, though he desperately wanted to deflect.
But the void wouldn’t let him. It bluntly spat out:
“Yes!”
“……”
Damn it. Just end
already.
The gaze twinkled with amusent, as if smiling. “So, you’ve mistaken
for your mother again?”
“……”
“I was wrong. I deserve any punishnt You deem fit.”
The gaze gave Cheng Shi a quick glance, then slowly returned to its previous state, the stars flickering on and off, the spiral lazily spinning.
When [Deceit] spoke again, there was a teasing tone in the voice.
“When I sensed that He stole a fragnt of My authority, I was indeed furious. But I will not punish you for that.”
!!!!!!!
What????
Wait… what????
What the hell just happened!?
Who stole [Deceit]’s authority?
[Death]?
Wait… are you saying He stole from my own patron?
Oh crap, does that an I’ve beco a double agent?
Eating from my boss’s hand while helping another blow up his vault?
So, this wasn’t about the Su Yida incident?
Of course, compared to divine authority, Su Yida is nothing.
But this… this ss… is way too big for
to handle!
Can I even bear the weight of this?
Cheng Shi felt like his brain was about to explode. Thankfully, at so point, [Deceit] had withdrawn His power, and the void was no longer broadcasting his inner thoughts.
“I… I…”
Cheng Shi was drenched in sweat.
He was really on the verge of dehydration now.
The gaze watched Cheng Shi’s performance with mild interest, the corners of its eyes subtly lifting.
“Relax. I said I wouldn’t punish you, and I won’t.”
“Yes, yes! You are magnanimous beyond asure! The stomach of a pri minister could hold a ship! I was rely trying to extol Your greatness in front of that other god—who could’ve guessed that He would…
That He would…
Harbor such thoughts…”
“So, you dare curse
but not Him?”
But that was [Death]!
If I curse You, You’ll just laugh it off. But if I curse Him, I might end up squashed under His butt.
“I…” Cheng Shi desperately wanted to reaffirm his loyalty, but words at this point felt hollow.
“Boring.”
The gaze spun lazily for a while before continuing:
“I’m not here to assign bla. On the contrary, you did quite well. Thanks to your ddling, They’ve finally started scheming against each other.”
Huh?
Scheming?
What did I ss with?
I thought about ssing with Su Yida’s mother, but…
Wait a second, dear Patron… am I even supposed to be hearing this?
I’m just a lowly worker making 3,000 a month. Do I really have clearance for these boardroom secrets?
“Although I lost so authority, [mory] lost even more. Hehe~”
The previously tense atmosphere dissipated in an instant as [Deceit] giggled.
The mont He laughed, everything about Him seed to beco more vibrant in Cheng Shi’s eyes.
In that split second, even the pitch-black void seed to be filled with dazzling, kaleidoscopic colors.
!!!
[mory] was stolen from too!
[Death] pulled off a two-for-one heist!
Damn, that’s impressive!
Even though my own side took a hit, knowing the other side took a bigger one really makes
feel a lot better. Cheng Shi couldn’t help but grin, lowering his head to stifle his laughter.
“He’s furious, so… you’ve probably already felt it.”
“!”
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