Fear? So. Despair? Probably that too.
But the despair and fear here were rely reactions to the universe's chaotic, absurd truth — the bewildernt of the infinitesimal facing the imnse, the shock of lower dinsions confronting the higher.
When the gods descended, many players realized mortals were nothing but cosmic dust — puppets in a toy pile. Adding [Origin] simply raised the puppet-master's dinsion further.
Fireflies can't compare to the full moon — that was already an accepted fact. Swapping the moon for a giant sun was far less shocking than the first glimpse of moonlight.
Humans had limited capacity for empathizing with grand narratives. But they could always find resonance in the fine details.
Cheng Shi understood this well. He also knew that human fear never ca from what was seen — it always lurked within. External forces rely triggered it.
So at the very end, after unveiling the universe's truth for the Jokers, he brought up the urgency of the present.
He paced back to the [Fate] tombstone, traced the characters of "fate" with his fingers, and asked in a tone of absolute calm:
"How do you all view Fixed Destiny? [Fate]'s Fixed Destiny?"
Though [Fate] was also a god, jumping from the grand [Origin] experint to the "narrow" concept of Fixed Destiny was quite a leap.
The dazed listeners all frowned. The Dragon King pondered a mont before speaking: "This is connected to the fear in your heart?"
"You noticed?" Cheng Shi turned with a smile.
The Dragon King nodded gravely: "Yes. I can feel it."
"How?"
"It's funny. After hearing everything you've said, a trace of uncontrollable fear appeared in my own heart.
So when I say I can feel it, I don't an I felt your fear. I an I felt my own. Projecting from myself to you — whatever has been suppressing you this long is probably the sa thing."
Cheng Shi smiled. He nodded and sat back down on the [Fate] tombstone.
"Yes. I am afraid. And the source of that fear is [Fate]'s Fixed Destiny."
"This universe's experint is connected to [Fate]?" Zhen Xin also frowned.
"Not to [Fate] — but to Fixed Destiny!"
"?"
Everyone turned, because this emphatic response wasn't from Cheng Shi — it was from Long Jing!
The acrobat had finally burst. Throughout Cheng Shi's revelations, he'd been dying to interject — to prove he already knew all this. But Cheng Shi's pacing was compelling and the details too specific for him to contribute, so opportunity never ca.
Now, the mont Cheng Shi ntioned Fixed Destiny, Long Jing knew his mont had finally arrived!
The other Cheng Shi had repeatedly emphasized Fixed Destiny in his warnings. Long Jing was thoroughly versed. At last, he could seize his spotlight — especially on the Joker Society's stage!
Even Cheng Shi looked at Long Jing with mild surprise. But he'd already guessed what the acrobat would say. Good — he'd listen to how the other version of himself had explained the inescapable Fixed Destiny.
Seeing every face turn toward him, Long Jing instantly slipped into President Gong's performance mode, delivering everything he knew in an appropriately mysterious tone.
"As I ntioned, I received an audience with Shi Zhen. Through a stroke of fate, I resolved the misunderstanding between Yu Xi and Shi Zhen.
Because of that, during the audience, I was granted an opportunity."
'An opportunity?'
Zhen Xin raised an eyebrow: "rging with [Ti]?"
Long Jing's expression stiffened. That was supposed to be a bombshell too — enough to stun the room. But Zhen Xin had sussed it out on first contact. Bringing it up now was like salt in a wound.
"...The faith fusion was only part of it. The most important thing was receiving guidance from [Ti].
The guidance's content was nothing less than letting
cross the space-ti barrier and et another..."
Long Jing's tone hitched. He stole a glance at Cheng Shi, then took a deep breath:
".... Another !"
"?"
Hearing this, Cheng Shi nearly couldn't hold back his laughter. He'd already figured out Long Jing's angle.
Clearly, the acrobat was determined to scrub out every "Cheng Shi elent" from the story, building his own mysterious, knowledgeable persona. Indeed, perhaps only this could wash away the clownish impression he'd left on everyone.
But would it really be that simple?
Don't forget — every Joker present was sharper than the last. Surely they could read between the lines?
Of course they could. In fact, everyone had been approaching all information with caution. The Jokers knew a liar's words were the least trustworthy. But through cross-referencing, truths could still be extracted.
So everyone's state was: you say yours, I'll hear mine. Whatever agenda you're pushing is your business — I only take what I need.
And so, in this atmosphere of tangled sincerity and deception, Long Jing continued his "spotlight" mont.
"That world was miserable. Because [Ti] — the god they followed — had fallen."
"WHAT!?" Every eye went wide. Cheng Shi's too. Faked.
"[Ti] fell?"
"That's right. Unlike the [Prosperity] death we see here, their [Ti] vanished.
But not completely. Through the Fun God's machinations, all living beings bore [Ti]'s divine authority. Players walked weighed down by ages, and after countless attempts, they found a way to contact other sliced universes.
I don't know if their efforts prompted our world's Shi Zhen to respond. But He did indeed send
to et that... myself.
The other
told
they'd contacted countless worlds and tried countless thods, yet still couldn't find the so-called 'answer.' Because the only deity who knew the 'answer' — [Ti] — was gone.
Their world had nearly lost all hope.
And this 'answer,' my other self speculated, was becoming a 'successful specin' in this universe-slicing experint.
He said [Fate]'s Fixed Destiny was essentially this: if our sliced universe doesn't succeed, then as a discarded specin, we'll be abandoned entirely by the experint's director.
But if our sliced universe succeeds..."
Here, Long Jing suddenly halted. An inexplicable flash of fear shot through his heart.
He'd been running this information through his mind for days on end. His emotional response to these "truths" had grown duller each ti. So why, right now, did the fear return?
Even more curious — no one knew why Long Jing had paused. But Zhen Xin, sharp as ever, imdiately guessed his next words. A flicker of gravity crossed her eyes as she finished for him:
"...If it succeeds, then this world will be scooped up by It, becoming the 'fortunate ones' who face the ultimate directly.
And whether that fortune is truly fortunate... I suspect it's not the kind of fortune we'd want."
Long Jing recovered. He nodded with rare agreent:
"Correct. Where a successful world leads is unknown. And the unknown is fear. Compared to outright annihilation, perhaps facing the experint's director would be even more terrifying. So he said:
This is [Fate]'s Fixed Destiny. Whether the outco is good or bad, the world will drown in fear. And the universe will return to [Origi—"
"!!!"
Long Jing caught himself just in ti. He froze, then broke into cold sweat.
The others tensed at the syllable too. Cheng Shi's scalp went numb, a finger-snap already at the ready.
He glared at Long Jing, wishing he could sew the acrobat's mouth shut. Feeling the Fate Weaver's gaze, Long Jing hunched his shoulders and forced out a rigid smile.
"I... didn't say it. It should be... fine?"
'Heh. Let's hope so. Otherwise the Jokers would truly be "dead before they even got started."'
Everyone waited anxiously. When nothing happened, they finally relaxed and resud contemplating Long Jing's words about Fixed Destiny.
Cheng Shi's brow furrowed deepest. This was his first ti hearing what the other version of himself had said — via Long Jing's mouth. As for how much was true and how much false, most of it was likely genuine, since the reasoning aligned with what he already knew.
The only difference: Cheng Shi's understanding of Fixed Destiny oscillated between [Deceit]'s world-destruction and [Fate]'s offering. The other Cheng Shi's understanding frad it as the success or failure of [Origin]'s experint.
Two perspectives, one macro, one micro. But regardless of which version of Fixed Destiny, both Cheng Shis agreed on one thing: Fixed Destiny was a tragedy.
And this realization had dawned on Cheng Shi back when "Cheng Dashi" had "returned." Only now, with deeper understanding of the universe, could it be confird.
So every world's Cheng Shi was searching for a way to break Fixed Destiny. Searching for hope to keep their world going. Yet as far as anyone knew, none had succeeded.
At this thought, fear stirred in Cheng Shi's heart once more, adding a shadow between his brows.
...
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