Chapter 326: Praise the Great Benefactor! |
Cheng Shi was momentarily stunned, thinking to himself, 'If it were a Servant God of [Void], I'd definitely want it, but [Life]...'
'Forget it. After all, I didn't accept [Chaos]'s recruitment either.'
'But honestly speaking, I have another friend who's also a Servant God of [Life]—well, to be precise, at least the top candidate for [Birth] Envoy.'
'If Hong Lin also becomes the Daughter of [Prosperity] who inherits the Authority of [Prosperity], plus me as an employee of [Death]—when I think about it that way, I really do have a deep connection with [Life].'
Cheng Shi lowered his head and pondered for a moment. He neither rushed to refuse nor readily accepted. He simply stalled until the right moment, then raised his head and spoke earnestly:
"I am sheltered by two Benefactors and walk the path of [Void]. Naturally, I must carry out the will of [Void]."
"[Life] is brilliant and radiant, but it is ultimately not [Void]."
"Throughout history, in the long river of time, I am a spectator, a passerby, a bubble that bursts at the slightest touch—but never a character who writes [Existence]. Therefore, my friend is far more suited to that position than I am."
After hearing Cheng Shi's words, the green flames in the colossal skull's eye sockets burned even brighter. It let out laughter that made the universe tremble, and the gaze directed at Cheng Shi was filled with admiration.
"Have you ever, considered, coming—"
Before the words were finished, from within that severed torrent of white bones, an unremarkable skull suddenly shot up into the high skies of Fishbone Hall. Its teeth clattered up and down, grinding noisily, and with an exasperated demeanor, it berated the master of this hall—the owner of all these skulls—with brazen audacity.
"Hey, old bones, you're poaching people right in front of me. Don't you think that's a little too shameless?"
"You stripped every last bit of skin off your own face just for this?"
???
The colossal skull's gaze turned ice-cold in an instant. It glared at the "bone servant" hovering above, gnashing its teeth in fury.
Cheng Shi was stunned for a moment as well, but he quickly realized who had arrived. He whirled around in wild elation—and then watched as the small skull soaring through the sky was suddenly incinerated by terrifying green flames that erupted from the void.
But the ashes did not fall. Instead, they slowly traced out a pair of eyes in midair—eyes whose corners curved upward so dramatically they seemed to touch the heavens.
The spiraling swirls and flickering starpoints within those eyes were so magnificent that the instant Cheng Shi saw them, he wanted to shout his praises:
"Praise—"
But before he could finish, a bone whip formed from Fishbone Hall itself lashed out and sent him flying, hurling him into the void alongside his insufferable Benefactor.
Even after his consciousness returned, he could still hear a single word reverberating endlessly through the void: "Scram."
"..."
'What kind of situation is this? I was halfway through my report and the boss literally whipped me out of the company.'
'Can I file a complaint with the labor bureau for workplace abuse?'
'But setting that aside...'
'My Benefactor caught me at my moonlighting job, reporting to another boss. He won't be angry, will he?'
'When did He arrive?'
'Don't tell me He heard everything?'
'Hah? Then the one sitting on the Bone Throne really lost face too—letting my Benefactor hide there for so long without noticing?'
'Hilarious. Truly, where three walk together, at least two are clowns.'
Still in the form of a skull, Cheng Shi floated in the familiar void, gazing at those impossibly familiar eyes before him. At last, he completed the praise he'd left unfinished:
"Praise the great God of [Deceit]. Under Your gaze, may the world be blanketed in falsehood, and may the universe never again know a truthful word."
Those laughing eyes stared at the tiny skull before them, snorted once, and spoke with dripping sarcasm:
"Nice work uniform. You seem to be having a grand time under old bones' command."
"..."
'Great, here comes the passive-aggression.'
Cheng Shi wanted to wipe the sweat from his brow, but he had no hands. So he could only bow his head in contrition first.
"About that... I was just earning a little extra on the side. You heard everything, great Benefactor—my heart is totally devoted to [Void]!"
"I didn't hear anything. When all's said and done, I'm just a pair of eyes. I don't have ears. How could I possibly hear what someone says?"
"Even if someone were to chant some novel little 'the coming path and going road, all are destined' at the artifact I bestowed, I wouldn't have heard that either."
"..."
'Great Benefactor, why don't we drop the name [Deceit] and just rename You [Passive-Aggression]...'
But now was clearly not the time to go toe-to-toe with his Benefactor. He was anxious about whether Hong Lin could inherit the Authority of [Prosperity], so Cheng Shi hurriedly changed the subject and asked the pair of eyes:
"Great Benefactor, the succession plan I just proposed to... uh... is it feasible?"
The eyes blinked. Said nothing.
Silence descended without warning.
After a long while, Cheng Shi was so anxious he could barely stand still. Seeing that his Benefactor still showed no reaction whatsoever, his mind raced desperately until he came up with a terrible idea.
He spat the Die of Fate out from his empty, contentless mouth, then murmured under his breath:
"Lies of yesterday..."
Hearing this, the spirals in those eyes reversed a single rotation. The gaze brightened by three degrees—but still remained silent.
Cheng Shi had no choice. He added the remaining words: "...mock the present day."
Now the spirals began to whirl rapidly, and even the starpoints within the pupils started twinkling with delight.
"..."
Cheng Shi was numb.
'Fine, fine, fine. I really am just a cog in your mutual blasphemy game.'
Watching His follower make such a clown of himself, those eyes finally looked pleased.
"Hee~"
"Since you're being so devout, I'll agree."
?
Huh?
Agreed?
What did He mean, agreed?
Cheng Shi was shocked. Judging by his Benefactor's demeanor, this didn't seem like teasing—so the word "agreed" looked like He was going to handle everything personally.
'Hold on—I spent all that time negotiating with [Death] and couldn't even get a straight answer, and You just give me an "agreed" right off the bat?'
'That's it?'
He asked in disbelief: "You mean... it can be done?"
"Mhm~"
"Why couldn't it? If [Truth] could use Dizel's body to seize the Authority of [Prosperity] through trickery, then why can't I?"
"You're right—Frazor merely disappeared. Even if They know full well that [Prosperity] devoured Her own firstborn, as long as They didn't witness [Prosperity] assimilating Her eldest daughter with their own eyes, they cannot deny that your little cat friend isn't Frazor."
"Though your ambitions aren't small, are they? You want to become [Chaos]'s Envoy and seize control of [Prosperity]'s oracle at the same time."
"Greed, sometimes, can be fatal."
"..."
'That's absolutely unbearable—this is a trumped-up charge!'
"The [Chaos] Envoy position wasn't my idea—You forced it on me! And [Prosperity]'s oracle isn't real either; I'm just relaying it on Baldy's behalf!"
"I told those Mushroom-Footed People that my current form is merely a borrowed shell, so it doesn't affect Frazor's true appearance..."
"A little clever, but not much."
"You should be grateful you added that one extra line, otherwise no amount of excuses would have saved you."
"Heh. [Memory] doesn't want me rewriting history again, but who could have guessed that the history about to be altered this time actually comes from His own creation?"
"As for you—be careful when you meet Him in the future. If He kills you in a rage of humiliation, I won't be able to save you."
"..."
Cheng Shi's heart lurched, and he thought, 'This is bad.'
'I hadn't even thought about it until You brought it up. If I've used up all three of [Memory]'s blessings, and He comes demanding I break my oath and swear to [Memory], I wouldn't even know what to do...'
Since his Benefactor was right here, he hastily asked:
"Great Benefactor, if [Memory] summons me again playing dirty, and demands I break my oath to join [Memory], what should I do?"
The eyes in the void rolled twice, overflowing with amusement:
"Hee~"
"There's something that amusing?"
"Break it! Why wouldn't you? I can already picture the look on [Fate]'s face. Mm, I'll send you to see [Memory] right now."
!!!
Wait just a moment!!!
Cheng Shi scrambled backward in terror—but since he was just a bone head, he started rolling as he retreated.
The eyes watched this entertaining spectacle and burst into laughter.
Cheng Shi was drenched in skull-sweat. Realizing his Benefactor was only teasing him, he hopped back with an exasperated huff.
But then something occurred to him. His expression froze, and he asked urgently:
"Great Benefactor, [Death] said that [Existence] trapped You to prevent the situation from escalating. So—does this mean You've broken free?"
"Does that mean the God War is already over?"
The laughing eyes fell silent instantly. They regarded Cheng Shi with an inscrutable half-smile and spoke coldly:
"What are you trying to say?"
'Bad—He's about to get angry!'
Cheng Shi quickly corrected course: "I just wanted to ask, when are You sending me back to discuss things with Baldy? Time waits for no one."
The eyes in the void paused, then nodded thoughtfully.
"[Time] indeed waits for no one."
"But I must remind you once more—a mortal ascending to heaven in a single step, wielding the Authority of a god as proxy—opportunities like this don't come around often."
"Are you truly not tempted?"
Cheng Shi pursed his lips: "There's no need for head games, Benefactor. You can see into my heart and know I have no desire to become a god. But I can only guarantee what I want—I don't know what Baldy wants."
"This truly is a once-in-an-eternity opportunity. When You said 'wielding the Authority of a god as proxy,' even though I'm nothing but a skull right now, I could feel my heart pounding wildly, almost suffocating."
"I desperately want my friend to take that position, but I'm not Baldy. I can't make that decision for her."
"I merely found an opportunity. If she doesn't agree..."
"Then you'll give up?"
"Give up a chance to rise to Envoy—or even approach a Divine Throne?"
"..."
'A Divine Throne...'
Cheng Shi was deeply conflicted. He truly did not want to miss this opportunity—whether from a friend's perspective or his own!
Yes—from his own perspective!
Cheng Shi was not without desires. He had his own selfish motives and his own goals.
Perhaps pushing Hu Xuan toward that position had initially been a matter of seizing the moment, but now—right here, right now—he wasn't simply giving away an Envoy's seat out of pure goodwill.
He was making his move!
When he learned that Cheng Dashi was scheming against [Prosperity], when he decided to join this madness, he knew he could no longer afford to remain passive.
A rabbit might indeed smash itself dead against a tree stump, but the wait was far too long. After catching the first one, it would be nearly impossible to wait for a second.
So in order to catch more, Cheng Shi decided to put wheels on that rabbit-killing stump.
He would push it toward the rabbits and let them smash into this high-speed mobile stump.
Thus he began laying his own plans.
And pushing Hong Lin toward that position was the first move on his board. This was no act of saintly charity. First, nobody knew what kind of risks that position entailed—not even [Death] and [Deceit] had spelled them out. Second, compared to [Life], he was clearly more suited to [Void], so for the sake of going further and faster in the future, he couldn't switch his Path of Fate just yet.
At the very least, he shouldn't switch paths for an Envoy position that only might inherit the Authority—and possibly only half of it at that.
That was why Cheng Shi wanted Hong Lin to step up. He wanted to push her closer to Them, wanted this trustworthy friend to become his "eyes"—to use her new identity to sense the shifts among the Gods, so he could better understand Them.
But this move was fraught with unknown—even lethal—risks, so he couldn't make the decision for Hong Lin, even though he felt she wouldn't refuse.
And so Cheng Shi clenched his jaws tight, his gaze flickering. After an eternity of deliberation, he finally forced out a few words: "Then I'll give up."
"Tch—"
"Foolish."
It was clearly a rebuke, yet there was no displeasure whatsoever in the tone of those eyes.
They departed. As they left, a gale erupted from the void and sent Cheng Shi tumbling down.
His vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
In the last second before awareness faded, he heard his Benefactor's final piece of advice:
"Next time you have an audience, don't be so... exposed. As your kind would put it—it's indecent."
???
Cheng Shi was dumbfounded.
When he woke, he immediately looked around. Discovering that he was back in the Sighing Forest—now transformed into a rainforest—he finally let out a breath of relief. Reflecting on the audience he'd just had, his face was full of bewilderment.
'How was I exposed?'
But in the next instant, he recalled his skull-form appearance that hadn't changed since [Death] had rescued him, and his brain let out a buzz as everything clicked.
'Right, right, right. So that's the kind of "exposed" He meant. In that case, I really was too damn exposed just now.'
His expression turned indescribably strange. Hong Lin, standing beside him, was startled by his sudden reappearance. After the initial shock, she asked with immense curiosity and gossip-hunger:
"Who summoned you?"
"[Prosperity]..."
?
Hong Lin was skeptical. She couldn't believe that her own god would summon a follower of [Fate] while his own Chosen One stood right here. She furrowed her brows and pressed further:
"Summoned you for what?"
But Cheng Shi wasn't answering her question at all. He thought for a moment, then suddenly raised his head and looked at Hong Lin with absolute solemnity:
"Baldy, do you want to become a god?"
"?"
"Never mind, I'll just say it directly—do you want to become the Envoy of [Prosperity]?"
"??????????"
...
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