Chapter 339: The Exceptional [Fate] Chosen One |
Cheng Shi shook his head, flinging the indecent thoughts from his mind, and resumed the previous topic:
"If He didn't show Himself, how did you know it was Him?"
But the instant those words left his mouth, he regretted them—because Hong Lin on the other end went dead silent.
'Damn. Said something I shouldn't have.'
'Sure enough, the moment my brain goes somewhere dirty, I get stupid.'
[Birth] was unlike any other god. His aura was far too easy to identify.
Saying something like that in front of the person involved made the atmosphere rather... awkward.
Cheng Shi's expression seized up and he quickly course-corrected:
"And then what? Pulled you in for an audience, said nothing, and sent you right back?"
Cheng Shi furrowed his brow: "Details. Try to recall more details—otherwise I can't guess what He's after."
"There are no details. He pulled me into the void but didn't reveal Himself. And then when I... succumbed to [Birth]'s aura, I was sent back out."
"The void? He summoned you into the void?"
"Yes."
"..."
Cheng Shi's heart skipped a beat. 'Could He have been looking for me?'
Though he hadn't been summoned by many gods, based on his audience experience, deities typically summoned players in their own domains. Even if those domains existed within the void, they would be each god's personal territory.
Like [Prosperity]'s Divine Shade. [Death]'s Fishbone Hall. [Memory]'s Collection Hall. Or [Chaos]'s temple.
So why had [Birth] simply tossed Big Cat into the void?
His choice to summon Big Cat at this moment most likely stemmed from [Prosperity]'s fall. And the only elements in this entire affair connected to the void were:
[Void]. [Deceit]. [Fate]. And... Cheng Dashi.
Every single one of those was connected to him.
'Great.'
'What does He want?'
'If He was looking for me, why not just summon me directly instead of summoning Hong Lin?'
'Or am I overthinking this—maybe He just wanted to see what the eldest daughter of [Prosperity] looked like?'
'But He already saw her at the Assembly of Gods Convention. Two eyes, one mouth—what could possibly be special?'
Neither of them could figure it out, nor did they dig deeper into it. The conversation drifted naturally to other topics by unspoken agreement.
After all, discussing [Birth] over the phone for too long was just too weird.
Cheng Shi steered the topic. In his mind, a Chosen One who'd held the top spot on the [Prosperity] rankings for a full two months should possess plenty of intel he needed. So he didn't waste this call—he carefully probed for specific information through indirect questions.
Hong Lin sensed that Cheng Shi was gathering intelligence, so she tried to be as precise as possible, ensuring the information chain didn't break at her link.
But there was one thing she remained deeply curious about: Cheng Shi's score.
Logically, a member of such a mysterious and powerful organization couldn't possibly be a low-scoring player. Yet she'd never heard Cheng Shi's name among the peak players.
The most baffling part was that she'd heard Cheng Shi's name from Tao Yi's mouth. But Tao Yi's score... how could she possibly have been matched with Cheng Shi?
Reviewing all of Cheng Shi's operations, Hong Lin immediately ruled out the possibility that he was low-ranked. The only explanation was that Tao Yi had gotten spectacularly lucky and been matched into a high-tier game.
She was never one to hold back thoughts, so while trading intel with Cheng Shi, she asked about this several times. But each time, Cheng Shi silently redirected the conversation.
After enough attempts, Hong Lin picked up on it. Cheng Shi's ranking on the leaderboard wasn't high—at least not high enough to regularly match with peak players.
He was suppressing his score!
But why?
Higher scores meant better rewards across the board. Someone as clever as him—someone who could even spar with Zhen Yi—why would he deliberately hold his score down?
Since Cheng Shi clearly didn't want to discuss it, she tactfully stopped asking. Their conversation meandered, one line here, one line there, until it drifted back to the topic of Chosen Ones. Cheng Shi hesitated, then asked:
"Blind One—what do you know about her?"
Hearing this, Hong Lin became even more certain Cheng Shi was suppressing his score. Otherwise, he surely would have been matched with the [Fate] Chosen One.
'Come to think of it, I'm curious about how this self-proclaimed seer-of-destiny [Fate] Chosen One views an organization like the Destined Ones.'
'Although... she probably doesn't know about it?'
'Interesting. Next time I run into her, I'll have to play my cards close. Can't let the Destined Ones get exposed on my watch.'
"I know her somewhat. Or rather, any peak player with a high enough score has probably been matched with her."
"Blind One's real name is An Mingyu. She's..."
"A very exceptional Prophet."
Surname An?
'What a coincidence.'
Cheng Shi frowned and pressed on: "Is she close with Zhen Xin?"
"Yes. Very close, I'd say. Openly, unreservedly close. Practically everyone who knows both of them is aware of their friendship. Of course, Blind One and Zhen Yi have an awful relationship—the antagonistic, head-to-head kind of awful."
"..."
'Not surprising. As expected.'
But upon learning this, Cheng Shi suddenly began re-examining his memory of the Puppet Master, An Jing.
If the Puppet Master had executed a flawless collaboration with Zhen Xin, and Zhen Xin was exceptionally close with An Mingyu, and An Jing shared the surname "An"...
So the "An" surname was the thread connecting all of them?
Were Blind One and the Puppet Master relatives?
'Makes sense, in a way—one blind, one mute, both equally unfortunate...'
But during the trial, Hong Lin hadn't noticed any physical resemblance between An Jing and Blind One. So this remained mere speculation.
Since the events were already past, dwelling on a Puppet Master's identity held little practical value. Cheng Shi's motivation for piecing this together wasn't to rehash old events, but to ensure he'd be as prepared as possible when he next encountered Zhen Xin—narrowing the information gap as much as he could.
Knowing your enemy might not guarantee a hundred victories, but at least you wouldn't lose before the battle even starts. Regular review truly was essential.
"Is she really blind?" Cheng Shi continued.
"Yes. She's genuinely blind. I heard from Zhen Xin that the Blind One actually had her sight before the Faith Game descended. She lost her vision afterward."
"But despite blindfolding herself with black cloth, she can still 'see' things. She once said publicly that she can't make out specific objects but can see the flow of destiny—which is why she claims to have seen through fate."
"Seen through fate?"
"Tsk... bold claim. Our Benefactor never gave her trouble for that?"
'Our Benefactor...'
Hong Lin still wasn't used to being a [Fate] follower. Hearing the phrase, she said with an odd expression:
"She seems to have never had an audience with [Fate]..."
?
Cheng Shi blanked: "How is that possible? The [Fate] Chosen One has never had an audience with [Fate]?"
"Nobody knows if it's true. That claim comes from Zhen Yi. But strangely, Blind One has never denied it."
"So everyone takes it at face value. The prevailing theory is that she aligns so perfectly with [Fate]'s will that He sees no need to provide audience-style guidance."
"Before meeting our Ben— before meeting Him, I thought that made sense. After having the audience, I think it makes even more sense."
"After all, He is the cold, abyssal [Void]."
"..." 'Is it possible... that you're wrong about that?'
Cheng Shi naturally kept that thought to himself. After a moment of reflection, he asked:
"So what makes her exceptional? A blind woman who can see the world? Or are her prophecies especially accurate?"
"No, neither. What makes her exceptional is that she possesses sixteen Dice of Fate!"
"???"
'How many!?'
...