Chapter 492: Wait — Since When Do You Have Guests!? |
After Cheng Shi had knocked several times, the door finally responded.
Aph Ros, draped in a gilt-and-moonlight black robe, pushed the door open. Gone was the previous [Corruption] demeanor — He stood before Cheng Shi with a grave and solemn expression.
Seeing that face, Cheng Shi's heart lurched. He was about to ask "what happened" when behind Aph Ros, in the ink-black hall of the Evil Infant Inquisition, a pair of eyes he would never forget in his lifetime suddenly opened.
Eyes of stars!
Nebulae formed the dial. Stars served as markings. A flowing river of light ceaselessly eroded the riverbed of the void, shifting and redirecting — like a swinging hour hand that "ticked" within those eyes.
The stars within those pupils flickered bright and dim, as though harmonizing with the flow of time. The flickering was blindingly fast, yet somehow each glimpse felt like gazing at the end of time itself — slow and eternal.
Cheng Shi locked eyes with those pupils completely unprepared. By the time he realized who this [Existence] being inside Aph Ros's home was, it was too late — his soul had already ascended to a higher dimension, surveying every past and future of the place where he stood.
Time coiled into circles, twisted into knots. No matter how many temporal trajectories of the universe swept past, this independent knot of time floated silently within the [Void] — still and lonely.
He was awed by the sight. A crushing, infinitesimal sense of insignificance welled up within him. But before he could fully savor that bleak smallness, his consciousness snapped back into his body. His eyes glazed, and he stood rigid.
Because in His presence, no one dared overstep.
"..."
Cheng Shi's consciousness swam for a moment. By the time he fully emerged from the shock, cold sweat had soaked through his shirt.
He bit down hard and stiffly turned to face Aph Ros. His eyes overflowed with the universe's most panicked, most helpless light.
'Bro, since when do you have house guests!?'
'You could've said something about having company!'
'If you'd so much as uttered "today's not a good time," would I have kept knocking? Would I have dared!?'
'Well, this is great. Now what? Face-to-face with the rival faction!'
'Who could this be? Who else could it possibly be!? One look and anyone could tell this [Existence] was [Time]!'
'I just got screwed over by one of [Time]'s followers, haven't even gone back to settle the score, and now — great — the big boss showed up first.'
'Excuse me, does [Time] play fair!?'
'If You're really not going to play fair, then don't blame me for...'
'Holding it in!'
'My Benefactor says I need to learn patience. I'm being patient!'
Aph Ros was equally caught off guard. He didn't know why [Time] had suddenly appeared here — He hadn't exchanged a single word with this [Existence]. The deity had descended just now!
One second before Cheng Shi knocked!
Aph Ros had been anxious, but seeing Cheng Shi made Him suddenly less uneasy, because He realized this [Existence] behind Him most likely hadn't come for Him — but for... His brother who never failed to bring surprises.
"It's been a long time."
[Time] spoke. As concise as ever.
But no one dared respond to this "long time no see." The silence stretched.
Cheng Shi didn't dare answer because he assumed [Time] wasn't addressing him. After all, this was his first audience — no, "audience" was too formal. His first run-in with [Time]. So the "long time no see" had to be directed at Aph Ros before him.
And Aph Ros... closed His eyes and went straight into playing dead.
He was [Time]'s prisoner — a convict caged within time's prison. Having guessed that the warden's visit wasn't for Him, He naturally wasn't about to invite trouble.
Seeing Aph Ros shut his eyes, Cheng Shi's heart lurched with worry.
'Bro, this is the deity who sentenced you! How dare you act this defiant — throwing a tantrum and refusing to answer!?'
'Do you think [Birth] can protect you? Or [Corruption]? If either could, you wouldn't be locked up here!'
Cheng Shi was losing it. He was terrified [Time] would blame Aph Ros's insolence on him and toss him into a temporal cage too.
So he stiffly winked and signaled at Aph Ros, but the eyes-shut Herald couldn't see his frantic facial gymnastics. The silence dragged on and on.
Cold sweat multiplied on Cheng Shi's back. He was approaching collapse.
Then, in that impossibly awkward, death-inducing atmosphere — someone spoke.
The voice came from Cheng Shi, but the words weren't his.
"It has been a long time."
The Fool's Lips had spoken.
The instant Brother Mouth uttered those words, both Cheng Shi and Aph Ros were stupefied.
Aph Ros's eyes snapped open. He stared at Cheng Shi with blazing intensity, as though trying to determine whether his brother harbored some deeply hidden, unknown identity.
And Cheng Shi...
Was absolutely terrified.
He'd been presented before many deities. But this was the first time Brother Mouth had voluntarily spoken in a god's presence!
It hadn't even acknowledged the Fun God. Yet here, before [Void]'s rival [Time], it had opened its mouth!
'Wait — Brother Mouth, don't tell me you're... one of [Existence]'s lackeys... ptui ptui ptui. One of [Existence]'s people?'
The gaze of Time's Eyes swept over Cheng Shi. No joy, no sorrow. No grief, no pleasure. His tone carried the cold indifference of time's passage — impossible to read:
"You found it."
"Yes. I found it."
???
Cheng Shi was terrified, but that didn't stop him from spectating while being terrified. It was like a hostage at gunpoint — trembling all over, knees buckling, but ears still perfectly functional for eavesdropping on the kidnappers' gossip about somebody's wife.
'After all, it's my legs that are weak. What do my ears have to do with anything?'
'My ears aren't weak.'
'So — what had Brother Mouth found?'
"But He has not found it yet."
"That is none of Your concern."
!!!
'Brother Mouth, you're trying to get me killed!!!'
Cheng Shi was genuinely trembling now. Even if the speaker was the Fool's Lips, the body standing before [Time] was his!
A human telling a deity "that's none of Your concern" — the terror of such an act was beyond comprehension for anyone who hadn't lived it.
Put another way: in the entire recorded history of the gods, this was probably a first.
A blasphemy delivered face-to-face, worthy of being recorded in history!
Cheng Shi desperately wanted to explain himself, but held back. He figured that at a moment like this, he couldn't undermine his own side's morale — and "his side" was clearly Brother Mouth.
So he clenched his teeth and stood firm, mentally reassuring himself that he was merely an old man at the village entrance overhearing two elders' gossip.
But mercifully, [Time] showed no anger. Time was always changing, yet those eyes before him seemed eternally unchanging.
"Time will prove everything."
The Eyes of Time released a sigh, then quietly closed and departed — just as He had arrived. No one knew why He'd left, nor why He'd uttered those cryptic words.
Of course, "cryptic" was Cheng Shi's and Aph Ros's assessment. Whether Brother Mouth understood... Cheng Shi had been internally screaming the question.
But the Fool's Lips went silent after [Time]'s departure, reverting to its aloof state, unresponsive to Cheng Shi's frantic bombardment.
Just as Cheng Shi's curiosity was about to boil over, Aph Ros launched his own... bombardment.
"My dear brother, don't you think you owe me an explanation? What exactly just happened, and...
"Why?"
As He spoke, Aph Ros twirled and shifted into female form.
It wasn't intentional. After the shock, surprise, and a flood of pent-up emotions released by [Time]'s departure, the [Corruption] power within could no longer be contained.
She shed the robe and reached toward Cheng Shi, trying to pull him into the true Abyss of Desire. But Cheng Shi completely ignored Her. He simply stepped back, wedging himself outside the door where Her hand couldn't reach, then continued his frenzied interrogation of Brother Mouth.
The Fool's Lips, harassed beyond tolerance, decided to teach Cheng Shi a small lesson. And so the head-bowed Cheng Shi suddenly spoke:
"I'm sorry. I've just recovered some memories and now realize that I am actually..."
Aph Ros froze. Pressing against the impassable air-barrier at the doorframe, She stared with burning eyes:
"Who!?"
By the time Cheng Shi realized something was wrong, it was too late. He raised his hand to clamp his mouth shut, but two crisp, resonant words had already escaped:
"Your daddy."
"..."
'That's it. Let the world end.'
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