Chapter 764: The Replicated "Eternal Sun" |
Smart didn't even begin to describe it. This Wei Mu was nothing like what Cheng Shi had imagined.
Most Folly followers stared down their noses at everyone with their nostrils practically grafted onto their eyes. But Wei Mu... not a single sentence was overtly mocking, yet somehow every sentence felt like mockery.
It was the kind of self-evident disdain that made listeners feel ashamed of their own inadequacy from the very depths of their being. As he laid out truth after truth in that unhurried tone, you could only conclude your brain had been given to you by mistake.
That was exactly how Cheng Shi felt right now. He'd thought his preparations were thorough enough, but thorough at best amounted to "reacting." The Folly Chosen was cut from entirely different cloth — his method wasn't "reacting" but "deconstructing." He'd predicted 0221's setup and reverse-engineered its destruction, delivering everyone safely in the most direct, efficient way possible.
'So this is what it looks like when a Wise Man and a Scholar clash?'
'Wielding knowledge as a sword and learning as a shield, fighting a battle that belongs purely to wisdom and intellect?'
"..."
'Yeah — underachievers should keep their distance. Otherwise there's always this inexplicable sense of inferiority hanging around.'
Cheng Shi pursed his lips and stared at the puppet for a moment, then his eyes glinted. "Where are you headed next?"
"The 'birth place' — the original teleportation coordinates before I altered them.
If the experimental material encounters an emergency, then in an environment this conducive to fear, their instinct will be to flee outward. So if I were 0221, I'd place the experiment's control center where the material least wants to linger.
And that, I believe, would be the teleportation entrance.
I'd like to go take a look. But I should remind you — the Druid told you not to move around. So, Fate Weaver...
Are you interested in that place? Will you carry me there?"
'Lure or provocation?'
Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow, glanced at the puppet's broken legs, and finally rediscovered a shred of confidence.
Though the source of that confidence was so absurd it made him laugh at his own strange emotions. Still chuckling, he nodded. "I'm interested. Which direction? How do we get there?"
"Based on where you're facing now — three o'clock. Roughly one city block.
But I should warn you: these life-extension simulacra regenerate quickly. If you don't pick up the pace, once the Druid's lingering impact fades, this seemingly short stretch could become rather difficult to traverse.
Of course, safety isn't a concern. My proxy may be just a marionette, but protecting one person is well within its capabilities."
"Good. So you can keep yourself safe."
"?"
The puppet froze, slowly swiveling its head to look at Cheng Shi — and in that instant, Cheng Shi smiled, gently set the puppet on the ground, and walked away alone in the direction it had indicated, picking up speed as he went.
He was genuinely interested in this experiment. But traveling alongside someone far too clever? Not interested in the slightest.
So he chose to be a lone wolf.
Watching Cheng Shi's silhouette shrink into the distance, the puppet sat stunned for a moment. Then its jaw dropped with a clack, and like a clown performing absurdist comedy, it let out a creaking, teeth-grating laugh:
"Interesting. The Fate Weaver is every bit as interesting as the rumors say."
And at that same moment, Cheng Shi — now well out of sight — was thinking the exact same thing:
'Interesting. This Behind-the-Scenes Puppeteer is truly interesting!'
'He didn't even blink at a ruse that simple. Does that mean he's so overconfident that he doesn't believe anyone would dare fool him?'
'Or has it simply been too long since anyone tried a con on the Road to Ascension's number one, and that's why I found a gap?'
Regardless, the satisfaction of tricking a Wise Man was rather pleasant. But Cheng Shi hadn't done it for something as childish as "getting even." He literally could not walk alongside that man.
This was reality, not a trial — meaning as long as Cheng Shi had enough masks, he could continuously swap professions and faiths to handle any risk or crisis!
But none of that could be revealed to Wei Mu. He was far too perceptive.
Unlike Big Cat — if he slipped up in front of her, a bit of fast talking could salvage the situation. But if the Puppeteer caught even a single glimpse, Cheng Shi didn't dare imagine how much the man could deduce!
So parting ways was the optimal play.
Originally, out of gratitude for Wei Mu's help, Cheng Shi had wrestled with how to give the little puppet some protection inside the experiment site. But the moment he heard the man claim he was perfectly safe, the urge to leave crystallized.
'Goodbye and good luck — going our separate ways is best for both of us.'
And so, the instant he left the puppet's line of sight, Cheng Shi smirked and donned a new mask.
The Clown had once danced with the wild wind. Now he wanted to dance again — only this time, he wasn't the Clown. He was that gale the Clown had once sent soaring.
"Whoosh—"
A blast of wind tore through the area, and Cheng Shi's figure vanished.
This wasn't his first time becoming a Wind Taming Ranger. Long before meeting Hong Lin, during his preparations on the rooftop, he'd tested every combination of Time and Fate professions. He needed to understand each one's strengths and weaknesses so he could shift on the fly whenever the need arose.
The results had been deeply satisfying. Every profession synergy opened a window onto uncharted territory.
Take this combination — Wind Taming Ranger plus Pen of Finality. Fate's blessing let him see others' deaths, while his gale-force body could push a person toward or away from the place where death awaited them.
Along the way, he'd used this ability to save who-knew-how-many players on the verge of being skewered by tentacles. Not out of the Clown's goodness — he simply had no idea how many of Hong Lin's friends were mixed in here.
If he could save one in passing, he did. And if someone was beyond saving... well, this wind could outrun anyone.
Of course, his smooth progress owed everything to Wei Mu's strategy succeeding. The mass influx of players had scattered the tentacles' attention, giving someone like Cheng Shi — slipping through the zone — ample openings to exploit.
So Cheng Shi was flying high — literally flying, for real, by himself!
As for his destination, it wasn't the "birth place" Wei Mu had predicted.
Cheng Shi had never intended to explore the experiment's control center. Even if he wanted to, steady as he was, he would never go without Big Cat. For now, he was merely skirting the experiment site's perimeter, continuously studying the horrifying tentacles, silently calculating something.
No matter how invincible Big Cat was, no matter how flawless Wei Mu's plans — Cheng Shi never staked his survival on someone else. So he was devising a failsafe that would, at minimum, guarantee a safe exit for himself, Big Cat, and whoever they wanted to save.
And then, as he surveyed and skirmished with the scattered tentacles — from a distant corner of the vast experiment site came a violent explosion.
Cheng Shi whipped his gaze toward it and saw tentacles being torn apart and flung aside by some monstrous force. The spectacle was staggering.
But an instant later, every last tentacle retracted into the ground, collapsing an entire skyscraper in the process. From beneath the rubble, a colossal flesh-tumor — worthy of the word "wonder" — began to swell upward like a rising sun. It inflated into a hemisphere, its blood-mottled, uneven surface contracting rhythmically, like a heart pumping something in every direction.
No one knew what secret this flesh-pump harbored — until, seconds later, the massive tumor erupted with a deafening boom into countless spine-tingling "tentacle rays." Dense as beams of light, tentacles shot toward the open ground before the tumor, grinding the entire area to dust.
Watching this, Cheng Shi's pupils contracted violently.
In that moment, he finally understood what 0221 was using to replicate the Stars Dagger's "Eternal Sun."
This madman had actually created a sentient abomination of flesh — and that abomination was the "mother" of every single newborn tentacle!
...