Chapter 773: You Fused with Deceit?! |
The deductive ability granted by Time to the Another Day Assassin was a truly extraordinary experience for a player.
As Big Cat had described when recounting the settlement of her Prosperity trial — when deduction begins, the user rapidly cycles through every possible outcome of the near future. Without additional talent augmentation, of course, the speed, duration, breadth of deduction, plus the range, completeness, and external influence of overwriting were all merely passable.
But for a Fate follower who worshipped the concept of Fixed Destiny, having it was infinitely better than not.
At minimum, with Time's deduction backing him, Cheng Shi no longer needed to rely on other means to ensure his "destined" path. But deduction had limits — mental energy reserves being the primary constraint on how many times it could be used.
So even with the Thorn Weeping Rite's assistance, Cheng Shi couldn't use deduction at will. He could only activate it upon sensing extreme danger, and even then, deduction wasn't time reversal. He couldn't relive a traveled path with full memories. He could only choose the most advantageous branch from among countless forks he'd already passed through.
Fortunately, both the doctor and his assassin self were nimble enough, leaving plenty of "safe futures" to choose from.
And so, working in tandem, Cheng Shi and the doctor quickly escaped the underground lab and reached another area with sparse tentacles.
Not much time had passed since the Grand Marshal shattered the mother-tree's external wombs, yet the abomination stitched together from who-knew-how-many newborns had plunged into total, apoplectic rage. It relentlessly hunted every living thing in the experiment site — it didn't even spare the "wombs" now stirring awake in the broken tanks.
If something didn't belong to it, if it was out of control, then everything it could perceive as alive was now its enemy.
In that moment, the aberrant mother-tree's horror was on full, unrestrained display.
Innumerable players scattered in every direction, each looking out for themselves. But some couldn't escape the dense onslaught no matter how hard they fought, dissolving into pulp that fertilized the locust-swarm-like tentacle clusters.
Under this assault, even Cheng Shi — armed with deduction — found things tricky. They hadn't yet reached the control center, so his only option was to reveal a few more cards and dive into the shadow plane with the doctor.
But explaining how a priest could use assassin abilities... was its own headache.
Just as Cheng Shi was racking his brain for an excuse, Wang Mou acted first.
The Truth follower grabbed Cheng Shi, planted his feet, and faced the storm of incoming tentacles head-on. Expression hardening, he raised a hand and, with a sweep, a familiar divine power surged forth — shaping itself into a massive hand that wiped both of them clean out of reality.
The charging tentacles lost their targets mid-strike, twitching in confusion before screaming off toward another source of life.
The instant they were safe, Cheng Shi seized Wang Mou's shoulder, disbelief carved across his face:
"Deceit's power?!"
Indeed. Wang Mou had used the power of Deceit. He didn't know Cheng Shi was currently an assassin. While he could shadow-shuttle them through darkness, he lacked the talent to conceal someone within it. So in this crisis, he'd had no choice but to reveal his second faith — to save both himself and the Fate Weaver.
The new talent proved effective. But it well and truly shook Cheng Shi.
"You fused with Deceit?!"
"Mm. I fused with Deceit." The doctor didn't hide it. Despite having Master of Deception — which could have papered over the situation — he chose transparency.
Or rather, outside of necessity, he rarely lied.
Still, the response left Cheng Shi reeling. Last trial, the man had been a single-faith player. Now he'd suddenly fused faiths, and — of all gods — it just had to be the Fun God's faith.
'Seriously, Benefactor? Don't tell me You rewarded a Truth follower with a second faith because he managed to con Your Clown in the last trial?'
'Is that fair?'
'Is that even right?!'
'So humiliating the Clown comes with rewards, huh?!'
Cheng Shi's face was ugly. But he quickly realized this wasn't simple.
He remembered vividly: during the Assembly of Gods — the one he and Big Cat had attended — the Fun God and Truth were as antagonistic as could be. How could two deities with diametrically opposed motives agree to fuse?
Sure, in the current climate of Fate–Time fusion, non-opposing fusions weren't impossible. But would the Fun God really agree to fuse with Truth just for a laugh?
Truth accepting this wasn't surprising — He had pushed for faith fusion. In that Civilization deity's eyes, perhaps all faiths merging was the ultimate goal.
But the Fun God?
Would He really be kind-hearted enough to give the opposition a hand?
Absolutely not!
Anyone who claimed the Fun God did everything "just for fun" was, in Cheng Shi's opinion, the real joke. Deceit never acted without purpose. Even though He was the embodiment of meaningless Void — remember: He was the Void's illusion!
Everything He did concealed what lay beneath!
So... was this His guidance?
Using a second faith bestowed upon a Truth follower as a signpost for His own follower's path?
Cheng Shi sank deep into thought, brow furrowed. Seeing his expression, the doctor assumed he was being suspected again. In this life-or-death situation, this "fragile" partnership couldn't survive another round of distrust. So Wang Mou paused, then laid out his experience plainly.
"I did receive His blessing. But I don't enjoy dealing in lies."
"Pff — can you say that with a straight face?"
"As I said, in that trial, the one who deceived the Fate Weaver was your own blindness—"
"Okay, okay — enough." Cheng Shi rolled his eyes, thinking: 'Is there really someone who enjoys flogging a dead horse this much? I made one small mistake, and it's about to become the stain on my entire con-artist career?'
Wang Mou wasn't mocking him. He was, with total solemnity, making a logical point:
"It's just that Deceit told me that drawing closer to Him is how one draws closer to Truth. So I..."
"Pff — don't flatter yourself. Even if He hadn't said that, would you dare refuse?"
"..." That one hit home. The doctor's face stiffened and he had no reply.
Seeing a Truth follower finally "lose" for once, Cheng Shi felt a rush of vindication.
"So what was that Deceit talent just now? I don't think I've heard of it before."
...