Chapter 1047: The Key to Breaking Free — Truth Limit

Foolish Game of the Gods

"If your enemy is [Truth], you have no reason not to stand with me."

Galusha smiled at Cheng Shi, seemingly waiting for him to explain something.

Seeing this, Cheng Shi knew the Time Battlefield's effect was growing weaker by the minute — she'd definitely retained some fragments of memory from before the reset.

Sure enough, upon noticing Cheng Shi's scrutinizing gaze, she nodded candidly:

"That's right — I did receive some fragmented memory scenes, though these events clearly haven't happened yet.

It seems this world is more interesting than I imagined. Go ahead and talk, Mr. Prisoner. Let's see what I can help you with."

Standing on common ground as fellow experimental variables, this time it was probably a genuine heart-to-heart.

Cheng Shi wasted no time. He told Galusha everything that had happened, including the fact that he could reset time.

This kind of secret was something a player would normally keep hidden as a trump card. But for an NPC — especially a Wise Man renowned for her intellect who was actively helping him — Cheng Shi felt the more he revealed, the better she'd understand their predicament and the more comprehensive her escape plan would be.

Cheng Shi was a man with a keen sense of self-awareness. His knowledge of [Truth] experiments wasn't exactly nonexistent, but it was limited. He'd been through enough to have a general idea — as the saying went, even if you'd never eaten pork, you'd seen pigs run. But asking him to analyze his way out of an experiment where he himself was a variable? That was asking too much.

This wasn't something you could solve by having an audience with a god a few times. It required a deep foundation of [Truth] knowledge to analyze the experiment and the situation, finding a possible path where none seemed to exist.

Cheng Shi knew he didn't have that kind of knowledge base. That was why he'd placed his chips on Galusha.

The lunatic he'd once avoided like the plague had now become his teammate, and his own identity happened to be that of a Screenwriter. So how was this not [Fate] drawing closer to [Folly]?

So this was what the god meant by "fixed destiny" — it happens whether you want it to or not.

After finishing his account, Cheng Shi fell silent. From this moment on, the Trial was essentially unwinnable for him. To clear it would mean helping the Grand Scholars steal his identity. Of the six players in the Trial, probably none — aside from Wei Zhi — would agree to that.

So now it all came down to how Galusha could help him sabotage this experiment.

Galusha's expression shifted repeatedly as she listened. When she'd finally pieced together the chain of events, she looked at Cheng Shi with newfound interest in her eyes.

"You really are a Drifter."

"A Drifter?" Cheng Shi blinked. What was that?

Galusha smiled and pointed at the charred corpses beneath her feet:

"Throughout the long history of [Truth], there have been many mysterious individuals like yourself. Most were never recorded in any ledger, but some managed to linger in memory through various forms.

And as it happens, within the Tower of Logic there exists a group of fanatical scholars who study these special cases.

They firmly believe this world may not be a true world — that something else might be hiding beyond it. And by that, they don't mean the gods. They mean beings who drift outside the world yet seem to share the same faith as its inhabitants.

They call them Drifters.

I imagine that's precisely what you people are?"

"!!!!!"

The moment Galusha said this, electricity jolted through Cheng Shi's scalp as goosebumps erupted across his entire body.

Drifters — that was just another word for players!

No wonder!

No wonder Galusha had been so composed when facing him — she'd already guessed he was a player!

She might not know the word "player," but she'd realized that a group of such people had appeared throughout history — active, brilliant, and even documented!

"The Consciousness Faith Department again?" After the initial shock, Cheng Shi's thoughts turned to Volent.

"Correct. They always pursued speculative research, but because the subject was too niche — and given past precedents — the Erudition Presidium shut them down repeatedly.

In hindsight, Volent's vision was vindicated. These experiments were indeed worth investing in."

"..." 'Thank heavens they weren't funded. Otherwise, who knows what kind of nightmares would have awaited the players assigned to the tail end of the Civilization Era.'

"But none of the current situation has anything to do with your identity.

I don't care who you are. All I need to know is that you stand on the opposite side of [Truth].

Let's get back to this experiment that contains the both of us. I have some ideas. To break free of the experiment's constraints, we first need to find its 'Truth Limit.'"

"Truth Limit... what's that?" Cheng Shi blinked, his eyes terrifyingly innocent.

"The foundational core of any large-scale experiment built around the Ritual of Truth. Think of it as the foundation, or the eye of a formation.

When the Ritual of Truth activates, it reshapes everything within its scope according to a predetermined design framework, constructing the ideal experimental environment. But everything in that environment is sustained by the power of [Truth], so once the experiment launches, the Ritual of Truth can't be withdrawn all at once.

The Grand Scholars must use it to continuously power the experiment until it conjugates a reflection of itself within the reshaped experiment ground — like a snake shedding its skin. This reflection then replaces the Ritual of Truth itself as a stable energy source for the experiment. We call that the Truth Limit.

In a sense, the Truth Limit is a smaller version of the Ritual of Truth — it can only affect things within the experiment.

All experimental content must occur within the pre-set [Truth] constraints. If the experiment exceeds those preset tiers — if the reflection can't provide sufficient [Truth] energy at that level — the entire experiment collapses.

The Grand Scholars have always claimed this characteristic is a rule [Truth] set to protect its followers. I see it differently.

My guess is that these crazed scholars kept tinkering with things they shouldn't, and [Truth] was afraid they'd cause unnecessary trouble in the struggle for faith, so it imposed restrictions — to prevent its own followers from making problems for it.

After all, [Truth] has always been that heartless.

Why are you laughing — do you think the same?

It seems we're quite compatible."

"..."

'Girl, "compatible" is really not the vibe we should be going for here!'

Cheng Shi gave a dry laugh and quickly changed the subject, steering back to the experiment: "So in this experiment, the Truth Limit definitely won't be in that fake underground lab. Otherwise, all those contingencies you've prepared would've already destroyed it, and the Grand Scholars would never have led us there. Right?"

"Correct. The Truth Limit has to be somewhere outside. As for where exactly... that's going to be quite the project.

Mr. Prisoner, time to put those silver-tongued skills of yours to work again. I see the old men of the Afterglow Church can barely contain their eagerness for an audience."

Galusha cast an amused glance at the surroundings. Several of the Afterglow Church's leaders had indeed gathered at the perimeter, waiting for Cheng Shi's summons.

Cheng Shi nodded and, without a shred of concealment, donned the church's vestments in front of everyone. He delegated the task of locating the Truth Limit, then had the Death Knell Knights relay his orders to bring his teammates back — with a special note that a certain individual named Wei Zhi needn't come back alive.

Having received their audience, the Afterglow Church departed in high spirits. Watching all of this, Galusha shook her head with a wry smile:

"I spent years in the Underworld dealing with these [Chaos] followers, and the best I ever managed was mutual exploitation.

Yet all you need is to throw on a different skin and they'll run errands for you without question.

Mr. Prisoner, I'm curious — how did you know what the man behind the curtain wears?

Is that a Drifter's gift, or was the Afterglow Church always a Drifter's con?"

Cheng Shi smiled enigmatically. "I have no idea. These robes were mine to begin with."

"?" Galusha froze for a moment, then let out a derisive snort. "That joke wasn't funny.

If you were truly the Afterglow Church's mastermind, those old fossils in the Erudition Presidium wouldn't dare scheme against you. Forget it if you don't want to say.

But before we move on to the next step, there's one more favor I need to ask.

You mentioned earlier that you have a companion who can banish a target into the past?"

Cheng Shi paused, instantly guessing what Galusha meant.

"You want to banish Pe Laya? But you know this is all just an experiment — why bother with something so pointless?"

The madness in Galusha's eyes softened for the briefest instant. She gazed in a certain direction and, for once, let a tender smile grace her lips.

"It may be pointless to you, but to her — it means everything.

She's always felt she missed the best version of me. And I don't want to leave her with any regrets."

"Even though you're a fabrication, and she's a fabrication, and this is all just an experiment?" Cheng Shi's expression turned deeply strange.

"So what if we're fabrications? Some things have never been fake."

"..."

Cheng Shi wrinkled his nose and sniffed the air, feeling as though some kind of smell was leaking out.

What was that?

Oh — the sour stench of love.

Tch. Absolutely unbearable.

...