Chapter 1444: Yes — My Choice Is My Answer |
Galusha pondered for a long time before lifting her head. Her gaze burned as she looked at Cheng Shi, the corner of her mouth curling into a scoffing smile.
"Becoming a god — in the Land of Hope, and certainly in the Underworld — is an unthinkable thing. Simply drawing close to the gods is enough for most people to live well. As for actually becoming one of them... many probably haven't even entertained the fantasy.
And yet here I am, being offered the choice of whether to ascend to godhood.
Ha. The Drifter's world is finally starting to differ a little.
Mr. Prisoner, if this is a test, I'll admit it's a clever one. You've laid the universe's situation bare, yet conspicuously neglected to tell me how many Folly candidates stand behind me. If I refuse, the experiment you've replicated in this courthouse — you wouldn't use it on me, would you?
Rather than being a 'passively consenting' Galusha, I'd prefer to be myself.
Of course, if this isn't a test, then allow me to apologize for what I just said. Your sincerity has touched me.
Few people in the Underworld think of others. Fewer still on the surface. For that, I'm grateful.
But you seem to have forgotten — Galusha is a lunatic."
"I've read quite a bit of my own 'history.' I know how the world sees me. Being a lunatic means I'm not bound by convention.
I have no such reservations, because I've always been a variable, haven't I?
You were the ones who pulled me out of that Erudition Presidium experiment. Here I'm still a variable, but when a minuscule variable leaps above its rank and becomes a parameter transcending the system — isn't that change, that breaking of shackles, precisely what you're hoping for?
For me, becoming a god isn't a bad thing. As Folly, I can better contemplate how to keep the world from tripping over its own foolishness...
If I still have the time."
Galusha was brilliant. Even learning the truth of the universe only now, she had in short order pieced together most of the world's future.
This wasn't merely due to her intellect, which far surpassed mortals, but also her sensitivity to Truth's experiments and her familiarity with the various experiments arranged within the Honesty Court.
After all, everything here had been built upon the foundations Wei Mu laid. The silent transmission between followers of Folly allowed Galusha to swiftly deconstruct the Creator's Experiment from the Real Universe, mapping it against everything she had learned. And then she felt herself approaching the answer — the real truth.
Cheng Shi said nothing. He knew that what came next would be nearly impossible to hide from the Wise Man, but he could no longer turn back.
With a casual wave, he bestowed the Authority and Divine Throne of Folly. As a wash of pure white light enveloped the figure before him, Galusha was reborn.
The instant she reopened her eyes, the Wise Man sneered at Cheng Shi:
"The world has no wisdom. Ordinary people tripping over their own foolishness — that's expected. But you, Mr. Prisoner — oh wait, what should I call you?
Yu Xi? Fixed Destiny? Convention's Proxy? Or... the Origin?
Whoever you are — if you've already known the truth, why are you letting the truth trip you up?"
Cheng Shi didn't speak. He merely gazed at Galusha in silence until she put aside her mockery and condensed all her sentiment into a single question:
"Do you believe your foolish act will have an answer?"
Cheng Shi nodded, devoid of joy or sorrow.
"Yes.
My choice is my answer."
...
Some time later, Dolgod welcomed its most glorious day in history. Every god in the universe had gathered — and even for vacant Divine Thrones, at least one candidate was present.
Watching the gods descend, Cheng Shi stood in wordless silence. Galusha, meanwhile, stood at the entrance of the Honesty Court, counting the foolish acts, one by one.
Birth had returned to Her domain. Miss Sun appeared to comfort Dolgod's moon, shielding Him from the strain of so many converging divine powers.
Prosperity... why wasn't Big Cat here?
Cheng Shi's gaze swept over Tao Yi, only to see the Wood Elf avert her reddened eyes.
Cheng Shi's heart lurched. Before he could ask what had happened, the Doctor — brought by Long Jing — lunged forward and seized his arm, staring up at him with wild-eyed fervor, muttering incessantly:
"I found it! I found it!
I think I may have found a method to avoid the Origin's gaze! Praise Yu Xi!"
"!!!"
"What?!"
"Truly?!"
Everyone present was simultaneously shocked and elated. Cheng Shi's pupils contracted sharply. A flicker of conflict crossed his face. He gripped the Doctor's shoulders and said in a low, steady voice:
"Slow down. Calm yourself. Tell us from the beginning."
Under Cheng Shi's soothing words, the Doctor gradually calmed. Perhaps too swept up in the ecstasy of discovering "truth," the Doctor didn't notice anything amiss — but the sharp-eyed tricksters around them had almost all simultaneously caught Cheng Shi's expression.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
As Fixed Destiny, the Fate Weaver had always been searching for a way to escape the Origin's gaze and reach the future. If the Doctor had truly found the key, Cheng Shi should have been excited — or at the very least, as someone who had been groping forward in the dark with the weight of the world on his shoulders, he should have shown some reaction.
But right now, Fixed Destiny was too calm.
Calm, as though he already knew how to reach the future.
Yet if Fixed Destiny truly knew everything, he wouldn't have responded this way. He would have said that line he'd been using the most lately — "I know."
Thinking it through, what Cheng Shi seemed to know wasn't the specific method for escaping the Origin's gaze. It was something beyond the method — as though he had skipped ahead and already learned the world's ending.
And by the look of it, that ending was perhaps not a satisfying one.
In that moment, the Jokers exchanged knowing glances, and every gaze turned simultaneously to the Dragon King.
The Dragon King was the last person to have seen Cheng Shi before the group assembled. If something had happened in between, he should know.
But the Dragon King shook his head quietly, indicating he knew nothing.
A silent wave of worry rippled through the group. Their expressions varied. Zhen Xin furrowed her brow, her gaze passing over the Doctor and Cheng Shi before settling on the figure behind Cheng Shi — Galusha, the new Folly.
The two of them had discussed many things recently. Zhen Xin wanted to find some explanation from Galusha. But Galusha offered no response. She simply listened intently to the Doctor's discovery, as though she had returned to those childhood moments of resonating with Truth.
The Doctor steadied himself, organized the threads of his experiment, and began unveiling his great discovery to all.
"This experiment shouldn't have yielded results so quickly. It was a single remark from 0221 that suddenly opened my eyes.
I told you before — when Time summoned me, I was conducting the Divinity Germination Experiment. I couldn't ignore the connection, so when I returned to the laboratory, I threw myself back into the experiment, searching for any guidance Time might have left.
As everyone knows, the prerequisite for this experiment is creating Slices — and by curious coincidence, 0221 resurrected once again within my Slice Experiment.
The probability is extremely low, yet I've managed to 'reproduce' him more than once.
And the last time I saw him, he smiled at me and said:
'Dozing off again?
Be careful — next time you zone out, the person standing in front of the Experiment Ground might not be you anymore, Wang Weijin.'"
At this point, the Doctor's face flushed with fervor once more. "Praise Yu Xi!
It was this very sentence that made me connect it to Time's Edict — the one where He told me never to close my eyes — and in doing so, I glimpsed what might be the closest thing to 'truth' that exists in this world!"
...