Chapter 431: The Gods |
"Unlike the unpredictable Qi, you are free of emotion and self-interest. To you, the shape of a new world is a mere passing thought. That is why I am willing to let you reawaken in my body."
"This mask was originally meant for Qi, but it seems perfectly suited for us now. I also acquired the [God-Slaying Sword] and gave it to someone fitting. Let's hope we never face a day where we must destroy one another."
With his hands tucked in his pockets, Si Qi strolled leisurely across the ice, the faint, ethereal words containing his divine name drifting toward him on the wind.
To speak a god's name is to be known by that god—one of the fundamental rules of the Weird Game. He recalled threatening the NPC Charlie back in the Grand Performance instance by silently chanting the name "Li" in his mind.
Speaking of Charlie, if memory served, he had also received an Identity Card—Number Twenty, the [Despair Screenwriter].
This was information provided by the rules; Si Qi was unaware of the finer details and couldn't predict if it might introduce unforeseen variables.
Just as Qi Si had speculated, after the Grand Performance instance concluded, Si Qi had bound himself to the [Foolish Trickster] card, thus branching off into an independent timeline.
Unlike Qi Si, Si Qi had always loved to gamble, savoring the madness of an all-or-nothing bet. The very moment he accepted the invitation to the Weird Game, he had wagered his life at the gods' table, fully prepared for the possibility of losing it all.
Losing, after all, only meant death.
[Identity Card: Foolish Trickster]
[Effect: When upright, all your words will be believed. When reversed, all your lies will be exposed.]
Reading the card's effect, Si Qi had arched an eyebrow. He figured that while his luck wasn't spectacular, it wasn't abysmal either, so he decided to try something audacious.
It was just after the Double Happiness Town instance. Qi had met with him in the game space and shared numerous ambiguous secrets about the gods. Seizing the moment, Si Qi decided to deceive the rules and proclaimed himself a god.
The Identity Card landed upright. He had succeeded.
He then took his seat on the divine throne in the game space and, guided by the rules, planted an anchor point in the real world. From a god's perspective, he gazed down upon the world until his strength eventually gave out, and he drifted into a deep slumber.
When he next awoke, he found himself in the Snow Mountain instance. The rules briefly explained that the twenty-two Identity Card holders were competing to become the Ancestral God, and then... they simply abandoned him there.
"So, 'becoming the Ancestral God' really just means letting the Ancestral God reawaken in one's body? For an entity like the rules to be so accommodating, there was bound to be a catch..." Si Qi mused, stroking his chin with interest. His gaze drifted to the scarlet card resting in the depths of his mind.
[Identity Card: Scarlet High Priest]
[Effect: You will more easily gain the faith of other beings and convert that faith into your own power.]
He hadn't been able to bring the [Foolish Trickster] card with him. In its place was the [Scarlet High Priest] card bound by Qi Si. The upside was its high sequence rank. The downside... Si Qi ticked off the points on his fingers. Most of Qi Si's followers were dead, and there wasn't nearly enough time to swindle more into believing in him.
"What a complete mess," Si Qi sighed, though without a trace of regret. "Is this what it's like to ruin your own character build and then dump the account on someone else to salvage?"
The current situation was challenging enough to be fun, brimming with tantalizing possibilities.
Besides, he wasn't without a few cards up his sleeve. Sifting through Qi Si's memories, he recalled the Qi Family Village, haunted by the Joy God; Jiang City, devastated by roses; Maple County, overrun with the Insomnia bacteria; and the Colosseum, still drifting aimlessly above the real world. With a little manipulation, they could all serve a great purpose. In other words, he possessed a wealth of sacrificial offerings, capable of producing vast quantities of [Sin]—enough to fuel his contest against the other competitors.
But all of that would have to wait until he was off the Snow Mountain. Committing too many sins here would invite retribution; otherwise, Qi Si would never have resorted to exchanging fates with him.
"Old Qi—spit, I mean, Si Qi, have you figured out how we're getting off this mountain?" Jin Yusheng called out, trailing far behind. He hugged himself tightly, rubbing his arms for warmth. "Why does it feel like it suddenly got colder? If we don't get out of here soon, the cold will kill us even if the monsters don't..."
He had no idea what had happened to Qi Si—or Si Qi, now. He didn't understand how the man could collapse before the wall of ice and then rise, completely unscathed, with such a profoundly different aura. But Jin Yusheng had always been one to let sleeping dogs lie. The key to surviving so long by navigating the gray areas of life was knowing when to play dumb.
Si Qi saw right through Jin Yusheng's act but had no intention of exposing it. In any timeline, Jin Yusheng was a useful pawn. Even with his undeniable connections to the Listening Wind Guild, he could still be put to good use.
The air had indeed grown colder. Before, the biting wind and creeping ice had felt like mere set dressing to enhance the Snow Mountain's atmosphere. The players, despite their varied attire, had felt nothing more than an autumn chill. But now, it was as if they had been plunged naked into a frozen lake midwinter. The cold was an unstoppable, piercing force.
Si Qi glanced up at the lightening sky and announced with unnerving calm, "Getting off the mountain? Simple. We just retrace our steps, call for a ride at the base, and have it take us to the nearest airport. That should work, don't you think?"
"Huh?" The look on Jin Yusheng's face screamed, *You can't be serious*. For a moment, he even forgot to shiver. "Never mind whether you can just 'call a car' in an instance—the real question is whether an instance like this even has an airport!"
Si Qi turned back, his scarlet eyes reflecting Jin Yusheng's shivering form. "You haven't noticed? The instance is over. That's why you're feeling a cold beyond the game's limits. Otherwise, based on the principle of 'fairness,' wouldn't players with thicker clothing have an unfair advantage?"
"Huh? O-over?" Jin Yusheng stammered, his body trembling violently. "But... where's the clearance notification? Why aren't we back in the game space?" A thick layer of frost was already crusting his lips, muffling his words.
"Mm," Si Qi replied, his tone languid. "It's simple. The Ancestral God has been chosen. The rules have fulfilled their purpose, so there's no longer any need for the Final Instance."
He glanced down at his Fate Pocket Watch. "As for us... I imagine the Weird Game has been shut down. We're no longer players, so the rules are under no obligation to return us."
As if to prove his point, the pale gray system interface in front of Jin Yusheng began to fade, disappearing completely within a matter of seconds.
There was no warning, no explanation. It was abrupt and hurried, like a party that had ended in a sloppy rush, leaving a total mess for no one to clean up.
Under normal circumstances, Jin Yusheng would have been ecstatic to learn the Weird Game was over, celebrating the end of a long nightmare.
But right now, he couldn't manage a smile. Instead, he felt an overwhelming urge to scream at the rules: *Have you no sense of responsibility? Don't you understand you're supposed to see things through to the end? What's the big idea, just dumping us here like this?*
The unendurable cold slammed into him. The white puffs of his breath crystallized mid-air, coating his tongue in ice. His blood felt like it was turning to slush, his bones creaked, and his joints screamed with a pain that felt like they were being snapped.
Jin Yusheng curled into a ball, trying to imagine he was a thick-furred animal settling in for hibernation. But then he caught sight of Si Qi, standing perfectly still as if entirely unaffected, and a deep, primal horror gripped him—the kind one feels when facing a monster.
Who is he? How can he be so calm, so utterly unbothered? Is he... is he even human anymore?
Si Qi seemed oblivious, his gaze fixed on the dark-blue heavens as they slowly brightened. The moon and stars drifted across the firmament before finally sinking below the horizon, leaving behind a pristine, cloudless sky.
He smiled, his eyes curving into crescents. "Daybreak. It seems we've finally emerged from the Ancestral God's dream. Now, if you're interested, we could go look for any other survivors. Chartering a ride might be cheaper if we split the cost."
As for whether those people would actually make it home safely...
The kind of people who qualified for the Final Instance were the cream of the crop, even in the real world. That meant that even their value as hostages was a cut above the rest, wasn't it?
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