Chapter 697: He Is the True Grand Marshal!

Cheng Shi wasn't the only one pulling. Qin Xin climbed fast. Before long, the massive hunter had clambered up to Cheng Shi's eye level — one hand on the gate, one on the threshold — and was about to haul himself in.

But at that moment, Cheng Shi furrowed his brow tight and pressed his hand flat against Qin Xin's chest, barring him from entry.

Qin Xin froze. He stared at Cheng Shi in bewilderment: "You still don't trust me?"

Cheng Shi shook his head. He lowered his hand from vertical to horizontal, expression dead serious:

"I trust people very easily. But this has nothing to do with trust.

If you want in — you pay the entrance ticket first."

"???" Qin Xin's mind went blank. He blinked a few times before the meaning of "entrance ticket" registered.

'Hold on — Fate Weaver, have you really gone Corruption?'

'I was even starting to convince myself that I'd misjudged you — telling myself a Fate Weaver might just be wearing Corruption's coat to conceal his Void nature. And now here you are, waiting for me at the gate?'

Qin Xin's face darkened. He looked at Cheng Shi with a peculiar expression. He was close enough to jump up in one step. He was absolutely certain he could push the gate open right in front of Cheng Shi without breaking a sweat. But... he didn't. He chose to compromise.

Whether this compromise was "payment for survival" or something else — no one could tell. His expression was too complex.

Under Cheng Shi's unblinking stare, Qin Xin sighed and produced a Remembrance Needle. He explained: this thing could make someone forget specific memories connected to certain people or events.

Cheng Shi suspected there was a subtext to Qin Xin's words, but he accepted the "entrance ticket" regardless.

He didn't want to shake down a Torchbearer any further. But having come this far — if he walked away empty-handed, today's roasting would've been for nothing.

So, ticket acquired, Cheng Shi pulled Qin Xin up himself. Though his expression remained thoroughly strange.

Qin Xin sat on the gate's edge, cast a disgusted glance toward the Abyss of Desire beyond, then turned to Cheng Shi: "I assumed you'd resist using Memory items."

Cheng Shi held up the Remembrance Needle:

"This?

No — I have no faith preference issues. Whoever gives me — actually, I do have faith preferences. I only believe in Void. But that doesn't stop devout me from using Existence items to wreak havoc on Existence believers!

When I use Memory's oblivion to erase a Memory believer's memories, who wouldn't hail me as the most devout Void walker?

Why are you looking at me like that? I won't use it on you. You're not a Memory believer.

But seriously, Qin Xin — you're a War follower. Where did you get all these Memory items?

And the Dreamless Mirror — everyone says it belongs to Like A Dream. So how did it end up in your hands?

What are you hiding?

You..."

Cheng Shi had been about to say: 'With that much concealed, don't tell me you're the Grand Marshal whose title Hu Wei stole.'

But he suddenly remembered that explaining how he knew Hu Wei's identity would be... awkward. So he swallowed the question. Then he realized: this Qin Xin wasn't even from his timeline. If he outed Hu Wei now, it would only affect the Hu Wei in that world. And since even the gods were different there, what did it have to do with him?

So he asked after all.

And unexpectedly — while Qin Xin had worn a cryptic smile through the first few questions, refusing to answer — the instant he heard that final question, his face went rigid for a split second.

That split second was all Cheng Shi needed. His jaw dropped.

It really was him!!!

He was that Grand Marshal — the one as enduring as his Benefactor War!

Of course — Qin Xin's bearing in battle, his aura — it was that of a commanding general. And the way he shouldered the Torchbearers' mission and marched silently forward was a perfect match for Cheng Shi's earlier hypothesis about the true Grand Marshal's temperament of forbearance.

'Well, well, well — that title suits him perfectly. Leading the Torchbearers against the gods — he's basically a rebel commander raising the flag of revolution!'

'And to think — the title stolen by a Chaos follower protected by the Fun God actually belongs to a Torchbearer also protected by the Fun God!'

'My Lord, You're out here doing clown tricks, swapping colored balls from left hand to right!'

Cheng Shi was floored. He studied the true Grand Marshal from head to toe, trying to understand how a single person could endure so much.

Qin Xin was equally shaken. He'd never imagined anyone could pierce Hu Wei's disguise. After all, from any War believer's perspective, Hu Wei's "performance" was entirely worthy of the Grand Marshal's name.

So how had Cheng Shi figured it out?

Qin Xin desperately wanted to ask, but Cheng Shi clearly didn't want to explain. He pivoted the conversation straight back to Them.

Compared to the drama between Chaos and War, he was far more interested in why the gods differed across timelines.

If everything Qin Xin said was true, did that mean Deceit and Destiny had both lied?

Were all Their commentaries on the gods and Existence just smoke and mirrors?

Did each timeline actually have its own set of gods?

That didn't work either. It couldn't explain Time's behavior. Time's trial clearly spanned multiple temporal dimensions. If each timeline had its own Time, why would those Times agree to cooperate with one Time and run a trial that let players discover "the gods' true state"?

Cheng Shi was drowning in questions he couldn't resolve alone. So after much deliberation, he chose to trust the current Qin Xin and shared the truth about his world: Order had fallen.

"Order fell. Chaos has been spreading. But under the Convention's constraints, the Faith Game still follows its rules. So, Qin Xin — why are the gods we face different?

Aren't They supposed to transcend everything?"

"..."

The revelation was so explosive that even Qin Xin was stunned. Before hearing Cheng Shi's account, he'd always assumed his world's collapse wasn't simply because Decay fell — but because Prosperity had seized an opportunity in this world.

Clearly the entire cosmos was the gods' playground. As for what They were actually doing — no one could know. But one thing was certain: They were constantly observing the entire cosmos — all pasts, all futures, all parallel worlds. Their gaze was never limited to a single space-time. This was the consensus among peak players.

Yet today, two players from different timelines had exchanged intelligence — and shattered that consensus.

Qin Xin gripped the Bone Gate with white knuckles, brow deeply creased:

"I don't know.

But I suspect... this is just my guess. I suspect that the Them in each timeline might not be the totality of Them?"

"What do you mean?" Cheng Shi blinked.

"Have you heard of Truth's Slice Experiment?"

"???"

Cheng Shi's eyes flew wide open. He suddenly understood what Qin Xin was driving at.

"You're saying that the Them in each timeline... are just their slices in different worlds?"