Chapter 716: Praise Destiny... Twice

Can you imagine how ecstatic those two Folly believers were?

When they'd been pressing forward blindly just to prove that truth existed beyond Truth — that Folly's will was on the verge of descending — they suddenly extracted their own Benefactor's Divinity from an Abyss Colorful Crystal!

Faced with something this bizarre, the two Wise Men had abandoned any attempt at scientific explanation. Because this world didn't run on science alone — it ran on theology too!

This was clearly their devotion drawing their Benefactor's gaze, followed by a bestowed revelation of wisdom!

The two Wise Men erupted in joy. They embraced, cheering, and were just about to assemble their precision instruments to contain the Divinity — when the clown beside them, clicking his tongue in admiration, swiped it.

Cheng Shi confiscated the Divinity and gave the two Wise Men a thumbs up.

The Wise Men were furious. In their rage, they... raged for a moment.

"Excellent — even your Benefactor is praising you. Keep up the great work. I see there's still plenty of Divinity in this crystal. Try to extract it all over the next two days.

Don't think of this as pointless labor. The more skilled your extraction technique becomes, the more your Benefactor will appreciate you, my Wise Man friends.

With that, Cheng Shi kicked the stack of ten additional crystals toward them.

"..."

Mo Rabic and Allendor's excitement froze on their faces. They stiffly twitched their mouths but couldn't manage a complete smile no matter how hard they tried.

Wang Mou, however, pondered for a long moment, then nodded: "I've roughly memorized the experimental procedures and techniques. I probably do need hands-on practice next. What types of Divinity do you two need? I'll try to avoid those. The first few attempts will inevitably waste some, so I'll try to save more for you."

Cheng Shi grinned. He studied the Doctor with interest: "Doctor — though you found all these Abyss Colorful Crystals, you can't deny that we provided the most critical experimental procedures and the key artifact. And we invested considerable effort in setting up this experimental environment. So if you're thinking of—"

Before he could finish, Wang Mou suddenly produced a thick notebook. He placed his hand on it and murmured something. A blue miniature spell circle lit up on the cover. After a moment, he flipped through the contents and tossed it straight into Cheng Shi's arms.

Cheng Shi blinked, caught the notebook, and opened it — only to find detailed records of every experimental step, along with the Doctor's personal observations and insights.

"Understanding doesn't mean executing. While we have materials, personnel, and a venue, I can make this notebook far more comprehensive. So — do you both agree?"

Cheng Shi said nothing. His actions spoke his support.

He snatched Zangier's finger from Allendor, pressed it into Wang Mou's hand, prepared a fresh Abyss Colorful Crystal for him, then turned to the Blind One with a beaming smile: "What kind of Divinity do you need?"

The Blind One shook her head — she was more interested in the notebook. The type of Divinity didn't matter.

So Cheng Shi gave the Doctor carte blanche.

"Better to teach a man to fish. Doctor — how much fish we eat in the future is entirely up to you."

Wang Mou nodded gravely and — without even resting — launched into his hands-on experiments. Cheng Shi, terrified the man would collapse from exhaustion, quickly fired several Spirit Spells at him.

With everything arranged, time began to fly.

Five days passed without notice. Throughout those five days, the entire "research team" — or rather, every living soul on the mine — survived on the clown's Spirit Spells alone. As for where the clown's mental energy came from...

Don't forget — he still had unused Prosperity of Yesteryear in his pockets.

To ensure Time's discrepancies caused no more surprises, and to guarantee everyone could go home with a bountiful harvest, Cheng Shi gritted his teeth and downed several bottles of Prosperity of Yesteryear. He didn't rest for a single second.

Of course, the stingy clown couldn't bleed alone. The Doctor and the Blind One both became his targets for extortion. The Blind One directly surrendered her claim on all extracted Divinity. The Doctor paid with insights and manuscripts from numerous other experiments.

Under this atmosphere — where a certain greedy player was making an absolute killing — the Divinity extraction experiment finally reached its conclusion. The Doctor's notebook had become as detailed as it could possibly get.

At this point, gazing at the floor littered with shattered Abyss Colorful Crystal fragments and the many Divinities stored within his body with the Blind One's help, Cheng Shi smiled with satisfaction.

Time to find the way home.

And so, as the next hour mark approached, the three remaining players stood before Li Wufang's corpse, awaiting Cheng Shi's operation.

To reclaim their original world, the only method was to keep triggering discrepancies and cycling worlds. Cheng Shi's objective was therefore clear:

He himself couldn't change. The Torchbearer couldn't change either. The Doctor had earned his keep — it would be poor form to discard him after use. That left only one candidate: the Li Wufang who desperately wanted to join the Destined Ones.

Revive the Investigator, let him trigger a discrepancy, and use that to search for the original world — this was everyone's current plan. The Doctor had volunteered to "adventure" himself, but Cheng Shi refused.

Because Li Wufang — despite personality differences across timelines — was demonstrably more stable than the Doctor. Cheng Shi's decision wasn't born from the fact that he held leverage over Li Wufang's desires. It was the most advantageous, most steady judgment for the current situation.

He needed Li Wufang to keep triggering discrepancies to discover the world-shifting pattern. And he was willing to open a genuine Destined Ones door for the man in return.

Even if that door had arguably already opened the moment Li Wufang slit his own throat... well, the capable should do more work, right?

'After all, I'm not capable. I'm a nobody.'

So Cheng Shi acted. Using the Lush Horn Crown, he revived Li Wufang. But the instant the Investigator returned to life, everyone was stunned to discover the ball-flowers — their world-anchor markers — had turned red again!

Temperature began rising. The original scorching world had returned!

"?"

What was this phenomenon?

Death couldn't trigger discrepancies — that had been verified through the Blind One's death. So why had reviving one Li Wufang caused the world to shift?

Though returning to the original world was good news, the ever-tense Cheng Shi's brow furrowed deeply. Anyone hit with sudden good fortune would instinctively turn cautious. He gripped a smoke bomb, scrutinizing every teammate — terrified this was a hallucination or a new Time trap.

But everyone seemed perfectly normal. No signs of anomaly.

Especially Li Wufang. The moment his eyes opened and he saw his teammates surrounding him, genuine joy bloomed across the Investigator's face.

"Brother Cheng... you really didn't deceive me. Destiny truly protected me.

Praise Destiny! Praise the Destined—"

Perhaps guessing what he was about to say, both Cheng Shi and the Blind One's expressions turned cold. Li Wufang — still groggy from revival's daze — suddenly realized his blunder. He swallowed the remaining words and hastily corrected himself:

"... stiny. Twice."

"..."