Chapter 741: Is Time Fear Faction? No — He Doesn't Have Time to Fear

'How is that even comparable?'

'If I want to ask something, I can go directly to Destiny's audience. But if I want to ask Time — does He even acknowledge me?'

'Not only doesn't He acknowledge me — You've been pulling stunts left and right in here, and He hasn't come to bother You either!'

'But seriously — why doesn't Time have time?'

The question was simply too bizarre. Cheng Shi couldn't figure it out, so he asked Deceit outright.

The Fun God paused. For once, His tone turned solemn: "Probably because... His efficiency is quite low?"

"..."

Cheng Shi gave up. He felt his questioning was only making him look more like a clown. But if he didn't ask, these answers would never come from anyone else. So he had no choice but to sift for truth amid the mockery and ridicule — searching for the essence hidden behind the facade.

Because he always remembered what the Fun God had said: the path of Deceit was to conceal the essence.

Cheng Shi furrowed his brow. Realizing more questions would lead nowhere, he decided to switch tactics — play the emotional card.

"My Lord — ever since I learned of Your fear, my resolve on the path of Deceit has only deepened. But I don't want to be a clueless pawn.

You planted the seeds of facade across the universe, but what those facades grow into depends entirely on each seed's own nourishment.

I don't aim to grow the most 'authentic,' the most deceptive. I only wish that along the way, I can use this facade to shade just a little of the fear in my own heart. And if I'm fortunate enough to shade even a fraction of the fear You've concealed... then this lifetime will have been worthy of the word 'lie.'"

The clown's words were profoundly sincere. Though the final "worthy of" wasn't directed at the Fun God, hearing this, Deceit's gaze froze for an instant.

The star-specks in those eyes began flickering erratically. The spirals started spinning forward and backward simultaneously. His eye-corners arched high — the gaze of someone admiring the universe's most perfect work of art.

"If I didn't wield Deceit's authority, you'd have almost fooled Me.

Good. This is the collection piece I chose.

Remember — what I say next isn't because your little lie moved Me. It's a reward for having the courage to deceive a god.

The truth is far simpler than you imagine. I fear Him, so naturally I must find a way to distance Myself from Him.

But before He descends, how do I know whether My methods work?

I see you've guessed it. Correct — whether Destiny or Time, certain authorities of Theirs relate to the future. Only They have surveyed all possible futures. That's why your obsessed Benefactor keeps telling you you're 'fixed.'

Because She's already seen your ending.

And I, too, want to see My ending.

From there, things are simple. I needed to pick an ally between Destiny and Time. Since Destiny proved unreliable, that left only Time.

Of course — where there are followers, there's a Benefactor. The clown is steady; the clown's Benefactor is a steady god.

Inspired by your inexhaustible greed, I thought: if I must find revelation in either Destiny or Time, why not have Them both give Me revelation together?"

The instant He finished, Cheng Shi pointed at himself in shock: "So You set Your sights on me? I'm supposed to be that revelation?"

"You? Tch—

I must commend your talent for being hilariously absurd.

Don't overestimate yourself. You're merely a fragile mortal life. You can't even perceive the future or the past — how could you possibly qualify as revelation?

I simply borrowed Her favoritism toward you, giving Destiny and Time a point of intersection.

As for the rest — I'll have to slowly extract it from those two over time. Destiny probably won't talk, but Time is easy to fool. He'll tell Me whatever answers Destiny has given."

'Time is easy to fool...'

Cheng Shi's pupils shrank. Alert now, he asked directly: "Is Time also 'Fear Faction'?"

"No. He can't really be called fearful. Hmm — probably because He doesn't have time to be afraid."

Cheng Shi twitched at the mouth. He was increasingly convinced that this "Time has no time" line was one of Deceit's lies.

So — the same question again: why didn't He have time?

When speculating about what a deity might be busy with, most players could only think of faith competition. In most people's eyes, the struggle for faith was the only thing that could occupy a god's attention.

But Cheng Shi thought differently. Time had already agreed to fuse with Destiny. Regardless of why — such a reversal couldn't happen in an instant. That meant He'd agreed to fuse with an opposing faith only after prolonged, deep deliberation. So whatever He was busy with had to transcend faith competition — at least not competition with the opposing faith.

Connecting this to what had happened during the trial, Cheng Shi's brow furrowed. An unthinkable idea surfaced.

'What's consuming Time's time... might not be Destiny, but... other Times?'

'Or rather — other slices of the "true Time"!?'

Don't forget: in Qin Xin's "hard to pass the torch" world, it was Decay who'd fallen. That implied each such parallel world might have its own sixteen deities. And to make different timelines intersect within a single trial — wouldn't this world's Time need to constantly interact with other worlds' Times?

Did the Fun God know about this?

Cheng Shi started to ask — but Deceit's eyes turned playful first.

"Your imagination is certainly vivid. But you're wrong. Those aren't parallel timelines.

Of course, parallel timelines do exist, and as you guessed, the gods sit high above, overseeing countless universes. But what you've heard about Decay's so-called fall...

Hah. That's nothing but one of Time's extrapolation tricks.

That world doesn't exist. Decay never fell. As for who actually fell — to avoid accusations of digging up corpses, I'll decline to say.

Remember: facades don't exist only within the Void. Existence has them too. I believe you should understand this quite deeply by now.

Don't waste your attention on these illusions. Focus on the present — that's what you should be doing."

'Facades?'

'Time's extrapolation tricks?'

'So the struggling-to-pass-the-torch Qin Xin, the wrong-prophecy An Mingyu, the stagnant Wang Weijin, the Destined One Li Wufang — all fake? All phantoms from an extrapolation?'

'But that doesn't add up...'

'If they're all phantoms, then what was Jiang Chi's "overwrite" about?'

Cheng Shi sank into deep thought, brow knotting tight.

And the very instant he looked down — a flicker of indescribable cold passed through those starlit eyes.