Chapter 742: Double Punishment for Two Crimes

Was the Fun God telling the truth, or was He lying?

If it was all a facade — then what was the point of Time showing it to him?

Could it be a test? A final test for the clown before the fusion?

Not impossible. But something still felt off.

Mainly because that Qin Xin from the "hard to pass the torch" world had felt far too real. His steadfast passion, the frustration vented under crushing pressure — all of it so "lifelike" that it was hard to imagine an Existence facade could achieve such realism.

There was no way Cheng Shi could solve this puzzle under Deceit's gaze. So he decisively shelved the speculation, filed it away, and moved to his next question:

"My Lord — I have another question. How did You convince Destiny and Time to agree to this?"

"What — I need to report My actions to you now?"

"..."

Those eyes scoffed, as if reading the clown's mind. But after a moment's mockery, the eye-corners curved, and He offered a brief explanation:

"Simple. When someone doesn't agree to cooperate, you fight them.

Beat Them into submission, and They'll agree whether They want to or not."

"!!??"

'No — You actually BEAT THEM into it?'

'Huh?'

'The Fun God beat Destiny into surrendering?'

'Is He that fierce?'

'And what about Time — beaten too?'

'But does He have time to get beaten?'

Cheng Shi blinked in bewilderment. Something clicked — and he said with doubt: "My Lord, excessive self-aggrand— no no NO, don't hit me! Enhancement! Not bragging — enhancement!"

Before he could finish, two blasts of wind hurled him skyward, then slammed him back down.

The clown was terrified. On landing, he rolled to bleed off the impact, then looked back at his smirking Benefactor with lingering dread:

"What I meant was — since You're this good at fighting, why not beat Them ALL into submission?"

"Tch — how do you know I haven't?"

"?" Cheng Shi froze: "Are You serious?"

"Heh. Why else do you think the Convention was signed? They're all just losers who've lost to Me."

'...' If I believe a single word of His, I'm the dumb one — specifically the dumb one sandwiched between dumb A and dumb C.

Cheng Shi could tell this topic was a dead end for today. The Fun God freely admitted to pushing the Destiny-Time fusion, but when it came to how — He would never budge.

After a moment's thought, Cheng Shi decided that rather than fixating on how the Fun God had achieved His goal, he should ask about Destiny's attitude.

So far, his new Benefactor Time still hadn't appeared. That meant He'd tacitly accepted everything — even Deceit impersonating Him and "causing chaos" here.

Which also meant Deceit had truly and completely settled things with Time.

So...

'Back at Aph Ros's doorstep — Time wasn't there to reminisce with Brother Mouth at all. He was waiting for me!'

'Perhaps by that point, He and the Fun God had already reached an agreement.'

'And that "Time of Eternal Imprisonment" ring was probably part of His show of goodwill.'

'Though that name... why is it so unsettling?'

Cheng Shi touched the Time of Eternal Imprisonment on his finger, brow slightly furrowed. Seeing this line of questioning going nowhere, he switched to a different one.

'It's rare to catch the Benefactor in a talkative mood. Today, I'm getting every question answered.'

"My Lord — regardless of how You made this happen, I want to ask: Your twin deity, is She..."

"What — worried about whether I beat Her to death?"

"..." Cheng Shi laughed nervously, not daring to follow up.

"Good. You really are someone else's pet. Two Void gods fight, and you only check on one of them?"

"..." 'What's there to check? You're standing right here, tormenting Your clown. Do You look like something's wrong?'

Perhaps reading Cheng Shi's thoughts, those eyes snorted coldly:

"I still need to extract answers about the future from Her mouth. Why would I commit fratricide?

But just because I won't doesn't mean She won't.

If She discovers that Her follower has betrayed the Void and embraced Existence — tell Me, do you think that 'bitch' you keep calling Her would commit fratricide?"

"???"

'Wait — HUH!?!'

'How did this loop back to me AGAIN!?'

Cheng Shi was numb. He looked at those eyes and murmured:

"With everything that happened between You two, there's no way this blame can land on me, my Lord. The other Bene— Destiny must know what happened.

Since She hasn't come for me yet, that means..."

Wait!

Mid-sentence, Cheng Shi stopped dead. He'd realized something deeply strange.

If Destiny hadn't initially wanted to fuse with Time, and today's events were entirely Deceit's backstab — then why hadn't She come after the Fun God?

And why was She letting the Fun God keep him held here to be toyed with, without demanding answers from either of them?

Too strange. Completely unlike Her.

Connecting this to the fact that the Fun God had forged Time's temple right in front of him — impersonating Time Himself — a possibility suddenly clicked:

'It's not that Destiny hasn't come looking. It's that She CAN'T FIND anyone!'

'Deceit used a disguise to hide His trail — that's why He has enough time to toy with the clown here!'

'He's not just disguising. He's... on the run!'

The moment this realization hit, Cheng Shi snapped his head up to meet those slightly surprised eyes. A flash of insight blazed in his gaze:

"So it was You who brought Little Deng here — wasn't it, my Lord?

The Torchbearers failing to kill Deng Sui — that was also Your doing, wasn't it?

What are You planning?

Afraid I'd lean toward Time's will during the fusion, so You took precautions — made me personally behead this Time Chosen to burn my bridges, thereby correcting my path within the Void?

Or did You want the Torchbearers to owe more favors, creating more entanglements between me and them?

My Lord — this clown works diligently! You can't keep setting me up like this!"

Hearing all this, those eyes lit up with delight:

"Not bad — your perceptiveness has improved. However—"

Before He could finish, countless gusts of Void wind erupted from every direction, converging on the clown.

Cheng Shi's face changed. Trembling — yet he still heard the Fun God's scoff:

"Speculating on your Benefactor's intentions with infinite malice constitutes blasphemy. Today — double punishment for two crimes. Time to teach you a lasting lesson."

The moment He finished, the Void's tempest winds wove together and mercilessly swallowed Cheng Shi. The panic-stricken clown tumbled like he'd been tossed into a washing machine — spun dizzy and nauseated.

The vertigo lasted an eternity — long enough that Cheng Shi had nothing left in his stomach to vomit before it abruptly stopped, dumping the half-unconscious clown back onto the ground.

Cheng Shi's face was ghostly white. He struggled to raise one hand from the ground and waved it weakly — the message clear: 'I confess. Everything. Please stop...'

Seeing this, those eyes laughed with pure delight.