Chapter 500: Playing with A Meng

Leikdun ignored A Meng's suggestion; after all, an A Meng had appeared before him, and his illusion was likely already full of holes from the A Mengs.

As his thought passed, the illusion shrouding the entire afternoon town vanished instantly; under the occasional lightning flashing across the sky, the surrounding ruined houses and streets reappeared, and even the air seemed to carry a hint of stale odor.

A Meng wearing a monocle leaned leisurely against a half-collapsed wall, one hand tidying the few strands of hair in front of his forehead, as he said:

"You carry quite a few good things; I smelled them even before getting close—the aroma of the arrogant sun."

Leikdun lowered his gaze without speaking; the thought of pushing over A Meng together with the wall behind him grew stronger in his mind.

He took a deep breath; a deep blue glow faintly flowed in his eyes, thereby suppressing the thoughts that kept surging in his heart.

The next moment, his body suddenly turned transparent, becoming a statue formed from countless gathered starlight; the statue instantly shattered, turning into specks of brilliant starlight that surged away from here.

As the starlight swept past the edge of the afternoon town, the silver-white shrouding the town flashed and vanished; he found himself back in the square at the center of the afternoon town, facing A Meng once again.

"Do you want to know the secret of Silver City?"

A Meng's voice, tinged with ill humor, echoed in his ears; Leikdun ignored him, his gaze still somewhat dazed.

This situation lasted only an instant; soon he received the extra memories surfacing in his mind and clarified his current predicament.

"Huh? You've figured it out already? Pretty quick."

A Meng's teasing voice reverberated in his ears; Leikdun twitched the corner of his mouth and said, somewhat speechless:

"Did you steal Wuluoliusi's fate‑looping ability?"

A Meng raised his hand and pressed the edge of the monocle over his right eye, speaking in a flat tone:

"Those who can restart fate within a certain range are not limited to that foolish big snake."

Leikdun didn't bother to ponder the truth of his words, instead asking: "How did you find me? Surely you haven't been sending doppelgängers to tail the people of Silver City all along, have you?"

A Meng curled his lips and said:

"Although I have many doppelgängers, they're not meant to be wasted like this."

"I sensed some disturbances in fate, then followed the source of those disturbances to this place."

"You mean you haven't done anything yet? That might just be your bad luck— the slight ripple that was stirred up just happened to be in my observation."

Leikdun tugged at the corner of his mouth; he didn't really believe A Meng's explanation, but he also didn't bother to refute him.

A Meng reached out and pinched his monocle; suddenly a pile of bonfires appeared around him, along with two wooden chairs of dark reddish color, their surfaces covered with many scratches.

"Where did A Meng steal the bonfire and chairs from?" The style of the chairs didn't look like that of the Godforsaken Land; do all A Mengs share a single storage room? Leikdun let his thoughts wander as he dragged a chair over and sat down.

A Meng sat in the chair opposite the bonfire, leaning sideways against the wooden chair, and said:

"As long as it's not a place like the Godforsaken Land that blocks communication between me and my other doppelgängers, we can freely dispose of whatever each of us has stolen."

"Alright, you've asked enough; now it's my turn to ask questions, right?"

"Sure." Leikdun gave a slight nod while half‑leaning against the wooden chair.

This A Meng is probably at Sequence Three level— not too dangerous, but still enough to warrant caution; did he do this on purpose?

Being able to coalesce a Sequence Three doppelgänger so quickly— was he nearby from the start, or does he possess some ability I don't know about?

Opposite the bonfire, A Meng's face reflected a continually flickering crimson; he had one arm crossed over his chest and the other propping his chin, a look of intense concentration.

When the thoughts of interaction in Leikdun's mind grew more numerous and chaotic, he finally spoke:

"Who was that gray‑stone statue in the illusion just now?"

Leikdun looked at A Meng in surprise; seeing the other's earnest, attentive expression, he gathered his thoughts and said:

"The 'Knowledgeable One' is a new faith in the Pas River Valley of the South Continent, a guide for those lost in confusion, a spreader of knowledge, and the supreme authority of all mysteries and philosophy."

"Are you willing to learn about His faith?"

"If I say I'm willing, will you start preaching to me right away?" A Meng said with a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, looking very curious.

Leikdun lightly shook his head and said:

"No, preaching isn't my job; that also counts as a question."

"Heh, no problem." A Meng chuckled indifferently, then went on to say:

"What brings you here? To pick a batch of loyal followers, or to help Him obtain the profane stone slab from the Giants' Court?"

Leikdun leaned back against the chair back, his voice calm as he replied:

"It might be only the former, or possibly both— it depends on your father's choice."

Opposite the bonfire, A Meng's complexion showed its first change, and he spoke in an unusually calm tone:

"My father is dead; He is merely a lingering evil spirit."

Leikdun, seemingly unaware of A Meng's changing complexion, continued his questioning:

"If He isn't, why does Ulo lius, the King of the Fate‑path Angels, keep following Him? Madness won't last forever— what if, someday in the future, He regains his sanity?"

A Meng stared deeply at Leikdun across the bonfire; just when Leikdun thought he wouldn't answer the question, A Meng spoke again in a light, offhand tone, as if it didn't matter:

"He isn't; that big snake is foolish— perhaps in its eyes that madman is some extension of my father, but to me he isn't; He is merely a madman, a madman who inherited part of my father's legacy."

"Even if He someday regains his sanity, it would only be a resemblance."

Leikdun gave a slight nod, pondered for a moment, then asked again: "What if He retrieves the other half?"

A Meng suddenly sat upright, straightening his slouched posture in the chair, a fleeting sharpness flashing in his eyes.

He said in a low voice: "The other half?"

Leikdun nodded, speaking as if making a bold assumption:

"The True Creator is the human side of your father that went mad; do you think there might be a divine incarnation of Him hidden somewhere in the world?"

"At that point He had already half‑stepped into that stage; do you believe He would just die like that?"

A Meng lowered his head, slightly furrowed his brows, as if sunk in contemplation.

After a moment, he spoke on his own:

"Most of my father's remaining attributes were devoured by those three traitors; do you think they'd become his resurrected right hand? Perhaps they once were, but now they certainly aren't."

"The remaining portion formed the madman who crawled out of my father's corpse; although he inherited some of my father's memories, emotions, and will, he is not Him."

The last remaining writer's trait was taken by that paranoid.

A Meng's words, still unfinished, suddenly paused; he stood up thoughtfully, looked down at Lei Kedun sitting in the chair, and said in a low voice:

Do you know something? Audiences are the best at performing and deceiving hearts; my paranoid older brother and his behavior are inconsistent.

I don't know, after all I've never even met your older brother.

Lei Kedun shrugged, and as he spoke his body turned into a surging sheet of star sand, which scattered and surged throughout Afternoon Town.

A Meng gave a cold snort without lifting his head, he raised his hand to pinch the edge of his monocle, rubbed it lightly twice, and a silvery-white light flashed past.

The entire Afternoon Town was instantly frozen, whether it was the lightning in the sky or the swaying bonfire, the scattered star sand.

The surrounding images quickly rewound, the scattered star sand recondensed into Lei Kedun's form, then in an instant shattered into specks of flickering starlight and invisible gravity and electromagnetism.

Heh, interesting.

A Meng curled the corner of his mouth, casually stepped forward, his figure instantly vanished from the spot, and the next moment appeared at the edge of Afternoon Town hundreds of meters away.

He gazed toward a certain direction, continually stepping forward, by stealing distance and his own position, each step moved him hundreds of meters.

In less than half a minute, he caught up to Lei Kedun running in the darkness.

The next moment, their positions swapped; he stared intently at Lei Kedun and said:

You walk so slowly, are you waiting for me? Is this the battlefield you chose for yourself?

The means you just used to escape have the style of a high-sequence thief, deceiving rules. Have you seen Paliesi? How is he doing? Next time you see him, remember to pass my regards; it's been a long time since we last met, I've always missed him.

Paliesi just wanted to shout: Don't come over!

The secret art learned from grandfather really doesn't work; I'm not a real thief, even if I catch him off guard, it's hard to fool A Meng—he was just deliberately watching the show, not really unresponsive.

Moreover, I'm not a secret art instructor; I can only use these secret arts through magic scrolls, which is really inconvenient.

After a moment of sighing in his heart, Lei Kedun said helplessly:

I just thought about it and realized there's no hatred between us, nor any unavoidable conflict; why can't we be friendly?

Isn't it because your reaction to seeing me is always overly intense? A Meng spread his hands, saying innocently.

Maybe your reputation is too loud.

Lei Kedun let out a slight sigh, paused, then continued:

So, since we have no conflict, can we just part ways here?

A Meng smiled and refused:

No, I'm very curious about your coming to the God-forsaken Land; if you don't want me to follow you, then I can only send my true form.

Or, how about we play a cat-and-mouse game?

Not good. Lei Kedun refused without even thinking.

(End of chapter)