Chapter 1060: Always Believe in [Time], Go Find the Authority of [Folly]!

Always believe in 【Time】, go find the Authority of 【Folly】!

"Good, very good, so good that I'm actually a little jealous of you.

But I'm not jealous that other versions of us corrected your path—I'm jealous that your friends are still alive.

Being alive is good; only the living have hope.

Ha, how strange—I only parted from them a day ago, yet I'm already missing them?

Forget it, no more useless chatter—let's talk about something else. Third...

Always believe in 【Time】!

"【Time】 is the only key to finding answers—this isn't my saying, nor my guess, but something the Jester God said.

Your coming here proves you already know 【Time】 is the key to synchronizing all experiments; only with Him can our slice of the universe remain normal and stable under the Observer's gaze.

This is the absolute prerequisite to prevent the world's destruction. As for how to find a path out of this despairing ruin... the Jester God probably knows, but He won't say.

I can only interpret this as that path running counter to His will—and the only thing that can run counter to 【Nothingness】 is 【Existence】.

【Memory】 concerns the past, but the past is a path already trodden—there can be no hope left there; what remains is only 【Time】!

Learn about 【Time】, rediscover Him—you still have a chance. We...

Forget it, I won't say any more."

Scarred Cheng Shi let out a bitter laugh and pulled out another can of cola, gulping it down.

Cheng Shi watched this display, frowned, and fell into deep thought.

This was the second time the other had called 【Origin】 the Observer; while the term wasn't wrong, "Observer" seemed to lack many of the suggestive qualities of "Experiment Host."

But Cheng Shi wouldn't dwell on such negligible details—he felt the temporal deduction method's effectiveness accelerating its decay, realizing this meeting was ending.

He was about to say something to his other self, when the other, as if anticipating it, waved a hand and spoke again:

"Fourth!

This is my guess—it may not hold true in your world.

The Authority of 【Folly】 may not have been lost at all—perhaps He simply hid it."

"What!?"

Cheng Shi was stunned, but in an instant he felt this idea wasn't impossible.

He's called the wisest god in the cosmos—if He foresaw His Authority would be lost, how could He possibly risk Himself to seek that so-called truth?

With Cheng Shi's mortal intellect, he couldn't calculate as far as a true god could—but looking back at the event of 【Folly】 losing His Authority, it's clear 【Folly】 had countless ways to verify the cosmos' truth without personally stepping into the fray.

Yes, Wei Mu said that even in folly, 【Folly】 must be the first god to attempt folly—but once He lost His Authority, how could He guarantee He'd remain the "first" in all subsequent follies?

At this thought, a flicker of unusual light passed through Cheng Shi's eyes.

"You want me to find the Authority of 【Folly】?"

Scarred Cheng Shi nodded, his voice tinged with sorrow:

"It's the stupidest method—but the only one with hope.

With the Authority of 【Folly】, you can see through all things in the cosmos as He does, unravel the Jester God's scheme, uncover the experiment's flaws, and find that one path to survival.

Of course, that path doesn't exist in my world—but yours still holds hope.

Most crucially, seeking 【Folly】's Authority is, in 【Folly】's eyes, a perfect folly—and since it's folly, He won't lift a finger to stop you.

So His Authority, ironically, might be the 'easiest' to obtain among all the gods'.

But how to find it? That's probably the hardest thing in existence...

As far as I know, even He himself can't remember where He hid it—so isn't that itself a folly?

Hmph—

"..."

Indeed.

If a mortal found 【Folly】's Authority, then 【Folly】's act of hiding it would qualify as a grand folly—and He wouldn't let himself become the cosmos' laughingstock, so this task isn't necessarily easier than finding that one path to survival.

But you've got to try, don't you? To stay alive.

After all this, Scarred Cheng Shi's figure was already blurring. Seeing his other self about to turn alone toward that despairing world, Cheng Shi's heart tightened, and he spoke again:

"What else can I do for you?"

Scarred Cheng Shi laughed as he watched his own body dissolving:

"Don't help me—help yourself.

I am you, so I understand you—I know your confusion lies in locking yourself inside the emotional prison left by Lao Jia's departure, unsure how to accept other kindnesses.

But friendship isn't a shackle on you—it's the key that frees you, this prisoner.

Not only the world needs redemption—you and I do too.

Staying vigilant is right, but occasionally opening your heart brings unexpected rewards. You and I are both con artists—no need to spell this out.

Put more bitterly: we needn't care about anyone else in this world—how it fares is none of our business. But we must find a way to let our friends who helped us live on.

In this process, the world, by virtue of our friends' light, survives.

Doesn't that make it feel less burdensome?"

Cheng Shi's expression shifted strangely—he felt the other self had used the 【Deception】 talent on him, yet he couldn't deny that self-deception was indeed a way to accept the path ahead.

"Did Big Cat infect you?" Cheng Shi seemed to accept this idea, laughed—but then his laugh died, because Big Cat from that world might already be...

"Maybe.

Big Cat was right—her view of friendship is simple yet ahead of its time. Only friendship is worth this. Worth her... never mind her.

Ha, now I finally understand how Qin Xin felt when he shouted those words.

A spark fades easily, but the fire of transmission never dies... what a perfect phrase: 'the fire of transmission never dies!'

In this despairing experiment, someone must live, right?"

Someone must break the established order, shatter the chains of the game, and breathe fresh air beyond this experiment!

Even if only for an instant.

So... I can die, but this damn slice-universe experiment must die with me.

In light of the fact that you and I are 'one of us,' remember to cheer for me when I die—because this is not humiliation, not surrender, but a mockery painted in my blood. I will laugh bitterly at the Observer, before the gaze of billions of beings across countless worlds, and tell 【*Him】: your experiment will never yield any answer!

No sooner had the words ended than the figure vanished.

Cheng Shi, overwhelmed with emotion, fell back into the reality of the experiment. He stared blankly at the variable Cheng Shi, who was now staring back at him in stunned silence.

"You're not Qin Xin. Who are you really?"

Cheng Shi's heart churned with conflicting emotions as he fixed his gaze on the variable Cheng Shi's eyes: "I am your future self."

And silently added to himself:

If...

you still have a future.