Chapter 1095: How to Understand [Time]

How to Understand 【Time】

Risk is poison to the Steady Faction.

Setting aside whether the moment is right to scavenge opportunities in the real universe, just figuring out how to break through the spacetime barrier is already a difficult problem.

The Time Deduction Method can only let one temporarily slip into the cracks of 【Existence】, but that sliver of time is certainly not enough for a "jailbreak," so to "compete for profit" with the God of Mischief still requires a complete plan.

And the most crucial part of this plan is 【Time】!

The Jester intends to draw experience from other worlds, Scarred Cheng Shi tells himself he must understand 【Time】; the spacetime barrier, saving the world... everything comes back to 【Time】.

But 【Time】 simply has no time to grant him an audience. Even during the faith fusion, it was the God of Mischief playing His role—He merely stepped onto the stage for an instant when bestowing faith, then vanished again.

What on earth is He busy with?

Based on his current understanding as a member of the Fear Faction, Cheng Shi could guess He is busy "dealing with" 【Origin】, but the problem is He is so busy that Cheng Shi can't even get a chance to see Him—how could he possibly talk about understanding Him?

Should he pray to his patron to send him over?

【Fraud】 would definitely not agree.

He may have long seen through Cheng Shi's little tricks and would not let him disturb 【Time】. Judging from the matter of resetting the world, 【Time】 is absolutely the backbone of the Fear Faction, a power the God of Mischief can rely on, so their plan leaves no room for Cheng Shi to meddle.

【Fate】... is even less possible.

He had just planned to embrace the predetermined acceleration of progress—going to 【Fate】 at this moment to say he wants to meet His rival, heaven knows if he'd be frozen solid in the void.

Even if His tolerance overlooks sacrilege, that attitude would still let Him sense that Cheng Shi's heart is absolutely not drawing closer to the predetermined.

So it all comes back to the same thing—even though he has four patrons, not a single one is reliable.

Speaking of reliability, it still has to be that lord.

It's been a long time since he saw that lord—would He help him out with this?

Thinking of this, Cheng Shi looked toward the rooftop next door. He planned to ask Xie Yang for a corpse to bring to the Fishbone Hall to greet the boss, but as luck would have it, Xie Yang wasn't there, and just then a phone call came in.

Cheng Shi picked up the phone and found the caller was the Doctor. The other party's opening line was:

"Cheng Shi, any progress on Zayn Gill?"

Zayn Gill?

Right!

Cheng Shi's eyes lit up, and he immediately recalled Aevloss, where Zayn Gill was imprisoned.

If one wants to understand 【Time】, Aevloss is also a fine window—after all, He is 【Time】's prisoner, and among all these lesser gods, the only one who has any connection with 【Time】.

The Hour Hand doesn't count—a fraud who steals a reputation, nothing more.

So why not go ask Aevloss? While he's at it, he can investigate the past concerning 【His Dream, My Nightmare】 that Helobos spoke of.

But there's still one problem in all this—how to explain to the other party that he, a Messenger, insisted on borrowing His tiger skin when facing Helobos...

That is what's truly giving him a headache.

Cheng Shi closed his eyes and pondered for a moment. The Doctor on the other end of the line didn't rush to press him. After a long while, he finally remembered the Doctor's call was still connected, shook his head and laughed:

"There is progress. The Sage told me where Zayn Gill is, and he is indeed still alive.

Let's do this—pick a place, and I'll take you there together.

Though there may be other friends joining this trip, I trust the Doctor won't mind, will he?"

Other friends?

The other end of the line smiled faintly: "Of course not. I'm only going to draw upon the wisdom of those before me. If you have other matters, feel free to do as you wish."

"What a coincidence—the other friend is also going to draw upon the wisdom of those before him. I bet you two will definitely have plenty in common.

It's settled then. I'll tell you where to meet up."

Cheng Shi gave the other party the coordinates of that stretch of void where he was to meet Big Cat, then made another call—to the Dragon King.

He needed to ask Li Li Jingming for someone's contact information, someone Big Cat probably wouldn't have any connection with.

The moment the call connected, that familiar voice came through from the other end.

"It's me."

Although this was a standard Dragon King-style greeting, Cheng Shi felt the tone of this greeting seemed a little different from the Dragon King of before.

He slightly furrowed his brow, steadily held his tongue, and after waiting a long while, finally let out a "heh" as if he couldn't hold it in any longer.

The moment the "heh" fell, the other party snorted a laugh: "Cheng Shi, if you have something to say, say it."

"?"

You can guess that too?

Does your phone have caller ID or something?

Cheng Shi held up the receiver in his hand and examined it, but couldn't find anywhere that would display anything. He then curled his lip and said:

"Dragon King, you're a bit off today. Even if you know I once played that cursed thing, you can't be so sure the one on this end of the line is me, right?

Did you ever consider I might actually be Did Zhen Yi?

Oh, I get it.

You are Did Zhen Yi!

That's how you know I'm not, right?

Did Zhen Yi, speak—what have you done to the Dragon King!?"

"..." The other end was silent for a moment, then scoffed, "Sometimes, certain memories really aren't worth remembering.

If you're only here to tease me, then let's end it here. The Jesters have piled plenty of work on me, and I don't have time to chat nonsense with you."

Hearing these words, Cheng Shi's brow visibly sank.

The other party absolutely couldn't be Li Li Jingming—the Dragon King's attitude toward memory isn't as casual as this.

But the other party could still say "Jester"...

A Dragon King impersonator holding the Dragon King's phone, knowing the Dragon King's memories, and even familiar with his own temperament...

Who could this be?

Long Jing? Did Zhen Yi?

It's certainly possible, but neither of them seems right.

Cheng Shi's brow furrowed tight, yet his tone remained breezy as he said:

"Don't hang up!

Let me ask you something — do you know the president of the Rationality Association?

I've been thinking about joining the Rationality Association lately, so give me his contact info, will you?"

"That's it?"

"Yep, that's it."

The other end of the line was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed and said:

"Wei Zhi, combat specialist.

Although the Rationality Association was founded to mark the Rationality Tower, in its style of operation, apart from the madness being identical to that of the followers of 【Truth】, nothing else resembles them at all.

This organization has already become another version of the Worshippers of the Divine. If you want to guard against Wang Wang Weijin, Wei Zhi is not a good choice."

Cheng Shi's eyes sharpened, and with a forced smile he asked back: "Why would I need to guard against the Doctor?"

"If you're not guarding against Wang Wang Weijin, I find it hard to imagine why you wouldn't seek guidance from the 【Truth】 resources within the Jester, and instead would want to get close to Wei Zhi.

This man's madness is far more exaggerated than you imagine. Apart from him, there's nothing in the Rationality Association worth your attention."

Cheng Shi's expression shifted again and again — he had already confirmed that the person on the other end of the line was absolutely not Li Li Jingming.

And he could also tell that the other party was extremely clever.

The fact that they could deduce what he was thinking from the slightest trace showed they were as smart as the real Li Li Jingming. Yet even with such keenness, they hadn't bothered to put the slightest effort into disguising themselves as the Dragon King, and had even allowed the flaw to be seen by others — clearly, they didn't care about their identity being exposed.

A impersonator who completely doesn't care about their identity — who could they be?

Cheng Shi suddenly thought of something, his pupils contracting as he tentatively asked:

"Interesting — none knows me like the Dragon King.

That's right, I am indeed investigating the Doctor. After the last Jester's Gathering, I noticed he'd changed — become different from before.

To ensure the internal safety of the Jester, I must confirm his identity as soon as possible.

Wei Zhi is his opponent, his competitor on the path of 【Truth】. Only his enemies understand him best, so the reason I asked you for Wei Zhi's contact info was to verify the Doctor's identity.

But if you're willing to help, perhaps I won't need to get close to Wei Zhi.

I remember at the Jester's Gathering we all looked into the mirror. If you, Dragon King, would lend me that mirror, let me take another look at the Doctor — who knows, it might really reveal something?"

"......" The other end of the line suddenly burst out laughing. "That's 【His Dream, My Nightmare】, not a monster-revealing mirror."

"But nightmare... isn't that just a monster?

What if a real monster really did slip out — being able to reveal its true form would be excellent too."

Cheng Shi's words were almost a full reveal of his hand, yet he never expected that after a moment of silence, the other party would actually agree.

"Fine, I'll lend you 【His Dream, My Nightmare】."

"??????"

Wait, what?