Chapter 1132: Gathering Clues

Gathering Clues

"Cheng Shi, I know you."

While Cheng Shi was still using his peripheral vision to size up Ji Yue, she took the initiative to greet him.

This greeting made Cheng Shi's heart skip a beat; he thought she had recovered her memories, but he hadn't expected her next sentence to be:

"That great hero who thwarted the 0221 experiment and saved countless players!"

"......"

Cheng Shi's expression stiffened, though he secretly breathed a sigh of relief inside.

Thank goodness. Although being praised like that was a bit awkward, at least it seemed she didn't remember him.

He turned to look at Ji Yue, sizing up that dazzling silver hair, and smiled:

"I wouldn't dare call myself a hero. I just happened to be there and fought to survive; I had to struggle for the sake of myself and my friends."

Hearing this humble reply, Ji Yue raised an eyebrow, couldn't help but think more highly of Cheng Shi, and praised:

"A gentleman is judged by his actions, not his intentions. The fact that you saved people makes you worthy of being called a hero.

My friend also suffered greatly in that experiment; come to think of it, you could be considered his benefactor.

I'll say thank you on his behalf."

"?"

The more Cheng Shi heard, the stranger it felt. He felt certain Ji Yue had an ulterior motive for approaching him, yet she seemed to have no hostility. For a moment, he couldn't figure out what this Scholar of Erudition was planning, so he could only respond with a fake smile.

"You're too kind. It was 【Fate】 that favored him. As I said, I only fought to live out of selfishness."

"For the sake of friends... hmm, it must be quite nice to be your friend."

Ji Yue sized Cheng Shi up with great interest. Seeing his heels lift slightly, as if he wanted to leave, she pondered for a moment and immediately pulled the small talk back to the trial itself.

"Although the trial of 【Dementia】 has no clues, it isn't entirely untraceable.

Our identities are likely the key to breaking the deadlock, so the crime that occurred yesterday is very likely the only clue.

Unfortunately, it seems we didn't inherit the prisoners' memories. Do you have any suggestions, Weaver of Fate?"

Cheng Shi frowned, thinking to himself: Could Ji Yue just be looking for a team to clear the trial because she saw that he was relatively stable?

That wasn't impossible, but she clearly entered the trial with a firm goal, which was too different from his own purpose of scouting the path. Forming a team rashly would be of no benefit.

Plus, with external enemies lurking in this trial, Cheng Shi couldn't feel at ease getting too close to a teammate who actively approached him without understanding Ji Yue's current stance.

Even if this teammate had once been his teammate.

So, for the sake of stability, Cheng Shi recalled Ji Yue's various past performances while preparing his refusal:

"You should have heard something about my identity.

Since I am a believer of 【Fraud】, naturally, I have no suggestions for finding memories.

If your purpose in coming to me is to win this trial, I think you've probably found the wrong person.

I'm just bored from staying in the rest area, so I'm just traveling around to clear my head; I'm not interested in whether the trial is cleared or not.

Of course, with the breadth of a scholar's knowledge and your understanding of the opposition, I believe that even without a helper, you can find your own answer, can't you?"

Cheng Shi smiled, waved his hand to say goodbye, and said, "I'm just going to wander around; feel free to do as you please."

As he spoke, he lifted his leg to leave.

But the next second, Ji Yue reached out with a half-smile to stop him, staring into his eyes as she said word by word:

"If I remember correctly, this is our first meeting, Weaver of Fate.

Since it's our first meeting, how did you know I am a believer of 【Truth】?

My score and reputation don't seem high enough to be known by everyone."

"!!!"

Damn it, he had been recalling their previous encounters and had subconsciously slipped into his old perspective!

Cheng Shi's heart tightened, but on the surface, he didn't panic at all.

For a liar, being exposed on the spot was just a minor situation. Besides, as long as he could still argue his way out, whether he was exposed or not remained to be seen.

His eyes flickered, and he immediately explained:

"If you still need to know your teammates' identities in advance at this rank, wouldn't these points have been earned in vain?

You can only be a believer of 【Truth】!

Besides 【Truth】, only 【Dementia】 can directly perceive the logic of a thing after seeing it. However, 【Dementia】 never shares, so from the moment you told me that was 'wind,' your logical thinking already gave me your identity.

Do you still want to stop me, Scholar?

This isn't the Tower of Reason. Even if you want to check tickets at a scenic spot, you'd need a believer of 【Dementia】 to do it.

As a believer of 【Truth】, it's better to keep a low profile on the opposition's turf."

As he spoke, Cheng Shi casually brushed off Ji Yue's arm and walked past her with a smile on his lips.

Ji Yue frowned slightly, though she accepted Cheng Shi's explanation.

Although she had renounced her oath, the blessing of 【Truth】 remained, and she still retained the thinking style of a 【Truth】 believer; it was normal to be seen through.

But why did she always feel an indescribable sense of familiarity with this person?

Was it his methods? Or the attraction of that faint kindness? Or perhaps the same mysterious touch of 【Fate】 as the Fire of Hope?

She wasn't sure, and she turned to look in the direction Cheng Shi had disappeared, lost in thought.

Cheng Shi could feel that Ji Yue was already suspicious of him, so he took two quick steps. When he passed an intersection, he immediately turned and blended into the crowd in a small alley, accelerating his movement until he was far from the town center before slowly collecting information again.

Aside from the unfriendly populace, Redicor's urban construction was quite good.

Every blade of grass, every tree, every wall, and every road here exuded a kind of near-ultimate refinement.

Cheng Shi could easily imagine that when these craftsmen were paving roads and planting grass, they must have been thinking: The roads I pave and the grass I plant are the best in the world; these idiots can't compare to me!

Perhaps it was with this "I am the best" attitude that they were able to build this small mountain town so beautifully.

He walked along a path with little foot traffic, no longer asking questions proactively, but stopping quietly to listen whenever someone passed by.

This method of information gathering allowed one to understand local gossip faster when one had no leads, and discussing gossip was one of the most popular lifestyles for ordinary people. Even believers of 【Dementia】 were no exception. These gossip contents often represented local hotspots and were inseparable from the present they were experiencing.

Sure enough, after listening to a few chats, Cheng Shi heard a name mentioned repeatedly in the passersby's conversations:

Keshna.

That dead executioner.

Everyone's expression was conflicted when mentioning Keshna, and their speech became hesitant.

It seemed no one in town believed that this group of captured prisoners could kill a burly executioner, but under the influence of the established fact, they chose to accept it, self-persuading that jealousy had ignited the prisoners' potential.

Cheng Shi could naturally see why the public chose to accept it. If they raised doubts but couldn't produce evidence, the person questioning it would likely commit the crime of knowing folly and become a sinner just like the prisoners who killed the executioner out of jealousy.

But even if they had evidence, they probably wouldn't use it to overturn the case for these prisoners, because...

【Dementia】 never shares.

Those who knew the inside story were perhaps laughing somewhere, watching the birth of a foolish act.

Little did they know that while they despised foolish acts, they were also performing them.

Cheng Shi wasn't in a hurry to investigate Keshna. He wanted to observe a bit more to see if any recent fresh events could be linked to the Eye of Mockery. But after listening for a long time, the most common clue related to eyes was that the people in this town...

Every single pair of their eyes seemed like the Eye of Mockery, never sparing a moment to show their disdain for others.

Cheng Shi sighed helplessly and had to expand the scope of his information gathering, going to other areas to look around.

But just as he wanted to leave this street, the end of the long street suddenly lit up.

A bald head appeared in his field of vision.

"......"

"Brother-in-law!? Hey, don't walk away, Brother-in-law!" ===== CHAPTER 1133 =====