Chapter 1191: So-Called Foolish Deeds

So-called foolishness

In the past, wandering through someone else's memories could count as an adventure, but today was different.

Compared to the players in 【Faith Game】, Candelt's experiences were clean as a blank sheet of paper.

In the decades of his past life, the most brilliant moment was probably when, the day before his death, he saw the divine statue bestow a divine gift upon Koshner.

In that instant, Candelt's jealousy was thoroughly ignited.

In the executioner election at the Sanctuary of Foolishness, he lost to Koshner and only became a deputy, but even so, he still believed his own deeds were far more devout than Koshner's.

He felt the reason he had lost the election was because there were always fools disguised as not-fools mixed among the populace, making choices devoid of wisdom and judgment, which was why he willingly stayed at the Sanctuary of Foolishness — to weed out these true fools.

Therefore, even though he was suppressed by Koshner, he still believed he himself was the sage most aligned with the will of 【Foolishness】 in his patron's eyes.

But all of this shattered the moment the Fool-Hunter's divine statue bestowed a divine gift upon Koshner — Candelt could not accept that the statue would grant a divine gift to a drunken executioner while ignoring him.

At first, he did not immediately rush forward to seize Koshner's divine gift, but instead "gave" his patron an "opportunity."

He imitated Koshner, kneeling before the divine statue, praying devoutly, hoping he too might receive a divine gift.

He believed this would be affirmation from his patron; as long as he too could receive affirmation, even if in the public eye his status remained below Koshner's, he could accept it and be content.

But the divine statue gave no response.

Skalt had only one pair of eyes; no matter how devout Candelt was, no matter how loud his cries, he could not conjure another pair of eyes to satisfy the other's "delusion."

So Candelt broke. Fury rose in his heart, malice sprouted at his gall — he laid out a scheme, killed Koshner outright, and seized the divine gift from Koshner's hands.

But he also knew that once this act was committed, though his original intent sprang from devotion, it had already betrayed the will of 【Foolishness】, making him guilty of the sin of knowing foolishness yet committing it. So he decided that since he'd come this far, he might as well go all the way — he took the divine gift and fled far away, to start a new life elsewhere, becoming a devout sage in a strange land.

In this way, as long as no one in the new city recognized him as a sinner, they would all be blind fools, and he would naturally be the one closest to his patron.

To this end, Candelt made detailed plans and arrangements. He feared that keeping the divine gift on his person might bring unpredictable changes that would alert the Sanctuary guards, so he took that pair of eyes...

... and sewed them onto the bodies of those foolish criminals he had used to kill Koshner!

With this arrangement, all he had to do was one day push one of the criminals hiding the divine gift off a cliff, and he could use the convenience of his position to leave Redikor directly, then quietly retrieve the divine gift from the bottom of the cliff.

This plan was airtight — until it was exposed midway through by a 【Chaos】 believer named Mace.

Mace killed the other party in self-defense, with the result that all of Candelt's subsequent plans fell through, and Cheng Shi was unable to extract any useful leads from Mace.

The memory ends here for the most part. However, because this corpse had first been "tainted" by the power of 【Memory】 comprehended by 【Death】, some details were also "killed," so Li Li Jingming did not see what the prisoner with the Eyes of Mockery sewn onto him looked like.

He returned from his journey through memory, reported everything he had seen to Cheng Shi faithfully, and said:

"Looking at it this way, we may have to go through the story you experienced all over again.

Once its location is confirmed, all that remains is trial and error."

But upon hearing the Dragon King say this, Cheng Shi's face showed not the slightest sign of agreement. He first froze, then lowered his head with a strange expression, saying nothing — though inwardly he was already cursing up a storm.

"Brother Mouth, come out!

The Eyes of Mockery were once so close to us — I don't believe you couldn't sense them!

You knew all along, didn't you!

You knew where the Eyes of Mockery were the whole time, but you just wouldn't tell me — didn't you!"

The Lips of Foolish Play gave no response, and Cheng Shi grew less certain.

His silence, in the eyes of Li Li Jingming and Zhang Zhang Jizu, was naturally taken for him recalling clues related to the Eyes of Mockery. But after waiting a while, they saw Cheng Shi flick a scalpel from his sleeve, and without a word, he stabbed it straight toward his own eye sockets.

"!!!"

Li Li Jingming's expression shifted slightly as he realized something; Zhang Zhang Jizu narrowed his eyes as if he too had grasped it. Under their stunned and astonished gazes, Cheng Shi gritted his teeth against the searing pain and forcibly gouged both his eyes out of their sockets.

Blood splattered everywhere; the eyeballs hit the ground!

He wasn't certain he was necessarily the lucky one Candelt had chosen — he was only reasoning according to 【Foolishness】's contempt for foolish acts, guessing that perhaps within this trial there was also a foolish act aimed at himself called "riding a donkey to look for a donkey"!

Sure enough, the instant those two eyeballs hit the ground, the left eye and the right eye each "came alive," hopping away from each other in opposite directions with mutual disgust, and said in unison:

"Idiot."

And at that very same moment, Brother Mouth came online again, controlling Cheng Shi's mouth to say:

"·Clown."

"......"

To the other two, this cry of "clown" was undoubtedly Cheng Shi mocking himself, but only Cheng Shi himself knew he had been insulted again — and insulted dirtily at that!

He recalled once more what Brother Mouth had said during the trial:

"·A clown does indeed make a living selling stupidity to amuse the audience — in that regard, you've reached the pinnacle."

So it had given a hint long ago — but who could have imagined that at the very start of the trial, the Eyes of Mockery had been sewn onto him by an NPC!

The question was, why hadn't his body reacted!?

Merging with the self should involve a period of pain, right? When Brother Mouth merged back then, he had nearly been burned alive by that false face, but this time......

Wait!

It did react!

When the trial first descended, his eyes had burned as if seared by fire — it was he himself who had used healing spell after healing spell to smooth away all the pain......

Damn it, I've really become a clown!

Cheng Shi's face instantly collapsed.

And just then, those horrifying, gushing eye sockets suddenly flipped, producing once more a pair of bright, clear eyes. Seeing the light again, Cheng Shi watched the two Eyes of Mockery hopping farther and farther away, and suddenly smiled with relief.

"Now that's better — no need to trouble the liars running all over the place."

Li Li Jingming watched with great interest as one of those eyes hopped along, picked it up from the ground, and examined it up close:

"So this is the Eyes of Mockery?

The Tongue of Lie-Eating has the effect of devouring lies, the Ear of Secret-Peering has the use of stealing secrets — then this Eyes of Mockery...... what use does it have?"

This question stumped Cheng Shi. He shook his head, picked up the other eyeball, and tossed the question to Brother Eye.

"Brother Eye, what use do you have?"

The purpose of the Mocking Eyes' answer was very "deceitful," and very "foolish," as they said in unison once more:

"I'm useless in an idiot's hands."

"......"

The two holding the eyeball froze at the same time, their faces awkward, while Zhang Zhang Jizu squinted and laughed happily off to the side.

Li Li Jingming's mouth twitched slightly as he set the eyeball back on the ground, but Cheng Shi wasn't about to indulge it—he took off his shoe, tossed the eyeball inside, and asked:

"Then is it useful in an idiot's shoe?"

"......"

The Mocking Eyes shut up, unsure whether it was because the stench spoke for itself, or because it disdained to keep arguing with an idiot.

Watching this eyeball "suffer misfortune," the other eyeball let out a contemptuous laugh.

"Useless too.

You think you've gained the upper hand, but before long the idiot in the shoe will still end up back in this idiot's eye socket, so you didn't disgust it—you disgusted yourself.

Truly idiotic enough."

"......" Cheng Shi was a little shaken.

But the Mocking Eyes still hadn't finished, continuing its output: "Just as stupid as that mouth."

"！?"

Hearing this, Cheng Shi perked up again.

No matter what, as long as you can help me scold Mouth-Bro, then I'll regard you as my true big brother.

Eye-Bro, accept my bow!

"·......"