Chapter 1317: Ending and Ending

The ending and the ending

Reality. An unknown province and city, a certain museum.

Seeing Zhen Xin woke up, but didn't move.

She stared blankly at the mirror on the table, looking at herself in the mirror, always feeling as if she were in a daze, as though she had forgotten something.

Not long after, a figure in a black gauze dress appeared in the museum. Seeing Zhen Xin heard the sound, looked up, and was startled to discover that figure was lifting her skirt and running toward her.

Seeing Zhen Xin was a little dazed. She stood up:

"Mingyu, what's... huh?"

Before she could finish, that figure rushed over and hugged her, knocking her off balance and pinning her against the wall.

Feeling her best friend's tension and unease, Seeing Zhen Xin's gaze softened, but her brows knit even tighter. She gently stroked An Mingyu's long hair and asked softly:

"Mingyu, you..."

An Mingyu straightened up, gripping Seeing Zhen Xin's shoulders tightly, and said with a serious face:

"Xinxin, I can't lose you again!

I can't accept losing you again!"

The smile on Seeing Zhen Xin's face froze. She instantly became solemn and said seriously: "What happened?"

An Mingyu shook her head, her expression turning confused.

"The moment the trial ended, I seemed to have had a very strange dream. I can't remember the contents anymore. I only remember that in that dream I couldn't find you, couldn't find you anywhere.

I resisted, struggled, but it was useless. Fear devoured me, and then everything returned to darkness.

When I woke up, only a lingering palpitation remained. I was afraid this was some bad omen, so I ran over to see you..."

Seeing Zhen Xin blinked, looked at her best friend who seemed to want to say more but held back, pressed her lips together, and didn't expose her friend's "lie."

That's right, An Mingyu was lying, but it wasn't a deceptive lie—it was deliberately skipping over certain processes.

Before coming to find Seeing Zhen Xin, she was truly terrified of the dark future in the dream, and couldn't help "breaking her rule" to make a prophecy about the future.

She had once made this prophecy, asking 【Fate】 whether the world would collapse.

At that time, the answer 【Fate】 gave was 17 max points, and the Fated Assembly had just begun. Cheng Shi told her those were the max points of 【Oblivion】's attempt to destroy the world, and it was all over.

But today's inexplicable dream made her think of that prophecy again. She did it once more, and this time the result 【Fate】 gave was......

17 points of 1!

The world would not collapse!

This should have been good news, something to be happy about, but this completely opposite guidance left An Mingyu somewhat at a loss.

This world isn't simply black and white, and neither is 【Fate】—there's not just good fortune and misfortune. So how could the same prophecy yield two completely opposite and extreme answers?

An Mingyu was bewildered. She found herself increasingly unable to understand 【Fate】. She was eager to ask the only person who understood 【Fate】 about the meaning of this prophecy, but that person had yet to return......

So she still came here first.

These two best friends were both sharp enough and smart enough. When they noticed each other acting a bit strange, they simultaneously realized that something must have happened—they must have missed some major event significant enough to affect the entire universe.

Seeing Zhen Xin's brows furrowed, and she immediately spoke a name:

"Cheng Shi."

No matter what major event had occurred in the universe, this Fate-Weaver watched by 【Void】 would surely know something. So rather than speculate wildly here, it was better to go ask Cheng Shi.

An Mingyu was stunned: "He's back?"

Seeing Zhen Xin nodded and told her best friend about what they had experienced in the special trial just now.

It was a trial that wasn't exactly brilliant but was thick with the flavor of 【Deception】. With the players' help, the story within the trial finally had an ending.

This ending might not satisfy everyone, but at least each person did justice to their own curtain call.

After listening, An Mingyu felt there was still a deeper meaning in the trial's story, but couldn't grasp the key point for the moment. So she stopped overthinking, nodded, and said:

"Since he's back, the Fated Ones probably need to meet again. I wonder how he fared in the real universe—is he alright?"

Seeing Zhen Xin smiled and said:

"He's in decent shape, but I think, before you two meet up, he may already be waiting for us there.

Mingyu, want to come with me? It'll save time."

An Mingyu was stunned, then shook her head: "Forget it, I'm not a jester, and I don't understand 【Deception】. You go ahead, go ask him what he saw in the real universe. If 【Void】 really is our enemy, then whether this world still has new hope..."

Seeing Zhen Xin casually glanced at An Mingyu's hand and noticed she was clutching a few dice in her palm. She quickly looked away without saying anything more, and instead smiled:

"Wait for me to come back."

As she spoke, Seeing Zhen Xin flung out a playing card covered in ritual symbols, tearing open a doorway to the Jesters' Gathering Place beside her. She waved to her best friend and stepped through.

Seeing Seeing Zhen Xin leave, An Mingyu opened her palm, looked at the few 1-point dice in her hand, and her thoughts churned.

The Jesters' Gathering Place.

Just as Seeing Zhen Xin had expected, when she arrived at this graveyard again, Cheng Shi was already there.

The Fate-Weaver stood quietly before the 【Death】 tombstone, head lowered, his face in shadow, murmuring something inaudible.

Actually, when he discovered that the False Xie Mu was merely a trial, Cheng Shi had already thought of Squinty Old Zhang and his other-world self. He wanted to know whether these two's swap was real.

He rushed to the graveyard immediately, but didn't find Old Zhang there, and there was no response to his contact. At that point, he was certain Old Zhang had truly left this world.

In the Trickster God's False Xie Mu, there was ultimately a small loophole. No matter how freely He rewrote the script, the trial was still a story under this starry sky. Once an individual left this starry sky, they naturally wouldn't be affected anymore.

And Old Zhang was thus truly swapped to another world.

From this, two things could also be confirmed:

One, the False Xie Mu truly happened. Although the timeline skipped over the tragedy, it wasn't truly "false."

Two, the Cheng Shi of the other world might not be dead. Since everything was a script, the Trickster God shouldn't have gone after another jester.

But all of this was speculation. Cheng Shi didn't even know what state that trial—which he had no memory of at all—had ended in. So he came to the Jesters' Gathering Place.

He knew someone would definitely come looking for him.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before he was waiting for that person.

When Cheng Shi noticed someone behind him, he didn't even turn his head before saying:

"Thank you."

Seeing Zhen Xin saw the atmosphere gradually grew solemn, her eyes flicked slightly, and mimicking Cheng Shi's tone, she tried to break the heavy mood: "A verbal thank-you doesn't show much sincerity — how about something more practical?"

Cheng Shi gave a soft laugh. By the time he turned around, the heaviness from earlier was gone from his face; instead, the corner of his mouth curled up with a touch of teasing as he said:

"That 'thank you' was for Old Zhang the Squinter — what does it have to do with you?"

Zhen Xin stood with her arms crossed, saw through Cheng Shi's lie, and shook her head:

"Some people may be called Cheng Shi, but he's never honest.

But it doesn't matter — I was asking for Old Zhang the Squinter too."

"......"

Cheng Shi was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing.

How wonderful — this is the feeling of being alive, this is the clown who is alive!

But since Zhen Xin's first reaction was to joke rather than feel startled and doubtful, it meant the other party had already forgotten the various events of the era's end within the trial.

Sure enough, not everyone retained true memories.

Cheng Shi's brows knit slightly. He said another earnest "thank you" to Zhen Xin, then said with great solemnity:

"Young Lady Magician, the next question may sound rather unbelievable, but I have to ask:

What exactly happened in the trial?

Please repeat every story you know."

Upon hearing this, Zhen Xin's pupils contracted sharply; her first reaction was — who exactly was the Cheng Shi across from her?

But immediately after, she realized Cheng Shi was Cheng Shi; the one with the problem was very likely herself!

That lost, hollow feeling and the heart-pounding from Ming Yu both seemed to indicate that something major had happened in the trial that had just ended, yet now she remembered nothing at all — and Cheng Shi had forgotten every memory?

No, judging by his reaction, he didn't seem to have forgotten something, but rather seemed to have remembered something — could the one who lost his memories be herself?

But she had been lucid from start to finish during that trial — how could she have lost her memory?

Zhen Xin's expression gradually grew solemn. She deliberated for a moment, then asked uncertainly:

"【Time】 or 【Memory】?"

Cheng Shi said in a low voice: "Probably both."

"Both!?" Zhen Xin's eyes went wide instantly, unable to believe it: "Then is it 【Existence】, or... 【Origin】?"

"Perhaps both as well.

Let's start with the trial, Young Lady Magician — what I have to say is probably completely different from what you're thinking."