Chapter 1386: Audience of the Assembly · Hope

Audience of the Assembly · Hope

"As clever as the Clown, your guesses are all correct.

I am about to find the method to save this world; this is no empty boast, but because I have already seen the direction of the future!

But before that day arrives, there is still much preparation to be done.

The Clown cannot help with these matters, nor can I guide the Clown on what to do, so the Clown can only do what he believes is right.

Continue your performance, attract the gaze of the Universe, use the Clown's buffoonery to cover for me, and let me make one more trip to the real universe to find the final clue to piece together the answer!"

"???"

Going from great sorrow to great joy takes only a few minutes!

Cheng Shi had never imagined he could receive such a hopeful answer from the mouth of 【Deception】. He was actually, truly about to find a way!?

But why go to the real universe, and who is it that does not want Him to go to the real universe?

【Time】?

Even if 【Time】, for the sake of stability, refuses to let 【Deception】 go, haven't the Laughter and Mockery already linked the path to the real universe? If 【Deception】 walks His own path, whose permission does He need?

Cheng Shi was somewhat unable to understand, but through the words "attract the gaze of the Universe," he guessed something. His heart suddenly tightened, and his expression changed slightly as he said:

"You are being watched, aren't you? Who is it?

【Origin】!?"

【Deception】 slowly shifted his gaze away. He did not respond to Cheng Shi, but instead continued to speak to himself:

"Just a little more, just a little more and I can link the clues of the entire era, and just a little more and I can find the answer concerning the future of the world.

I have already seen that point, so I must go; no one can stop me.

But from this moment on, the Clown can never again leave the stage that belongs to him.

I will destroy the stairs leading beneath the stage until the Clown's performance concludes.

And I must also urge the Clown to begin his performance immediately. As the Circus Master, I will personally write the script for the era's finale. The Clown only needs to remember: no matter how absurd the script, your performance cannot stop; this is also the key to winning the audience's applause.

As long as the audience is willing to cheer for the performance, I believe this curtain-call performance will surely win a gamble on the future of this starry sky!

The day I return from the real universe will be the moment the future of this world arrives!"

"!!!"

【Deception】's words were too beautiful, scaring Cheng Shi so much he almost didn't dare to believe them.

When had the Fear Sect ever fought such a wealthy war?

【Deception】 said He could definitely find the answer; what method did He think of to deceive 【Origin】 and escape the experiment? Could it be that from now on, 【Origin】 has already lost its gaze upon this starry sky?

That's not right; if that were really the case, why would 【Deception】 still need to find an opportunity to go to the real universe? Shouldn't He be able to leave whenever He wants?

Or is it that His means of deceiving the Creator began with deceiving Himself?

Then is this a scam now?

Cheng Shi furrowed his brows. He pondered everything before him, and aside from feeling there were a bit too many flags, he didn't seem to find any flaws in this heart-to-heart session.

Compared to suspecting this was a scam, both emotionally and in terms of hope, Cheng Shi was more inclined to believe it was true.

Regardless, having bared His heart to this extent, with time so tight, 【Deception】 couldn't possibly be lying again...

... could He?

Cheng Shi was panicked. In his heart, he frantically asked the other one:

Brother Mouth, what do you think?

The Lips of Envoy Envoy Yu Xi remained silent for a long time before giving an answer that was almost equivalent to the truth:

"·I am a mouth, I cannot see."

"......"

Perhaps knowing that this was no time for jokes, the Lips of Envoy Envoy Yu Xi added a sentence after the "routine":

"·I am His believer. Although He is named 【Deception】, I... will always believe in Him."

Cheng Shi was stunned. Digesting the emotion Brother Mouth had never shown before, he nodded silently.

Understood.

If one cannot trust at a time like this, then what else is there to trust within this Universe?

The Clown raised his head, his gaze burning as he looked at his benefactor, nodding heavily, and said one word:

"Good."

【Deception】 smiled. Even though the brilliant starlight was lost, the swirling spiral still shone with luster.

"Very good. Then, the performance officially begins.

I will grant you the ability to deceive the gods, and in the process, I will leave this starry sky to head to the real universe to find what I need. As for the Clown, before you take the stage, you only need to stand in the audience and witness...

【Nothingness】's curtain-call performance."

After speaking, before Cheng Shi could react, the swirling spiral spun faster and faster, so fast it almost smoothed away all mystery. In an instant, the void shifted, and sounds of mockery rose from all sides!

Countless masks, like rain falling upward, broke through from the depths of nothingness one after another, streaking across the void like meteors, falling toward the distant firmament.

Each mask sneered or laughed, raged or mocked. Their shouts rose and fell, resonating in unison. The distorted sound points, accompanied by the echoes of the void, seemed to sing a sonata belonging solely to 【Deception】.

Cheng Shi was in the midst of it all, feeling only sneers above and below, mockery before and behind. He didn't look like an audience member at all; he looked like a clown crowded onto a stage by countless spectators, being jeered and mocked.

Yet, there wasn't a trace of embarrassment or tension on this clown's face, nor a trace of unease. There was only a face full of solemnity.

He stared fixedly at the eyes blinking in harmony with the sonata beneath the countless masks, seemingly having guessed the direction of the script.

Yet even though he knew this was just an interpretation within the script, everything before him still made his heart race.

This play was titled 【Nothingness】's curtain-call performance. So it really was a curtain call, but one 【Deception】 didn't count as the entirety of 【Nothingness】.

Sure enough, after a while, the tune of the void changed.

The voices of the joyful masks gradually faded, and the sorrowful song of fate began to rise.

The masks streaking across the void exploded one after another, scattering into a sky full of dice rain. Each die spun rapidly as it rose, then rolled countless 1s in the established curtain of rain.

These countless 1s were more like mockery than the masks. They came from nothingness and returned to nothingness. The trajectories they traced were like two knotted circles, and the whistling sound they produced was like a sharp carving knife, slicing through all living beings who had suffered the misfortunes of fate.

Cheng Shi watched this scene blankly, his eyes gradually losing focus, but in the next second, a loud noise pulled him back from the edge of a trance.

"Boom—"

It exploded!

It was a roar that shook the Universe!

The void collapsed instantly, and the gods were shaken by the sound, descending one after another!

At the center of that explosion, the pair of eyes that should have been there had long since vanished. In their place was a shattered giant hole leading to the depths of endless nothingness. A wild wind howled at the entrance, spewing out dazzling, psychedelic colors.

These colors were abstract and distorted, chaotic and jumbled, completely out of place with the pitch-black void.

Yet, precisely because of this completely incompatible characteristic, Cheng Shi recognized at a glance what these colorful things were.

Laughter and Mockery!

This river of 【Existence】 buried deep in nothingness had actually, with that roar of explosion, detached from nothingness, evaporated into abstract pitch-blackness within the void, and dried up completely...

Until he confirmed that the scene before his eyes was real, the astonished Clown murmured in disbelief amidst the shock of the gods:

"Benefactor... my lord?

Ha, you self-destructed?

Is this the salvation you spoke of, is this the bottom-line support you spoke of?

Who are you saving, and for whom are you providing bottom-line support?

I only see a shameful deserter, abandoning his comrades and choosing to escape the moment before heading to the battlefield!

【Deception】, come out and see me! Don't think you can deceive me like this. I know you aren't dead. Come out and see me!"

As soon as the words fell, a sneer came from among the gods.

A pair of eyes coated in chaotic white miasma looked at Cheng Shi in the center of the stage and said gloomily:

"There are many fools in the world, but don't treat all the gods as fools.

Who is deceiving whom?

【Deception】 has painstakingly managed things to this point, yet chose to self-destruct at the final step. Who would believe it?

Even if He had long known that all this was nothing but a foolish act, would He be willing to give up without trying it Himself?

Stop the deception. What kind of trick is your 【Nothingness】 playing again?

【Deception】 cannot be dead, but He might not necessarily fail to hide the so-called established fate at the final moment and pull off a switch.

In that case, Cheng Shi...

You aren't 【Deception】 now, are you?

Where did you hide your believer?

Do you think this isn't a foolish act?"

"......"

At this moment, Cheng Shi understood.

He had never imagined that this was the ability 【Deception】 had granted him to deceive the gods. ===== CHAPTER 1387 =====