[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-gods-foolish-game":3,"chapter-the-gods-foolish-game-the-gods-foolish-game-chapter-23":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Gods' Foolish Game",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2361151,4617,"Chapter 23","the-gods-foolish-game-chapter-23",23,"\u003Cp>The Dwarf Lion Dancers\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long after walking, he encountered Bai Ling, her face flushed, descending between rows of seats.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He sized up this [Defiled] believer several times, as if trying to gauge how the battle had gone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, Bai Ling had tidied herself perfectly—nothing showed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Big Boss, any discoveries?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I found one of your colleagues.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ling didn’t seem surprised, but she feigned astonishment, covering her mouth with her hand, “Better than me?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi felt his face was still too thin-skinned—he switched topics decisively, “Forget that. What did you find?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment he asked, he regretted it—Bai Ling hadn’t even scouted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet unexpectedly, Bai Ling seemed to have found something after all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She licked her lips, her flush still lingering, and pointed at her own face with a grin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You think I found anything?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was lying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi smiled brightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“To be honest, you’re terrible at lying—or rather, you can’t hide your thoughts. Just tell me. We’re all pressed for time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ling’s expression froze, then she narrowed her eyes and smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Big Boss really is a Big Boss—your observation is incredible.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’ve got even better tricks, but I won’t tell you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi winked at Bai Ling, signaling her to cut to the chase.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ling understood, pointing in a certain direction, “I spotted a few men I met at the tavern. One of them might hold a clue.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I found a few men I met at the tavern—perhaps one of them has a clue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi looked across the vast audience seating and frowned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finding the same individual across two memories was indeed helpful—many memory cores were triggered by seeing someone they’d encountered before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was also how most players solved [Memory] trials: tracing relational chains to find the next target.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if the link between two memories was faint, any clue was better than none.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi understood this logic—but the problem was, how had Bai Ling found these people so quickly in such a sea of faces?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ling saw his confusion. She extended one finger, tapped his forehead, then withdrew it and tapped her own full chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi followed her “hint”...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi followed her “guidance” and looked over...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Cheng Shi’s gaze drift, Bai Ling chuckled softly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Big Boss, stop pretending. My talent lets me manifest men’s possessive desires—I sense every inch of their longing for my skin. You feel nothing for me, so why act like a drooling pig?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stop pretending, big shot. My talent lets me manifest men’s possessive desires—I sense every inch of their longing for my skin. You clearly don’t feel anything for me, so why act like a drooling fool?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi, caught out, wasn’t embarrassed—he merely clicked his tongue and looked away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I wasn’t pretending. After all, who doesn’t admire beauty?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Pity me?” Bai Ling blinked, her seductive expression shifting to pure innocence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who gets to pity whom?” Cheng Shi chuckled lightly, “Maybe I don’t like women?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ling burst out laughing, stepped forward, and hooked her arm through his, giddy, “Say it and I’ll believe you. Sister Cheng, hurry up—save time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi was dragged along with a constipated expression, unable to bear the soft pressure against his arm, finally tugging his hand free with a bitter smile, “I was joking.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ling refused to let go, even more delighted, “Don’t worry, little sister’s lips are sealed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi was dragged along with a constipated expression until he couldn’t bear the grinding pressure of soft flesh anymore; he tugged his hand free, grimacing as he struggled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With no other choice, Cheng Shi changed the subject:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why don’t you guide them to break their own memories?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I can’t. I only make them fantasize. Once I do that, what you see won’t be just my solo show—it’ll turn the whole circus into a performance. A horse-riding one.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi knew she was right. If she truly found a memory core and seduced it, chaos would erupt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once memories began to scramble, the entire memory would shatter rapidly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So you [Defiled] believers take your lives seriously, then.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You” referred, of course, to the [Defiled] believers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi knew she was right—if she truly found the memory’s core and lured it, memory confusion could indeed occur.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course. Only alive... can you... more... right?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi’s face darkened—he automatically censored the unrepeatable words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he followed Bai Ling to the group of “acquaintances,” he immediately recognized them—the same burly men from the tavern scene, drinking and boasting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mind explaining how you found them?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi studied Bai Ling curiously—he really wanted to know the exact nature of her talent, but instinct told him she wouldn’t answer even if he asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ling smiled at Cheng Shi and replied:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Everyone has different tastes. Some like waists, some like legs, some like...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Do you mind explaining how you found them?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What do you like?” Bai Ling licked her plump lips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bai Ling smiled at Cheng Shi before replying:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone has different tastes—some like the waist, some like the legs, some like...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi ignored her and began slipping closer to the targets, casting hypnosis spells on each man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet after questioning them all, none of the dozen or so were the final answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both their faces darkened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These men were indeed within the servant’s line of sight. If none of them are it, did the servant recall the previous memory from seeing an object?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Searching for objects would be far harder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Again, the venue was too vast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Notify the others. Narrow the scope further.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi sighed helplessly, spent more time calling Fang Shiqing and the others back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She and Xu Lu had been assigned the VIP seating area—their direction had been wrong from the start, so they found no clues.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ming, however, mumbled something: there seemed to be special attendants in the audience seating engaging in unspeakable transactions with spectators.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone treated it as a joke and quickly dismissed it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such things were too common—they’d grown numb to them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to the chaos in the VIP section, the audience seating for the poor was far more orderly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After exchanging information, Fang Shiqing frowned and said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Keep looking. The memory core must be in the ordinary audience seating. The stage performance never deviated—it means he watched intently. Focus on spectators who were fully absorbed in the show. Split up. Meet back in one hour.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This kind of thing happens too often now; it doesn’t surprise him anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whatever Big Boss says.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No objections.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The group dispersed quickly. Cheng Shi walked alone again through the audience seating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He frowned, ignoring his assigned search zone, instead moving between the rows as if hunting for something specific.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was searching for the “Dwarf Assembled Doll.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fang Shiqing’s summary reminded him: if someone had never interacted with the “Dwarf Assembled Doll,” Cheng Shi could never have witnessed the dwarves putting on their skins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, the memory core of this scene must have interacted with the “Dwarf Assembled Doll”—and knew she wasn’t a “person” at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who would interact with someone they knew wasn’t a normal sex worker?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi swore, with his normal human mind, he couldn’t imagine it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But not imagining it didn’t mean he couldn’t find it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So he began searching for traces of the doll.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The circus was crowded and chaotic, especially in the general audience seating—shouts and calls rose and fell like in the tavern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His movements blended in easily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long after searching, Cheng Shi spotted his target—the “Dwarf Assembled Doll.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, “she” was wriggling and cooing in the lap of a spectator.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The circus was crowded with people moving about, with no order at all—especially among the general audience seats, where shouts and calls rose and fell like in a tavern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi stared, dumbfounded, wanting to get closer to see what they were doing—but then he spotted a familiar face among the doll’s surroundings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After searching only a short while, Cheng Shi spotted his target—the “dwarf beast-girl.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The duke’s stable hand from the tavern’s stories—the man who suddenly got rich and slept with the doll.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Physical twisting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi stared in astonishment, eager to observe up close what they were doing, but soon he spotted a familiar face among the beastwoman’s surroundings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yorke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The duke’s coachman from the tavern, a ruthless man who suddenly became rich and slept with the beastwoman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi curled his lips, feeling he had guessed correctly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course, found it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yuenok wore a straw hat that shaded his eyelids, his gaze constantly shifting between the two target locations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One was toward the stage, the other toward the position of the orc girl to his right front.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, not just him—the surrounding audience were all glancing furtively in that direction, but since the orc girl’s movements were restrained and her sounds quiet, no major commotion arose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Other spectators stared at the orc girl’s chest, waist, legs, and hips; only Yuenok kept his eyes fixed on her face, his gaze so tender it seemed to stretch into threads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“......”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Brother, can you tell me how you got hooked on these five “lion-dancing” dwarves?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheng Shi observed him for a long time, his doubts growing deeper until he could no longer hold back—he feigned being an ordinary spectator and crept quietly closer to Yuenok, letting out an exaggerated sigh:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why are only female orcs providing service? Can’t we open up the gender options a bit?”\u003C\u002Fp>",1576,"2026-06-21T06:05:06.137Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","49a5fd995567028d3ed8943068a9c6bb43aab8b90c16bf0e5093f5e3a3dcbd6d","the-gods-foolish-game-chapter-24","the-gods-foolish-game-chapter-22",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-gods-foolish-game-cover.jpg"]