Chapter 257: Return to [Deception]! The Reflection of [Void]!

Return to 【Deception】! The Reflection of 【Void】!

Cheng Shi woke up.

But he lay on the floor of the rooftop, not daring to move a muscle.

Earlier he hadn't dared to move because he was thinking things over; now, though, he was waiting to see whether there would be a fourth chance to ascend into the Void.

Tired... truly tired.

No—this kind of chance should be shared with other players too, let them feel the 【Divine】 one's loving care as well. The gazes fixed on him were already far too many; a few more and they'd crush him to death.

The gaze of a 【God】 carries weight—every strand of it bears more than a thousand jin!

After waiting a long while and seeing no further reaction, Cheng Shi sprang up with a carp-kip-up. His mind kept replaying what 【Fate】 had said, and his whole body was tense beyond words.

He had just received an utterly outrageous and absurd oracle.

The process forgotten, the reward forgotten, the reason... what was it again?

"He took a false step amid countless futures, and never smiled again..."

Huh?

Can this really be the reason for bestowing an oracle?

No—my lord, don't you yourself find this a tad too absurd?

Things like "you need not mind Him" and "don't be as rash and reckless as He was"—weren't those all your own words?

How did it end up, after all that talking, as: the fun is going stale, help out 【Deception】?

What's the relationship between you two? Hiss—may I think it through carefully?

Besides, setting aside these things that look like hallucinations, haven't I helped enough already?

Don't I perform as a clown every day for all to watch?

What more can I do!

No... wait!

Thinking about other things was useless; the first thing Cheng Shi did was look at his player panel.

But after only a glance, he froze.

Yet not long after, that look of utter astonishment turned into extreme elation. The corners of his eyes rose higher and higher, the corners of his mouth split wider and wider, and before long, a wildly grinning pervert appeared on the rooftop of the rest area.

"Aoooooo—"

That hysterical laughter instantly drew the attention of Xie Yang across the way.

"No, bro, did you catch a baboon? How can you laugh so creepy?"

Cheng Shi instantly stiffened. He hurriedly clamped a hand over his mouth, turning his brazen guffaw into a sneaky snicker.

So that's how it is. I knew my guess had to be right: Faith has indeed begun to merge!

And the first step of that merge is: coexistence!

【Cheng Shi, Male, 22 years old】

【Path: Void】

【Path Talent:

Reflection of the Void (SSS): A Void path talent, active. You and your shadow share the same root, the same origin, are conjugate and give rise to each other. You may switch faiths by swapping identities; after switching, the effects of the original faith's talent disappear.

......】

【Current Faith: Fate】

【Current Path to Divinity Score: 2168, Global Rank: 428,647】

【Current Whispering Tide Score: 169, Path Rank: 41】

【Faith Talent:

Clown of Fate (S): A Deception oath-breaking talent, passive. A clown favored by Fate is still a clown; a farcical performance still provokes laughter. Therefore, you still enjoy His favor and the blessing of the Grand Deceiver. This talent cannot be replaced by any other.

......】

?

Crap, the oath-breaking curse has turned into an oath-breaking talent—now someone really has become a clown...

As for who, I dare not say.

So in order to save 【Deception】's smile, you really went all out...

But setting aside these amusements, Cheng Shi's gaze locked dead onto this so-called 【Path Talent】:

Reflection of 【Void】!

He finally understood. So this is how faiths coexist—not two faiths existing on one player at the same time, but two faiths existing at staggered times!

So his shadow really has become a temporary vessel for a faith. Right now it is a follower of 【Deception】, while he himself is a follower of 【Fate】.

If that's the case, how does one switch?

As he thought it over, Cheng Shi looked at his shadow again. It was just like any ordinary shadow, nothing special about it, lying meekly on the ground—not at all like before when it had taken on a three-dimensional form.

With just a black blob like this, how does one swap faiths?

Recite a prayer?

"Lies like yesterday..." No reaction.

"Cannot tell true from false..." No reaction.

"Lives as many as the stars..." No reaction.

Touch it?

He bent down and swept a hand across the ground—again, no reaction.

But just as Cheng Shi frowned, puzzling over how exactly to switch faiths, his shadow peeled off the ground once more and extended a single finger toward him.

!!!!

Cheng Shi was startled by the sudden change, but he immediately swallowed hard and, somewhat nervously, reached out his finger.

The moment one black fingertip and one white fingertip touched, Cheng Shi felt his vision blur, and then......

Nothing happened.

"Mm?" He examined himself, feeling no change anywhere on his body, but he quickly thought of something and hurriedly looked at his player panel.

【Cheng Shi, male, 22 years old】

【Fate: Void】

【Current Faith: Deceit】

【Current Whispering Tide Score: 169, Fate Ranking: 57】

【Faith Talent:

Faces of All Beings (S): An Oath-Abandoning Talent of Fate, passive. The pitiable one who has turned his back on Fate is bound by the fates of all beings, unable to escape Fate's web. Therefore, the Special Trial reward will be replaced with the special item 【Mask of All Beings】. This talent cannot be replaced by other talents.

......】

!!!

It's back! Everything's back!

He's become a liar again!

But this Oath-Abandoning Talent of Fate......

Cheng Shi's little face fell, his expression complicated.

As expected, no mistake about it — I was an oath-abandoner from the start! An oath-abandoner who, at the very beginning of his Fate, abandoned his oath to 【Fate】 and walked toward 【Deceit】!

Yes, Cheng Shi truly was an oath-abandoner. Not only that — he was the very first oath-abandoner in the entire 【Faith Game】!

When he accepted that Dice of Fate yet still reached his hand toward the mask, at that point in time before the game had even begun, he had already become an oath-abandoner.

Of course, players who showed greed at the starting point of Fate were far more than just him, but players greedy enough to throw even their lives away were truly few.

Some of these people held out halfway through the Divine Punishment and then chose to give up, embracing a single faith to survive; some died outright because of excessive greed and the lack of 【Their】 protection. Someone like Cheng Shi, who survived as an oath-abandoner — there was only this one.

Perhaps because of how special he was, perhaps because he was greedy enough, in any case, 【Deceit】 took a liking to him and snatched him away from 【Fate】's hands.

Only, out of "care" from Her — mm, care, definitely not some twisted whim — Cheng Shi's Oath-Abandoning Talent was "altered" into a Faith Talent, and this fact, the believer himself had never known from beginning to end.

It was only at this very moment, when 【Deceit】 and 【Fate】 compromised with each other, that he finally discovered this hidden truth.

No, not entirely discovered either — after all, he only knew that from this moment on he had two patrons. As for the faith gamble between the two patrons and the so-called 【Void】 agreement, he still knew nothing at all.

Cheng Shi stared blankly at his own shadow, his thoughts unable to settle for a long time.

So what about now? What does that make things?

Three oath-abandonings?

Oath-abandoning back and forth?

He seemed to have become a clown bouncing back and forth on the paths of 【Deceit】 and 【Fate】......

Is this the result you two wanted, my two lords?

So, what exactly am I now?

A collectible of 【Deceit】, a darling of 【Fate】?

Or a god-blessed of 【Void】?

In any case, no matter what it's called, this feeling of being able to control one's own faith......

Is just too damn amazing!

"Aoooooo—"

"Bro, not gonna lie, the baboon you grabbed is kinda terrifying......"

"......"

You're the baboon! Your whole family are baboons!