Chapter 622: A Gathering of Barely Acquainted Acquaintances

A Gathering of Barely Acquainted Acquaintances

Before two seconds had passed, the room's door was pushed straight open. A faintly anxious, ethereal female voice arrived first, and then a woman with a black cloth over her eyes rushed in, clutching her tattered black gauze skirt.

"Qin Xin! Is that you?"

The moment she entered and saw Qin Xin lying on the floor, she pulled a healing potion out of her spatial storage without a word.

And when she sensed someone in the corner of the room staring at her with a blank look, she froze for a moment, then said in even greater astonishment:

"Cheng Shi?"

Those eyes wrapped in black cloth slowly "looked" toward Cheng Shi's legs, the "gaze" seeming to freeze on his feet.

"Those feet are actually yours?"

"???"

What feet?

Whose feet?

I don't have feet!

Cheng Shi was baffled. His first instinct was to think of nothing and immediately try to shift the blame, but when he realized he didn't really have any blame to shift, he quickly looked down at his own feet.

For some reason, under this female player's "stare," he suddenly felt a strong urge to hide his feet, but then he felt that the "feet" she mentioned didn't seem to be his current feet, but rather... the feet from the prophecy?

She saw him in her prophecy?

Possible, very possible. After all, she was a prophet, a Chosen of 【Fate】, the one called Blind — An Mingyu.

Right, Cheng Shi recognized her as An Mingyu.

He had actually never met Blind before. Based on her appearance alone, he wouldn't have immediately connected her to Blind either — there were far too many oddly dressed people in this world, and no one knew what some teammates were trying to hide with their strange outfits.

But when he heard that faintly familiar voice, the blank image of Blind in his mind was instantly completed, and he confirmed she was the An Mingyu he had spoken with on the phone.

Another Chosen, another Chosen gathering!

What was interesting was that this Blind was also a Chosen of 【Fate】. What a coincidence — Cheng Shi currently held the highest ranking on 【Fate】's Stair of Audience. So if at this moment he were to...

"You didn't make a move, did you?" An Mingyu half-knelt beside Qin Xin, slowly feeding the potion into Qin Xin's mouth, while turning her head to "look" at him, her brows slightly furrowed in confusion.

Cheng Shi was even more baffled.

No, miss, who did you learn to be so familiar with strangers from? I only had one phone call with you, you don't even necessarily know it's me, so how dare you casually throw out blame and suspicion?

I'm a good citizen, how could I possibly...

Damn, he really did make a move, but can probing be called making a move? Besides, that light little shot couldn't even pierce this heavy-armor guy's armor — how could it possibly knock him down?

He passed out because of old wounds, what does that have to do with me?

Countless excuses flashed through Cheng Shi's mind, but in the end he only gave a slight shake of his head.

He chose not to explain anything at that moment, because as Blind finished pouring in the potion, another person came strolling in through the door.

This was a tall, thin man in casual clothes, his expression somewhat serious, but he didn't look unapproachable.

He first frowned at Qin Xin on the floor, then gave Cheng Shi a slight nod in greeting. His bright eyes swept back and forth across the room twice, and finally he said thoughtfully, "Looks like a gathering of acquaintances."

He clearly wasn't talking about himself, but about the three people in front of him.

Hearing this, Cheng Shi's mouth twitched, and his expression turned strange.

If you want to call them acquaintances, they did indeed know each other's names, but it was limited to just knowing the names — this really was the first time meeting in person.

Mm, truly wonderful, a gathering of acquaintances meeting for the first time.

The enormous crash of Qin Xin hitting the floor drew the attention of the entire inn. Before long, the doorway was crowded with people craning their necks to look.

Cheng Shi was standing further inside. He only turned his head for a glance, and immediately noticed that the travelers in this inn seemed a bit strange?

Some were dressed in finery, some in rags. By appearance, every race seemed represented — almost no common ground could be found. But one thing worth noting was that they all gave off the air of shrewd, mercenary merchants. Their mouse-like little eyes were gleaming as they sized up the room, seemingly trying to confirm whether there was profit to be made from this "chaos."

Before long, two more players squeezed their way in from the crowd. Their outfits made it obvious at a glance that they were players.

The one leading the way wore a fitted leather outfit, his smile bright, sunny, and cheerful. When someone blocked his path, he'd say pleasant words and politely squeeze his body sideways to make room — but if he met someone who refused to give way, he'd use his broad shoulders to teach them a lesson.

Following behind was a woman with shoulder-length hime-cut hair, wearing a pure white trailing mage's robe. Her face was cold, and her eyes even brimmed with barely suppressed killing intent.

She walked quickly behind the man, and wherever she passed, the travelers who felt that bone-chilling killing intent would instinctively step back. But if they stepped back too slowly, they'd earn a venomous glare from this woman — that irritable look seeming to say: Do you want to die?

The two quickly squeezed in from the outer ring. The leather-jacketed man politely said a couple of words to dismiss the onlookers, then wiped his sweat while tightly shutting the door.

At this point, all six players of this trial had finally met in this sweltering room.

And at this moment, Qin Xin, awakened by the potion, also opened his eyes while lying on the floor. His sharp gaze swept over the people in front of him, and his taut heartstrings loosened a fraction.

"Mingyu, it's really you, I..."

He had only spoken halfway when he suddenly paused, then slightly raised his head to look at Cheng Shi's feet.

Cheng Shi was startled by this sudden gaze. What was even stranger was that as Qin Xin turned his head to look at him, everyone in the room followed his line of sight and looked at Cheng Shi's feet.

"..."

No, big brother, big sister, if I've done something wrong, just kill me, don't let me die of awkwardness here, okay?

The way you're all staring, my toes don't even dare curl against the floor, for fear of turning this into a toe performance for your entertainment.

Perhaps seeing Cheng Shi's discomfort, Qin Xin went "bang" as he lay back down again, laughing heartily:

"So those feet are his?"

An Mingyu also shook her head with a helpless laugh, and judging by the situation, her laughter seemed to be growing louder.

At this point Cheng Shi was completely speechless. The corners of his eyes twitched violently as he said to the two people laughing at each other in a strange tone:

"You two, if you don't explain what's going on here, and keep laughing like this, don't blame me for making sure you can't laugh anymore."

The moment these words fell, everyone's eyes in the room lit up. The other three, adhering to the principle that watching a show is never too big a deal, all stepped back one pace. Blind, upon hearing this, even raised an eyebrow and looked at Cheng Shi with what seemed like anticipation.

As for Qin Xin, he suppressed his laughter. Though the corners of his mouth were still twitching with suppressed mirth, it was clear he wanted to give Cheng Shi the greatest respect.

"I'm very curious about you, Cheng Shi. Before explaining all this, I'd actually like to see exactly how you'd make me unable to laugh."

The one speaking was Blind. Her face was clearly covered by a layer of black burlap, yet Cheng Shi distinctly saw a pair of curious eyes beneath that burlap.

The look in those eyes was clearly not 【Fate】, but more like 【Deception】.

Good, good, good, you really think I have no temper, do you?

Cheng Shi let out a cold snort, his expression instantly shifting—he suddenly pulled from his personal space a white cloth several meters long, and in the blink of an eye, he had tightly wrapped his legs and feet like a mummy.

Everyone stared in shock, then their expressions twisted into one more bizarre than the next, for they saw four large characters clearly written at the end of the white cloth:

Pay to Watch.

This wasn't something Cheng Shi had just written—he had merely taken out this white cloth, which meant the so-called "famous" Weaver of Fate had been carrying this cloth in his personal space all along.

So... what kind of normal person keeps a cloth in their personal space that reads "Pay to Watch"?

The blind woman stared, dumbfounded; she even considered pushing Qin Xin forward to test Cheng Shi's strength—but before she could act, he didn't move at all, yet he had already silenced her laughter, for he had cut off the very source of their amusement.

"......"

An Mingyu tilted her head blankly; after several glances at the white cloth wrapped around Cheng Shi's legs, she finally conceded with a sigh:

"No wonder Xin Xin remembers you so vividly—you're truly an odd one."