Chapter 65: Fishbone Hall and Bone Throne

Fishbone Hall and Bone Throne

Cheng Shi was sucked away again.

This second audience was clearly more familiar than the first; he made no resistance, letting his consciousness plunge into darkness.

Who is it this time?

The Fun God or the Whore God?

No, don’t think that!

At least don’t think it like that!

Before Them, he had no freedom of thought.

Even imagining could be judged as sacrilege.

The Patron said: before I deceive Them, I must endure.

I’ll endure!

His consciousness sharpened again from fuzziness; Cheng Shi opened his eyes with trepidation.

He had already prepared for the worst, even mentally rehearsed a subtle defense:

His sacrilegious words were merely “helpless bluster,” not a genuine belief that any of Them was a whore.

But what he saw this time was not the star-painted eyes of any being—only a winding white staircase, stretching from beneath his feet into invisible void.

Each step resembled a massive vertebra, pitted with bone holes, blindingly pale.

Along both sides of the vertebrae grew long, thick intermuscular bones, jutting outward like blade-cliffs.

Due to the steep incline between joints, when Cheng Shi looked up, he saw the endless, densely packed white bone steps resembled a colossal fishbone, floating in boundless darkness, radiating terrifying white light.

If this truly was the bone of a fish, that fish could not be described merely as “huge.”

Perhaps all the words Cheng Shi had ever learned to describe “size” lost all meaning before its volume.

Just one bone segment made Cheng Shi feel he’d need at least fifteen minutes to walk across.

Cheng Shi stood frozen, speechless before the colossal sight.

At that moment, a cacophonous mix of sounds reached his ears.

It was a sound hard to describe.

Both shrill and hoarse, ethereal and heavy—as if the voices of men, women, children, and elders were blended together, indistinguishable, simultaneous, resonating as one.

“Come up! Hurry up!”

Cheng Shi jumped at the sudden shout, turning quickly—only to see countless lifeforms suddenly appear on the “fish spines,” where no one had been moments before.

These never-before-seen creatures lined up on the razor-thin fish-spine cliffs, leaping one after another like dumplings into boiling water.

Below the “cliff” lay boundless void.

The moment the lifeforms leapt, their flesh and blood were instantly washed away by the void, until they struck an unseen “ground,” where even their remaining bones shattered.

The immense impact crushed the skeletons—but only the skulls remained intact.

Countless bone-white skulls rolled toward Cheng Shi, piling up along both sides of the vertebral steps, wildly opening and closing their jaws, clicking their last remaining teeth in welcome.

“Come up! Hurry up!”

“The Master waits for you! He waits for you above!”

Cheng Shi was stunned by this unprecedented scene.

Honestly, anyone would be stunned.

What lay before him was too absurd, too beyond human comprehension, that his legs, ready to move, instinctively grew weak.

Looking at the countless skulls clicking and gnashing beside the steps, Cheng Shi kept thinking:

If I take one step forward, will they come and chew on me?

“Come up! Hurry up! The Master waits for you above!”

The longer Cheng Shi stood still, the faster the skulls opened and closed their jaws.

He seemed to guess who waited above; he swallowed hard, mustered courage within, then stepped forward.

The instant Cheng Shi stepped, his skin, muscles, tendons, and blood were stripped away, left behind on the spot—only a luminous, jade-like skeleton surged forward.

And it leapt one step at a time.

The seemingly vast staircase, the moment he moved, automatically lowered beneath his feet.

So fast it whipped up a gale in the void.

As Cheng Shi advanced, the skulls beside the steps grew louder.

“Go! Move faster! Faster! Don’t make Him wait!”

Cheng Shi dared not take a second step.

Whether from the wind of the void or because he was now bare-skinned and cold, he felt icy all over.

He rubbed his familiar yet alien skeleton, then instinctively covered his groin.

Damn it, am I running naked?

Huh?

Wait—I don’t need to cover it… the thing I’d cover is gone too…

He looked down—sure enough, it was gone.

So this isn’t running naked!

Cheng Shi’s mood inexplicably improved; he chuckled softly and strode forward.

The fishbone steps descended section by section; the white bones piled layer upon layer.

When Cheng Shi mentally counted he had taken 404 steps, the unchanging fishbone staircase finally changed.

A commotion erupted from all directions; the voices of men, women, children, and elders exploded at once.

Instantly, endless skulls rose from behind him, beside him, before him, hurtling forward.

A white torrent surged upward, forming a magnificent inverted waterfall of skulls in the dark void.

Cheng Shi stood motionless on the steps, waiting for His arrival.

Not because his legs were weak—but because he had already felt the aura of [Death].

Thick enough to choke, viscous enough to panic.

This was a true path leading to [Death]!

Countless skulls rained down, piling into a bone throne before Cheng Shi in an instant.

Upon that throne, a massive skull stared at Cheng Shi through its hollow, black eye sockets.

“Cheng, Shi.”

Its voice was like cold flame surging from the abyss—bone-chilling.

Even Cheng Shi, reduced to a skeleton, felt his marrow about to freeze.

This was [Death]!

The third deity of the [Life] Path!

“Yes.”

Cheng Shi gritted his teeth, enduring the onslaught of Death’s divinity, and nodded.

“Very, good.

I, wish to make, a bargain, with you.”

?

A bargain?

With your grandeur—am I worthy?

Cheng Shi feared this was a trap laid by [Death], so he blurted out:

“If you desire anything of mine, it is my honor.”

What did he possess that could draw His attention?

After racking his mind, only one thing came to mind: the [When Fear Arrives].

The massive skull remained silent for a long time after hearing Cheng Shi’s reply; after a long pause, it spoke again:

“You, are different, from what He, said.”

Who?

Who the hell is talking behind my back?

Cheng Shi dared not ask, so he could only awkwardly smile.

But such a fleshly smile could not be expressed on bone—so it amounted to no response at all.

“Bring it out. The bargain, will not, shortchange, you.”

Cheng Shi wanted to ask how he could produce anything in his current state.

But before he could speak, his consciousness stirred—and everything in his personal space spilled out at his feet.

Looking at the scattered mess on the ground, Cheng Shi was embarrassed.

He quickly knelt, rummaged through the pile of sedatives, ropes, toxins, and masks, found the dagger He needed, and respectfully raised it.

“Very good. Do you know, what this, is?”

“[When Fear Arrives], a dual-divine… relic of a lesser deity, imbued with the aura of You and another god.”

Cheng Shi knew that among the people of Hope Continent, semi-divine artifacts were collectively called relics of lesser deities.

“Fear… a vile name.

Humanity, for ten thousand years, has made no progress, in naming.”

Its name is the Garuda Dagger.

The Garuda Dagger...

Very well, may I ask this True God, how do you have the courage to say that humans cannot name things?

I’m not afraid of top students being humble—I’m afraid of failures being unaware of their own inadequacy!

But Cheng Shi said nothing, simply listening in silence.

The deity before him seemed eager to share.

Garuda is the Primordial Deity of [Life].

He is also the messenger I trust most.

But He made a mistake.

He fell in love with a whore.

!!!

Fuck!

What the hell?

Do even the [Gods] use this word?

At that moment, Cheng Shi’s skull boiled!

How to put it— hearing a [God] say the word “whore” in this very setting was absolutely electrifying!

Both the gossip value and the sense of recognition reached their peak.

How lucky—you know, I know a whore too!

And she...

Cough, cough, never mind. Better to listen more and think less—keep my dog life intact.

Still, it’s obvious that the deity whom [Death] called a whore must be the other half of the divinity behind [When Fear Arrives].