Chapter 766: We Meet Again, Faker Doctor

We meet again, you swindling doctor.

He didn't dare to laugh, afraid of being beaten to death.

In this race-against-time moment, Cheng Shi was unwilling to waste time playing another round of "guess who I am" with his dear big brother, so he quickly put on an expression of utter astonishment, looked at Hu Ge and cried out in shock:

"Hu Ge, you're here too?"

Hu Ge's momentum stalled. This time, hearing the other side really did sound like his own brother, but Cheng Shi's "identities" were simply too many — he didn't dare be certain which Cheng Shi he was dealing with right now, so he could only treat Cheng Shi as Cheng Shi for the moment.

"Cheng Shi, it's really you! Ha!"

Hu Ge strode up to Cheng Shi's side, gave his shoulder a heavy pat, smiled on his face but with caution written all over his eyes, and said:

"How did you get here? For the 0221 experiment?

Your information is sharp — who told you about this experiment?"

As Hu Ge asked, he watched Cheng Shi's reaction. Seeing Cheng Shi's expression change oddly and Cheng Shi repeatedly trying to look past him at the people behind, the Grand Marshal realized that the other's identity couldn't be revealed here.

His brow tightened, his eyes rolled, and he went on: "You're a single priest — how dare you walk straight into the tiger's den? Perfect, my team..."

Hu Ge glanced back at the few priests in his team, the corner of his eye twitched, and he forced himself to say: "... is short a priest. Good brother, come with me, it'll be safer!"

Saying so, he stepped forward, using his burly frame to block the people behind from scrutinizing Cheng Shi, then muttered in a low voice: "Fabricated laws, cosmic jest."

"?"

No way — Hu Ge, you're not even bothering to act anymore, are you?

This dead-drop-style exchange left Cheng Shi deeply embarrassed, but right now he wasn't Ultraman, so he could only follow Hu Ge's lead and keep acting. His eyes suddenly went wide, as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. He looked at Hu Ge, paused for a beat, then replied in kind: "Fabricated laws, cosmic jest."

Hearing this reply, Hu Ge finally confirmed that the Cheng Shi before him was indeed the Cheng Shi who had been summoned by his own patron. His pupils contracted sharply. He wasn't sure whether Seeing Da Yi had actually told the other party about his identity, so to be safe he could only keep up the act, nodding heavily as he said:

"That lord really didn't deceive me. Cheng Shi, I didn't expect you to have joined 【Chaos】 too!"

"... Hu Ge, I didn't..."

"Don't worry, I won't spread it around, because I... have already merged with 【Chaos】. From this moment on, we are true brothers!"

"..."

No — between the two of us, who's the swindler here?

I see you really do want to merge with 【Fraud】, swindling even me, a Command Bearer.

Cheng Shi was helpless inside. He truly didn't want to play these "playing house" disguise games with the man, but for the sake of his own cover story, he had no choice. So once more he put on a look of shock and said, unable to believe it: "Hu Ge, you actually..."

"Shh! Faith-merging is the trend of the times, and I know you've already had your chance encounter, but don't speak of it here. The reason I came here is... uh, it's because I detected that anomaly of divinity and wanted to see what the 【Truth】 believers are up to. What about you? That lord has mentioned you to me many times — could it be that you've been dispatched by that lord?"

Good, good, good — taking the intel I leaked to you and using it to intimidate me back, huh? Playing the information-gap game, you've really mastered that trick.

But Cheng Shi didn't want to stick with Hu Ge the whole way, because he knew that in his good big brother's team, you might get a share of the spoils, but you'd never get the best share.

He could travel with Hu Ge during exploration, but before the loot was divided, he had to leave this team.

So Cheng Shi hurriedly shook his head and said:

"No, that lord didn't send me to do anything. The reason I'm here is..."

Halfway through, Cheng Shi stalled. He suddenly realized that no matter whose name he dropped, he'd have to explain at length to dispel the Grand Marshal's suspicion. To save time, and to give himself an excuse to leave the team, a light bulb went off in his head and he went on:

"My neighbor has disappeared. I came to find him."

"Neighbor? A neighbor in the rest area?"

Hu Ge clearly didn't quite buy this reason, but Cheng Shi quickly put on a grief-stricken face and said:

"He... helped me a lot. We trusted each other, supported each other, and only just barely made it this far. So when he's in trouble, I can't just stand by. Even though I know this 【Truth】 game is dangerous, I still came — because I have to be true to my own heart, and even more so, true to his trust in me!"

"Good!"

A flicker of admiration passed through Hu Ge's eyes. He gave Cheng Shi's shoulder a heavy pat, the smile on his face growing ever brighter.

Who wouldn't be happy to have a brother so loyal and true?

Of course, if this brother hadn't been summoned by that lord or by his own patron, then at most Hu Ge would feel ordinary admiration — not enough to be this happy.

And now, having learned that his new ally was, as he'd hoped, truly trustworthy, the gloom that Da Yi's disappearance had brought to Hu Ge's heart was finally eased a little.

"That's my man! I knew I, Hu Ge, wouldn't misjudge a person!

Cheng Shi, stick close to the team — 【Truth】 is seriously sinister.

But no matter how sinister, it doesn't matter. Every trace of 【Truth】 throughout history will be burned to ash in the fires of 【War】!

And today, I'm going to see just what kind of devilry that 0221 trickster is pulling in this experimental ground!"

Saying so, Hu Ge raised that greatsword flowing with flames and, facing a certain stretch of ruins ahead, called out in a deep voice:

"【War】's madman has come to pay his respects. 【Truth】's brat — do you dare show yourself?"

"..."

The momentum was fully there, the awkwardness came out of nowhere, and the scene fell silent.

Hu Ge's burst of passion drew no response whatsoever, so much so that Cheng Shi, who had thought the other had actually discovered something, nearly failed to hold back his laughter and burst out on the spot.

But luckily he held it in, and played the role of the one who eased the awkwardness.

"Hu Ge, forgive my poor eyes — is there... anyone down there?"

Hu Ge, for his part, didn't feel awkward at all. He had indeed sensed many tangled auras buried beneath this place, which was why he'd put on that earlier "civility before force" display. Seeing no one respond now, he let out a great laugh, raised his greatsword, and looked ready to smash through the disguise in front of him by brute force.

Just then, a figure suddenly stepped out from the team, shook his head at the team leader Hu Ge, and said:

"It's useless. The formation here will transfer any attack to another area.

In other words, Grand Marshal, once you swing that blade, the ones who'll have to take that edge won't be the experimental subjects buried below — they'll be the newly entered players elsewhere, fighting the Absurd Mother Tree.

If you want to open this place, brute force is the worst option.

If you trust me, let me have a try. In about ten minutes, I should be able to strip away this disguise, destroy the formation inside, and let everyone present see those vanished players."

"!!!"

There's actually someone like that in the team?!

Every eye on the scene turned to this person. Hu Ge and Cheng Shi turned around even more directly, faces full of astonishment and suspicion, to look at him.

"You are...?"

Hu Wei furrowed his brow, seemingly unable to find this person's figure in his memory. He looked the other over in confusion, trying to figure out their identity. At that moment, Cheng Shi, standing off to the side, suddenly changed expression, his brows knitting tight as he let out a cold laugh and said:

"His name is Wang Wang Weijin. He's a slice of the host of this experiment, 0221, and also an extremely shrewd assassination doctor."

"???"

The moment the words fell, everyone raised the weapons in their hands toward that figure.

Wang Mou, however, was remarkably calm. He looked toward Cheng Shi and nodded in greeting: "We meet again, Weaver of Fate."

"Yes, we meet again, conman doctor.

What scam are you planning to pull this time?"