Chapter 815: Qin Shi Huang

Qin Shi Huang

The roads inside the town were far from as easy to traverse as the three of them had imagined.

There were ice shards everywhere; rather than saying Cheng Shi and his companions were traveling through a town, it would be more accurate to say they were climbing over hills crafted from ice.

Along the way, they discovered several scattered traces of scavengers. After capturing one to question, they finally gained some preliminary understanding of this town beneath the abyss.

Not to mention how Sandlais had become a dumping ground for experimental waste from the Tower of Rationality in the past, just looking at the current scavenging ecology here, it was exactly as Hammer had said: the lucky ones who had just fallen down, even if they hadn't died, could only survive in the outer circle. Only when they had adapted to the climate here and could barely scrape by through scavenging were they qualified to approach the town center and join the scavenging groups that had been operating there for years.

These scavenging groups, who carved out their own territories, were the current "decision-makers" of Sandlais. They huddled together at the edge of the town center, enjoying the resource-rich areas while remaining vigilant against any lone scavengers or unfamiliar faces, preventing outsiders from rushing into the town center. To this end, these groups, which were at odds with each other year-round, even pooled their efforts at the edge of the town center to erect a massive protective net, all to guard the town center's... treasure!

That's right, treasure.

In the mouths of those scavengers, all the secrets of Sandlais were in the town center, but outside scavengers couldn't get close at all, so none of them knew what was hidden inside.

The old scavengers' public claim was that it was Divine Fragments, but if it were just Divine Fragments, it probably wouldn't be worth these people going to such great lengths to "rebuild" some kind of order in a death zone that was almost devoid of any.

Considering the purpose of this trip, Cheng Shi wondered if what these scavengers were guarding was the Ear of Secrets.

He exchanged a few words with Zhang Jizu about his conjecture. Zhang Jizu nodded in approval: "It seems you already have an idea. What do you want to do?"

Cheng Shi stood on a high ground between some ice shards, gazing at the even more shattered town center in the distance, and laughed:

"Since scavengers are the protagonists here, if we want this performance to go more smoothly, it's only natural to give these protagonists more screen time.

You say, if we unify all the scavenger forces here, wouldn't these people become our eyes?

In this way, wouldn't we be able to easily grasp the whereabouts of those two bastards and our missing mysterious teammate?

Of course, considering that the 'natives' here pose almost no threat to them, perhaps we can help them out by doing something to them, so that when these scavengers are attacked, they passively release a 'warning signal.'

Like explosive traps or flash arrays. Old Zhang, what do you think?"

"Sitting inside, luring the enemy outside—sounds feasible, but it wastes too much time.

Don't forget we only have three days. I think their goal is probably the same as ours, so before finding what we want, are you sure you want to spend a large amount of time focusing on the tracks of the other two?"

"I also know that time is precious, but I always feel that these bastards might be hiding somewhere, watching us secretly, just waiting for us to scout the path ahead, and then, when we find that treasure, they will emerge at the perfect moment to reap the rewards."

As he spoke, Cheng Shi looked back over his shoulder with a meaningful, playful expression.

Zhang Jizu narrowed his eyes, his expression also slightly strange. However, having the local native intelligence system in hand was definitely not a mistake, so as long as they put some effort into the speed of "unification," it should count as sharpening the axe without delaying the woodcutting.

So he nodded in approval again:

"Then go ahead. We'll wait for your good news."

"???" Cheng Shi was shocked. He turned his head and looked at Zhang Jizu with a strange expression, "Squinty Old Zhang, you weren't like this before."

"People change."

"Then why don't you change into something better?"

Zhang Jizu chuckled with his eyes narrowed: "Near vermilion, one gets stained red; near ink, one gets stained black. The words passed down by our ancestors still hold some truth."

"???"

No, buddy, what do you mean?

Just as Cheng Shi was rummaging through his belly for insults to lecture Zhang Jizu, Ai Si tightened the fur collar of her coat and sighed:

"Although it's very ill-timed, you two, there will be plenty of opportunities for... for verbal sparring later. If you don't act now, the unification plan will go bankrupt.

No, I should say it has already gone bankrupt. It seems someone has beaten us to it and already handled the scavengers here."

As she spoke, Ai Si's gaze sharpened. With a straight kick, she struck the tip of her giant blade, sending it flying into the shadows of some ruins not far away.

The group only heard a "Boom—," followed by screams and cries from the shadows. A limping old man was blasted out of the shadows and fell to the ground. His expression changed, and he struggled to run away.

But how could the three people on the scene let a limping old man run away right under their noses? Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow, flicked a die, and with a snap of his fingers, swapped positions with the die to appear in front of the old man.

The old man, panicked and lost, bumped head-on into Cheng Shi, actually managing to push Cheng Shi back slightly. Seeing this, Zhang Jizu narrowed his eyes, but the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, while Ai Si was deeply shocked:

"The Die of 【Fate】?

Isn't he a liar? Isn't Weaver of Fate his fake identity? But how is he still using the power of 【Fate】?"

Zhang Jizu smiled and said nothing, cautiously looking around before walking toward Cheng Shi.

"He deceived the believers of 【Fate】? No, that's a universal talent of 【Fate】, not a talent of the Weaver of Fate!

He fused? He fused with 【Fate】?" Ai Si followed behind, asking in surprise.

"Things are complicated. You can understand it that way for now."

"..."

Complicated?

Ai Si's expression was even more complicated. She had thought that being matched with a God-Chosen was already demoralizing enough, but thinking that the only two teammates in this round had already completed faith fusion, and that those who dared to impersonate Cheng Shi had likely fused as well, a sense of powerless frustration grew in her heart.

Are these the top-tier players?

Their pace is too fast. While ordinary people have only just learned of the existence of a second faith, they have already become pioneers on the path of dual faiths!

But since they have already fused, why come here to seek opportunities?

Watching Cheng Shi's playful expression while interrogating the old man, and Zhang Jizu's calm and steady back, Ai Si quietly clenched her fists, thinking that if there was a chance, she must gain something in this trial.

Her peripheral vision looked toward the center of the town, a flash of desire that no outsider could perceive crossing her eyes.

Is there... really a faith there that can be chosen at will?

If there is, will it be mine? ===== CHAPTER 816 =====