Foolish Game of the Gods - Chapter 134

The sudden “mm-hmm” from Li Bola brought an abrupt silence to the scene, leaving even Hu Xuan staring at her in surprise, her mouth slightly agape.

“You…”

Li Bola smiled, a weight seemingly lifted off her shoulders.

“Hu Xuan, you’re indeed beautiful. And yes, part of me did want to work with you because of… that.

But I…

Well, I can’t quite keep up with your pace, so I gave up.”

“……”

Cheng Shi blinked in confusion, his mind struggling to process.

Huh?

Wait, sister, are you serious?

Are you looking for a bedmate in this game?

No wonder you gave that child up so decisively, and no wonder you’ve been eyeing them so intensely.

Are you holding a beauty parade, sis?

Turns out the one who likes women isn’t the bard—it’s the hunter…

“……”

Zhen Xin, too, was momentarily stunned. The sheer number of straight-laced people she had encountered this round had caught her off guard.

Noticing Li Bola’s strange gaze once more settling on her, Zhen Xin smiled and quickly moved closer to Cheng Shi, tightly wrapping herself around his arm.

“What a shame, ranger. It seems we missed our chance.

Because now, I belong to Cheng Shi.”

Cheng Shi’s face darkened as he yanked his arm, ready to curse her out.

But before he could say a word, a snicker rang out from behind them.

“So, you really do like green tea girl.”

Everyone turned in surprise to find that the bard, Qin Chaoge, had somehow reappeared, standing in the void above them.

The moment she arrived, she began stretching and warming up, then broke into song:

“Build walls with the bones of our enemies, let their blood flood the gates!

The horn of war has sounded…

March forward, my warriors!

The land where the enemies fall shall be our new homeland!”

The song barely finished when a figure, bathed in red light, charged straight at Cheng Shi.

A storm of fury and thunderous vocals followed.

The enraged bard grabbed Zhen Xin by the ankles, lifted her off the ground, and slammed her face-first into the earth. Then, she leaped on top of her…

Bam bam bam bam—

Each punch landed like a hammer on the head, one after another, mercilessly.

In no time, Zhen Xin’s face swelled like a pig’s, covered in bruises and welts. She could only cry out in pain, unable to fight back.

“……”

The sheer intensity of the assault left everyone stunned.

Cheng Shi, wide-eyed with astonishment, turned toward the ranger and asked:

“Ranger, why do I feel like… she’s even faster than you?”

Li Bola’s expression was grim, though her eyes twinkled with amusement.

“Remove ‘feel like’—she is faster than me.

That’s the Blood Demon War Song she’s singing. It’s a berserker’s chant from the underworld tribes, far more violent than the pastoral hunters’ songs. Our bard…

No, our warrior, knows quite a few tunes.”

“Yeah. It’s… terrifying.”

That comment didn’t come from Cheng Shi, but from Zhen Xin.

She clung to Cheng Shi’s other arm, trembling as she watched Qin Chaoge, lost in the illusion she had crafted for herself, releasing her pent-up rage.

“So… violent. I don’t like it.”

Cheng Shi scoffed, trying once again to shake off Zhen Xin’s grip to no avail.

“Your teammate is a warrior too, Zhen Xin. Don’t forget—you and Ji Ran were in this together.

Just because you’re standing here doesn’t mean we’ve accepted you as our ally.”

“Huh?

What else do you want?

You’ve touched me, I’ve slept with you, and you still want to deny it?”

“???”

“!!!”

What’s this?

Instantly, all eyes turned toward Cheng Shi.

Li Bola’s gaze held a playful curiosity, while Hu Xuan… well, her eyes were filled with something else entirely.

“……”

Cheng Shi exploded.

He pulled out a scalpel and slashed upward toward Zhen Xin’s stomach.

But to his surprise, Zhen Xin burst like a punctured balloon, exploding with a pop.

A fake.

Another fake.

“Heh~

Heartless bastard, always so cold.

I’m leaving now.

Don’t miss me, bye-bye~”

With that, the Chosen One who had been pulling the strings the entire trial vanished from sight.

She had left.

She had exited the trial.

“Damn it!”

Cheng Shi cursed under his breath, quickly turning to Hu Xuan to explain:

“Don’t listen to her nonsense! I only touched her twice, didn’t sleep with her…”

“Oh—”

“……”

Cheng Shi glared at Li Bola, who was smirking and thoroughly enjoying the show.

“Sis, you’re a wind-tamer ranger, not a chaos-stirring ranger!”

Li Bola raised an eyebrow, whistling nonchalantly, clearly not paying him any mind. Hu Xuan, on the other hand, simply laughed again.

She beckoned to Cheng Shi with a soft smile.

“Come.”

“……”

Cheng Shi froze, instinctively taking a step back.

“Don’t worry. If you’re not willing, I won’t force you. Come here.

This is both my thank-you gift and… my personal desire.

If one day you regret it, use this to contact me.”

Only then did Cheng Shi realize that Hu Xuan was holding a small whistle in her hand.

Damn it, I’m so scared I didn’t even notice her hand.

“What’s this…” Cheng Shi cautiously stepped forward and took the whistle from her hand.

Hu Xuan smiled gently. “It’s a soft whistle made from the calling pipe of a mating bird. In pre-civilization tribes, it was often used as a ‘night-time spring whistle.’”

“?”

Crap, I don’t understand.

How do I pretend I know my history to avoid embarrassing myself?

The confusion in Cheng Shi’s eyes was clearly visible, and Li Bola, seeing through him, chuckled and explained:

“Tribe life lacked entertainment, so at night, people would blow these whistles to mark time. Then, well, the bored ones would… release their energy in bed.”

“?”

So…

“You still don’t get it?

If you’re feeling lonely… blow the whistle.”

Wait, what?

Cheng Shi stared blankly ahead, only to realize that Hu Xuan was already gone. Only Li Bola remained, standing there with a smirk.

“Pfft, what’s so great about men anyway?

Fine, I can’t compete with you. But don’t pull that long face—you’re not a bad guy.

I know you’ve still got secrets, but…

Let’s just leave it at that.

Everyone has their secrets.

I’ll remember you, Cheng Shi. Goodbye.”

And with that, the wind dispersed.

Cheng Shi turned around, speechless, only to find Qin Chaoge staring at him with a complicated expression.

Her gaze held an emotion he couldn’t quite place.

Scratching his head, Cheng Shi blurted out:

“What’s up, sis? You’re jealous too?

You want me to give it to you?

What’s going on, did I stumble into a cheerleading squad? You like her, she likes her, and she likes you?

Are we filming a soap opera here, friend? Where’s that recklessness of yours?”

Qin Chaoge remained silent. She just stared at Cheng Shi, her gaze piercing, and slowly stepped toward him.

Cheng Shi’s heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively turned to run.

But how could a human outrun a beast? He didn’t make it two steps before Qin Chaoge pinned him to the ground.

The bard was too strong for him to resist, and all Cheng Shi could do was watch as her dazed eyes drew closer and closer, as her burning lips descended toward him.

“Are you infected by Hu Xuan?”

“No.”

“You corrupted by [Corruption]?”

“No.”

“……”

Sis, this way I can’t even respond.

“Do you really have to ruin our pure comradeship?”

Cheng Shi sighed in exasperation, staring up at the dazed Qin Chaoge.

She paused, her gaze softening as she felt Cheng Shi’s heartbeat. A trace of disappointment flashed in her eyes.

Cheng Shi noticed it and suddenly didn’t know what to say.

Just as he was thinking of how to politely steer this confused bard away, Qin Chaoge’s lips curled into a smile.

“So, it’s true… you don’t like other women, Little Cheng Shi. Do you like me?”

“!!??”

The Qin Chaoge atop him suddenly transformed back into Zhen Xin, who looked down at him with a wicked grin.

“No wonder you grabbed me so tightly earlier. You must really like me—madly in love.”

Heh.

Heh heh.

Hah.

“Then I must be… absolutely in love with you!”

With Illusory Dreaming of Something from Nothing dispelled, Zhen Xin no longer had access to Qin Chaoge’s strength.

Cheng Shi flipped her off with a quick kick, grabbed his scalpel, and without even aiming, flung it toward Zhen Xin’s position.

Swish swish swish—

Twelve scalpels in a row, each one hitting her dead-on.

Zhen Xin didn’t even try to dodge, letting the scalpels pin her to the void.

“Ow, so painful~

Turns out you like it rough, huh? Ugh, it hurts so much.

But for you, I can endure.”

Endure, my ass.

Crazy woman!

Cheng Shi’s face twitched as he coldly glanced at Zhen Xin, then turned away without a word, heading straight for the door in the void.

The more attention you give her, the more she’ll turn you into her plaything.

The best strategy was to ignore her, dismiss her, and leave.

Since the Qin Chaoge here was fake, the real one was likely still in the town.

He owed it to his teammate, the one who had saved him, to check if she had safely exited the trial.

“Hey, don’t go! I can’t move anymore. Don’t you want to do something?”

“……”

“Don’t you want to know how I ended up getting paired with you?”

Cheng Shi’s steps faltered.

“Oh—so you do want to know!

Beg me. Beg me, and I’ll tell you.”

“……”

Cheng Shi’s already dark expression darkened further. He wanted to slap himself.

Why did I stop?

He resumed walking toward the door.

“You’re so heartless. Fine, I’ll tell you anyway.

Fate!

It was Fate that brought us together!”

Cheng Shi stopped in his tracks, furrowing his brows.

[Fate]?

Did He interfere?

But wasn’t He supposed to be hiding the answers? Why would He send Zhen Xin to mess up the trial?

Just as Cheng Shi was wracking his brain trying to figure it out, Zhen Xin burst into laughter, clutching her stomach.

“You didn’t actually believe that, did you?

Hahahaha, we were both placed in a Fate trial. Of course, it was Fate that brought us together!

You’re so cute, Little Cheng Shi!”

“……”

Damn it, my fists are clenched.

Cheng Shi took a deep breath, forcing himself not to turn around and curse her out, and instead pushed open the door to leave the void.

As Cheng Shi disappeared from sight, Zhen Xin pouted and began pulling the scalpels from her body.

“Sigh, no fun at all.”

She wiped them clean one by one, wrapping them carefully in her clothes with a smile.

“Still, I found an interesting guy. Nice—new additions to the collection.”

She tucked the scalpels into her personal space, then suddenly frowned, glancing at a spot in the void.

“Hm? Was I seeing things? Whatever, time to go.”

With that, Zhen Xin’s figure completely disintegrated.

The void returned to silence.

Three minutes later.

“Huh? Weird. No one’s here. I guess I really was seeing things.”

With a pop, her figure vanished again.

This time, she was really gone.

As the presence of the Chosen One of [Deceit] faded, a shadow slowly coalesced within the empty void.

“Tsk, if she’d seen me, I’d never hear the end of it.

But… maybe I really should get a centipede tattoo?

Would it even help?”

The shadow stroked his neck, chuckled to himself, and dissolved back into the void as if he had never been there.