Foolish Game of the Gods - Chapter 140

Three days had passed since the last trial.

During those three days, Cheng Shi gathered his thoughts and once again bore witness to Xie Yang’s adventures in love.

Last night, when he heard the name of the third girl from the mouth of this [War] follower, Cheng Shi immediately envisioned her death.

“Xiaoyuan is an amazing girl. She loves to read, she loves to paint, she loves singing in the sun, and she loves cooking with her own hands. She’s like my shining moonlight, my destined soulmate. The only downside is that she lives on the first floor, far away from me. So, we have to deal with a long-distance relationship for now. Dude, tell me, have I found true love?”

Cheng Shi couldn’t be bothered to comment.

When he learned that Xie Yang had “found” this shining moonlight by throwing multiple phones out of his window, one of which was picked up, he realized that he truly didn’t understand love at all.

His understanding of love was too shallow, too outdated.

Look at this guy. This is the modern-day version of love.

Dropping a phone gets you paired up, like Bluetooth 10.0.

“Bro, do you have a camera? Can you take a picture for me? I want to see what Xiaoyuan looks like. Of course, I’m not superficial—I care more about inner beauty. But without a picture, it feels like her outer beauty is missing in my heart, and that makes my love feel incomplete. She lives on the first floor, apartment 107, facing your building. You should be able to see her. Please, just consider it a favor. I still have… other things I can trade with you if needed.”

Cheng Shi gave Xie Yang a speechless look and nodded.

Fine. For the sake of that corpse. It’s just a picture, right?

So, Cheng Shi went back to the warehouse, grabbed a camera, leaned over the edge of the rooftop, and aimed at the neighboring apartment 107.

He didn’t know if it was an unfortunate coincidence or just fate playing tricks, but Cheng Shi had been planning to use the excuse that the window was closed and no one was visible. Just as he was about to say that, the player in 107 opened their window.

The man stretched his arms wide, leaning out the window toward the street.

Cheng Shi’s building was quite high, and even though he zoomed in with the camera, he couldn’t see the man’s face clearly.

But sometimes, you don’t need to see someone’s face to get a pretty good idea of what they look like.

Armpit hair, chest hair, and a beer belly, wearing nothing but shorts.

That was all he needed.

A masterpiece.

Cheng Shi’s hand shook, and he nearly dropped the camera.

Xiaoyuan?

Hmm, what a lovely name.

And what a beautifully round belly!

His face was a complex mix of emotions. Xie Yang, seeing Cheng Shi’s expression from across the rooftop, waved excitedly and shouted:

“Did you get it? Did you get it? Did you see my moonlight?”

Cheng Shi forced a more excited smile and nodded enthusiastically.

“I saw her, but I didn’t get a picture!

My camera broke. But don’t worry, I got a good look at her.

She’s truly beautiful.

Just like… a real full moon!”

Staring at that perfectly round belly, Cheng Shi couldn’t help but remember an old acquaintance.

“……”

Setting aside her constantly swollen belly, Hu Xuan was indeed beautiful.

And it was precisely Cheng Shi’s acknowledgment of Hu Xuan’s beauty that Xie Yang picked up on immediately!

The necromancer across the rooftops wasn’t lying!

Xiaoyuan was really beautiful!!

Xie Yang pumped his fist in excitement, nearly losing his mind with joy.

“Yes!

I knew it! Xiaoyuan is my destiny! She’s the one I’ve been waiting for!

Thanks, bro! I’m going to start a matchmaking prayer right now and request a camera. Wait for me, bro! I’ve got to see her tonight!

Xiaoyuan, wait for me, I’m coming!”

“……”

Cheng Shi scratched his head, realizing he had just dug himself into a hole.

Indeed, a single lie often requires countless more to cover up.

What should I do when he gets the camera? How am I going to take a picture for him?

“Forget it, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Worst case, I’ll lay low for a few days.”

Speaking of prayers…

Cheng Shi hadn’t initiated a prayer for a long time.

It wasn’t because he was scared of dying, but because he had enough resources. There just hadn’t been a need…

Alright, no more lies—it was because he was scared of dying.

With special trials becoming more and more dangerous these days, as long as he barely had enough supplies, there wasn’t much point in taking extra risks in other trials.

But after experiencing this trial from [Fate], Cheng Shi started to have different thoughts.

The current situation was growing increasingly dire. He couldn’t afford to sit by idly any longer.

Not to mention that a certain [Fate], also a god of the void, had been watching him like a hawk. Now, even [Memory] was coming up with tricks.

With pressure from both sides now, no matter how cautious Cheng Shi was, it was impossible to guarantee he wouldn’t make a single mistake.

And if he made even one mistake, whichever one of them caught the opportunity would likely push him into a disastrous situation.

So, to get out of this predicament, to buy more time to survive, Cheng Shi decided it was time to take action.

He needed to take the initiative and deal with one of these two problems, even if only temporarily, to buy himself a moment to catch his breath.

Even if the solution would be temporary, even if it couldn’t be achieved in one fell swoop, it was time to act.

He began reflecting on how he had ended up in this mess, sorting through his entanglements with both [Fate] and [Memory].

There wasn’t much to analyze about [Memory]. Their faiths were in direct opposition—there was nothing to do but fight.

But [Fate] was a different story.

[Fate] was a fellow god of the void, just like his Patron.

Logically speaking, gods of the same path usually wouldn’t have such poor relations. Their followers could even be considered brothers-in-arms.

But the problem didn’t lie with the two gods—it lay with Cheng Shi himself.

Ever since he had taken that mask from the starting point of his fate, his destiny had been on a dramatic course.

[Fate] had abandoned him, and Cheng Shi, in turn, had begun to reject fate.

No, to be more precise, even before the [Faith Game] descended, Cheng Shi had already resented fate, thanks to an unhappy life.

The mask he’d chosen at the start and his subsequent defiance of fate had only deepened that stance.

It was like a mutual hatred between two enemies. Hatred like this only grew with time; it didn’t fade.

For the longest time, Cheng Shi thought he would continue down the path of abandoning [Fate] more and more.

But after this latest trial, a new thought sprouted in Cheng Shi’s mind.

Was there perhaps a chance to mend his relationship with [Fate]?

Logically speaking, from the perspective of both humans and gods, Cheng Shi was insignificant.

But from…

Ahem, but from the perspective of a trickster and a sellout, neither of these two gods were saints. They shouldn’t hold grudges against each other.

Normally, Cheng Shi wouldn’t have dared to even consider such thoughts. But in this trial, [Fate]’s attitude gave him a glimmer of hope.

In the last trial, [Fate] had placed all the answers in layers of the void that players couldn’t reach. The purpose was obvious—it was never the intention for a certain player to walk out alive.

Whether it was out of jealousy or just a grudge, the trial was clearly meant as punishment.

Yet, after Cheng Shi passed the trial, his rating and rewards were both S-rank!

This indicated that something unexpected had occurred during the trial, causing [Fate] to retract its punishment and instead offer… rewards.

Yes, rewards.

Though the word “reward” seemed strange in this context, an S-rank score was the highest reward a god could give to a player who completed their trial.

Thinking it over carefully, Cheng Shi realized that his performance throughout the trial didn’t really seem worthy of an S-rank. That rating should have gone to Zhen Xin, who deceived everyone and uncovered the final answer.

But since Cheng Shi had received the S-rank, it meant that he had somehow satisfied [Fate], that his actions had benefited [Fate] enough for the god to abandon its intention of punishing him.

As for what those benefits were…

Recalling the ambiguous information revealed by Hu Xuan at the end of the trial, Cheng Shi guessed that his final decision had shifted fate toward an unknown path, drawing several gods into the game.

And [Fate] had come out on top in this divine conflict.

No, not just on top—[Fate] had dominated!

Otherwise, the god wouldn’t have spared the annoying little clown who constantly whispered in His ear and even awarded him an S-rank rating.

So, there was now a real possibility of reconciling with [Fate], and the reason for that possibility was clear:

Cheng Shi’s choices had benefited [Fate] far more than any previous blasphemy could have.

The opportunity was there. Now he just had to figure out how to walk this delicate path.

After two days of intense thought, Cheng Shi made a decision.

He would go looking for inspiration.

He would enter a trial to find inspiration.

Having long since mastered the art of “how to avoid excessively difficult Wishing Trials,” Cheng Shi activated his first Wishing Trial in over a month!

“Do not discern truth from falsehood, do not debate reality from illusion.

Your devoted follower prays to You, requesting a trial…

A trial where I can ‘witness the compromise between an unfortunate soul abandoned by fate and the fate that spurned them.’”

Yes, witness!

That word was key. It had proven useful many times before when Cheng Shi sought answers in trials by simply observing how others solved their problems.

Because when you specifically pray to solve a particular problem, the trial’s difficulty skyrockets to an absurd level.

But if you’re just there to watch someone else solve it, trials that only add an observer are nearly effortless.

Cheng Shi never expected things to be resolved in one go. He figured he still had time to slowly work through everything, so he chose to seek inspiration first.

And so…

—

[Wishing Trial (Unlicensed Crime [Order]) has been activated]

Matching teammates (1/6)…

Trial Objective: When Order is unseen, crime still remains (Time limit: 3 days).

—

It’s an Order trial!

As long as you don’t disrupt the order, His trials usually remain quite civilized.

This should be safe!

A smile spread across Cheng Shi’s face as his consciousness sank into the void.

—

[Match complete (6/6), entering trial.]