"Old Wen, what do you think those two will choose?" Little Illusion asked eagerly, sprawled atop Wenren Sheng's head.
"Can't you see their choices?" Wenren Sheng asked doubtfully.
"I can't. They're shrouded in fog. This city's power is really strange." Little Illusion scratched her head.
"Then why can I see everything so clearly?" Wenren Sheng countered.
"That's why I'm asking you." Little Illusion urged him.
"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish, and you feed him for life. I can't give you the answer directly, but I can tell you how to see through the fog."
"How?"
"You must first see your own heart clearly before you can see through this city."
Three days later, Hector and Odysseus emerged from the City of Deception.
Their attendants, meanwhile, were all stark naked and overwhelmed with shame.
The two of them, however, were completely unharmed, and their divine artifacts had not been lost.
Only they knew what they had lost, what had been swindled away from them.
They had lost the most precious things of all.
Their faith in the gods.
Their steadfast hearts.
Even wise Odysseus was now filled with confusion.
Could that deal succeed? Would the gods notice it?
The other side definitely would not keep its word. How could he secure his reward in advance during the transaction?
And how could he ensure that he kept that reward until the end? Rather than having it vanish like the spoils of the Trojan War—great achievements and abundant plunder, all reduced to nothing by the gods' wrath, leaving him no choice but to disguise himself as a beggar, sneak into the Royal Palace, and kill the noble suitors who had betrayed him.
Question after question lingered in the mind of the