An unfamiliar invitation

The Blind Man had just said, "[Order] is in trouble," and [Order] really was in trouble, which inevitably makes one feel that the omnipresent [Destiny] has begun to secretly cause trouble again.

The game's Prophet is too powerful; Cheng Shi felt even more worried about the world's collapse as predicted by the Blind Man.

With [Pride) ] fallen, he and Li Wufang had no reason to remain in the Temple. After bidding farewell to the two, Cheng Shi returned to the Rest Area. Without taking a breath, he immediately took out the My Nightmare, Your Dream, crossed the Memory junkyard, and arrived in front of [Hope's Flame].

The Fire-Keeping Hall was especially lively today; even through the door Cheng Shi could hear the cheers coming from inside.

Just as he was debating whether to peek through the crack in the door to see what was happening outside, the Candlelight Person suddenly appeared above his head, hanging upside down, and followed his gaze toward the door, saying:

"Your 'God Creation Plan' for them has finally made progress; they have found two vessels capable of enduring the decay of the [Decay] Vessel."

Coincidentally, both of these Fire Keeper were newcomers, one an older person and the other a younger one.

I'm not surprised by the older one, since "Decay" inherently represents decay, and the older one gets, the more "Decay" power is activated.

Unfortunately, he still carries the Oathbreak Curse. Although he can endure the suffering of Vessel, his physical condition is probably not enough to support the success of the God Creation Plan.

As for the younger one, it's quite interesting. She's clearly not Believer in [Decay], and is even Oathbreaker of [Decay], yet she can still endure the endless suffering brought by [Decay], and it seems she's already gotten used to it.

Another tragic figure, whose Destiny was already shaped by fate before the rough stone was transformed into a sharp weapon.

Cheng Shi frowned as he listened, feeling as if he knew both of the people [Hope's Flame] was talking about.

Could it be them?

If that's true, then Destiny has indeed come full circle before me once again.

However, this was all Fire Keeper's plan, and had nothing to do with him. He didn't care about the details; his purpose in coming here was to confirm with [Hope's Flame] the matter of tricking Qin Xin into going to the True Universe.

He first expressed his concern, asking if the Fire Keeper would be leaderless if Qin Xin were to perish in the True Universe due to an accident.

Upon hearing this question, the Candlelight Person's expression turned serious.

"We do not deny that the first spark that ignites the torch is crucial, but you must understand that a single spark cannot guarantee the transmission of the flame during the Passing the Flame process."

Just as they said, a spark may be extinguished, but the Passing the Flame must be passed on. Passing the Flame is the will of a group of people, not just Qin Xin's.

He did indeed found the Fire Keeper, but it wasn't necessarily him who made Fire Keeper flourish.

I am not denying Qin Xin's achievements; I am simply looking at it from the perspective of Change Destiny, and I know that each stage of the evolution of the times has its own unique brilliance.

Moreover, in my eyes, your existence is the hope of the Fire Keeper.

"Fool's Game, Qin Xin is willing to sacrifice himself for the cause of Passing the Flame, but let's not make his sacrifice meaningless."

"..."

Cheng Shi dislikes heavy topics and even more so, he dislikes others adding burdens to his shoulders.

He looked at the Hope's Flame with a strange expression and said:

"I was just expressing my concern; you don't need to use Qin Xin's life or death to manipulate me."

Perhaps in this operation, he will seize the Divine Authority of [War] and have the opportunity to directly take over His Divine Throne, and the Fire Keeper's God Creation Plan will immediately succeed.

"At that time, Qin Xin will be the new hope you've been hoping for, while I only ask to honestly and quietly eke out a living until the end of this era through Nothingness calculations."

It's unclear what Cheng Shi said that triggered the Candlelight Person, but its flames suddenly blazed for a moment, and then it looked at Cheng Shi with slight surprise, as if deep in thought, and said:

"You will. Ideally, you would write the period to the end of this era yourself, so that it would signify that the will of the Fire Keeper has survived the era and reached its conclusion."

"... I am not the Fire Keeper."

"Passing the Flame is not about status, but about whether there is fire in your heart."

I know you have it, and although I don't know who ignited the fire in your heart, I'm certain you're already on the path to Passing the Flame.

"..."

Cheng Shi was filled with mixed emotions. He didn't want to discuss the topic any further, so after finalizing the action plan with [Hope's Flame], he hurriedly said goodbye, promising that as long as he found a way to go to the True Universe, the journey to seize the Divine Authority would begin immediately.

Now, all that's missing is a path to the True Universe to seize the Divine Authority of [War].

Cheng Shi thought that finding this path would ultimately have to rely on his other Lord of Grace [Time]. But the problem was that while the identity of the Hour Hand could fool the Clowns, he couldn't fool himself as well.

As the first Hour Hand that He personally created, the false Hour Hand has no Divine Authority over time, and therefore no means to break through the Spacetime Barrier [Time].

The Time Deduction Method can indeed allow him to travel to the [Existence] rift, but this method cannot take people with it, which is quite awkward.

After much deliberation, Cheng Shi decided to swallow his pride and beg [Time] again. Even if the other party didn't have time to respond, he needed to let his Lord of Grace know that he was about to leave. That way, if the other party was able to help, given his sincerity, [Time] might lend a hand... right?

He sat on the roof of the Rest Area and began to pray to [Time], but instead of receiving a response from Lord of Grace, he received a paper airplane.

Cheng Shi frowned slightly, letting the paper airplane land on the ground some distance away. Instead of rushing to retrieve it, he mentally went through all the friends who could send him messages using this method.

Most people who frequently contact each other use Big Cat's phone; they rarely use such a traditional method.

The most likely candidate is undoubtedly Long Jing, because that's how I contacted him, and I even used the name of the Dragon King at the time. As an Acrobat who wants to reach the pinnacle of deception, the other party is very likely to want "revenge," which aligns with my understanding of Long Jing.

Even more coincidentally, after the Clown Gathering, Long Jing was assigned the task of meeting the Hour Hand and using it to find the path to the True Universe.

Could it be that this Acrobat has found the way?

That's not right, but he didn't even see me.

You can't just bypass the Hour Hand and go directly to "[Time]," can you?

[Time] No time to see me, but summoned Acrobat instead!?

Cheng Shi's face darkened. Filled with doubt, he got up and picked up the paper airplane, wondering how Long Jing would try to fool him this time. But when he unfolded it, he was surprised to find...

"!!!"

It was an invitation from someone completely unfamiliar.

As for the person who invited him, to be honest, if Cheng Shi hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have been able to come up with it even if he thought about it for three days and three nights.

The letter specified the meeting place and method, and ended with a nonsensical sentence:

What is [Annihilation]?