A Battle of Wits Inside and Outside the Smoke

Hong Lin was extremely nervous at this moment. When she saw that the surroundings were filled with smoke, her heart jumped into her throat.

What are they trying to do?

Cheng Shi methodically tossed out smoke bombs, saying in a serious tone, "To obstruct the Creator's view, so that [*He] won't see us touching [Silence] corpse."

"???"

What the heck?

If Hong Lin hadn't recognized that Cheng Shi was speaking Chinese, she would have almost thought she had lost her ability to understand.

Whose vision are you trying to block with the smoke!?

Did you mispronounce something, or is my Ear broken?

Hong Lin stared at everything in disbelief, and after a few seconds, she came to her senses and asked as if she had just realized something, "Is self-deception a talent? What are its effects?"

"?" Cheng Shi glanced at her silently and shook his head.

Hong Lin's expression froze for a moment, then she suddenly realized, "So you took the opportunity to ring the [Death]'s Bone Clock again? It's Him protecting us? But I didn't hear a sound."

Cheng Shi's expression grew increasingly strange, and he shook his head again. "What does this have to do with the [Death] boss? This is just pure smoke, the most ordinary kind."

"Just ordinary smoke?!" Hong Lin's face fell, her voice distorted, and she shook Cheng Shi's shoulders violently. "Do you know what you're doing, Cheng Shi? Are you crazy?"

No, are you possessed?

"Is there some evil thing in the True Universe affecting you and making you lose your mind, or are you up to some crazy idea that I can't understand?"

Hong Lin frowned, her eyes filled with suspicion. "No, you're lying, aren't you? Fooling whom? Those two con artists from the True Universe?"

What are you trying to trick them into thinking we've been in contact with the [Silence] corpse, and then use fake news to exchange for information about the True Universe?

At this point, Hong Lin's eyes suddenly lit up.

This wasn't because she was convinced she had guessed correctly, but because she saw Cheng Shi's face also fall.

As expected, a sloping face will only shift, not disappear.

After confirming that Cheng Shi was not possessed, Hong Lin's expression brightened. "What do you want to do? How should I cooperate with you?"

"..."

The best cooperation is the one where you don't realize it.

Cheng Shi sighed. "You learn from your mistakes." After being fooled so many times, Big Cat has become smarter and can now figure out what the swindlers are thinking.

However, her every move was still too "naive" in front of a top-notch con artist. Cheng Shi didn't dare to gamble that Big Cat, who knew the inside story, could pretend to be completely unaware and fool the two of them. So, she had no choice but to change her plan and said to Big Cat with a slight apology:

"Is your neck stiff?"

"?"

The Big Cat froze, and before she could react, Cheng Shi chopped her neck with a chop, and then...

Nothing happened.

"..."

Cheng Shi's smile instantly froze on his face; he had personally "cut" out the answer to the question:

Hard, and very hard.

In that instant, an overwhelming sense of embarrassment enveloped the entire scene. Cheng Shi's face twitched uncontrollably; he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Fortunately, Big Cat understood Cheng Shi's meaning. She gave Cheng Shi a long, meaningful look and said unconvinced:

"I can't lie to anyone at all?"

"..."

Although these words were meant as self-deprecation, Cheng Shi felt that they carried a stronger sense of Yin-Yang than those of some [Folly] Believer.

He couldn't be too blunt, so he could only force a dry laugh while fiddling with the stiff muscles on his face, "Didn't you say we should be cautious...?"

After saying that, he shrank his neck.

He saw the Big Cat mimic him by raising its hand in a chop.

Hong Lin was furious. She glared at Cheng Shi, wishing she could Cheng Shi, but she didn't. She knew the smoke's effect was limited, and if they didn't act quickly, Cheng Shi's entire plan would likely fall apart.

Knowing the bigger picture, she raised her hand not to "show off" to Cheng Shi, but to directly slash her own neck.

"Bang--"

With a crisp sound of impact, Hong Lin closed her eyes and fainted in an instant.

Cheng Shi was startled. He quickly grabbed the Big Cat to prevent it from falling from the Starry Sky. His expression was quite interesting, and he was filled with mixed emotions.

Look, this is Hong Lin. Even in the completely unknown True Universe, she can trust her friends so much.

Who would dare entrust their life to someone else in an unfamiliar place?

Cheng Shi looked at the unconscious Big Cat with a determined expression. He knew he couldn't betray Big Cat's trust, so his plan began the moment the other party fainted.

He hoisted the Big Cat onto his shoulder and waited for the smoke to dissipate, his gaze fixed on the area beyond the smoke, never Leaky World Silent Puppet.

He had no intention of climbing onto that giant Puppet corpse at this moment!

Yes, the Greedy Lord was indeed tempted, but what he coveted even more was his own life.

He needed to glean information from the two swindlers' reactions about the extent of the danger hidden on the corpse before daring to take the further risk of searching for the "treasure" left behind.

He believed that even con artists who could deceive people in the True Universe would be "greedy." The other party wouldn't abandon their deception target just because a corpse appeared. So as long as these two people were still paying attention to him, and even trying to get closer to observe whether he had really boarded the [Silence] corpse, it meant that even if there were risks on this corpse, it wasn't 100% fatal!

The logic is simple: if all life forms near the Leaky World Silent Puppet would inevitably die or even be erased, they would surely leave this area without any further thought.

But if they still try to get closer, it can only mean that they know there is a chance of survival on the corpse, and that the person who climbed onto the corpse had the opportunity to take out good things from it. They want to intercept them and take what others have obtained for themselves without lifting a finger.

This is also something Cheng Shi wants to confirm.

You're using me, little do you know that I'm also trying to use you.

A game of strategy, obscured by smoke, quietly began. Just as Cheng Shi had predicted, the two unscrupulous swindlers were slowly moving towards the smoke.

They did not walk together, but kept a considerable distance from each other, intentionally controlling the distance so as not to get too close to the corpse, but still to be able to provide support to each other in the first instance.

The two of them surrounded the smoke from a distance, waiting for Cheng Shi to bring them good news.

They believed that their approach would provoke Cheng Shi's gambling instincts, and whatever the other party obtained from the long-wandering corpse, they would intercept it to glimpse the secret of the god's death.

The two had a means of long-distance communication. The cheerful figure watched the smoke gradually dissipate in the distance, a slight smile playing on his lips:

"Be careful, scammers are clever. Even if they find something, they will never surrender easily."

Watch out for the smoke; don't let him fool you.

The Indifference figure nodded, about to say something, when a sudden change occurred within the smoke.

The smoke, which had been dissipating, suddenly burst open in several more bursts, becoming thick again and obscuring the figures that had been vaguely visible within. Moreover, these newly bursting plumes of smoke were all oriented in a straight line, resembling a "hidden" tunnel, making it impossible to see the people hiding inside.

It was obvious that someone was trying to use the smoke as cover to escape the scene.

However, this method was far too crude. The two figures on the outside immediately saw through it. They chuckled at the same time, not paying attention to where the smoke tunnel was spreading, but instead turning their heads in perfect unison to look in the opposite direction of the smoke tunnel.

You can never trust appearances, because that's just the truth that scammers want you to see.

To find a scammer amidst the dazzling array of schemes, you need to understand a scammer's mindset and know why they've put in so much elaborate preparation.

The target in the smoke was clearly trying to escape, and given their caution, they would certainly not expose their escape route to the enemy.

Therefore, the smoke tunnel must be fake; this is a foolproof feint!

The cheerful figure laughed loudly and immediately dodged away in the opposite direction:

He can't escape!

The Indifference figure followed in unison, also feeling that Cheng Shi couldn't escape.