You Have Your Way, I Have Mine-Neither Gets in the Way

Cheng Shi deceived himself.

After he passed the Starting Point of Life Path and became Believer in "Deception," he kept thinking about a question.

Since Memory is the opposite of Faith, and He likes to faithfully record everything, how can He deceive His Believer when He encounters them?

It's okay if the player's score is lower than yours, but if it's higher...

You can hardly imagine what kind of magical talent He would bestow upon His Believer to expose lies.

So the answer is, it's difficult.

It is not easy to deceive Believer in "Memory".

But...

If we change our approach:

Since all they're after is the authenticity of Memory, doesn't that mean there's a possibility that if I alter those Memory, I'll have fooled them?

Cheng Shi had considered this problem long ago and began to plan ahead.

Therefore, in the early [Prayer Trial], he made prayers in multiple sessions and batches, with only one goal in each Trials:

I'm looking for a professional book on psychology.

The Trials matched with such simple requirements were almost effortless, so soon Cheng Shi became an "expert" who had read all sorts of psychology books.

When enough knowledge is accumulated, a qualitative change occurs.

He performed a minor surgery on himself.

Hypnosurgery.

He recorded several of the most difficult-to-distinguish Memory, then rewrote the cause and effect of those Memory, hypnotizing himself into believing that the Memory he wrote down were the real ones.

Just like Cheng Shi's probing just now.

The old man didn't give Cheng Shi any work advice, but he was never happy that Cheng Shi had found a job!

Because he had already passed away before Cheng Shi found a job!

He raised Cheng Shi, but he didn't live to see the moment when Cheng Shi was able to live independently!

This matter had always been a regret in Cheng Shi's heart, so he rewrote this memory, deceiving himself and making himself believe that the old man had passed away peacefully.

While this might fool the enemy, it also fooled himself. Under the influence of hypnotic suggestion, he even forgot the original facts.

This has created a new problem.

How could he know that the enemy had manipulated his Memory and disguised himself as him or an old man he knew?

However, this problem is clearly not as difficult as the previous one.

Every form of hypnosis eventually ends.

Therefore, Cheng Shi also set a closing prompt for his hypnosis session.

And this guiding word is none other than the Memory itself that has been altered by oneself.

The hypnosis ends when someone recounts this erased Memory in person!

So when "Great Cheng Shi" said, "What you should miss is his smile when he found out you had a job, not some Nothingness suggestion," Cheng Shi was heartbroken.

His hypnosis was broken.

Turn out to be...

The old man had left long before he found a job.

He worked so hard to raise me, but he didn't even glance at me after I graduated.

Ah, Destiny!

However, leaving this as a backup plan still presents a fatal problem:

How can you get someone who is trying to read your Memory to tell you the part of the Memory that you have altered, as a closing prompt to break your hypnotic state?

Therefore, Cheng Shi revised the surgical plan again.

He added a self-suggestion to the hypnosis.

When he discovers that the other party may involve his Memory, his instinctive probing will definitely revolve around these erased Memory.

Thus, he possessed three versions of Memory.

True history, lies that deceive oneself, and falsehoods used to test others.

The former is the truth; the latter two are false.

The logic seems to be closed.

But in fact, there are still flaws.

Because the act of altering Memory is itself Memory.

It will still be read.

But this level of Deception is beyond Cheng Shi could possibly accomplish.

So, he sought help from a "person".

He delegated the implementation of the hypnotherapy to others.

Lips of Foolish Play!

When this mouth, which only wanted to deceive, heard that it could deceive the Believer of "Memory," it readily accepted Cheng Shi's request.

Then, he was hypnotized.

Therefore, Cheng Shi's Memory only contained fragments of silently reading psychology books.

But wouldn't it be reasonable for a Believer in Deception to read some psychology books if they wanted to improve their deception skills?

Based on all of the above, at this moment, the Deception has been exposed and the scheme has been reversed!

Cheng Shi raised his head, looked at Zhen Xin in front of him, and sneered.

"You want to know?"

"Mmm~"

"Hehe, I'm not telling you."

"..."

Zhen Xin's smile froze instantly. She blinked in disbelief and stared blankly at Cheng Shi, her brows furrowed with the Cheng Shi had shown when he was speechless in the Void.

Those stiff eyes seemed to be saying:

Are you a dog?

The friendly exchange between two Believer in "Deception" ended before it even began.

But this look of frustration didn't last long. Soon, she seemed to have thought of something and nodded in sudden realization.

"You're very sad. Hmm, I understand now, so that's how it is."

How pathetic, they even deceive themselves.

It seems you're in a worse state than I remember.

But it's okay. Not having family means not having any burdens. In this game, being alone is fine too.

The seemingly comforting words only made Cheng Shi's face darken further. His face twitched, and he retorted:

"Really? Then I hope you're not a burden."

"Oh dear~"

No need to be so polite, I'm not a burden to anyone.

"..."

When two equal parts are equal, neither should complain about the other.

Zhen Xin's personality is obviously more outgoing Shaman's, but because she looks like Shaman, Cheng Shi always feels like he's standing in front of a big bad wolf in sheep's clothing.

This stark contrast in their images is incredibly distressing.

"Enough. I've seen through your identity. The Illusory Dream from Nothingness is no longer effective. There's no need to pretend anymore."

Cheng Shi looked at Zhen Xin, his sharp eyes scanning her back and forth.

Zhen Xin chuckled and said with amusement:

"There's no disguise. This is who I really am. How is it? Does it look good?"

"Isn't she in great shape? You've hugged her before, how did she feel?"

"..." Cheng Shi was stunned, his mind a little blank. "Impossible, you used your original appearance, how could you fool the local residents of the town?"

"Ah~ you mean that one? Well, Shaman is a rather withdrawn girl, and not many people have paid attention to her, so she just had to act it out."

"She..."

"She's dead. Is it a pity? No need to pity her. I'm better looking than her."

You don't believe me?

There's nothing I can do about it; I didn't keep any photos of her.

I'm not Believer in death, and I don't have many strange fetishes, like taking a picture before killing someone...

However, there's one thing I'm curious about: do you really like women?

As she spoke, Zhen Xin moved lightly to Cheng Shi, took his hand, and slid it down her arm toward her chest.

This scene felt like it had happened somewhere before.

Her eyes welled with shyness, her lips pursed in nervousness, and a hint of playfulness lingered on her slightly flushed face as she spoke tenderly:

"Distinguished guest, there are no captivating views here, only... captivating people."

As she spoke, her small hand, holding the large hand, almost reached onto her proud, full breasts.

But at that very moment!

Cheng Shi's lips curled into a playful smile. He didn't flinch and grabbed at it without flinching!

Solid and full!

The force of the blow was so great that the soft fabric beneath overflowed between the fingers.

"!?"

The smile in Zhen Xin's eyes froze instantly, and her face gradually darkened.

Looking at that gloomy little face that seemed to be pondering "where I went wrong", Cheng Shi laughed.

"Didn't you tell me to touch it?"

Why did you stop laughing?

Does it mean you don't like it?

"Shall I switch hands?"

As he spoke, Cheng Shi lowered his left hand and grabbed it with his right.

That's great, it's a double win!

"Ha, I underestimated you."

Zhen Xin didn't dodge, but stared at Cheng Shi curiously, as if trying to see something in his eyes.

Cheng Shi laughed heartily and pulled her into his arms again.

"What, want to experience the joy of victory here?"

"Leaving aside the fact that the Destiny's Choice hasn't even begun yet, Cheng Xiaoshi, you don't think that just because you've exposed my illusions, I'm powerless to deal with you, do you?"

"Yes, of course you have it. How could the [Chosen of God] not be capable?"

But you have yours, I'll do mine, and we won't interfere with each other.

As he spoke, Cheng Shi's hand began to wander over her back, just as he had done at Shaman's house during the day. His palm once again caressed Zhen Xin's... spine.

"You..."

"Boom--"

Without warning, a deafening clap of thunder erupted in my arms.

Before Zhen Xin, who was all smiles and sarcasm, could finish speaking, the roaring plasma engulfed her entire body, turning her flesh and blood into charred remains.

Cheng Shi was thrown off by the violent explosion and rolled several times on the platform surrounded by his arms before he could barely regain his balance.

His arms were filled with black scum and blood, and in the distance were bits of flesh and charred remains.

Cheng Shi dusted himself off, stood up, looked at the dead Zhen Xin, and sneered:

"It's even."