Despair's Impossible Choice

So their name is the Fire Keeper!

The moment Long Jing learned the name, he understood what kind of organization it was; he just hadn't expected Qin Xin to be its leader.

As Qin Xin entered the hall, the figures of the others gradually came into view.

Long Jing's expression froze for a moment. Looking at An Mingyu approaching, he said somewhat awkwardly, "What a coincidence, we meet again, An the Chosen."

An Mingyu quickened his pace, his face showing some anxiety, and asked, "Was Xin Xin also in that Trials?"

Seeing that there was no way to hide it, Long Jing could only nod. He quickly Trials, and also told the Fire Keeper that Cheng Shi had sought out [Memory], [Decay], and [Hope's Flame] respectively. Upon hearing this, the Hope's Flame flickered and said:

"Since [Memory] has already chosen to forget the Memory of the Outer God, then no matter whether He understands this matter or recovers the Memory, He will probably find it difficult to make a new choice, otherwise it would be a denial of His own self and a double desecration of the Memory."

[Decay]... With a heart Decay, He was already infinitely close to the state He desired. But if He knew that countless others like Him existed beyond this world, all awaiting the mercy of Origin Decay, would He still have the strength to pity Fool's Game?

No, it will only hasten its own Decay.

Cheng Shi's choices were correct, but unfortunately, these choices yielded no results...

Silence fell over the scene. Two of the three paths to survival had already been exhausted. Wasn't the only remaining path to survival the Hope's Flame?

Everyone looked at the Hope's Flame with hopeful eyes, only to see that even the Hope's Flame sighed.

Surviving in dire straits is incredibly difficult. He knew what Qin Xin meant: don't worry about anything else, save them first, and then we can consider saving the world once everyone is together. But is it really that simple?

Once Cheng Shi is rescued, the world... will likely come to an end.

This was a trap from the start, an unsolvable dead end.

This scheme wasn't orchestrated by the Outer God [Deception], but rather bestowed by [Origin]. All Despair stemmed from that Universe Experiment. The Outer God [Deception] merely maximized the use of the Creator's Experiment rules, trapping Cheng Shi in a Predestination cage.

If [Destiny] wants to create a Sacrifice to please [Origin], it must achieve a alignment between its will and [Origin]'s will, that is, to be devoid of Faith yet embrace a wide range of Faith.

Cheng Shi is like that. Even though he is known as the [Deception] Emissary, this identity does not affect his pure "lack of Faith," because it is obtained by Deception the world.

This is also the ingenious aspect of the entire [Deception] scheme!

He even deceived the Hope's Flame with this will, giving Cheng Shi a "blank check," making Cheng Shi have the name of Emissary but not the Emissary of one.

On his path of constantly becoming Fool's Game, the Clown begins to accept the "integration" of other Faith, gradually becoming the Predestination!

In other words, on this Predestination path, the help provided by the Outer God [Deception] far outweighs that of [Destiny], and He is the mastermind Cheng Shi's transformation into the truly Predestination outcome.

Therefore, Cheng Shi break the deadlock is to get rid of his Predestination identity, and the most direct and effective way to do this is to corrupt his Faith!

Ideally, one should become True God, completely "unbalanced" in Faith; if that doesn't work, one can settle for second best and obtain the identity of an Emissary of another Faith, but the latter is not secure.

The Emissary's body does not need to be recognized by the [Covenant], only needing the True God to recognize and Proxy Divine Authority on his behalf. However, this kind of Faith pollution, which can be withdrawn at any time, is like throwing an entire bottle of ink into a clean water pool. As long as the bottle cap is not opened, the clean water in the pool is not affected.

So, as I said before, Cheng Shi had no choice. He knew the former was better, but the latter was clearly easier.

However, becoming Emissary cannot be someone like Fool's Game or Ultraman. Emissary Fool's Game and Nothingness, like a rootless duckweed. Although Ultraman does exist in history, under the deliberate obfuscation of the Outer God [Deception], this identity could very well be used as a disguise for Fool's Game. Moreover, there is also Katarro in the Temple of [Chaos], which is also the Outer God's ruthless contingency plan to reclaim Ultraman's identity at any time.

Only a true, Proxy, Divine Authority undisputed Emissary could allow Cheng Shi to break Predestination from his predetermined fate through the corruption of Faith, thus finding a sliver of escape from the hands of the Outer God and [Destiny].

This is also why Cheng Shi asked the Doctor to go find [Decay].

He wanted to be an Emissary, and [Decay] understood his meaning, but refused him for the sake of His Decay cause.

Even if Cheng Shi successfully corrupts his Faith, this method will cause him to lose all the attention of [the Nothingness], and he may even become the target of [the Nothingness's ] wrath, utterly Nothingness from this world...

Before the true end arrives, the Hope's Flame cannot reveal the Predestination truth to everyone; it must leave a Hope's Flame for the world, considering far more than anyone else present.

The Fire Keeper might risk everything for Cheng Shi to protect the good and safeguard his friends, but what if Cheng Shi's Faith is corrupted and his Predestination identity is completely lost? How will this world survive then?

[Origin] It is an indisputable fact that we need to find an answer in the Universe Experiment. Without this answer, any world will only become a failed Experiment and a discarded product.

What is certain now is that Cheng Shi is the answer, and it is this tiny hope that has become the embodiment of the will to ignite the Hope's Flame.

He stood behind Cheng Shi so that the "Hope's Flame" could spread, thus helping the minority to win this world.

But now, saving the world would not taint Cheng Shi's identity as Sacrifice; saving Cheng Shi would lead the world toward a Predestination future!

This is a choice that cannot be made, not only for Cheng Shi, but also for the Hope's Flame. No matter which path is taken, it leads to the other side where the Hope's Flame is shattered.

For a fleeting moment, the Hope's Flame even felt as if it had died, perished in the bewilderment of a hopeless future.

He could not reveal the whole truth, but could only explain the advantages and disadvantages.

"Choosing to save Cheng Shi makes it difficult to save the world; choosing to save the world makes it impossible to save Cheng Shi."

He sent you to find me because he saw the power of Change within me and wanted me to find a third path from the perspective of Change.

I was indeed subject to Change by Destiny, but...

Compared to an Outer God who stirs up storms across the Cosmos, my firelight is too weak; it probably cannot even illuminate the shadow He casts.

Hope's Flame spoke like this, it was clear that he admitted he had no other options.

Everyone understood what He meant: which is more important, the world or one person? This question was enough to become a huge mountain weighing on everyone's hearts, making it hard to breathe!

But only Long Jing knew that Cheng Shi probably never intended to live from the beginning. The best ending the Clown wanted was to die under this Starry Sky and be buried in a world where he could find peace. Otherwise, the Clown wouldn't have given Old Zhang that Scalpel.

As for the world... I'm already dead, what do I care about the world?

The fact that he could get Long Jing to come looking for the Hope's Flame was already the greatest act of kindness that the Clown, in his Despair, could show to the world.

Unfortunately, the Hope's Flame is not a panacea.

After Long Jing put himself in the shoes of the character, he felt the Despair even more. The Clown wanted to rebel, but he couldn't think of a way to do so.

A tense atmosphere permeated the scene. As Believer in [Destiny], An Mingyu sensed Long Jing's emotional Change and discerned his thoughts. His expression softened as he said:

"He was already rebelling, struggling to break free from the identity Predestination Destiny, which was his roar... and his lament."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions became even more solemn, and even Chen Shu fell silent, a rare occurrence for him.