Destiny Is a Bitch?

Time rewound a little, back to when Cheng Shi shouted, "Destiny is a bitch."

Above the skies of the Isle of Hope, within a plane beyond the reach of mortals, three pairs of eyes opened at the same time.

The first pair had mismatched pupils. The left eye was a burning flame, while the right eye was filled with flowing blood.

The moment those eyes opened, an impassioned melody rang out through the void. Every note stirred the soul and sent battle intent surging.

"This is... my trial... You... have broken the rules..."

The second pair of eyes was cold and silent, utterly devoid of emotion. Their whites were covered in dizzying spirals, while divergent stars were carved into their pupils.

A single glance into those eyes would make one feel their soul being dragged toward the endless Nothingness.

It glanced at the first pair of eyes and said coldly:

"When did you exchange authority with Order?"

"..."

It was clearly a taunt, and the other party was indeed silenced.

As the two confronted each other, the corners of the third pair of eyes curved slightly upward, releasing a pleased chuckle.

The third pair of eyes resembled the second pair, but the divine light in them was livelier—or rather, they looked more like the eyes of a "person."

It silently watched the two confront each other without saying a word, merely smiling.

"What are you... doing here..."

"I heard blasphemous ravings and sensed a Destiny that had been toyed with. I shall exercise my authority and banish the ignorant sinner."

"This is... my trial... You... have broken the rules..."

"..."

This time, it was the other party's turn to fall silent.

The third pair of eyes suddenly burst into laughter.

"How interesting. How utterly interesting. One idiot who devoutly believes in himself, and one fool who doesn't know how to chat outside of war. Hahaha, this is too interesting."

"Is that funny?"

"Isn't it?"

The second pair of eyes narrowed slightly and cast a cold glance at the third pair.

"Why have you come?"

"And why have you come?"

"He believes in me, yet blasphemes against me. Naturally, I can revoke his qualification. Could it be that you intend to violate the pact and protect him?"

"But I've already snatched him away. Naturally, that makes him my believer. Could it be that you intend to violate the pact and banish him?"

Those eyes that saw through the Nothingness cast another cold glance at it. After a moment of silence, they slowly faded away.

The third pair of eyes began laughing again.

"What are you... doing here..."

"Me? Of course I'm here to save my adorable follower."

As it spoke, a crystalline, jade-like finger extended, piercing through endless planes until it arrived before Wrath of Abomination.

It merely placed the finger there lightly, and the flames filling the sky immediately shrank and tightened, fleeing as far as they could.

Wrath of Abomination's outburst was interrupted by the "person," leaving it furious. But when it saw the eyes behind that finger, its rage instantly cooled. Its enormous body trembled almost imperceptibly.

It quietly and precisely tightened the prison door by a fraction, ensuring that no more meteorites fell where the finger pointed.

The first pair of eyes widened slightly. The blood in their pupils boiled, and the flames roared.

"...You... have broken the rules..."

The third pair of eyes blinked.

"And then?"

"..."

The eyes of blood and fire stared at it for a moment before falling silent as well.

"Tsk. Your believer is waging wars everywhere just to beg for a single audience with you. Yet you, as the ruler of war, bearing the divine name of war, don't even dare fight me."

"...The pact... cannot be violated..."

"Hah. How boring."

It gazed at the unknown starry sky, then vanished into thin air.

Everyone was exhausted from running, especially Chen Chong and Xia Wan.

Once they realized they had truly escaped danger, they refused to move another step. They simply lay on the ground, gasping heavily.

Nangong had treated Chen Chong along the way, so he was still in fairly decent condition. Nangong, whom he had been carrying by the hand, was another matter—her face was as pale as if she had been dragged all the way there.

Xia Wan, on the other hand, had been repeatedly treated by Cheng Shi and had once again become a "mother" who had been "pregnant" for ten months.

Dealing with this sort of problem still required the professional abortionist, Song Yawen.

He had sensibly hidden beside Xia Wan. Whenever a patch of skin split open and gave birth to a new twisted life-form, he would immediately chop down the "monster" before it had time to open its eyes.

As he hacked away, he complained:

"Why do all the newborns produced by Birth look so sanity-destroying? Do righteous gods all like this sort of appearance?"

Xia Wan pursed her lips without speaking and turned to look at Cheng Shi.

The meaning in her eyes was obvious: Cheng Shi had a higher score and understood this better than she did.

No one in Cheng Shi's Faith Channel had discussed Birth, and he had no idea of the reason either. Still, he gave his explanation with absolute certainty—though his expression was somewhat unpleasant.

"When you hadn't been born yet, if you could change your appearance, what would you want to look like?

"These newborns who worship 'my lord' merely want to become the sort of person 'my lord' likes. It's just that...

"They don't know what Birth likes, so they started using their imaginations.

"And the result... Well, you've all seen it."

This was the first time anyone had heard such an explanation. Yet Cheng Shi's confidence made it sound nothing like a guess, but rather an explanation given by someone who knew the cause and effect. Combined with the fact that he had repeatedly saved everyone from desperate situations, they were all instinctively willing to believe him.

Only Cao Sansui widened his eyes and asked for confirmation:

"The consensus among the Birth players I know is that the newborns already know what Birth looks like, but their abilities only allow them to recreate part of it.

"What you're saying is an entirely different concept. Are you saying that even the newborns born under Birth's influence don't know what it looks like?

"Is that true?"

Everyone looked at Cheng Shi, waiting for his answer.

The reason everyone took this so seriously was that the answer concerned the relationship between gods and believers.

If the newborns knew what Birth looked like and tried their best to recreate it, that would mean the gods could accept their believers' admiration. Then the rumored "drawing close to the gods and saving oneself" might become possible.

But if the newborns did not know what Birth looked like and were merely trying to please it, then the relationship between gods and believers might be much more distant.

And distance meant that gods and humans were different.

Those who begged the gods for gifts might only ever be trapped in the gods' games, surviving as players.

Cheng Shi did not know whether what he had said was true, but lying had already become his "habit" and his "restraint." Even when he sometimes did not want to lie, his mouth had opinions of its own.

His smile was somewhat forced, but his tone left no room for doubt:

"Absolutely genuine."

Xia Wan froze for a moment. Looking at the "tentacle" newborns constantly emerging from her body, she asked in shock:

"Where... did you learn that?"

Cheng Shi smiled mysteriously. "Confidential."

Xia Wan nodded thoughtfully and did not ask any more questions.

Song Yawen, however, suddenly said:

"Brother Cheng, you're not Birth's chosen one, are you?"

The chosen ones were the players ranked first in each Faith Ranking on the Ladder of Audience.

Cheng Shi froze and hurriedly waved his hands in denial:

"I'm still far from first place on the Ladder of Audience. Even if I craned my neck until it broke, I wouldn't be able to see their feet."

After he finished speaking, Xia Wan and Nangong beside him both looked at Cheng Shi's feet. The same speculation rose in their minds:

Could Cheng Shi really be Birth's chosen one on the Ladder of Audience? Only a chosen one could have such an inconceivable method of escape...

Cheng Shi guessed what they were thinking. He instinctively hunched his neck and continued denying it.

But Xia Wan did not believe him in the slightest. She secretly glanced at the Ladders of Audience for Birth and Filth and Decay and saw that the believer ranked first under Birth had the ID "Specializing in Infertility."

"..."

That tone... It really does sound like him. Extremely like him.

Seeing that everyone's topic continued to revolve around Cheng Shi, Chen Chong, who had rested for a while and recovered, responsibly interrupted them.

"Um... Can we find a safe place first and discuss the chosen one afterward?"

"Ah, right, right. Staying alive comes first."

The group first exchanged glances, then burst into laughter.

The joy of surviving a disaster finally erupted at that moment.

"Generally speaking, the danger level drops sharply after solving a trial's puzzle, but we should still be careful.

"Let's head southeast. Whether we go by the battlefield's location in the Isle of Hope or by the Dread Demons' marching direction, the southeast should take us away from the center of the war vortex.

"We'll keep going for a while and see whether we can spot Blizzard Mountain Range. We might be able to avoid all disputes there and hold out until the trial ends."

Cao Sansui regained his composure and erudition. Dragging Chen Chong along, he led everyone southeast.

After avoiding the Meteor Fire Rain, everyone's mood had clearly improved, but they remained vigilant.

Along the way, Chen Chong took the lead, Song Yawen kept watch around them, Cao Sansui coordinated from the middle, and Nangong drank health potions while treating Xia Wan.

As for Cheng Shi...

He was like an old man attending a tour group for the first time, eager to learn everything about the Isle of Hope. He grabbed the "tour guide," Cao Sansui, and bombarded him with questions.

Being familiar with history might increase a player's survival rate during a trial. He had not understood this before because there had been no useful information in the Faith Channel, while the information in the Professional Channel was difficult to distinguish as true or false. He had merely skimmed through it without paying much attention.

Now that he finally had a "living history textbook" right in front of him, there was no reason not to ask.