Even the Wise Can Falter

Su Yida scrambled to his feet in a second and quickly retreated.

Death is too terrible; he doesn't want to experience it again.

The suffocating Despair still lingered in his mind, to the point that his struggling movements were somewhat distorted and deformed.

Even though he was completely powerless, he continued to retreat frantically until he had nowhere left to go. Leaning against the corner of the wall, he trembled and suppressed his fear as he looked at the... Puppet that had made the sound?

It was just a Puppet?

Su Yida immediately thought of Puppeteer, but the problem was that Believer of [Silence] wouldn't speak so openly, at least he had never seen one. And other associations related to Puppet... were too many. His mind was in such a mess that he couldn't figure out the other person's identity for the time being.

He could only ask hesitantly, "Who... are you?"

The Puppet ignored Su Yida's reaction. He jumped off the Experiment table, bowed slightly, and introduced himself:

"Wei Mu, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Who!?

Wei Mu!!?

The Top Rank on the Path to Godhood, known among players as the Behind-the-Scenes Puppeteer closest to the divine, Wei Mu!?

Su Yida was stunned. He asked incredulously, "You... you're with them?"

Clearly, the previous deaths had terrified the Master of Trickery.

The Puppet shook its head expressionlessly.

"No, you were just blinded by fear. Otherwise, you should have been able to see that I saved you, not the other way around."

You are very bold.

To be honest, given your skills and abilities, you'd most likely be at a disadvantage against one of them.

Yet you dared to fight five against one, even with an uncertain future, coming here solely out of a 'desire to become a god'...

All I can say is, no wonder the Jie Shu chose you; your unique, twisted drive for desire is indeed a valuable trait for Experiment.

"?"

What is this Puppet babbling about?

Su Yida was stunned.

He admitted that the shock of death had left him in a state of extreme confusion, making it difficult for him to understand anything in the present moment. But why did this confusion show no signs of stopping? Why did he feel increasingly lost and confused? And why were his eyelids getting heavier and heavier, and even his vision becoming blurry?

Su Yida isn't stupid, but it depends on who he's comparing himself to.

In Wei Mu's presence, the shrewd Master of Trickery was as simple as a blank sheet of paper.

He didn't even understand why Wei Mu had saved him before he completely lost consciousness in Wei Mu's Experiment.

Yes, this is an Experiment.

The Puppet watched as Su Yida slowly closed his eyes, then nodded and said:

"The dosage is just right. Next, we need to analyze how to escape this Starry Sky."

With that, the Puppet climbed onto the Experiment table and began to operate it.

A series of roars echoed through the vast Experiment as countless Experiment devices began to operate, displaying a wealth of data. Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion, until...

"Boom--"

A violent and distorted spacetime fluctuation exploded without warning in front of the Experiment table. Immediately afterwards, countless Experiment devices began to make strange noises, sparking as if they were being interfered with by electromagnetic interference. Warning sounds rose and fell, and the scene was in chaos.

Amidst this chaotic chaos, a disheveled figure was pushed off the time portal and landed directly in front of the Puppet.

He didn't notice the Puppet 'Puppet presence immediately because his back was to it, but when he saw that the person lying on the ground in front of him was the Master of Trickery, a chill ran down his spine and he turned his head sharply.

Then he met a pair of emotionless eyes.

Wei Mu!!!

It was actually Wei Mu!!!

The figure's pupils constricted sharply, and he froze on the spot.

The Puppet was quite surprised by this, but he quickly let out a soft "Oh," as if he had instantly understood everything.

"I always knew there was something wrong with your identity, but I never imagined the root of the problem was here."

No wonder He said my Foolish Deed was about to begin; it turns out I too have been locked in this Predestination cage.

I'm sure you understand now. Seeing me here must have been a surprise, right...? Jie Shu?

That's right, the one that fell from the spacetime tunnel was the very Jie Shu who had just disappeared at the mountaintop.

Jie Shu never expected to see Wei Mu here. He knew what this meant, so he gave a self-deprecating laugh and lowered his proud head.

Those who laugh at others will eventually laugh at themselves; Wise One, after a lifetime of careful planning, will ultimately stumble.

To explain all this, we need to start with the Experiment purpose of the Jie Shu.

Cheng Shi guessed half right; the Jie Shu was indeed not without roots, but he himself did not know where its roots lay!

In his earliest Memory, he woke up in the True Universe with a Master of Trickery by his side. His limited Memory told him that during the escape before the world's destruction, he used every means possible to escape the disaster. Although he survived, his Memory were fragmented.

His remaining Memory tell him that he is searching for a world without Cheng Shi, and the Master of Trickery by his side is the key to his search for that safe world. The reason he does this is because the Fate Weaver represents destruction, and all the Starry Sky where he exists are ultimately heading towards collapse.

As a Wise One who Faith [Folly], if he realizes that his own Memory is disordered, he will never believe the remaining Memory, because Memory are easily falsified, especially to "Experiment subjects".

Jie Shu knew this well, so he remained skeptical of everything in his Memory, even though the fragmented Memory of the Master of Trickery could corroborate his Memory.

As he drifted through the True Universe, he witnessed the destruction of countless worlds, and the destruction of each world was somehow related to the Fate Weaver...

He finally believed it.

But he only believed in the logic of finding a "safe world," rather than being convinced that he was a complete and independent individual.

Rather than seeking a safe world, the Wise One Jie Shu is more interested in figuring out what Memory he has lost, and whether these fragmented Memory are even his Memory.

So he quietly began his verification plan, the first step of which was to deceive the Master of Trickery who was traveling with him.

It wasn't really a deception. The Master of Trickery's shrewdness seemed somewhat naive in comparison. With just a little guidance, he aroused the other party's twisted hatred for Cheng Shi. Then, he led the Master of Trickery to travel between different Pig Bridge, to meet different Cheng Shi, and began to prepare his plan.

He fabricated a complete plan, telling the Master of Trickery that their only chance of winning was to find a still weak Fate Weaver, kill him, and then go to that world together. But in reality, he was preparing to trace the origins of his own identity.

He said that Cheng Shi, who could appear in the True Universe, was Cheng Shi very powerful, and he alone could not fight against him. Therefore, they needed to first land in a relatively safe world to improve the power of the Master of Trickery, and then the two of them would work together to deal with him slowly.

Su Yida, who yearned for power, firmly believed in this and descended into this world along with the Jie Shu.

What followed was what happened in this world. Jie Shu prepared a plan, gathered intelligence, and searched for traces of his own existence. In the process, he made progress in the first two areas, but made no progress in the last one.

The Wise One became increasingly curious about his origins, and after much deliberation, a bold plan took shape.

He devised a method using Cheng Shi's techniques to find a way to "trace the source," and then launched a source-tracing Experiment similar to "Past Self in Memory" without stopping.

Another safe return of Su Yida provided Jie Shu with enough Experiment data. By fitting the data and imitating the proportion of Divine Power in the spacetime channel, he successfully opened up a spacetime channel that could find a deep connection with his past self.

Moreover, he incorporated some clever ideas into his Experiment.

According to the Jie Shu, if he was truly an independent individual who fled from a certain world, then that world was very likely already destroyed. If he were to trace back to the source at this point, he would most likely perish along with that world.

Therefore, he locked his destination in this world, believing that as long as he could find traces of his past existence in this world, he would be able to regain his Memory.

However, the lack of results in his search for his self-identity outside of the Experiment had already given him some bad thoughts, and now, those bad thoughts have finally come true.