I will leave when you need me
Cheng Shi arrived at the edge of the world.
[Time] constantly deduces the world here and continuously aligns with the "Experiment time" of the True Universe.
On his way here, Cheng Shi kept replaying the words [Time] had spoken to him in his mind, to the point that he was somewhat lost in thought. Looking up, he saw a figure in the Void, but that figure was definitely not [Time], but rather...
"Doctor!?"
Cheng Shi was startled. "What are you doing here?"
That's right, that figure is Wang Weijin!
At this moment, he was facing away from Cheng Shi, his body slightly tense. After hearing Cheng Shi's voice, he slowly turned around, his face still showing some shock, and he looked extremely stiff.
He seemed to be holding something in his hands, and as he turned around, he instinctively hid it behind his back. Seeing this, Cheng Shi's heart skipped a beat.
"What happened? You came to see [Time]? Where is He?"
The Doctor took a deep breath and shook his head.
"He..."
Before the Doctor could even begin to speak, Cheng Shi's mind went completely blank.
His five senses suddenly went haywire; he lost sight of what was happening before him, and his hearing became confused. He could no longer hear the Doctor's voice. At that moment, only one sentence remained in his mind:
"I will leave, when you need me."
Cheng Shi trembled. Although he knew this moment would eventually come, and although he knew that the Fear Faction's "sacrifice" was for the sake of the world, he still felt "betrayed" when it actually happened.
They will eventually leave him.
They won't even notify themselves.
"He... left?" Cheng Shi asked, his voice heavy with suppressed grief.
The Doctor nodded, his expression grave, and extended his hand from behind his back. In his hand was something Cheng Shi could never have imagined.
"This is...?"
"A pointer." The Doctor picked up the extremely ordinary pointer with a complicated expression and said to Cheng Shi, "It looks more like an Hour Hand."
I don't know what this means, but I know it's definitely not something He left for me; it's meant for you.
"Praising Fool's Game."
"..."
Hour Hand?
[Time] Did he actually leave himself an Hour Hand when he left?
At this moment, when He had become the almost Cosmos Proxy of the [Covenant], He finally acknowledged the identity He had once fabricated: Hour Hand?
For a moment Cheng Shi was also stunned. A sense of absurdity dispelled his sadness. He remained silent for a moment, then asked again:
Where did He go?
"I don't know, but praising Fool's Game."
"... What exactly happened? And how did you get here, Doctor?"
Cheng Shi curious. Logically speaking, the Doctor and [Time] had absolutely no connection whatsoever. Their only connection was that the Doctor repeatedly used the power of [Time] in his Experiment. But was this thing really worth [Time] summoning him specifically before leaving?
Why would he give this only chance of parting to the Doctor, instead of to himself who is responsible for the future of the Cosmos?
No, that's not right. [Time] has silently protected the world for so many years, it would never do something useless at the most crucial moment, so the Doctor's appearance must have some profound meaning, or even be a clue to the answer.
Thinking of this, Cheng Shi's gaze became even more solemn.
"Tell me everything that just happened, word for word, Doctor. This is very important."
As the Top Rank [Truth] of supreme wisdom, even if he wasn't as exceptional as Wei Mu, Wang Weijin was still considered the pinnacle of intellectual players in this [Faith Game]. He naturally knew that everything he had experienced was extraordinary, so he solemnly recounted everything he had just witnessed, including events that had occurred before he arrived.
"Not long ago, I was replicating Therius's Divinity Sprouting Experiment in the Experiment. You once said that Faith is the only clue to deciphering the current state of theocracy, so I thought I would personally experience the emergence of New Authority that Therius had successfully achieved."
Just then, [Time] summoned me, without warning or reason.
Those eyes, as deep as black holes, opened above my head. They gazed at me and said:
Look at me, don't blink.
I was taken aback and confused, but I did as instructed, because I knew that [Time] was not the enemy of Fool's Game, but rather Fool's Game.
So we began a long period of eye contact. For someone like me who is often immersed in the process of Experiment observation, not blinking is not a demanding requirement. Moreover, I had never had the opportunity to observe a deity in this way before. So as I watched, I became engrossed and began to instinctively analyze the 'divine information' hidden in those eyes.
I always thought the Eyes of the Deity were merely a manifestation of will, an abstract expression. But I was wrong. I discovered that the Eyes of [Time] are actually physical entities—a pair of black holes!
Black holes are not normally observable, but the distorted and leaping arcs of time around those eyes depicted the wonder of black holes for me. They were not super-dense stars in the traditional sense, but rather more like a collection of fragmented time that was constantly being folded and compressed.
If I were to describe it in terms of [Death], I would prefer to call it the Time Graveyard.
There has long been a view in academia that the ultimate fate of a black hole is an infinitely compressed singularity. However, based on my observations through the "[Time]," I discovered that there are intermittent yet undeniable temporal rifts within those black holes.
Yes, the black hole seems to have shattered. No, a more game-like explanation is that the endless accumulation of time 'corpses' overloaded the Time Graveyard, causing the time that should have been buried there to distort and burst apart. This explosive force even gave 'dead' time a slight, illogical possibility of resurrection, allowing it to be captured by the observer the moment it attempted to escape, thus becoming a time rift.
This 'Truth' I had never encountered before captivated me, and I began to devote myself entirely to exploring more about the true meaning of [Time].
Praising the Fool's Game has given me such a wonderful opportunity.
However, it was at that moment that I forgot his instructions and blinked.
The next second...
He disappeared.
Only the violent fluctuations of spacetime remained in the Void, right there...
The Doctor pointed behind him, his eyes flashing as he turned around, and said, "Just like that time you disappeared amidst Giggle and Mock."
I suspect that He has probably escaped the Spacetime Barrier and gone to the True Universe, but I still have no clue about what [Time] has done, including the Hour Hand in my hand.
From the perspective of [Truth], the most likely explanation is that He attempted to convey some message through the escape of time in His eyes, but the time was too short, and I haven't had time to figure it out yet.
Do you have any clues?
"Praising Fool's Game."
"..."
It used to be there, but after you rambled on and on, it's gone.
Cheng Shi's serious expression changed. He felt that the Doctor had made things too complicated, but he had no choice but to take the Doctor's judgment into account. After all, since Wei Mu left, the Doctor had become the pinnacle of intelligence among the players.
He frowned slightly and asked, "You said you were replicating Therius's Experiment before you came here. Did you find anything useful?"
The Doctor shook his head:
"No, my self-affirmed Faith is too weak; it requires a lot of emotional stimulation, and right now, the piety in my heart..."
As he spoke, the Doctor glanced at Cheng Shi with a subtle expression, "It makes it difficult for me to maintain a peak emotional state for long."
In more in-depth Experiment, piety allows me to calm my mind, but in this particular Experiment, piety has become an obstacle.
However, it wasn't all without discoveries. At least I found some mutations in the slices that leaned towards the will of 0221. Coincidentally, this mutation also occurred in Experiment subject 0221.
It seems they have never given up expressing their own will.
But that's all in the past. I have a way of handling everything, and I'll praise the Fool's Game.
"..."
Cheng Shi closed his eyes.
Stop praising me, it's giving me a headache.
The final vote has ended! Thank you so much for your support! Great results, you all did a fantastic job!
Yesterday's vote went unsurprisingly to [Deception], so the final character side story order is (Li Jingming - Zhang Jizu - Wei Mu - Long Jing - Katarro - An Mingyu - [Deception]), all unlocked! Also, I've seen some friends liking Old Jia and Aunt Sun's posts in the comments over the past few days, so here's a little spoiler: there will be a little more plot developments later, don't panic.
Since last year, it is thanks to everyone's hard work and countless votes that "Fool's Game" and Cheng Xiaoshi have gained wider recognition and acceptance. This year, we have gone even further, and we sincerely thank you all. Cheng Shi bows! "Fool's Game" bows! Ninety Autumns in January bows!