Followers of Chaos

"Doctor of Forgetfulness?"

Fang Shiqing looked at Cheng Shi with great interest, smiling as she picked up the pocket watch on the table.

The others also picked up their pocket watches one after another, but their expressions varied.

Their gazes darted back and forth between Cheng Shi and Xu Lu, thinking that the girl with the clip probably had a reason to be scared.

She had already adopted a defensive stance, yet this Cheng Shi was practically jumping right in front of her, as if he was afraid others wouldn't know he was on opposing terms with the girl with the clip.

Xu Lu clearly didn't dare to accept anything from Cheng Shi. She compared her pocket watch to calibrate the time, then pushed it back.

"The Doctor of Forgetfulness isn't a good answer in the trial of [Memory]. Cheng Shi, I hope you'll go easy on the NPCs. Accelerating them too much can cause memory collapse, and we might get trapped in the memory, unable to escape."

Cheng Shi shrugged indifferently, picked up the pocket watch, and turned to leave.

He was going to a secluded place to practice the [Edict of Passage].

The tavern was large, with two floors.

The style was similar to medieval Northern Europe, with wooden decor and animal fur decorations, very rugged.

There were dozens of tables, both upstairs and downstairs, and they were almost all occupied.

The clinking of glasses and shouts filled the air. Cheng Shi couldn't hear his teammates' voices after just a few steps.

In the very center, there was a mezzanine bar, with the entire second floor enclosed by a railing. Peeking over, one could easily see the whole first floor.

Cheng Shi quickened his pace, turned down a corridor, and in a corner where no one could see him, he took out his "Dice of Destiny."

The [Edict of Passage] had ended smoothly. He felt the favor of "Time" on his fingertips and walked out with a smile.

It was time to start the investigation.

Compared to [War], the trial of [Memory] was infinitely more "civilized." There were rarely any combat situations, and even if there were, they were usually confined to small areas and resolved quickly.

In the trial of [Memory], each scene was someone else's memory. If the memory was distorted too much, it could collapse, causing the person to be permanently lost.

The goal of the trial was to continuously search for the "memory core" in each scene, which was the true owner of that memory.

In the current scene, the memory owner must have been here and stayed for a long time, which was why they had such vivid memories of the tavern's layout and patrons.

However, a person's memory had its focal points. The places they paid attention to would have more active "NPCs" whose behavior and logic were closer to normal people.

The places they ignored, however, would often have some blurry fragments.

The "NPCs" recreated from these fragments would have various "errors." Although these "errors" were not obvious, players had to find them to pass the trial.

The simplest and most mindless way to find these errors was... to probe.

That is, to strike up a conversation with them one by one.

However, there were also techniques to striking up a conversation. Once a conversation failed and caused other trouble, the memory might become distorted, leading to direct trial failure.

Cheng Shi wasn't good at striking up conversations, but he was good at deceiving people.

He saw several bar waiters coming out of a small room one after another. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, he slipped into the room, quickly stole a set of waiter uniforms, and changed into them before slipping out.

As soon as he exited, he saw Fang Shiqing and the girl with the clip sneakily walking towards him.

He smiled knowingly. What a coincidence, they were thinking along the same lines.

Seeing that Cheng Shi had already changed into the waiter uniform, Fang Shiqing's eyes lit up, and she praised him in a low voice:

"Clever!"

Cheng Shi was pleased and said with a smile, "The praise from a great master is my motivation for progress."

Xu Lu, hiding behind Fang Shiqing, was full of wariness in her eyes, muttering softly, "So fake."

Fang Shiqing smiled:

"You must know about my Lord's [Edict of Passage]. I'll share a piece of knowledge with you, and the radiance of [Truth] will guide your way."

The [Edict of Passage] of [Truth] was about seeking knowledge. Any unknown laws or knowledge would bring the followers of [Truth] closer to "Truth."

For followers of [Truth] with support or defense skills, they had to share some knowledge with His followers to receive His protection.

Cheng Shi's eyes darted, and he quickly shared a small piece of knowledge.

"Inserting a finger into the anus and massaging in a circular motion for thirty seconds can effectively stop hiccups."

"?"

"?"

As soon as Cheng Shi finished sharing, the two ladies in front of him froze in place.

The girl with the clip had a complex expression, whether it was fear or disgust, it was hard to say. In any case, players with opposing faiths were indeed too perverted and posed a threat to their own safety.

She slowly took two steps back, moving closer to Fang Shiqing.

As for Fang Shiqing, she felt the radiance of [Truth] surging towards Cheng Shi, which meant Cheng Shi wasn't spouting nonsense; this was indeed true.

"You... how did you discover that?"

"Ah, I'm a doctor. Practice makes perfect."

"A doctor in real life?"

Cheng Shi's expression didn't change. "Doesn't it?"

Although Cheng Shi meant he had practiced on others, Fang Shiqing couldn't help but keep glancing at his backside.

"...Thank you, I've learned a lot."

She forced a smile and, without looking back, entered the changing room with the girl holding the clip.

Cheng Shi left with a smile and began his own investigation.

The players had roughly divided the areas. Cheng Shi was assigned the entire east section of the first floor, about a dozen tables.

Striking up conversations with people was actually a very boring task, especially for the socially anxious Cheng Shi.

He casually picked up a dinner plate, swiped a few bottles of wine from tables with patrons who were dead drunk, and then began his wine-delivery work.

At each table, he would earnestly explain that this was a gift from the boss for today's event, then ask the patrons how they were enjoying their drinks and if they were happy. If they were happy, he'd ask if they could share some gossip as payment for the wine.

Honestly, Bilius's wine wasn't cheap. Seeing that the establishment was giving away wine, the patrons were very happy and quickly shared all sorts of rumors they had heard.

After all, they were already bragging, and trading one more brag for a bottle of wine was such a good deal, it was incredibly satisfying.

Thus, Cheng Shi became a gossip vacuum, sucking up information wherever he went.

In a short while, he had heard all the gossip in this place called "Brooks Town."

"The town originally belonged to Duke Brooks. Later, as refugees increased, it developed into an administrative town. But it's said that the mayor wasn't sent by the king, but was a refugee impersonating one. Don't ask me how I know, it's a secret."

"Even the chief judge in the town is a refugee impersonating one."

"They even impersonated showgirls. It wasn't until they took off their clothes and were discovered to have male anatomy that the noble lords realized these dancers were all men."

"But they were still very popular, at least more popular than the original dancers."

"Why has your boss become so generous lately? Has he been impersonated too? What, you want to report him? Buddy, isn't it good to be generous? At least you guys are making money too."

"The refugees flooded in from Gasmella. It's said that underground beliefs are spreading in the Tower of Reason, and they started a civil war, expelling heretics. Then these people ran over to Bilius. Isn't this old news? Why are you asking about this?"

"There are more refugees than citizens. The Duke is also worried, but at least the noble lords like them – good quality and cheap."

"Gossip, what gossip? Does Yorke buying a catgirl count? It's said that after that day, Yorke dreamed of her name. Who's Yorke? He's the Duke's stable hand, sitting at that table over there. See him? The one who looks the most cowardly..."

"That's strange, Yorke actually has money to buy sex and get drunk. Didn't he still owe your boss a lot of money?"

"..."

An hour passed, and Cheng Shi was so engrossed in listening that if it weren't for his pocket watch telling the time, he would have wanted to keep listening.

This was much more interesting than the trials.

What, you ask why I, a socially anxious person, enjoy communicating so much?

I think "social terrorists" should also count as socially anxious, right?

But the trials were still trials. Finding nothing unusual, Cheng Shi had to go back and regroup with his teammates.

When the six players gathered at the table again, their faces were all etched with seriousness.

Except for Cheng Shi.

He was thoroughly amused.

"Why the long faces? Did everyone find any problems?"

A'ming pursed his lips and shook his head. Fang Shiqing frowned in thought. Even Huang Bo, who had been scratching his scalp, was still this time, lowering his head and lost in thought.

"Based on past experience, in a memory scene, there should be some subtle but discoverable flaws. But this time, Xu Lu and I practically eavesdropped on all the tables, including the second floor, and didn't find any NPCs with 'stiff' logical completions. They all seemed very normal, so normal they didn't seem like people from a memory."

"Me too. I even used my talent to sense their inner thoughts. They were very calm and orderly, not like people from a memory."

"You can read minds?" Cheng Shi was surprised and interested.

A'ming quickly shook his head. "No, no, it's just a vague feeling. I can't elaborate on the specifics."

Cheng Shi nodded and looked at Fang Shiqing again. He felt that this "big-wave teacher" also had a similar skill, and it should be even stronger.

Seeing Cheng Shi look over, Fang Shiqing asked back, "What about you?"

"Me? I didn't find anything, but I did hear a lot of gossip. Do you want to hear it?"

"..." Recalling the piece of trivia Cheng Shi had mentioned, she twitched her lips and turned to the others.

"Brother Huang?"

"Mmm... my head hurts... No! There shouldn't be!"

Fang Shiqing and Cheng Shi both frowned slightly at this statement. The same thought arose in their minds:

This is bad, this uncle is a follower of Chaos.