In an apartment somewhere in an unknown city in the real world.
Bailing woke up in bed, feeling the sunlight streaming through the window onto her cheek, bringing a faint warmth.
She raised a hand and touched her face, then pinched it hard.
Pain!
She wasn't dead.
The Final Gate was real.
She had survived again!
Joy first flashed across her brows, and she giggled aloud. But immediately afterward, the smile froze on her face, then slowly faded away.
She stared blankly at the snow-white ceiling.
"Why did you choose Her?"
Cheng Shi's question continued to circle through her mind. She still remembered her answer.
"Wasn't it because I liked Her?"
Yes. Wasn't it because she liked Her?
But what exactly... did she like?
She slowly rose. Just as after her previous trial, she removed her clothes and stood naked before the mirror, turning in circles as she examined the traces Filth and Decay had left on her body.
The feeling of embracing desire wasn't unpleasant. But did she really like it?
Perhaps.
Bailing gave a self-mocking smile and walked toward the bathroom.
It was an old, poorly maintained apartment, but thanks to the combined prayers of the players nearby, the hot-water supply was fairly adequate.
She turned the shower to its maximum flow and highest temperature, letting the hot water pour over her body until her skin reddened.
Her hands kept scrubbing her body. Even though nothing could be scrubbed off her mottled-red skin, she continued to apply force.
Only when she collapsed from exhaustion inside the bathroom and fell asleep did this "torture" finally end.
In her dream, she seemed to have returned to the day the gods descended. Looking at the only choice before her, Bailing asked blankly:
"If I worship You, what should I do?"
She still remembered that soul-stirring voice.
The flesh, power, money, selfishness, greed, laziness... all of them will become desires you can pursue.
"But I... don't want to hurt anyone."
Then bring pleasure to others.
Pleasure?
From that day onward, a Sensory Hunter who pursued "the sinking of the flesh" was born.
She had never hurt anyone. She only brought others...
Pleasure.
After an unknown number of hours, Bailing slowly woke up.
A smile appeared on her face once more. She rose, slowly dried herself, and selected a brand-new skirt suit in the dressing room before leisurely putting it on.
For players, old clothes had only one destination: the trash can.
But Bailing never threw away her clothes. Each skirt was like a recording of memories, allowing her to recall every detail of every trial.
She carefully hung up the skirt and tidied it, while recalling each scene that had just occurred.
But as she smoothed the hem, she suddenly discovered a letter tucked into a seam at the corner of the skirt.
A letter made from book pages.
Bailing covered her mouth in shock. In disbelief, she pulled out the letter and tremblingly unfolded it.
The elegant handwriting on the letter entered her eyes one character at a time.
"An... invitation... from... the... Fire... Seeker?"
In a classroom somewhere in an unknown city in the real world.
Fang Shiqing picked up a piece of chalk and skillfully drew a symbol on the blackboard.
The instant she finished, the blackboard suddenly twisted into a pitch-black door. Without hesitation, she entered it with a determined gaze.
Beyond the door was endless nothingness.
The moment she stepped inside, invisible steps rose beneath her feet, guiding her toward the designated place.
After walking only a few dozen steps, Fang Shiqing saw a "person" sitting opposite her—a "person" sitting high in the air and looking down at her, outlined by burning candlelight.
Feeling the "person's" gaze, Fang Shiqing shook her head and smiled wryly.
"Do you have to be so theatrical?"
"Shiqing, this is the treatment I deserve. I opened this passage, invisible even to the gods, so that you could exchange messages. Shouldn't you praise me every time we meet?"
"Stop, stop, stop. Praise you, praise the great Hope's Flame, but please stop calling me Shiqing. It's so cloying it gives me goosebumps."
"Of course, Shiqing."
"..." Fang Shiqing helplessly rubbed her forehead. "Is he here?"
"He is. Just ahead."
Fang Shiqing nodded and started to leave, but stopped after only two steps and turned back, asking in confusion:
"By the way, why don't you call him 'Fire Fire'?"
"..."
Candlelight Person's voice faltered, and he answered awkwardly:
"I'm afraid he'll beat me up..."
"Pfft." Fang Shiqing couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing. Even her steps afterward became much lighter.
Before long, she saw that imposing man in a brightly lit hall.
"You look happy. Has something good happened?"
"You're injured?" Fang Shiqing asked, slightly furrowing her brows.
"Just a minor injury. Nothing serious. I encountered a chosen of Filth and Decay and exchanged blows with him twice."
The man spoke lightly, but it only took a little imagination to realize how terrifying the danger had been.
The difficulty of that segmented trial was almost beyond an ordinary player's imagination.
Fang Shiqing did not ask further. She merely nodded.
"Speak. Time is precious."
"Yes. I sent out two new invitations: one to Doctor of Forgetfulness, and one to Sensory Hunter."
The man raised his brows, somewhat surprised. "A believer of Filth and Decay?"
"Yes, a believer of Filth and Decay."
"And?"
"The doctor refused. The hunter... probably won't."
"Oh?" The man became interested and smiled. "Why?"
"Because the music played on her heartstrings, like yours and mine, is filled with notes of compassion and dancing symbols of hope."
"You're certain she's a believer of Filth and Decay?"
"I am."
"Hmm... You're Fire Seeker, so I'll take your word for it. In that case, can I prepare a welcoming ceremony for our new companion?"
Fang Shiqing seemed to think of someone, but she shook off her jumbled thoughts and smiled as she nodded.
"She'll come."
In a room somewhere in an unknown city in the real world.
Xu Lu screamed as she woke, abruptly rising from beside the table and knocking the crystal ball and cards onto the floor.
She struggled for a while as if someone had seized her by the throat. Only when her back struck the wall did she come to her senses and realize that she was no longer in the trial.
This was...
The rest area?
When the gods assigned fragmented activity zones to all the players, the term "home" had gradually faded from people's minds.
Most players called the places where they lived rest areas. Some called them footholds, or places to eke out a living.
Xu Lu looked at her hands in disbelief, then quickly felt herself all over.
But when she realized that she was indeed alive and unharmed, the fear on her face became even more pronounced.
Why!?
Why had the man surnamed Cheng dragged her into the wrong Final Gate, yet she had still survived?
Why, when he had clearly had the chance, had he not chosen to kill her?
Why had Destiny's revelation told her not to trust the believers of Time? Yet judging by the result, the believers of Time had clearly been right!
Why was this?
Could Destiny's will be telling her to die!?
Why!!??
Ever since she began worshiping Destiny, there had not been a single day when she failed to revere Her, not a single day when she failed to praise Her, and not a single day when she dared to defy Her.
Yet in the end, You had actually guided her to her death?
Why?!
Was this my destiny?
I refuse to accept it!
Fear and fury intertwined in Xu Lu's eyes, while unwillingness and hatred grew. She clenched Dice of Destiny tightly in her hand, her expression dark and constantly shifting.
Xie Yang seemed to have heard the commotion downstairs. He leaned over the rooftop's edge and anxiously called down:
"Lu-Lu, Lu-Lu? Are you all right? What happened?"
Xie Yang's call pulled some of Xu Lu's reason back. She withdrew the hand that was about to throw away the dice and angrily fell silent.
Then she quickly returned to her previous voice and answered sweetly:
"Brother Xie, I'm fine. I just accidentally bumped into the table."
But from beginning to end, she did not take a single step toward the balcony where Xie Yang could see her.
"Good, good. You weren't injured in the trial, were you?"
"Thanks to your potion, Brother, I'm fine. It's just that the potion... seems to be used up."
"Huh? Oh! It's fine. I'll ask Cheng Shi for another bottle. He might still have some."
Cheng Shi!!
Cheng Shi again!!
Xu Lu had no idea what was going through her mind. Hatred flashed across her eyes several times, but in the end she still spoke in a soft, fragile voice:
"Then... won't that trouble you, Brother?"
"Hey, no trouble!"
In a suburban area somewhere in the real world.
A'ming lay on the ground, gazing up at the blazing sun, his thoughts churning.
After receiving Order's decree to erase the believer of Chaos, only to be countered by Huang Bo, he knew he was going to die.
Bound to a wall by his enemy and subjected to inhuman torture, feeling his life ebb away bit by bit, he had even despaired enough to give up.
But just when he thought his life was about to disappear, a snap of the fingers from the depths of Nothingness pulled his consciousness back to reality.
He woke up on the wall, completely unharmed.
Just as he had been when he first entered the trial.
A'ming stared at himself with his status completely restored, utterly shaken.
He tore out the blood nails, struggled down from the wall, and checked the time. Two hours remained.
Time?
A'ming suddenly understood.
It was Doctor of Forgetfulness's method—the trick of time, a rollback of his condition.
That doctor called Cheng Shi had saved him.
Praise Time. He had managed to survive once more.
Afterward, he searched all the way for Memory Gate and traces of his teammates, only to discover that his teammates had already left the trial.
Not only that, but outside every Memory Gate, they had also left him guidance toward the answer.
It was as if he had dreamed a dream in which he was tortured and about to die.
Yet after waking from the dream, the trial had automatically been cleared.
"Cheng Shi... thank goodness you were there..."
Before you continue