Unexpected Joy! New Information About the Broken Mask

Cheng Shi grew anxious, his mind constantly churning with the Lips of Foolish Play, wanting to know if what the Dragon King said was true.

That's why he's called the Dragon King. Even the second-ranked [Deception] would only become Emissary envoy when he hears the name [Fool's Game]. But he, in just a few words, directly denied this fabricated identity and pointed straight to the core of the problem: the mask is the real person!

That's so right, bro!

I made up all this stuff just to figure out what kind of person Mouth Brother really is!

Hearing your words now is worth more than asking yourself ten years of questions!

Mouth Brother, say something! I know you're listening. You're so good at lying to me, why can't you even answer me?

So you're too scared to say anything now that your identity has been exposed?

Okay, okay, I knew I'd gain a lot from talking to the Dragon King. I'm so clever!

Cheng Shi was delighted. He felt he had found the right direction. The Lips of Foolish Play and the Tongue of Lies must be parts of some creation of Deception, and the complete mask might really be a mysterious existence like the Truth Ritual.

But the Dragon King's surprise for Cheng Shi didn't end there, because before Cheng Shi could get a response from Mouth Brother Zui, the other party said again:

"Come to Memory of it, I seem to recall seeing something like this, which is part of a mask."

Of course, before I knew of the existence of this "Fool's Game" you mentioned, I only thought it was a strange, supernatural artifact. Now it seems, well, it's very likely that it's part of the mask you're looking for.

"!!!"

Cheng Shi straightened up, took a step forward to the Dragon King, took the Dragon King's hand, and said with utmost solemnity:

"Where it is, I can exchange any Memory you want to know for its location."

Li Jingming was taken aback. He looked at his hand, which had been clenched so tightly it had turned white, and said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry:

"The Memory you've given me are more than enough, Cheng Shi. I'm not one to keep secrets, but that place really isn't easy to go to."

That was a city located in the middle of Civilization Era, called Sandlais.

Cheng Shi frowned, remembering this place.

This city belongs to the Tower of Reason. It is located in a remote area near the northern snowfield. Because it is sparsely populated and cold all year round, it was often used by the Grand Scholar of the Tower of Reason as a dumping ground for various Experiment wastes. It is said that it only prospered for a period of time before being completely abandoned.

Could you be more specific?

"There are no additional Memory. You should thank this Memory for coming from another Believer in the [Memory]. If it weren't for his piety in collecting the Memory of the merchants from the Tower of Reason, I might never have known that such a thing existed there."

"?" Cheng Shi was taken aback. "Then how can you be sure it's related to the mask I mentioned? There are too few clues, aren't there?"

"Because it resembles something created by [Deception], more like part of a mask."

Those were Ear, and in Sandlais' ghost stories, they were called...

" To Ear of Secret Prying."

Ear of Secret Prying!!!

That's right, absolutely right. Just by hearing this name Cheng Shi knew that the Ear of Secret Prying was definitely part of the Mask!

Although the "broken Mask" theory was initially just his own fabrication, it now seems that he guessed right. Mouth Brother and Tongue Brother are almost certainly fragments of a Mask!

So Cheng Shi started bombarding Mouth Brother with questions again, and this time Mouth Brother responded, but it didn't seem like he was responding to Cheng Shi; it seemed more like he was reminiscing about the past.

Most importantly, it didn't respond in its mind; it spoke directly.

"Sandlais ... such a distant Memory."

"!!!"

Cheng Shi was dumbfounded. Mouth Brother Zui casually threw out a seemingly plausible but ultimately meaningless remark and ran away, leaving Cheng Shi's face twitching, unsure of what to say next.

Fortunately, this aroused Li Jingming's curiosity. He raised an eyebrow and asked with a smile, "It seems you've been there, and it seems you have some interesting Memory?"

I've never been there!

Cheng Shi was speechless. "Fine, fine, Mouth Brother, you really have to find me something to do, don't you?"

He twitched his lips and quickly clarified, "It was just a casual remark. I heard someone mention it during a previous Trials. That Trials took place near Sandlais, so it seems I accidentally missed it."

Li Jingming nodded thoughtfully:

"Perhaps it wasn't by accident. Destiny is invisible, traceless, and nowhere to be found. When you shouldn't know these things, it may not lead you to the right place."

You're Believer in "Destiny," so you should know more about this than I do.

Understand? Heh, I not only understand, I know it all too well... isn't this Predestination?

Cheng Shi smiled slightly, quickly filtering out some blasphemous whispers from his mind.

Seeing the other party's strange smile, Li Jingming shook his head. "Tell me your conditions, Cheng Shi. I don't want to carry an empty promise that I can't keep and add unnecessary pressure to myself."

Cheng Shi's eyes darted around. "Let's talk about what Zhen Yi did to you first."

"These are your terms?"

"No, this is the exchange of 'eras' that you hear about."

"?" Li Jingming was taken aback, his expression turning somewhat helpless. "Many people exchange Memory not to remember them, but to..."

"Let's eat some melon!" Cheng Shi's eyes lit up, and he smiled happily. "I'm coming clean, I just want to eat some melon, but you promised to cut it, so hurry up and let's move on to the next topic."

"..."

Li Jingming gave a wry smile and nodded, saying, "An exchange should indeed be fair, but this matter is indeed... unlucky."

Soon, the Dragon King recounted the events that had transpired between him and Zhen Yi. It was something that happened shortly after the founding of the History School, when the Dragon King sought out members of the History School in order to exchange Memory.

At that time, he admired the pragmatic approach of the History School, so he went to great lengths to obtain an introduction from someone else and met the leader of the History School, Yi Zhen.

Of course, the Dragon King at that time had no idea that this "Yi Zhen" was neither remembering nor truthful, nor was she the founder of the History School, but rather the founder's sister, the swindler whose reputation was not yet ruined at that time, Zhen Yi.

The timing of his meeting was unfortunate; Zhen Xin had just been replaced by Zhen Yi, so the person who would meet the Dragon King was his mischievous younger sister.

To join the History School, one must not only have a profound understanding of history, but also have personally witnessed a major event that occurred on the Isle of Hope. These conditions were not difficult for the Dragon King, so he casually recounted an Experiment that took place in the Tower of Reason and passed the basic assessment.

However, this time the examiners were particularly harsh on him, and after the basic assessment, they had to "sit down and discuss history" with him.

However, the Dragon King did not reject this in-depth exchange, so he began exchanging Memory with the "examiner" just like today.