Recaps

Cheng Shi sought an answer from Birth about the Primordial, but Mouth Brother unexpectedly made him name Deception as the Lord of Grace moving away from Her. Deception appeared and mocked Cheng Shi, then Birth claimed that humans and gods could share Her authority, leaving Deception laughing and the divine audience in chaos.

• Cheng Shi asked Birth about the Primordial, and Her divine pillar formed a wall of Birth around him.
• Cheng Shi intended to mention Chaos but instead named Deception as the Lord of Grace moving away from the Primordial.
• Deception appeared in the void and teased Cheng Shi about wanting to steal Birth’s authority and blaspheme Destiny.
• Deception insisted humans and gods could not share Birth’s authority, but Birth declared that they could share Hers.
• Birth struck Deception’s laughing eyes with Her divine pillar, while Cheng Shi watched the gods’ exchange in silence.

Birth showed Cheng Shi a vision of life’s earliest beginnings and a voice naming Birth as the origin of all things, which Cheng Shi recognized as Origin’s. The God of Merriment then questioned whether Origin existed at all.

• Cheng Shi’s Lord of Grace asked Birth to explain who Origin was, and Birth questioned why Cheng Shi wanted to know.
• Birth broke apart into life markers that formed a vision of strange life forms spreading through a barren darkness and developing worship.
• Cheng Shi heard an unfamiliar voice declare, “This, then, is Birth—the prelude to life, the... origin of all things,” and recognized it as Origin’s voice.
• Birth returned Cheng Shi to the void, where he realized Origin had named Birth without appearing to it.
• The God of Merriment observed that Birth had never seen Origin and suggested that Origin might not exist.

Cheng Shi realized the God of Merriment wanted him to use his Time Deduction Method on Birth and reveal a perspective beyond the universe. He cautiously invited Birth to explore it, and the God of Merriment challenged Birth to respond.

• Birth mildly warned the God of Merriment not to speak recklessly, and the God of Merriment blamed Cheng Shi for the offense.
• The God of Merriment asked Cheng Shi to help put it back on the right track, but Cheng Shi stayed silent until he accidentally agreed.
• The God of Merriment proposed that Cheng Shi use the strange talent granted by time and Destiny on Birth.
• Cheng Shi inferred that the God of Merriment wanted him to connect with Birth from another timeline and, after receiving its affirmation, grew eager to try.
• Cheng Shi told Birth that his Time Deduction Method might reveal scenery beyond the universe and invited it to explore, while the God of Merriment taunted Birth for seeming afraid.

Cheng Shi used the Time Deduction Method on Birth, but Birth and Deception vanished and met again in a gap beyond the universe. Deception learned that another Birth sensed the Primordial Origin and considered causing trouble, while both conversations ended with the figures disappearing.

• Birth and Deception vanished from Cheng Shi’s sight after Cheng Shi directed his Time Deduction Method at Birth.
• Deception revealed that he had connected Giggle and Mock to a gap between existences, creating a route through Nothingness.
• Birth arrived before Deception, who noticed that this Birth’s life markers represented different species and races from those on the earlier pillar.
• Birth sensed the Primordial Origin’s aura, and Deception challenged Birth about whether he feared the unknown.
• Deception questioned Birth’s certainty that Birth would always be able to give birth, then learned Birth’s return depended on another conversation between their counterparts.
• Deception said he would cause the Primordial Origin trouble, and four figures dissipated from the gap beyond the universe.

After Birth struck a bargain with Deception over the cost of opening the door, Cheng Shi discovered that Birth had placed Prosperity’s Authority of Growth inside him. Deception questioned what Cheng Shi intended to do with it, and Cheng Shi insisted he did not want to become Prosperity’s favored one.

• Deception argued that Birth owed a ticket for opening the door and exploring beyond the universe.
• Birth grew furious when Deception demanded payment, then struck Cheng Shi unconscious before leaving.
• Cheng Shi awoke and found that Birth had placed the Authority of Prosperity, Growth, inside his body.
• Cheng Shi suggested the Authority might belong to him as the one who opened the door, and Deception challenged him to explain what he wanted it for.
• Cheng Shi denied wanting to become Prosperity’s favored one.

Cheng Shi confronted Deception over her apparent plan to use the authority of Growth to explore the truth beyond the universe, fearing she would lose her power like Folly. Deception revealed she had only been testing his devotion and ordered him to give Growth to Big Cat, then considered whether the Slice Universe’s secrets involved the true culprits.

• Cheng Shi resisted Deception’s storm and argued that she wanted Growth as a stake in a gamble to investigate the ultimate end of the universe.
• Deception challenged Cheng Shi’s fear that she would lose her authority like Folly, and Cheng Shi admitted he wanted her to go only after he was strong enough to help her.
• Cheng Shi said that Big Cat’s growth was his own and pointed out that her shared authority had helped him grow.
• Deception revealed that she had been testing Cheng Shi’s devotion, told him to give Growth to Big Cat, and sent him out of the void.
• After Cheng Shi asked whether Lips of Foolish Play or the broken Mask was her creation, Deception wondered whether the Slice Universe’s truth implicated the true culprits.

Cheng Shi met Big Cat to give her the Authority of Prosperity, Birth, which he believed suited her better than him. Big Cat resisted accepting it at first, but Cheng Shi insisted, leaving her stunned by how often he brought her valuable gifts.

• Cheng Shi confirmed that Hu Xuan was safe through the Silent Infant Bell and considered his next steps with Afros and Wei Mu.
• Cheng Shi contacted Big Cat and met her in a false forest within the void.
• Big Cat mistook Cheng Shi’s cautious step back for an insult and knocked him into the mud before thanking him on Tao Yi’s behalf.
• Cheng Shi teased Big Cat about her debt to him and revealed the Authority of Prosperity, Birth.
• Big Cat said the Authority did not suit her, but Cheng Shi insisted she take it and dismissed her objections.

Cheng Shi gave Big Cat the prosperity authority, then received gathering venues and potions from her while warning Hong Lin to be careful about the God of Merriment. Wei Mu left Dolgo D after helping Afros and the others, exchanged memories with Li Jingming, and learned that the Dragon King was searching for a ticket to perform onstage.

• Cheng Shi handed Big Cat the prosperity authority, but could not accommodate a second authority without replacing Vitality.
• Big Cat gave Cheng Shi two gathering venues and many prosperity potions, then agreed to find the item he requested.
• Cheng Shi warned Hong Lin that authorities were not omnipotent and hinted that the God of Merriment might have a scheme, but Hong Lin insisted she could protect her friends.
• Wei Mu left Dolgo D after helping establish a tribunal and laboratories, organizing experiments, and turning 0221's corpse into a puppet overseer.
• Wei Mu exchanged a memory of the Truth Experiment Field with Li Jingming, who revealed that he was seeking a ticket to take the stage and perform.

Cheng Shi gathered allies to seek the Ear of Secret Prying in Sandlais, but his prayer unexpectedly opened a Silence trial. He woke in an abandoned sewer and encountered two teammates who both looked exactly like him, leaving the three of them staring at one another in silence.

• Cheng Shi invited Big Cat, the Doctor, and others to join him in searching Sandlais for the mysterious object the Clowns needed, while the Dragon King remained unreachable.
• Cheng Shi prayed to Time and began a trial called “Glimpsing Secrets in the Bitter, Frigid Northern Land of Sandlais,” which turned out to be Silence's trial, “Silence Is Golden, Seeing Is Believing.”
• Cheng Shi awoke in a foul, muddy sewer and recognized it as an abandoned sewer pipe beneath Sandlais.
• Cheng Shi met a teammate who looked just like him, and the two simultaneously made the same eerie sound.
• A third teammate who also looked exactly like Cheng Shi appeared, and all three fell into absolute silence.

Cheng Shi encountered two convincing doubles in a sewer trial, leaving him unable to determine whether they were Zhen Yi, the Dragon King, or impostors. Zhang Jizu and Ai Si left to search ahead while the three Cheng Shis continued their identity standoff.

• Zhang Jizu arrived, saw three Cheng Shis, and cautiously raised his scalpel.
• Ai Si joined them, joked about the apparent Cheng Shi impersonation contest, and introduced herself to Zhang Jizu.
• Zhang Jizu reasoned that their missing teammate might be hiding and decided to prepare for that possibility.
• Ai Si left to search for others, and Zhang Jizu followed, leaving the three Cheng Shis together.
• Cheng Shi guessed that the other two were Zhen Yi and the Dragon King, but each double challenged the others' claims.

Cheng Shi and two impostors reached a stalemate as each tried to identify the others, while Zhang Jizu and Ai Si discovered that their missing teammate had left a corpse behind as a warning. The chapter ended with more Cheng Shis appearing and Zhang Jizu deciding to stay away from them.

• Cheng Shi and the two other Cheng Shis taunted one another but held off on fighting, realizing that whoever lost the contest would remain identified as Cheng Shi.
• Cheng Shi suspected that the Cheng Shi in the jacket was Long Jing and decided to wait until they were separated before acting.
• Ai Si found the dead body of their Justice Official teammate, and Zhang Jizu identified the cause of death as Annihilation.
• Zhang Jizu concluded that the corpse had been planted to conceal the teammate's departure and warn the others that she was watching them.
• Cheng Shi in the trench coat accused Zhen Yi of leaving, then noticed that the group now included one Cheng Shi in a jacket and two in trench coats.
• Zhang Jizu told Ai Si to stay away from the Cheng Shis.

After the group split up in the sewers, Cheng Shi searched for the missing player while Zhang Jizu led Ai Si toward the exit. Ai Si explained how Cheng Shi had once tricked her with fake life-saving potions, and Zhang Jizu recognized the story as connected to an event from the past.

• Zhang Jizu put away the corpse and headed toward the sewer exit, while Ai Si followed him and the three Cheng Shis split up.
• Cheng Shi returned to the scene to search for clues about the invisible player, suspecting the missing teammate might be Zhen Yi or Zhen Xin.
• Cheng Shi found a movable section of iron railing and destroyed it to enter the tunnel beyond.
• Zhang Jizu used a faint chill to navigate toward the exit, and Ai Si asked whether he had fused with Truth.
• Ai Si recounted how Cheng Shi had saved her during a rebellion by selling her and her team fake Disdain of the Dead potions, then admitted she now wanted Zhang Jizu's help surviving.
• Zhang Jizu learned that Ai Si's trial had taken place near the end of the third month after the Faith Game began and said the exit was close.

Zhang Jizu and Ai Si found that the sewer passage ended at a frozen cliff, where they encountered Cheng Shi and agreed to climb with him. As they scaled the cliff, Zhang Jizu used Cheng Shi to verify the route while Cheng Shi threatened to cut the rope when Ai Si mentioned blasphemy.

• Zhang Jizu and Ai Si reached a concealed iron door in the sewer and discovered it opened onto a sheer frozen cliff with no path ahead.
• Cheng Shi appeared outside the door and told them he had climbed a rope toward a passage near the cliff top, then demanded a Healing Art and offered to lead them to Sandlais.
• Cheng Shi challenged Zhang Jizu and Ai Si to prove their identities, while Zhang Jizu questioned how Cheng Shi knew the route led to the real Sandlais.
• Cheng Shi started to leave and cut the rope, but Zhang Jizu stopped him, healed him, and began climbing with him and Ai Si.
• Zhang Jizu told Ai Si he had used Cheng Shi to test whether the cliff route was safe, and Cheng Shi threatened to cut the rope after hearing Ai Si mention blasphemy.

Cheng Shi, Zhang Jizu, and Ai Si explored Sandlais, a frozen town in an abyss where scavengers sought divine fragments among experimental waste. After questioning a scavenger named Han Mo, they headed toward the central region, while a disguised Cheng Shi secretly followed them.

• Cheng Shi and his companions reached the frozen town and followed a trail of firelight toward a ruined house.
• Zhang Jizu asked Cheng Shi to use his brooch on a corpse, but the brooch failed to affect it.
• Ai Si cut open the house after Cheng Shi warned of danger, revealing Han Mo, who said scavengers came to Sandlais seeking divine fragments and survival.
• Han Mo explained that scavengers jumped into the abyss and could survive by landing in wind vortices, though many were injured or mutated by experimental waste.
• Cheng Shi, Zhang Jizu, and Ai Si left to investigate the central region before their rivals arrived.
• Han Mo revealed himself as a disguised Cheng Shi, found the real Han Mo, and secretly followed the trio.

Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu planned to unite Sandlais's scavenging groups and use them to track their enemies, but Ai Si discovered someone had already approached the scavengers. After they captured a hidden old man, Ai Si learned that Cheng Shi could still wield Destiny's power and resolved to seek an opportunity in the town center.

• Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu learned that scavenging groups controlled the outskirts of Sandlais's town center and guarded a treasure that might be the Ear of Secret Prying.
• Cheng Shi proposed uniting the scavengers and equipping them with alerts so the group could track their enemies and missing teammate.
• Zhang Jizu agreed to Cheng Shi's plan, while Ai Si warned that someone had already reached the scavengers.
• Ai Si struck a nearby ruin with her blade, blasting a limping old man out of hiding.
• Cheng Shi used a Dice to intercept the old man, and Ai Si realized he could still wield Destiny's power.
• Ai Si wondered whether the town center held a freely chosen faith and resolved to gain something from the trial.

Cheng Shi, Ai Si, and Zhang Jizu questioned a lame scavenger and learned that the fog around Faith Theater had become dangerous again after intruders triggered a Ghost Tide. Cheng Shi left to pursue Wells and a hidden objective, while repeatedly confronting the scavenger in different disguises as the group raced toward town.

• Cheng Shi threatened the lame old scavenger, who said Wells had sent patrols after unfamiliar scavengers that had rushed into Faith Theater and triggered a Ghost Tide.
• The lame old man explained that a deadly ghost guarded Faith Theater and that mass deaths had once caused the surrounding fog to boil, leading scavengers to enclose it as Place of Piety.
• After learning that Wells held the research on the fog, Cheng Shi killed and revived the old man, then led Ai Si and Zhang Jizu toward Wells while secretly keeping a brooch.
• The lame old man tried to flee, but Trench Coat Cheng Shi stopped him and made him repeat his account before letting him go.
• Jacket Cheng Shi confronted the old man again, heard him repeat everything, and remarked that the others were moving fast before heading into the snowstorm.

Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu traveled with Ai Si toward Wells, growing curious about the Place of Piety and the Method of Becoming a God. Cheng Shi persuaded Ai Si to act as his informant by giving her three bottles of War potions, though their alliance remained wary and uneasy.

• Cheng Shi wondered how the Place of Piety, the Ear of Secret Prying, and the Method of Becoming a God were connected as the group headed toward Wells.
• Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu suspected Ai Si was hiding what she knew about Sandlais.
• Cheng Shi privately asked Ai Si to inform on Zhang Jizu, and Ai Si agreed in exchange for Disdain of the Dead.
• Ai Si accused Cheng Shi of handing her fake potions, but he explained that the bottles contained real War potions called Never-Ending Defeat.

Cheng Shi and Ai Si continued exploring Sandlais’s central region while the disguised Jacket Cheng Shi tried to pass himself off as the real Cheng Shi. Zhang Jizu saw through the impostor’s claim, warned him that Zhen Yi was nearby, and the impostor headed toward a gathering of fires in the snow.

• Ai Si kept Cheng Shi’s potions after agreeing to his terms, and she said she was preparing for dangers ahead.
• Cheng Shi and Ai Si realized Zhang Jizu had fallen behind, and he said he had slowed down to give them privacy.
• Jacket Cheng Shi confronted Zhang Jizu and guessed that Long Jing had impersonated him, but Zhang Jizu said he had recognized Jacket Cheng Shi instead.
• Zhang Jizu tested Jacket Cheng Shi with an attack and recognized that his die showing six exposed a flaw in his disguise.
• Zhang Jizu left after warning Jacket Cheng Shi that Zhen Yi had come too, and Jacket Cheng Shi changed into a trench coat and walked toward the distant fires.

Cheng Shi, Zhang Jizu, and Ai Si subdued the scavengers at the southern outpost and discovered that Wells had already been killed, apparently by someone who had turned the newcomers against him. They learned the Ghost Tide would last until at least the day after tomorrow and began questioning whether the unseen ghost existed at all.

• Ai Si cut down Barto’s arm, and the scavengers stopped trying to flee when she threatened them.
• Barto revealed that he was Wells’s deputy and that Wells was dead inside the central house.
• Cheng Shi found Wells’s corpse and concluded that a woman connected to the History School had incited the newcomers and cut off their path forward.
• Barto told Cheng Shi that the Ghost Tide would not begin to calm until the day after tomorrow and that unfamiliar scavengers had rushed toward the Place of Piety.
• Cheng Shi questioned Barto about the ghost, but no one at the outpost had ever seen it, leading Cheng Shi to wonder whether it existed.

Cheng Shi tested the Place of Piety by throwing Barto into its mist, where a ghostly voice revealed Barto’s secret connection to Wells and the title of “God Consort.” After Zhang Jizu resurrected Barto, Cheng Shi demanded that he explain how to enter the mist safely.

• Cheng Shi carried Barto to the wire fence and threw him into the Place of Piety despite his terrified protests.
• A voice in the mist mourned Wells and revealed that he had promised to make Barto his God Consort; Barto died, and Zhang Jizu and Ai Si saw no sign of the ghost.
• Cheng Shi pulled Barto’s corpse out of the mist and ordered Zhang Jizu to resurrect him, while the group puzzled over the voice’s revelation.
• After Barto awoke, Cheng Shi questioned him about the Place of Piety and threatened to erase his neck if he could not explain how to enter the mist.

Cheng Shi learned that Wells and Yenoli planned to use mechanical creations to enter the Place of Piety, then tested whether the dead could cross its boundary. When the skeleton failed, Cheng Shi had Plott lead him, Zhang Jizu, and Ai Si to the hidden machines.

• Barto broke down and could not provide Cheng Shi with useful information.
• Plott revealed Wells and Yenoli's plan to restore mechanical creations from the Tower of Reason and use them to open the theater door.
• Ai Si killed Barto, and Cheng Shi turned his corpse into a skeleton to test whether the dead could enter the Place of Piety.
• The skeleton crossed the fence but shattered in the mist, so Cheng Shi decided to pursue the mechanical-creation plan.
• Cheng Shi, Zhang Jizu, and Ai Si followed Plott through Sandlais toward the hidden mechanical creations.

Cheng Shi and his companions questioned Plott and followed his directions toward a hidden Tower of Reason observation station beneath the ruins. Elsewhere, another Cheng Shi found a second Plott buried in the snow, exposing a growing mystery around the scavenger and the visitor's identity.

• Cheng Shi deduced that the ruins concealed an underground observation station, and Zhang Jizu threatened Plott to check whether he was one of the Zhen sisters.
• Plott falsely claimed to be Zhen Xin and revealed that he had overheard Wells and Yenoli discussing a plan at the station.
• Cheng Shi told Plott to lead them underground to investigate what Wells had found.
• A concealed visitor approached Wells's southern hideout and found its order collapsing amid fights over supplies.
• The visitor rescued a frozen young scavenger who called himself Plott, then revealed a face identical to Cheng Shi's and asked which Cheng Shi he meant.

Cheng Shi, Zhang Jizu, Ai Si, and Plott searched the underground pipes for evidence of Wells’s experiment and a way into the Place of Piety. They found a hidden archive and a crude War Machine Soldier, but the experiment proved to be far less advanced than Wells had claimed, while Ai Si’s remarks revealed that Zhang Jizu had been mistaken for a believer of Truth.

• Cheng Shi stopped Ai Si from widening the hidden burrow, and the group entered with Plott between the players before Zhang Jizu covered their tracks and followed.
• The group found only branching pipes, and Plott admitted he had never visited the underground passage despite believing the experiment was there.
• Cheng Shi promised to take Plott with them if his account proved true, so Plott and the players searched the pipes using Zhang Jizu’s firefly lamps to map their route.
• Plott accidentally broke through a pipe wall into a hidden archive containing burned records and a poorly assembled War Machine Soldier.
• Cheng Shi realized Wells had exaggerated his progress, and the group’s search for a way through the fog and into the Place of Piety remained unresolved.
• Ai Si suggested Zhang Jizu could repair the War Machine Soldier because he was a believer of Truth, leaving Cheng Shi confused and Zhang Jizu wary.

Zhang Jizu explained how he could use the battered War Machine Soldier as a temporary substitute to enter the Faith Theater, while Cheng Shi revealed an item that replayed the archive room’s past. The memories exposed the Tower of Reason’s successful No Faith Experiment and left the pair facing the possibility that a False God controlled the Ear of Secret Prying.

• Zhang Jizu asked Ai Si to find mechanical materials, and she left the secret chamber after knocking out Plott.
• Zhang Jizu told Cheng Shi that he could restore the War Machine Soldier by stitching it together like a corpse and briefly awaken it to enter the Faith Theater.
• Cheng Shi used his item to replay the archive room’s history, and he and Zhang Jizu learned about the Tower of Reason Experiment in Sandlais.
• Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu wondered whether the experiment created the God of No Faith, who might be locked in the Faith Theater and possess the Ear of Secret Prying.
• Zhang Jizu warned Cheng Shi that their opponent could be a False God and said that getting closer to the truth would make it harder for them to share secrets.

Ai Si searched the underground passages for the experiment and clues, but a shapeshifting teammate deceived Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu by impersonating her and led them away. After another Ai Si replayed the archive room’s memories, she discovered Cheng Shi had anticipated a Memory believer might listen and left a pointed message for whoever came after.

• Ai Si noticed her firefly lamps had vanished and confronted someone posing as Zhang Jizu, then realized he had been watching her to study how to impersonate her.
• Ai Si returned to the archive room and found Cheng Shi, Zhang Jizu, Plott, and the War Machine Soldier gone, with footprints showing that an impostor had taken her place.
• Ai Si followed the group’s tracks, determined to uncover the teammate who had deceived them.
• A second Ai Si arrived at the empty archive room and replayed its recent memories using Memory.
• The replay revealed Cheng Shi had predicted a Memory believer might listen and deliberately left a message, while seeming to identify the listener’s location.