The Fool of the Gods

(Rounded to 7,000 words!)

The reason why many things are hard to figure out is that there is too little information, so Cheng Shi did not dwell too much on the intersection of the future and the present, but exhaled heavily and prepared to leave the void.

He now had to return to the trial to confirm the status of the big cat and make sure that she had not encountered any accidents due to this series of changes.

Of course, [Destiny] said that she had become Fuladro, so he should go and see this orphan of [Prosperity] to see how much she looked like [Them].

But just as he was about to take out his tongue to lick the void, the place where the [Deception] eye ​​disappeared opened again with a pair of eyes painted with spirals and stars.

Cheng Shi looked at the corners of his slightly raised eyes and felt numb.

How could there be a surprise attack?

The pair of laughing eyes looked into the depths of the void, and seeing that there was no more fluctuation of [Destiny] around, he laughed loudly.

"Why, are you unhappy to see your benefactor summon you again?"

"Haha, I'm happy, I'm so happy."

The spinning spiral quickly turned for a moment, sneering: "Pay attention to your expression when you lie next time, otherwise, don't tell others that you are my believer, it's embarrassing."

"......" Cheng Shi's cerebellum has been overloaded too many times today. He really doesn't want to use his brain, so he sighed and said, "Master, just say what you want to say, let's save time."

"Oh? You also have ideas about [time]?"

"......"

Cheng Shi rolled his eyes speechlessly, pinched his nose red, and then looked up at his benefactor with a face of "I won't resist" and said: "The clown is here, let's get to the point, Master."

This scene of giving up struggle and embracing teasing made [Fraud] feel bored instantly. He looked at Cheng Shi with disgust, and then blinked lightly, and took out a strong and thick branch from the depths of the endless void.

Seeing the aura of [prosperity] suddenly overflowing in front of him, Cheng Shi's eyes froze instantly.

"What is this...?"

"The gift of [Prosperity Final Edict], the authority of 'vitality' given to me.

Of course, all authority is engraved in [Covenant], and the thick branch you can see is just the appearance of authority.

This [Mother of Scheming] can divide, but she left the most useless thing to [Nothingness] to me.

Does He think that everyone will be interested in this authority like [Truth]?

Oh, the world is prosperous, but unfortunately, I don't accept [prosperity] here."

As he said, the pair of eyes full of joy sent the thriving thick branch to Cheng Shi.

Cheng Shi suddenly froze, then looked up at Him, blinking in confusion:

"You are...giving this to me?

This is the authority of [True God], you just don't want it?

Give it to a...player?

But can't humans enjoy His authority?"

"Oh? So you have ideas about [Prosperity] too?"

"..."

Yes, yes, I have ideas about the universe, I wish I could learn from [Prosperity] and blow up the universe directly!

Seeing that his believers were silent again, [Fraud] laughed twice and became serious.

"Who told you that humans cannot enjoy God's authority?

That old bone?

Well, what He said is not entirely right. You really cannot share the authority of [Prosperity], because the living [Prosperity] will not allow you to steal His authority, and the fallen [Prosperity]... you are not qualified to inherit it.

Although [Covenant] protects all divine authority from being lost, if a certain god is in a good mood and gives you part of His authority as a 'God's gift', then this is not considered a loss of authority, but a transfer of agency.

In this way, humans, It can also temporarily act on behalf of God's authority.

From God and the messenger, they are so dependent on the true God. In addition to their own few divinities, most of them act on behalf of the true God's authority.

So..."

Hearing this, Cheng Shi suddenly shuddered and straightened his back: "So! ! ?"

"So I won't tease you anymore. This is not for you. Take it back to your little cat friend.

After all, it is an envoy recognized by the [Convention]. It is too embarrassing to have no authority.

Besides, what kind of envoy is it without authority?"

Ah?

For the bald man?

This authority is for the bald man?

Cheng Shi was confused, but the next second his eyes flashed with a subtle gleam.

"Aren't you also promoting the integration of faiths? Why don't you want the power that's given to you for free?

You don't like [prosperity]?"

The eyes stopped for a moment, and for once, they didn't laugh. Instead, they sighed and said:

"It's not a question of whether I like it or not. Universal prosperity is indeed a good thing, but...His purpose of making the universe prosperous is wrong.

He and I are not the same kind of people. Besides, [Nothingness] does not need [prosperity], because [Nothingness] has no meaning. "

"But..."

"Heh, you want to ask why the other benefactor you pretended to flatter accepted the gift of [prosperity]?"

"...I don't want to." Cheng Shi shook his head with a dark face.

"You can't fool me, but...

Hee~

Who said He accepted it?

I am the appearance of [Nothingness], and He is the essence of [Nothingness]. If the appearance can be seen clearly, how can the essence not be seen clearly?

He had already given the gift of [Prosperity Final Edict] to others. [Mother of Prosperity] made a good calculation. He never gave [Destiny] a trace of authority, but left it to Him to act on behalf of [Prosperity] Trial Granting, just to make the road to [Prosperity] more hopeful under the changes of [Destiny].

Unfortunately, [Fate] was too ruthless and too lazy. He refused the extra work and outsourced it to your kitten friend.

However, who knows if this was what [Mother of Prosperity] had planned?

He saw that [Fate] favored the kitten, so he took a gamble and left a little fuel for [Prosperity].

After all, the kitten was a believer of [Prosperity], wasn't he?

Now she has become his eldest daughter. Look, the hope of [Prosperity] seems to have returned to [Prosperity]'s hands.

[Fate] can see through the future and naturally knows this, but he still gave it away, but the means of giving it away were, well, too dirty.

What kind of contract do you think he signed with the kitten?

That was not an annex to the [Covenant], but a vow with [Fate]. She foolishly sold herself to [Fate].

Hee~

It's funny to think that the eldest daughter of [Prosperity], who was finally recognized by [Convention] as the successor of God, became a worker of [Fate] without knowing why, and she was working as an illegal worker left by [Prosperity].

I suddenly found that human wisdom still has its merits, at least capitalists are really hateful.

Okay, that's about it, remember to bring this power of vitality to her, and I won't summon her, otherwise, I'm afraid I can't help but laugh at her. ”

“......”

Hearing this, Cheng Shi felt mixed emotions.

He felt that the relationship between the gods was too complicated. Each of them was calculating against each other and was unwavering in practicing their own will, even placing the importance of faith above the fall. What could this faith, which was more fanatical and firm than that of the players, bring to them?

The gods had destroyed themselves, so what could they bring to Him who only existed in history after the fall?

Cheng Shi could not understand, and could not understand.

But he understood one thing from the return of [Fraud], that is... [Fate] sometimes did not tell the truth.

[Fraud] seemed to see through Cheng Shi's thoughts, and He finally smiled happily again.

"It seems that you have realized it.

Be careful, He is very good at deceiving people."

"......" Cheng Shi was numb again.

A god who holds the power of fraud, reminding himself to be careful that His brother god is very good at deceiving people, are you really not deceiving people?

"Hee~

Don't disbelieve it, He is much better at deceiving people than me.

You don't think that the traitor secretly stayed here to present a pre-determined play to Him, do you?

Although I have never seen Him sign any agreement with it, I can imagine that your cunning future must have used provocation to Him.

Well, that's all I have to say. This audience is really over.

Well, it's not pleasant. You have become dull and it's a little less interesting.

Let's go. "

As he spoke, a strong wind blew up in the void, sweeping Cheng Shi down.

Cheng Shi let his vision go dark without any resistance, but he kept thinking about the provocation mentioned by [Fraud].

Cheng Dashi, did he use provocation on [Fate], so [Fate] agreed to his plan?

If [Fraud] had not cheated, then Cheng Dashi came back to try to change the predetermined future.

As for how he provoked...

It's too simple.

When Cheng Shi heard the word "provocation" from [Fraud]'s mouth, he guessed the process of his future self's game with the benefactor [Fate].

In fact, it was far from a game. He only needed to throw a proposition to [Fate], and [Fate] would probably accept his "offering".

And this proposition is:

If the future is really full of predetermined things, then any changes we make at this moment should not affect the future.

Thinking of this, Cheng Shi snorted and laughed. He felt that Cheng Dashi must have used thisThe method defeated [Fate]. Of course, the premise of this method is that the person who defeated him must be the favorite of [Fate], otherwise He might not care about you at all.

And it just so happens that I seem to be the favorite of [Fate] in both the future and the past.

In this way, it finally makes sense.

Cheng Dashi succeeded. Although he only created an opportunity for himself, [Fate] said that the fall of [Prosperity] was not in the predetermined fate, so Cheng Dashi really succeeded.

He used the loophole torn by [Fraud] to return from the future to the present, and provoked [Fate] to cover up the traces for him and leave a message for himself, and then he voluntarily joined the game to trigger a change, and then let the situation develop, developing a situation that his future had never had.

Obviously, this change was not only driven by [Fate], almost all [Them] played a role in promoting this change.

Awesome, Cheng Dashi may have calculated their reactions, but I don’t know if he calculated that [Prosperity] would explode?

The current fate script seems to have been changed, but his benefactor [Fate] still seems to be full of confidence in the predetermined outcome of all future directions.

So it's still the same question, whether the future has been changed or not.

Is it [Fraud] who lied, or [Fate] who lied.

Cheng Shi vaguely felt that the two benefactors of [Nothingness] seemed to have different attitudes towards the future, but the two gods with different opinions still firmly walked on the road of faith fusion, which was even more strange.

But it was useless to think more, he was not [Fate] or [Time]. Before the future came, all speculations were meaningless.

So Cheng Shi opened his eyes, and when his vision gradually became clear, he found himself back in the trial, back in the Sighing Forest eroded by [Prosperity].

It's just that at this time, the [Prosperity] in the forest has faded, and the [Decay] has not continued. Looking around, the vast land is devastated and in ruins.

The originally lush rainforest seemed to have been suddenly stripped of a filter. Every giant tree still maintained its flourishing posture and had not withered and fallen, but they had lost all their greenness, like a semi-finished product without coloring, and no longer had any vitality.

Obviously, his fall also brought a huge impact here. Since the trees have become like this, what about those mushroom-footed people who have been blessed by [Death] and have not died?

Just as Cheng Shi was thinking, he heard a burst of cheers. He stood up and looked back, and found that all the mushroom-footed people were standing intact in the same place, surrounding a familiar figure and pious, excited, and excitedly shouting praises in their hearts.

They were praising the messenger of God, praising rebirth, praising forgiveness, and praising [prosperity].

This mushroom-footed tribe, which had been imprisoned underground by the Tower of Reason for hundreds of years, was now immersed in the joy of being liberated, but they had no idea that their benefactor had already fallen and destroyed himself before the gods.

Cheng Shi felt mixed emotions watching this scene.

He didn't know what fate had done to Hong Lin, to make these mushroom-footed people so directly identify her as their envoy.

They were so pious, but they were like puppets being manipulated by them, or even by themselves.

That thing called faith was nothing else, it was simply the silk thread that controlled the puppets. With the manipulation of the "puppet masters", the "believers' puppets" could only passively go to where the "puppet masters" needed them to go.

Is it sad? A little.

Is it pitiful? A little.

Is it funny? Not funny.

Because even if they are puppets, they still live in hope, living on the right path they have identified and never give up.

Persistence is never funny, only respectable.

The "prosperity" on the throne disappeared, but the "prosperity" in their hearts has just begun.

...