Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 2454: Chapter 2449: The Prophet Is Dead (End)

Betting on whether Crystal or Amber will dominate?

It’s almost the familiar battle of wills, how much fun can that be.

Betting on who Akasha will help, indeed increases the dimension, but still hasn’t completely broken away from the old routine.

As the climax of old friends reuniting, it ultimately loses some color.

But adding each leveraging their own abilities, using cheating means to directly pierce through the ordinary dimensions of gambling, seems to make it complete in an instant.

Although it seems to have become the disadvantaged side, Fu Qian didn’t feel there was any unfairness.

Why bet with you?

In many stories, in the end, the century-overpowering boss, must engage in a puzzling contest with the protagonist, placing themselves within the rules, in his view, it’s as if falling victim to the law of causality control technique.

And also lacks taste, even if wanting to play games, resources at hand can completely integrate into something more enjoyable.

The Clown is clearly doing such a thing at the moment.

You can choose first, I can only be forced to choose the other side.

But no matter how much thought you put into deducing, I can change it to the result I want.

As the Dark Prophet, the mastermind behind the scenes, Fu Qian believes the Clown is fully capable of this.

The safe zone in the eyes of Akasha and the others, in fact, can’t protect them a bit, even though they still seem to be struggling for it.

"Then you should continue to hide."

Facing Amber’s statement, Akasha, after a moment of silence, was unceremonious, directly suggesting she could continue to hide.

"That’s impossible."

But was instantly rejected.

Amber, who had always been relatively gentle, shook her head with undeniable firmness, her gaze falling on Crystal’s face.

"That’s impossible!"

And before Akasha could say anything, Crystal echoed the exact same line.

...

"Then I can only choose Crystal."

The gambling table reaches its peak, although the Clown’s attention is still on Fu Qian.

Knowing the opponent would cheat, yet participating without a blink, undeniably seemed unlike a human mindset.

To the point that at that moment, satisfaction was no longer adequate to describe the Clown.

After casually confirming the option, he even put on a serious expression, like a duelist being ignited.

"Actually, I’m curious, what is your motivation to stop me? Everyone slumbering in darkness, though dull, at least it’s quiet.

"Even the involved party won’t feel much pain, in true slumber, the concept of time is eliminated, it doesn’t matter how long it has been, waking up is instantaneous.

"Instead, it is we, the seemingly able to strive for a bit of clarity from enlightenment, who may experience prolonged torment."

From the Clown’s words, it sounded like for the Demigods, the best outcome was to struggle endlessly in enlightenment, striving to get closer to the Unseen Hillock, avoiding complete slumber.

Honestly, if one couldn’t get out, it’s hard to judge if this is a good or bad thing, there’s a sense of exhausting every effort just to suffer more.

But not doing so, seemingly empathizing with the unwillingness, perhaps this is the curse of holding a superior position?

"To be honest, I’ve been searching for the answer to this question, but unfortunately, I haven’t confirmed it yet. It seems to be related to Ji Feng’s mental state."

The Clown’s curiosity was so sincere, Fu Qian sighed.

"And seeing how no matter how interesting your plan is, what it means for Ji Feng, I need to keep this place bright."

And not only was his speech equally honest, Fu Qian, like the Clown, didn’t bother to glance more at the gambling scene.

Even though, at the moment, the surprise gift box had air nearly igniting.

"What it means for Ji Feng... So, we aren’t prisoners, right?"

Although it sounded confrontational, at that moment, the Clown seemed touched by Fu Qian’s statement.

"Delusions, madness, memory, reason... this city represents its will, and we are mere manifestations of similar concepts?"

As he mumbled, he seemed to finally clarify some things.

"This is also why there are so many inexplicable criminals and heroes, evil and justice alike... and the cycle of returning after death.

"This is why those outsiders possess such lofty demeanors."

With a face full of enlightenment, at that moment, it seemed the Clown’s head could light up with a halo any time.

"Seems like I’m being excluded?"

Fu Qian noticed the Clown’s choice of words.

"You are different from them, I can confirm you don’t belong here... but the name Grim Ballard seems to be linked to this place."

Indeed, it wasn’t a matter of imprecise wording, nor feeling that Fu Qian possessed a high moral standard, capable of viewing the natives equally, the Clown, at that moment, revealed a suspicions in his heart.

"Strange, are you a thought that successfully escaped the mind? Break the barrier, ultimately gaining freedom, yet keeping a constant watch here, returning to play the Justice Messenger if necessary?"

Admittedly, the character setup he speculated was quite compelling.

As for why it felt this way, one could probably guess the reason.

Because before using Visceral Critical Strike to execute the real Ballard, erasing his information from this world, similar to Ji Feng losing a piece of memory.

The Clown could feel this, indicating his intentions were indeed becoming more aligned with Ji Feng’s — a good sign.

"Why couldn’t it be an Evil Messenger? To stop others from succeeding like me?"

Though Fu Qian nodded repeatedly, he still raised his objection.

"Makes sense. In theory, as night falls, this place is calming down, and it seems you want it to remain in madness."

While rehearsing to craft his narrative, Fu Qian self-assessed with no lack of amusement.

"But anyway, an existence like yours, makes things indeed more interesting — you lost."

Then shifting the conversation, announcing the result.

...

"Why..."

Not a false alarm, a scene filled with resentment was unfolding inside the scare box.

Ignored by Fu Qian and the Clown’s time, the struggle and entanglement of the trio had reached its end.

And the one who cried the blood-stained question, was the not-yet fully human-featured Crystal.

Comparing to Amber not far away, she appeared far more tragic.

The core trauma was a tear from the chest region, the original spot of a spider egg.

A glance, resembled Akasha having made a direct choice via some ruthless method.

Though this outcome didn’t seem to align with what the Clown proposed, suggesting it was her victory.

"Akasha still seems to want to give her friend a hand, allowing her to get closer to the essence of this place, to maintain some sanity within the Eternal Night.

"But Crystal, having neither received enlightenment nor gone past the door, doing it seems hard; time is tight, giving Amber the lead would seemingly have more potency."

Unbothered by the Clown’s remark, Fu Qian even started interpreting from the side.

"Quite sensible, but knowing too little makes it easy to do good things poorly — or bad things well."

The Clown regretfully exaggerated once.

"How could—"

Almost simultaneously, a scream rang out again; not far from Amber, a similar wound appeared, seemingly mirroring Crystal.

"I told you, no time for your role-playing... Since you insist, I’ll take over this body."

And Akasha’s reply was chillingly cold.

"Now, she tends to see herself as the Spider Queen, casting off the bounds of being Akasha, foregoing mercy for friends, rather seizing this opportunity to control Crystal as a puppet.

"Triggering the trauma only left a thorough mark on Crystal, and because the Spider Queen belonged to those most deeply enlightened, further affirmed Crystal’s dominant status."

Fu Qian deciphered rapidly, casting a glance at the Clown lastly.

"Reasonable, but isn’t the crafted story a bit too far-fetched?"

In a blink, Amber verified his claim, rendered her voiceless, curling swiftly, reverting to her original form semblance.

"Yes, I did leave a bit far-fetched, this way you’d know I’m manipulating outcomes."

The Clown felt no embarrassment.

"So, are you starting a countdown?"

Fu Qian showed no displeasure.

"Already started...."

The Clown drew a hand across the air, ripping even the "Ashfall" open a slit, revealing the deeper darkness behind.

"With each number passing, I feel more of Its will, everything is false, only the dark night is real, and from beginning to end, I represented that firm belief in this truth—"

Boom!

The sound cut off completely as the Clown’s figure was swallowed by golden flames.

"There’s an old saying from my hometown, when you get to the gambling table, always remember to bring a helmet."

In the long-accumulating calamity outbreak, Fu Qian casually shared a bit of life philosophy.

Drawing so near, right? Representing Mr. Ji Sr.’s determination to the darkest night, right?

Waiting for this, hope it’s still in time — seems like it can be.

[Current task completed, Reference #-039 successfully contained]

The task prompt sounded almost immediately.