Deceitful Game

Chapter 30 Promotion Ceremony, cleared!

Mingpo's three consecutive sentences silenced Chang Ning.

"Oh……"

Mingpo smiled, her eyes filled with pity: "So that's how it is. You changed the past, but she doesn't seem to want you to change any of it."

"...No, that's not it!"

Chang Ning roared, wildly swinging the steel pipe at Ming Po, howling in a venting manner like a monster that had lost its mind: "You don't understand anything!"

"My first trip back... failed! I killed the man, but... I think things happened earlier, so I went back a second time, to an even earlier point in the past—"

--when!

The steel pipe swung out and smashed to the ground. It then swung out again, smashing a television behind Mingpo.

Mingpo and Changning's steel pipes passed each other by.

"—And then you killed him?"

His voice came in a low voice: "You created an orphan... didn't you?"

Mingpo's right hand reached towards Changning's chin again—but this time, Changning, who had anticipated this, reached out and blocked it.

Chang Ning raised her hand and squeezed, and Ming Po's right hand was crushed!

He then kicked Mingpo away with force.

They still didn't go for the kill.

Chang Ning wanted to express something to the other party rather than "kill this ascendant".

Perhaps it was because he instinctively realized—

This might be the only, the last... person who can understand me.

"I did nothing wrong."

Chang Ning's voice was incredibly stubborn: "Although she lost her father, at least she survived!"

"It's just a little harder to live! Even the most desperate life is better than death—which do you think is better!"

"...What do you think?"

Mingpo slowly got up and simply asked in a low voice, "When you were a wrongfully killed person, how did you die? And why are you here now?"

Seeing that Chang Ning did not reply, he imitated the other's tone, speaking with intonation: "To be, or not to be, that is the question."

"—Didn't you design this death game yourself?"

"Don't you know this very well yourself?"

But unexpectedly, Chang Ning did not break down because of this.

He did not launch another attack, but instead fell silent.

"...I am here because I no longer exist."

Chang Ning said sarcastically, "When the 'Chang Ning' who was just an ordinary person survived, I, the deceiver, was already dead. My only regret is that I didn't really let Gu Tao participate in this game... to make him repent. If he could repent and become a good father, he wouldn't have to die."

"But unfortunately... as a living person, he can't participate in my game. I've heard that higher-level Deceivers can bring in living people, but I can't reach that level..."

"I did change the past... I changed the past far enough back."

"Although Coco became an orphan because of me, and although I became a juvenile delinquent because of murder in the past... the reason for 'falling in love with her' is gone, but the probability of her hating me exists."

"I won't have the chance to participate in the training again, and neither will she. From now on, our lives will be two parallel lines that never intersect... The future has changed, and I will no longer hold such an obsession to become a deceiver, therefore I cannot participate in the game and change the past."

"I have changed the possibility that I could become a 'deceitful person.' I will not die, and neither will she."

"The grandfather paradox".

Mingpo said with absolute certainty.

If someone travels back in time and kills their young grandfather… then without the grandfather there would be no father, and without the father there would be no him. So who traveled back in time and killed their grandfather?

Mingpo had considered this question before—if a person could go back to a sufficiently distant past, then even an hour could change a sufficiently distant future.

The simplest example is sending information about lotteries or sports betting back to the past.

But in that case, I might become very rich. But if I become very rich, then my future self might not die, and certainly not die with a deep-seated obsession.

Is this what they mean by "changing the past and then resurrecting"?

Although Mingpo knew beforehand that if his identity were revealed, he might be attacked by the Box Weapon, then resurrected and lose his right to participate in the Deceitful Game, he now finally knew what the Deceitful would become after that.

"Because it no longer exists... does that mean it can only remain in its own mental palace?"

Mingpo murmured, "Are all the other promotion ceremonies like this?"

The advancement game they were playing involved entering the mental palaces of others.

Therefore, Changning can manifest some things here.

Because in a sense, this is his domain... his dream.

"At least that's true for the ones I've participated in."

Chang Ning's voice was low and deep: "So, I did it knowing I would die."

"...It seems this is a required course. Let every deceiver see the danger of arbitrarily changing their past."

Mingpo shook her head: "Then I have no problem."

"What, you still want to live?"

Chang Ning's smile was complicated: "Then beg me, and maybe I'll let you go."

"ha……"

"What are you laughing at? I'm serious! I would never lie—"

Seeing Mingpo laugh, Changning panicked: "Killing you won't help! I've already advised you not to participate in this deceptive game anymore... This is an endless cycle of suffering! Everyone is destined to be trapped here life after life! Living in ignorance is a kind of happiness..."

"Ah, I believe you're serious."

Mingpo simply nodded, raised his completely deformed right hand, and smiled slightly.

He walked forward slowly.

Their steps were slow, yet they possessed a ghostly, oppressive force.

"...But your right hand is completely useless! Even so, do you still want to fight?"

Chang Ning watched Ming Po slowly approach, but instead took a half-step back in fear: "Besides... you already cleared the game! Why did you have to come here!"

He now possesses superhero-like strength—though it's relatively low-level. But the power to throw dozens of kilograms of objects like baseballs is enough to take on ten opponents at once.

However, his mind still hasn't grown enough.

It was as if... he was still that silent and self-conscious student. And now, slowly walking towards him was his teacher.

“Speaking of which,” Mingpu suddenly said, “I bet… you haven’t read Frankenstein, have you?”

"...Why do you say that?"

"Because, the name 'Frankenstein'..."

As Mingpo finished speaking, a dim yellow flame suddenly ignited in his pupils.

His back was hunched, his expression suddenly contorted into a grotesque grimace, and saliva dripped from his mouth.

Suddenly bending over, my back felt like a spring!

He charged forward like lightning, veering left and right—his two changes of direction were like a basketball breakthrough, causing Chang Ning to lose his balance.

His haphazardly assembled body was already uncoordinated, and under these circumstances, he almost fell over.

Even under these circumstances, he still instinctively reached out his left arm and accurately grabbed Mingpo's right wrist!

—Pfft.

But just then, a muffled thud sounded.

An unbearable, excruciating pain surged from his right chest, causing Chang Ning to hunch over in agony.

He tried to shout, but when he opened his mouth, pink foam spilled out.

A red halo ignited in the depths of his pupils—a sign that his title ability was about to activate.

However, it was too late.

The next moment, Mingpo's left hand, holding the knife, viciously stabbed towards his neck.

It pierced upwards from his chin, then went right through his right eye.

As he cried out in pain, clutching his throat and then his eyes, Chang Ning suddenly punched Ming Po hard with his left hand!

Mingpo's back cracked as if his bones were breaking, but he seemed completely oblivious and tackled Chang Ning to the ground!

The pain, on the contrary, only activated his wild side.

He held the knife in his left hand and pressed his wrist with his right. Three stabs per second, relentlessly thrusting downwards!

Eyes, throat, mouth—

He then pressed down on the head and stabbed the head through the temple!

Just before Mingpo was about to bite off the other's throat and devour his flesh and blood, he suddenly punched himself in the left cheek without warning, as if triggering some kind of underlying code.

After that punch, Mingpo's eyes cleared up again.

He staggered as he rose from the nearly lifeless body of Chang Ning.

"...Contrary to popular belief, 'Frankenstein' is not actually the name of the Frankenstein monster, but rather the name of the scientist who created him."

"That ugly monster had no name from the very beginning. Even after learning human language and knowledge, he didn't name himself. He was rejected by society and attacked by people. But through learning from humans, he gradually came to understand love and humanity. He even saved a girl who had fallen into the water... However, because of his monstrous ugliness, he was not accepted by her."

He craved a female companion and asked his creator, Frankenstein, for a female monster, a woman who could truly understand him. But she refused his request.

"So the monster, harboring a grudge, killed Frankenstein's wife on his happiest wedding night—the monster wanted to make him regret it and suffer terribly."

Mingbo murmured softly, "How could it be... such a coincidence?"

"...Is this your destiny, Frankenstein?"

Promotion Ceremony Completed

[Difficulty: 3 days]

[The Deceiver's authority has been upgraded; current authority is "Fake Gold of the Sun"]

From now on, you can only participate in games with a maximum reward of "1 Sun Pseudo-Gold Coin" or higher.

[Reward: Chips of Time - Pseudo-Gold of the Sun (3 pieces)]

[Hidden quest completed]

Defeating the Paradox: Frankenstein

You have received an extra reward.

[Under evaluation...]

[Meets the conditions for inheritance]

You have inherited the title Frankenstein.

Frankenstein (Power - False Gold)

[Effect of wearing: Allows for the healing of severed limbs using one's own or another person's body, regardless of conditions]

[Effects: Takes a part of one person's body and gives it to another; the provider must be alive, and the recipient must be willing. If the recipient's abilities are related to this limb, those abilities can also be used; the highest level of power gained is 'Pseudo-Gold'.]

This title is inherited and cannot be upgraded.