"—A good thing?"
Gao Fan repeated Ming Po's words, his tone laced with confusion.
They had almost been blown to pieces, their ti paused without any room for resistance. Now they had caught the attention of at least one Silver of Moon powerhouse, and other organizations might discover them as well—
How could this possibly be a good thing?
"Yes."
The corners of Ming Po's mouth curled up slightly. "Although we briefly entered a situation where we could have died at any mont, we at least confird one thing.
"And that is—even for a high-tier Deceiver of the World at the Silver of Moon level, their Manifestation is still fragile. At the very least, a bomb can kill them."
"—High attack, low defense, right."
Ai Shiping finally caught on.
Ming Po humd in agreent.
Even though the Werewolf Title increased self-healing, and other Titles could heal people—which technically improved survivability—not a single Title Ming Po knew of offered an increase in "defense." Or rather, the "defense" attribute simply did not exist.
He had asked Gao Fan about this earlier.
Gao Fan had given him a definitive answer—he had known this from the very beginning, which was why he had turned tail and fled the mont he first saw Ming Po.
"Exactly."
Gao Fan spoke with absolute certainty. "The Ga of Deception does not allow players to increase their health bars."
"At most, traps or punishnts are ant to be 'crippling,' causing damage that can be mitigated and recovered through healing and self-regeneration—but at the end of the day, those are rely 'threats' and 'stimuli'. If a trap is a true 'execution' ant to guarantee death, a Deceiver of the World wouldn't be able to just [brute-force their way through it]."
"Makes sense."
Ming Po nodded.
Take Lin Ya's execution, for example—she had been torn apart by a small-caliber machine gun.
Theoretically, if a body were tough enough to ignore bullets of that caliber, losing wouldn't matter. The "punishnt" simply wouldn't hurt them.
But that was obviously impossible.
Just like in Death of the Minority, although Dog had managed to dodge the falling stone sword, his blood vessels still ruptured, killing him. If an execution could be evaded, the ga would lose all aning.
Gao Fan continued, "Because of this, no matter how powerful a Deceiver of the World's abilities are, their physical bodies remain fragile. When we upgrade our Titles, we are ultimately elevating our authority level, not our 'life tier' or 'cultivation stage.'
"A higher authority level can resist the Ti Chips of a lower authority level, and even nullify the effects of certain abilities and Treasures—but even a Ti Gold level Deceiver of the World can still be killed.
"I've heard that in so high-difficulty gas, the active effects of Titles and all equipped Treasures are rendered completely ineffective. Only the passive effects of the Title still work—those are the cruelest 'deathmatches,' and they aren't entered through 'Doors.'
"Usually, only one person survives such a ga. Rumor has it that it's a dark room ant for cheaters, or that you need a special Treasure to bring soone inside. I don't know the exact details, though—that kind of stuff is practically an urban legend."
The gloom on Ai Shiping's face quickly faded.
Watching Gao Fan speak with such straight-faced solemnity made him burst into laughter—it was like watching a child pretend to be a serious adult. Even if this "child" was technically older than him.
"Little Fan, you really know a lot of people."
Ai Shiping sighed in awe. "You even know a senior at the Silver of Moon level."
"Red Queen is definitely a senior."
Gao Fan nodded. "She is a Deceiver of the World who survived the Ga of Deception a decade ago. In other words, she has been surviving in the Material Realm for ten years."
"—Ten years ago?"
"Yeah. Although new Deceivers of the World are born every year, the density of the Ga of Deception actually fluctuates, and the main locations change. A friend of mine researched the cause of this. He seed to reach so conclusions, but I didn't morize them at the ti—sothing about it being related to the birth and resurrection of Hosts.
"But I do rember the final takeaway—generally speaking, the peak of the Ga of Deception occurs roughly once every ten years."
Gao Fan thought for a mont. "I rember that during the gas ten years ago, the main locations were in the UK and Russia. Lady Utopia is also a Deceiver of the World from that generation."
However, Ming Po's attention was caught by sothing else entirely.
It was a detail only a fellow Deceiver of the World from the Domain of Slaughter would notice.
"Why—was the Red Queen smiling the whole ti?"
Ming Po asked, slightly puzzled.
If she had lost control of her emotions, or if she was being assimilated by her Title, her pupils should have been radiating a dim yellow glow the entire ti. Whenever Ming Po felt even the slightest surge of excitent, that glow was impossible to hide—it was like a micro-expression, appearing the mont the thought ford.
But she hadn't revealed that glow even once.
This indicated that she had impeccable control over her ntal state.
Yet, no matter how he looked at it, she seed sowhat abnormal—
"Ah, I know this one."
Gao Fan's eyes brightened slightly, his tone becoming a bit more lively.
Although he had lost his appetite, he picked up his chopsticks again and picked at his food so as not to spoil the mood. "This isn't really a secret either, or rather, it's considered a relatively rare piece of common knowledge.
"When Deceivers of the World reach a higher stage, they start hoarding chips to exchange for Treasures. The most important ones are those used to 'compensate for flaws' and 'stabilize the mind.'"
"Stabilize the mind?"
Ming Po repeated the words. "Is she—truly stable?"
"It's relative."
Gao Fan smiled. "The Red Queen's Title is extrely powerful, but it cos with severe negative side effects—one is that she suffers from intense, constant headaches, and the other is that she experiences overwhelming killing intent whenever she's in a bad mood.
"She uses Treasures to offset these drawbacks—one numbs her sense of pain, and the other makes her feel constantly happy.
"For ordinary Deceivers of the World, most permanent Treasures are a double-edged sword. Numbing pain can cause soone to ignore their injuries or slow their reaction ti. Feeling constantly happy can make soone careless, leading them into traps or allowing them to be manipulated.
"However, these Treasures can work wonders for certain unique Deceivers of the World. So, they are willing to pay astronomical prices to buy them—"
Pausing for a mont, Gao Fan added, "Or they might just resort to kidnapping and robbery. But when it cos to a Mind Anchor, unless the owner opens the door themselves, no one else can get in—even if they forcibly tear down the exterior walls, they will only step into the 'real space' that overlaps with the Anchor Point's physical location.
"Take my house, for example—even if soone wanted to break in and used all sorts of weapons to blast my door open, they would only enter my unoccupied house in the Material Realm. They wouldn't be able to enter my Mind Anchor.
"Therefore, as long as you hide in your Anchor Point, it's impossible for anyone to barge in and kill you. A base is absolutely safe, that's the logic behind it. But the mont you leave your base, you expose yourself to danger—even if the people ambushing you fail to kill you, as long as one of them escapes alive, your 'ti of departure' will be exposed.
"Then, people will travel back from the future to that precise ti coordinate to try and kidnap you. While you can use chips to accelerate your own ti and attempt to escape—it's still incredibly dangerous. If the value of the Treasure is high enough, high-tier Deceivers of the World might even show up and pause ti outright."
Just like the Red Queen.
Although Gao Fan didn't say the last sentence aloud, Ming Po understood completely.
—I absolutely cannot let anyone find out that the Bacchus Shrine is in my hands.
Ming Po realized with chilling clarity the kind of danger he would face if this secret were ever exposed.
But right at that mont, Ming Po's phone suddenly rang.
Who would be calling him at a ti like this?
Looking at the string of garbled characters on the caller ID, Ming Po remained silent for a few seconds.
Was this—[Ghost Call]?
He still rembered that Miss Naless had borrowed this Treasure to contact him once before.
Its effect supposedly allowed the user to call a specific person directly.
But Naless shouldn't know that his Title had changed to Madman, so who could be calling—?
Regardless, there was nothing to fear.
Ming Po answered the call.
"Hello."
He greeted the caller calmly.
"Hello, Mr. Madman."
The voice coming from the other end of the line was one he had never heard before.
It was a mature, gentle, and steady female voice, carrying a hint of—maternal warmth?
"You and your teammates might soon encounter so rather troubleso difficulties that you'd rather avoid.
"But we can resolve this problem for you.
"If you wish to et with us, please stay exactly where you are and do not leave. The eting is expected to take fifteen minutes. To be clear, this eting is not mandatory. If you do not wish to see us, you may leave now; there will be no issues whatsoever. If you have no other objections or suggestions, I will arrive at your location in ten minutes. All expenses incurred for this eting will be reimbursed by us."
The woman's words were polite and orderly, making for a remarkably comfortable listening experience.
Ming Po tapped his finger against the seat and suddenly asked, "May I ask—what organization are you?"
"We are the strongest existing faction of Deceivers of the World, dedicated to maintaining the stability of the tiline and the Material Realm. We are also the only official organization to have established long-term cooperative relationships with the authorities of various nations."
The voice on the other end remained gentle, calm, and proud. "We are the [Divine Cody]."
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