Game of Deception Chapter 28: Chang Ning

"Hahahahaha..."

Upon hearing this, the synthesized voice let out a terrifying laugh.

Soon after, the sound of sothing sliding echoed. Accompanied by microphone static and the click of a button, an unfamiliar voice spoke.

"—Correct, Teacher Gu."

It was indeed the voice of a young man. "It's been a long ti.

"Do you still rember ? I am Chang Ning."

However, the voice sounded slightly older than Ming Po had anticipated; the speaker was definitively an adult.

His voice was calm and well-behaved, completely devoid of his earlier madness. Judging solely by his tone, one would easily peg him as an 'obedient child' or a 'good student.'

It could only be said that... so people put on a mask, but in doing so, they actually take off their real one.

"Chang Ning, Chang Ning, forever happy and peaceful..."

Ming Po remained silent for a mont before replying, "My apologies, Teacher doesn't rember you."

Unexpectedly, the other party didn't show much of a reaction.

Instead, he spoke as if it were a matter of course. "After all, I am a failure.

"When you held my head underwater ti and ti again, I had already realized it.

"I will always cherish the days in the training camp, just as I will always like Ke'er. But I knew that she and I were on different paths...

"I had no talent. I'm a loser. My exam scores were poor, so I couldn't get into a good university. I also couldn't get selected for the provincial team, and I failed the separate sports recruitnt exams. In the end, I tried for both, and failed at both."

"—So," Ming Po asked leisurely while continuously shooting arrows, "you hate ? Because I dragged you into constant training, resulting in you failing on both ends?"

"...No, that's not it. Actually, I..."

The other party was gathering his thoughts, speaking sowhat hesitantly.

Without the voice changer, his voice had noticeably beco timid and weak.

But right at this mont—

"Oh, okay."

Suddenly, Ming Po nodded and said briskly, "I understand."

He placed his right hand on the table, pulled out that small knife, grasped it in a reverse grip with his left hand, and brought it down with a sudden burst of force.

With a single strike, he chopped off his own pinky finger!

"—Ah?!"

This bloody spectacle clearly shocked the other party.

He froze for a second before realizing—was that question-and-answer ga not over yet?

He thought it had ended the mont his true identity was revealed!

And this bloody scene visibly intimidated the other party.

Even the Wedding March abruptly stopped, and the balloons ceased falling.

"How considerate of you..."

Dense beads of sweat ford on Ming Po's forehead. The corners of his mouth stretched into a smile that looked sowhat hideous from the pain. "You didn't kick while I was down? It seems... if I had encountered mortal danger earlier, you would have secretly gone easy on and let off, right?

"After all, your goal was to force to make a choice here—and in your eyes, I've already made that choice? Oh, sorry. Teacher forgot... it's your turn to ask, isn't it?"

"...I do indeed have a question."

The voice remained silent for a good while before ignoring Gu Tao's recent bout of madness and continuing.

At the sa ti, the Wedding March faded back in, and the balloons slowly resud their descent.

Ming Po, having recovered sowhat, continued to nock his arrows and draw his bow.

By this ti, his severed right pinky had stopped bleeding.

If the other party hadn't been so shocked by Ming Po's actions, he definitely would have noticed that the right arm, which had previously been pierced through by iron wire, was now essentially fully healed.

Chang Ning simply continued to ask, "Do you believe in fate, Teacher?"

"What do you think?" Ming Po countered.

"I think you do, and so do I."

The lancholy young man fell silent for a long ti before saying, "Ke'er might die later... she might commit suicide due to depression."

Ming Po didn't respond.

So the other party continued, "I don't know if you'll believe this... but I actually ca back from the future.

"Two years from now, Ke'er commits suicide. Not by slitting her wrists, nor by jumping off a building... but by jumping into the swimming pool from our training camp days.

"Her suicide note said she could no longer bear the pressure—her biological mother abandoned her, her stepmother abused her, and her own father turned a blind eye to it all, caring only about his career, telling her to endure and train harder. Yet, ultimately, he was her only remaining family.

"Until the day she was selected for the provincial team... She stayed up all night, rushing back to share the good news. But he ca ho drunk and beat her."

He spoke slowly. "I wasn't her boyfriend, we weren't dating. But before she committed suicide, the last call she made was to .

"I listened to her cry... I listened to her talk for a long ti. I rode my bike furiously through the midnight streets... but in the end, I didn't make it in ti.

"I listened to her whimpers, I listened to her struggle, I listened to her cry for help. I listened to her die. The phone's waterproofing was excellent; even as she sank, the call didn't disconnect.

"—I didn't make it in ti."

Chang Ning emphasized this once more.

It was unclear whether he was speaking to himself or to Ming Po.

"So... I wanted to change the past.

"Make that man repent, or make him die. If I did that, then history could be changed, right?"

"If you had just said that earlier, wouldn't this all be over?"

Ming Po said this as the final arrow fell.

All six balloons on the left were shot down, while five were shot down on the right.

As all the balloons exploded, the black sand on the right slowly ignited into flas.

—Even if a single balloon had touched the ground, death would have been certain.

Ming Po glanced at Cai Jingyi and asked, "She is your daughter. What are your thoughts on this?"

Covered in cooking oil and exuding a pungent sll, Cai Jingyi showed no reaction. Or rather, she pretended to have no reaction... but the minute twitches of her fingertips, which even she couldn't conceal, proved she had heard everything.

"I see..."

Ming Po sighed. "Then I think I understand."

The Wedding March ended, and the door opened.

Ming Po stepped forward and picked up the only magnetic card from among the scattered balloon debris.

It was less of a magnetic card and more of a greeting card. It was the kind of postcard students sotis bought to give to classmates as birthday gifts.

[Chang Ning: Happy Birthday!]

[—Gu Ke'er]

Only these two lines were written on it.

In Ming Po's eyes, this was a rather insincere handwritten greeting card. There were no other well wishes, no drawn patterns, and no personal stamps. It was the most minimalist birthday greeting card possible... carrying a sowhat perfunctory vibe.

But evidently, this was perhaps the most important birthday gift Chang Ning had ever received.

Or perhaps, the only one.

Cai Jingyi suddenly raised her head, looking at Ming Po with expectant eyes, constantly whimpering as if hinting at sothing.

It seed she was hoping he would untie her.

"So you decide to react now."

Ming Po smiled. "Then I think I know how the two of you got divorced."

As he spoke, he wrapped his left arm around Cai Jingyi's head.

And right at that mont, his right hand suddenly exerted force, abruptly thrusting the small knife diagonally upwards into Cai Jingyi's throat!

"Be good, don't be afraid."

Ming Po spoke softly, "It will be over soon."

He held her like that, suppressing her struggles until she gradually lost her breath.

Yet, regarding Ming Po's sudden act of killing his ex-wife, Chang Ning showed no reaction of shock.

It was as if he had expected this scene... or perhaps, this was exactly the scene he wanted to witness.

This proved that Cai Jingyi had indeed run away.

Faced with their shared debts, she had abandoned her daughter and fled, never contacting them again after that. Therefore, she had no reaction to Ke'er's death—because in her heart, her daughter Gu Ke'er was already dead.

"So, are you satisfied?"

Ming Po raised his head and spoke slowly, "Let co see you."

After a brief silence, the door at the end of the passage ahead opened.

It was an elevator.

Ming Po walked over and noticed that, aside from the card-swiping slot, there were only two buttons.

'Up' or 'Down'.

"Go up, and you can leave this place. If you go down, you can et . This card can only be used once. What will you choose?"

Chang Ning's calm voice echoed.

Without the voice changer, he seed to have lost that hyperactive, chuunibyou edge, instead becoming sowhat nervous.

"Do you really need to ask?"

Ming Po said with a smile, "You still owe three kowtows."

"...If only you were truly Teacher Gu."

The other party sighed. "If only her father was truly this powerful... how wonderful that would be."

It seed that after venting, he had cald down.

"Done pretending? That's fine too."

Ming Po said slowly, "Then I don't need to pretend either."

As the elevator gradually descended, the lights began to dim, turning blood-red, flickering on and off, becoming unstable.

The disguise belonging to 'Gu Tao' gradually peeled off Ming Po's body, revealing the true form beneath—taller, stronger, handsor, and younger than Gu Tao.

"Junior, listen to my advice..."

Chang Ning's voice seed full of exhaustion, yet it also concealed an almost uncontrollable madness. His voice gradually filled with hysterical whimpering. "The Ga of Deception... you should quit while you're ahead. Really..."

"That won't do."

Ming Po smiled. "You are a loser, after all. I can't exactly take your advice."

As he spoke, the elevator doors opened.

"Is that so? Is that so!"

At that mont, the other party's voice swelled with madness and hysteria: "Then I understand... you are the sa kind of person as him! No wonder you ca to —"

Ming Po looked up and saw the other party's appearance.

A hideous and massive body, like the Hulk, covered in scars of cutting and stitching. Entirely different from that youthful voice—it was a form resembling Frankenstein's Monster.

Head, arms, pectoral muscles, abdominal muscles, thighs, hands.

Every piece of the body had once belonged to a different person.

"Your existence is a plague! You will only get more people killed!"

He roared, "Then let bring you to justice!"