When Ming Po woke up again, he found himself back in his own bed.
It seed to function as so sort of fixed respawn point.
"Even though I walked out the front door, I respawned in bed?"
Ming Po muttered, climbing out and heading straight for the mirror.
This ti, the reflection had changed.
The shattered left side now displayed the face of the unknown minor celebrity he was currently using.
The intact right side, however, still showed his true appearance from before he donned the false face.
"This thing is pretty good."
Ming Po was quite satisfied.
Compared to the shoddy acting skills he had been gifted—which he scoffed at—getting a new face was a far more practical benefit.
This ant he could avoid the risk of being doxxed.
Judging from Chang Ning's example, it was entirely possible for a Deceiver of the World to be killed or "redeed" in the past.
He didn't yet know what would happen if soone was killed prematurely. But if they were redeed early, losing the chance to beco one of the Wronged Dead, their remaining existence as a Deceiver would turn into a Paradox and be locked away in their Mind Palace.
With this mask, he effectively had a fake identity.
It was far superior to any ordinary mask—it couldn't be easily torn off, nor was it easy for anyone to realize it was fake. He could even wear another mask over it. As for the suture lines, they were proof of his ability activating and couldn't be removed.
But a simple scarf could easily cover them up, so it wasn't a big deal.
Besides, an average person wouldn't even consider such a possibility.
Even with Chang Ning—if his arms hadn't been completely mismatched, if the sutures on his body hadn't grown grotesquely large from his ability overloading, and if his musculature hadn't violently contrasted with his face, Ming Po wouldn't have thought to assu his face was fake either.
However...
A new thought sprouted in Ming Po's mind:
A Deceiver locked in a Mind Palace rely beca a Paradox; they weren't dead. If soone were to alter history again at that point, giving them the possibility of becoming a Deceiver once more, would they be freed?
Furthermore, to put it another way...
If a Deceiver accidentally gambled away all their Chips in a ga but didn't die, would they also beco a Paradox?
After all, without Chips, one lacked the ticket to enter the Ga of Deception.
Wouldn't that an being permanently trapped?
A chill ran down Ming Po's spine at the thought.
He found eternal imprisonnt far more unacceptable than death.
With this realization, he finally began to take the Ga of Deception seriously.
It was true. Up until this mont, he hadn't really cared about winning or losing the Ga of Deception.
His mories were still hazy, and he didn't have any burning goals he absolutely had to achieve. If he couldn't be the final victor, then any prior victories were aningless. Ming Po's mindset had basically been, living is fine, dying is fine too.
But now, he had finally found an outco he absolutely refused to accept.
And that was losing all his Chips without dying, or having soone alter his past to lock him in his Mind Palace.
Then, another realization dawned on him.
"Even if no one doxxes , if soone alters history on a massive scale, I could easily get caught in the crossfire."
For example, what if soone took several years' worth of Chips and traveled back over a decade?
Undoubtedly, the entire world would change!
It might plunge into war, or it might turn into a cyberpunk dystopia. In such a world, wouldn't he inevitably be sealed away as a Paradox?
A sense of urgency ignited within Ming Po.
This ant that once a final victor erged...
Or rather, if a sufficiently powerful Deceiver decided to abandon their identity and "cash out," a massive number of Deceivers would inevitably be imprisoned as a result.
Considering that anyone could alter history, this victor would definitely not hold back.
They would reshape the world into sothing completely unrecognizable—wiping out all Deceivers, themselves included, in a single stroke!
The only ones who could resist would be those Deceivers who evaded the sweeping changes. If they couldn't precisely correct the altered past, the world would be permanently dragged into the next cycle.
"So this... is what they call a 'playthrough'?"
Ming Po muttered softly, though his instincts told him that didn't sound quite right either.
Whatever. Better not to overthink it right now.
He shook his head, stood up, and walked over to the wine cabinet.
Sure enough, a new bottle of liquor had appeared inside.
It was a bottle of brandy, the very sa kind that Victor Frankenstein drank in fear in the original novel.
The label, however, didn't feature the scientist Victor Frankenstein, but rather a hulking silhouette—Frankenstein's Monster. The figure, face included, was tightly wrapped in black cloth resembling a shroud. It stood in a snowy wasteland, looking like a snowman, yet also like a corpse.
Ming Po didn't bother checking the Title effects listed on the back.
Instead, he turned his gaze to the bottle of whiskey he had drunk from earlier.
The whiskey bottle was completely full again, as if he had never opened it.
"Good thing it doesn't deplete with every sip..."
Ming Po smiled, feeling relieved.
Although he had no imdiate plans to enter a ga using Frankenstein, he didn't imdiately switch back to his Werewolf state either.
In his Werewolf state, he looked far too dangerous. Ming Po himself might be tempted to call the cops if he saw soone with that kind of aura. His current state was much more approachable.
He now possessed three Day's False Gold Chips. One had to be saved as the entrance fee for the next ga and couldn't be touched.
Restoring the mirror to its next stage also required one. However, there was no rush for that. He could keep it as savings and use it later when he had more of a surplus.
After all, he had no idea what the mirror would even do once it was fully repaired.
As for the remaining Chip, Ming Po planned to break it down into twenty-four "Hour" Chips.
Right now, spending a whole "Day" of ti was a bit too extravagant for him. Many things simply didn't require that much ti to change.
Although Chips could be broken down but not combined, keeping enough "Hours" on hand as loose change would likely be much more economical than being forced to spend a "Day" on a minor alteration.
With this in mind, Ming Po picked up one of the Day's False Gold Chips.
He gently rubbed the Chip, watching the pattern on it slowly shift to a "24."
Then, he applied a little pressure.
The Chip burst with golden radiance before abruptly shattering, clattering to the floor in a shower of smaller Chips!
Ming Po didn't bend down to pick them up. He simply raised his hand slightly.
In the next mont, the Chips flew up of their own accord and were absorbed into his body.
Ming Po stretched lazily. He felt much better ntally after participating in the Promotion ga.
His previous discomfort and loneliness had been washed away by excitent.
"Ti for a stroll..."
Ming Po looked out the window.
The sky outside had completely darkened.
Colorful lights were flickering on, and Shanghai's nightlife was in full swing.
This was the perfect ti for a denizen of the underworld like him to go out for a stroll, wasn't it?
It was also a good ti to fulfill his promise to Chang Ning and check up on how Gu Ke'er was doing.
That little girl, nicknad 'Ke'er', was very likely an orphan now because Chang Ning had altered the past and killed her father. He didn't know if Chang Ning's ex-wife would take care of her, nor did he know how her life was going now...
But if her life was still miserable, Mr. Ghost might as well show so rcy and offer a little underworld support.
If the living wouldn't properly help, a ghost might just lend a hand.
Speaking of which, what ti was it anyway...
Thinking this, Ming Po unconsciously glanced at the bloody text on the wall.
To his surprise, the bloody text hadn't reset to 168 hours.
Instead, five hours had inexplicably been deducted.
—162:43:10
—162:43:09
—162:43:08
...
"Five hours... Did the ga I just played consu that much ti?"
Ming Po frowned slightly, murmuring to himself.
A sense of unease crept into his heart.
How was he supposed to increase this ti?
And when this ti hit zero... what would happen?
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