Game of Deception Chapter 59: Ai Shiping Died Again?

When Ming Po left the house this ti, a faint sliver of unease tugged at his heart.

After erging from this round of the Ga of Deception, reality had shifted yet again.

He had an excellent mory, so Ming Po could clearly recall... roughly thirty percent of the shops along the street had changed their signboards.

It was not as simple as a change in managent after going out of business.

Judging by the foot traffic, cleanliness, and the wear and tear on the facilities, they looked as though they had been operating here for at least three or four years.

Furthermore, a new milk tea franchise that Ming Po had never heard of before had popped up along the street.

"...Snow King?"

Ming Po muttered under his breath.

At least in his rather imperfect mory... he had never heard of this brand.

Yet, on his way ho, he had already spotted three or four of them near the subway station alone.

The subway itself was noticeably older and more rundown than the last ti he rode it, and the facial recognition devices at the turnstiles were completely gone.

Without a doubt, while he was participating in this ga, the world had undergone another series of significant changes.

He instinctively reached for his phone, wanting to check if Faceless God Studio and The Ouroboros Ring had reappeared... but he restrained the impulse, unwilling to waste his chips on such a aningless endeavor.

It wasn't until Ming Po returned ho that he truly realized... just how and when this latest shift in ti and space had affected him.

His roommate, his foolish buddy... Ai Shiping was gone.

He was not just missing. He had not just gone out.

It was as if he had never existed in the first place.

The black-and-white bedroom was now covered in a thick layer of dust.

There was no computer or sound system that Ai Shiping had bought for himself, nor was there the mini-fridge stuffed full of Coca-Cola.

The blanket that was almost never folded had vanished. Even the bed itself was gone... The space now held four sofas and a massive projector screen. It had clearly been converted into a ho theater.

Ming Po stood silently in the doorway, his hand still resting on the doorknob.

The bright, warm light from the living room spilled past him, illuminating only a small, cone-shaped sliver of the black-and-white room.

Through that warm light, past laughter and argunts flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.

— When the other man was gaming, Ming Po would snatch off his headphones from behind, angrily demanding to know how much takeout he had ordered over the past few days and why he had let so much trash pile up in the living room without throwing it out.

— When he had nothing better to do, he would stand behind his foolish buddy, watching him play a notoriously difficult action ga, calmly pointing out his mistakes and offering unsolicited advice.

— Eating fried chicken together while watching historical science videos, engaging in high-level humanities debates that slowly derailed into informal political discussions.

— Staying up late to watch the grand finals of an esports tournant, seeing the other man get uncharacteristically enraged enough to smash his mouse, giving Ming Po quite a scare.

— Getting intentionally griefed by him while playing a co-op ga, then angrily storming over to personally deal with the wildly laughing idiot in real life...

mories that Ming Po thought he had long forgotten all surfaced at this mont.

For soone like him who had no friends, it was only natural that he could not forget these monts.

...Even though Ming Po felt his blood pressure spike on a daily basis when that guy was around.

But now, history had truly been rewritten.

His friend had never rented a room in his apartnt. He might not even know him...

Or perhaps...

He had perished alongside the rest of his family in that disaster so long ago—the one that had originally left Ai Shiping an orphan.

Ming Po stared silently at the black-and-white ho theater.

This really was how his ho should look.

If Ai Shiping had never moved in, this was probably how he would have renovated it.

Because Ming Po actually quite enjoyed watching movies.

But he hated going to the cinema... it was far too noisy.

He loathed loud children, and he abhorred sweet-talking couples even more.

He could never understand why two people always had so much to say to each other, nor why they could stare into each other's eyes as if no one else existed.

Only when he was stargazing alone did Ming Po feel truly relaxed.

Beneath the vast, starry sky, there was only him... so utterly insignificant.

And now, it smiled as if Ming Po had gotten his wish.

No more noisy roommate. No more idiotic friend to raise his blood pressure.

"...Heh."

Ming Po let out a deep breath, his expression smoothing out into calmness.

He realized that even if he went back in ti and saved Ai Shiping again, it would be pointless.

As long as the Ga of Deception continued, these 'assets' who could not enter the ga would remain incredibly fragile.

Any Deceiver of the World could harm them.

Alter their mories, modify their pasts, reshape their lives.

Or even cause them to die an inexplicable death in the distant past.

Only by ending this ga could they achieve true freedom.

"...That is why I cannot understand."

Ming Po closed his eyes and slowly shut the bedroom door.

Sealing away that unfamiliar, black-and-white space.

He could not understand... why Chang Ning would choose to give up his identity as a Deceiver of the World.

How was that any different from handing a butcher's knife to soone else?

Could he pretend to ignore the cruelty of it all simply by closing his eyes and plugging his ears?

At the very least, Ming Po believed... that was not liberation, it was just suicide.

"Gao Fan said... there are three ways for a Deceiver to leave the ga early. But I don't seem to fall into any of those categories."

Ming Po murmured softly as a Day's False Gold chip materialized at the tip of his right index finger.

As his nimble fingers danced, the chip flipped and rolled across his knuckles, shimring with a dazzling golden light.

'I don't have the power of the past... no inherited chips or Titles. Yet I undeniably possess a Title from before... even if it's completely shattered. Besides that, I also have this strange wine cabinet... which clearly shouldn't belong to . I don't even drink.'

"The strangest part is that my mory is still incomplete. How exactly did I die? What was my wish? Why are my mories of participating in previous Gas of Deception gone?"

Ming Po whispered to himself. He suddenly tossed the chip into the air and caught it backhandedly.

When he opened his palm again, the chip had transford into a deep red Hour's Red Copper.

He hesitated no longer and strode toward the front door.

He slotted this 'ticket' into the fourth hole.

Clink~

A crisp sound chid, just like inserting a coin into a vending machine.

Ming Po reached out and pulled the heavy door open.

Beyond it lay a vast expanse of white fog.

Ming Po stood motionless in the doorway, gazing into the mist.

After a long while, a black cat slowly strolled out.

An eye, a mouth, and a hand still hung around its neck.

They floated up, forming a triangle.

"Yo," a slightly manic voice rang out. "Looking for ? Little wolf pup."

"Lord Ink." Ming Po's voice was calm yet respectful as he spoke softly. "I would like to ask... is there any way to target a specific player and join a ga with them?"

"You want to catch that little rabbit?" Ink asked in return.

He was incredibly sharp... not to ntion he had just spectated the ga Ming Po and Chen Bingwen participated in. He imdiately guessed that Ming Po wanted to take revenge on Lin Ya, who had likely betrayed him.

But Ink did not want them engaging in pointless infighting.

So the black cat owed, while the human mouth hanging from its neck simply laughed. "I think... there's no need for that. I roughly know what you're trying to do... but I have to tell you, there's an eighty percent chance it wasn't her. No... not eighty percent, at least ninety-five percent!"

Ink spoke with absolute certainty, "Because she has already lost two gas in a row. Even though they were relatively safe Adventure gas, she's almost lost all her starting chips. There's really no need for you to go after her... she might soon be permanently imprisoned within her own Anchor Point."

"There is still a five percent chance, isn't there?" Ming Po smiled, his resolve unshaken, his tone becoming even more modest. "I will carefully verify it. If she really wasn't the one who did it, I can also lend her a hand, can't I?

"You see, I didn't lay a finger on Lawyer Chen, did I? I even helped him clear the stage."