Being hunted by a Deceiver of the World?
Ming Po rubbed his chin. "I see..."
Barring any surprises, he had a good idea of what was going on.
It was all because of the Secret Treasure known as the Bacchus Shrine.
In a sense, this was a ss Ming Po had brought upon himself.
There was no reason to hide anything from Ai Shiping. Ming Po explained the entire situation to him from start to finish. It also served as a warning, just in case his friend accidentally let sothing slip while out and about.
"In other words," Ai Shiping said, sharply catching the main point as he subtly shifted from kneeling to sitting cross-legged, "all the newly joined Deceivers... have actually already been targeted by those veterans, right?"
"Exactly."
Ming Po nodded.
He adjusted his glasses, his azure eyes radiating a steady glow, his voice calm and reliable. "First, you need to understand how a Deceiver is born.
"The predecessor to a Deceiver is a Wronged Dead, and all Wronged Dead are ordinary people mistakenly killed by Deceivers. This 'mistaken kill' doesn't an accidentally killing you due to a slip-up. It ans killing you from an incorrect tiline when there is absolutely no causality between the two of you.
"For example, if I were to kill the girl living across the hall under any circumstances, she wouldn't beco a Wronged Dead. That's because I know her, and she knows ; there is causality between us.
"However, I don't know the new tenants who just moved onto the first floor. If I were to Manifest and wipe out their family, they wouldn't beco Wronged Dead either. But if I used the power of the Ga of Deception to return to the past and ran them over on their way here, before they even moved in... then they would beco Wronged Dead because of .
"If they pass the Preliminary Match and beco Deceivers, then because Deceivers exist independently of the tiline, any modifications to their ti beco retroactively invalid. The fact that I went back in ti and ran them over would be erased.
"But since they did indeed die, they would also die from so accident in the 'present.' Ti would be corrected by so kind of force. In other words, our 'true cause of death' and our 'apparent cause of death' are very likely completely different."
Ming Po analyzed in a deep voice, "This is the truth behind how Deceivers have 'deceived the world'. It is exactly why we are called Deceivers."
"Then can I understand it like this?" Ai Shiping summarized. "If soone becos a Deceiver, people will think they died in the 'present'? But if they didn't beco a Deceiver, they would have died at so point in the 'past'?"
"To be precise, it's not the 'present.' It's the actual ti they entered the Ga of Deception."
Ming Po nodded. "Furthermore, if they hadn't been affected by Ti Chips, they should still be alive right now."
While this wasn't an absolute, verified fact, it was generally accurate.
Ming Po rembered that during their very first ga, Chen Bingwen had ntioned that he was killed by a car.
He was certain Chen Bingwen hadn't been lying at the ti.
Yet later, Ming Po saw on the news that Chen Bingwen's cause of death was being shot by 'unidentified individuals' abroad.
During the Deceptive School ga, before eting up with Gao Fan, Ming Po had indirectly probed Lawyer Chen. He discovered that in Lawyer Chen's own mories, he had never even been abroad in his entire life!
Lin Ya was an even more unique case.
In the first ga, Lawyer Chen had stated that she committed suicide. At that ti, she had already been dead for quite a while. But soone who commits suicide definitely cannot beco a Deceiver, which ant she had to have been murdered.
Yet just this morning, while checking records, Ming Po discovered that Lin Ya had only committed suicide last month. This completely contradicted Lawyer Chen's belief that 'Lin Ya committed suicide half a year ago.'
As for Gao Fan, the news reported that he had gotten into a car crash with his girlfriend.
But Gao Fan didn't even have a girlfriend—Ming Po was absolutely sure of that.
Ming Po briefly relayed all these facts to Ai Shiping, then asked, "Do you still rember how you died?"
Ai Shiping recalled, "I rember... my boss sent a ssage asking to co to the company and hand over my work. After all, I was supposed to officially start working next month, so he told to drop by the office.
"But while I was replying to his ssage on the street, I thought I saw you. I froze for a split second, and then I was run over by a speeding dump truck.
"I knew it! It was you, you despicable bastard, coming to steal my lifespan all along!"
Hearing these familiar words, Ming Po's eyes widened.
He asked urgently, "You didn't get a call from before you left the house?"
"What call?"
Ai Shiping looked surprised. "You called ? In my mory, you had already been missing for a week..."
In that instant, Ming Po understood.
Starting from that very mont, Ai Shiping had already beco a Wronged Dead.
He had just been in the waiting phase at the ti, not yet participating in the Preliminary Match.
Later on, Ming Po used the power of Ti Chips to go back and prevent Ai Shiping's death. According to the rules of the Ga of Deception, this actually revoked Ai Shiping's status as a Deceiver. It was the equivalent of temporarily banning his account for logging in from a suspicious location—even though Ai Shiping had only just 'created his character' and hadn't even started the tutorial.
But after that, soone else corrected Ai Shiping's tiline once more.
They likely ran Ai Shiping over at an even earlier point in ti, or arranged it so he never t Ming Po. In doing so, Ming Po's modification to Ai Shiping's cause of death was rendered invalid.
Although Ai Shiping died at an earlier point, because he had already beco a Deceiver at another mont... his subsequent death was simply 'retrieving his banned account' rather than 'creating a new character'.
"Ti-based abilities are such a massive pain."
Ming Po sighed. "I finally understand the selection chanism of the Ga of Deception."
"What exactly did you figure out?" Ai Shiping asked, bursting with curiosity. "Tell !"
"Hmm."
Ming Po considered how to phrase it, but ultimately shook his head. "Never mind, it's too complicated. Anyway... the people hunting you are probably the exact sa ones who drove that interdinsional dump truck and killed you.
"Because they investigated you before killing you, they already know your personal information. As long as any of their subordinates observe you participating in a ga, they can instantly figure out where your Anchor Point might be."
"They wouldn't even need to observe ."
Ai Shiping nodded, then shook his head. "I only found this out after running into a Deceiver from the Domain of Slaughter!
"Right before he died, he told he already knew who I was. Their organization wanted to target —and soone had already been sent after .
"My Title is Fox. Its passive effect allows to sniff out hostility in the air. The reason I was so tense when I went out earlier is because I slled hostility. I actually thought they had kicked down the door and kidnapped you... I realized long before this that my Anchor Point and yours are linked.
"But when I ca out of my Mind Anchor, I realized the hostility was drifting in from outside the window. They are probably crouching out there right now!"
It sounded like the other party had turned on them.
"Don't be afraid," Ming Po said. "To so extent, this is a ss I dragged you into. I will help you sort it out."
"Hell yes, you're the best, boss!"
Ai Shiping imdiately bead with joy. "Boss, hurry up and take them out so I can make up for my losses! I don't even have enough chips to join the Promotion ga right now!"
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