Foolish Game of the Gods Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Slumber Healing and Meteor Rain

Cao Sansui had a dream.

He dreamed that his [Ladder of Audience] score hit 200, ranking first overall, and he was granted an audience with the true god of [Time].

Just as he prostrated himself devoutly, ready to receive divine blessing, a Fear Demon swooped in out of nowhere, kicked him aside, and took the blessing in his place.

Blazing with fury, he snapped awake in a fit of rage.

"Fuckin…"

He roared and surged upright, only to find his teammates all staring back at him with bewildered expressions. He blinked, momentarily dazed.

"I… huh? How am I already recovered?"

Feeling his body brimming with energy as fully as when he'd first entered the trial, Cao Sansui was floored.

It wasn't just him. Nangong beside him also looked far better, her complexion practically normal, showing no trace of her recent injuries.

Wait, recent?

A chill ran through Cao Sansui. He immediately fished the pocket watch from his breast pocket and checked it.

Eight hours had already passed since the anchored time.

Which meant he'd only slept for two hours?

"No… how could two hours restore me to this state?"

Cao Sansui's brow furrowed tightly. He swiped his hand through the air and immediately sensed the flow of time around them.

Followers of [Time] were extremely sensitive to temporal flow, but they could only vaguely feel whether time had passed a lot or a little, not pinpoint it to the hour or minute.

Not much time had passed here. Roughly two or three hours, give or take.

But the question remained: how was he fully recovered?

He looked up, thoroughly baffled, and asked:

"What's going on?"

Nangong caught his gaze but didn't speak. She merely jerked her head toward the door, then went back to bandaging Xia Wan.

Though their conditions had recovered, their wounds hadn't fully closed yet.

Xia Wan, however, said coldly:

"We just woke up too."

Cao Sansui hadn't climbed to 1900 by being stupid. The words flew out:

"The cola was spiked?"

Xia Wan nodded.

"Where's Cheng Shi?"

"On watch outside."

Hearing this, Cao Sansui's brow tightened.

The fact that he'd recovered fully in two hours was definitely tied to Cheng Shi.

He had no idea whether this was some special technique exclusive to high-rated Priests or whether Cheng Shi had administered additional healing. All he knew was that if Cheng Shi had harbored any ill intent while they were all asleep, they'd already be dead.

Thankfully, he hadn't acted. Or rather, thankfully, he wasn't of an opposing faith.

Even more fortunately, no enemies had arrived during those two hours!

Cao Sansui felt a cold sweat of retrospective fear. He scrambled to his feet and walked out of the treehouse with a grave expression.

Beneath the treehouse, Cheng Shi was chatting with Chen Chong and Song Yawen about something. Judging by their faces, they had also recovered considerably.

The realization that all five of them had fallen asleep simultaneously, leaving only Cheng Shi on watch, and a Priest at that, made Cao Sansui say in disbelief:

"Are you out of your mind? Putting five people to sleep at the same time, even if you had recovery potions, you should've done it one at a time!"

All three turned around in unison. Song Yawen grinned but kept quiet. Chen Chong's expression didn't change much, but his twitching eye corner made it abundantly clear that he too had choice words about Cheng Shi's little trick.

Only Cheng Shi scratched his head and said:

"Hah? Don't go making things up. I just woke up too. All six of us slept."

"??????"

Cao Sansui's soul trembled from the depths. He hadn't dared imagine Cheng Shi's balls were quite this massive.

"Cheng Shi! You were gambling with everyone's lives! If anything had gone wrong in between, we could have been wiped out to a man!"

Cheng Shi nodded in earnest agreement:

"Absolutely. The risk was far too great. Not recommended."

"?"

Cao Sansui's scolding tone stalled. The way Cheng Shi was responding, it sounded like he wasn't the one who'd done it, like he was joining the crusade against the real culprit.

"You knew, and you still gambled?" Cao Sansui laughed from sheer exasperation.

Cheng Shi spread his hands: "But I won the bet. We're all back at peak fighting shape, aren't we?"

"…"

"Either way, it was a two-hour wait. Tell me honestly: was the payoff worth the gamble or not?"

"…"

Cao Sansui sat down beside the three of them wearing a constipated expression and let out a heavy sigh:

"Next time something like this comes up, do me a favor and tell me first. I'd rather not be scared to death before I ever get to have an audience with [Time]."

This time, Cheng Shi dropped the joking. His face showed genuine remorse:

"You wouldn't have agreed. Or rather, nobody wanted to roll the dice. But the truth is, we might not have had enough time to let everyone recover in turns. Danger was closing in. Every second we could gain mattered."

"But what if something had…"

"Looking at the results, your 'what if' never happened." Cheng Shi grinned again.

Cao Sansui fell silent. Chen Chong muttered curses under his breath:

"There won't be a next time, Cheng Shi. I hate uncertainty. Damn it, you don't act like a follower of [Birth] at all. You're more like a follower of [Fate]…"

Cheng Shi was amused. He extended his hand, summoned a pinpoint of healing light, and waved it suggestively near Chen Chong as he said:

"Don't believe me? I can give you the full motherhood experience right now."

Before Chen Chong could react, Song Yawen had already bolted ten meters away.

"…"

Cao Sansui eyed the green glow on Cheng Shi's hand and asked:

"What was it?"

Cheng Shi knew he was asking about the cola. He dismissed the healing spell and clicked his tongue:

"I call it 'Slumber Healing.' I laced the cola with powerful sedatives and a Grade-A potion called 'Prosperity of Yore.' It's a top-tier healing elixir that combines the divine power of [Memory] and [Prosperity]. I had exactly six bottles stored. Now they're all gone."

He finished with an expression of agonizing loss.

"Grade-A again. I've never heard of this particular potion. Was it a Ladder reward?"

Cheng Shi shrugged. "No idea. I traded for it from someone else."

"Someone was willing to trade away something this lifesaving?" Song Yawen trotted back and asked, puzzled.

"Sometimes, the goal matters far more than life itself." Cheng Shi sighed quietly, as if recalling someone.

True enough.

If you were dead, what was the point of hoarding so many precious things?

But if you'd lost your purpose, what meaning was left in living?

Though he strongly disapproved of Cheng Shi's methods, Cao Sansui still acknowledged the debt:

"When the trial ends, I'll compensate you with an equivalent potion."

Cheng Shi's eyes lit up: "I couldn't possibly impose."

But his gaze was already dripping with naked avarice, roaming up and down Cao Sansui's person, trying to scope out what good things he might be hiding.

"…"

Everyone said that 2000-point heavyweights had eccentric personalities. Seeing Cheng Shi today, the rumors were confirmed.

They had already silently accepted Cheng Shi as a 2000-point player, without the slightest doubt.

"Since everyone's awake and in good shape, shall we move out now?" Cao Sansui asked.

"Proceed as planned."

Chen Chong, seeing that Cheng Shi had no intention of taking command and was just sitting there grinning foolishly, picked up the thread with a dark face.

"Right, let's get them…"

Before Cao Sansui could even stand up, he felt a wave of heat surging from beneath the earth, slamming into him with feral intensity. His expression jolted.

The others were equally startled, all rising to stare at the ground beneath their feet.

Only Cheng Shi snapped his head skyward with a grim expression, grinding out a few words through clenched teeth:

"Fuck, it's Meteor Fire Rain!"

"S-Rank Forbidden Spell: Meteor Fire Rain???"

Song Yawen's voice warped with terror. He likewise craned his neck upward and, sure enough, on the farthest reaches of the visible heavens, the phantom of a horrifying, apocalyptic sun was slowly rising.

The rim of the solar disc blazed with ferocious firelight. Every spark that sputtered from its edge transformed into a colossal meteor that streaked across the sky, plunging at breakneck speed toward the plains where they stood!

In the space of a breath, the meteors fell like rain.

"Run!!"

Cheng Shi bolted without a second's hesitation, holding nothing back.

He didn't need to look after anyone. Every teammate present, bar none, was faster than him.

Cao Sansui's face hardened. A split second later, Zone Acceleration was laid down ahead of the group. Song Yawen instantly dissolved into shadow. Chen Chong activated Warrior Charge, grabbed Cheng Shi and Cao Sansui one in each hand, and surged outward like a storm.

The two figures above the treehouse moved even faster. Xia Wan scooped up the petite Nangong and leaped from one treetop to another in two or three bounds.

Chen Chong's charging speed was so explosive that the wind lashed Cheng Shi's face raw.

Cao Sansui was equally miserable. He shouted through the gale in extreme alarm:

"This isn't a spell from the subterranean world! This is a forbidden art exclusive to the Elemental Magistrates of the Land of Hope! What exactly is our identity in this trial, that both sides treat us as enemies?"

Enemies? No.

Even if these six really were enemies of the Land of Hope, the Elemental Magistrates would never use an apocalyptic spell like this to punish them.

What were six people in the context of a war?

Absolutely nothing!

What had they done to deserve a Meteor Fire Rain!

Cheng Shi's face went black as a terrible possibility struck him.

"This Meteor Fire Rain was never meant for us! It's to intercept the right-flank Fear Demon army!!!"