Foolish Game of the Gods Chapter 23

Chapter 23: The Lion-Dancing Dwarves

He hadn't walked far before he ran into Bailing emerging from between the rows of seats, face still flushed crimson.

He looked her up and down, trying to gauge how the "battle" had gone.

Unfortunately, Bailing had tidied herself up well. Nothing was visible.

"Big shot, any discoveries?"

"Discovered a colleague of yours."

Bailing didn't seem surprised, but she still gasped and covered her mouth in mock astonishment. "Better technique than me?"

"?"

Cheng Shi felt his skin was still too thin. He decisively changed the subject. "Let's not talk about that. What did you find?"

The moment he asked, he regretted it, because Bailing hadn't gone canvassing at all.

But to his surprise, she seemed to have genuinely found something.

She licked the corner of her mouth, the flush on her face still undissipated, pointed at her own face, and giggled:

"Do you think I'd have found anything?"

She was lying.

Cheng Shi smiled radiantly:

"Truth be told, you're not very good at lying. Or rather, you can't hide what's on your mind. Spit it out. We're all pressed for time."

Bailing's face froze for a beat, then she narrowed her eyes and smiled:

"A big shot is a big shot. Your powers of observation are superb."

I have even more superb ones, but I can't tell you.

Cheng Shi blinked at Bailing, signaling her to keep it brief and save time.

Bailing caught his meaning and pointed in a certain direction:

"I spotted a few men from the tavern. Maybe there's a clue among them."

"?"

Cheng Shi looked out over the vast audience and frowned.

Finding the same individuals across adjacent memories was indeed a good thing, because many Memory Subjects only recalled a particular scene upon seeing a specific person, which then triggered the memory of a previous encounter.

This was the most common solving method in [Memory] trials: tracing the chain of connections to find the next target.

Though the link between two memory acts might not be profound, finding even a thread of a clue was always worthwhile.

Cheng Shi didn't fail to understand this logic. The problem was, in such a sea of faces, how had Bailing located these particular men so quickly?

Bailing saw his doubt. She extended one finger, tapped Cheng Shi's forehead, then drew it back and tapped her own ample chest.

Cheng Shi followed her "guidance"…

"…"

Ahem.

Seeing Cheng Shi's gaze begin to wander, Bailing chuckled softly:

"Stop pretending, big shot. My talent can materialize men's possessiveness toward me. I can keenly sense every inch of their desire for my skin. You clearly feel nothing for me, so why put on such a lecherous act?"

"Ah, well. That kind of talent exists too?"

Since he'd been seen through, Cheng Shi didn't feel embarrassed. He clicked his tongue twice and averted his gaze.

"I wasn't exactly acting. After all, an appreciation for beauty is universal."

"Pitying me?" Bailing batted her eyes, all her seductive charm transforming into pure innocence.

"Who's qualified to pity whom?" Cheng Shi chuckled casually. "Perhaps I simply don't like women?"

Bailing burst out laughing, stepped forward and hooked his arm, shaking with delight:

"You dare say it, I dare believe it. Sister Cheng, come on, let's save time."

Cheng Shi was dragged along with a constipated expression for a stretch. When he truly couldn't stand being ground against by the soft mass any longer, he tugged his arm and wryly struggled:

"I was just kidding."

Bailing didn't let go at all, looking even more delighted:

"Relax. Your little sister here keeps her mouth sealed tight."

"…"

Left with no alternative, Cheng Shi redirected the conversation:

"Why didn't you guide them into breaking the memory yourself?"

"Little sister doesn't know how. I only know how to guide them into wild fantasies. Once I do that, you wouldn't just be seeing my solo show. Everyone in the entire circus arena would immediately start performing a circus… the riding kind."

Cheng Shi knew she was right. If she actually found the Memory Subject and applied her allure, a memory-distorting scene could very well erupt.

Once memory began to destabilize, the entire memory would rapidly collapse.

"Sounds like you all value your lives quite a bit too."

"You all" naturally referring to followers of [Defilement].

Bailing nodded without hesitation.

"Of course. Only by living… can we… more… right?"

Cheng Shi's face went black-lined, automatically censoring the unspeakable words.

When he followed Bailing to stand before the "acquaintances," he recognized them at a glance. These were indeed the burly men from the tavern memory act, the ones who'd been drinking and talking big.

"Mind telling me how you found them?"

Cheng Shi looked at Bailing with genuine curiosity. He actually wanted to know exactly what her talent did, but instinct told him that even if he asked, she wouldn't answer.

Bailing smiled and looked at Cheng Shi before replying:

"Everyone has different preferences. Some like waists, some like legs, some like…"

Understood.

"What do you like?" Bailing licked her glistening red lips.

Me?

I like being alive.

Cheng Shi ignored her and began quietly approaching the targets, casting Hypnosis on each of them.

But after a full round of questioning, none of the dozen-plus men were the final answer.

Both their faces darkened simultaneously.

"These men were indeed within the waiter's field of vision. If none of them is it, then could the waiter have recalled the previous act because he saw a particular object?"

If it involved objects, the search would be far too difficult.

For the same reason: the venue was simply too massive.

"Let's notify the others and narrow the scope further."

Cheng Shi sighed helplessly and spent additional time calling Fang Shiqing and the rest back.

She and Xu Lu had been covering the VIP section, the wrong direction from the start, so naturally they had no clues.

A Ming, however, mumbled that the audience section seemed to have special service personnel conducting unspeakable, sordid transactions with spectators.

Everyone took it as a joke and swiftly moved on.

Such things were encountered far too often to warrant surprise.

Compared to the chaos of the VIP section, the common folk's audience seating was far more orderly.

After the first intelligence exchange, Fang Shiqing knitted her brow and said:

"Let's keep searching. The Memory Subject must be in the regular audience. The stage performance hasn't distorted at all, which means he was watching the show the entire time. Focus on spectators who are concentrating intently on the performance. We split up again and reconvene in one hour."

"Mm, okay."

"Whatever the big shot says goes."

"No objections."

The group dispersed quickly. Cheng Shi once again wove through the audience alone.

He frowned and, instead of heading to his assigned canvassing zone, ducked between the rows of seats as though searching for a specific target.

He was looking for the "dwarf-assembled orc girl."

Fang Shiqing's summary had reminded him. If a person had never come into contact with the "dwarf-assembled orc girl," then that person couldn't possibly see the process of dwarves dressing underneath the beast skin.

Therefore, this act's Memory Subject must have crossed paths with the "dwarf-assembled orc girl," and even knew that "she" wasn't "one" "person."

Who would willingly interact with something knowing full well it wasn't a normal special service worker?

Cheng Shi swore that with his normal brain, he genuinely couldn't figure it out.

But not being able to figure it out didn't mean he couldn't find it.

So he began tracking the orc girl's movements.

The circus was packed with people coming and going, with no particular order. Especially in the common audience section, shouts and hawking rose from every direction, no different from the tavern.

So his movements weren't conspicuous.

He hadn't searched long before Cheng Shi spotted his target: the "dwarf orc girl."

At the moment, "she" was wriggling and snuggling in some spectator's lap.

Physically wriggling.

Cheng Shi watched, dumbfounded, sorely tempted to observe up close exactly what they were doing. But soon enough, he spotted a pleasantly surprising familiar face around the orc girl.

York.

The Duke's stable boy from the bar patrons' gossip, the hard case who'd suddenly struck it rich and then slept with an orc girl.

Cheng Shi's mouth curved upward. He knew he'd guessed right.

"Found you."

York was currently wearing a straw hat that shaded his eyes. Beneath the brim, his gaze kept shifting between two target locations.

One was the stage. The other was the orc girl's position to his right front.

It wasn't just him, either. The surrounding spectators were all sneaking deliberate glances in that direction. But since the orc girl's movements were restrained and the noise was minimal, it hadn't caused much of a stir.

But while the other spectators were eyeing the orc girl's chest, waist, legs, and buttocks, only York's gaze remained locked on "her" face, the depth of his affection practically turning to goo.

"…"

Brother, could you tell me how exactly you fell for these five "lion-dancing" dwarves?

Cheng Shi observed him for a long while, the questions in his mind piling higher and higher. Finally unable to contain himself, he disguised himself as an ordinary spectator, sidled up to York, and let out a somewhat deliberate sigh:

"Why are there only female orcs providing services? They should loosen up the gender restrictions a bit."

Ch. 23 Foolish Game of the Gods Chapter 23

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