Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 714: Chapter 712 Delusional Step_1 Chapter 714: Chapter 712 Delusional Step_1 “””

So there are only these four, huh?

As the coup de grâce was delivered, the prompt sounds ringing by his ear made Fu Qian’s mood greatly improve for a moment.

Although he had acted without hesitation just now, he couldn’t entirely rule out the possibility that “Patch” had been putting on an act all along, covering for the other participants.

As for why he called that person “Gaya” at the end, the reason was quite simple—if he wasn’t Gaya, how could his mission be completed?

The warehouse might have been utilized, but that did not mean that certain established rules could be broken.

Since his mission was to eliminate Gaya, Gaya must conceptually still exist.

In view of this situation, even though the final Patch was lively and vivid, in Fu Qian’s view, rather than believing he was the original consciousness of that body, with Gaya and the other three people being faces he could switch to at any time, there was actually a different explanation—Gaya’s essence hadn’t changed, and Patch was still a product of self-delusion.

Gaya and his three partners, through a special pact, could indeed transform into one another, and even coexist within one body, but essentially they remained themselves, and Patch was the false one.

No matter if the name was correct or not, the Patch who spoke with him as well as the existence behind the Dimming Pony likely couldn’t equate.

Otherwise, it would be hard to imagine that such a complete-willed demi-god-like existence could be so easily brought down by him.

The one who had conversed with him just now was probably just a concept, a product of self-deception, coupled together by the four participants.

Let’s not forget that the very posture of the pact was to treat the false as true.

Their state of existence, taking Gaya as an example, was more likely that Gaya was deceiving himself into believing he was Gaya disguised as Patch.

…

Even as the familiar warehouse appeared before his eyes, Fu Qian’s mind was still contemplating these riddles.

As for that shout before finishing the killing blow, it had no impact on the outcome, and was mostly done out of a wicked sense of humor.

From what he could see now, due to the arrangements of these SAN Value Hunters, four targets in total needed to be killed in order to disrupt the “ritual.”

And based on past experiences, the three who died first were absolutely not going to break free from their state of self-deception, in order to confuse him to the utmost extent.

At the same time, they were fearless because, in their minds, this death could very well be akin to sleep talking—a non-reality that wouldn’t even be remembered.

Only after the remaining three were dead would the last person trigger some kind of special switch, breaking free from self-delusion and do everything possible to escape.

From this, it could be seen that the pact made by Gaya and the others was quite steadfast. It undoubtedly used Patch’s self-recognition as an anchor, enabling them to deceive themselves with ease.

But what about the fear of death?

When the last one died, those four truly died, which was different from the false cycle of rebirth they experienced earlier.

Fu Qian’s shout was meant to see if under such a threat, Gaya’s resolve would crumble or something of that sort.

Unfortunately, judging from the last reaction, there might have been a bit of instability, but at most it only resulted in confusion and disordered thinking.

From the moment they established the pact, Gaya and the others had already lost the ability to sever the recognition of Patch.

…

Interesting, but also a bit troublesome!

This pact was undoubtedly the most bizarre one Fu Qian had ever encountered.

It was even outright robbery of the warehouse.

If it weren’t for me being a professional mission executor, any other participant would probably suffer huge losses.

In fact, from that “Patch’s” description, one could know that more than one predecessor had already been taken advantage of.

[Mission Assessment: The Assassin of Lies]

As he pondered, the summary of the mission was already resounding beside his ear.

[Benefiting from the strictly hierarchical system within the organization and the corresponding generous resource support, every member of Yasui Corp holds a strong desire for promotion, pursuing it by any means necessary within the rules.

Gaya Ulrich, as one of the most fanatical among them, showed intense interest as soon as he first discovered the Dimming Pony.

“””

In the end, under his persuasion, the company’s senior management finally decided to support his research plan, and Gaya gained control of a massive amount of resources.

However, this was only on the surface, the true nature of the power behind the Dimming Pony was something Gaya had realized when he first came into contact with it.

The tests that consumed a huge amount of resources were essentially just providing it with nourishment, and there were even signs of it getting out of control and spreading.

And thanks to your efforts, this risk of losing control was ultimately eliminated.

With Gaya gone, this test, which had a huge investment but always failed to yield results, was quickly abandoned.

[Eliminated: Cynthia, Kuraki Rieko, Gaya’s double, Gaya Ulrich]

[Reward: SAN Points +31]

[Special Reward: Delusory Steps Ring]

[Current SAN Points 145, current Inspiration 99]

[Would you like to play the event recap?]

That’s not right!

However, the content of the task summary made Fu Qian frown more and more as he listened.

This task summary is too… normal, isn’t it?

It’s exactly the ideal version, without mentioning any of the twists and turns or credit due to my own hard work.

It’s like having an urgent task from your leader to procure a hundred thousand arrows to face the enemy forces, and when you deliver them the next day, he just nods and says you did a good job.

It only focuses on the demand and result, completely ignoring the fact that you actually charged directly into the enemy’s camp, and “borrowed” them with a knife held to the enemy general’s head.

No wonder it’s no injustice to be taken advantage of if you’re so oblivious!

Luckily, there’s a special reward; otherwise, I would have been at a big loss this time.

[Name: Delusory Steps Ring]

[Type: Ring]

[Effect: A subtle condensation that deceives authority, it seems bulky on the outside, but it’s almost weightless to the touch.

Once activated, your next step can freely land anywhere within a certain range, with an interval of one hour between each use.]

[Note: The ring, as a token, has always been a reliable aid to lies.]

This thing, it looks pretty good.

Fu Qian rubbed the dark silver ring in his hand.

As described, the ring looked very simple and solid, but when held in hand, it almost felt like nothing.

The next moment, Fu Qian directly put the ring on his left pinky finger.

After trying to activate it, he took a step and appeared right behind the long table.

A rather nice rush skill!

Fu Qian nodded in satisfaction, recalling the sensations just now.

The effect of the Delusional Step seems to be a kind of direct distortion in the concept of space, allowing oneself to temporarily break free of limitations such as speed and distance.

Patch’s ability to dodge my attacks must have been a similar ability.

However, the cooldown time of one hour means it can only be used for strategic purposes and doesn’t reach the level of an unreasonable Divine Artifact.

It seems it still doesn’t quite make up for the difficulty of the task!

In Fu Qian’s view, the amount of warming up this time was indeed over the top; even a Divine Artifact wouldn’t have been excessive.

Forget it, one should always look on the bright side, at least after this battle, I’ve taken another step towards the achievement of becoming the Ring King.