"Forgotten Doctor?"
Fang Shiqing looked at Cheng Shi with great interest and picked up the pocket watch on the table with a smile.
The others picked up their pocket watches one after another, but the expressions on their faces were each more colorful than the last.
Their gazes kept shifting back and forth between Cheng Shi and Xu Lu, thinking that the Klip Girl had a reason to be afraid.
Even with her defensive posture set like that, this guy named Cheng Shi actually jumped right in her face, as if he were afraid others wouldn't know he was opposing the Klip Girl.
Xu Lu clearly didn't dare to take Cheng Shi's things; she calibrated her time against the pocket watch and then pushed it back.
"The Forgotten Doctor isn't a good answer in a Trial of memory, Cheng Shi. I hope you'll refrain from acting against the NPCs. Over-accelerating them will cause memory collapse, and we might get trapped in the memory with no way out."
Cheng Shi shrugged indifferently, picked up his pocket watch, and turned to leave.
He was going to a place with no one around to practice his Edict.
The tavern was large, with two floors.
The style was similar to medieval Northern Europe, with wooden interiors and beast fur decorations—very rugged.
There were about dozens of tables upstairs and downstairs, almost completely full of people.
The sound of clinking glasses and shouting filled The ear; after walking just a few steps, Cheng Shi could no longer hear his teammates' voices.
The bar in the very center had an open-air design; the entire second floor was surrounded by a railing, and leaning out, one could easily see the entire first floor.
Cheng Shi walked quickly, turned a corner into a corridor, and in a corner where no one could see, he took out his "dice of fate."
The Edict concluded successfully. He felt the favor of "time" at his fingertips and walked out with a smile.
The investigation was about to begin.
A Trial of memory was countless times more "civilized" than a Trial of War; there were rarely moments of combat, and even if there were, they were usually limited to a small area and resolved quickly.
In a Trial of memory, every scene is someone else's memory. If the memory's imagery is distorted too much, the memory is likely to collapse, causing people to be trapped forever.
The goal of the Trial is to constantly search for the "memory Entity" within each scene—the true owner of that memory.
In the current scene, the memory owner must have been here and stayed for a long time, which is why they have such deep memories of the tavern's layout and patrons.
However, a person's memory has points of focus. In the places they paid attention to, the "NPCs" would be more active, with behavior and logic converging with that of normal people.
In the places they ignored, blurry fragments would often appear.
The "NPCs" reconstructed from these fragments would have various "errors." Although these "errors" aren't obvious, players must find them if they want to pass the Trial.
And the simplest, most brainless way to find errors is... a comprehensive search.
Which means striking up conversations with everyone one by one.
However, there are techniques to striking up a conversation. Once a conversation fails and triggers other trouble, the memory is likely to distort, leading to immediate failure of the Trial.
Cheng Shi wasn't very good at striking up conversations, but he was very good at lying.
He saw several bar waiters coming out of a small room one after another. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, he slipped into the room, quickly stole a waiter's uniform, changed into it, and slipped back out.
Just as he stepped out, he saw Fang Shiqing leading the Klip Girl, sneaking toward this direction.
He gave a knowing smile. What a coincidence; they had the same idea.
Seeing that Cheng Shi had already changed into a waiter's uniform, Fang Shiqing's eyes lit up, and she praised in a low voice:
"Smart!"
Cheng Shi enjoyed it and smiled. "The praise of a big shot is the driving force for my progress."
Xu Lu hid behind Fang Shiqing, her eyes full of wariness as she muttered quietly, "So fake."
Fang Shiqing smiled:
"Presumably you know my Lord's Edict as well. Share a piece of knowledge with me, and the radiance of Truth shall shine upon your path."
The Edict of Truth is to seek knowledge; any unknown law or knowledge can bring a Believer of Truth closer to the "Truth."
For a Believer of Truth with support or defensive skills, to obtain His protection, they must share some knowledge with His Believers.
Cheng Shi's eyes darted around, and he quickly shared a small piece of knowledge.
"Inserting a finger into the anus and performing a rotating massage for thirty seconds can effectively suppress hiccups."
"?"
"?"
As soon as Cheng Shi shared it, the two ladies in front of him froze on the spot.
The Klip Girl's expression was priceless—it was hard to tell if it was fear or disgust. In any case, players of opposing Faiths were far too perverted, which was indeed a threat to her own safety.
She slowly shuffled two steps closer to Fang Shiqing.
As for Fang Shiqing, she felt the radiance of Truth surging toward Cheng Shi, which meant Cheng Shi wasn't talking nonsense—this was actually true.
"How... did you find out?"
"Ah, I'm a doctor. Practice brings true knowledge."
"A doctor in reality?"
Cheng Shi's expression remained unchanged. "Don't I look like one?"
Even though Cheng Shi meant he had practiced on others, Fang Shiqing's gaze couldn't help but keep trying to drift toward his backside.
"...Thank you. I've learned something."
She gave a forced smile and led the Klip Girl into the dressing room without looking back.
Cheng Shi left with a smile and began his investigation work.
The several players had roughly divided the areas; Cheng Shi was assigned the entire eastern section of the first floor, about a dozen tables.
Striking up conversations with people was actually a very boring thing, especially for the socially anxious Cheng Shi.
He casually picked up a tray, swiped a few bottles of wine from several tables of dead-drunk patrons, and then began his wine delivery work.
At every table, he would say with a straight face that this was today's promotion—wine on the house from the boss—and then ask the patrons how they were drinking and if they were happy. If they were happy, could they tell him some gossip as payment for the wine?
To be honest, the wine in Belius was not cheap at all. Seeing that the establishment was giving away wine, the patrons were very happy and quickly shared all sorts of rumors they had heard.
After all, they were already there to brag; bragging one more time in exchange for a bottle of wine was such a bargain that it couldn't be any better.
Thus, Cheng Shi became a gossip vacuum, sucking up information wherever he went.
In a short while, he had heard all sorts of gossip about this place called "Brooks Town."
"The town was originally the fief of Duke Brooks. Later, as more and more refugees arrived, it developed into an administrative town. But it's said the mayor wasn't sent by the King, but is a refugee impostor. Don't ask me how I know; it's a secret."
"Even the town's High Judge is a refugee impostor."
"They even impersonated striptease dancers. It wasn't until they took off all their clothes and people saw they had *that thing* that the noble lords realized these dancers were all men."
"But they're still very popular—at least more popular than the original dancers."
"Why has your boss become so generous lately? Has he been impersonated too? What, you're going to report him? Buddy, isn't it good to be generous? At least you guys are making money too."
"The refugees flooded in from Gasmera. It's said that underground Faiths are spreading in the Tower of Rationality. They've started a civil War and expelled the heretics, and then these people fled to Belius. Isn't this old news from a long time ago? Why are you asking about this?"
"There are more refugees than citizens now. The Duke is also worried, but at least the noble lords like them—they're high quality and low cost."
"Gossip? What gossip? Does York buying a night with an orc girl count? It's said that since that day, York has been shouting her name in his dreams. You're asking who York is? He's the Duke's groom. He's sitting at that table over there. See him? The one who looks the most cowardly..."
"Strange, York actually has money to buy sex and get drunk. Doesn't he still owe your boss a lot of money?"
"..."
An hour passed, and Cheng Shi listened with total absorption. If it weren't for the pocket watch chiming the time, he would have wanted to keep listening.
This was too interesting; this was much more interesting than the Trial.
What? You're asking why I, someone with social anxiety, love communicating so much?
I figure a'social terrorist' should also count as socially anxious?
But a Trial is a Trial after all. Having found nothing unusual, Cheng Shi had to go back to regroup with his teammates.
When the six players gathered at the table again, everyone's face was written with gravity.
Except for Cheng Shi.
He was having a great time.
"Why the long faces? Did anyone find something wrong?"
A Ming pursed his lips and shook his head. Fang Shiqing frowned in thought. Even Huang Bo, who had been scratching his scalp, was quiet this time, hanging his head as if thinking about something.
"Based on past experience, in a memory scene, there should be some errors that aren't that obvious but are easy to spot once you find the clue. But this time, Xu Lu and I eavesdropped on almost all the tables, including the second floor, and we didn't find any NPCs with 'overly rigid' logical completions. They all seem very normal—so normal they don't seem like people in a memory."
"Me too. I even used my talent to sense their inner hearts. They're very calm, very orderly—not like people in a memory."
"You can read minds?" Cheng Shi was startled, his interest piqued.
A Ming hurriedly shook his head. "No, no, it's just a vague feeling. I can't really go into details."
Cheng Shi nodded and looked at Fang Shiqing again. He felt that this teacher with the wavy hair had a similar skill, and it should be even stronger.
Seeing Cheng Shi look over, Fang Shiqing asked back, "What about you?"
"Me? I didn't find anything, but I heard a bunch of gossip. Do you guys want to hear it?"
"..." Remembering that piece of trivia Cheng Shi had mentioned, her mouth twitched, and she turned to the others.
"Brother Huang?"
"Um... headache... nothing! And there shouldn't be!"
Hearing this, both Fang Shiqing and Cheng Shi frowned slightly, the same thought rising in their hearts:
Oh no, this middle-aged guy is a Believer of chaos...