Chapter 936: The Silver King's Test

Chen Ling had never seen "himself" from this perspective before.

A headless body, dressed in a large red opera robe, stood silently before him. Behind it were a stunned Ying Fu and other shocked Judgment Enforcers...

This was the view from a serving platter.

I...

Was I beheaded?

No, that's not right... In that instant, Chen Ling's mind raced. With barely a moment's hesitation, his head, resting on the platter, suddenly spoke!

"Cut!!!"

In a flash, the world froze.

The flickering candlelight by the dining cart instantly stopped, and the music from the piano and cello abruptly ceased... Everyone in the hall became still as statues, their shocked and bewildered faces imprinted on Chen Ling's mind.

Chen Ling's head, still on the platter, slowly scanned the surroundings. His expression was grim, lost in thought.

A moment later, he spoke again:

"Rewind."

As his words fell, everything around him began to rewind along the story's timeline. A line of text first appeared before Chen Ling...

Action: Chi Tong stole Chen Ling's 'head'.

Stole his 'head'?

So far, the most precise "stolen item" Chen Ling had witnessed was the Silver King casually removing a heart and then returning it to its original place... While Bai Ye could also extract organs, putting them back was incredibly difficult.

Yet, this Chi Tong before him could directly steal his "head" out of thin air. It was well known that the connection between the head and body was extremely complex: bones, blood vessels, flesh, tendons... Operationally, this was far more difficult than stealing internal organs!

Most crucially, after Chen Ling's head was stolen, it could still maintain bodily functions and even think...

This went beyond the scope of ordinary "stolen items." It was highly probable that this was a characteristic of the path Chi Tong had taken... Just as Bai Ye specialized in stealing memories, Chi Tong's path likely involved a very unique type of "theft."

Chen Ling glanced at the text and continued to control the script, tracing it further back.

Chi Tong (jokingly): "How about we wait and see?"

Action: The Silver King cast a wary glance at Chen Ling.

Chi Tong (shrugging): "Are you really not going to eat it? This isn't something you see every day... It would be a pity to waste it."

Chen Ling: "No thanks, I've already eaten."

Action: Ying Fu seemed to sense 'theft' occurring and fell into contemplation as he looked at Chen Ling's back.

Chen Ling: "Thank you."

The Silver King stole Chen Ling's 'confusion'.

The eight-second script stopped here, the rewind complete.

As the plot rewound, Chen Ling's head returned to his body. He narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at the lines of the script before him...

"As expected..."

Just a few lines of text, yet they contained a wealth of information. It now seemed that the Silver King had not truly left but had instead moved from the open to the shadows, constantly monitoring the situation from another location.

Moreover, he had stolen his "confusion"... Confusion about what exactly?

Chen Ling recalled that just before these eight seconds, he had been chatting with Tian Huai, specifically about his brother, Huai Mang... No, Huai Wen?

A fresh wave of confusion arose in Chen Ling's mind.

His eyes suddenly lit up!

That's it! The disparity between Huai Mang in his own memory and Huai Wen in Tian Huai's memory wasn't just a simple information gap. The Silver King must have somehow tampered with Tian Huai's memory... Otherwise, the Silver King would have had no reason to steal his "confusion"!

To Chen Ling, the Silver King's action was a clear case of "protesting too much," obviously indicating his involvement.

Now free of "confusion," Chen Ling was certain that everything was connected to the Silver King. He had a faint feeling that he was close to uncovering the true reason behind the five Judgment Enforcers' betrayal of the human realm.

"But even Elder Bai Ye can only steal memories; he can't replace them with new ones... Is this a new ability for an Eighth or Ninth Stage 'Borrowing Moon' practitioner?

"As the leader of the Way of the Thieving God, what path does the Silver King truly follow? Why can he use so many different abilities from the Way of the Thieving God paths?"

Chen Ling frowned, pondering for a long time, but couldn't find an answer... He also didn't have time to dwell on it.

Now, he faced another predicament.

The Silver King had ostensibly left the cathedral but was actually observing everything from the shadows. This suggested that Chi Tong's provocation was absolutely linked to the Silver King... There was a high probability that Chi Tong stealing his "head" was the Silver King's way of testing him.

If the Silver King had remained in the hall, Chi Tong's provocation would have required a reaction from him. So, he simply chose to leave, allowing Chi Tong to act without restriction.

He wanted to see how Chen Ling would respond to Chi Tong's provocation...

The difference in rank was a major disadvantage. Chen Ling was only Fourth Stage, while Chi Tong was Seventh Stage. Given such a vast power disparity, Chen Ling would either have to swallow his pride and ask Chi Tong to return his head, or fly into a rage and be easily suppressed by Chi Tong.

Either outcome would be a suppression and humiliation for Chen Ling... What the Silver King truly wanted was to use this method to test the limits of "Mockery" within him.

To what extent would things have to go before that world-destroying entity reacted? What kind of symbiotic relationship existed between "Mockery" and Chen Ling?

This banquet was an experiment by the Silver King, and its outcome would determine how he would "use" Chen Ling in the future...

"What a cunning scheme."

As Chen Ling grasped the underlying logic, his gaze grew colder.

If he hadn't used "Cut," and hadn't seen everything that transpired in those brief eight seconds, Chen Ling might truly have been manipulated by the Silver King... His current expectation value was 78, making it impossible to unleash the Mockery Disaster. If the Silver King realized this, or saw that Chen Ling could revive, he would certainly not be as friendly towards him in the future as he was today.

"Mockery" was like a nuclear weapon. There was a world of difference in international status between a country that could launch nuclear weapons at any time and one that could not.

"If you want to test me, I'll give you the chance... We'll see if you have the guts."

Chen Ling's gaze swept over the script before him. Using all his mental energy, he activated "Deny" on the last line of text in the script!

A completely new line of text began to overwrite the original script.

Scarlet blood trickled from Chen Ling's seven orifices. Fortunately, this time he had only changed one line of text, so he was not yet completely exhausted. He reviewed the new script one last time, taking a deep breath...

Snap—

With a snap of his fingers, the timeline instantly reset. Everything returned to eight seconds prior, and a brand new storyline was about to unfold!