Chapter 936: The King of Silver’s Test

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

A headless body wearing a bright red opera robe stood quietly before him. Behind it was a stunned Ying Fu and other shocked Judgment Delegates...

This was the view from the dinner plate.

I...

Was beheaded?

No, that’s not right... In this instant, Chen Ling’s brain worked at high speed. Almost without hesitation, the head left on the dinner plate spoke suddenly!

"CUT!!!"

In an instant, the world froze.

The candle flame flickering beside the dining cart froze instantly, and the music from the piano and cello stopped abruptly... Everyone in the venue stood motionless like statues, their shocked and stunned faces entering Chen Ling’s field of vision.

Chen Ling’s head was held on the dinner plate, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings bit by bit. His face was gloomy, wondering what he was thinking.

A moment later, he spoke again:

"RE-TRIAL."

As the words fell, everything around began to rewind along the trajectory of the story. A line of text appeared before Chen Ling’s eyes first...

[Action: Chitong stole Chen Ling’s 'head']

Stealing a "head"?

Up to now, the most precise "theft" Chen Ling had seen was the King of Silver casually taking a heart and then returning it to its original place... Although Bai Ye could also take organs, putting them back was extremely difficult.

And this Chitong could directly steal his "head" out of thin air. One had to know that the connection between the head and the body was extremely complex—bones, blood vessels, flesh, tendons... In terms of operation, this was much more difficult than stealing internal organs!

The most critical thing was that after Chen Ling’s head was stolen, he could still maintain bodily functions and continue to think...

This had already exceeded the scope of ordinary "theft." It was highly likely a characteristic of the path Chitong had embarked upon... Just as Bai Ye was adept at stealing memories, Chitong’s path should be a very special kind of "theft."

Chen Ling scanned this line of text and continued to control the script to trace back.

[Chitong (playfully): "How about we take a look first?"]

[Action: The King of Silver casts a vigilant gaze toward Chen Ling]

[Chitong (shrugging): "Are you sure you don't want any? This stuff isn't common... It would be a pity if you didn't eat it."]

[Chen Ling: "No need, I’m full."]

【……】

[Action: Ying Fu seems to sense the 'theft' occurring, looks at Chen Ling’s back, and falls into deep thought]

[Chen Ling: "Thanks."]

[The King of Silver stole Chen Ling’s 'doubt']

The eight-second script stopped here.

With the rewinding of the plot, Chen Ling’s head returned to his body. He looked at the lines of script before him, his eyes narrowing slightly...

"As I thought..."

These few short lines contained a wealth of information. It now appeared that the King of Silver hadn't truly left but had moved from the light into the shadows, constantly observing everything from another location.

Moreover, he had also stolen his "doubt"... What kind of doubt?

Chen Ling recalled again. Eight seconds ago, he should have been chatting with Tianhuai, and they had talked about his younger brother, Huai Mang... No, Huai Wen?

A strand of doubt rose in Chen Ling’s heart again.

His eyes brightened suddenly!

That was it! The discrepancy between Huai Mang in his memory and Huai Wen in Tianhuai’s memory was definitely not just an information gap, but the King of Silver using some method to tamper with Tianhuai’s memory... Otherwise, the King of Silver wouldn't have needed to steal his "doubt"!

The King of Silver’s action, in Chen Ling’s eyes, was undoubtedly a case of "the thief protesting his innocence," clearly indicating it had something to do with him.

Chen Ling no longer had "doubt." He was certain that all of this was related to the King of Silver. Now, he vaguely felt that he would soon uncover the real reason why the five Judgment Delegates had betrayed the human domains.

"But even Senior Bai Ye can only steal memories; he cannot replace them with a new set of memories... Is this a new ability of the [Borrowing the Moon] path at the eighth or ninth rank?

As the leader of the Saint of Thieves path, which path does the King of Silver belong to? Why can he use so many different Saint of Thieves path abilities?"

Chen Ling frowned and pondered for a long time, but couldn't find an answer... He didn't have time to think about this either.

Now, he was facing another predicament.

The King of Silver appeared to leave the cathedral but was actually observing everything in secret, which meant Chitong’s provocation definitely had something to do with the King of Silver... It was highly likely that Chitong stealing his "head" was a means for the King of Silver to test him.

If the King of Silver had stayed in the venue, Chitong wouldn't have dared to provoke him like that, so he chose to leave, allowing Chitong’s performance to be unrestricted.

He wanted to see how he would react to Chitong’s provocation...

The rank gap was a fatal flaw. Chen Ling was only at the fourth rank, while Chitong was at the seventh. Under such a disparity in strength, Chen Ling would either have to swallow his pride and ask Chitong to return his head, or he would have to fly into a rage and be easily suppressed by Chitong.

Either way, it was a suppression and insult to Chen Ling... What the King of Silver really wanted was to test the bottom line of the "Mockery" inside him through this method.

To what extent would that World-Ender react? What kind of symbiotic relationship existed between "Mockery" and Chen Ling?

This banquet was an experiment by the King of Silver. The result of the experiment would determine how he would "use" him in the future...

"What a calculation."

Chen Ling figured out the logic behind it, and his gaze became increasingly cold.

Without [CUT], without seeing everything in those eight short seconds, Chen Ling would probably have been played in the palm of the King of Silver’s hand... His current expectation value was 78%; it was impossible to release the Mockery Calamity. If the King of Silver realized this, or if he saw that he would resurrect, he would never be as friendly to him in the future as he was today.

"Mockery" was like a nuclear weapon. The international status of a country that could launch nuclear weapons at any time was vastly different from one that couldn't.

"You want to test me? I’ll give you that chance... Let’s see if you have the guts."

Chen Ling scanned the script before him and used all his mental energy to launch a "Negation" on the last line of the script!

A brand new line of text began to cover the original script.

Scarlet blood flowed from Chen Ling’s seven orifices, but fortunately, he had only changed one line of text this time, so he hadn't reached the point of exhaustion. He reviewed the brand-new script one last time and took a deep breath...

“【Action】。”

Snap—

As the sound of the snap echoed, the world line reset instantly, and everything returned to eight seconds ago. A brand new story line was about to unfold!