Cthulhu Gonfalon

After the God of Conspiracy finished his piece, his figure gradually disappeared. It was clear that this cloned body was almost at its limit. There was no way it could hold out any longer.

Perhaps it was because his noumenon was also reaching its limit, or maybe it was because he was unwilling to waste the little power he had left. but regardless, he looked at Sui Xiong, and with a silent laugh, he fully transformed into countless light spots.

Sui Xiong hung his head low in deep thought as he pondered over the choice he should make.

From an emotional standpoint, he absolutely did not want to follow the plan of the God of Conspiracy. Even if the God of Conspiracy had a point, he was still unwilling to follow it.

And this was not merely a matter of emotions; it was also a matter of interest.

Everyone knew the means of the God of Conspiracy. It was a hundred percent guarantee that behind every plan of this guy, there would be a hidden conspiracy! Even if he was about to die or even if he was already dead, the conspiracies and plots hidden within his plans might not necessarily fail. There was a chance that if Sui Xiong did according to his plan, he might fall into a trap by accident.

When Sui Xiong was a child, he once came across a story about Zhuge Liang in a confrontation against Sima Yi on the Wuzhang Plains. Seeing how he was so seriously ill and on the brink of death, Zhuge Liang left a book on the Art of War. After he died, Jiang Wei quietly withdrew his troops, leaving nothing but an empty tent site. And this book on the art of war was found on the table of the camp of the middle troops. On top of the book, there were four big characters, “Sima Yi, read.” Sima Yi read the book out of curiosity. However, because he had the habit of using his finger dabbed with saliva to flip the pages, in the end, the pages that were coated in poison caused him to fall terminally ill, and he died shortly after—this was known as the “Dead Zhuge poisoning the Living Sima.”

This was, of course, just a story. Later, when Sui Xiong watched the TV series, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he clearly remembered that Sima Yi lived for a long time even after Zhuge Liang died.

Of course, Romance of the Three Kingdoms was also a story, so it might not necessarily be the same as history—back then, when Professor Cheng taught them about Popular Science, he said that many things found in Romance of the Three Kingdoms were nonsense, all of which were completely out of line with what actually happened in history. Or it might be that the major events mentioned in the story truly happened in history, but the details were ridiculously way off the mark. It had to be due to Luo Guanzhong’s substandard level in his knowledge of history.

But in the eyes of this Professor Cheng, who only lauded history books, the historical standard of Romance of the Three Kingdoms was not high, Journey to the West was too messy, Water Margin was indecent, and the general layout of Dream of the Red Chamber was too short. And as for The Plum in the Golden Vase, there was simply nothing worth talking about.

Professor Cheng even mocked the author of The Plum in the Golden Vase for being ungrounded and unrealistic. Though born into a family of scholars, he chose to write about the common folks in the marketplace with their vulgar way of life. Unlike the Water Margin, it was not popularized at all… To speak bluntly, he did not fancy any novel at all. Anything that could catch his eye had to be a history paper.

However, the stories might go wrong, but the underlying principles would not. At least it was possible to think of things like the dead leaving behind plans to kill the living.

Sui Xiong did not wish to become teaching material at the hands of a dead person. So his first judgment was not to act according to the plan of the God of Conspiracy. He even… could be considered as doing the exact opposite to the plan of the God of Conspiracy.

However, he rethought it. Could he truly act against this plan?

Could this be another trap set up for him by the God of Conspiracy?

Then he remembered a comic book that he had read when he was in middle school. The name of that comic was The Ravages of Time. The characters in the story were especially fond of playing tricks. They often had thoughts like, “I figured out what you were thinking,””I figured out that you have figured out what I was thinking,””I figured out that you figured out that I figured out what you were thinking…” All these continued in a vicious cycle. All kinds of ways of thinking, all sorts of schemes and all types of battles of wits… simply painful.

Although all of these things in the story pained him and bored him, if translated it into reality, it was possible that such thoughts of his were also within others’ train of thought!

When he thought of this, he could not help but start to worry again.

What should he do?

Aye… What a dilemma!

Just as he was racking his brains with a distressed expression, he felt a sudden jolt in his heart. His noumenon, in his God Kingdom, teleported itself instantly and arrived at the edge of his God Kingdom.

A shadow appeared in the twinkling of an eye and stopped somewhere not too far from the Sanctuary of his God Kingdom. This shadow then transformed into the figure of the God of Conspiracy.

At that moment, his figure was completely wrapped in black vines, only his head was still exposed. His entire being became all the more void of life, without even a trace of vitality.

“My God Kingdom has collapsed,” he said in a calm voice. “I have gathered the last of my Divine Power and stuck it out till I reached here. I have come here to show you how I died.

Sui Xiong made no reply.

The God of Conspiracy continued to say, “I have already covered and blocked out all prying eyes of the gods in this area. Even if I die, this obstruction will not disappear for the time being. So you need not worry that this information will fall into the hands of others.

“As for the condition that I mentioned, you may choose to do it or not. In short, everything is really up to you. A dying man always speaks kindly in the presence of death. I’m about to die, so I can’t be bothered to be calculative about anything or to bargain with you any further.”

With that, he closed his eyes. The aura of death around him grew even heavier.

The black vines, as though they had a life of their own, continued to spread upward. It was clear that the God of Conspiracy was exerting the last of his Divine Power in an effort to resist, but those black vines were continuously eroding and transforming his power. Like a big cup of black ink being poured into a basin of water, his Divine Power was continuously being polluted.

Sui Xiong kept his eyes on the vines. When he looked at them carefully, he found that they did not have an actual form. They were just some subtle and messy light. From these vine-like rays of light, Sui Xiong could not see any form of rules and logic. There was only infinite chaos and malicious intent that made him feel somewhat suffocated.

Chaos, evil, death, damage, destruction…

Just by looking at these vines, he sensed deep danger. It was just like a man who was looking at the muzzle of a loaded gun that was pointed right at him.

It was common sense to know that this gun would not be able to shoot a fatal bullet if the trigger was not pulled. But who would not be afraid when held at gunpoint?

“Why don’t you cut off this Divine Power?” Sui Xiong asked.

“I can’t,” the God of Conspiracy said. Then, his voice became very low. “When it’s time for you to truly fight ‘Chaos,’ you must pay attention. Don’t ever think you can escape erosion by such methods of ‘cutting off contact.’ I didn’t even dare to use my Divine Power to send you a message. I was afraid that this aura would penetrate my Divine Power and start eroding yours…”

That being said, he suddenly paused. Then the deadly aura around his entire being instantly reached the maximum.

It was clear that he still wanted to continue with his struggle. The next instant, his Divine Power exploded so violently that it seemed like the black vines were forced to be pulled slightly apart.

However, without even giving Sui Xiong the time to react, those black vines suddenly tightened their reins. Within a split second, they completely wrapped the God of Conspiracy within them.

Not only that, they kept tightening, went on tightening and continued tightening.

And then they finally completely wrapped around him and became a ball of black mass that was just like pure, black ink.

This ball of black was the last trace of that being who was once known as the God of Conspiracy.

Meanwhile, within the Pantheon temple, the God of Conspiracy, who had not long ago seemed to have fallen asleep with head hung low, completely collapsed in his seat. Then he disappeared without a trace.