Deceitful Game

Chapter 148 3 Chips, 3 Scenarios

The weight of time was easily crushed by Mingpo, no more effort than crushing a calcium milk biscuit.

Crimson flames erupted from the time-honored token, roaring and filling the entire world in Mingbo's field of vision.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself lying on a high-speed train.

The business class chair had been pulled back flat, the sunshade had been pulled down, and Mingpo was covered with a thin blanket. The faint sounds of clattering keyboards and a short video playing on speaker could still be heard.

He is still alive.

Mingpo threw back the thin blanket and picked up the phone she was holding.

He unlocked the app, and a list of ongoing events automatically popped up.

Train G1415 runs from Shanghai South Station to Wuhan Station.

It's 12:00 noon, and we'll arrive at our destination in about two hours.

...What am I doing in Wuhan?

Mingpo frowned slightly.

In his memory, he had never been to this city. Even looking at his schedule on his phone, he still couldn't recall this memory. To avoid introducing too many variables into the past, Mingpo didn't do anything else and simply ended the manifestation.

Red flames once again swept across the world, scorching away the past.

Mingbo remained standing in the same spot, before the "Dionysian Shrine".

So far, all Mingpo has done is "unlock his phone and glance at the time".

Even if he ceases to manifest, his past self would only feel as if he had just woken up and was checking if he was almost at his destination. This would be virtually negligible in terms of changing history.

Mingpo glanced at her phone, which couldn't connect to the internet, and checked the time of the day.

Naturally... it doesn't quite match the countdown on the wall.

The countdown has been going on for four days, but the time that Mingbo is currently seeing is already March 11, 2026.

明珀还记得，自己从第一个游戏里面出来的时候，他眼睁睁看着时间从「2023年5月20日」变成了「2026年3月4日」。

After that, "The God of No Face Studio" vanished into thin air.

But now, time has changed again.

Mingpo has even gotten somewhat used to it.

Time changed silently without anyone noticing. It wasn't the kind of change where "the changes of the past affected the present," but rather days, months... or even years simply disappeared out of thin air, yet reality remained largely unchanged.

It's like... some "past" years have been burned away.

The only relatively stable thing was the countdown timer on the wall in Mingpo's house.

至少在明珀没有进入游戏的时候，它的计数从来都没有发生过跳跃和回溯。甚至就在「2023年5月20日」变成「2026年3月4日」的那一天，倒计时都没有一丝一毫的变化。

"Let me go back to March 1, 2026, at noon."

Mingper reiterated.

This time was very close to "March 4th," the last time he remembered.

He then crushed the chip with a slight squeeze of his right hand.

But nothing happened.

It was as if that chip was just a fragile piece of pastry.

Mingpo raised an eyebrow slightly.

He took out another piece of Time Red Copper and whispered, "[Let me return to February 1, 2026, at noon]." This time, Mingbo couldn't even crush it!

"……interesting."

Instead of being annoyed or confused, his eyes lit up.

Three chips, but they produced three completely different effects.

This experiment provided Mingpo with a great deal of information.

The fact that the chips leading to "February 1st" are so hard to break means that the request cannot be fulfilled.

The way to go back to the past is to "transfer the memories to your past self." If "your current self" cannot bear the "memories," it means that your past self is already dead.

As for the chip that was used but didn't work... it's probably because at that time, I had already been chosen as the deceiver. And during that period, I was in the game of deception.

The effects of time on charlatans are delayed.

Just as he can go back in time to try to save Ai Shiping who was hit by a car, the Red Queen can also go back in time to rewrite the ending and prevent the explosion from happening. Gao Song can also go back in time to kill his own brother, and the Witches' Gathering can go back in time to create more ancient deceivers.

But there are some things that are impossible to do.

For example, going back in time to try to revive teammates who have died in the game of deception; or like "Raccoon" in a beginner game, transmitting memories to the self who participated in the game before.

These changes would violate some kind of "taboo," preventing them from taking effect "in the present moment." This manifests as the fact that using chips would result in "nothing happening."

But in reality, the time-travel mechanism has already taken effect, only... it took effect in the "future." After this round of world collapse, he can travel to March 1st in the future to regain his "past life memories."

However, although Mingpo has grasped some of the rules through observation, he still doesn't fully understand which specific situations are effective, which are not, and why they are or are not.

Experienced deception organizations might have more knowledge of this, but they are essentially "freelancers," so they can only rely on intelligence trading or figure it out on their own.

Mymper's current understanding is...

Some things, once they happen, become "anchored".

The most important of these is the outcome of the deceptive game.

Because if this change is invalid, then when someone fails to be promoted and becomes the host, other charlatans within the organization can be sent back in time to prevent the other person from participating in the promotion.

In this case, it's equivalent to "loading a save file".

That would give you countless opportunities to keep trying for promotion. And promotion wouldn't be so risky then.

Therefore, there is only one possibility—that the host must pass their own promotion ceremony by signing a contract with a fraudster to save themselves. That's why so many hosts are unable to be resurrected.

In other words, no amount of time-related leverage can directly save the host.

As for the specific "anchoring rules," Mingpu has not yet figured them out.

It could be related to the deceptive game itself, the death of the deceiver, or the power of time. From this perspective, some people can be resurrected, while others cannot… perhaps it also relates to whether their own power has been stripped away. But at least two things are certain.

First, all charlatans live on the same timeline; they all live in the "present."

The timeline has been altered, so almost everyone's "past" has been changed. Just like myself in this world, who, despite it being New Year's Day, is going on a long trip to a place I've never been before...

That was indeed something that "myself" in this timeline experienced.

But it wasn't something that happened in "Mingbo's" memories...

Because in 2023, Ai Shiping was still alive.

In other words...

If all the deceivers were to try to go back to the past some time after their birth, they would find that the past they remember is almost entirely different from the past they actually see.

This is probably why those long-standing charlatans no longer care much about the "past".

Because the past they were familiar with had long been altered by other deceivers, perhaps even when they were still weak, it had already been changed beyond recognition.

The deceivers are independent of the timeline, so they are unaware of this alteration.

Just like... Mingpo didn't know when "The God of No Face Studio" disappeared.