Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 264 The Man Who Broke Through Time: The Real Tang Kejian
Time is silent, for it knows all.
Fate is silent because you have not yet understood yourself.

【Rule Butler - Secret Corpse No. 9】

Phase Two Combat Form – [Dual Law Overlap · Judgment Combustion State] – Activated!
Tang Kejian's voice no longer sounded like human speech, but rather like a cold, mechanical command used by some kind of mechanical civilization to pronounce a death sentence.

He hovered in the air, the Core of Rules within his chest throbbing violently, emitting a low-frequency roar like the resonance of an engine.

"Target: Selene."

"Behavioral frequency recording complete."

"Cross-validation of mental models is underway."

"Track editing is almost complete."

"Execution: Five-fold precision chain".

His words were devoid of warmth, like a gradually tightening woven net.

Eight metal nerve whips danced wildly in the air, each trailing a whole array of orbital lines, wrapped with dense runes, as if sealing the entire battlefield into some kind of computer-simulated tactical script.

Orbital line formation – not defense, not offense, but a high-dimensional “forced performance”.

As soon as Celian lunged forward, her claws drew a dark arc, but before she could get close, one of the nerve whips had already locked onto its target a second earlier.

boom!
She was struck hard in the left shoulder, the bones cracking with a "crack," and blood gushed out, splattering onto the collapsed floor.

She gritted her teeth, rolled, leaped, and charged forward again! But each change of direction and acceleration was precisely tracked by the system within 0.5 seconds!
It was as if Tang Kejian had rehearsed the next scene of the entire battlefield in advance; every step she took, every swing, every turn she made with gritted teeth seemed to have been written into the opponent's script.

"Damn it...!" Celian cursed under her breath, panting heavily with blood, and staggered back to stand beside Si Ming, blood still dripping from her shoulder, but her eyes still defiant.

“He… is too shrewd.” She gasped for breath. “It’s like… he saw my every move in advance.”

Si Ming's brows were also furrowed, and his face was deathly pale. His injuries were still throbbing, and his thoughts were as if they were being pressed into a furnace.

He tried to draw a "Cut" playing card to clear a path, but as soon as the card slipped through his fingers, it was identified by the system as a "Sixth Group Orbital Attack"—Tang Kejian countered it instantly, triggering a backlash that nearly shattered his palm.

“It wasn’t a prediction,” Si Ming murmured, his voice slightly hoarse but clear, “It was—a judgment.”

Selene turned her head, her gaze anxious:

"Then what do we do? How do we fight?"

Si Ming did not answer immediately. His gaze fell upon the deck of cards on his chest. The next moment, he slowly drew a card.

That card was completely different from the others.

Thicker.

Heavier.

Its surface is covered with a checkerboard pattern of gray and black, and the edges are carved with countless mirror cracks, as if each side leads to a different ruin.

In the center of the card, there is neither a person nor a god, but an infinite corridor that stretches straight into the darkness.

That was a card that almost no one dared to touch.

Because of its existence, no complete user has ever returned.

——【Card Number: No.781】

——【High-Tier World System (Relic Contract)】

——【Real Title: The Empty Corridor】

—【Empty Fame: Elostia, the King of Falsehood】

When Selene saw the card, her pupils contracted instantly.

"...Are you crazy?"

"You didn't even bind it! You didn't even finish reading the entire entry, did you?!"

"You don't know its side effects; it will—take everything away!"

Sima Ming did not respond.

He simply raised his left hand, his fingertips lightly slicing open, leaving a trail of blood on the mirrored surface of the card.

Blood beads seeped into the mirror, causing it to tremble slightly, as if hesitating or anticipating.

In the distance, a whisper, as if from the very end of the void, echoed—distant, hollow, carrying an abyssal inquiry with some inhuman logic:
"The king is now nameless, the corridor is about to open."

"who are you?"

"What do you want to do?"

"What makes you think this—has any meaning?"

Si Ming gently closed his eyes and murmured softly:
I have no answer.

"But he won't have it either."

boom! ! !
Cards Burn!

The gray-black card shattered under the infusion of blood, and the mirror passage suddenly expanded into a dark rift that stretched across the battlefield!

The entire battlefield reversed at that moment!
The original light was swallowed up.

The original rules have been reversed.

Gravity, time, causality, attack paths, and behavioral patterns—all become ineffective under the interference of the [Empty Corridor]!
It's as if the entire reality has been lifted up, inverted, and then folded back by an invisible hand!

Selene's body stiffened at that moment, and a look of astonishment appeared in her eyes.

She could feel that all the "track editing systems" behind Tang Kejian had instantly collapsed into an information collapse state!
All the "scripts" he had prepared in advance lost their time anchor at this moment!
What was originally an action that "foresaw the future" now—has no future to look forward to!
The world becomes a corridor made of infinite mirrors, where every step could be real or fake.

Tang Kejian's mechanical, deep voice rang out again, but it was noticeably delayed and fluctuating:
"Orbital anomaly... Time backtracking interference detection in progress..."

"A gap has appeared in the behavior prediction system..."

"Orbit execution rate... has dropped to 12%..."

The nerve whip on his back was no longer precise; it just lashed out instinctively!
The Core of Rules in his chest trembled like a drum, and energy began to leak out!
Si Ming slightly opened his eyes, his black hair disheveled in the fierce wind. He looked at Tang Kejian and whispered:

"Didn't you ask me—on what grounds?"

"It's very simple."

"I am not logic."

"I am—a gambler."

Beside him, Celian, her eyes burning, licked the blood from the corner of her mouth:

"And I am a madman."

"A madman, he's not following the proper path."

They stepped side by side into the depths of the now irregular corridor.

Go and meet the challenge.

Go and turn the tide.

go--

End of the "law".

The black and white chessboard spread rapidly across the entire world like a tide, its boundaries extending to infinity, as if reconstructing the battlefield from the very foundation of reality into a giant, ancient, silent chessboard.

Each chess piece distorts with a faint light, and the boundaries between them no longer seem to be solid, but rather windows leading to countless "possibilities".

The sky, on the other hand, was completely folded into a mirror-like loop.

In those mirrors, countless fragments of "the past that never happened," "the future that is unattainable," and "logical disorder" constantly flash:

Celian died on the very first strike, Si Ming was preemptively eliminated, and Tang Kejian remained forever in front of the dartboard, head bowed and smiling…

Everything "real" at this moment becomes a projection of "non-existence".

The entire battlefield was completely engulfed in a logic of "meaning deprivation" that was both extremely absurd and sophisticated.

—The Illusory Corridor unfolds!

Tang Kejian—no, Secret Relic No. 9 Rule Steward—stood quietly in the very center of the chessboard.

He didn't move.

He didn't speak.

His gears stopped, his voice system began to hop intermittently, the command chain was broken at the source of the instructions, and even the semantics began to distort.

The source of all his logic was struck by a series of questions falling from the void—

"who are you?"

"What do you want to do?"

What makes you think this is meaningful?

Tang Kejian subconsciously opened his mouth, wanting to state his "existence," his original definition:

“I… am the enforcer of the rules.”

boom--!
The chessboard flashed violently!

[First Rule | Meaning Deprivation]

[The self-description of identity is logically inconsistent]

[System Warning: Verification failed]

His speech processing froze for a moment, his thought process abruptly halted. He tried to reorganize his thoughts and restate his motivation:
“I want…a verdict.”

But before he could even utter the words, reality once again challenged him.

【Rule Two | Self-Erase】

[The intended goal lacks value-driven motivation and initial causality]

[Function exception exists]

Tang Kejian froze. He felt a strange, unmanageable state spreading through him.

—Confused.

The program cannot understand confusion, but the system can recognize it as a kind of "logical vacuum".

That was the scarcest thing on the battlefield.

That was the flaw.

At this time-

Si Ming spoke slowly, his voice low and deep, colder than any blade:

"Serian—start the surgery."

Selene revealed a fierce glint in her eyes, chuckled softly, and suddenly darted forward!

She had been preparing for this moment, her six blood-red wings retracting into sharp wind blades, ready to unleash their full power in the next instant!
In the twisted chessboard where black and white intertwine, she transforms into a streak of red meteor, blazing with unparalleled brilliance!
Her claws pierced through all the afterimages of the tracks, heading straight for Tang Kejian's exposed [Core of Rules], which was now completely unprotected!
At the same time, Si Ming's right hand flicked its five fingers, and five playing cards shot out from the air!

—Red Hearts Burning

——Cube Burst

—Plum Blossom·Split

—Spade·Erosion
The playing card traces four twisting arcs, precisely cutting in from four directions!
Click——! !

Selene's claws broke through the surface for the first time!

Tear through the protective shell and bombard the core!

Then——

All five cards hit at the same time!
Flames, explosions, cracking, erosion, and cutting converge at the core in an instant!
boom! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
The Core of the Rules—Shatter!
The entire chessboard seemed to emit a painful groan at that moment!
Tang Kejian—the deacon who once called himself the "God of Rules"—finally fell.

It wasn't that they were overwhelmed by military strength.

Rather, it was in a meaningless trial that the very foundation of "existence" was completely denied.

He was stripped of everything.

It's not death, but the complete loss of the logical authority of "self".

He is no longer the rule.

He is no longer Tang Kejian.

He is nothing.

System notifications came in droves, flashing in mid-air like an uncontrolled explosion of system logs:
System check

[The target individual's logical model has collapsed]

[Track drive chain failure]

[The alertness threshold has fallen below the adjudication value]

[Existing component: Abstract identifier → In progress]

[Naming Permissions → Revoke]

Current status: 'Anonymous Individual'

In those short five seconds.

This "Secret Remains No. 9," who once held a high position as a deacon and controlled the laws of the battlefield, has thus become a logically empty shell.

He is not dead.

He was simply identified by the system as "a logically invalid being".

His identification number has been reset to blank, the card binding identification code has been cleared, and the permission command has been reset to "Frozen".

He was no longer a butler, no longer Secret Corpse No. 9, and no longer any system character.

He is "empty".

And this is precisely the ultimate special effect granted by the [Illusory Corridor]:
You cannot maintain your "function" until you are deprived of your "belief".

Victory is not about killing, but about making the enemy forget why they exist.

As Si Ming gazed at the crumbling remains of Tang Kejian, he murmured softly:

"Sorry—you believe in the rules."

"But what I believe in is—nothingness."

"Om..."

A low hum rose from the depths of its core, as if a world were softly mourning its own end.

All the broken gears began to rotate in the opposite direction.

All remaining structures began to twist, disintegrate, deform, fold inward, and evaporate!
A system crash notification pops up:
[System failure detected]

[The attempt to stabilize the situation using the secret remains has failed.]

[Self-awareness cannot be verified]

[Track memory has been cleared]

[Execute final protection command: self-immolation]

"Retreat!" Si Ming roared, rushed over and picked up the almost exhausted Selian, then leaped up!

The chessboard cracked open beneath their feet!

The black and white world begins to melt away!
The [Illusory Corridor] closes automatically after the final judgment is completed!
Tang Kejian stood amidst the flames.

He didn't growl.

No struggle.

He simply raised his head slowly and looked at the mirrored reflection in the sky.

That was his last gaze.

Even though he no longer remembers who he is.

But he knew—his reflection had once been in that mirror.

Then--

boom! ! !
The entire body of the mysterious skeleton exploded with a deafening roar!

Metal parts, blood and flesh remains, system data, and card rules were instantly condensed into a mass of [named ash], which was silently swallowed into the end of the chessboard's void.

The battle is over.

The system did not indicate a victory.

Because this duel was never about winning or losing the game.

Rather, it is a game of "existence".

Si Ming knelt beside the embers, supporting the still-healing, heavily injured Selian with his back.

He coughed up blood, his vision blurred, his legs gave way, and he almost collapsed.

He stood up with difficulty, clinging to a single, unburnt playing card.

Just then, he heard the sound of bells.

It wasn't Tang Kejian's gear-like chimes.

It is not the illusionary clock of the King of Illusion.

Instead, it is—an ancient and mysterious bell.

"bite--……"

"bite--……"

Deep and resonant, it seemed to echo from the deepest well in the river of time.

As the bells rang, a figure slowly emerged from the molten ashes.

That person was no longer the mysterious corpse.

He is a human being.

He had long, gray hair, held a broken mirror, and wore a tattered old robe. His footsteps made a shrill sound, but felt weightless.

He smiled as he looked at Si Ming.

He nodded slightly.

He waved his hand.

The surrounding flames were still.

Dust storm—still.

Even Selene's chest heaved violently, and her breath seemed to freeze for a moment.

Si Ming was stunned.

He wanted to speak, but it was too late.

Because that person spoke first.

His voice was like the echo of a tolling bell, deep and gentle:
"You're here."

"The Chosen One".

"Time Traveler".

When all identities are stripped away, leaving only the will to exist, do you still know why you exist?

(End of this chapter)