Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 560 Town of Stars
When the world is painted with color, people lose their shadows.

And the shadow began to have life.

—From *The Record of Dimensional Descending: The Stars*

Late at night.

At the temporary encampment outside the town, the flickering firelight cast irregular shadows on the broken walls.

The wind blew across the half-collapsed eaves, stirring up fine sand and making a low whistling sound in the night.

Inside the room, Celian lay on the bed, breathing softly, occasionally frowning, seemingly still fighting in her dream.

Zhuang Yege sat cross-legged against the wall, his spiritual energy flowing through his fingertips, while Yu Weiwei curled up in the corner of the blanket like a cat.

Only Si Ming remained awake. The firelight reflected on his face, casting a flickering shadow.

He slowly took something out of his backpack: a metal ball.

The ball was about the size of a fist, with a delicate sheen flowing across its surface, like liquid mercury, or like some kind of life that could breathe at any moment.

“This thing,” he said, placing the metal ball in his palm.

"It was given to me by Xu Jinxiao. It can simulate any kind of life form."

A soft sound came from the corner of the wall.

Natasha leaned against the wooden crate, her silver hair loose, her expression weary.

Her heterochromatic eyes lit up in the firelight, and she said lazily, "Sounds like a scam."

Si Ming smiled and said, "I'm quite comfortable using deceptive things."

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "So, what do you plan to do with it? Use it as a decoy? Or as a bomb?"

Si Ming twirled the metal ball in his hand, and the surface of the ball trembled slightly, reflecting the firelight behind them. The light looked like a faintly visible smiling face.

“If Miranda still has any trump cards,” he whispered, “we can only rely on ‘lies’ to deceive ‘the gods’.”

Natasha remained silent for a moment, the firelight casting a cold glow on her face.

"You really intend to use this to deal with them?"

Si Ming gently stroked the metal ball, speaking as if to himself: "I don't know, but I can't see Xu Jinxiao clearly, so I dare not try rashly. If necessary, I can only take a gamble."

Natasha whistled, "I admire your betting skills."

She turned her head to look at him, a smile playing on her lips, "He really is a crazy gambler."

Si Ming shook his head with a smile, "A madman? You're almost the same."

“Me?” Natasha scoffed. “I’m only betting that my hand won’t shake when I fire the gun.”

He looked up at her, the firelight dancing in his dark pupils.

"So, I need your sniper."

Natasha was taken aback. "Godslayer Sniper? You want me to summon that being?"

Si Ming nodded.

"It can hide outside of dimensions, and your sniping can instantly evaporate the enemy's disaster zone. I think they will definitely be wary of you coming again."

Natasha leaned against the wall, her eyes gradually turning cold.

"You want to use a fake life to lure the true god, don't you?"

Si Ming smiled slightly. "If necessary, I will gamble; even a god can be deceived once."

Neither of them spoke anymore.

The flames burned quietly, occasionally crackling with a "pop".

The night wind blew in through the cracks in the window, carrying sand and the salty, sweet smell of the distant foggy sea.

Natasha lowered her eyes, her silvery eyelashes shimmering in the dim light.

"The town is always quietest before dawn."

Si Ming said in a low voice, his tone as indifferent as a sigh.

The metal ball spun slightly in his palm, like a heartbeat.

The wind whistled past the flames, the firelight flickered, and the room fell silent once more.

The darkness before dawn is slowly giving way to color.

The fog before dawn carries a layer of pinkish-white light.

As the first rays of light pierced through the clouds and shone into Wangchuan Town, Si Ming and his companions prepared to set off.

Natasha stayed at the camp to rest, her silver hair falling over her shoulders, her breathing shallow.

Meanwhile, Si Ming, Serian, Zhuang Yege, and Yu Weiwei embarked on a journey to find the Devouring Thief Altar.

The air was eerily quiet, as if the whole world was holding its breath.

As she walked out of the town, Celian suddenly stopped.

She frowned. "...This place wasn't like this yesterday, was it?"

Si Ming looked up. The town of Wangchuan before him had completely changed.

The ruined town from last night looks as if it has been repainted.

The houses on the left still have gray tiles and white walls, while the shops on the right have thick, dark lines, as if outlined with a brush, and the characters on the windows and doors are crooked handwriting.

"Special offer, buy one get one free!" Further away, the entire street was painted in black and white.
Four-panel comics are pasted on the wall: "Yesterday's Battlefield," "Today's Dream," "Beware of Accidental Discharge"...

Even the wind that moves seems to have been painted.

Selene muttered to herself, "This dungeon... suddenly changed its style?"

Zhuang Yege walked to a black and white wall, touched it lightly with her fingertips, and ripples spread across the surface.

It felt like touching a puddle of water. "It's not an illusion," he said, frowning.
“This… is like a kind of pollution.” Yu Weiwei leaned against him, staring at the portrait on the wall. The person in the painting was frozen in a smile, but then blinked slightly in the next second.

She gasped. "It's moving...?"

Si Ming remained silent for a moment, then took out the map left by Roland from his bosom and spread it out in his hand. The old paper gleamed with grayish-white patterns under the light.

“Only two of the Seven Souls Altars remain,” he said, pointing to the markers, “the Thief-Swallowing Altar and the Stinking Lung Altar. The one closest to here is the Thief-Swallowing Altar.”

Selene shook her hand. "At least we have some direction. It's better than staying in this comic book world."

Si Ming nodded. "Observe carefully... this town is not normal."

They walked along the stone street.

The footsteps echoed strangely on the ground.

Sometimes it's "ta, ta, ta," but sometimes it turns into "dong dong dong," like someone is making a sound effect outside the drawing.

The streets were covered with "paintings".

Those “paintings” look like colorful posters, but upon closer inspection, you can tell that each one is a human figure.

Some people cried, some screamed, and some reached out for help.

They were all flattened into flat surfaces, as if they were stuck to the walls, the ground, and the air by an invisible force.

A breeze blew by, and their sleeves swayed slightly, as if they were still alive.

Selene muttered a curse under her breath, "...Is this the rule being revealed? Or a bug?"

Yu Weiwei couldn't resist moving closer. "Don't touch it!" Zhuang Yege shouted sharply. But her fingertips had already touched the edge of the "painting." The image suddenly "blinked." It was a woman's face, and the smile in the painting suddenly split open, the corners of her mouth stretching from her ears to her chin. Laughter came from the painting, "Hehe...hehehe," she suddenly stepped back, the entire wall trembled, and countless "figures in the painting" turned their heads at the same time, all smiling at them.

The laughter was so synchronized it was almost eerie.

Selene brandished her blood-red claws. "I knew it wouldn't be smooth sailing."

Yu Weiwei suddenly exclaimed, "Our shadows!" The four of them lowered their heads in unison.

The shadow beneath my feet is no longer black.

The shadows shimmered with flowing colors, red, blue, green, and purple intertwining between their outlines.

And it twitched gently. As if it were alive.

Zhuang Yege's expression changed. "Step back!" In the next instant, a burst of colorful light shot out from Si Ming's shadow, as sharp as a knife.

The light swept across the ground, carving a smooth cut into the bluestone slab.

“What is that?!” Celian exclaimed.

Before they could react, the "colorful posters" on both sides shook simultaneously, and the shadows stuck in the air peeled off, turning into countless balls of colorful light that rushed towards them.

Si Ming cursed under his breath: "The dungeon rules have changed?!"

He didn't have time to think, he could only shout, "Run!"

They ran wildly down the street.

The colorful shadow followed behind, and wherever it passed, houses turned into flat surfaces, and trees lost their three-dimensionality, as if a layer of the world had been cut off by scissors.

Zhuang Yege unleashed his ghostly energy, summoning ghostly servants to protect the formation. Black mist rose, and dozens of ghostly phantoms formed a wall.

The next second, a colorful shadow swept by, and all the ghost servants were "flattened" and turned into thin paper shadows stuck to the ground, leaving only empty eyes.

Yu Weiwei cried out in terror, "This is not an illusion—it is really devouring space!"

Si Ming gritted his teeth: "Get out of the way! Find a bright place!"

He looked up and saw a courtyard house in front of him. The courtyard was bright and sunny, with sunlight streaming down from the roof. That area was free of color pollution.

"Over there!" he pointed ahead. The four rushed into the courtyard house. Sunlight fell on the ground, and Caiying stopped outside the door. A burst of rapid breathing followed.

Selene leaned against the wall, her heart pounding. "Phew... I really should have brought sunglasses."

Zhuang Yege wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "That's not a ghost...it looks like a rule entity from a dungeon."

The God of Fate looked up at the sky.

The clouds in the sky are churning.

The color changed from gray to red, and then to a dazzling blue.

A smiling face flashed across the depths of the sky, gentle, exaggerated, and eerie.

The smile was like that of an artist from some other world who had finally noticed them.

Umbrella Corporation - Temporary Location

The heavy protective curtains fell, plunging the laboratory into dim light.

A row of surveillance screens arranged in an arc illuminates every eerie corner of the town.

The images flickered with abnormal colors: buildings were distorted, and the shadows of people no longer connected to the ground.

Some of the shadows even fell off the wall.
He made exaggerated gestures in a comical manner.

A researcher wearing goggles stood in front of the control panel, his voice trembling as he tried to control the rhythm of his polite speech:

"Mother Goddess, the dimensional layer within the town has expanded abnormally. Director Starry Sky seems to have made contact with the target."

After he finished speaking, he barely dared to look up.

Miranda stood behind him.

Her white coat shimmered with a faint green hue in the laboratory light, like mycelium breathing.

She didn't respond immediately, but just stared at the main screen.

In the scene, the sky above Wangchuan Town is slowly rotating.

The colors overlap, with red, blue, purple, and green spreading out layer by layer, forming a flowing "sky oil painting".

That hue doesn't belong to any pigment; it seems to be absorbing light.

The researchers dared not utter another word.

Finally, Miranda raised her hand.

She held a slightly blooming rose in her palm. The petals were not blood red, but grayish-white, and tiny spores of light seeped from the center of the flower.

“The stars are shining brightly…” she murmured, as if whispering a prayer.

"He finally couldn't hold back anymore." There was no surprise in her tone, only a faint weariness.

The rose on her fingertip slowly unfurled, revealing a thin thread within the petals—a mycelium, or perhaps a tendril, that slowly undulated along her finger bone.

Miranda turned her gaze to the researcher. “Keep an eye on him,” she said coldly.

"Don't interfere. Now is his time to hunt."

“Yes, Mother Goddess,” the researcher replied almost in a low voice.

She turned and walked toward the strategic projection in the center of the laboratory.

That was a dungeon map.

The markings on the altar shone like the pulse of a heart.

“Take advantage of this time,” her voice was low, yet carried an irresistible force.
"Advance the altar offensive." She reached out and lightly tapped a glowing spot on the map.
The "Stinky Lung Altar" flickers.

"The Taotie is the target."

She paused for a moment, a slight smile playing on her lips.

"The Lord of Destiny is just an extra reward."

She smiled gently, a smile so tender it was almost like that of the Virgin Mary.

"I hope your reports are all good news."

The air vibrated, and the streets lost their gravity.

The bluestone slabs floated up slowly, like bubbles in a comic strip.

Si Ming looked up and saw that the sky was no longer the sky.

It was a painting that was being "painted".

Red and blue intertwine to form a nebula, green and purple blend into an inky vortex.
All the colors swirled and converged in the sky, eventually forming a giant smiling face.

That smile was gentle, exaggerated, and childlike innocence, yet it revealed a high-dimensional mockery.

The wind stopped.

All sounds fell silent.

The lips of that smiling face slowly parted, and a soft, indistinct voice echoed in everyone's mind, "Welcome to my painting."

If all living beings were merely lines in a painting...
Is the person holding the brush also in someone else's painting?

—Preface to *Star Notes: Dimensional Reduction*

(End of this chapter)