Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 2 Whispering Night
"Before you hear it, it knows you."

"It has woven you before you accept it."

"Are you the manipulator or the manipulated?"

"You belong to me."

"You have become a weaver."

Siming returned to the hotel exhausted, his body hollowed out. Even a simple wash seemed unnecessary. The lights of the casino, the clinking of chips, the gamblers' faces, either ecstatic or desperate... these memories flashed through his mind, but he had no mind to recall them.

He casually took off his coat and collapsed onto the damp, slightly moldy hotel bed. The ceiling above him was like a cracked skin, emitting a strange, damp smell. Siming had never felt so tired before, not even when he had gambled all night and counted cards until dawn.

——It was a kind of fatigue that felt like one’s rationality was being drained away.

His mind became dull, his body felt heavy, as if the world was slipping away. Siming tried to close his eyes and rest, but the moment he did, the world collapsed.

He dreamed of it.

——It was waiting for him.

In his dream, he stood above the boundless void, the darkness around him like flowing ink, constantly swirling, swallowing, and expanding. There was no up or down, no time, no boundaries, only an indescribable existence.

It is the One with a Thousand Faces.

It was everywhere, both the void itself and the eyes gazing into the void. It had no fixed form, sometimes appearing as countless intertwined faces, sometimes a single golden pupil gazing at him, and sometimes as countless spreading tentacles, intertwining and weaving together like a loom, weaving the threads of an unknowable fate.

"Real name..."

Whispers came from all directions, unrecognizable, non-human language murmurs squirming in his ears, as if some strange creature was drilling into his consciousness.

"Truth and lies...the one who weaves fate with a thousand faces."

——That was the real name that the strange uncle whispered to him at the end.

Sima Ming trembled.

In the casino, he could deceive, manipulate, and disguise himself. He could face gangsters, gamblers who lived on the edge of life, and remain calm in the face of any opponent. But at this moment, he felt a pure, incomprehensible fear.

"escape!"

He wanted to escape.

But there is no exit in the dream - because every inch of the dream is it.

He ran madly, running towards the directionless distance, but no matter what, he always stood still. In the darkness, countless intertwined faces slowly opened their mouths and they were laughing.

They were whispering, murmuring a language he could not understand. The sound was like torn wind, or whispering ghosts, circling in his ears, eroding his consciousness, and making his sanity recede like the tide.

"You already know my real name."

"You already belong to me."

Siming suddenly opened his eyes, sweat soaked his clothes, but even his breathing became heavy.

The room was eerily quiet, as if the air was frozen.

But he soon realized that he was not alone.

——That card was floating quietly in the air.

It was watching him.

It was waiting for him.

Siming felt his throat dry. He wanted to ignore it, he wanted to disregard it, but some unknown attraction prevented him from looking away.

He couldn't even control his lips. His consciousness seemed to be driven by an external force. He heard himself slowly reciting the whispers in his dream:
"The One with a Thousand Faces who weaves fate."

In an instant, the card burst into a strange light, like countless intertwined silk threads weaving in the air, as if performing some irreversible ritual.

——The mysterious binding is completed.

Then, the pain came.

The depths of Siming's brain seemed to be washed by countless burning information, his nerves seemed to be injected with hot magma, his five senses collapsed, and his soul seemed to be pulled in all directions by countless threads.

He couldn't shout, he couldn't even make a sound.

He could only toss and turn in bed, writhing in agony like a beast on fire. His nails dug into the sheets, his mind seemed to be shattering, and within that fragmented consciousness, endless whispers flooded into his mind.

"Weaving fate..."

"Do you want to deceive it, or obey it?"

"Truth and lies are but two sides of fate..."

"I'm waiting for you..."

His mind was torn apart, his sanity was collapsing, and he seemed to be pushed deeper into the dream - but there was no light, no exit, only the whispers that kept echoing.

How much time had passed? Siming didn't know.

He only knew that when the clock on the wall showed four in the morning, his consciousness finally slowly returned.

The pain subsided, but the whispering did not disappear.

It still echoes in my ears, like a shadow following me.

Siming slowly sat up from the bed, his forehead covered with sweat and his heart beating violently, but he knew very well that he had been "bound".

The One with a Thousand Faces, it has become his secret and a part of him.

But what was even more terrifying was... he couldn't understand the whispers.

What were they saying? What did they want from him? Where on earth had they come from?

——They were bewitching him, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.

Siming covered his forehead, took a deep breath, and tried to calm himself down.

He couldn't get rid of these whispers; they would follow him everywhere.

He realized that he could no longer return to his previous peaceful life.

His game in the casino is no longer just a gamble, but a gamble about fate and reason.

——He has now become the "Weaver of Destiny".

But the question is... who is the banker in this gambling game?
"You think you're a weaver?"

"Or are you just a part of the weaving?"

"Destiny is guiding you, but perhaps not in the direction you expect."

"A door doesn't appear for no reason unless it's waiting for someone."

"Do you think you're on the run, or are you just following the trajectory set by fate?"

When Siming stepped into the casino again, it was already six or seven in the afternoon, which was his "working time" every day.

The casino is still brightly lit, chips are flying, and the sounds of glasses clinking can be heard one after another. This place will never fall into darkness, and will never fall into silence.

But today, something was wrong.

He could feel someone staring at him.

There were more than one pair of eyes, prying from all directions like a spider web, densely entwined around him, revealing a hint of suppressed aggression. They weren't really "staring" at him, but pretended to be nonchalant, lowering their heads to drink, play cards, or chat with the people around them, but Siming knew clearly that their attention was always on him.

Casino owner? Impossible. Siming had always been very measured and wouldn't go overboard in the casino. He knew the rules and wouldn't mess with the big shots.

So what are these people...looking at me?
Siming stood in the middle of the gambling hall, still looking nonchalant on the surface, but in his heart he was rapidly calculating and analyzing the situation.

“…No matter who it is, they are definitely coming for me.”

He walked towards the restaurant as if nothing had happened and ordered a burger to eat casually, but he kept observing those people out of the corner of his eye. Sure enough, they began to "pass by" his seat one after another, sitting nearby, seemingly chatting and drinking casually, but their eyes revealed an unconcealed greed.

——That was the look of a hunter staring at his prey.

Siming took a bite of the hamburger and his heartbeat quickened slightly.

The situation is not good, we have to run.

Siming quickly swallowed his burger, his body reacting faster than his brain. He stood up suddenly and walked towards the exit with a nonchalant look, but the people who were staring at him also stood up.

They started to take action.

Damn... who are these guys? Debt collectors? Impossible, he never owes money. Thugs hired by the casino? That doesn't seem likely either.

Siming didn't have time to think. His instincts led him to quickly choose a familiar escape route. He weaved around the crowd, weaving between the gambling tables, taking advantage of the chaos in the casino to escape sight, repeatedly using obstacles to shield himself.

As he went around in circles, he discovered something even more wrong—

Those guys weren't really thrown off.

They seemed to have anticipated Siming's movements long ago, and were even "guiding" him to escape in a certain direction.

“…This is a trap.”

Siming's hair stood on end as he realized that he was being driven towards an unknown destination, and he didn't even know the other party's purpose.

——He must find a way to get rid of it.

But as he was thinking, a whisper came into his mind.

"Are you calling upon fate's favor?"

"Why don't you summon me and solve all your troubles?"

Siming's breathing stopped instantly.

——It’s this.

The whispers in his dreams, the whispers that tormented him last night, the owner of that card - the One with a Thousand Faces.

It was bewitching him.

It knew that Sima Ming was in crisis, it was testing him, it was waiting for him to summon it.

"What a joke..." Siming cursed under his breath. He would never summon it. How terrifying it was in his dream. He instinctively knew that if he really summoned it, he would be the one to die, not his pursuer.

But at the same time, fate's favor seemed to have really arrived.

When Sima Ming turned a corner and was about to continue looking for a new escape route——

Mutations occur.

A young girl suddenly appeared before him. She was wearing a black windbreaker with a hood, her long silver hair half covering her face. Her eyes were cold and sharp, as if they could penetrate Siming's soul.

"..."

Siming was stunned, but before he could say anything, the girl grabbed his wrist and pulled it hard.

"Come with me."

Her strength was surprisingly great, and Siming barely had time to react before she dragged him away and started running wildly. His first reaction was to break free, but when he looked up, he found—

He originally remembered that there should be an extra door at the end of the dead end.

A strange door suspended in mid-air.

It was not embedded in the wall, but floating, half open, half closed. Distorted words were engraved on the door frame, and black mist overflowed from the door, like a crack from another world.

Sima Ming’s reason was frantically warning him - don’t go in!
But the pursuers had already turned the corner, and their footsteps were approaching rapidly.

"What the hell are you—"

Before Siming could finish his words, the girl suddenly exerted force and threw him directly into the door!

The world turned upside down in an instant.

Siming felt as if he was swallowed into a huge stomach. The space around him kept distorting, light and shadows intertwined, and there was a low roar in his ears, as if the world was folding on itself.

The next second, he fell heavily onto a wooden floor.

He blinked and found himself lying in front of a table. The scene around him stunned him for a moment -

This is a bar.

The dim chandelier swayed, and the air was filled with a faint smell of alcohol. Various bottles of wine were placed behind the bar, and next to the bar, a man who looked like a bartender was wiping the glasses. He didn't even look at Siming, as if he didn't care at all that someone had just been thrown in.

The girl stood opposite him, with her arms folded across her chest, looking at him coldly.

"Who are you?" Siming asked with a frown.

The girl didn't answer, but raised her hand and pointed at the wall of the bar.

Siming looked in the direction she pointed, and the next second, his pupils shrank slightly.

——On that wall, there are countless cards hanging.

Some cards had flames burning on their edges, some had a blue glow on their surfaces, and one card even had an eye slowly opening in the center.

What shocked him even more was that his pocket suddenly felt hot.

——He looked down and saw that the card belonging to the Thousand Faces Man was trembling slightly.

"Welcome to the world of 'Gate'."

The girl spoke slowly, her voice carrying a hint of meaning that Siming could not understand.

"On the other side of the door, hunter or prey, which one do you choose?"

"Do you think you are a hunted target, or a person orchestrated by fate?"

Before Siming could recover from his shock, the door behind him was suddenly smashed open. The violent impact made the entire bar tremble slightly.

Three men rushed in through the door. They were wearing strange long clothes, which were neatly cut but had hidden dark patterns on them. Each of them wore a badge-like object on his chest, engraved with a twisted door symbol, like some kind of identity mark.

Sima Ming recognized them immediately——

They were the same guys who were staring at him in the casino before!
They were coming to see him.

The leading man had sharp eyes, filled with lingering anger and impatience. His gaze quickly locked onto the silver-haired girl, Leng Ji, standing opposite Siming.

"Miss Leng Ji," the man said through gritted teeth, his voice filled with suppressed anger, "This rookie belongs to us. Please don't interfere."

Leng Ji... ?
Siming frowned slightly. It was the first time he heard this name, but he knew that the silver-haired girl in front of him was not an ordinary person.

The silver-haired girl Leng Ji raised the corner of her mouth, revealing a sarcastic smile, as if she didn't take these three people seriously at all.

"Whether I intervene or not depends on my mood." She said lightly, with a hint of teasing in her eyes.

She slowly approached the bar, her elbows casually resting on the wooden surface. She wasn't nervous at all, even with a hint of laziness. "But unfortunately, I've already intervened."

She raised her chin and stared coldly at the three people opposite her. "What can you do to me? - Mr. Card Hunter?"

Card Hunter?
Siming's thoughts were churning rapidly. He had never heard of this term before, but judging from the tone of the conversation, these guys should be some kind of people who specialize in hunting card holders?
The man's face became even gloomier, his fingers clenched into fists, veins bulging slightly, and he was obviously enraged by Leng Ji.

"court death."

Amidst the surge of rage, the man's movements were exceptionally precise. He flicked his finger, and a card with a black edge flew out, spinning in the air.

The card burned in mid-air, and the surrounding air suddenly twisted, as if an indescribable pressure was descending.

Siming's pupils shrank slightly——

He saw reality being torn apart.

The card transformed into a burning crack, and a strong smell of blood instantly spread out, like malice seeping out from the abyss.

"The messenger of disaster—"

The man called out in a low voice, "Teach them a lesson!"

The next second, a monster emerged from the crack.

It has arrived.

Siming witnessed the incredible scene, and his reason instantly sounded the alarm.

——A tall monster with a sheep's head and a human body slowly walked out of the flames.

Its skin was covered with charred cracks, iron chains were wrapped around its horns, and in its hands was a steel whip burning with scarlet flames. A dark red light flowed in its eye sockets, as if it was staring at the blood and death of this world.

That is not human existence.

Its aura is full of distortion, destruction, and bloodthirsty madness. It is not just a monster, but a being behind a door.

Siming felt his scalp tingling, he finally understood that cards were not just "games" or "gambling tools", they were real weapons, keys that could tear apart reality and summon things beyond the mundane!

"This guy... is summoning demons from Hell?!"

The man gave the order without hesitation -

"Kill them."

The burning steel whip whizzed down, aiming directly at Leng Ji.

Siming's heart skipped a beat - the attack of that thing was simply not something humans could withstand!

But Leng Ji showed no fear at all, she just raised her finger slightly.

--Snapped!

A strange luster appeared at her fingertips, and pieces of lenses appeared in the air, like an invisible shield.

The steel whip instantly shattered the lenses, but those lenses did not disappear. Instead, they shot towards the sheep-headed monster and the three men at an even faster speed, like shattered bullets!

The three card hunters dodged quickly, but the moment they landed, their pupils suddenly constricted—

In front of them stands "themselves".

——Three identical people stood there quietly.

"Mirror demon?"

The leading man's voice finally revealed shock and uneasiness.

Leng Ji sneered, "Yes, Mirror Monster."

Her fingertips moved lightly again, "Alright, Mirror Monster, treat them well."

Three mirror images shimmered in the air, slowly twisting their shapes before finally condensing into three humanoid creatures that looked like they were carved out of glass.

Their bodies are made up of broken mirrors, and each piece of mirror reflects not reality, but a bottomless void.

They brandished sharp mirror fragments and approached the card hunter like hunters.

——The goat-headed monster was torn apart first.

It waved its steel whip in an attempt to fight back, but the mirror monster's body completely ignored physical attacks. The flaming whip hit the mirror surface, only creating ripples. The next second, the mirror monster's arms extended like tentacles, instantly tearing the sheep-headed monster into pieces.

They have no mouths, no voices, and their movements are extremely precise, like the cold and indifferent god of death.

The three card hunters finally showed real fear. They retreated repeatedly, breathing rapidly.

"Damn it... retreat!"

They quickly retreated towards the door. The leading man looked back, his face gloomy, and said in a hoarse voice:

"We'll see."

Then they rushed through the door and disappeared.

The next second, the door slowly closed and disappeared into the air.

The battle is over.

The bar returned to silence, as if everything that had just happened had never happened.

The bartender was still cleaning the glasses, not even glancing at the fight, as if it was all just a part of daily life.

Leng Ji stretched slightly, glanced at Siming, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Welcome to the world of doors, rookie."

Siming took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

He slowly looked at Leng Ji and asked in a low and vigilant voice -

"...The world of doors?"

Leng Ji smiled slightly, looking at the cards hanging on the walls of the bar, and whispered meaningfully in his voice.

"Yeah, did you think you were gambling with chips before?"

"No... From the moment you step into the casino, you are gambling with your fate."

(End of this chapter)