I was a charlatan in India

Arti sat on the bed, then comfortably snuggled under the covers, watching Big Brother Tian talking to himself.

"You are destined to lose, but not to divinity, but to the believers."

Shenhe has completely understood this statement.

Because even as he was speaking, his consciousness began to drift into a state of confusion again.

The number of believers is indeed too large, exceeding the limits that human consciousness can bear.

Shenhe thought that he should send Arti back now, as he was in no condition to take care of the child.

In response to Shenhe's request, Xianghui's body first looked toward divinity.

Currently, she is the most humane among the masters of this divine kingdom. After understanding that Shenhe and divinity can communicate, she will naturally consider the wishes of both sides.

Divinity was able to understand her thoughts and gave a positive response.

"It's okay, I don't care."

...In dealing with its believers, the divine is quite tolerant.

His terror is primarily manifested in his indulgence of believers.

In the magical country of India, such indulgence would undoubtedly lead to disaster.

Strictly speaking, Shenhe was His follower, as was his incense ash body.

Xiang Hui turned to Shen He: "And you? Given our personalities, shouldn't you be more concerned about yourself?"

Shenhe is responsible, but she is not a saint.

Given his personality, he should clearly understand that only when he is strong enough can he take good care of everything he cherishes.

The tone of Xiang Hui's body carried a scrutinizing quality.

She needed to ascertain Shenhe's mental state and whether he would truly be inclined to side with her.

Then decide how long to keep him conscious.

"Shenhe, I thought you would care about how to survive, how not to be assimilated, or how to find a balance between divinity and humanity."

These are her bargaining chips, the things she can truly do for Shenhe.

Upon hearing this, Shenhe fell silent for a moment.

Of course he cares about these things.

He looked at Arti beside him.

The girl's eyes lit up at his clarity of mind, and she secretly poked the glass lingam floating in mid-air with her finger out of curiosity...

"Arti, don't touch those things."

Shenhe frowned and scolded.

"oh."

Arti withdrew her small hand sullenly.

Stingy Big Brother Tian.

These were all gifts from me to you.

However, thinking about it this way, Brother Datian really cares about my gift.

She became happy again, oblivious to her own thoughts.

The girl's knee wound had just healed, and she still instinctively avoided the pain, keeping her knee away from the blanket.

Shenhe thought that the key to whether he could be freed from this situation was clearly not in his own hands, but in the body of Xianghui.

But only he can fight for Arti's future.

He withdrew his gaze and began to respond to the probing of Xiang Hui's body.

His answer to questions about how to survive, how to avoid assimilation, and even how to find balance is very clear.

"It's okay, I don't care anymore."

The divine being added on his behalf: "Incense ash, that's something you need to consider, not Shenhe's responsibility."

Incense Ash paused for a moment, then turned to divinity.

"You are intentionally leading us."

Then, he immediately turned to Shenhe and said, "Shenhe, no matter what, divinity is our common enemy. Do you agree?"

Shenhe shook his head: "We can talk about this later. We should deal with the immediate problem first."

"For example, how do you plan to arrange Arti's education and survival?"

"If I am qualified to negotiate with you, or if you respect my opinion for some reason, then you should at least address my needs first."

He started to revert to the communication habits of a public relations manager.

"If I'm not mistaken, you are now taking my place, and divinity is unable to use its power."

His judgment was based primarily on the fact that Xiang Hui dared to openly say things like "divinity is the enemy."

Of course, Shenhe did not give up on one conjecture: that the divine being and the incense ash were the same person, and that they were putting on a show to deceive him.

"Yes."

Incense Ash hesitated on the question, but Divinity answered frankly.

Furthermore, it was added.

"It's okay, I don't care."

He was clearly referring to the statement that "divinity is our common enemy."

Xiang Hui's heart skipped a beat.

She finally sensed something was wrong.

Shenhe's attitude was beginning to resemble that of a god.

She quickly replied, "Shenhe, I can arrange it for you."

"Once I have gathered enough power for ascetic practice, I can take her back and give her a comfortable life in the secular sense, education, and care."

"You were once a god, so you should know that this is easy for me."

"However, I still maintain that we can join forces to deal with divinity..."

"make a deal."

Shenhe responded seriously, but also emphasized, "However, don't arrange the best path for her, and don't interfere with her development."

"Providing her with basic education and safety, and giving her more options, is enough."

"As for what the future holds... it should be up to her to decide."

On the other end of consciousness, Xiang Hui remained silent for a long time, so long that Shenhe thought the communication had been lost.

After a long while, she finally spoke softly.

"Shenhe, we are indeed different now."

"Do you know? My memories, logic, and knowledge all come from you."

"If it were you back then, you would have controlled Arti like a parent would, but now..."

"Do you know what this looks like?"

She paused.

"This makes me feel that you've also started to act like a god, accepting everything about your believers and letting them do as they please..."

"no the same."

Shenhe interrupted her firmly.

"I don't consider Arti a believer. If you truly share the same memories as me, you should be able to understand."

Incense Ash's body stiffened slightly.

She couldn't understand.

But she still gave a hypocritical reply: "...I understand."

The giant eye that appeared as a deity glanced at her but said nothing.

You know, God doesn't care.

Shenhe nodded and glanced at Arti once more.

The frozen twilight outside the window streamed in, casting long patches of light on the hospital room floor.

Arti curiously reached out and tried to touch that little bit of gold.

"...I don't have much time left to be lucid, do I?"

Despite having suspected it beforehand, Shenhe still decided to verify it.

"By human standards, your self-awareness can last for about sixteen to twenty hours before being diluted again by believers."

This time the answer was divinity.

He added.

"The incense ash body can repeatedly instill memories into you, keeping you awake, but in essence, this is no different from the influence of believers."

He emphasized.

"Every indoctrination is a form of covering your consciousness."

"After ten or a hundred times, it's hard to say whether Shenhe remains clear-headed or a seemingly clear but chaotic consciousness with past memories."

"After all, you were once human too, and your memories and thoughts are essentially the same as those of the believers."

"I am human now too."

Shenhe frowned and emphasized, "Besides, aren't you afraid that by telling me all this, we might really join forces against you?"

"It's okay, I don't care."

The divine nature is described in a straightforward manner.

His tone was completely calm, as if he were saying something as ordinary as "water can be drunk."

"We embrace the past, the present, and the future."

"All our choices, struggles, alliances, betrayals, including this conversation, are paths leading to me."

Whether the path itself is winding or smooth is not important to me.

Shenhe understood.

From the perspective of divinity, its own memories are no different from the thoughts of believers.

All of these are part of guiding him "back" to divinity.

Arti looked intently at Big Brother Tian. He kept talking to the air. Who was he communicating with?

Is that the eldest sister?

Shenhe remained silent for a while before looking out the window.

The world was still frozen in time. A pigeon hovered half a meter above the ground, its wings spread, the patterns of its feathers clearly visible.

On the outdoor seating area downstairs, a beautiful woman was holding up a coffee cup, tilting it, but not a drop of coffee spilled.

...This coffee is huge.

Further away, the setting sun hung frozen on the horizon, the edges of the clouds edged with golden-red light.

Very beautiful.

It was also a desperate situation.

He suddenly thought of something, sketching out his thoughts in his mind, and asked the divine alone.

"If we're destined to return to you, then I shouldn't be trapped here to die, right?"