He reached out his hand and removed the Human Skin Mask from his face, transforming from a middle-aged man into a young man—he often changed his appearance for others, finding joy in it.
"...In the end of my life, I should choose a good-looking face." He pinched his cheek, confirming that it was a handso face.
People knew he had made a choice.
...
In response to Dieying’s oppression, humanity’s approach was simple.
—Separation.
The Holy City would rise into the sky, resembling a Floating Island, completely severing the constraints of "The World of Old Days."
The concept of civilization was limited to the "Planet," if people departed the planet’s realm in tools akin to space shuttles, they would no longer be restricted by civilization. If the Holy City departed the realm of the earth, becoming an entity above the starry sky, would Dieying’s Word Spirit target the high-altitude Holy City or the surface of the planet?
...
People began to act.
...
In January, Lu Shu arrived at the front lines, seeing off the last batch of transmigrators.
"Little Black, recently people have repaired televisions from a hundred years ago. Co to my house to watch so movies; there are many good ones," Ji Puyu, Lu Shu’s companion, said.
Lu Shu stared at the ticking Coordinate Instrunt: "You go ahead, I need to record the coordinates of every floating point."
"Make sure you wear your mask, in others’ eyes, you’ve already been exiled." Ji Puyu covered Lu Shu’s face.
Lu Shu gazed into the distant sky. Several Airships were in trial operation, dozens of figures stood on the deck—they were people from the Steam Age (year 512). They had considerable research on chanical creations.
This final battle, the deity gathered elite personnel from various eras, dispatching them to the Holy City as external personnel, providing interim technical support.
"Can this really be considered..." gazing at the roaring Airships, Lu Shu thought: "the culmination of the wisdom from tens of thousands of human eras..."
...
In February, Yuanyuan stepped out of the ti vortex, covered in bruises of blue and purple.
She took a deep breath in silence, calming her fading soul, and glanced at the distant Old Divine Palace.
The golden buildings glowed in the sunset, revealing no glimpses of any weary figure within the palace. But she knew he was there.
"Ga Angel, we hope to research a new cure for Black Mist Disease, which might consu a large amount of dical resources. But once developed, it will save a lot of human resources..." Her subordinate, Blanche, handed her a tablet: "Do you think we should start researching this new dicine?"
Yuanyuan cast her gaze down. She could already understand the complex, profound research plans; formulas and figures were as clear as white paper to her. She nodded: "Yes."
"Alright. I’ll make arrangents, with an estimated research period of no more than nine months." Blanche said respectfully: "Please na our research project."
Yuanyuan thought for a while; she wasn’t good at naming things. Even her own na was just ’Ga Angel’ casually.
After so contemplation, she said:
"Since we are an Ark spanning across millennia..."
"Then let’s call it... Ark Project?"
"Good! Ark Project!" Blanche said excitedly: "A great na! Thank you for bestowing it. I believe we will soon overco the challenge of the Special dicine..."
...
In March, Chao Yan dealt with a super-large Judgnt event involving up to a thousand people.
The reason was simple—they didn’t want to leave their holand.
If The Republic ascended, then the Holy City would float beneath the stars perpetually, never able to return to the ground. This ant their descendants, even if spanning millennia, couldn’t return to The World of Old Days, but would forever be a drifter outside civilization, wandering the edge of the planet, always remaining on this narrow Solitary Island.
"How is this different from being banished to the universe? I don’t want this!" Their emotions were intense, sparking civil unrest:
"Why us? Why were we chosen?"
"My forefathers agreed to your wandering, but I didn’t, why do I have to wander in the stars since birth? I don’t agree!"
Generational conflict began to erge—the generation of year 0 in the Heavenly Era was already old and frail, their sons and daughters were growing up, feeling injustice. This iteration of conflict was inevitable—why should the younger generation bear the responsibility of the older generation?
—Why should later generations bear the responsibility of previous ones?
—Why should [Alice] bear the responsibility of [Chao Yan]?
Such questions, in essence, were all the sa—why was their "Destiny" already written even before they were born?
—Why should the "Deity" dictate their destiny?
—Why is the "Deity" so harsh and unfeeling?
Amidst these discontented voices, one leader erged—a nineteen-year-old youth. He had a youthful face, with Sharpness that was unique to the young, carrying the sorrow and unjust destinies of many, representing them to voice against the deity.
"—Why doesn’t the deity allow any objection, wanting to dictate our destiny?" Standing on the judgnt platform, the nineteen-year-old youth questioned the distant Old Divine Palace, regardless of whether the deity could hear his voice: "Deity. I am a commoner from the nineteenth district of the Holy City, my na is Su Wenqing. Compared to you, I am just a tiny figure, but I must let my voice be heard! If you hear , co out! We do not accept destiny that has been planned for us!"
The reckless hero of youth did not understand the hardships of the deity, nor had reverence. People condemned their irreverence towards the deity, yet they prided themselves as the "conscious minority amidst numbness," those brave enough to "kill destiny."
Chao Yan didn’t expect he dared remotely question the Old Divine Palace. She shook her head: "You are too young. Many things we can’t explain clearly. But the decisions made by the deity are mostly correct, they are the optimal choice for civilization."
She couldn’t explain the details of the millennial plan, only that the deity was right.
"—It is as the deity decrees? The deity decrees our numbness?" The young hero spoke forcefully, with tears and blood, listing out the sins of the deity:
"The grandma on the seventeenth street of the Holy City, died in a hospital bed because she participated in the so-called New Life Plan, and she didn’t even get to see her son co ho before she died."
"My high school classmate, clearly wanted to beco an artist, yet because her ancestors once defected to Dieying, she was forced to do the most ordinary job, almost jumping off a building due to depression."
"My uncle is a proud transmigrator, he adhered to his mission, repairing the tiline for the God. But who could have thought upon his return, due to the pollution clinging to his body, he would be monitored for life, every move restricted, living like a prisoner. Even when he retired, wanting to be an astronor, the observatory was forced to close."
"—All this, because of the cold Shen Mingsu. Why does He determine our death destinies? Why does He arrange our lives!"
His questions resounded powerfully. His companions held their heads high, facing the surrounding spotlights like heroes declaring war against destiny.
Chao Yan wanted them to shut up, but the deity walked out from the Old Divine Palace.
The dawn light fell on the deity’s face, revealing an exceptionally young appearance. He wore a simple white long robe, without overly intricate patterns, looking like a high school student who just walked out of campus.
In that mont, the deity and Su Wenqing—they seed to stand in the overlapping light and Shadow, the circling years reaching from the end back to the beginning.
...
From the deity and Su Ming’an.
To the deity and Su Wenqing.
...
Su Wenqing stared in shock at the legendary deity, never imagining the deity would look so young, seemingly the sa age as him.
The deity’s eyes were blue-gray, even more haggard than these young people on the judgnt platform. He looked at Su Wenqing deeply: "What do you want to say?"
Su Wenqing glanced at his companions cheering him on, took a deep breath, and with a stance of a speech declared loudly: "—Deity. I know there is a beautiful bird living in the world, searching for a forest in the midst of steel all its life."
"I want to tell everyone—even if the forest is gone, and we are forced into numbness... I still imagine winter is not eternal, gaps in the walls will be filled, flowers will bloom in the garden—people will love amidst flas and shouts."
"And the deity—you have corrupted us into zombies, making people forget history, letting us live numbly in the Holy City—your subordinates commit so many harmful deeds, yet you seem blind to them."
"It is precisely for the justice in my heart... that I have strived until now! I think at least so people need to speak up! We must cut off these lives arranged by the deities, kill this deep-rooted destiny!"
Su Wenqing spoke righteously, but heard a deity chuckle softly, with a turn of sorrow in the laughter.
On their face, there was an unchangeable fatigue, as if they had already seen this scene.
... They indeed had seen.
But it should have been a scene where positions were swapped and light and shadow replaced. It should have been... him standing in the sunlight, questioning the white-haired deity.
That should be... such a hopeless and irretrievable fall.
What expression did the deity have back then?
... It seed to be this kind of faint and sorrowful smile as well.
It turns out they were the sa.
It turns out they were both... "the sa".
"It’s not that I didn’t see. It’s not that I... don’t care." The black-haired deity lowered their eyes and slowly said, "I truly can’t hear."
... I truly couldn’t hear the cries of a female student before she jumped off the building.
... I truly couldn’t hear the soft cries of an old grandma.
I truly... didn’t have ti to listen. Before I could hear their subtle cries, more people would have died before them. I must... listen to the more important voices.
Beneath the Nine Serenities, when the deity faced Su Ming’an’s questioning, the response was also—"I can’t hear."
And now, Su Ming’an made the sa reply as the deity.
—Like light and shadow intertwining.
Su Wenqing still did not understand why his people suffered so much because of the millennial plan. Why should the continuation of civilization require their generation to suffer? Why are deities so arbitrary?
The deity turned back to the palace, for there were more people they needed to save.
On the Judgnt platform, the nineteen-year-old young man gazed despairingly and angrily at their back, condemning their coldness:
...
"—Deity, you have turned us into sheep in the rain!!"
...
This is a predestined deadlock.
The young people cannot return to their hotowns, their fates tied to civilization, how frantic it is.
And this deep-rooted, long-wandering, intertwined, continual panic—
It was only when Su Ming’an walked to this day, he suddenly realized. For he himself was suspended above this panic, hanging by a thin spider silk at his neck.
Even if he wanted to cut off this spider silk, there would be more, endless... hands pressing him onto the white hospital bed, not allowing him to die. Injecting him with thread after thread of life ford from the condensation of veins, forcing him to drink the blood of sin.
Of course, Su Ming’an and the deity were different. The forr still held a heart of maximal rescue, preferring to squeeze himself to save more, wanting to balance civilization and livelihood. The latter was absolutely indifferent, cared not whether humans lived or died, only wanted the continuation of civilization.
Su Ming’an was also different from Su Wenqing. The forr had the ans to change everything when questioning the deity and could find a better path for civilization. It was precisely because of Su Ming’an’s resistance against the deity that a more perfect world order was established later. As for Su Wenqing, he was rely comnting on the whole picture without knowing the full situation, maliciously speculating about the deity.
But this sense of reincarnation is still suffocating.
Again, and again, and again.
Su Ming’an sat on the seat of divinity, once again... ignoring the old grandma’s cries, ignoring the sorrow of the female student...
He once again, and again, listened to the more worthy voices, saving more people.
... Chao Yan was right.
One should think about "saving the people at one end of the train" rather than "killing the people at the other end." Only by doing so can a deity avoid collapse.
He could only, endlessly, endlessly.
Bang, bang, bang.
Ignore those smaller cries for help that could cause greater losses.
Let they be as tragic, as pitiful, as moving as they might be.
Endlessly, endlessly, endlessly.
Dong, dong, dong.
Pull that—
...
—imnsely heavy trolley pole.
...
And on the Judgnt platform, the nineteen-year-old, high-spirited black-haired youth still continued to, continued to question—why did the deity abandon that old grandma, why did the deity ignore the female student’s cries.
God Ming An,
Why...
Can’t you...
—Save just a bit more?
Why, even when the numb and ignorant era is broken—do we still seem to return to the era thousands of years later—that era of deep-rooted faith, numb and ignorant humanity—the current world?
Why does it seem like nothing has changed?
Why does the "white snow in the city" keep falling without a mont’s pause?
...
—Why?
Why?
...
...
[Despicable is the passport of the despicable, noble is the epitaph of the noble.]
[See, in the gilded sky,]
[—It’s filled with the curved reflections of the dead.]
[The glacial age has passed, why are there icy shards everywhere?]
[The Cape of Good Hope was discovered, why do thousands of sails compete in the Dead Sea?]
[—Bei Dao, "The Answer"]
...
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