At dusk, the sun sleeps under the distant mountains, with its afterglow cast upon the city woven by concrete.
Between buildings, glass reflects the changing sky, as if split into countless small theaters. The traffic lights blink a few tis, and a large group of students files out after school.
"Did you hear? Recently, the deity released an oracle, saying that just by playing gas, we can dispel the Black Mist." A girl with a backpack chatted.
"Huh? Play gas to save the world? That’s ridiculous, it’s utterly nonsensical," the boy next to her mumbled.
"Shhh... keep your voice down! The first ga is called ’The Cat and Her’; people have been playing it for a while! I heard it’s created by a young prodigy nad Yi Zhongyu!" Stars sparkled in the girl’s eyes as she said, "The art style of the ga is really comforting and healing; I really want to play it..."
"Hmph, I only play handheld gas," the boy pouted.
Su Ming’an stood quietly by the street as these kids brushed past him. The boy and the girl turned back with so curiosity.
"Look, a strange person wearing a veil on his face," they whispered:
"I heard that sotis the deity travels in disguise to catch those who speak ill of him. Could he be..."
"Such a low-probability event, how could we encounter it? Hey, did you finish your howork..."
The voices gradually drifted away as Su Ming’an stood with his head down. Watching the smiles of the boys and girls, he felt a sense of disorientation; it had been a long ti since he had been around such ordinary and noisy human energy, having seen only Cang Mountain and graves.
Little An’s voice sounded in his ear: "Su Ming’an, I want to learn the piano."
"I’ve already played it many tis over these centuries, don’t tell you still haven’t learned." Su Ming’an replied lightly.
"Why are you always so indifferent to ? I am your creation. It’s been hundreds of years, I often chat with you, yet you are not at all close to ." Little An’s voice seed a bit aggrieved: "Su Ming’an, for a perfect pass..."
"...don’t use that tone with . I’ll take you to find a piano." Su Ming’an felt a tingling on his scalp.
There was a light laugh in his mind, indicating that Little An seed very happy.
"Su Ming’an, how do you want to spend the remaining three years? How about we beco ga strears?" Little An’s voice was clear and lively, as he naturally embodied ’goodness’ without any hint of darkness, like a worry-free college student version of Su Ming’an.
"I don’t have that much energy; ti flies by in the blink of an eye." Su Ming’an refused.
"Then how about we go to school? Look, Yuanyuan’s reincarnation is also attending school there." Little An pointed toward the distant high school.
"...No."
"You have to believe , going to school is a very pleasant and happy experience, and surely there is more ’goodness.’ For a perfect pass..."
"...Okay."
...
"The last question of this eight-school joint exam, so people still got it wrong. Are you not paying attention in class? You’re in the third year of high school; if you get it wrong again, copy the question a hundred tis!" A middle-aged female teacher shouted, her saliva spraying over the students in the front row.
A leaf from the parasol tree outside the window drifted down into Su Ming’an’s hand as he leaned on his hand and looked outside.
...This feeling of sitting in a classroom felt like a dream to him.
"A single point in the college entrance exam is like one playground of people, five points is how many people? Five playgrounds!!" The female teacher slamd the table heavily, causing the entire class of about fifty to jolt: "Look at this question—[Old Day, 819 years, why did the deity issue an oracle to hold back a blue glass bottle?] I’ve explained this countless tis, the answer is the bottle contained a forbidden item, how could anyone write nonsense..."
She pulled out a test paper: "Next, distributing the test papers—Shen Yue, 136 points."
A delicate girl with her hair tied in a neat ponytail walked up to the podium to receive her test paper.
"If you all could be like Shen Yue, as long as you perform well on the college entrance exam, getting into North Qing University won’t be a problem." The female teacher looked at Shen Yue admiringly:
"Zhou Chengtian, 131 points."
"Jiang Xiaosan, 127 points."
"Tao ng, 126 points."
"Su Xiaobai..." She frowned as she got to this na: "Su Xiaobai, you’re the most rebellious one in the class, able to solve difficult problems but always scribbling nonsense on bizarre questions. Look at your answer to the last question—’Because the glass bottle is a special dicine for solving Black Mist Disease, the deity needs to ensure the glass bottle reaches the right hands for the Savior to be under his control at the start. But thankfully the deity couldn’t stop the glass bottle, and the efforts of the Fire Transmitters allowed the Savior to be born in the safe Dao Ya City’..."
The teacher read out this answer, causing the entire class to burst into laughter. A student next to him patted Su Xiaobai’s shoulder, admiring his storytelling skills. So students even laughed so hard that snot and tears ca out.
"Every ti I hand out papers, the answers from Su Xiaobai are the ones I look forward to the most, really opening up the imagination. What a millennium plan! What Savior! Under the protection of the deity, how can we be in danger?" The students spoke softly, and the classroom was filled with a lively atmosphere.
"Oh! Last ti, during the three-simulation exam, one question asked about the significance of the Self-Salvation Alliance’s founding regulations, the simplest of questions. But Su Xiaobai wrote ’Su Ming’an made it up on a whim, there’s no significance.’ It really made laugh! Who is Su Ming’an, is he a relative or sothing? Hahaha..."
"Clearly could do well, but insists on writing unimaginable answers, the teacher is going to be driven crazy by him."
Su Ming’an walked up to receive his paper, eting the disappointed gaze from Teacher Jiang.
"You need to think about your future, the college entrance exam is not a joke, and the deity’s authority is not sothing you can disrespect." Teacher Jiang, having scolded enough, sighed at Su Xiaobai’s obliviousness. All she could do was move on to the next paper:
"Su Wensheng, 123 points."
"Swoosh..."
The spring evening breeze rustled the leaves of the parasol tree outside. The deep green leaves playfully brushed against the iron railing, producing a rustling sound.
A black-haired young man in a blue and white striped school uniform walked calmly toward the podium, brushing shoulders with Su Ming’an as he walked down.
In that brief mont of shoulder contact, like touching electricity, they seed to sense sothing, simultaneously turning their heads with a mutual understanding, and their eyes t for a split second.
The phoenix leaves spun around, drifting lightly past the shoulder. Su Wensheng’s gaze flickered slightly, with remnants of the sunset in his pitch-black eyes, reflecting the similarly dark eyes nearby.
Ti slowed down for a mont within Su Ming’an’s perception. He looked back at Su Wensheng, the soft rustle of the blue and white school uniforms echoing in the air.
Their appearance wasn’t similar, nor were their eye shapes consistent; anyone could tell them apart at a glance. But as their eyes t, the difference in eye shapes seed to blur suddenly, as if glimpsing the unity beneath the surface, creating a mirror-like illusion between them.
Once, Su Ming’an belittled himself for not matching up to Qin Wang, Acto, and others. Later, it was Su Wensheng’s turn to feel inferior for not matching up to Su Ming’an—their mindset of inferiority was even consistent. This allowed Su Ming’an to fully understand the saying, "Which world you are born into, you easily develop into who you are."
But ultimately, there are still differences.
The next mont, Su Wensheng was the first to avert his gaze. Su Ming’an, however, continued to stare.
"Lowest score, 32 points—Xiao Ying!"
A laid-back male student walked up to the podium, took his test paper, and returned. His school uniform was loosely worn, and his mischievous yet handso appearance made many girls’ hearts flutter. He was the new transfer student in the class, rumored to be a rich second-generation, uncontrollable by anyone.
Finally, old teacher Jiang emphasized one thing: "In a few days, the Deity will choose an Attendant. Although our school’s chances of being selected are extrely low, make sure to dress formally, just in case you are summoned to the heavens."
The atmosphere instantly heated up everyone knew about this matter around the world. The Deity uncharacteristically wanted to select an Attendant, as if sothing important was about to happen.
This year is Old Day year 827. For so reason, even at night, there are many stars lately; the beautiful starry sky seems to be right in front of our eyes. Unfortunately, the Observatory is locked, otherwise, you could have a look at the scenery above the sky.
The Black Mist at the frontline remains restless, like a beast ready to strike. There’s always a cloud of impending events looming over people’s hearts worldwide, as if the world is approaching a crucial juncture.
Many prominent figures on Weibo are predicting the arrival of the apocalypse, claiming that aliens are in space, or that the Old God will return to usurp the throne. Various conspiracy theories abound. Nuns, diviners, heretics, wanderers... all jumping on the bandwagon.
#TheCatandHerTruth#, #WhyDreamPatrolCanDispelBlackMist#, #FirstDreamPatrolFamilyYiZhongyu, TeenageGenius#, #What’sAboveTheStarrySky#... Countless topics like these abound.
"Hey, Xiao Bai. Did you hear? The last Observatory in the city has been sealed." After school, a boy with a round head approached Su Ming’an: "What do you think, why did the Deity seal history? What really happened in the past? Even the teachers are evasive."
Su Ming’an gazed out at the playground, seemingly lost in his own world. In the back row, Xiao Ying lifted his head, eyes cold.
The boy was startled by Xiao Ying’s warning gaze and imdiately looked away, turning to Shen Yue.
"What do you think, Shen Yue?" The boy lowered his voice, pulling out a worn book: "I’ll secretly tell you all, I recently dug out this ancient manuscript from the soil back ho. It says... A thousand years ago, the Old God and three Archangels divided the Mortal World, sent down Nine Serenities as a top-secret location, guarded by General Qin. Raised Heavenly Valley as the Holy City, ruled by the Deity..."
His voice was low, but it drew the entire class’s attention. They had never heard these forbidden histories, and their eyes glead as they crowded around.
"That must have been a mythical era..." The boy turned the page, only to find the writing in the back had beco blurred, scratching his head: "The Judgnt Angel who fell into the Mortal World was nad... I can’t see it clearly anymore..."
"Its na was Bi Luo." Su Ming’an continued to stare out the window but calmly stated a fact that shocked the entire class: "The Slaughter Angel in charge of transition was nad Umbra. The all-white Follower spirit was nad Bastet. The all-black Follower spirit was nad Ra. Moreover, the oldest Archangel once served beside the Old God, aspiring to elevate fertile lands into the sky..."
These were words he had seen at the start of the instance, back when he, like these students, believed a thousand years ago was a spectacular mythical era, full of Followers and Angels. But in reality...
An all-white Follower spirit was just the White Ball, a fat white cat! An all-black Follower spirit was just the Black Fla!
The Slaughter Angel was a Madman who would casually play suicide. The Judgnt Angel was a girl who would vomit from just eating a Spring Heart Cookie. The oldest Archangel was a face-changing person with "an even more beautiful mask beneath the mask."
When he personally composed everything and penned these fabricated myths, he realized what truth lay hidden behind.
The children thought they had already left that remote mythical era and stepped into peace. As for any High-dinsional Invaders, they believed the Deity drove them away a thousand years ago.
——What they do not know is that they are still on the Ark. And the thousand-year Ark has not yet arrived, victory is yet unknown. They are still in that era of conflict against High-dinsional beings, never having escaped.
"Su Xiaobai, you, you, you..." Wang Xingkai pointed at Su Ming’an in shock: "How do you know what’s written later! Does your family also have a similar mythological book?"
Other students imdiately crowded around:
"Su Xiaobai, I heard elders say that the Deity usurped the Old God’s position, is that true? Do you know?"
"Su Xiaobai, you must know a lot of things..."
The students surrounded Su Ming’an. In the back row, Xiao Ying, upon seeing this, almost seed to be sharpening his knife.
But Su Ming’an didn’t speak. He looked at the old book in Wang Xingkai’s hand, which carried an illustration spanning several pages—a winged Angel, crowned with a Glazed Crown, slashing at a crimson python at Hell’s edge.
This illustration, Su Ming’an saw at the beginning of the instance. At the ti, he couldn’t grasp what it ant, but now he understood completely.
With a subtle sadness rising in his heart, he glanced at the calendar on the wall.
The beginning of the instance was Old Day year 827.
The end of the instance is also Old Day year 827.
The sa Dao Ya City First High School, the sa First Dream Patrol Family Yi Zhongyu, the sa first Dream Patrol ga "The Cat and Her," the sa parasol tree and moonlight.
Su Ming’an packed his bag and walked toward the school gate.
Suddenly, he saw a dark-haired, purple-eyed girl waiting at the school gate among the parents picking up their children. She had black long bangs, wore a necklace with a purple skull pendant, and had black fingerless gloves.
"Su Luoluo!" Seeing a familiar face, Su Ming’an’s lips curved slightly as he headed towards her.
"Su Luoluo! You’ve been waiting for for a long ti!" Another figure, however, reached her first, holding her hand, talking and laughing warmly as they headed ho. Her gaze didn’t linger on Su Ming’an, as if seeing a stranger.
——It was Su Wensheng who took her hand.
The scene of youths walking ho under the setting sun, with a beautiful and youthful allure.
Reviews
All reviews (0)