[——〈The Third Relay〉——]
[——〈Tenth World·Su Wensheng〉——]
...
The world closed all around.
The Red Sun, which had hung in the sky for the entire afternoon, finally completely sank below the horizon.
Everything was silent.
In the transition between day and night, the bustling noise of daylight and the tranquility of night reached a perfect balance in this mont. A full Blue Moon ascended to the sky, replacing the Red Sun, and hung high in the firmant.
Su Ming’an supported Su Wensheng’s shoulder. As he looked back, he could no longer see the World Tree, and even Xiber’s figure quickly faded from view.
"Huff huff huff—"
Su Wensheng held a Magic Wand, its Green Gemstone glimring with light, as strands of clear Windflow swirled out, carrying the two of them forward.
Since the Blue Moon rose, the temperature plumted sharply, and the world was draped in frost.
As if returning the entire world thoroughly to the primordial Icefield age, everything lay dormant in the frost, the extre cold of night contrasting with the scorching heat of day.
Countless lives vanished and slumbered, waiting for the next rebirth, or perhaps the Eternal end.
Never had the world been so silent.
Silent enough that only the accelerating sound of Su Wensheng’s Windflow was heard, while the Moonlight cascaded like flowing icy threads, falling on their shoulders.
In the cold and silent moonlight, Su Ming’an heard Su Wensheng humming a tune.
"...You still have the mind to sing?" Su Ming’an said.
"Not really, it’s said that singing activates multiple areas of the brain, helping to refresh one’s mind. When I nearly dozed off while studying before, I would stand up and hum a little to wake myself up." Su Wensheng thought for a mont, "Soone taught this song when I was little, but I don’t rember who it was..."
"The one who taught you was Li Mingyue, he is... our Godfather." Su Ming’an said softly.
"Li... what?" Su Wensheng asked in confusion.
"Li Mingyue."
"What? I’ve forgotten again."
"Li Mingyue."
"...Sorry. Every ti you just say it, I forget right away, what’s going on..."
"Let’s not talk about this, are you feeling okay?"
"I still have so Mana... you’re going to the world’s edge, right?"
"Yes. I want to see what lies at the world’s end, and also find soone who can help keep my mory."
The clear wind whistled.
Su Ming’an looked back, his vision filled with flying Bai Xue and endless wilderness.
No sight of Su Rin’s golden Fla, nor Xiber’s fiery silhouette. Only whiteness filled his view.
"...By the way," Su Wensheng suddenly said, "Great Savior, although this is our first eting, I know what happened between you and , I’ve read it in textbooks."
"That’s not your life, you’re just you, you’re not the other Su Wenshengs." Su Ming’an denied.
"Haha, it seems the textbook saying you love al replacents is false. Isn’t it clear?" Su Wensheng chuckled a few tis.
"...Quickly forget all those ssy things."
"Great Savior, were you good friends with those ’’?"
"Friends... should be more like soulmates. There was one ’you’, we never even interacted, and yet he was gone."
"Compared to them, am I sowhat diocre?" Su Wensheng suddenly said.
Su Ming’an glanced at Su Wensheng.
The large Wizard Hat obscured half of Su Wensheng’s face, revealing short disordered hair and pressed lips. Although his tone was always smiling, his heart seed unsettled.
His unwillingness to be diocre was always etched in his bones.
If he hadn’t wanted to avoid being a powerless ordinary person, he wouldn’t have accepted the summoning to co to Luowasha.
"Why do you think that?" Su Ming’an couldn’t help asking.
"Because the mont you knew my identity... there was disappointnt in your eyes." Su Wensheng turned his head to look at him, the frozen shards on his cheeks gathering more and more:
"I was thinking, if you t the other two of ’’, you’d be a bit happier."
"Compared to them, my experiences are too thin, and to you, I don’t embody the heft of the na ’Su Wensheng’. You should be... more eager to et them."
"Whether it’s on TV, in textbooks, or in history museums, the ’Su Wensheng’ ntioned always refers to those two, one being the Savior’s summoner, the other the Savior’s assister."
"While when people ntion , it’s always ’The lucky kid,’ ’The lucky one protected by other Su Wenshengs,’ ’Doesn’t look like the historical kind of Su Wensheng at all,’ ’the most blissful yet most ordinary one out of ten thousand world lines.’
"Every ti I read about their feats, I’m filled with longing... what a tumultuous history that was. The fifty Fire Transmitters that summoned the Savior, the code exchanges under the Nine Serenities, the Ark Crossing of the millennium plan..."
"And , I nearly failed to pass even the campus run."
He lifted his head, those dark eyes like Stars t Su Ming’an’s gaze.
But before Su Ming’an could say anything, Su Wensheng suddenly laughed and said:
"Alright, are you awake now?"
Su Ming’an forced a sound out of his throat, "...hmm?"
"Seeing you so sleepy, I said sothing to wake you up. I wasn’t complaining, just wanted the Great Savior to not mix up... see." Su Wensheng pointed to his right ear:
"My blue-red earrings, look nice? I bought them as a souvenir from the Millennium Plan Museum, 228 yuan each, said to be high-precision replicas of the Heart’s Blood. As long as I wear this thing, I’m very unique."
"And, right now, I’m even risking my life to protect the Savior. I’m not ordinary anymore."
Comforting words from Su Ming’an got stuck in his throat, as he thought about it, Su Wensheng really didn’t need comforting.
Su Wensheng just wanted to voice the words buried deep in his heart for a long ti.
Previously, living in an atmosphere where everyone revered the Savior, he couldn’t speak these sowhat disrespectful words. Later, when he ca to Luowasha, alone in a foreign land, he could only remain silent.
—Until today, when he t Su Ming’an, it was like eting an old friend in a distant land.
"Anyway, it’s nice to et you," Su Ming’an said, "Thank you for coming to save ."
Su Wensheng bent his brows, was about to say sothing, when suddenly his expression changed.
Su Ming’an followed his gaze and saw the vague white tentacles in the distance.
....The Deity was catching up.
"Truly relentless, must it make you take that damn oath?" Su Wensheng quipped.
"Yeah, there are even jokes on the forum about being a Deity magnet." Su Ming’an joined in the banter.
"Seems so."
"I hope they realize soon."
They bantered back and forth, sharing a common language.
But Su Ming’an’s mood sank, as the Deity was catching up, then Xiber...
"Watch out!"
Su Wensheng suddenly shouted, gripping the Magic Wand with both hands.
The next mont, a Golden Glint suddenly descended from the sky, heading straight for them!
Like a sword that cleaves the heavens and the earth, it pierced straight through the Changfeng Barrier that Su Wensheng had just erected, breaking it instantly!
Shattered golden light scattered everywhere, like sharp shards of glass.
"Pfft!"
Su Wensheng spat out a mouthful of blood, rapidly retreating with Su Ming’an, with his chest and abdon scraped open by the sword’s residual shockwave, revealing vast expanses of bleeding flesh!
"Wow—!"
The place where he had originally stood had completely disappeared. The golden sword blade fell like a blade slicing through tofu, raising large evaporated particles, drifting with the wind in the air.
A massive pit appeared at the original place, with cracks stretching over hundreds of ters. Its center was extrely deep, like a carved black hole.
One strike, altering the topography.
This wasn’t Ming’an’s full force; he feared hurting Su Ming’an, so he held back.
"Cough... Cough cough cough! Cough cough!"
Su Wensheng showed a grateful expression, relieved that Ming’an was still far from the true high dinsions. Otherwise, a single strike could destroy half the world.
Seeing one sword strike fail, Ming’an raised his hand, glowing with a radiant cross light. The golden sword was lifted and fell again!
Like a golden bridge spanning the sky, the terrifying golden force instantly approached the two!
"Lamb Knot..." Su Ming’an spoke, about to set up the defense barrier.
"Save your Mana Points!" Su Wensheng imdiately interrupted, shielding Su Ming’an with his body, back towards the incoming golden light!
Su Ming’an’s words were drowned in the sudden roaring wind. He saw Su Wensheng’s black hair wildly lifted, the blue-red earrings shaking violently, as if a crimson heart was circulating.
Those pitch-black eyes showed a fleeting sadness.
"If only I were a bit stronger, wouldn’t it be like this...?" In the final second as the golden light fell, Su Wensheng gazed into the distance.
"Boom——!!!"
The golden light descended, piercing through the spell shield, striking Su Wensheng’s back.
Su Ming’an felt his chest touch a warm, sticky, flowing patch of blood... It was Su Wensheng’s blood. The first strike from Ming’an earlier had already stripped away large amounts of flesh from Su Wensheng’s chest and abdon.
And with this second strike, the painful sound of bending bones arose, severe changes occurring inside the slender body, blood vessels rupturing, flesh spilling, organs shifting...
As most of the impact was absorbed by Su Wensheng, Su Ming’an wasn’t severely hard.
"Pfft."
A mouthful of warm blood splashed on Su Ming’an’s neck.
"Su Wensheng, switch with !" Su Ming’an wanted to absorb the attacks himself, but with only a fractured right hand, he couldn’t perform a spinning movent. He watched Su Wensheng’s eyes gradually darken.
In the gusts, Su Wensheng looked very weary, his eyelids drooping, his previously spirited face now as pale as a sheet:
"Don’t move..."
The sky was torn apart, pouring endless cold brilliance.
Ming’an’s attack’s aftermath hadn’t dissipated, beams of golden light sweeping like suns blooming in the snowy night—all rushing toward them.
"Boom—— Boom—— Boom——!"
The aftermath hit Su Wensheng’s back, he used the force to propel Su Ming’an like an arrow.
Golden aftershocks fell on him.
One, two, three...
More blood splattered, the sound of bending bones continuously arose, Su Wensheng’s groans were drowned in explosions.
The ears were filled with noises, the surroundings too bright for Su Ming’an to see how terrible the bombing Su Wensheng was enduring.
"..."
When finally silence fell upon Su Ming’an’s ears, he raised his head.
——He seed to be at the bottom of a well.
In the grey snow mist, vision blurred, the outlines of the earth and mountains obscured, not even faint traces visible. The world stood quiet in the heavy white.
They had traversed into a snowy wasteland.
"Drip drip drip..."
Only the sound of blood falling.
"Crack, crack." Two crisp sounds.
Su Wensheng leaned forward, kneeling in the snow, knees crunching painfully, blood oozing from his chest and abdon, staining the white snow.
Su Ming’an couldn’t hold him up, only let his shoulder bear, blood drenching him entirely.
In the long night, ti seed to halt, only the relentless snowflakes falling.
Between heaven and earth, at the apocalypse’s edge, only their two wounded figures remained.
"Huff huff... Huff huff..."
Su Ming’an looked back, for now unable to see Ming’an’s figure, Ming’an seemingly hadn’t caught up.
Su Wensheng knelt on the ground, displaying deep lacerations on his chest and abdon, organs barely visible. Most terrifyingly, the backbone, a ss of blood, red and black intertwined, indistinguishable between flesh and fabric.
Had it been anyone ordinary, they’d be dead from these injuries.
Su Wensheng took a breath, using his hand to cover the grisly wound: "Great Savior, don’t stare at so terrifyingly... You should focus on your shoulder; you got grazed by the golden sword too."
Su Ming’an glanced at his own bleeding right shoulder, quickly shifted his gaze, touching Su Wensheng’s skin.
Very cold.
Cold as if frozen over.
The sorcerer’s body maintains temperate climate throughout, whether in scorching sun or cold winter, but now the sorcerer had no strength left.
Small spatial cracks spread across Su Wensheng’s body, continuously tearing his wounds.
"...Su Wensheng." Su Ming’an said.
"Mm." Su Wensheng replied faintly.
"Can you still walk?"
"It’s kind of difficult..." Su Wensheng dared not lift his hand from his abdon, afraid the intestines might leak out: "By the way, where’s your chanical wheel?"
"...Previously gave it to Xi Li. Her leg couldn’t move, feared she’d get killed."
"Really go all out to gain favor, don’t you?"
"How much farther?"
"This should be the northern Gleer Icefield, not far from the world’s edge... If we walk, by midnight... should probably reach." Su Wensheng glanced at Su Ming’an’s expression, suddenly understood, and laughed:
"It’s alright, Great Savior."
"In this state, I shouldn’t be able to help you much."
"——Go on, you don’t need to worry about ."
His tone was mature, easily accepting the fact that he must be left behind. After all, before him stood the Savior with heavy responsibilities, he didn’t need to care for a minor character like him.
His knees deeply sank into the snow, dyed bright red. Flying snowflakes landed on his forehead, fell to his lips.
The shadow of death crawling into his pupils little by little:
"I’ve delivered you here, that’s enough. Farther beyond, you go alone."
"Go, Su Ming’an."
"Go to where you need to be."
...
...
"Swish—— Swish——"
Snowflakes like countless shattered stars, plumting from the sky.
The snow accumulating on the ground forming a long snowy path extending into the distance.
"Crunch, crunch, crunch..."
A massive orange cat carried a youth, stepping deep plum footprints in the snow.
Su Ming’an walked in front, step by step. The cut on his left arm had completely frozen, while the sword wound on his right shoulder still bled. Fresh blood intermittently dripped along the way.
"Creak creak, creak creak."
In the silent world, only the sound of stepping on snow.
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