Su Ming’an gazed into the distance. The moonlight cast a gelatinous blue column through the thick snow fog, landing before him.
... How long has it been since he quietly appreciated the moon?
"...Great Savior." Wensheng’s voice floated from the cat’s back.
"I’m here."
"You should have left there," Wensheng said.
Even though Wensheng insisted not to bring him along, Su Ming’an refused to leave him alone in the snow.
The orange cat was Wensheng’s summoned creature, called "Big Orange Bread."
"..."
"However, I suddenly realized it’s not bad to bring ... If you end up exhausted, you can eat . In Luowasha, eating people is like a backup energy source..." Wensheng suddenly laughed, perhaps choking on blood. He laughed and coughed simultaneously.
"I won’t do such a thing."
"Hehe... you will, because you’re a super cold hero. For the sake of greater things, this minor detail doesn’t matter. Anyway, after I fall unconscious, there shouldn’t be much pain... when you eat , be gentle..."
"..."
"Do you know the laws of nature? Like the food chain law in Luowasha... when both lives are extrely weak, the only way to survive is to devour each other... not support each other..."
"..."
"You just keep moving forward. If you’re too weak to continue, then turn back and consu as a backup energy source..."
"..."
"Does this leave a deep impression now?"
"... I rember now."
"Good... I’m a bit tired, I’ll sleep first... Hey, Big Orange Bread, your fur is quite warm..."
"Don’t sleep," Su Ming’an said imdiately. While Wensheng is awake, the magic elents on his body barely keep him alive. If he sleeps, even hypothermia will kill him.
"Then what should I do, I’m really sleepy... or you could eat now. I won’t be fresh once I’m dead..."
Su Ming’an sighed lightly.
The firmant is high and the night hangs low.
On the desolate snowfield, only the wind passed through.
Monts later, amidst the pervasive paleness, his soft voice erged:
"...[What scenery have you seen, that you refuse to drown in shadows]." (Li Ge, "Wildfire")
...
["Do you like singing?"]
["No, it’s to refresh myself. Before, whenever I nearly fell asleep while studying, I’d stand and hum a little to wake up."]
...
Step by step, Su Ming’an moved forward, like a pilgrim on a journey.
Snowflakes scraped like blades over his skin, leaving faint traces of blood. His right shoulder made a creaking sound unable to bear the weight.
Wensheng fell slightly silent. Lying in the soft fur of the Big Orange, he turned his head to watch the young traveler trudging ahead.
The blue moon settled on the snowfield, reflecting a dark glow, resembling a tranquil lake.
In the past, Su Ming’an had heard a story.
A captain led a fleet ho but encountered a sea monster along the way.
The sea monster told them it was lonely and needed a friend. If the captain would stay, it promised them endless treasures, ensuring a wealthy life for all.
For this story, Laine concluded: the captain stayed voluntarily and drowned in the sea, as the sea monster didn’t understand that humans cannot live underwater.
After Lü Shu and the others heard about it during a break in the Main God World, everyone offered a different ending.
Noel said the ending should be that the captain found another hidden treasure and returned fully loaded. No one had to sacrifice for treasure. They were just passing travelers; humans can’t live under the sea, and sea monsters can’t reach land, so after a brief encounter, they were destined to part.
...
"...[A heart too blazing should not co too close]."
...
Lü Shu said the ending should be that the sea monster understood that forcing soone to stay had no benefit, thus the fleet left safely. The captain would sotis return to the sea monster, and they would chat and play gas. Despite brief encounters, the sea monster was no longer lonely. All it required was waiting.
...
"...[Sparks hitting foliage, with pious feelings, proving nothing to anyone]."
...
Lin Yin said the ending should be that the captain ignored the treasures, and the sea monster abandoned its possessiveness, forming a brief but pure friendship without any impurities.
...
"...[Single-mindedly diverging from the worldly path, is it an illness?]."
...
And Su Ming’an...?
He never imagined the story’s ending.
Listening to his companions, he rely listened, watching each of their faces.
...
"...[I insist on being an unextinguished wildfire, illuminating the enclosed world]."
...
After everyone finished, he smiled and said, "Everyone’s thoughts are wonderful."
They asked, "Su Ming’an, why don’t you suggest an ending?"
He said, because I don’t know what kind of ending the Captain and the Sea Monsters prefer. So stories, perhaps, have no ending.
At that ti, he didn’t realize,
—He had long since beco the "Captain" himself.
When he stood at the end of his life, writing the Captain’s ending, he found those options belonging to himself were even far less than those impromptu endings created by his companions back then.
...
"...[The world burns into my color]."
...
He raised his head, his breath almost halted by the cold wind.
In a trance, his consciousness began to blur, the Spatial Barrier sustained by his Mana Points helped maintain the minimum survival temperature.
Su Wensheng’s previous decision to have him preserve so Mana Points was correct. He feared the cold most.
...
"...[After the storm passes, burned in unknown corners, the unextinguished heart fire]."
...
The snowstorm fell, the cold wind froze his blood, thousands of things—the moonlight and stars, blizzards and night, lake water and destiny, all rushed towards him.
In the haze, he seed to see figures, standing distantly ahead of him, waiting for him.
...
"...[Wherever the wind blows, there is ]."
...
Just like he is walking towards the front.
Before him, is the future within reach.
Behind him, is the blood-red road of no return.
...
"...[Even if I am a passer-by, let my na be carved]."
...
Su Wensheng’s breathing grew lighter, he tightly grasped the orange cat’s fur, as if this would keep him alert.
Large patches of blood stained the cat’s back, his chest and back seed like shattered red glass.
His vision grew increasingly blurry, he gazed at the young man still moving forward, softly spoke, blood dripped down from his chin:
"...Su the Savior, leave behind."
...
"...[Being a passer-by too, rember it, you]."
...
Su Ming’an did not look back.
His figure amidst the pale landscape, small as a drop of red ink.
The hour hand slowly pointed to eleven, myriad blue-purple stars erged in the sky, shaking, spinning, quivering... as if ti were also waiting for that mont.
...
"...[Residual heat not dissipating, the dying wildfire, it chooses again]."
...
The Mana Points gradually running out, Su Ming’an’s Spatial Barrier teetered, the wind and snow ceaselessly battered.
He felt the cold pierce to the marrow, like icy frost perating every inch of his skin.
"Bang—!" Suddenly, the orange cat’s enormous body tilted forward. Su Wensheng rolled off the cat’s back, rolled behind Su Ming’an, grinding out a trail of blood red.
"[To embrace...]" Su Ming’an’s voice paused.
As if his heart were suddenly seized, he turned back, gazed at Su Wensheng lying in the snow.
Big Orange Bread couldn’t take it anymore, Su Wensheng called it back though it could still walk a bit further, it would freeze to death. Thus, Su Wensheng stopped.
"Alright, it ends here... it ends here..." Su Wensheng’s cough was very light, yet it spewed out a mouthful of blood, even so solid matter Su Ming’an couldn’t identify.
At this mont, Su Ming’an’s heartbeat was numbed.
Every breath felt as if inhaling cold air in an ice cave, all the blood in his body freezing.
"I’ll help you..." Su Ming’an tried to lift Su Wensheng, but organs nearly fell out with a crash.
The horrifying red surrounding the snow, bright red, dark red, pale red... all were Su Wensheng’s blood.
As a student, Su Wensheng never imagined he could bleed so much. Previously, he would feel pain just from falling off his bicycle.
—He never imagined one day, he would stand face-to-face with deities to rescue the Great Savior only existing in textbooks.
"..."
"...Great Savior."
The moonlight hung high, he gazed at the moonlight, as if seeing a familiar and distant world:
"The things I wanted to do... are basically over."
"eting you, escorting you, escaping the pursuit of God An... all have ended. But there’s one more thing..."
The firmant upside down, before him was all wind and snow.
Su Ming’an wanted to lift Su Wensheng up, but he couldn’t do it.
Su Wensheng lay in the ice and snow, rotten like having rolled through a drain of blood, most wounds festered, not a clean spot. Compared to when Su Ming’an first saw him in his spirited Sorcerer deanor, the difference was too great.
Luminous blue moonlight fell, sprinkled on the white snow around him.
The blue snow, surrounding him... soft and deep, just like...
—Like a lake filled with moonlight.
...
He lay in the blue snow,
As if lying in a blue lake.
...
"Slap."
The next mont, Su Ming’an’s palm was grabbed by Su Wensheng, guiding it towards Su Wensheng’s chest.
—Towards a heart mixed with red and blue, scorching and burning.
In Luowasha, consuming others can restore physical strength and enhance power. Eating a heart is the most effective thod. So races, when dying, will eat the hearts of their kin around to survive.
Su Ming’an suddenly understood what Su Wensheng ant by "there is one more thing".
"Su Wensheng...!" Su Ming’an struggled imdiately, but his palm was firmly held by Su Wensheng.
His fingertips touched the warm heart.
It seed as if in his hand—was a new "Heart’s Blood."
That living heart beat under his palm, making him truly feel—a life was between his fingers.
"Bang!" He used his shoulder to push against Su Wensheng, trying to make Su Wensheng let go, but to maintain the heating barrier, he couldn’t exit the Shadow State.
He clenched his teeth, as if his heart was also gripped by sothing, transmitting sharp pain.
Su Wensheng... Su Wensheng...!!!
Always like this... Su Wensheng!!!
"..."
Su Wensheng lowered his head, a trace of barely noticeable longing on his young face.
He understood he was a person of luck, the world was already safe, it didn’t need his salvation. His life would be smooth. Study, work, and raise cats in his spare ti...
But at the mont he chose to respond to that feeling of a call—everything beca different.
Wrapped by the teleportation array at that mont, he also foresaw... Maybe he would have a day of burning like his predecessors.
Fortunately, that day ca.
Fortunately, he didn’t miss it.
Su Ming’an couldn’t look away, eting those pitch-black pupils directly, he began to think that the part Su Wensheng just ntioned, "loving al replacents", was realistic. Otherwise, why did he feel like he was in icy lake water, seeing a blue rose he seed to have seen before?
Under the tranquil moonlight.
A blue rose, drifting on the snow through the distant ti.
The once resolute moon in the water, now a serene moon in the sky.
"Su Wensheng, I still have strength left..." Su Ming’an’s breathing was slow and heavy.
Su Wensheng coughed out a mouthful of blood, his fingers gradually tightening:
"Don’t deceive yourself... The choice you can’t make, I’ll make for you."
"The Big Orange Bread can’t hold on, rather than leaving lonely in the snow, it’s better to make so residual warmth useful. From the mont I ca to save you, I was ntally prepared."
"I live in a Prosperous Era where everything ends, living in the happy ending after adventure stories... I am the luckiest child."
"There are so many more unfortunate ’Su Wensheng’, they may fall into the lake, may silently vanish. But I, but I... cough cough cough!"
"..."
"I am the most ordinary one among so many Su Wensheng..."
"...But I never lost to anyone."
"Su the Saviour."
"Rember, I want to change the suffering of The World of Old Days... Please, if you have ti, go back and take a look... This is my only request, also what I ca to Luowasha to accomplish."
"I heard the world will reset soon, but, I’m a stowaway and not protected by the World Ga... Maybe this will be our last eting."
"Consu and survive."
"Head towards the world’s end... to a place no one can control."
"Go wherever you want to go."
"You don’t need to regret, nor feel guilty. Instead, I feel joy, even excitent..."
"Because..."
...
"The world,"
"—entrusted with the Savior of the billions of lives of my hotown!!!"
...
The pair of pitch-black eyes flashed a trace of longing.
Falling in the snow, gripping Su Ming’an’s hand, he stared at the moon, for the first ti realizing... this moon was so much like the one from his hotown.
The full moon of blue and yellow.
If there really were such a possibility, that this was also his hotown, then how would he go back...
Perhaps if he died and then opened his eyes, he’d return...
In Luowasha all these years, not a day went by without missing ho, whenever sitting on a tall building gazing at the moonlight, he’d miss his parents and Su Luoluo. Without a proper goodbye, he disappeared, are they well?
If he hadn’t responded to that feeling of a call back then, where would he be now, what would he be doing? Would he have beco an extraordinary adult? Would he have successfully shaken those entrenched darknesses...?
Sorcerer or senator, which is more important? How did Su Wensheng and ’Su Wensheng’ reshape each other, overlap each other?
And Xiao Li...
Has she beco a wonderful adult?
...
"Snap."
A cracking sound ca from within his palm.
At this mont,
Su Ming’an’s heart seed to stop beating.
...
In the silent snow, he stood alone.
For a long ti,
he tremblingly withdrew his palm, looking at the crimson covering it, bringing it to his mouth.
His breath mingled with moisture, and every inch of his trembling fingers seed to tear a part from the depths of his heart, exposing pain and helplessness without reservation.
A warm current suddenly poured into his body, and his gradually depleted Mana Points began to rise abruptly...
This warm life force, through the broken red, rged into his throat and heart. It turned into fuel, into the warmth for resisting the wind and snow in his final hour...
"Cough cough... cough cough cough... cough cough cough cough...!!" As he devoured, he started coughing, the bloodstains sliding down his chin.
A swallowing sluggishness ca from his throat, making it difficult for him to breathe.
"Su Wensheng... Su Wensheng...!!"
"You... you really are..."
...
He completely rembered him.
...But why does everyone look so similar...!
...
With the warm current, he saw Su Wensheng’s mories.
Under the moonlight, a black-haired youth in school uniform stood in the school auditorium, playing the violin. His clothes were neat, wearing a tidy and beautiful tie.
People sat below the stage, watching the performing Su Wensheng, whispering:
"...That’s the luckiest Su Wensheng."
"..pared to other Su Wenshengs in history, he looks really ordinary."
"...He played just average, but he seems quite happy..."
Applause.
At the end of the piece, people began to applaud.
Amidst the waves of applause, the youth stood up smiling. Although he looked happy, after hearing people’s disappointed voices, a hint of fatigue appeared on his face.
Suddenly, he looked up, as if sensing sothing.
"..."
After a brief hesitation, he nodded.
A summoning light fell on him. The next mont, he disappeared.
...
Later, when traveling around Luowasha as a Sorcerer, the youth heard an indistinct voice:
"—Su Wensheng, why did you respond to that summoning feeling and co to Luowasha back then?"
"I wanted to go to an amazing world, beco an amazing person, to return and change the darkness of my hotown, to save countless ’Xiao Li’s." He said.
"—What if you can’t beco an amazing person?"
"I will try my best."
"—But what if you can’t go back ho?"
"When I was a kid, I heard my mom say that no matter where a person goes, or what they experience, their soul will return ho and be buried in the ground once they die... If I truly find that I can’t go back no matter what, then I would definitely choose to die a grand death..."
"—Su Wensheng."
"Hmm?"
"—I wish you, in advance, welco ho."
"Haha, thank you. Whether you’re blessing my return ho or blessing my death, I thank you. But, before the last mont cos, I will also try to live on. Unless..."
"—Unless what?"
"Unless I et Su the Saviour, I want to properly repay him for saving my hotown... Oh, I also want to say a sentence to myself..."
"Welco ho, Su Wensheng."
"The days in Luowasha are too lonely, but when I think of finally returning, I beco happy."
"Today’s date aligns with a festival from The World of Old Days, it seems to be the Mid-Autumn Festival. Although Luowasha doesn’t have this holiday, I still rember."
"Although I’m the only one gazing at the moon, I really hope you can hear..."
"Father, Mother, Xiao Li, Su Luoluo, Big Orange..."
"...Happy Mid-Autumn Festival."
"I miss you all."
"I’ll be back soon."
...
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