Noel pressed the brim of his hat very low, revealing only the curve of his lips, smiling just like before.
He spread open his right hand, holding a toy castle.
Red, blue, and yellow blocks stacked together, like a child’s puzzle, bright and eye-catching. He looked at this little toy castle and said with a smile:
"...Let’s bet if you’ll overturn the toy castle in my hand."
Su Ming’an looked at him, puzzled.
Noel always kept the brim of his hat down, making it hard to see his eyes:
"The Sixth Thrones of the Organizers, Yuritilola, promised that she has a way to help ascend to the High Dinsions, and all I have to do is within my ability."
"The Master of the End of All Things promised that he has observed Luowasha for many years and has mastered the ability of ’Constitution.’ If I possessed this ability, I could freely write the ideal New World, making the New World real."
"Ascending to High Dinsions, and the New World."
"These two goals I seek are already completely clear. Perhaps your endpoint still has so distance for you. But for , I’ve already reached the end."
Su Ming’an listened quietly.
Transparent fish swam around them, sprinkling faint glow.
Noel’s voice remained calm, like he was stating an extraordinarily plain matter. Su Ming’an, through the puppet threads in his hand, could also perceive his own heartbeat.
Very calm.
They were both very calm.
Like seeing a long-visible endpoint finally coming to them. Like a long-expected fork in the road finally passing underfoot.
There was a premise they knew clearly from the first eting, from the first cooperation, always knew—they were in a cooperative relationship, beca friends to achieve their ideals, fighting side by side.
However, the stark opposition of ideals dood their souls to only et briefly, eventually heading toward their own distant journeys.
Sky and hot earth, flying bird and swimming fish.
From the beginning, they were clear in their minds about the Damocles Sword that was destined to fall. They knew from the encounter that there would be a day of farewell.
No one would wrong themselves or abandon their ideals for the other, so now, once finding the endpoint of ideals, naturally, Noel would decisively leave.
Su Ming’an also accepted the day calmly.
—But why, when the reality is laid in front of him, when the destined mont of separation arrives this day, does he still feel doubtful and incredulous?
Like that mont seeing Noel’s bright red knife point descending toward the sleeping Demon Line Su Ming’an, Su Ming’an still felt it’s illusionary. He felt Noel wouldn’t harm a True Friend for ideals; there might be hidden reasons. He tried to judge if there’s anything hidden in Noel’s eyes, but the brim was too low, and he could only see the blooming Blue Rose on the brim.
Thus, he said:
"...The original contract at the amusent park, flying us into the sky of the Main God World, wishing together in the hot spring before New Year’s Day, eating cake, hanging wish cards, the promise made in the Ruined World, watching a group wedding, gifting us a dazzling fireworks display, playing Duck-Goose Kill together in the villa, making dumplings, pasting Spring Festival couplets... was all that a lie?"
"Noel Agnini?"
"Was your ’love’ towards us fake?"
He recounted past deeply morable things, attempting to find proof for so answers among them.
Noel still pressed his hat brim, black water surged between them, the library rose layer by layer, like towering black mountains.
A mont later, Su Ming’an heard Noel’s very soft voice:
"...It’s real."
It is real.
Su Ming’an’s pupils slightly widened.
Then, Noel said the next sentence:
"And now... it’s also real."
Su Ming’an’s ears seed to hear the sound of an assured bell.
It’s all real.
True Friend is real, cooperation is real, anchor point is real, bond is real... leaving is also real.
Noel once sacrificed for him, taking the Organizers’ investigation in the Ninth World on his behalf. That was because at the ti, the way Noel could realize his ideal was to bind himself to his warship. Only with him alive, Noel’s ideal had hope.
He had saved Noel from peril more than once, and Noel had reached out to him in desperate situations more than once... they’ve cooperated countless tis, helped each other countless tis, until today, Noel finally found a way to realize his ideal. Hence, Noel untied the binds.
If Noel gave up his ideals for him, it would instead cause the Adventurer to lose its luster. He is independent, and Noel also possesses his own independent persona.
The blonde youth blossod like spring flowers on his path, differing, yet harmonious souls ultimately must part.
"Click."
Black water roiled.
Su Ming’an stepped forward, seeing the shadow behind Noel, a child crowned with purple grapes and olive leaves, body pieced together from Red Heart, Spade, Club, and Square Card.
—Up to this point, Noel had already ford connections with three High Dinsions. The Sixth Thrones of the Organizers, the Master of the End of All Things, Dieying.
If Noel summons the Sixth Thrones here, not only can he invade Sique’s dream, but Su Ming’an’s safety will also be in jeopardy. And it all only depends on Noel’s single thought.
"So, are you going to do it? Summon High Dinsions, make a move against ?" Su Ming’an stepped forward again, his fingers slightly curved.
His Spatial Vibration could instantly kill Noel.
Now, they were like both holding nuclear weapons capable of killing the other, whoever moves first ensures safety. But neither moved first, seemingly staring through thin glass.
Noel slowly released his hand, the brim didn’t need pressing, just covering his eyes. Perhaps at this ti, Su Ming’an could see Noel’s eyes by bending down, but it wasn’t necessary.
The aning was already very clear.
Noel’s left hand slowly placed over the toy castle in his right hand, tapping like playing the piano.
This wasn’t any secret code, just purely playful tapping.
Like a child playing with toys.
"Now is also your best chance to kill ... Do you still think I have hidden reasons?" Noel looked down at the colorful toy in his hand.
"It’s not like you haven’t done such things." Su Ming’an said.
"But this ti." Noel shook his head, finally giving a definite answer: "I truly... have no hidden reasons."
...
["No secrets."]
...
Noel should have had thousands of ways to explain the reason to him, but didn’t.
Noel should have had thousands of more fitting ways to say goodbye, but didn’t.
There was not even any coded communication between them; the signals Su Ming’an sent out, apart from a few confirming Noel’s identity, went unanswered.
Not responding is, in fact, a response.
"Just like that, cutting all ties?" Su Ming’an inhaled lightly.
"Yes. It was nice to walk a part of the road with you, but it indeed ends here," Noel said.
"So, you think... your ideal outweighs my life?" Su Ming’an asked.
Noel blinked his eyes, as if finding it odd, laughed softly: "Put yourself in my shoes. If the thod to save Zhai Xing lay right in front of you, all you had to do was act, and you’d surely achieve it. But the cost would be sacrificing my life — after trying a hundred, a thousand tis, unable to save , would you choose not to sacrifice and forsake Zhai Xing?"
This perspective was lethal, leaving Su Ming’an silent for a while.
"..."
Silence.
Quiet silence.
This kind of choice, Su Ming’an faced back in the Ninth World. If Noel hadn’t co to break the stalemate then, the utterly powerless Su Ming’an... might have truly lost Yuanyuan in the end.
He really... could not give a definitive answer.
After a mont, his voice was sowhat hoarse:
"Then why don’t you summon High Dinsions imdiately? It’s your best chance to act now."
"Our bet isn’t over yet." Noel lifted the building block castle in his hand.
"Is there any point? What’s the stake?"
"If I win, you eat a few strawberry cakes. If I lose, I’ll eat a few pieces of chocolate," Noel said with a smile.
...What kind of a bet is this, what kind of stakes are these. It’s simply like a child playing around.
Su Ming’an instinctively wanted to laugh, he was used to saving face for Noel, even when Noel said jokes that weren’t funny, he would laugh. But as the smile was about to surface, he realized... he no longer needed to laugh at Noel anymore.
Noel’s jokes were no longer for him or them.
A playful farewell, a playful bet, playful stakes — the New World Adventurer always liked conducting everything in such a playful manner, including his own life. Yet clearly it was such a solemn mont, the boy’s face still held a smile.
Just like the boy initially said to him —[Gas should be played with a smile].
Now, Noel indeed was smiling.
If you don’t look at his eyes shaded by the hat brim.
Su Ming’an wanted to step closer to look, but Noel suddenly turned, back facing him.
"As a child, my adoptive parents would take to the observatory." Noel raised his head, gazing at the star sea and whales in the sky, as if seeing Zhai Xing’s blue sky through them:
"The observatories in Yu Country were mostly romantic, personifying Venus, Jupiter, Saturn... so you could know their appearances, dispositions, and preferences."
"Saturn is a gentle Angel with a massive halo, its color like a diligent farr uncle."
"rcury is a swift little Elf, with an orbital period of just 88 days, and it always quickly converges with the Sun."
"As a child, I wasn’t like other kids who believed it, others thought they really were ’Angels’, ’Elves’. But I knew they were just planets orbiting the Sun, devoid of personalities, with no such concepts as good or evil."
"Playing planets in the observatory were humans, not the actual planets."
"All emotions were forcibly imposed on them by humans, humans tried to make them live according to human thoughts. Humans are such selfish and extensive creatures, wanting all things to present and be understood in alignnt with their thinking patterns."
"So, then I knew, planets will always be planets, Sea Monsters always Sea Monsters, the Captain will always be human."
"Sea Monsters won’t abandon the vast ocean for a Captain to be imprisoned on land. Captains won’t stay at the bottom of the sea for Sea Monsters, bidding farewell to their holand."
Blue rose ribbons fluttered, and the boy’s golden hair freely flowed under the star sea.
White legs stepped in black water, his slender spine seemingly sprouting long wings.
"Among all the stars, the one I like most is the Sun."
"It’s not because it’s the core of the Solar System, nor because it’s the origin of all life, but simply because... it’s unique and one-of-a-kind."
"It’s the only Constant Star in the entire system, not needing to orbit anyone, just existing there, surrounded by other planets. Its searing heat and dazzling brilliance make everything dare not look directly at it."
"—The Sun leads all living beings."
"Every ti a human experint concludes, after crawling out from a blood bath, I most liked going to the corner’s crack, like a bug clinging there... the only fissure in the entire lab, the only place to glimpse sunlight. Even if just a tiny bit."
"Whenever this mont ca, I felt like I returned to my adoptive parents, lying with them on a warm grassy sunlit field, reading Jane Love, Notre-Da de Paris, and Les Miserables."
"With was a child of my age, similarly tornted by various experints. Severed hands experint, hunger experint, drowning experint, asphyxiation experint... after each experint concluded, he would co over and ask why I liked sunlight so much."
"I said, I don’t possess much, but sunlight — it’s the only thing from past to future I can hold onto."
"He too, lay in the crack with watching sunlight. He said he once had a blissful childhood, riding the Ferris wheel with mom and dad, then bad people ca, and the bliss vanished."
"He also said, he’s a bad kid — deceitful, lying, even indirectly causing others’ deaths... he’d do anything. He said, kids seed innocent and pure, yet are the most inherently evil, for the lack of moral constraints, they can commit any terrifying act."
"He said too, children fundantally aren’t the purest beings, but the darkest. If only children remained in this world, it would be an exceedingly terrifying world."
"Yet I laughed and said — no, kids aren’t purely bad, just lacking proper education. If there truly exists a Utopia in this world, it is [a world composed of an upright adult and a bunch of blank-sheet kids]. After correct adult education, the grown-up children all beco good people. They’re no longer burned in warti flas, drowned in mountain streams as infant girls, stealing in slums to survive since childhood, or those unfortunate from abusive birth families..."
"All pains, all tragedies, all burnings, killings, plunderings... were contained within the cradle of childhood."
"I want to build such a Utopia."
"If a real Utopia exists, tragedies like our human experints would cease happening."
"Having heard this, he said: So you want to beco the sole adult nurturing children? This is dictatorship! It’s utopian! Simply naive!"
"I said, yes, I admit I’m not a righteous person. I just wish to move towards the ’Sun’."
"I want to beco the ’Constant Star’, remotely responding to that blond child standing in the observatory."
"I wish to traverse the Universe, to find out what lies at the Universe’s other end — I don’t want my view confined to just Zhai Xing the one planet, living and dying here."
"I wish... for a Utopian New World."
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