"...So people think I’m a demon, luring their children, making them join the cruel instances."
"But they were never anyone’s accessory; everyone should have the opportunity to decide their own destiny. Regardless of status or age."
"—Because death and madness won’t spare anyone just because they’re children. The Main God World is getting more and more chaotic, suicide attacks are frequent, and lunatics overflow in the squares... Many children are swept into it because they have no ans of defense, losing their lives."
Noel said softly.
It was as if he were expressing his view, and also as if he were comforting himself.
Su Ming’an saw that there were many children in the New World Guild, and they generally carried weapons, resolute in expression, shouldering everything at such a young age, despite not having established a complete set of values.
"We can prevent the children from firing guns—but we can’t stop them from holding guns," Su Ming’an said.
"...Yes, that’s right," Noel said.
"I won’t bla you for this," Su Ming’an said, "I won’t force my moral views on anyone, as people’s values and world views change with the world itself. The world is different now; it’s not right to hold you hostage with the standards of the past."
Noel was silent for a mont.
A mont later, he said:
"You always take this neutral stance."
"You can just assu that I’m selfish enough to want to fend for myself," Su Ming’an said.
"...For the Ninth World, who are our three teammates?" Noel suddenly asked.
"Are you still ready to enter the fray?" Su Ming’an looked at him.
Noel nodded.
"As for teammates... I’m leaning towards Lu, Luna, and Yamada Machiichi," Su Ming’an considered for a mont.
He didn’t pull Noel into the Peak Alliance. After all, Noel had his own foundation in the New World Guild and wasn’t suited to a group made up entirely of solo players.
Apart from himself and Lv Shu, if he had to choose three teammates from the other seven seats, he first ruled out Alger and Eleven, whom he did not know.
Luna and Yamada Machiichi were acquaintances with whom he had collaborated. Luna had fought alongside him in the Seventh World, a reliable person with a temperant as steadfast and sincere as a knightess’s. Yamada Machiichi was soone who knew gratitude and in the Fourth and Eighth Worlds had given up victory to help him. Although a bit gloomy and depressive in nature, he could tell he was a decent person.
...What was mainly morable was Yamada’s move in the Eighth World, "The Lighthouse is seen, why not pay homage?" It made quite an impression on him.
As for Lu, Su Ming’an wasn’t sure how to assess soone who almost thought of him as an all-knowing god. But Lu truly was a hexagon fighter, not only with the strength of a peak player but also with high emotional intelligence that allowed him to connect well with the audience. He was far more popular than the likes of Lv Shu, and his intelligence seed high too, as seen in his analysis in the Silver Star Replica. Having Lu would certainly help with a perfect pass.
With this in mind, Su Ming’an’s squad would be Lv Shu, Noel, Lu, Yamada Machiichi, Luna.
Regarding Isabella and Bei Wang, Isabella the scientist certainly had high esteem, but he still didn’t understand her temperant. Bei Wang was a player who had achieved a perfect pass in every instance to date; he definitely couldn’t enter a parallel instance with Su Ming’an.
—Su Ming’an’s criteria for choosing teammates, it seed, were actually quite simple.
Character.
It all ca down to character and moral standards.
He wasn’t lacking in combat power, not lacking in strength to fight alongside him. He needed not sharp swords and knives, but a companion he could entrust his back to, a partner who could always stand by his side.
He needed a torch.
Soone like Lv Shu, soone like Yamada Town, soone I can trust, soone to whom I can entrust everything, soone who can abandon everything to support him, that warm, stable, never-dying torch.
Just like in the Eighth World, even if another ally with a Combat Power of 2000 cos along, can they really defeat the Jiu Shen with tentacles that have at least 4000 Combat Power?
...All that’s needed is a partner who can pull him out of the illusion.
As long as his condition remains stable, he believes he can keep going until the end.
After discussing the preparations for the Ninth World with Noel, Su Ming’an left the New World Guild and headed for White City.
His Ruler’s Skill allowed him to choose during his rest periods to return to a previously Perfectly Passed instance. He already had the right to return to the First World’s X-City, the Second World’s Daylight Floating City, the Fifth World’s Ming Hui, and the Seventh World’s Pulaya.
As for the Third World’s Mingxi Middle School and the Sixth World’s White Sand Paradise, their outcos were both complete collapses of the worlds, so they could not be returned to.
And the Fourth World’s Terrily Town and the Eighth World Do belong to the Peak Athletic Worlds. For so reason, it was impossible to return to the Peak Athletic Worlds, which was information known from before.
...So his goodbye with Xiber was truly a farewell.
However, considering the future world gas, maybe they could et again if the Ruler’s Skill is upgraded.
He looked down at the back of his hand.
There were six white Pattern Marks of Perfect Passes, like a blooming flower.
The Fourth World and the Eighth World, as Peak Athletic Worlds, do not count towards the total number of Perfect Passes and did not receive the so-called "World Origin".
Considering that, as Shadow, a World Ga skill, can replace Qiongdi NPCs, go on patrols through the Qiongdi, and those Silver Star Replica instances that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, which outsiders could not have built, the Eighth World... seems to integrate quite a lot of factors from the World Ga Organizers.
The fact that Perfect Passes in Peak Athletic Worlds do not count towards the total number of Perfect Passes is already a strange rule.
The initial Terrily Town also had many elents of the "World Ga", such as the roles of prophet and werewolf, which obviously weren’t part of Terrily Town itself.
...They felt more like a combination of the world itself with the World Ga rather than a purely self-evolving world.
He let go of his hand and saw the chanical gate of the city slowly rising before him.
Nolia stood atop the Corridor Bridge, with visible chanical integrations on her body.
During his last visit, Su Ming’an had learned how to use chanical Explosives, and now that he had been upgraded to Fourth Rank as a Ruler, he could learn even more.
"Welco back, White City’s hero," Nolia said, "Are you here to learn the ’Type II Stabilizer’ this ti?"
After the end of the Sixth World, Su Ming’an had once visited White City, where Nolia told him that White City had a ntality Stabilizer that could physiologically block chaos and fear, which had a decent effect on stabilizing the mind.
Although it wasn’t a direct skill for curing the mind, and was more within the scope of dication, it should be more useful than tricyclic antidepressants or Paroxetine Tablets. After all, the technological level of White City was much higher than that of Zhai Xing’s humanity.
"The one teaching isn’t going to be Professor Sneer again, is it?" The mory of his previous painful learning experience, and of the room filled with chemical formulas, made Su Ming’an’s scalp tingle.
However, reality was not as he wished.
He saw Sneer smiling and waiting for him.
The affable appearance of the lab-coat wearing professor gradually started to seem sowhat terrifying to him.
...Do you guys only have one teacher or what?
He still rembered the last ti Sneer scolded him, "Why can’t you do a three-digit ntal calculation three tis within five seconds?" The mory was incredibly embarrassing.
As he crossed the Corridor Bridge, Su Ming’an couldn’t help but take another glance at the giant statue in the center of White City.
[White City Hero, Outer-World Traveler・Su Ming’an]
[White City Old Calendar Year 9, Day 358——New Calendar Year 1, Day 1]
Below the sculpture, several bunches of blooming chrysanthemums were placed.
...It seed that in many instance worlds, in people’s minds, he was always the kind of character who died after retiring from great achievents.
...
"Ding Dong!"
[You are about to begin learning the Ruler・Special Skill: (Type 2 ntality Stabilizer Production Technique)
Please note: You have opened up a special skill slot・Ruler (Current slot count: 2/2, advance through your Ruler status to further increase the number of skill slots and acquire additional skills.)
Learned skill: chanical Explosive Production Technique.]
...
[Type 2 ntality Stabilizer Production Technique
Teacher: Sneer (Second Seat of White City)
Introduction: After learning this technique, the player will master the production skills for (ntality Stabilizers.)
Learning conditions: White City laboratory premises, permission of White City Ruler, adequate resource supply, Fourth Rank Ruler.
Please note: This technique can only be mastered by the Ruler themselves and cannot be taught to others.]
"Co on." Sneer smiled at him, "I at least have to teach you how to balance chemical equations."
Influenced by his smile, Su Ming’an couldn’t help but take a half step back.
...
"Huff... Huff..."
Yu Ruohuo woke up from the nightmare, sat up, and gasped for air.
Cold sweat trickled down her temples, soaking her pajamas.
Inside the room, devoid of light, her face was imrsed in shadows, and all that could be heard were her suppressed gasps, like those of a wild beast. She breathed desperately, drawing in fresh air, like soone who had just climbed out of the sea after nearly drowning.
She reached for the nightstand and found a black handgun, clutching it as if it were her most treasured possession. She hugged it to her chest, holding it tightly, as if doing so would make her feel utterly safe.
The handgun was a Remington RP9, the sa model she had given to Su Ming’an in the First World, and then she bought another just like it for herself.
She stared blankly at the pitch-black handgun in her hand, her body shivering slightly, her bangs covering her eyes.
"Forgive ... forgive ... forgive ..."
She repeated the phrase over and over, caressing the handgun as if under a spell.
Her pupils trembled violently as if she had rembered sothing she did not wish to recall.
...
[Ruohuo, you’re not getting any younger, yet you insist on getting involved with soone so controversial. Just give us his Number and earn so Points for our family, then stay safe until the ga ends, isn’t that better?]
[Just say it, and when the year ends, we could have a good life, it’s not easy for the whole family to be together...]
[Ruohuo, listen to your mother, respond to the organization’s call, and give out his Number.]
...
She touched the surface of the handgun, and though it was supposed to be cold tal, it felt strangely warm in her hand at this mont.
She stood up and went downstairs. Her father, Old Yu, was drinking tea and reading the newspaper on the couch, while her mother had gone to do square dancing with a bunch of ladies who had regained their youth. No matter what world it was, square dancing seed to be an essential form of entertainnt.
"Ruohuo, it’s almost midnight, why aren’t you sleeping?" Her father raised his eyes and saw the sweaty Yu Ruohuo: "...Having nightmares again?"
Ever since his daughter handed over the Number One Player’s Number, her condition seed off.
However, he believed there was nothing wrong with that action. People are part of a collective. A youngster like Su Ming’an could not outshine the elite conglorate of the human United Group. Expecting him to keep winning was simply irrational, and it was better to take advantage of Yu Ruohuo’s friendship with him to trade his Number to the United Group and improve their family’s life in the future.
But lately, he had started to feel a bit of regret.
...That young man’s status seed to be getting higher and higher.
Even the United Group, which they all looked up to, had to look up to that young man. As for the failure he thought was inevitable, Su Ming’an had none, not even once, and he kept crushing all the elites on his way to the end.
Having offended Su Ming’an, he wondered if their family would suffer retaliation in the future...
Old Yu was an ordinary middle-aged man who lived between office buildings and food markets. Although he had so business acun, he could never imagine a youngster reaching such a status.
—This world is just too strange, too strange.
Why would a young man stand at the pinnacle of the world? Where are the leaders of humanity? The big shots? Why is it a student leading the charge?
Old Yu was soone easily swayed by public opinion, previously fond of binge-watching various short video clips and news, and he would pontificate online about international relations, foreign trade, stock fluctuations—even though he wasn’t really an expert on anything.
He believed so comnts on forums that said the Number One Player had ulterior motives and was not an ordinary human because how could an ordinary human achieve all this? It was simply incongruous!
He looked at his daughter with her fast breathing and said with concern:
"Ruohuo? What’s wrong with you? You’ve been having nightmares recently. I’ve told you not to watch those live broadcasts with ntal pollution. Experts have said that the scenes from those world replicas are abnormal. Even watching them through a screen can affect our psyche!"
Yu Ruohuo didn’t speak but just stared at him.
After a mont, she let out a faint whisper of a voice.
Like a cry for help.
"...Dad, I want to see a psychologist," she said.
Old Yu frowned and imdiately rejected the idea:
"What do you need a doctor for? I know what you’re going to say, but there’s no such thing as depression, it’s all a scam for money! You seem perfectly fine to , just rest more and you’ll get better. Depression isn’t a real disease, it’s just a bad mood, a disease of the wealthy! You just need to watch so happy short videos and you’ll be fine."
Yu Ruohuo fell silent once again.
She stared at her father reading the newspaper, motionless, standing for a long ti.
The air was filled with her rapid, pleading, beast-like panting.
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