"To rember a girl mired in the mud, you must indeed be kind."
"You’re the City Lord, aren’t you? On such a night, you should be resting instead of wasting your ti on ."
As Xiaoi uttered these words, she kept her head down, not daring to look into his eyes.
Su Ming’an didn’t speak.
In fact, if it weren’t for the exclusive hint from TE2 about Xiaoi, he would have indeed failed to notice her among a population of a million—an unremarkable presence who might well have... headed towards the most tragic of fates.
Becoming a mistress, losing her dignity... even committing suicide.
Her life was, without a doubt, destined to end in tragedy.
"Where do you want to go now?" Su Ming’an could see the light emanating from the back of Xiaoi’s neck changing from red to green, signaling her movent towards safety.
Her persona seed to be slowly changing. This was sothing that could indeed be influenced over ti.
His appearance had changed her life.
"I want to try to find a job," she said after pressing her lips together. "I want to give it a try, to work hard with my own hands. City Lord Ya Sa, I think, I want to start anew."
She looked up at the star-filled night sky.
There was no smog today, no drizzle. The stars in the sky shone brightly, twinkling against the black velvet backdrop, as soft as her eyes.
After stepping out of the shadows of her early life, she suddenly possessed a future.
Su Ming’an brought her to an unoccupied house in the Core Area and paid the rent for the first three months.
With no stains on her record and as long as she gradually moved away from a lesser persona status, she could indeed start over.
"There seems to be a chanics institution nearby that’s hiring. You have a background in chanics, so getting the job won’t be a problem," said Su Ming’an. "As for deeper developnt, that will be up to you."
"Thank you, City Lord Ya Sa," Xiaoi responded.
She sat in a chair, still frail and slender, her hands resting on the silver hexagram pistol he had given her.
After breaking free from her demon-like father, she seed to have suddenly burst forth with radiance, her eyes gleaming with a bright luster.
She deserved to have a future.
Su Ming’an turned and left.
Xiaoi was but a microcosm of millions of others.
Today, she was fortunate enough to have been seen and redeed by him. But what about the many others like her?
The city-state was too vast, the world too large.
He had only twenty days.
He couldn’t concern himself with them all.
...
"Ding dong!"
[Perfect Pass (TE2) Progress: 70%]
...
On his way back to Central City, Su Ming’an pulled out a black silk top hat.
During the dayti while dealing with those rebel players, he had collected an excellent hat equipnt.
...
[Daisy’s Song (Red Level): "Can you redeem ? Could you have loved , just a little bit?"
Physical Defense: 20
ntality Defense: 20
Equipnt Requirent: None
Special Skill (Eternal): Spatial teleportation skills can carry one additional person. Reduces mana consumption by 20 points for spatial skills.
Note: A silk top hat from the Dawn War period, restored in an antique shop, adorned with several patterns of daisies and seemingly embroidered with a line of text that’s half fragnted "I miss you so much..."]
...
His current hat equipnt was the Rose Hat, which granted immunity to instant death buffs, and the High Tower Invitation, which could issue a mandatory duel.
This instance had no curses, so swapping the Rose Hat for Daisy’s Song was just right.
Being a purely functional piece, if spatial teleportation could bring along an additional person, it would be very helpful in team battles.
He didn’t rush back to Central City but waited at the entrance of the ruined building until dawn, until the night eting comnced as scheduled.
With a flash of white light, he saw the eight participants of the eting.
The woman with sandy-hair, Number Two, initiated the topic for discussion. Today, they were discussing the issue of the rebel army.
"The punishnt of the rebel army has been almost entirely dealt with," comnted the woman with white hair, Number Three. "Doctor, you’ve done well. The casualties of this war have been kept within the plan."
"Tomorrow the activation of Caius Tower is scheduled. Matters of the world’s destiny must not fail," stated Number Seven, who was wearing a blood-red scarf.
Su Ming’an waited for them to finish discussing and spoke up as the eting was about to end, "Ladies and gentlen, there’s sothing I’d like to say."
Their attention turned to him in unison.
"I want to et you in person, in the real world," said Su Ming’an. "When would you be available to visit my lab?"
He had thoroughly scrutinized the archives today but failed to uncover any information about these individuals. Logically, these leaders who discussed the city-state’s major issues should be able to et him in person.
Upon hearing Su Ming’an’s words, all eight exchanged glances.
In their eyes, Su Ming’an saw panic.
...Why were they panicked? What was so frightening about his request?
"Uh, Doctor, with that said, everything is over," spoke Number Eight, the man with fiery-red hair.
"That... Doctor, let answer you," Number Three let out a sigh, "In the City of asurent, you won’t be able to et us, nor will you be able to find our information."
"No need to say anything more, Number Three. With the Doctor’s statent, we have already failed," interjected the blonde guy, Number Four.
"Can you clarify?" Su Ming’an fixed his gaze on them. "If you’re going to speak in riddles, can I cut you down?"
He observed the sealed room, a sense of foreboding creeping up on him.
He had previously thought this was so special spatial thod capable of forcibly pulling him into a eting room sowhere in Central City for a high-level conference.
But now, it seed that he could not et with these eight individuals in reality. This place wasn’t real either.
So, where exactly was this place?
What did they an by "Once the Doctor has spoken, we have already failed"?
He beca increasingly aware that sothing was amiss, this panic, he had experienced it in White Sand Paradise, it was a sense of irrevocable loss. He sensed that—sothing seed to be hidden beneath layers of information.
—If he didn’t uncover it soon, it would be too late.
—If he didn’t discover it soon, it would be too late.
He took a wheelchair out of his equipnt slot and rushed towards the wall of the conference room, getting close to the surface.
He raised his hand, and the space vibrated—
"Boom—!!!"
A violent explosion sounded, shattering the long table and chairs to pieces.
But the walls around him remained as pristine as ever, without even a single crack.
Su Ming’an wanted to bring down this conference room to see the scene outside, but the walls appeared to be "indestructible."
Just as he was about to speak, the space in front of him suddenly began to warp and spin...
The eting was over, the space was expelling him.
The eight standing individuals all looked at him at the sa ti.
Among them, a white-haired Number Six youth said out of the blue:
"Ya Sa, I’ve said it before."
"Sooner or later you will..."
"et the sa end, dying for the City-State."
The night-ti eting scene faded away.
When he opened his eyes, Su Ming’an’s back was drenched in cold sweat.
...He understood why he had been expelled from the night-ti eting.
His words just revealed that he didn’t know this group wasn’t in the City of asurent, thereby exposing that he wasn’t Acto himself.
He was about to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but his fingers wouldn’t move.
He had a premonition and slowly looked up—
In front of him was a white, piled-up mountain of bones, resembling a small hill. In the corner, there lay a dismbered, lifeless pig-human.
Upon seeing this scene, a sense of crisis instantly overwheld him.
...How did he end up in the basent upon returning?
...Before attending the night-ti eting, he was clearly waiting outside the ruins of the building!
"Xike!" He imdiately wanted to run.
However, there was no response from the watch on his right wrist, Xike was silent, its permissions had been seized, and it could not control the wheelchair.
He exerted all his strength to move his fingers, but they wouldn’t budge, and not a trace of strength remained in his body.
...What was happening.
At that mont, he heard a "click", and the basent projector turned on automatically.
A pure white figure erged, its body emanating a soft light. Silver hair like flowing ribbons seed to be touched by a glittering aura.
As it approached, the halo around it fluttered, resembling a slowly extended bridge of light.
"Dawn, why did you bring to the basent?" Su Ming’an asked.
Dawn stood in front of him and bent down, her crystal-clear eyes eting his.
"Because you’ve let down."
She drew closer, and the light gradually spilled over his face.
"Don’t be afraid, I won’t be as cruel as I was to the previous generation, I’ll grant you a swift end."
Her voice was very gentle, yet it conveyed a very direct ssage.
Despite hearing Dawn’s almost judgntal words, Su Ming’an still couldn’t believe it.
...Just because of his statent just now, she wanted to kill him?
...Just because of a single phrase in the eting, "I want to see you", was everything he had done before now rendered aningless? What did that phrase truly represent?
"You’re going to kill ?" Su Ming’an stood his ground, "Dawn, aren’t you afraid I will use the password to shut down—"
"Are you joking?"
Dawn curved her eyes, her light, gentle laughter erged, her virtual chuckle sounding surprisingly pleasant, like the tinkling of silver bells.
Yet, her next words were like a bucket of ice water poured over him.
"How could I not know that you don’t have the password—Su Ming’an."
Su Ming’an’s words ca to an abrupt halt.
Staring into Dawn’s pale eyes—he clearly saw himself, sinking into the white bones.
Bone dust fell in flurries, surrounding his skeleton, like giant hands ready to pull him into this grave of bones.
His greatest asset, his biggest lever of power—at this mont was completely ineffective.
It had always known he didn’t know the password.
It called him...
"Su Ming’an".
His pupils contracted, his defenses were shattered in an instant.
He had thought that Dawn would have a "shielding chanism", just like those unawakened NPCs, it wouldn’t discover that he was Su Ming’an, the Player who had beco Acto.
But now... it was telling him that from the beginning, it knew he was Su Ming’an?
It allowed him to play as Acto, allowed him to besiege other Players, allowed him to secretly collect the Dawn Code, never exposing his act, pretending to be frightened when he threatened that he had all the passwords.
—But in fact, the person it was speaking to, was always "Number One Player Su Ming’an".
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