[Replica Activation · Day Nine]
Early in the morning, the air was filled with the aroma of hot porridge.
People wore felt hats and carried firearms, wrapping themselves up tightly, and many had dangerous missions outside the city today.
Su Ming’an woke up at six in the morning, just in ti to encounter a large group of people eating breakfast.
"Lewis, aren’t you cold dressed so lightly?" a girl with pink hair, called Sita Xi, asked curiously as she stared at Su Ming’an in his white coat.
Others heard the noise and looked over.
"Not cold," Su Ming’an shook his head.
He moved past the people and walked outside.
Not far away, a blue-haired young man approached. Through the mist of hot porridge, Su Ming’an and his gaze t.
"Didn’t expect to find you here at Beacon Shelter, Lewis. Let’s go out together," the blue-haired young man said naturally as he clapped Su Ming’an on the shoulder, "Let’s go."
Su Ming’an recognized who the blue-haired young man was. The only people who could make such intimate gestures were a few of his Player teammates, and the most likely was Lu.
They walked out of the Sanctuary. Outside, the yellow dirt road was uneven, wide enough for three large trucks to run side by side. Trucks roared past, cramd with fully ard rcenaries.
Under the houses hung so red lanterns, and stores sold essentials like wheat seeds, potatoes, salt, and sugar.
"We still need four teammates," Lu said, "Noel is... temporarily unfindable, so we have to look for Lv Shu, Yamada, and Luna."
"Hmm."
"There’s a festival coming up here soon, I think it’s called ’Fuyuan Festival.’ Everyone’s buying stuff," Lu said.
He looked toward the street. The culture here had so similarities to Dragon Country, and Fuyuan Festival was much like the Spring Festival, with many places on the streets decorated with lantern-like ornants, and people drying salted ats and sausages.
"What a coincidence, it’s almost the New Year in the Main God World too," Su Ming’an said.
These days, he saw the audience constantly talking about the New Year. Since it was humanity’s first New Year in the world ga, they found it very novel.
Now, Noel was invaded by Ta Wei and didn’t participate in Caius Tower. Lv Shu was nowhere to be seen, no idea in which corner of Caius Tower. Yuanyuan... serving as Luo Kylstia of the battle regint, also unknown where she might be.
His "Xiber’s Tracking Compass" Prop in a replica could locate only three people, and he had already located two, Dong An’an and Lin Guang. He must keep one slot open in case of an ergency, leaving no space for teammates.
No one he trusted was by his side now.
"Here," suddenly, a hand reached out.
Su Ming’an turned his head, seeing Lu smiling warmly. In Lu’s palm lay a purple-wrapped oval candy.
"My sister really likes you, asked to bring you a little treat from Australia," Lu said. "It’s said that sweets can improve your mood. She’d be very happy to see you eat her candy."
As the only top-ranking player who got along well with viewers, Lu was known as the person least affected by public opinion storms, boasting high emotional intelligence, verbal skills, and affinity.
"Thank you," Su Ming’an said.
He put the candy in his pocket, but did not eat it. He wouldn’t, not anymore, consu any food handed to him by others.
Lu didn’t mind; he rely raised his cara.
There were so side missions in Caius Tower that could earn Contribution Points. Lu had taken one to film NPCs, docunting their actions and events.
"Su Ming’an, can you wait here for for a bit?" Lu said, "My task is to conduct an interview, it’ll be quick."
"Sure," Su Ming’an said.
It was the early days at Kaius Tower, primarily focused on gathering information. He hadn’t received any system notifications; it wasn’t yet the ti for significant events to occur.
He hadn’t decided yet how to replicate the actions of Acto in history.
... How was he supposed to initiate the Dawn War?
This epic war, lasting forty years and aiming for freedom and liberation, was etched into history books. Those who revered him as a deity—how was he to lead them?
Lu lifted the cara and headed towards an ordinary storefront.
In a shop selling paper flowers and red lanterns sat an old grandmother with white hair.
Her hands were skilled, folding bright red origami cranes and little paper figurines with her thick, calloused hands. She was focused, like an artisan in an ancient town.
Su Ming’an waited outside. Lu went in, handed the old lady so candy, and after she said a few words in front of the cara and repeatedly admonished Lu while holding his hand, he finally ca out.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Su Ming’an," Lu said. He was carrying a beautiful paper lantern, red as the sun.
Su Ming’an wasn’t interested in the old lady’s story and didn’t inquire further.
They continued walking down the street, and after a mont, Lu initiated:
"That old lady’s daughter was previously conscripted by the Deity faction, forced to obey the whispers of the deity."
Su Ming’an slightly turned his head.
Lu’s gaze was distant:
"The old lady’s daughter died from a disease labeled ’missing,’ pregnant with her grandchild at that ti."
"The daughter gave birth to the child, but that child was also inherently defective. Eventually, the old lady had no choice but to kill the child herself."
"Then... the old lady went mad."
"All she rembers is how to fold paper flowers, how to make origami cranes, she folds various small crafts all day and night. Because she used to fold these things often for her pregnant daughter."
"She only reacts to soone giving her candy because her daughter loved eating sweets before she was pregnant. So, she kept calling ’daughter, daughter’ while holding my hand just now."
"My cara, it aims to record such stories. I am here to collect material in order to expose the brutality of the Holy Tribunal of the Deity faction."
"I want to follow the path of a ’news comntator’. Since there are dia and live broadcasts here, I want to pass on the brutal acts committed by the Deity faction while ensuring the safety of the subjects. This way, even if I am not fighting, my Faction Contribution Points won’t be few."
Su Ming’an listened silently.
Lu’s ideas were clear.
However, by doing this, Lu would be in complete opposition to the Deity faction. If the Freedom Faction were defeated, Lu certainly wouldn’t have an easy ti.
"—So, do you understand why I am telling you this?" Lu suddenly asked.
He stared at Su Ming’an, his eyes normally gentle but now firm.
"Hmm," Su Ming’an said, "You want to take on the role of Yasa Acto and initiate the Dawn War, rather than just watch as Lu Lewis, right?"
This type of tragedy would only increase in such a backdrop, endlessly.
"I don’t know why you are possessing Acto," Lu said. "It just shows that if anyone can save these people, you are the most suited.
I... am not forcing you, I just want you to see these things. Even if you later choose to continue as Lu Lewis, I will respect you. After all, your chanical technology far surpasses the tis, and that’s enough for you to earn decent Contribution Value without taking the most dangerous path."
"..." Su Ming’an remained silent.
They walked past an art studio where a few children were scribbling landscapes of green mountains and clear waters on paper—that was the scenery before the Century Catastrophe.
Even though no one rembered what happened during the Century Catastrophe, everyone could vaguely recall that it was a very beautiful era.
Like Qiu Li, they harbored a secret and genuine longing for that era, striving with all their might to restore the unknown past.
Su Ming’an withdrew his gaze.
His eyes were distant.
"—Run, the people from the Holy Tribunal are coming!"
Suddenly, the people ahead who were leaving the city fled back as if for their lives.
Hearing the words "Holy Tribunal," Lu’s expression tightened, and he pulled Su Ming’an into the gap between nearby buildings.
The Holy Tribunal was the largest adjudicating body of the Deity faction, exclusively belonging to Lin Guang, a powerful ard force that could arbitrarily execute residents.
In the narrow gap between walls, there were only so stacked wooden fras and charcoal fires. Su Ming’an pressed against the wall, watching the outside scene.
Among the fleeing crowd, Su Ming’an saw a figure moving unhurriedly.
—It was a man walking amidst steel.
The white-haired young man walked among the steel-forged chanics, his strikingly handso face flushed with warm blood, yet he seed to rge with the chanical Army.
The wind lifted the white-haired youth’s robe, and in his eyes, there was no longer the gentleness he had when walking with Su Ming’an at night. Facing the fleeing people, he spoke just one sentence:
"I suspect there are those here who defy the Deity—go, search every house."
Behind him, the chanical Army, with blood-red eyes, received the command and burst out.
The chanical Army broke into people’s hos, searching their belongings. If any items were judged as "sacrilegious," the person would be dragged out and tied up.
As for the specific standards of this judgnt, no one knew. It was like... a massacre without any standards, simply to reduce the population.
The people were herded to the square, like pigs and sheep waiting to be slaughtered. And like a deity—the agent Lin Guang who judged people’s lives stood on a high platform, signaling to the chanical Army responsible for the executions.
In those utterly cold eyes, there were emotions that hardly seed human.
It was like... the "Dawn System" of the City of asurent.
"Bang!"
A gunshot sounded, and blood splattered.
In the center of the square, a resident staggered and fell, like a flag being knocked down. All the others shuddered. They closed their eyes, gritted their teeth, and held the people next to them tightly.
... How many would survive? How many would Lin Guang kill this ti without any reason?
Most residents in Zone Eleven were scattered wanderers with no unified group. Facing Lin Guang’s massacre, they couldn’t resist at all.
"Bang!"
Another gunshot.
"Bang!"
And then another.
Those who dared resist were restrained by Lin Guang’s powerful "Source." They lay on the ground, sobbing, crushed into a mass of blood under imnse pressure.
Several individuals wearing the Holy Tribunal’s badges stood behind Lin Guang, watching this scene indifferently.
Blood flowed.
The Source from the dead did not drift towards the shooters, but uniformly—flooded into Lin Guang’s hands, seeping into his body.
As Lin Guang’s hands grew increasingly brighter, he coldly glanced at the kneeling lambs, then turned away and left.
The gunfire stopped.
Aside from pools of blood, the square was left without a single corpse. Only the low crying of the survivors and the grief-stricken howls of those who lost loved ones remained.
"Why..."
"Why has the world beco like this..."
The low crying seeped into the blood-soaked earth.
Su Ming’an watched this scene.
He knew this was just a reenactnt of history.
Since there was a rest period to return to the City of asurent during this interval, it ant the scene presented by Caius Tower was only a fabrication. Whatever he did, he could not change what had already happened in history.
His emotions were calm as he turned his head—suddenly seeing at a distance, at the central square’s execution site, a towering blaze. Soone was undergoing execution by fire.
On the execution platform, on the burning cross, hung a charred human figure.
The executed had already died, the flas having burned through his body, lting his skin and bones. He hung on the fra, motionless.
Among the onlooking crowd, a young red-haired woman covered a child’s eyes.
"Why—why did they burn Daddy! Why! What did Daddy do wrong, just... not completing the daily prayers on ti? Why must we obey those gods who can’t appear before us..." the child wailed.
"Shh—" the woman covered the child’s mouth: "Yao Wen, be quiet, beware of being overheard..."
Monts later, she kissed his forehead.
"Your daddy has left, he’s gone to a world without turmoil to enjoy himself..." the young woman whispered softly, "From now on, I’m your mother, okay? You can call Fayse, or Mommy Fayse..."
The young child cried ssily. His eyes were filled with bewildernt.
He didn’t understand why the world had to treat him so cruelly, why it was necessary to burn a living person alive.
...All for the so-called gods?
...What exactly are gods? Why must their whispering be heeded?
The onlooking crowd watched the scene, but none dared to co forward to comfort. They numbly left the place.
Only the red-haired young woman and the child held each other tightly, like the most pitiful mother and child in the apocalypse.
The searing fire, almost covering the sky, and the charred figure on the cross stood behind them, like a bright red flag.
"...Who will co and save us?" the child wept bitterly.
"Please."
"Can anyone... save us?"
The flag fluttered, lting into the blood-red sunlight,
as if coexisting with the fierce fla.
...
Su Ming’an turned around.
Firelight outlined his features, reflecting in his deep gray eyes.
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