Su Ming’an looked at the people singing joyously.
He must have seen wrong, hallucinating.
Otherwise, how could he see in the reflection of these people’s pupils the shadow of a white dove, carrying the green branches of spring?
"Young commander, you must succeed, once we find new resources, we must save everyone..." Jingjing whispered softly, tugging at his clothes: "If it’s you, Young commander, you definitely can do it..."
"Okay," Su Ming’an promised, he saw frostbites on Jingjing’s face, patch after patch, wrinkling with her smile, like a blooming rose.
"You promised, no going back on your word, don’t leave," Jingjing said.
"Hmm, I promised," Su Ming’an said.
It was his first ti experiencing such a large-scale war directly.
This world was very similar to his own, as if he had stepped into a war-torn Zhai Xing. Every person he saw had their own thoughts; everything he experienced was imbued with irreplicable emotions; the world he was in did not feel like a ga instance, but a real vast world.
When the group was in a frenzy, humans could rationalize all their negative emotions like fear, panic, pain, numbness and unite their focus against a clear target, enabling them to fight in situations of extre despair. But now, people had no target, no enemy. Their greatest enemy was their own hunger and cold.
This enemy was almost unsolvable.
There was no ans of revenge—people couldn’t even see the shadow of the enemy, only feeling their world being invaded bit by bit. The more enemies they killed, the more confused they got... As companions kept falling beside them, they slowly stripped away that last bit of fighting spirit and hope...
—What were they fighting for?
—Whom could they aim their weapons at?
Humans would always die from greed, Acto would always die from city-states, no matter how many tis it repeated. Deities forever remained out of their reach, whispering into their ears from on high.
The human heart grew more and more desperate, the consumption and sacrifice never ending.
"I feel trapped..." Before falling into drunkenness, Jingjing leaned against him, making a sound like a kitten dozing off:
"...What’s trapping us, why can’t we ever break free... Young commander, you’re so clever, do you know..."
She tilted to the side and collapsed on the ground, her cheeks flushed red.
"City Lord, I’ll take her to rest," Sen said.
"Okay," Su Ming’an said.
Sen Kylstia picked up Jingjing like one would a young granddaughter, his silvery hair shimring in the firelight. If not for the wrinkles on his face, he would have looked just as spirited as he did when Su Ming’an first t him 32 years into the catastrophe.
However, when he stood up holding her, there was a "crack" from his ankle, likely the sound of bone, and his forward-leaning spine dragged his trembling body step by step, his shoulders bearing the weight of years, even his red cloak had faded.
People invited Su Ming’an to drink and sing with them, but he shook his head. He passed by the drunk crowd and returned to his command tent.
He sat in front of the chaotic war sand table for a long ti.
The barrage was like snowflakes, crossing his vision, today was the third day of the first lunar month, and people were still in the New Year’s atmosphere, the cold and despair here irrelevant to them.
He lay on the table and squinted for a while, until everyone outside had fallen asleep.
At dawn, he left the tent covered by Spatial Concealnt without waking anyone. He saw many people sleeping on the ground, so curled up with large leaves, others dozing off on branches, the air tinged with a heady red wine warmth and the campfire still crackling through the night.
A figure waited for him under the tree, the black robe leaking streaks of golden light.
Su Ming’an withdrew the Spatial Domain: "What’s up?"
Noel removed the black robe: "I’ve co to bring you the latest on the war situation, don’t go back to Doomsday City for now."
Su Ming’an said, "Did sothing happen in Doomsday City?"
In recent years, Doomsday City had begun to tighten its belt, with most resources within the city being allocated to the upper echelon, prioritizing the lives of those with high combat power and researchers.
However, the lower-class citizens could not accept this rational decision. The refusal of the upper echelon to hand over Yasa Acto to the "Ta Wei" filled the residents with complaints. Now even Doomsday City was starting to riot...
"Yes, Doomsday City is in chaos..." Noel said, glancing at Su Ming’an’s expression, "But I want to tell you... Su Ming’an, not everyone is ungrateful, and so people also don’t want to hand you over. People’s loved ones are about to be frozen to death, so they could sacrifice a human hero who once saved them..."
Su Ming’an said, "No need to say more, I understand."
He had never complained about these people who chose survival, nor had he ever hated them.
"Would you like to take a walk with ? We could talk about clues along the way," Noel said.
"Let’s go," Su Ming’an said.
He was unable to sleep anyways.
Walking in the dark night without light was not a pleasant strolling experience. The surroundings were like ghostly dead trees. Yet, Su Ming’an’s expression was very relaxed. As long as he didn’t think about anything, it was the best journey for him.
Su Ming’an thought back to when the instance had just started, and Noel was pushing his wheelchair as they ran through the ruins of the City of asurent, with a long queue of Players chasing after them. The rain that day poured heavily, grey and murky as if dust filled the sky. The blond youth bent down and said to him—Su Ming’an, let’s escape, let’s not worry about these humans anymore, let’s escape far away in the ga, to a place where no one can see us, where no one can bla us.
However, both knew this was impossible.
So after that, Noel split his soul from his body with puppet threads and perford a puppet show that spanned thirty-three cycles.
They both had sothing they couldn’t give up even in death.
And so, they couldn’t escape even in death.
Noel raised a lantern; its yellow glow dispelled the heavy night fog like a bright morning star. He walked ahead, and the rustling sounds from the forest almost turned into lodies.
"Su Ming’an, do you think... when order and law completely collapse, the world will beco an apocalypse like this?" Noel whispered, "So many people want you dead, where does this ’righteousness’ co from?"
"..."
"Everything that hinders oneself is seen as ’deserving of death,’ with no public notary to judge the correctness of actions. Every day, new ’personal laws’ are ford in people’s own mouths, creating a new code of laws maintained by strength." Noel said:
"Each person, holding the code of laws in their heart, becos an ’Arbiter’ like Tretiya, judging with the naked eye whether a person is ill, and demanding those ’judged’ to et their end according to the order in their hearts—under the seduction of ’Ta Wei,’ your survival contradicts the survival and wishes of most people, hence in the code of laws in everyone’s heart—you are deed ’illegal to survive,’ and your breathing and heartbeat are no longer protected by order."
Noel lived his life very thoroughly.
His voice floated in the dark forest as if slowly lifting the fog in front of them.
"In other words—"
Noel said:
"People have replaced the reasonable order and the big picture, judging your end. Your death has been written into the code of laws in their hearts."
Su Ming’an walked quietly.
"But this is not your fault," Noel said.
"..."
"The Su Ming’an I know is not like this, it’s only been a short dozen days, yet you’ve beco much more silent than the Eighth World," Noel said: "Number One Player is what Zhai Xing’s people hoped for. Yasa Acto is the hero in the hearts of the Ruined World’s residents. And Su Ming’an... is just the Su Ming’an talking to ."
He looked up.
It started to rain.
The cold night rain drenched the charred leaves of the forest, sprinkling over their shoulders. With this cold rain, who knows how many ten-thousands of people will freeze to death. The catastrophes of this world, each one affecting hundreds of thousands of people, incomparable to the casualties in the previous instances.
"A long ti ago, I had a wish," Su Ming’an said. "I wished that my life could truly beco happy..."
He did not continue.
This was his first true confession of the night.
"That’s hard to achieve," Noel said.
"Yeah. It’s hard to achieve," Su Ming’an said.
The night rain was sticky and cold, making people feel clammy. Noel held up an umbrella, but it was still unable to block the slanting rain; the cold pierced their bodies like fine needles.
"Su Ming’an, I have never been able to see your end, your future is completely unpredictable..." Noel said.
"We never had an end to begin with," Su Ming’an said.
Ding, ding, ding.
Raindrops hit the umbrella; the pouring rain obscured their vision as if a cover had been thrust upon them. The two of them shrank beneath the rain like fish waiting for the tide to co in, the world outside a fine and penetrating cold rain, with just a patch beneath the umbrella for breathing.
Nearing the camp, Noel stopped.
"I’ll escort you near the camp, then I’ll head back to the city first," Noel said. "Rember, don’t go back to Doomsday City for now."
"Okay," Su Ming’an took the umbrella from Noel, watching as his figure gradually disappeared in the rain.
When he approached the camp, Su Ming’an heard people arguing.
It was Sen Kylstia’s voice, along with Anjie, Joslin, and others. Su Ming’an approached silently and saw dozens of people standing under the trees, talking in low voices.
"— He’s no longer the omniscient, omnipotent deity he once was! Over these three years, he has not been invincible or as wise, he can’t save us anymore, why not hand him over? When a god is no longer a god, why should we sacrifice ourselves while still holding him in high regard?" Joslin’s voice was very low.
"No, the saddest thing for humans is to hand over their hero. The City Lord has been trendously kind to us; we cannot hand him over," Sen replied.
"— Must we all be annihilated, everyone freezing to death in the snow, just to prove the integrity of humanity? I don’t want to give up the City Lord either, but little Ke and the others are almost dying..." Anjie said.
Sen said, "Maybe what you said is right, but we can’t do that, Anjie. How much I wish everyone could live, but I just can’t bring myself to hand over the City Lord..."
"I can’t do it either! How could I do such a thing! He saved !" Anjie’s face turned red, her eyes welling up with tears, in extre pain: "But if we don’t do this, what can we do? My fingers are so frozen I can barely move them. This is the apocalypse..."
"..."
The dozens of people whispered for tens of minutes before returning to the camp, pretending that nothing had happened. Anjie walked away crying, unable to defy her conscience.
Perhaps, such debates had happened countless tis; it was just that Su Ming’an had never seen them.
Su Ming’an stood in the distance for a long ti until his body grew cold.
"Click," the dicine box opened, he took out eight pills, popped them into his mouth, and squinted.
"...Haha."
Amidst the shaking, neon-like vision, he suddenly laughed. His laugh was soft, muffled, not waking anyone. He covered his mouth to stop the inexplicable laughter from leaking out.
People loved the ever-wise and steady Yasa Acto, and when he lost the god-like wisdom of Acto, no one would love him anymore.
There’s no such thing as help or love without reason in this world.
Indeed, it is so.
Why wait for the mont when everything falls apart.
He humd a lody Noel had humd earlier, his form gradually disappearing into the shadows:
"How can I forget his words, believe that the sun will rise tomorrow,
"I once made a promise with spring for eternity, but now I fear I shall depart before spring..."
...
At dawn, people discovered that Acto was missing.
"The, the City Lord— he let drink all the wine, he didn’t drink a single sip..." Cheng Luohe got up with a hangover, realizing that the largest tent was already empty.
Bread fell to the ground, and he stared at the vacant tent, realizing sothing.
Next to the war sand table, a few lines of small characters were left, the paper crumpled and seemingly drenched. The handwriting was Su Ming’an’s.
...
[Goodbye.]
[Live on.]
...
People looked at the note, realizing what the City Lord had done. Sen faced the empty seat of the City Lord without a word. Cheng Luohe held the scarlet sniper rifle, standing in silence. Anjie covered her face, shedding tears.
"He still went to the edge of the world..."
"I knew this day would co..."
Everyone was saddened, so cried out loud, so silently shed tears, so fainted from grief.
But not a single person rushed out.
No one followed the clear footsteps on the ground, to stop the City Lord from leaving. No one tried to stop him, to hold him, and tell him not to jump off the edge of the world, where it was too cold.
At that mont, it seed as though everyone suddenly accepted the fact. They carried the lives of so many loved ones and friends, unable to take the step to intervene.
Destiny was like an irreversible torrent, pushing him towards the altar of the world.
On the altar, no one held onto him.
...
Out of a total of two thousand three hundred simulations,
it wasn’t that humans forced Acto out every ti,
it was Acto himself who stepped out every ti.
...
"Ding-dong!"
[You have completed a ti node · World Edge.]
[Obtained the mory of Acto (3/4)]
Su Ming’an tread through mud.
He leaned against a large tree, closed his eyes, and let the rain slide down his neck.
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