Under the lightning and thunder, the city-state turned white in an instant.
The pouring rain fell on people’s shoulders, and the voice of the Deity reached every corner of the World.
One after another, filled with hope—people raised their hands to express their support for the City Lord on the screen.
"It’s the City Lord! The one in the screen is our Lord!" the white-haired elder exclaid with emotion.
"City Lord, you must kill the Invader!" an angry young man raised the sickle in his hand.
"That human traitor, is he called Su Ming’an—kill Su Ming’an! Kill Su Ming’an!" children shouted with their mother’s help, their voices echoing nonstop.
"Kill Su Ming’an! Kill Su Ming’an! Kill Su Ming’an!"
—They thought, by raising their hands, they raised torches of human unity.
—No one knew whose soul they were actually burning.
The anger of the masses often has a strong contagion.
Even if so clever people suspected that there might be sothing wrong with the City Lord himself, without a signal to communicate, their voices simply couldn’t be heard.
In the entire World, voices of resistance could not make it onto the stage, leaving only voices of submission. Many people had no understanding of the political situation in Doomsday City and couldn’t imagine that an imposter would ascend to the esteed halls.
They believed the call to action of the City Lord on the screen.
The truck driver carrying resources, the soldiers stationed at Border City, the businessn conducting their trades, the travelers walking along the roads, the adventurers exploring relics...
East, south, west, north...
Riversides, mountains, forests, plains, farmlands...
City-States, hubs, towns, villages...
An entire World.
The voices of believers were not loud by themselves, but together they were enough to form a blaze.
Players could hear the voices coming from residential buildings in all directions, calling them "human traitors"—these voices were like dense rain clouds, heavily surrounding them, oppressive to the point they could hardly breathe.
"Have these people gone mad? How can they believe such things!" Violet furrowed her beautiful brows, as the surrounding voices rushed into her ears wave after wave.
"Absurd..." Hicks shook his head repeatedly.
Yamada Machiichi looked worriedly towards Su Ming’an at the front, suddenly feeling—
As if invisible chains were entwining him, the more he struggled, the tighter they would bind, tying him into a sacrificial offering.
Despair was like a gathering storm cloud. People need to recognize their misfortunes to escape them. Yet, most don’t even know they are already in misfortune, even actively allying with it.
So, they willingly throw themselves into it, not realizing they have fallen into a quagmire. The more they view the opposition in such a singular and stubborn way, the more they search for their own roots in the sa manner. Denying all they do not believe and affirming everything they do. Until the Deity, skilled in manipulating hearts, completely divides them into small isolated groups that cannot connect.
Su Ming’an stood sideways to them, showing half his face, appearing sowhat unreachable, like a tree’s shadow on the street, ethereal. The dark half of his face was shrouded in shadow, maintaining a prolonged silence, like a soldier fighting alone.
He gazed at this scene, as if witnessing the withering and rebirth of a seedling, seemingly deep in thought.
"What’s the point of the Deity doing this? Summoning everyone to curse at us, is it just to destroy our spirits?" Yamada Machiichi asked, gazing at Su Ming’an in the rain, unable to hold back.
"...It’s to plunder Faith," Noel stroked his chin for a mont, uttering words that made everyone suddenly realize.
People looked at each other, the shock and panic clearly visible in their eyes.
"You an to say—the Deities also utilize these three key elents of godhood[Faith, Energy, Authority]? But this isn’t the Eighth World Do! How can these be involved?" a female Player beside him said.
"The Ruined World is certainly a science fiction context," Noel said, "But the world where the Deities reside may not be."
He thought of the bloody Demon Patterns in the eyes of the invaders from Ta Wei... those were clearly traces of a magical fantasy world. This clue had been planted early on.
If [Faith, Energy, Authority] were universal across all worlds...
"Su Ming’an could accumulate Emotional Value to increase his Strength through the world live broadcast. It’s possible that Deities have similar thods," Noel said slowly, "This could also explain why the Deity proclaims himself as such; part of his power source may indeed co from faith."
The crimson eyes in the sky seed to grow brighter, as if nourished.
On the screen, the voice of the Deity continued:
"—Citizens, please raise your heads and look at the sky! I believe you can see a pair of eyes."
"—I urge you to gaze devoutly at them, they will help us stabilize our currently tumultuous City-State!"
As soon as these words were spoken, many people sensed sothing was wrong—the City Lord seed a little off. But their voices of dissent were too faint, unable to affect the overall situation.
Countless people raised their heads, and the mont they looked at the scarlet eyes in the sky, they heard a bizarre Whispering, the beguiling voice of Ta Wei.
"Don’t look! Don’t look!" chaos erupted among the Players, "Damn it, our voices aren’t getting through."
"Those eyes are definitely not right, they’re a ans of beguiling humanity. It seems they just appeared tonight. The Deity must have kept this trump card for now," soone said.
"The Deity waiting until now to start the world broadcast ans that Two Dinsions really can’t hold on any longer. He wants to smash through the firewall in one fell swoop, leaving us no ti to respond."
"After all, it’s already Eternal Night in the City of asurent, and the instance has reached its final stage," they added.
They looked worriedly at Su Ming’an. In the nearby buildings, residents were already panicking. They had long felt sothing was amiss with these Resisters, and now that the City Lord had declared leader Su Ming’an a human traitor—how could they not believe?
Soone on a balcony threw eggs and rotten vegetable leaves into the crowd. Su Ming’an didn’t dodge; before the filth could touch him, other Players intervened with their Skills. At this mont, this group of about three hundred Players felt even more indignant than Su Ming’an himself. They had fully imrsed themselves in the situation.
"Are you all idiots! Su Ming’an is your real City Lord! Are you all blind?!!" Qiuqiu shouted furiously toward the residential building.
Her interrogation ignited a fuse, and surprisingly more and more people began to hurl trash at them, demanding they leave the City-State.
"Why would these people attack the one trying to save them! Su Ming’an saved them!" Rui Ying was also infected with anger.
And just then, in the midst of the Players, a faint voice erged, it was unclear who was speaking:
"...Aren’t our audience doing the sa to Su Ming’an? Those viewers, so many of them curse him, doubt him, think he has ulterior motives, and so even wish death upon him. How similar their faces are to now."
Suddenly, the crowd fell silent.
Turns out all worlds are the sa.
Turns out Su Ming’an is also a kind of "Yasa Acto".
Or rather—
Turns out Yasa Acto, is also a kind of "Su Ming’an".
Suddenly, many live broadcast rooms went quiet.
"—No! That’s not true! Su Ming’an is not a human traitor, he’s the man who has led you for forty years! Citizens, please believe in him!"
In the silence, only the clear voice of a young girl persisted, repeating resolutely.
Her black hair had long been soaked through by the rain, but her eyes remained steadfast. Braving the torrential downpour, she called out over and over again with a voice that had grown nearly hoarse.
Yet her voice was so diminutive... lost in the violent rain, it couldn’t travel far, let alone reach those countless distant human settlents. Her protest and clarification—how could they stand up to the ignorance and fear of millions? How could they change their mindset? How could they heal the pierced hearts of humanity?
"Alright, Xi. People can’t listen when they’re too agitated," Su Ming’an finally spoke, quieting her.
Xi’s mouth opened, then closed tear-streaked.
People craned their necks, trying to decipher Su Ming’an’s expression, but they suddenly discovered—
Facing the angry reproaches of the people, Su Ming’an actually smiled.
In the midst of the blanketing rain, amidst the escalating barrage of curses, he actually smiled.
It was as if he smiled at all the people of the world, or declared war against despair, or perhaps it was a scornful smile aid at the deity high above the skies. His smile was subtle, not flaunted, yet it revealed a resolution in his eyes, like the clear moon suddenly appearing in the firmant.
The live broadcast screen shifted, and the deity aid the cara at Su Ming’an, as if to magnify his embarrassnt standing in the rain.
Seeing his own face on the screen, Su Ming’an’s smile did not fade.
"Why do you smile?" the deity asked coldly.
"..."
Su Ming’an raised his arm as if about to exert an invisible force.
He pointed his index finger at the deity atop the building.
Su Ming’an’s team had already approached the core area of the City-State—beneath the roiling sky, the central political building rose like a bright silver spire straight into the heavens, like a sword of gleaming snow standing tall against the earth.
Su Ming’an also saw the blood-red creature Hicks had described—it bore a striking resemblance to a bright-red mantis, with butterfly wings sprouting from its back, guarding the building with five pairs of sharp blade edges, while the deity stood on the highest terrace of the building, protected by it.
The faith of people around the world was gathering, and the blood-red monstrosity was visibly swelling and growing stronger.
...
"Ding dong!"
Everyone heard the system notification.
[Would you like to initiate boss battle mode?]
[Current boss: Ta Wei Guardian. Combat Power: 4500 ]
[Our lineup: Su Ming’an, Noel, Yamada Machiichi, Violet...a total of 338 players, 1029 NPC soldiers.]
[Comprehensive Combat Power Assessnt: 4000]
[Probability of Victory: 39.2%]
...
People exchanged looks and left the decision to Su Ming’an.
At this mont, at the summit of the world, this was the stage for his confrontation with the deity. Only the two of them had the authority to contend on this platform.
"Deity, I admit you are clever," Su Ming’an pointed at the deity.
But through the angle of the cara, it seed like he was pointing at the foreheads of the billions watching from beyond the lens—standing alone against them.
"Whether it’s the interconnected plans, the ambushes you refrained from springing, or the striking final blow, I find it all astonishing," Su Ming’an said:
"But because you calculate too much, you’ve considered every key figure in your chess ga, placing them in their appropriate positions, on the proper paths, and even arranging suitable death scenes for them... yet, you didn’t anticipate that an insignificant character would step off your chessboard."
"So, I am laughing at you—for underestimating the ordinary people in your eyes."
The deity’s expression shifted slightly.
...What ordinary people?
...In this massive war, where is there room for ordinary people? Even after simulating countless tis in Kaius Tower, no unplanned person ever erged...
"Click—"
Suddenly, he heard a grating sound, and then, another person’s voice ca through the live broadcast—an exception to his own, soone else still possessed a signal.
The deity’s thod of cutting off everyone’s signal naturally wasn’t without basis—what he used was the blocking effect between dinsions. The movents of humans differ between dinsions—this is also how the Dawn Code was ford, generated according to the "movent fluctuations" of key figures. The code manifested temporal discrepancies, like "Schrodinger’s cat" undisclosed.
To put it simply, for a ti, it blocked "movent fluctuations" across a dinsion, allowing only the fluctuations from another dinsion to pass unidirectionally. Thus, no matter what counterasures "Mu Team" or "Su Xiaobi" and others employed, they couldn’t quickly disrupt this kind of shield.
This thod had a single weak point—the deity could only block the "movent fluctuations" of the signals between Two Dinsions, but not those of One Dinsion, as the City of asurent in One Dinsion was currently the safest, and he had yet to intervene.
This ant...
Soone from the City of asurent in One Dinsion, who also happened to be standing right next to the Signal Tower, and who had the personal authorization of Acto, could join the live broadcast at this mont.
But to et all three conditions simultaneously, the deity believed no one would, as he had calculated to the extre.
Yet, there was indeed such a person.
There was indeed soone who had joined Kaius Tower by chance.
And right now, she was actually next to the Signal Tower.
The once unnoticed mud of The Fringe suddenly stood at the zenith of the world.
...
In the screen, the corner of Su Ming’an’s mouth curved upward.
"...You’ve calculated to this step?" the deity’s whisper poured into Su Ming’an’s ear, speaking only to him: "Are you Su Ming’an or are you Acto?"
Su Ming’an rely stood in the rain, gazing back at the oppressive sky.
"...I indeed underestimated you. But it’s not over yet," the deity spoke once more.
Su Ming’an ignored the deity, looking up as if through the screen, at soone beyond the screen:
"Start your emotional broadcast to the whole world."
"Give us back the signal, let your voice be heard."
His gaze was burning, piercing through the cold rain in an instant.
Like a silent moonlight, every word and emotion returned to that one statent of congratulations:
"Congratulations, your dream has co true."
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