Su Ming’an was slightly taken aback.
Plato, born in 427 BC - 347 BC, was a great thinker and philosopher from Xi Country. He authored "The Republic".
Su Ming’an glanced at this "The Republic" and said, "Perhaps this book was brought in by a player."
Noel hesitated for a mont.
"This is the most hidden place in the Dawn System. Do you think any player would have a chance to sneak in and deliberately place a book like ’The Republic’ here?" Noel said.
The two of them stared at the book for a mont.
In an instant, cold sweat suddenly slid down Su Ming’an’s forehead.
He glanced at this "The Republic" again, then looked back at Noel, his breathing becoming more rapid.
"Do you an..."
"Su Ming’an..." Noel realized sothing terrifying as well.
Their gazes wandered over the book and then shifted away, shifted away and then converged again. Su Ming’an’s fingers began to tingle as if electrified.
The intense panic made every word he uttered feel like pliers clamping his teeth.
"Sothing’s not right..." Su Ming’an said in a low voice.
A bitter and bloody taste intertwined in his mouth, blood dripping.
Sothing’s not right.
Why would Plato’s "The Republic" be here in the Dawn System?
Su Ming’an quickly flipped open the book. Regardless of the author’s na or content, it’s undeniably "The Republic". Even the adjacent Bible is indeed the original Bible.
"Su Ming’an." Noel whispered, "Don’t panic, maybe it’s just that so player gave these books to the Dawn System."
"Yes, perhaps that’s the case, let think about other details." Su Ming’an nodded, opening the mory Palace in his mind.
Scenes from his mories flowed, and montarily, he suddenly recalled a few fragnts from his mory.
...
[Su Ming’an stared at the Dawn in front of him.]
[It calmly looked back at him, elucidating the three-layered ideology of "The Republic" - Governors, Samurai, Laborers. Governors are the wisest and most free. Samurai and Laborers, on the other hand, act under the limitations of rules. Like the high, middle, and low-level personas in the City of asurent.]
...
Su Ming’an held his breath.
This was the fifth day of instance activation, his negotiation with the Dawn System in the basent.
— Why, at that ti, would the foundational city-building concept of the Dawn System be that of Zhai Xing’s "The Republic"? Back then, Su Ming’an thought that it was the Dawn System referencing this book after hearing so player’s recomndation. But now it seems the Dawn System clearly read this book long ago.
A long ti ago, before players even appeared, how did this book exist?
The scene in Su Ming’an’s mind kept switching, and he recalled a segnt of dialogue.
...
["Is this a sightseeing vehicle?" Su Ming’an said, "A ferry on the road to the Underworld?"]
["...I seem to have heard about the Underworld you’re talking about. Are you describing taking you to your death?" Bi, riding on a motorcycle, said, "Keep a good attitude, maybe we’ll die halfway."]
...
This happened during the Dawn War, when Bi rode a motorcycle to take him to the edge of the world.
— "Underworld and Green Vault represent death" is Zhai Xing’s Dragon Country ancient culture. Why would Bi, born in the Ruined World, have heard of this culture?
Could it also be the players ntioned it to her?
...
[Acto’s body has always been magical, seemingly possessing a very strong empathy ability. When seeing the tragedy of the City of asurent, Su Ming’an couldn’t help but feel bad for this city-state.]
[Generally speaking, a world instance shouldn’t affect his emotions. Usually, his rationality would firmly suppress his emotions.]
[But at this mont, inexplicably, he genuinely felt pain, feeling down for the lantations of this world.]
...
Su Ming’an recalled the eerie emotional resonance within him, just when he declared the Ruined World’s defeat, these intense emotions erupted once.
— Why would he always feel a situational discomfort upon seeing the tragedy of the City of asurent? Clearly, his empathy was not this intense in previous instances.
Why?
"..."
Piece by piece, clues were stitched together, like a gradually built air castle. The more pieces stitched, the panic beca overwhelming like a tsunami, engulfing him in an instant.
Su Ming’an stood in place, staring at "The Republic" and the Bible, his whole body seems frozen, unable to move a finger. The temperature of his whole body seed forcibly stripped away, extre panic stopped him from breathing.
Impossible.
Impossible!
"Noel. Is there a possibility..." Su Ming’an murmured.
Similarly, Noel was trembling slightly. As their eyes t, panic pierced through them like a sharp blade.
Su Ming’an couldn’t help but rember the instance opening, his first encounter with Dong An’an at night. Back then, Dong An’an wanted to assassinate him, speaking recklessly and full of resentnt.
...
["Myself, how do we deal with her?" Ming still had a smile on his face, pinning Dong An’an like catching a chick, ready to snap her neck at any mont.]
["— Yasa Acto! You will die a bad death!! If it weren’t for you, the world wouldn’t look like a ss... ’Century Catastrophe’ before, humans were living very well!" Dong An’an’s eyes were red with anger.]
[She referred to the ’Century Catastrophe’, which occurred over a hundred years ago.]
[The Ruined World experienced a massive catastrophe a hundred years ago, ultimately leaving only one-third of the population alive. History deeply covered up this catastrophe, people knew it happened but didn’t know the specific content of it.]
...
Century Catastrophe... Century Catastrophe.
Su Ming’an’s breath was halted.
The history before the Century Catastrophe was buried—what was this world like before the Century Catastrophe?
...
["This world looks quite good, is it called the Ruined World?" The large chanical Army stiffly looked down, toward the City of asurent: "Sure enough, it’s quite different from our world, at least it still has greenery, seems like it can still last for a while, but our world is already on the brink of destruction."]
["Ruined World is its current na, as for its previous na, who cares." said the small chanical Army.]
...
— "Ruined World" is its current na, as for its previous na, who cares.
Exactly.
"Its previous na."
Su Ming’an couldn’t help but pant heavily, overwheld by a suffocating feeling akin to being subrged in an ocean, his chest weighed down by a ton of iron.
He gripped the nearby table, his entire body shaking involuntarily.
He actually always found it strange, the previous world instances had distinctive nas: White City, Ming Hui, Pulaya, Qiongdi... Each na represents the naming of this world. But when it ca to the Ninth World, it beca "Ruined World", rely sounding like a descriptor of the world, not the true na of this world.
Although "City of asurent" served as a substitute na, ultimately a city cannot represent the entire world.
Its true original na seems to be buried.
So, what is the original na of this world—
?
??
???
...
[On the first day of the instance activation, Su Ming’an reviewed the Dawn System’s update plan. It felt similar to those ga updates that "nerf the dagger-wielding girl every generation," like "MQN’s T-type tric value increased by 20%," "reduction of 50 High-Level Persona slots," ... and so adjustnts regarding resident benefits, occupations, defenses, and robotic armies.]
[These resemble one thing.]
[... Big data.]
[The power of the Dawn System lies in this—due to inevitable biases brought about by human governance, they will be ticulously asured and adjusted under the fair and cold eyes of the Dawn System. Bringing everything closer to ’the best.’]
[These brought Su Ming’an’s thoughts back to Zhai Xing.]
[—Zhai Xing also possesses big data, and even elentary artificial intelligence.]
...
[—Zhai Xing also possesses big data, and even elentary artificial intelligence.]
...
The room was silent.
This world is truly cruel.
Su Ming’an thought.
This world is so cruel to him.
He swallowed the bitterness in his throat, discovering at so point he had coughed up blood.
Turns out a person can indeed suffer to such an extent purely from ntal collapse. Even though he always used himself as a tool, he was still pained to this extent by ntal breakdown.
When did he start thinking that as long as he ran fast enough, as long as he exhausted himself to the limit, he could save everything, retrieve everything?
"Hey! I found the most confidential file—Anjiang, take a look!" At this mont, Du finally found the most hidden file. It didn’t notice Su Ming’an’s panic, sounding happy, waiting for praise.
"..." Su Ming’an’s trembling gaze fell on the file, still harboring a trace of hope, not daring to confirm the possibility in his mind.
This was a file introducing information about the Ruined World, highlighted in bright colors. Seeing the top section of the text, Su Ming’an was motionless.
At this mont, it was as if a bloody knife had cut open his head, stuffing a line of horrifying words into their irises.
His vision darkened, seemingly as if a blue sky was falling before his eyes.
"—Su Ming’an! Su Ming’an!!" Noel hadn’t had ti to look at the file, but imdiately turned around to catch Su Ming’an. He still didn’t know what Su Ming’an had seen, but judging by Su Ming’an’s expression, it was a line of words that filled him with extre despair.
Su Ming’an was caught by Noel, remaining motionless.
A part of him had long collapsed, becoming the core of his obsession.
Regarding pain, he had long since beco numb, not knowing when he was smiling, nor when he would cry. Only a fragnt of his rescue ideal supported his breathing.
Just like now.
When Noel caught Su Ming’an, he realized that Su Ming’an wasn’t smiling, nor was he crying. His face was calm, as if all his soul had been drawn out.
"Su Ming’an! Su Ming’an—!"
He called out Su Ming’an’s na loudly, getting no response. Su Ming’an was motionless, his eyes clearly open but his pupils dead.
"Noel." Su Ming’an finally spoke, his voice hoarse: "I understand why ’The Republic’ and the Bible appear in this world now..."
His eyes empty.
Noel’s fingers, holding him, trembled. He didn’t quite understand why a single line of text made Su Ming’an suffer to such an extent, but still offered support.
They quietly stood under the simulated sunlight, the pages on the table stopped on the Governor’s concept. "Rustle" "Rustle," as the vented air blew the pages, making sounds like white doves flapping their wings.
Noel’s golden hair brushed against Su Ming’an’s arm, the originally bright hair color gradually faded in Su Ming’an’s eyes, finally leaving only black and white tones.
"Ding dong!"
The system notification sounded.
[Player has accessed the ultimate information of the Dawn System.]
[The last piece of information about the ’Ninth World’ has been completed.]
...
Noel wanted to turn to see the file, to see what exactly Su Ming’an had seen, but the simulated sunlight outside the window blurred his vision, preventing him from seeing that line of text clearly.
Su Ming’an kept gazing at that line of text, smiling lightly, slowly. The smile seed like it could shatter with a touch.
He lay in the clear sunlight, his face extrely pale, like a nonexistent ghost.
"I see now." He laughed:
"I’m crazy, this must be a hallucination, that line of text is fake."
"Yes, it’s a hallucination. I’m crazy."
Noel turned to gaze at Su Ming’an. He saw the look in Su Ming’an’s eyes, like a blue whale sinking to the bottom.
No more light at all.
"What exactly did you see just now?" Noel said softly.
What kind of text made you suddenly fear to such an extent, what made you seem like your soul was drained?
"Noel." But Su Ming’an clutched Noel’s hand, urgently: "I’m crazy... right? That’s why I saw a hallucination."
He looked at Noel with a pleading gaze, making Noel feel like he was on the verge of collapse.
It was the first ti Noel saw Su Ming’an plead with him like this. Like a self-deceiving ntal patient. The expression on the black-haired youth’s face was neither twisted nor anxious, but so calm it was terrifying to Noel.
Noel wanted to tell him... if you saw sothing despairing, you can cry, there’s no need to suppress your expression like this.
Under the sunlight, Su Ming’an’s despair was like a heavy flash of lightning, piecing through Noel in an instant. Even though Noel knew this was no hallucination, what Su Ming’an saw was most likely real, but Noel still nodded along with Su Ming’an’s words.
He lowered his head, drawing a breath, whispering.
...
"... Yes."
"You’re crazy, what you saw was a hallucination."
...
[The last piece of information about the ’Ninth World’ has been completed.]
...
The wind blew through the pages, the red-covered Bible on the table slowly closing its final page.
The screen text flickered, the font revealing as if gilded, overlapping with the topmost line of the file, gradually blending.
Noel supported Su Ming’an, slowly turning back, the golden light scattered into his azure eyes—
At the top of the file.
A line of small words quietly shimred with golden light.
...
[Ninth World·Zhai Star.]
...
...
[I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.]
[—Revelations of the Bible·Lamb Seal]
...
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