Many scenes that were seen before or never seen appeared in the mirror: a tall cathedral, a splendid imperial palace, a white city high in the sky, an iron-gray research institute, an airship steering towards the clouds, a village by the sea, islands in the mist...
Su Ming’an gazed at the mirror through his senses, overwheld by an indescribable emotion.
"..."
These in the mirror... what are they?
The tower did not answer him; it always stood high under the clouds, proud as a giant standing firm on the earth.
"I see... I see the scenes in the mirror! So many ’’! There’s even in ancient costus! in suits!" people exclaid in surprise.
"I also see many ! So look a bit like , while others look exactly like . How interesting, is this a dress-up mirror?"
"Could it be that this mirror is showing us a future possibility for each of us?" the players speculated with acuity.
"It shattered..."
After people looked at the mirrors in their hands, they shattered, and specks of white light scattered upon their faces. They stared at it blankly, not understanding the aning of the mirror.
Su Ming’an looked at the shattered mirror in his hand, the image of himself on the mirror also shattered.
Could it be... this mirror is showcasing "The Original"?
...
"Ding dong!"
[People inside the relics, you are participants in the world task.]
[Everyone outside the relics will be observers. They can assist your actions but cannot gain contribution value. They can vote and bet, guessing who among you will be the final victor. anwhile, they cannot leak certain necessary information through broadcasting.]
...
Su Ming’an’s heart was stirred—this rule was almost identical to the rules during the peak competition in the Fourth World. However, the people near the relics had beco "players," and those outside the relics had beco "audience."
At this mont, a scene erged in the sky.
...
[Now, we are issuing your world task.]
[Before that, let’s show a scene—]
...
In the sky, a scene appeared. The massive firmant beca a projection screen.
People raised their heads, gazing at the sky screen.
In the scene, a blonde, blue-eyed little girl was running hard while holding a doll, soldiers fiercely protecting her. Intense shelling bombarded the people, who erected a defensive barrier, shielding the little girl with life and blood.
The bodies of soldiers lay on the ground in extrely tragic conditions, most were bombed by shelling, their limbs broken, so even having only half a head left. They were like an ant swarm moving forward in death, the people on the periphery dying to shellfire, firmly protecting the little girl in the center.
This scene was extrely tragic, with flesh and blood flying, and people could not discern where they were trying to take the little girl, nor when this story took place. It was likely a history erased by deities.
The people looked up at the scene in the sky, and suddenly soone found it familiar.
"Wait, this—this isn’t—that ga!" soone scread.
An inspiration flashed by.
Yes.
This scene—this scene—
Many people ca to their senses, discovering a strong sense of déjà vu.
—This is very much like the ga "The Cat and Her."
"The Cat and Her" is a chase and escape ga. Players need to control a little cat, leading a little girl to escape the city and reach the outskirts to complete the task. Along the way, many players will also play humans to intercept the cat. In other words, "humans" are the pursuers, "cats" are the escapees.
As long as the cat brings the little girl to the church outside, the cat wins. And humans will do everything to block the little girl, forcing the cats to fail the ga.
But—that warm and cute, extrely healing ga—was nowhere near this tragic.
Su Ming’an recalled the ga.
...
[Su Ming’an and Su Luoluo reached the outskirts, able to see the large escort team for the little girl from afar, countless cats surrounding a blonde and blue-eyed little girl, marching onward. Thousands of humans surged from all directions of the plains, throwing stones and catnip at the cat group, attempting to disrupt their escort.]
...
"Go forward! Go forward! Escort! Escort!" Voices roared in desperation from the screen.
They firmly protected the little girl, striving to move forward.
"Don’t mind , go on! Send her... out, send her out—!!!"
"Captain!"
"Move on! Move on——!!"
Soone fell, quickly engulfed by shellfire, soone dragged their bloody body forward, limbs scattered.
No one stopped; they were enduring extrely dense attacks, not only overwhelming shellfire but also talismans, swords, and poisoned arrows...
The shield was tottering, yet everyone persisted with clenched teeth.
...
[The cats ford a huge protective shield, while humans continuously cast attack skills, like a mobile siege battle. Even if a cat was defeated, it was only placed in a cat nest by humans, the scene of cat death was not bloody, the cat would transform into a soul, drifting towards the sky. The whole process was very healing and warm, without any sense of horror or bloodiness.]
...
"Ah——!!!"
A hoarse scream sounded in the screen.
An old soldier’s neck was cut off by a distant sword, pitch-black blood splattered on the surrounding people’s faces. Their expressions were painful for a mont, then quickly continued to move without stopping.
Bloodied hands supporting the barrier, the palm lines no longer visible, blood flowed through the fingers, the corpses of the dead littered the ground.
Mobile siege battle.
...
[Su Luoluo pushed down with a paw, the fence wall collapsed onto a human, pinning them under the wall. Watching the human trapped under the wall unable to move. The cats burst into laughter, the sprawling postures of humans were truly comical.]
...
"Boom——!"
A shell fired, collapsing the building beside the people. The towering tower pressed towards them, and the people already with bleeding legs and feet could not escape in ti.
"Go! Don’t stop, don’t mind us!" a limping man shouted.
"Move on——move on——move on!!"
The next mont, they scread tragically, their handicapped legs and feet were pinned under the collapsed rubble, bones cracked gruesoly, bodies crushed, blood spreading, staining the earth in an instant.
In the air, bullets and shells continued to whistle through, cutting through the harsh wind.
The harsh wind sounds,
in people’s ears, it seed like—
"..."
—the sharp laughter of cats.
...
Everyone watched the scene in the sky with cold hands and feet.
Su Ming’an felt that what flowed before his chest was no longer air, but bone-chilling cold wind.
"The Cat... and... Her."
"Dream Patrol... Ga."
"Clearing the Dream Patrol ga... can dispel... the Black Mist in reality..."
People seem to have so understanding now.
Could it be...
"Could it be..." Queen Blanche, adorned in a long jewel gown, her pupils trembling continuously: "Those gas... are all real worlds?"
"Is our ’perception’... confused by the deities?"
"Are the cats... actually real humans?"
"And the Human Camp obstructing the cats, are also... real humans?"
"It looks like a warm, healing ani style, a small ga of battles between humans and cats... but in essence, is it — a real war happening in another world?"
"And we... knew nothing about it?"
"In our ’perception’, it’s just a ga, so — we — can’t see — the cruel and bloody nature — we entered another world through the Dream Patrol Helt, becoming the Fourth Catastrophe participants in the war, and we — were always... unaware?"
"The catnip and teasing cat sticks used by the Human Camp for attack are actually cruel shells and bullets."
"The eaves used by the cats for escaping are actually towers and city walls used for defense."
"Because we just entered that world as spiritual bodies, not with our actual bodies, so — we can continuously join the war, constantly kill others — just like continually rejoining a ga..."
"Is that so!!!"
"Perception — perception — perception!?"
Blanche clutched her head. She couldn’t accept it — she couldn’t accept this truth.
Though this doesn’t an they invaded another world, they just joined the war through the Dream Patrol Helt, ultimately successfully escorting the little girl, effectively helping another world with the outco. But... how could it be accepted so easily?
Her earrings trembled violently, like a streak of blood tears on her cheeks.
She had killed many cats. After all, she thought they were just lifeless ga characters. Do you mind how many slices of bread you have eaten?
Wouldn’t this an —
Her hands were also stained with the blood of war?
Bivis’s face was pale; even he couldn’t believe this fact. He too had played The Cat and Her ga more than once, in his view, it was just a recreational ga, even a bit childish. The cat’s death was too comical, the humans’ postures were also funny, like a clown show with no real aning.
But its core — what is it?
It’s the death happening in another world.
It’s the war being fought in another world.
It’s the blood flowing in another world.
Killing a cat is like killing a living human in another world.
The "players" had their eyes and ears covered by the deities, their perceptions confused — turning them into deaf and mute people who need not see or hear.
...
["It’s so beautiful here; I have finally arrived," the little girl said, standing in front of the grand cathedral arch: "Ragdoll cats, your eyes are beautiful. Orange cats, your figure is lovely — cats! Your appearance is so charming, truly cats representing justice!"]
...
In the sky, the originally vast escorting team was reduced to re dozens of people. The rest had died on the bloody road.
The little girl’s face was also stained with blood, with a deep wound reaching to the bone on her neck.
However, facing the exhausted people, she endured the pain and showed a comforting smile.
"Thank you for escorting to the edge of the world," the little girl reached out to wipe the blood from a man’s face.
"We have escorted you here, please rember the mission," the man said in a low voice.
"Okay," the little girl said: "I will not forget Mr. Qin’s efforts; I always rember the light in his eyes. I also keep Xiao Dong’s sacrifice in mind; I will definitely deliver the Life Hard Drive to a thousand years in the future, until — the promise holder arrives."
She smiled and lifted her head:
"I believe, that in a thousand years, everyone will have a brilliant and beautiful tomorrow. And you all will be rembered by future generations, definitely. I bless your next lives, hoping for happiness —"
"Please go in, our lives end here, the pursuers will be upon us soon," said the female soldier beside her.
The little girl looked at them, morizing their faces completely.
Then, she turned around, step by step, disappearing from the scene.
"I bless you all —"Her voice was as light as the wind.
"Bless you in your next lives — to have a brilliant, beautiful tomorrow."
"Life will be bright, and health will be eternal."
"Life after life, eternal forever."
...
["Thank you for escorting here," in the ga, the little girl said loudly: "I believe I will have a happy, brilliant, beautiful tomorrow. And you, just cats of justice, you will also receive happiness — I bless you!"]
...
After the little girl left, gunfire engulfed the scene.
People couldn’t know the burden of her mission — this was the story of another world.
Her story had ended... had long ended. The Cat and Her ga had long been completed as well.
"..." Yi Zhongyu bit his teeth, tears glimring in his eyes.
— Last year, he, as the first of the Dream Patrol Family, led people to clear The Cat and Her.
Yet he didn’t know then that the seemingly silly and dumb cats around him were actually living humans. When they were killed by the Human Camp, he would even think they were too poor at controlling, unable to dodge at all.
At that ti, he still rembered a cat telling him: "The days fighting alongside you were happy... you must survive and see the distant places for ... this is my sincere wish."
After that, this cat was soon killed; he never saw it again. At that ti, he just thought the cat was having a phase of chuunibyou delusion, but now — at this mont — he suddenly understood the aning and weight of these words.
It was a real living soldier’s life, sending him the last blessing of life across the barrier of chaotic perception, across a world.
Yi Zhongyu’s tears fell.
"..."
Su Ming’an’s eyes were dry, without a single tear. He knew well that his emotions shouldn’t be swept along.
He looked at the sky, contemplating the intent behind these scenes.
If The Cat and Her is a real world, then so is Louyue Nation, and so is the Girl’s Dream Plan.
Thinking of Alice, Su Ming’an’s fingers trembled for a mont.
...Alice is indeed not a virtual ga character; she also lives in a world.
God —
Just how many worlds do you rule over? What is your purpose in inserting the story of one world into another world?
He seed to hear laughter, and the wind in his ear also sounded like laughter.
— Sharp, cat-like, mocking laughter at destiny.
...
[ow.]
[ow ow ow~]
...
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