"Xiao Ying, go help Chao Yan," Su Ming’an said.
"I can only get close to her and call her back. This scale of battle, I can’t intervene," Xiao Jingsan shrugged.
"Chao Yan... that strong?" Su Ming’an originally thought Xiao Jingsan and Chao Yan were on the sa level.
"Look at the flas on her," Xiao Jingsan pointed, and on Chao Yan, towering scarlet flas rose, as red as blood, setting the sky ablaze like dusk.
"Those are flas at the cost of her life, the price she pays is proportional to what she gains. She’s always played with her life on the line, either her life ends first, or the enemy’s life ends first." Xiao Jingsan’s eyes darkened: "If, Your Lord Angel, you believe she can’t beat the tentacle monster, we can only pull her back and then decide."
"You go," Su Ming’an said.
"Alright." Xiao Jingsan was worried about Zou Yuqing, who was with Su Ming’an, and pulled Zou Yuqing into the sky as well.
On the sand, Su Ming’an sat alone in a wheelchair, watching the grand flas.
Until he heard footsteps stepping on the sand from behind.
"... I’ve heard of your great na, nice to et you," Su Ming’an said without turning his head, casually.
The footsteps paused for a mont, then ca a step closer.
Jet black hair fluttered with the sea breeze, and star-shaped black bone studs reflected the firelight. The newcor stood alongside Su Ming’an, the flas burning across the sky stretched their shadows long.
"... I’ve heard of your great na, nice to et you," the newcor responded with the sa words.
Saying the sa greeting, the two had completely different moods.
The night was dark, but the flas burned brightly, the blue crescent moon in the sky unseen. Su Ming’an looked up, spotting Su Wensheng’s slightly dark eyes.
"I suspect, you’re unhappy with your own death, so you thought of a way to be reborn?" Su Ming’an said.
"I wouldn’t do such a thing," Su Wensheng said, smiling.
Su Ming’an turned to look, the black-haired young man smiled with faint dimples, but there was no warmth in his eyes.
"In my impression, you were already dead," Su Ming’an said.
"Death is not the end," Su Wensheng said.
Su Ming’an squinted slightly:
"I sll the blood on you... did you kill those who coveted Shadow’s body? Or did you help them dissect Shadow’s body?"
"I would not desecrate a hero’s body, so I punished them," Su Wensheng said.
"Why did you kill Shadow?"
"To lure you over."
"Just for that? You killed him?"
"Yes," Su Wensheng replied with a smile.
Su Ming’an felt that this sinister Su Wensheng was completely different from the Su Wensheng he rembered.
"Are you a darkened version of Su Wensheng?" Su Ming’an asked.
Su Wensheng’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, he looked at Su Ming’an fleetingly:
"Do you define a person as simply black or white? The high schooler Su Wensheng, who willingly died to greet the Savior, is white? The Su Wensheng who dared to attack the Savior, even killed the Savior’s clone, is black?"
"No, you’re vastly different from Su Wensheng in my mory, he was a sunny and cheerful kid, but you..." Su Ming’an could clearly feel the difference, as if they were two different people.
Su Wensheng chuckled from his throat:
"Is that so?"
"But five months ago, you were also a sunny and cheerful kid. Now you’re also a darkened version of Su Ming’an."
The coast was silent.
The crashing waves drowned in silence, neither of them spoke.
The salty sea breeze tapped on Su Ming’an’s closed eyelids, he suddenly asked:
"Is Da Ju resurrected?"
Su Wensheng’s eyes trembled, his smile unmistakably mixed with irritation.
Su Ming’an was asking—if you could be resurrected, would you resurrect that orange cat that died?
That orange cat buried under the Parasol Tree represented your past, represented your nineteen years of unwillingness and struggle, represented the justice in your heart never buried. Now it rests in the soil, yet you woke up, would you still rush headlong into the art studio as you did before? Is your blood still boiling hot?
"..."
Su Wensheng did not answer him.
Under the blue crescent moon, Su Wensheng stood with his back to a vast glow, broken cold lights flickering around his ears.
Su Ming’an couldn’t determine if Su Wensheng’s smile on his face was because he thought that was another person’s past, unrelated to him, or if it was laughter... mocking his past self.
"My Lord Angel—I brought Chao Yan back!" A call ca from the sky, Xiao Jingsan descended from above.
When Su Ming’an turned his head, Su Wensheng was already gone, as if Su Wensheng was only there to chat briefly with Su Ming’an.
A scorching embrace approached, Chao Yan’s hair brushed against Su Ming’an’s neck, she landed beside Su Ming’an, her fingers resting on Su Ming’an’s shoulders, like an iron about to lt, soft and burning hot.
"It’s... you..." Chao Yan softly said, her breath also scalding.
"Let’s leave here first," Su Ming’an said.
The tentacle monster raised its thick tentacles, attacking in their direction, Zou Yuqing ignited a talisman and erected a defense barrier, but it was instantly broken.
"What—what is the strength of this monster?" Zou Yuqing’s face turned pale. After all, she was at Fourth Rank level, but couldn’t even block a single tentacle.
As the tentacle was about to smash her into pieces, Chao Yan suddenly turned around and with a slash of her sword, vermillion light shot forth and collided with the tentacle, producing a violent explosion. In the next mont, the tentacle shattered, and Zou Yuqing narrowly escaped calamity.
After swinging the sword, Chao Yan’s complexion beca visibly paler, and her eyes looked as if they were on fire, filled with scarlet blood vessels. Her breath was becoming even hotter, her whole body seed about to lt.
She gazed into Su Ming’an’s eyes, despite her discomfort, she rarely smiled:
"You’re... okay... that’s good."
"Actually... I thought... I could win..."
Her eyes glowed with ruby red on the verge of breaking, fervent and sincere.
Xiao Jingsan hung onto the wheelchair’s left armrest, Zou Yuqing onto the right. They dangled like two dried intestines in the air.
Chao Yan’s body couldn’t withstand hanging like this, so Su Ming’an could only hold her upfront, her body burning like an iron, and even through her clothes, Su Ming’an could feel the pain of burns all over. Her burning cheek rested on his shoulder, her breath exceedingly scorching.
Su Ming’an softly inhaled, enduring the pain, sped up the wheelchair. He couldn’t care about the full-body pain now, could only hold her steady, preventing her from falling.
She beca like this saving him, and the previous cycle, she must have suffered even more horrendous pain at death—she fought until 3 AM, until she finally perished from exhaustion, her pain several tis more than his.
"It’s all right now, relax..." Su Ming’an felt she was still tense, her body heat not having diminished in the slightest. He quietly spoke comforting words, trying to calm her down: "We’ve co a long way... Look back."
Chao Yan slowly turned her head.
She saw the sky gradually darkening, the tentacled creature angrily lashing at the sea surface, unable to leave the waters to hunt them down. The splashes reached such heights they almost touched the sky, the sky’s crimson and the sea’s vermilion blending, shattering into water colors like a broken starry night.
Su Ming’an suddenly felt a pain in his shoulder.
Chao Yan lowered her head, biting his shoulder, blood trickling out in thin streaks, but after a few tries, finding the taste wrong, she quickly stopped biting.
"What are you doing!" Xiao Jingsan roared.
"I’m sorry," Chao Yan said, "My current state... is a bit out of control."
"I understand," Su Ming’an said.
He looked at his hands, which had started blistering from the heat. His chest and thighs were tinged with a bloody red, a sign of impending burns. If he was in such pain, she must be suffering even more.
They rushed all the way and arrived at the nearest small city, landing the wheelchair in a residential area. It was already past midnight, and most residents were asleep; only a few lights were on, likely belonging to students studying late into the night.
"Her injuries need treatnt, needing a cold environnt," Xiao Jingsan checked Chao Yan’s condition.
"There’s no cold storage nearby, would an air-conditioned room do? Or just stuff her in a fridge?" Su Ming’an said.
"In that case... it should work. We’ll have to forcibly enter soone’s ho to borrow their air-conditioning," Xiao Jingsan pondered. Their group was quite the assembly of talent: from false gods who could annihilate Light Angels to vice hierarchs of the Old Day Church to demon sect enchantresses. They’d likely terrify the hoowners.
"That’s the only option," Su Ming’an said.
"If... you don’t cross the world’s edge..." Chao Yan said softly, "you won’t... break free from... the deity’s... control... cough, cough..."
She coughed violently, several mouthfuls of blood falling to the ground, sizzling like sothing being grilled on an iron plate.
"Besides killing the tentacled creature, is there any other way to cross the world’s edge?" Su Ming’an turned his head.
"No. But I can use this to gather more emotions, then... I could beco stronger and perhaps could defeat the tentacled creature," Chao Yan took out a hemp necklace.
Su Ming’an stared at it—it was the Eye of the Old Days!
He had one himself, yet was surprised to find Chao Yan also had one. She had also been gathering the three elents for becoming a god, increasing her strength.
Su Ming’an nodded, "In that case, I’ll help you."
But Chao Yan shook her head, "I need an enormous amount of emotions to grow stronger, dozens, hundreds of people wouldn’t be enough. A lot more is needed... and you can’t afford to wait. The deity could pull your consciousness back at any ti, and then you’d be unable to resist."
Su Ming’an rembered waking up in the deity’s room at one o’clock in the afternoon, returning to his body—a mont signaling failure.
"—Then before my consciousness is pulled back by the deity, I’ll help you gather enough emotions," Su Ming’an said.
Zou Yuqing’s eyes looked puzzled, "Your Excellency, how do you plan to do that? It’s very difficult, and we don’t have enough influence."
"No. I have another identity... which finally has its use now," Su Ming’an said.
He took out a mask given by Xin Yue and a badge given by the cloaked figure.
"What’s this?" Zou Yuqing asked.
"Allow to introduce myself, I am... the Alliance Hierarch of the Human Self-Rescue Alliance, Tang," Su Ming’an recalled the forty-fifth painting, the young man sleeping soundly on a desk.
"I am also... the Vice Minister of the City Guardian Departnt, Su Shize." He rembered the forty-sixth painting, the man practicing his voice repeatedly in front of a mirror.
"I also have the mories of Ms. Su Lixian and Ms. Lin Yuzi, I know the location of their allied research institute." He recalled the forty-seventh and forty-eighth paintings, the two ladies holding hands tightly.
"Moreover, I am the true First Dream Patrol Family mber. No one in this world should have more influence than I do."
"First Dream Patrol Family mber?" Zou Yuqing murmured.
"That’s... the one you t, Su Shaoqing, the Eldest Prince," Su Ming’an smiled.
In that mont, Zou Yuqing was dumbfounded.
She looked at Su Ming’an incredulously:
"Is it you, Your Highness?"
"Lord Angel," Xiao Jingsan sowhat disapproved, "With so many identities concentrated in one person, revealing them all... you’d put yourself at great risk. Initially, everyone thought the one with the dual identities of Eligible and Exotic Species was the Shadow, now they find it’s actually you."
"As Su Wensheng, you’ve exposed the white tentacle, confirming your Exotic Species identity. The Holy Alliance Army would kill you alone, which equals eliminating the Alliance Hierarch of the Human Self-Rescue Alliance and the Vice Minister of the City Guardian Departnt. They won’t stand idly by."
"Perhaps, we could wait, maybe there are other ways to break the control..."
Su Ming’an’s gaze darkened slightly.
...There are none.
No more...
He knew that if he continued to let things be, Chao Yan would die at three in the morning.
He knew that if he continued to wait, his consciousness would be pulled back at one in the afternoon.
He knew that within a short day, many painful events would occur, Xiao Jingsan would be forced to beco the deity’s accomplice, and Li Mingyue would also be forgotten by him. So he must change.
He knew... all the despair.
The hope Xiao Jingsan and others saw, in his eyes, was already an unachievable, predestined despair.
"Believe... in ," Su Ming’an could only smile.
He couldn’t say anything.
Xiao Jingsan still wanted to persuade him, feeling this thod was too risky and might not gather enough energy in ti for Chao Yan to grow stronger.
Yet Chao Yan smiled:
"Alright, I believe."
"I once promised soone very important to learn to trust others. Now I trust you."
Su Ming’an raised his head, "Chao Yan, what is your ultimate goal?"
Li Mingyue, Xiao Jingsan, and Chao Yan, were all important figures in this world.
Li Mingyue’s goal was salvation; he witnessed the relay of fifty Fire Transmitters’ flas and sheltered Dao Ya City as the novice’s starting point.
Xiao Jingsan was also for salvation; the Old Day Church he founded seed to be for establishing battle lines and collecting emotions, his many actions should have explanations.
But... Chao Yan?
Su Ming’an knew almost nothing about her, her salvation plan—what was it?
"My ultimate goal?" Chao Yan smiled slightly.
She lowered her head for a mont, as if pondering. Then quickly raised her head, with a warm smile on her face:
"—To destroy this world."
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