Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 1495: Final - : Voyage Across the Sea [6] - "He Gave Me a Heart
Yamada Machiichi appeared clumsy, but in reality, his movements were quite methodical. He dodged left, dodged right, and the Silver-armored Knight could never quite hit him.
At this moment, his eyes narrowed, spotting Su Ming’an standing in the shadows. He pretended to be weak and powerless, stumbling toward Su Ming’an.
"Oh no, I’ve fallen." Yamada Machiichi opened his eyes, a dark golden hue flickering in his pupils, as he stared at Su Ming’an.
Su Ming’an immediately heard a system prompt:
...
[(Player) Yamada Machiichi is using Charm on you.]
[Judging... Judgment invalid, your Charm is SS+, higher than Yamada Machiichi’s.]
...
Meanwhile, Yamada Machiichi heard:
...
[You are using Charm on (Bai Qiu).]
[Judging... Judgment invalid, the other’s Charm value far exceeds yours.]
[You suffer a backlash from the Charm: for a certain period, you cannot leave (Bai Qiu).]
...
Yamada Machiichi’s facial muscles stiffened, his entire body seemingly frozen.
His method of clearing levels was to cling to NPCs for benefits, this favorability increasing skill never failed, even working on faction bosses, yet it hit a wall with Bai Qiu!
Not a single effect, this executioner who commanded knights to wantonly slaughter, how could he have such a high Charm value?
What made Yamada Machiichi want to cry was that under the backlash, he had to stay by this executioner’s side until the effect ended.
Su Ming’an stepped back half a step, and Yamada Machiichi fell to the ground with a "plop." The Silver-armored Knights quickly closed in, their blades pointing directly at Yamada Machiichi.
"Sorry for startling you." The knight captain knelt on one knee, a man encased in iron armor: "I’ll handle her for you right away..."
"Wait a moment." Su Ming’an slowly spoke: "This is Sique’s sister, capturing her will ensure Sique reveals himself."
Influenced by his character setting, he didn’t intend to expose his identity to Yamada Machiichi. How strict the rules were was still unclear, even though Su Liujin was informed beforehand, Yamada Machiichi was not.
Yamada Machiichi quickly climbed up, feeling that this stern-looking, white-haired youth was like a huge harbinger of doom. He nervously squeezed out a smile, forcing himself to smile at Su Ming’an amidst the glinting swords:
"Good evening, have you eaten?"
Su Ming’an’s expression slightly tightened.
To think Yamada Machiichi made it as a top-ranking player using this tactic, skilled at clinging to high-ranking individuals, yet so shameless...
"Make sure she doesn’t run around." Su Ming’an coldly instructed, maintaining a stern face as he walked forward. Since Si Hua was here, he suspected Sique wasn’t far off either.
Yamada Machiichi stared at Bai Qiu’s back in astonishment:
He let me off so easily? An executioner like him didn’t get angry enough to stab me after being Charmed?
Right after, a familiar thought crept into his mind.
...he likes... ahem, likes Si Hua?
...
Lights flickered gently amongst the rubble, copper bells dangling from the roof eaves.
The gaps in the bluestone paving seeped with blood, the midnight ponds dyed deep red.
Wearing a cloak hood, with his face concealed, Su Ming’an exposed only a few strands of white hair, stepping across the bluestone paving, taking steps forward, with high-heeled boots untouched by blood.
He purposely dismissed Xi Ting and the Silver-armored Knights, coming alone for inspection.
"Swish!"
A dagger, carved with blue-green feathers, pressed against his throat, a voice deliberately lowered spoke behind him: "...have your dogs scram, don’t meddle around here."
...They’ve arrived.
Su Ming’an’s figure didn’t budge: "A blade that doesn’t dare to fall carries no threat." He calmly turned his head, letting the dagger’s tip leave a swirling cut on his throat.
Behind him was a hooded figure, sporting purple strands under a cloak, and golden eyes shining in the shadows.
...It’s the eighteen-year-old Sique.
...
[Facing Sique, your action is——]
[A."I heard you have many means. You have a master Yijulai’er on Divine Mountain, some Royals met during your travels, even Angels are friendly with you. Why not call upon them to quell the chaos here?"]
[B."Sique. You take your sunny path, I’ll cross my single-log bridge. You’re a shining White Bird, no need to intervene with the Crow in the mud, we merely end on the same road."]
[C. Restrain Sique.]
[D. Cry heavily on the spot.]
...
Su Ming’an’s eyelid twitched.
Pondering Bai Qiu’s character, he chose C.
In an instant, his body moved of its own accord, right hand striking Sique’s elbow like lightning, left knee thrusting forward, hitting Sique’s abdomen squarely.
With a dull collision, the purple-haired youth collapsed, spitting blood.
Bai Qiu’s combat power is high, easily subduing Sique... Su Ming’an crouched, picked up Sique’s dagger, tossing it lightly: "I believed you’d choose a smarter method."
Sique gasped intermittently, laughed: "Indeed... a smarter... method..."
His figure suddenly blurred, transforming into floating text.
...This wasn’t Sique himself, but a piece of text written by Sique! Su Ming’an turned sharply, seeing on the clock tower, under the dark night, a purple-haired youth holding a golden long bow, arrows locked on target.
"Swish!"
Arrows shot forth, ripping into darkness, slicing the air, speeding toward him!
"Leader!" Xi Ting flashed into position from afar, blocking in front of Su Ming’an, wielding a bone sword to deflect the arrows. The next moment, rustling vine sounds filled the area, hundreds of sinister deep green vines sprung from the ground.
The Silver-armored Knights immediately arrived, raising long spears and sharp blades to sever the vines. On the clock tower, the purple-haired youth transformed into a piece of text and vanished again.
Under the night sky, only the radiantly illuminated clock tower remained.
After a while, as the Silver-armored Knights finally cleared the traps, a knight reported: "Leader, Sique rescued a batch of civilians, including two Creators. We couldn’t kill all the residents... Please punish us!"
Su Ming’an glanced at the now vacant clock tower, applauding Sique internally.
...Well done. It’s as if we’re cooperating.
Su Ming’an feigned coldness: "Is it over then?"
Seeing no punishment from Su Ming’an, the knight finally relaxed his racing heartbeat: "Captain Lü discovered an underground passage beneath a hotel, a dozen travelers escaped through it, we caught a few, others are still in pursuit..."
Xi Ting lifted her skirt, bowing: "Leader, I’ll capture them."
Su Ming’an kept a cold expression and said flatly, "I’ll go, you follow behind."
After speaking, he unconsciously touched his face, only to feel that his facial muscles were stiffening.
Beneath the inn, a dark and narrow passage appeared before him. Torches hung on the walls as Su Ming’an hurriedly walked in with an oil lamp and noticed chaotic footprints in the soil.
At the narrowest part of the tunnel, only one person could pass through. Su Ming’an squeezed through alone, hearing faint voices:
"...If they catch up, we’ll fight them!"
Su Ming’an immediately extinguished the oil lamp, signaling everyone to stop. He crawled quietly ahead and listened from a corner. Through a hole, he saw three figures elongating in the candlelight.
Upon recognition, Su Ming’an’s pupils slightly contracted.
These three were Su Liujin, Qi Zhou, and Hui Bai, with whom he had dined at the tavern. They were assisting a dozen civilians and contestants in climbing to a higher place and leaving through a passage.
"We’re leaving, what about you guys?" an elderly man worriedly glanced back.
"Don’t worry, Granny Feng, you go first." Hui Bai smiled, then whispered, "In a while, Liujin and Qi Zhou, you go first, step on my shoulders to get up."
"What about you?" Su Liujin asked.
"I..." Hui Bai smiled, "Don’t worry, I’m a lucky person, nothing will happen to me."
"You’re talking nonsense," Qi Zhou said plainly. "We’ll go together, Liujin and I will give our all to pull you up, at worst we’ll fight those knights, it’s not like we can’t fight."
Su Ming’an furrowed his eyebrows.
Bai Qiu would likely capture these people directly, but the image of the Supreme Lord is probably hidden among those Su Liujin trusts, including Hui Bai and Qi Zhou. If they die, this would all be pointless.
To not break character, he could only... Su Ming’an looked at his legs.
If, if Bai Qiu "accidentally" breaks his leg, he won’t be able to chase...
He aimed at a sharp stone ahead, took a deep breath, considering how much force it would take to crush a leg bone...
"Boom——!!!"
Suddenly, a huge explosion resounded from the ground. Immediately, the tunnel began to collapse, dust falling furiously. Someone deliberately blasted the tunnel to bury the Silver-armored Knight and civilians.
Su Ming’an looked up, seeing the ceiling begin to collapse,
...Was it Sique? This person is ruthless, trying to kill Bai Qiu without regard for the civilians in the tunnel.
Instantly, a suffocating feeling enveloped him, gray-black soil engulfing his view.
After a dizzying whirl, Su Ming’an noticed the hardness around him, buried deep in the soil. The oil lamp rolled away somewhere, and a hard sensation came from his legs, a giant stone pressing on his knee. A slight movement brought excruciating pain.
...Well, now he wouldn’t need to fall on purpose.
Su Ming’an struggled to stand, forcefully moved the stone aside, seeing his knee embedded with sharp long stones, his pants completely red.
Just as he began emergency treatment, he heard voices nearby:
"Liujin... Liujin, are you okay?"
The three seemed to be buried next to him, only separated by a wall.
"I’m fine, just a broken leg." Su Liujin’s voice was calm. He looked indifferently at his crimson calf. "You go ahead, there might be another collapse. My flesh can regenerate, but yours cannot."
"Regeneration takes time! And if buried here, you’re so weak, how can you get out? Wait for someone to dig you out?" Qi Zhou’s words were harsh, but his hands desperately moved stones from Su Liujin’s body. "Once others discover your body’s abnormality, you’ll never be a normal person again!"
"So you are risking death to protect me, someone who won’t die?" Su Liujin chuckled bitterly. "How many times, how many times... When I don’t need it, you all keep stepping in front of me, taking the leap off the cliff for me. When... when I’m the least afraid of death."
Su Ming’an’s heartbeat slightly quickened.
He tore a piece of his robe, wiping the filth from his leg.
"You know the World Tree contacted me again recently?" Su Liujin hung his head. "It wants me to return as an Observer. It asked me, since I’ve chosen to emerge, whether I regret giving up omnipotent power, unable to protect anything..."
With a bitter smile, he pulled at the corner of his mouth:
"I do regret it a bit, Hui Bai. I regret coming too late."
Hui Bai’s expression was vacant, she lowered her head and said softly:
"It’s never too late."
"...A long time ago, you were our ’God.’
At that moment, heat seared Su Ming’an’s ear, and "Heart’s Blood" was activated.
He saw a vision, a white-haired youth sealed in a mud hut by villagers, only breathing holes exposed, they regularly came to cut his flesh, take his blood, regardless of his pain, as he wouldn’t die...
The second vision showed a blond youth and a purple-haired youth breaking the mud hut, rescuing the white-haired youth. However, as enemy troops attacked, all three were stabbed in the chest. As the blond and purple-haired youth lay dying, the white-haired youth said, "I permit you to consume my flesh and blood, live on, henceforth, you shall honor me as the Great Emperor."
The third vision had the white-haired youth taking out his heart, giving half to the blond, half to the purple-haired youth. With the powerful fusion of the Lighthouse Jellyfish’s heart, the two gradually resumed breathing.
The fourth vision was of the reborn white-haired youth proclaiming himself as the Great Emperor, recruiting believers. Beside him were the self-proclaimed Angel Great Emperor, the blond youth, and the purple-haired youth. The three had matching chest frequencies.
Su Ming’an snapped back to reality, the glow on his earring gradually dimming.
He heard the sound of wooden tokens shaking, heard Hui Bai through the wall say:
"Liujin, endure the pain, Qi Zhou is helping you with emergency treatment."
"To shift focus, let’s play the token game... Look, I have many wooden tokens in my pocket, whatever comes out determines our fate. If we draw a ’high sign,’ it means we’ll have good luck!"
Qi Zhou chuckled, "Why do you carry such things around?"
Hui Bai said, "My mom told me this could bring me good fortune. But you can only draw once, multiple draws make it ineffective... Well, Qi Zhou, Liujin, you’ve both drawn a high sign, you’ve already gained fortune, you’ll be very lucky."
Qi Zhou raised an eyebrow, "Is this stuff really reliable?"
Hui Bai smiled, arranging the tokens neatly, earnestly saying:
"I’m not lying to you." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
"I truly wish for you all to be happy."
...
Yamada Machiichi sat in a dim room, staring blankly at the night sky.
It’s said that the madman Bai Qiu was trapped by the collapsing tunnel, which is good. But Yamada Machiichi was still tightly guarded, unable to escape.
At that moment, a magpie peeked in through a crack, jumping onto his shoulder: "Sis, I’m here to rescue you, soon I’ll knock out those knights, you follow me."
Yamada Machiichi was at a loss... he couldn’t leave! The Charming Skill backlash prevents him from actively leaving Bai Qiu, he could only shake his head.
The magpie tilted its head, eyes growing strange: "...Sis, you haven’t fallen for him, have you? Not escaping, you have Stockholm syndrome?"
Yamada Machiichi wanted to curse "nonsense," but immediately thought cleverly: He couldn’t actively leave Bai Qiu, but if knocked unconscious, he could.
"Quickly, knock me out, take me away." Yamada Machiichi urged.
The magpie’s gaze grew weirder, as if pondering if Yamada Machiichi was playing some special game. Then, he transformed into human form, chopping Yamada Machiichi’s neck with his palm.
Just as he was about to leave, a figure appeared at the door.
That person had disheveled black hair, warm black eyes, indistinct features, wearing bunny ears, dressed in furry white attire, holding a scarlet balance, elegantly carrying a long smoked pipe.
"Today... oh, you’re still busy." The person glanced at Sique, smiling: "But, as per tradition, I’m here. This is my 2,721,131st invitation to you, Sique. I seriously invite you back to the second seat, to build the World Game with me."
