Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 1537: Finale · Across the Sea Arc [27] · "BE30: The Garden of Forking Paths
Under the World Tree.
A snow-white figure sat under the layered crystalline branches, the round table towering, the aroma of tea swirling, fingers pinching a lump of sugar.
"Plop."
The sugar fell into the red tea, spreading ripples and gradually melting like snow.
Suddenly, the figure stood up from the chair, taking several steps back, retreating from the round table and red tea like a startled animal, instinctively distancing from what he feared.
...Why?
Why assume such a posture?
After Su Ming’an’s consciousness returned from the Creator Conference, he saw himself sitting at a round table, adding sugar to red tea. This behavior did not come from his self-awareness, as if he had naturally sat down.
With a "bang!", he flicked the round table away with a tentacle, shattering the porcelain cup, melting the sugar. He looked at the hundreds of branches on his back and the glowing World Tree behind him, suddenly realizing something.
"Symbiosis".
He hadn’t dominated the World Tree but shared life with it. Therefore, he had the right to manipulate the World Tree’s actions, and the World Tree had the right to manipulate his actions. His earlier action of drinking tea was clearly the consciousness of the World Tree — it wanted to do this.
He stared at the shattered round table and porcelain cup for a long time, confirming that he could no longer sit on it, then slowly calmed his breathing.
Noel Agnini’s memory was very simple; as the Strawberry Alliance Leader, he cleared the Disciple Game smoothly and allied various players, with nothing special. The only noteworthy point was, at the beginning of the memory, a pair of sorrowful green eyes, with a face obscured by shadow, whose identity was unknown.
Su Ming’an sat on the ground, closed his eyes, and invoked his consciousness.
The roots of the World Tree spread throughout every corner of Luowasha. He wanted these roots to condense into his form entirely. In this way, even if he was at the center of the World Tree, it would be equivalent to having traversed every corner of Luowasha.
His goal, of course, was —
...
Tavern.
Su Liujin rushed into the tavern amidst the Red Rain, with the damp raindrops dripping from his hem.
Most of the friends he had walked with were killed by Bai Qiu’s Silver-armored Knights. Only some survivors were left, lying haphazardly in the tavern.
"Kasha! Kasha?" Su Liujin shook their bodies.
"Creasy!"
"Laisande, are you okay?"
Silence.
The golden wine glass lay overturned on the bar, and the poor-quality meat on the table remained untouched. The world was silent as though frozen. Each unconscious person could have their soul taken by death at any moment.
Su Liujin stood among the fallen bodies, picked up a small knife, and cut towards his arm. From his elbow to his shoulder, lines drawn with a black pen marked "Monday," "Tuesday," "Wednesday," and so on.
Today was Saturday. Su Liujin stopped the knife at the black line labeled "Saturday," sliced off a large chunk of bleeding flesh, and the silver knife extended under the skin until it stopped at the black line labeled "Sunday."
He held this piece of meat between the "Saturday" black line and the "Sunday" black line, delicately cutting it into thirteen pieces and forcefully stuffing them into the mouths of each unconscious person, the motion exceedingly practiced.
A tender face about fifteen or sixteen years old looked at people swallowing the pieces without expression; they instinctively licked, chewed, swallowed, as though they had done this countless times.
Under the dim tavern light, in the air filled with the smell of strong liquor, under the dust-covered stained glass windows, people slowly opened their eyes, their faces gradually becoming rosy.
"Is everyone here?" Su Liujin looked around.
A woman with olive-colored long hair wiped her mouth and said in a deep voice, "Everyone is here, except... Shi Ying and Qi Zhou are missing. Hui Bai went to attend the Creator Conference."
"Shi Ying was something we picked up carelessly, her identity unknown; we don’t have time to care about her now. But Qi Zhou... now he’s out there running around alone. Without your blessing, he’s probably in great danger," another blonde girl with spiral twin ponytails said.
"I’ll go find Qi Zhou." Su Liujin decided immediately.
He had taken a few steps outside when a man blocked the tavern door.
The man’s name was Si Nian. Under his wine-red hair was a face full of wildness and scars, tall and muscular. With just a light push, Su Liujin was pushed back two steps.
"You can’t go," he said.
It’s so dangerous outside now; without Su Liujin’s flesh, they didn’t know how long they would remain unconscious. Su Liujin’s presence was proof of safety; how could they let him run out alone?
Besides, although Qi Zhou was smart, he was rebellious in nature, and not many in the group liked him; how could they let the leader take risks for him?
Su Liujin touched his chest, feeling his intense heartbeat — when he was younger, to save Hui Bai and Qi Zhou, he had shared his heart with them.
Si Nian looked at Su Liujin without retreating, his tall figure firmly blocking the door.
Su Liujin’s experience in this first Disciple Game was not as pleasant as Su Ming’an had imagined. It wasn’t just a matter of sharing his flesh with people and they would unconditionally sacrifice themselves for him. It was simply because he was the "Great Emperor" and claimed to be favored by a Deity that he didn’t become prey with no resistance.
But even so, the lack of strong power still made every step difficult. In a group, if the leader doesn’t possess absolute suppression, relying solely on personal charm can only sustain momentarily, but when faced with real choices of interest, it’s just a levee that collapses at a touch.
At this moment, the shadow at the door faded slightly.
A young man with a golden low ponytail walked over and pushed aside Si Nian, looking at Su Liujin.
"Go ahead." Hui Bai’s voice was calm.
—The leader has two people who will absolutely help him without changing their stance due to any conflicts of interest, so as not to let this group collapse.
As for the leader’s childhood rescue, whether it was out of true heart or to win people’s loyalty, whether he was the purely innocent Jellyfish Emperor or a persona full of intrigue, perhaps it remains a mystery.
Su Liujin left the tavern, ran all the way to the hill. He remembered Qi Zhou had told him to visit the hill.
Under the Red Rain, he saw a figure.
A purple-haired young man stood on the hill, shouting hoarsely:
"Ha, hahahaha—why! Why!"
"Indeed—indeed nothing will change! Indeed nothing can be resisted! Sique—I hate you!!"
"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!!!"
Su Liujin walked up the hill and saw Qi Zhou clutching a blood-stained wreath.
...
"Tap."
The heel touched the sewage.
The narrow walls of red bricks tugged on scattered wires, the earth and accumulated water pooled into flowing gray-yellow, the slum always looked barren and distressed.
The black-haired young man carried a red umbrella, walking between the alleys, he saw many staggered bodies and pairs of children’s dirty eyes.
Perhaps there should also exist "Lv Zhuqing" here, but the children here aren’t as lucky, able to be rescued by the passing Lü Shu.
"Tap tap tap."
Su Ming’an seemed to be aimlessly wandering, roaming meaninglessly in this area. At this time, he saw a running figure.
Short-haired, square face, full of marks from the passage of time, bright eyes, blood sliding down the corner of the mouth, coughing constantly.
—Mo Chenqing.
Su Ming’an remembered this middle-aged man, who once begged him to modify the medicine ingredients to save his daughter, yet he hadn’t waited for Su Ming’an to come out of the house before being seduced by the council member to go to the TV station, pointing out the innocent Sique as the mastermind behind the scenes, in exchange for medicine.
Now his daughter should be recovering.
But why does he look like he’s running away?
"...!" Seeing Su Ming’an, whose attire obviously didn’t belong to the slums, Mo Chenqing paused in his steps, showing a moment of fear on his face, and ran in another direction.
Su Ming’an followed him unhurriedly, expressionless, his back dragging unseen colorless branches and leaves, like an ice sculpture.
Didn’t run far, Mo Chenqing coughed violently, physically exhausted, and fell headlong, painfully clutching his lungs, blood flowing down his chin.
"Please don’t come over!" He shouted at Su Ming’an.
Su Ming’an stopped, silently holding the red umbrella.
"You this so-called Great Emperor, Sect Hierarch, Protagonist... stay away from me! I beg you! I’m just an ordinary person; I just want my daughter and me to survive! The great matters of the world have nothing to do with me!" Mo Chenqing coughed while crying in pain: "I got the medicine; I betrayed my conscience to get it! Our family’s life is finally going to improve. Why won’t you leave me alone, why won’t you leave me alone?"
That guy named "Qi Zhou" too, saying "Mo Chenqing was written into the script," kept Mo Chenqing from leaving his side, Mo Chenqing didn’t want to deal with that guy. At the moment when the Red Rain fell, Mo Chenqing felt something was wrong, stabbed Qi Zhou from the back, abandoned the wreath, and hurriedly ran down the hill towards home.
—Yes, yes, he needs to go home!
This heavy rain, regardless of whether a royal family conspired it, or an Immortal Emperor’s plot, Mo Chenqing only cared about his children. The son went far away, and the sick daughter was still at home!
Su Ming’an tilted his head.
His gaze made Mo Chenqing feel a heart-stirring sense of otherworldliness, not like facing a person, more like facing a withered flower or a tree.
Before Su Ming’an could say anything, Mo Chenqing climbed up and ran fiercely in one direction.
Su Ming’an still followed with the red umbrella.
Soon, he saw Mo Chenqing rush into a shabby house.
Su Ming’an stood at the door, looked through the gap in the window—saw a quiet girl lying on the bed, her expression painful, covered with a light blanket, rain streaks remained on her cheeks, she no longer breathed.
"Thud" Mo Chenqing suddenly lost all strength, and his knees hit the ground hard.
His forehead pressed tightly against the ground, his eyes lost focus, blood threads trembled violently, his mouth murmured without pause.
"Yes, how did I not think of it, people with weak physique couldn’t survive; how can my daughter survive? I shouldn’t have gone to the hill to make a wreath. Chun Ni’er wasn’t by my side in the end; everything was wrong from the beginning. I shouldn’t have approached that guy named Bai Qiu; he was a genius black horse from the Royal City. What am I as an old man? If it wasn’t for that, maybe I could at least have held Chun Ni’er..."
Among the moisture of deep red, the shabby house in the next Red Rain.
Through the crimson haze, Su Ming’an saw the man’s blood-red eyes. He glared, grinned his mouth, showed an indifferent smile, suddenly raised his head, and stared at Su Ming’an:
"Hey... hehehe... enough! It must be enough!"
"Wait until tomorrow, when the rain stops, first go find a job... I remember the dock is still hiring temporary workers, it’s paid daily, but they probably won’t want someone my age... Yes, use ragged clothes to wrap my hair, and stuff some straw leaves in my chest to disguise as someone strong enough, I should be able to work, but I don’t know if I can earn 3 Shar Currency."
"I can still go to the tavern for a night shift, they’re hiring someone to watch the place, work until two in the morning, should get 4 Shar Currency. And then... Yes, then go to the slope in the suburbs, pick a few fresh flowers in the early morning for Chun Ni’er, make a wreath. Ni’er has wanted that for a long time. Then go back and lie down for a while, continue working in the day... In this way, I should be able to buy some nutritional supplements for Chun Ni’er, a box sells for 5 Shar Currency, and as for me, chewing on some bread is enough, only needs 1 Shar Currency to feel full..."
He shivered as he untied the ragged cloth bag he was holding tightly to his chest, one of the few things not stained by the red rain, protected tightly with his body, inside it was a piece of black bread, and a box of nutritional supplements.
He took a bite of the black bread, so hard that his aging teeth ached. Then he cautiously opened that box of nutritional supplements, which he bought from street thugs, costing a full 5 Shar Currency, requiring him to work day and night for two entire days...
Such precious nutritional supplements, Chun Ni’er needs just one bite and she’ll be okay, she’s just passed out from malnutrition, she’ll open her eyes...
"Click."
The sound of the wooden box opening.
Su Ming’an slowly put down the bright red umbrella.
The heavy rain falling on the white fluffy collar, the wet fluff sinking heavily.
The middle-aged man kneeling on the ground stared blankly at the wooden box in his hand.
The box was empty.
Empty.
The street thug sold him an empty box.
That’s right, heard it’s a mess over there, nutritional supplements pass through many hands, some people with lucky thoughts might secretly take some from the boxes, but the odds are low. If one does "win" it, the buyer without any power can only swallow broken teeth and blood. But Mo Chenqing never thought it’d be today, this moment, this box.
When it rains it pours, destiny mocks those with bitter fate.
It’s like being struck by lightning, his old and wounded hands trembled violently, the corners of his mouth lifted, twisted, like a bent old poplar tree.
"Hey... hehehe... Yes, yes! It’s just like this..."
"Ni’er, I can’t save you..."
"That damn World Tree, damn protagonist, damn genesis story, what does it have to do with me!"
"Hey, hehehe, Ni’er, Ni’er..."
The man clutched his chest, slowly fell down.
As a survivor of the Red Rain, he maintained clarity for so long with sheer willpower, but finally, he couldn’t resist.
His heart was trembling, stopping, breathing, he had been suffering from heart disease for a long time.
For a moment, he turned his head, looking at the bright red umbrella outside the window.
That’s a big shot, Mo Chenqing knows.
All dressed in white, exuding elegance, like those with colorful hair, all big shots. They aren’t trapped by livelihood, aren’t tormented by illness, they merely lift their head daily to gaze at secrets of the royal family, deities, the world, living like dust-free immortals.
When they arrive, the world changes, many strange things happen, ordinary folks like them spin, fly, dissolve like dust.
Through the window gap, he saw that pure white robe, in his eyes, like a white goat peaceful as a mountain in storm.
The accumulating water inside reached his chin, he lifted his hand, struggled to point at his chest.
Next moment, that "white goat" pushed the door and came in, bright red umbrella handle leaned by the door.
"What do you want?" That person asked, voice unwavering.
"I..." Mo Chenqing’s anger suddenly collected, he suddenly became incredibly calm, calmly said:
"Bring a knife."
"My ancestral bloodline is chive-related, my heart, cut it out while alive... sell it, it’s nutritious, can make money."
"Help me... cut out my heart, sell it, buy us two urns... no, the money might not suffice, one will do. For her."
"You can... while I’m alive, cut out other parts of me, sell them, they’re yours. Do it quickly, once dead the cut parts won’t sell for much."
"Hey, hehehe, you’re a big shot... if you don’t value this money, could you please break us apart, with a knife or bury us... at least, not lying here."
"Why?" Su Ming’an tilted his head, pupils reflecting the crystal color of the World Tree.
"Because..." The man struggled to breathe:
"...some might take dead bodies, chop them into pieces, make dog food, sell it..."
He had long imagined a beautiful future.’
Once healed, many jobs could be done, many jobs earn money. This always leaking house can be replaced with a better one, Chun Ni’er can walk out of this muddy land, the black bread on the table can be swapped for soft white bread, maybe even delicious liquor and clean water.
Yet, just a sudden rain shattered it all, shattered the savings of the first half of his life, shattered his sky and earth.
This is too strange, too strange.
Moments later, a white-haired young man stepped out of the doorway.
The rain drizzled around him, and the slanted wires atop the house resembled a pair of dark horns.
Holding Mo Chenqing’s bleeding heart in one hand, he recalled touching Mo Chunyan just now. Through the World Tree’s sensory perception, he heard her dying wish.
"Daddy... why haven’t you come back yet..."
"So painful... so painful... Why does it hurt so much when the rain touches me... I can’t breathe..."
"If... if I’m going to die, I want to cut out my lungs and give them to daddy... hmm, his lungs have always been bad..."
A figure stood at the doorway.
It was Qi Zhou.
He held a blood-stained wreath, panting heavily, obviously having rushed here, yet staring blankly at the heart in Su Ming’an’s hand.
Su Ming’an originally thought he would roar angrily, after all, Qi Zhou wanted Mo Chenqing to survive, but Qi Zhou showed an unusually calm expression instead.
His heart seemed to tremble fiercely, filled with compassion and struggle, yet moments later, he resembled a herald declaring death.
"...Mo Chenqing died just as the script said."
He declared calmly.
By some coincidence, he had once crossed over time and secretly read some scripts written by Sique. In the scripts, there were many arrangements for people’s deaths. He had tried more than once to change their destinies, but never succeeded.
This time was no different.
All the same.
After the inexplicable interweaving of causality, they died like melting snow.
He had always thought that by secretly reading "God’s script," he could overturn God’s mocking play, yet this stolen view only made him face this sin time and time again. The fire-stealing Prometheus was also a sufferer, constantly tormented by the eagle’s heart-pecking.
"Plop."
The white wreath fell into the rain.
The blood rain stained its petals red.
...
Qi Zhou was about to turn away but noticed something off about Su Ming’an.
Speaking of which, he had noticed earlier that Su Ming’an’s emotions seemed overly indifferent, more like... the branches and leaves of a tree than a person?
The bright red umbrella suddenly fell to the ground, and Su Ming’an closed his eyes and fell backward.
"...Heh, so you can be influenced by the Red Rain and possessed by ’them’ after all." Qi Zhou mocked Su Ming’an’s willpower.
"I—I’ve come! Haha, hahaha!" In the next moment, "Su Ming’an" opened his eyes, clearly replaced by a member of the Dream Patrol Family. He touched his body, shouting in shock, "Wait, this is, this is the protagonist Su Ming’an? I can actually replace him, my luck has turned—"
The next moment.
Qi Zhou saw a blooming Manzusha Flower, his eyes widening.
Bright red branches suddenly pierced out from the ground, violently penetrating Su Ming’an’s body. Countless branches protruded from his neck, arms, abdomen, and legs, resembling a blossoming flower.
"Puff!" The Dream Patrol Family member spat out a mouthful of blood and soon fell silent.
"...!" Qi Zhou stepped back in shock, then saw flower after flower, countless Manzusha Flowers, blooming in the streets and alleys.
Su Ming’an was committing suicide.
Holding the red umbrella, this Su Ming’an’s body was spreading through every corner of Luowasha, and at this moment, all the "Su Ming’an" were being possessed by the Dream Patrol Family. Then, with a "swoosh," the blood bloomed.
——He used the branches of the World Tree to divide into thousands of versions of himself, spread throughout every corner of Luowasha, attracting thousands of Dream Patrol Family possessions, and then pierced himself with branches to commit suicide, triggering the Soul Ferry, reading each Dream Patrol Family’s memory, emotion, and ability, thus locating the Supreme Lord’s image and the Starting Point platform coordinates.
"Swoosh," "swoosh," "swoosh"...
Countless red flowers bloomed.
Like a sacrificial ceremony under the red rain.
"Gurgle gurgle..."
The heart of a bitter person rolled into the rain, and before the curtain of a window, a snow-white goat avenged him and his daughter.
Luowasha, this world, at this moment, was like a garden of forking paths.
...
