Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 1574: Final - : Guardian Shore Line - "OE: Death from the Ocean (4)
Su Ming’an returned to his original time from the "one month later" time point.
But he found that there had already been some deviations. Upon returning, it was not the first day after the World Game ended, but the third day.
At that time, it was still a new trend. He informed Su Mianbao and the others of the issues he had collected from the future, urging them not to embark on the old path of "deifying."
"Are you leaving again?" Lü Shu was maintaining order on the front lines and called in.
"Yes, I must take a look at what the future will be like after the ’correction’ and whether it will be better." Su Ming’an spoke through the crackling noise.
Lü Shu’s voice was silent for a while over there, then said:
"Alright. Then... after you’ve seen the future, is there anything you want to say to me?"
Su Ming’an thought for a moment and said: "It’s okay even if you don’t learn to write official documents, we have office AI."
Lü Shu was silent for quite a while.
Su Ming’an then laughed and said: "Just do it according to your own intentions, don’t worry, I have a safety net."
He made the second leap.
Time flow in front of him was no longer a straight line but like a ball of cat yarn, and when he found a weak point and shuttled through, the time point was "two months later."
He landed in a shrine, where a child like a little monk stared at him dumbfounded and called out:
"——World Master?"
...
[In the flickering candlelight, a child like a little monk kneeled on the cushion, staring dazedly at the suddenly appearing youth.]
["You... you are..." the child murmured: "...Deity?"]
...
Fortunately, it seemed his changes were effective, as the child did not call him "Deity" like the first time, but "World Master."
He merely smiled and vanished on the spot, heading towards the central tower of the world.
The two hundred and fifty-six floors of the High Tower remained as before. He effortlessly arrived at the hall and encountered the drone in bread shape as expected.
The drone led him into the elevator, and as the elevator ascended, Su Ming’an saw Xiao Xiao with her dyed blue-purple short hair on the one hundred and forty-second floor. After a month of work, this "Husky" seemed to gradually get used to blending into the wolf pack, doing odd jobs with quite some rhythm, and the working floor slightly ascended.
"Ding." Su Ming’an reached the top floor, the automatic door opened, and it was still vast data and the interim World Master sitting in a wheelchair.
"Father God, welcome back." To his amazement, what greeted him was a clear, gentle male voice rather than the expected elderly female voice.
A white-haired young man sat in the wheelchair, wearing a white lab coat, with a black inner lining, his hands folded together. His spine was connected to crimson tubes that extended into the depths below.
For a moment, Su Ming’an’s eyes flickered, and then he quickly sensed the rising melancholy in his heart, stacking like water mist in his five senses.
"...To preserve life, we agreed to hibernate in turns, waking after the previous one ended their life span. I’m the second, then it’s Yue Ying, and finally Li Li." Yu Zhu’s voice was cold.
"Where is she?" Su Ming’an only asked.
"At the foot of the mountain," Yu Zhu said.
Su Ming’an paused, the star sea in the dome roamed slowly, like an upside-down ocean, his nostrils immersed in bitter seawater, pouring entirely toward him.
"...You report first." A moment later, he maintained a calm voice.
Yu Zhu reported the past two months’ situation.
After the "first correction," people no longer strongly engaged in "deifying," replaced by pure personal hero worship.
After all, in a chaotic world, there must be a name to settle people down. The Union Government heavily promoted the "Hero Plan," regarding Lü Shu, Yamada Machiichi, Isabella, Eni... and other players famous from the ranking as the hope of the New World.
Everything was developing favorably. The New World was rich in resources, abundant in material, with no major unrest. Although there were bloodied incidents, casualties were controllable.
However, there remained hidden concerns.
"...The ratio of players to ordinary people is one to seven. Even if we take all measures to narrow the gap, even decided to re-issue the ’Player System,’ encouraging the civilians to strengthen themselves, the contradictions still exist."
"Isabella heard that her aunt, relying on her relation as a relative, was tyrannizing the township. Moreover, three small countries had already perished due to historical leftover issues of players from the rankings."
"Additionally, it’s heard that some players have already shown signs of corruption, killing several viewers who had previously taunted them in the live broadcast room... ahem, although I personally find it delightful, this ultimately isn’t worth advocating."
Yu Zhu’s voice was like a babbling stream, occasionally observing Su Ming’an’s expression.
Compared to Su Mianbao, the love and reverence hidden deep in Yu Zhu’s eyes were more restrained but no weaker by a few percent. He, like Su Mianbao, was a "Saint."
"I believe the occurrence of these problems stems from initially adopting an overly lenient attitude. If the legal system were stringent and sinners severely punished, even players with weapons would consider the consequences and refrain from being so arrogant," said Yu Zhu.
Su Ming’an nodded slowly and inquired about several questions to roughly understand the situation.
He had already thought of the plan for the second adjustment.
"Additionally, there is an important matter to report to you." Yu Zhu operated the screen, which showed a vast, boundless sea. Amidst the waters, a blurry white-haired figure appeared: "When the Ming’an System scanned the world, it accidentally discovered a familiar figure. After careful comparison, we believe this is Su Liujin. We don’t know why he came to our world. The Ming’an System speculates that he refused to accept the fate of being a World Master and thus didn’t go to Eden. Currently, it appears he is reclusive at sea without any extra actions, and can be ignored."
Su Ming’an was speechless, not expecting Su Liujin had also followed. So who is the World Master of Eden now? Has the lazy bird awakened?
If he accomplishes everything here and heads towards the universe, he might as well travel to Eden to see how development is going there. After all, Zhai Xing and Luowasha are like twin stars of the world.
After understanding the situation, Su Ming’an checked casually on whether the mother and son sitting on the park bench had found work—the young man was lucky enough to be admitted to a High Tower in a county town.
Su Ming’an bid farewell to Yu Zhu and headed towards the Mortal World.
Last time, he sought out Lü Shu. This time, he checked on Lu’s situation.
The scene before him shocked him, as the entire Temple seemed to grow out of the oldest and hardest oceanic veins with smooth, mirror-like polished foundations. The deep blue base resembled a giant blue gemstone embedded in the dark abyss.
A person named "Sea Emperor" walked by as believers knelt down, with blue hair fluttering and clean eyes.
"I heard you prohibited deity-making, knowing you dislike being seen as a deity," said Lu. "So I decided to try it. After all, I’m a god too. If I prove deity-making effective, it might ease your burden."
"Just, I think..."
His words were gentle:
"...We will walk this path sooner or later."
While Su Ming’an was serious, Lu smiled and placed a candy in his palm.
"Don’t keep that serious face, have a candy. If I’m wrong, you can stop me. If I lose control as a god, you can kill me."
"This is much harder than my previous work, but it’s very challenging."
"When I’ve traversed all the deep sea abysses and understood what faith truly is, when everything’s settled... I’ll invite you to surf in the most exciting waters, hoping you’ll grace us."
Su Ming’an clutched the candy tightly, sighed silently, and nodded.
Before leaving, he came to the foot of the mountain and placed a bouquet of white camellias on a small grave.
He hadn’t expected the grave to be so humble, not garnering widespread mourning, as if everything she did needed no grand proclamation. He doesn’t recall her last look, only her warmth at the time. She once said "See you at dawn, Father God." But this dawn, he didn’t see her.
So light, so sudden, it turns out after becoming a Pioneer of Time, life and death become so swift and brief.
...
"Hua—hua—"
When he returned to the beginning of time, it was "the fifth day after the end of the World Game."
He arrived at the Tower of the world’s core and saw Su Mianbao, who hadn’t died yet. She lay quietly in a wheelchair, watching data speeding by on the screen, as usual.
While Su Ming’an’s pupils still retained her small grave, life and death intertwined.
"Su Mianbao, adjust the control intensity over players..." Su Ming’an informed Su Mianbao of all the uncontrolled incidents.
"Understood, we will increase control over players, tighten the legal system, and prevent chaos from occurring," Su Mianbao nodded.
—After advising, the Flying Bird set off for the third time.
"Goodbye, Father God." The old grandma on the wheelchair smiled and waved at him.
Su Ming’an closed his eyes, tightly clutching the Ruby, and plunged into the Long River of Time.
"Welcome back, Father God."
The previous moment, an old grandmother was in front of Su Ming’an.
The next moment, a young man was in front of Su Ming’an.
Time and space intertwined, like worlds apart. Opening and closing his eyes, the chair was replaced by another person.
"It’s three months later," Yu Zhu reported the time.
Su Ming’an noticed his jumping time was gradually being pushed back, making it hard to find an earlier point. The chaos of the time stream was such that he could only strive to find the weakest jump point.
Inquiring about the world situation, Yu Zhu said with a glowing face:
"Development is very good!"
"Father God, I think we have found the best development plan, there is no need for you to jump so arduously anymore. Since we strictly regulated players and maintained a tight legal system from the start, no major disturbances have appeared, everything is flourishing and prosperous..."
He smiled, as if all the beauty was within reach.
—But when the sunflowers in the garden chase the blazing sun, have they ever considered that their roots are already fragile?
Su Ming’an closed his eyes to perceive. Using the "Faith" authority, he sensed people’s emotions and heard a variety of voices.
"...So...tired..."
"...It’s too strict... Clearly, the players are all world-saving heroes, so why are they... being so tightly controlled..."
"...Those Tower Masters, those players in power on the leaderboard... They’re players too, so why do they help ordinary people deal with us, control us?"
"...Rather than continuing on this mundane and tasteless path, I’d rather..."
"Eh? It’s actually quite good like this, harmonious and beautiful, stable and carefree, I don’t feel it’s bad at all."
"...What should I do, what should I really do..."
Flames raging on oil, flowers adorning in brilliance.
People, blinded by abundant resources and a favorable environment, see tranquility and boundless hope, yet overlook the shadows beneath the sunlight.
They lavishly boast "One skill can produce tens of thousands of fabrics!" "One player is an aircraft carrier!" "Our peak players have already conquered the Solar System!" using the most extravagant descriptions for the greatness of the era, as if humanity has never stepped into such a glorious light, but seldom mention the happiness of each person.
After all, with the great advancement of technology, food is abundant, people have clothes to wear, and there’s no starvation from laziness. Is there any better development than this?
—Until a painful fracture occurred.
Before this happened, no one thought such a thing could happen in this dazzling era.
Before this happened, people thought those small voices of dissatisfaction were just inconspicuous ripples.
Water rises, wind moves.
—Su Ming’an eternally remembers that day.
He only habitually stayed for a few days, yet didn’t expect to witness such a scene.
An elderly silver-haired woman fell to the ground like a shattered glass bottle, with her limbs ripped apart, exposed white bones, and the face paint vividly expressing the enemy’s malice toward her, written with "This woman treats players, who are heroes, like this, she deserves to die."
Her face gazed at the sky; her final expression seemed neither regretful nor somewhat baffled, as if she couldn’t comprehend why her devoted efforts ended in hatred, why her body was pierced by those she saved, why she died amidst the surge of humanity.
—At that moment, seeing this scene, Su Ming’an felt dizzy and almost collapsed, as if a sky full of seawater overturned and washed away the blazing sun.
Near the end of her life, Councilman Luna, diligent throughout her life, was assassinated by a few radical players. Neither the Cloud City God nor the Sea Emperor were present, and no one expected this to happen.
And a similar scene, Su Ming’an had seen before.
He had seen it.
In... Acto’s memory.
One of the Nine Thrones, Luna’s counterpart, the Moon, died of assassination.
At that moment, his world spun dizzily,
...
He remembered the forlornness in Noel’s eyes before leaving, as if a silent, painful, muted mourning, a sharp and inevitable Damocles Sword.
That person said, the ending is set, I can no longer stop you.
The fox beside the pit wagged its tail and disappeared.
...
"Click."
"Hello." Su Ming’an answered the communication, only to hear an unexpected voice.
"What are you doing? Remember me? You’d never guess who I am." The tone was rising, like beer bubbling with foam.
"Shadow." Su Ming’an said.
"..." There was a moment of silence on the other side, then a laugh: "I didn’t expect you to be so familiar with my voice. I thought you’d forgotten after meeting so many newcomers in Luowasha."
"How did you contact me?" Su Ming’an said: "Did Noel give you a location?"
"Hehe... You’re too distrustful of him, but it is indeed related to him." Shadow said: "I noticed his departure, traced the causality, and found your world."
"Then? What do you want to do?" Su Ming’an’s tone was cold: "Invade our world like you dealt with The World of Old Days?"
"Rest assured, I learned a deep lesson from ’not biting off more than I can chew,’ and have no interest in you." Shadow said: "First, if I did that, Noel would probably come and fight me. Second, I greatly fear you."
"Fear me?"
"Yes, now in the eyes of High Dimensions, the number one threat not to be provoked is you." Shadow said: "Devouring Authority, Faith Authority, and Death Authority... even Reincarnation Authority, Life Authority, and Soul Authority in your hands... Wow, if you really get provoked and destroy this world, you’d have no burden left on you, I can’t imagine the kind of universe overlord you’d become."
It felt relieved.
With Su Ming’an’s terrifying potential, if he truly didn’t care about Zhai Xing anymore and rushed to the universe like Noel, a thousand or ten thousand years later, who would dominate is evident.
It didn’t want to provoke him in the slightest, for fear he’d go mad and use the Devouring Authority to devour everything, including itself.
"Then why are you calling?" Su Ming’an’s expression was blank.
"Need help?"
"Leave quickly."
"Oh dear, such a poor tone, seems like you’re in a bad mood, what happened?"
"..."
"What’s wrong? Talk to me, I’m curious."
"...Luna passed away." Su Ming’an didn’t even know why he said it, maybe because, amid a million kinds of suffering, the current pain was the most indescribable.
Or perhaps, only the outsider Shadow could allow the young "Savior" to expose moments of agony, not needing to maintain his image before the public.
As soon as it slipped out, he gripped the communicator tightly, almost crushing it, the cold touch pressed against his cheek, eyes slightly red.
...Why did it end up like this?
...It’s his mistake, his correction that led to the conflict among players, led to Luna’s death...
It’s his fault.
He expected to hear Shadow’s mocking laughter, but unexpectedly, Shadow fell silent.
When it spoke again, the tone was no longer frivolous but earnest.
"...I’m sorry."
"Sorry, I didn’t expect it to be your companion’s death."
Su Ming’an slowly sat on the cold ground.
He had already left that bloody scene and came to a solitary lounge, the incandescent light pouring into his eyes, under this word of "sorry," the pent-up breath in his heart seemed to suddenly loosen.
He looked up at the ceiling, with veins feeling like tens of thousands of tiny bugs running through, his whole body in pain.
"It’s nothing. I’ll hang up now."
"If you need help, dial this number, I’ll sense it." Shadow said.
"What’s your purpose?"
"Hehe, of course, there is one, like deepening our relationship. To prevent you from going mad in the future and swallowing me along with everything. After all, we did oppose each other once, there’s mutual admiration..."
"Will I go mad?"
"If Zhai Xing is gone, wouldn’t you? I’m really afraid of you going mad aimlessly in the universe..."
"Zhai Xing can’t possibly be gone."
"So I said, just making sure." Shadow chuckled: "Perhaps you’ll have smooth sailing? Savior."
"Got it, I don’t need it now, I’m quite normal." Su Ming’an put down the communicator, planning to hang up.
By now, his voice had already calmed down, even the tear stains on his face had disappeared.
Holding the communicator in his hand, after a moment of silence, Shadow’s final words came through.
It was a deep, quiet voice.
...
"Su Ming’an."
"Do not become, do not become Dawn itself."
...
