Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 1348 - 1341: Angel Thread 1 – "Under the Daylight, He Turned Back (Part 2)
Su Ming’an and Lü Shu rushed into the range of the World Tree.
Perhaps because Alger’s summoning was still not proficient, under Mizushima Kawa Sora’s suicide attack, the mechanical shadow failed to descend.
The red and black thick clouds still floated in the sky, lingering and refusing to disperse, resembling an upside-down Hell.
"Close your eyes!" Lü Shu suddenly said.
Su Ming’an immediately closed his eyes.
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
The sound of blades.
The sound of blade edges cutting through the branches and leaves.
Su Ming’an’s full head of white hair was blown up by the wind, covering his face, almost poking into his eyes. If he had known, he should have cut all of Su Liujin’s hair off too.
"Swish!"
Like a cat rolling into a giant ball of yarn, he slightly opened his eyes and saw the nearby tree bark. The crystal-colored branches and leaves blocked out the sky, twisting and tangling densely, emitting a glowing luster.
...What a beautiful tree, as if it’s a collection of all magnificent dreams.
But such a tree has driven so many tragedies.
Amidst the rainbow-colored radiance, Lü Shu raised his hands forward.
His black blade was imbued with Divine Power, becoming sharp and long in an instant, swirling with colorful sparks, too beautiful to match him.
"I’ll cut through the bark, and we rush in."
Confronting the World Tree’s last line of defense, Lü Shu used all his strength, raising a rainbow blade in both hands. The fierceness of the wind lifted his white hair, making him seem like he was a patch of snow on the verge of melting.
A powerful aura was continuously gathering, expanding, and swelling in Lü Shu’s hands.
"Hoo—hoo—hoo—"
The wind of energy surrounded, urged, screamed, chanting in joyful tones.
"Crack—crack-crack—"
A crisp cracking sound rang out.
Su Ming’an turned his head; as the energy grew, he saw Lü Shu’s mask sprouting cracks.
"Crack-crack-crack-crack—"
The sound grew louder, and through the gaps, Su Ming’an could already see Lü Shu’s face—a face covered in blood.
Blood trickled from Lü Shu’s seven orifices, even his clear eyes were stained with blood red, the whites nearly engulfed in black. Blood streaked across his face, incredibly terrifying.
Yet Lü Shu’s expression remained calm.
"..."
Su Ming’an wanted to say something, but when the words reached his mouth, he swallowed them back down.
What should he say? Tell Lü Shu to stop? It was already impossible to stop.
This outcome was already predestined, only "next time"... could change all the despair.
"Su Ming’an." Lü Shu suddenly spoke.
Su Ming’an listened.
"I hope this time we can defeat the World Tree, so there won’t need to be a next time." Lü Shu said.
"But this time..." Su Ming’an shook his head. If this time succeeded, it would mean Yamada Machiichi and the others would be dead, and Lü Shu wouldn’t survive after swallowing the Divinity, leaving only him alive.
But Lü Shu said, that would be fine.
"I’m a bit selfish." Lü Shu’s hands on the long blade grew brighter, the aura increasingly unstable:
"Rather than perfection, I prefer stability."
"I can accept this outcome."
Su Ming’an thought he could gather enough information this time, and next time, he’d do his best to achieve perfection.
But Lü Shu thought, if they could succeed, if Su Ming’an could live, then there was no need to consider a next time that might not even exist.
The players could all be revived—the only one who would die would be him.
"Have you been planning this for a long time?" Su Ming’an suddenly stared at the crisscrossed blood flow on Lü Shu’s face.
"What?" Lü Shu’s green eyes flashed with a hint of bewilderment.
"Planning...to do this." Su Ming’an stared at him: "The Black Robed Man in the Eighth World, the Electronic Ghost in the Ninth World, the Saint in the Tenth World... I said I respected your sacrifice, so you started not to take yourself seriously. I helped you complete your revenge, so you felt your life was already complete, with no regrets."
"So when faced with such moments, you instinctively felt you could be sacrificed, not considering your life at all—you really didn’t consider it at all."
"You even felt a slight joy, thinking you’d become an important and irreplaceable role."
Lü Shu wasn’t that lucky to precisely pick up the Divinity of the Shitposter Demon. Lü Shu’s luck...had always been bad.
By the nature of the Shitposter Demon, It would definitely throw the Divinity to someone with suicidal desires. Otherwise, if a coward picked it up, wouldn’t the Divinity be sealed forever?
It was because Lü Shu always had the thought of dying that he picked up the Divinity.
"..."
Faced with Su Ming’an’s direct words, Lü Shu was speechless.
He admitted, the moment he picked up the Divinity, he was indeed very happy. Even knowing what would happen if he swallowed it, he was still excited by acquiring the power to change the situation.
So when he swallowed it, he indeed did so without hesitation.
The rainbow-colored fluorescence flickered, gathering was almost complete, Lü Shu softly said: "I’m sorry."
"I’m not accusing you." Su Ming’an however said:
"My point is, in such a formal, irrevocable situation, where there won’t be a ’next time’..."
"Think a bit about yourself."
"Of course, if you still want to do this, I still won’t stop you."
"You, and you all, Noel, Yuanyuan, Yamada... I hope none of you... treat yourselves as tools."
Lü Shu’s pupils slightly trembled, his long blade was already fully charged, falling downwards with inertia. His words "what about you?" were drowned in the resounding energy.
"Swish—!"
In a severe tearing sound, the long blade cleaved downward, splitting the tree bark.
They rushed inside, as if entering a beautiful crystal cave.
Inside the World Tree, it resembled a wide star river, with crystal clear tree sap flowing gently along the tree’s walls, like countless twinkling stars. The roots intertwined and crisscrossed, weaving a web of crystal-colored silk.
The main body of the World Tree—a ten-meter-tall giant tree, stood at the center of this vast, endless crystal cave, stretching out countless glistening threads.
Their position was at the edge, still far from the World Tree’s main body.
"Tap tap, tap tap, tap tap."
Crimson droplets of blood dripped down, spreading slowly on the jade-colored ground, casting an eerie glow. Footsteps were exceptionally heavy in the interplay of light and shadow.
Like moonlight.
Moonlight streamed along the path of blood.
A mask suddenly "thud" fell to the ground, revealing Lü Shu’s blood-covered face. He couldn’t support his body, even the black blade was losing grip, falling forward.
Su Ming’an caught him.
It was the limit.
Forcibly swallowing the incompatible Divinity, after the Full Force Strike, this was the limit.
"Drip drip drop drop..."
Crimson blood fell on the ground, leaving marks of varying intensity, as Lü Shu’s whole body emitted blood, like a balloon punctured.
"...I can’t see, Su Ming’an." Lü Shu said.
He looked forward blankly, his vision was dark and murky, reminding him of lying on the hillside waiting for death, where it was also this dark.
Fortunately, after reaching inside the tree, the branches and leaves didn’t attack them anymore, it was very calm within. But there seemed to be some restrictions inside the tree, flying and using teleport skills were impossible, only walking was allowed.
It really felt like... a pilgrimage.
The World Tree sure loved crafting pretentious rules for itself.
"It’s fine, it’s enough to reach here." Su Ming’an helped Lü Shu up, carrying him forward.
Noel’s head was packed in the satchel hanging in front of his chest.
It seemed not very waterproof, as the satchel seeped blood, faintly visible were tufts of golden hair.
Su Ming’an looked up, at the far end of their sight, under the tree sat a figure.
—Was that the avatar of the World Tree?
The figure was drinking tea, appearing leisurely. The chair was too high, blocking the view of the hair and clothing of that figure.
Su Ming’an stepped forward step by step. Lü Shu’s blood and Noel’s blood dripped down, one drip at the footstep ahead, one drip at the footstep behind.
The blood ahead of the footsteps was crushed underfoot, leaving behind blurry blood footprints.
The blood behind the footsteps trickled down the path, forming clear, complete circles akin to blood-red plums blooming on the crystal floor.
He stepped on their blood, advancing step by step, getting closer and closer...
In this quiet interlude, he heard breathing sounds behind him.
Lü Shu was seizing the last moment to talk. Even if neither of them mentioned it, they both knew clearly in their hearts—if there really was no "next time," for Lü Shu, who couldn’t respawn, this was truly the last part of his life.
Lü Shu wasn’t a player, unlike Noel and the others.
In this final moment, as a dying person, all words ought to be expressed. For if not spoken now, there possibly would never be another chance.
"Su Ming’an, we are actually very lucky."
"Hmm?"
"Noel once told me, he glanced at you on the street when he was young. I too met someone like you in my childhood. Yuanyuan also grew up with you."
"Hmm."
"Back when I saw a blond, blue-eyed youth on the street, what were you thinking?"
"Thinking of what..." Su Ming’an heard Lü Shu’s breathing grow faint: "I wasn’t thinking of anything, at that time I should’ve been thinking about how to do my homework in the evening, how to deal with the math test tomorrow, having to listen to English tapes every day..."
Lü Shu let out an almost imperceptible laugh:
"Su Ming’an, even though you might not have noticed us back then, just your existence was already a great fortune for us."
...Lü Shu was quite eloquent.
But Su Ming’an soon realized, it was only because of his deep-rooted stereotypes of Lü Shu. In reality, not just Lü Shu, but for Noel as well, he hadn’t fully understood them. Otherwise, how could he explain Noel’s icy head now hanging in front of his chest?
The blood seeped onto the back of his neck, it too was cold.
He clearly felt Lü Shu’s life slipping away.
The branches and leaves drooped down, each leaf was crystal clear, as if embedded with countless gemstones, like jade, the breeze passing through creating pleasant bell sounds, resembling the soft chants of elves.
At this moment, Lü Shu’s gaze subtly changed, no longer silent, it became fervent.
"So actually, I’ve thought—"
"Thought of what?" Su Ming’an asked, lowering his head.
"Thought of... living a peaceful life with you, Lin Yin, Mo Yan, and Yuanyuan..." Lü Shu’s trembling voice lingered:
"From childhood, having grown up in the mountains, I hardly encountered the internet, I didn’t understand a lot of the words you all used. Previously, when you guys played that Werewolf/Goose Goose Duck game at the villa, I didn’t understand at all... being utterly confused."
"And before, when Noel was defending you online like a machine gun, I typed a lot of words but could only come up with unsightly curses. I couldn’t understand those internet terms... ’devoted son,’ ’defy the heavens,’ ’classic,’ I completely didn’t know how to use phrases like these."
Su Ming’an found it a bit amusing: "It’s fine not to use them."
Blood dripped down his neck, soaking his shoulder, the white clothing stained into red.
"Sometimes, I feel defeated." Lü Shu’s voice started breaking: "I seem... like an outsider... unable to integrate with you all... also disconnected from the world... Sometimes I log onto the forum... I see lots of people scolding me... calling me a simp, deadweight... stupid..."
"Ignore it. Online, people scold for anything. If there’s something you don’t understand, just ask us."
"But it still hurts." Lü Shu coughed up blood: "You see it too, it hurts."
"...I’m used to it."
The branches and leaves swayed.
The fragments of light fell into their eyes, Lü Shu’s vision was pitch black.
Golden-red sunlight penetrated through the cracks in the bark, the wind howled through the narrow gaps, almost like the sound of sharp flutes reverberating.
Su Ming’an’s entire body was colored red, like a moving mass of blood, he moved forward:
"Lü Shu. Luowasha might be the last instance, when the game ends, we’ll go back together, no one will look down on us. I am different from Acto, when facing those vulgar people, I won’t hold back."
Lü Shu’s gaze suddenly became complicated: "...liar."
You started again.
You subconsciously started lying again.
Talking about "going back together," has this become a catchphrase?
"..." Only now did Su Ming’an remember that Lü Shu was the only one who knew about his bet, he awkwardly tugged at the corners of his mouth, saying nothing more.
The sunlight lowered, he stepped forward step by step, the light reflecting off the crystalline leaves, refracting in diverse fragmented rays, as if stretching from behind them, extending to the whole world.
At this moment, the young man’s voice suddenly broke through.
Light as a wisp of sunset about to descend.
"But if we go back, we truly performed a miracle."
"If all this came to an end."
"If we succeeded..."
...
"... Su Ming’an, you won’t have to be a liar anymore."
...
...
At this moment, Su Ming’an’s breathing halted.
His fingers trembled, he didn’t even realize he stopped breathing.
Sticky blood trickled along his back, dripping down, and the young man’s words fell like a sledgehammer onto his heart.
The sourness in his heart burst open in an instant, as if breaking through an iron wall, sadness poured forth.
—Who wants to be a liar!
—If given a choice, who would want to be a liar!
Lin Guang doesn’t want to, Tretiya doesn’t want to, Yao Wen doesn’t want to, Xiber doesn’t want to, Su Ming’an... doesn’t want to either.
But if speaking the truth could ease all pain and sorrow—
But if showing a confident smile could soothe all reluctance and longing—
But if directly confronting with honesty could stop others from shedding tears and yearning—
—Who would want to be a liar!?
If they could go home, of course he wouldn’t want to be a liar!
Because he—because he values everyone—more than himself. So even if it means lying...
"...Are these your final words, Lü Shu?" Su Ming’an suddenly showed a light smile, lowered his eyes, and casually said, "Say something about yourself, stop talking about us. You know final words matter, don’t make me remember you as just a pitiful figure."
