Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 1349 - 1342: Angel Thread 1 - "Under the Daylight, He Turned Around (End)
He shifted the topic like a shameless deserter, sealing the sadness once more.
"Just hold on a bit longer, at least till you see that bastard under the tree." Su Ming’an quickened his pace.
"It’s useless. Even if there’s a ’next time,’ only you will remember everything, because you are Luowasha’s [Protagonist], the most important person..." Lü Shu said softly: "What you just told me doesn’t matter... because I’ll forget it next time, we’ll all forget next time..."
At this point, Lü Shu suddenly felt a bit lonely.
Feeling lonely for Su Ming’an.
If all this can only be remembered by Su Ming’an, if only he could bring this last, desperate, struggling, broken memory to a new beginning of the "next time," flowing into the next Long River, how lonely Su Ming’an must be?
His words were in vain, his efforts unseen, his wounds and blood flow unknown to others. His pain was buried too.
Fortunately, this damn resetting mechanism is only for this time.
Fortunately, only... once.
The light within the tree was soft and warm, like moonlight spilling over a lake. In this interplay of light and shadow, tiny dust particles floated in the air like the powder of dreamlike elves.
He was getting closer to that figure.
Lü Shu couldn’t see, but his Mentality Points were high, which helped him swing his blade better in the darkness.
So, he could also clearly perceive, with the speed at which he was bleeding and the rate at which his wounds were expanding... that he would stop breathing in 197 seconds.
seconds... shouldn’t be enough to reach there.
Yamada Machiichi was gone, Noel was gone, Luna was gone, the teammates were all gone, and even as he got here, he was destined not to face the end with Su Ming’an.
In the end, only Su Ming’an remained.
Knowing Su Ming’an didn’t want to talk about deceit, within the last 197 seconds, Lü Shu began to speak of his last words.
Having long anticipated this day of his death, he had practiced his last words countless times in front of the mirror. So when he spoke, he wasn’t awkward:
"Su Ming’an, when I was young... I liked lying on the hillside watching the stars... I stretched out my hand... gently grasping... as if everything in the world was within my fingers."
He silently counted, 170 seconds.
So fast, he never felt time go by so fast.
"Xiao Bi told me... Taihua Mountain was, a long time ago, not a mountain... but a lake under the starry sky... Later, it got slammed down, filled up, and became a mountain..."
seconds.
Speak faster.
"The lake was so clear, reflecting the starry sky... Looking as vast and boundless as the Star Sea presented in the lake."
seconds.
Blood flowed from the corners of his eyes.
Speak faster, faster.
"So... every time I lay there as a child, I’d imagine lying in a Star Sea... Blue-black stars swimming beside me... I often fell asleep on the hillside, dreaming of floating in the lake, reaching out my hand, catching a handful of starry rivers..."
seconds.
Several strands of blood-stained white hair gradually fell to the ground.
It hurts, the pain is so intense...
"That feeling... was freedom... as if there was no responsibility on me..."
seconds.
Glittering branches softly brushed his hair, as if caressing him.
This pain, it’s the same as when the illness flared up before...
"After you helped me avenge... at night, I’d return to that dream countless times... back to that blue-black lake. I’d think of... how I caught the starlit sky countless times..."
seconds.
The tone began to warp; coughs came more frequently, his throat gradually clogged with blood.
Almost finished, almost...
"But I know... I never really caught the starry sky... cough, cough, cough!"
"It was just a child’s fantasy on the hillside... About you, about all of you... I always have many fantasies..."
"Every time these fantasies deepen, every time I look forward to the future... I feel like I’m still lying in that illusory lake... looking forward to... looking forward to catching the starry sky with you all... cough cough..."
"But we..."
He spat out blood:
"But we clearly hold nothing in our hands."
"Clearly, we’re all lying on the hillside; none of us have ever lain in the lake."
"But we always deceive ourselves... that we’ve long caught the starry sky."
"Telling ourselves that the lake we’d never reach... we’ve already... found it..."
seconds.
He gasped for breath, his body gradually losing strength—
But Su Ming’an understood Lü Shu’s unspoken words:
"... Are you saying I’m your lake, Lü Shu?"
A lake that cannot be touched, cannot be kept, but has given endless beautiful fantasies...
The starry river can’t be caught, but it once existed, in wonderful fantasies, giving people the motivation to move forward.
—Because of him, they’ve found the lake.
—Because of him, there’s a sky full of stars.
"Mm." Lü Shu responded.
He seemed to want to say something more, but there was no time. He started regretting, thinking his prepared last words were still too many, differing from practice, should’ve been finished earlier.
In the end, he only got through saying "Su Ming’an is important."
Then he started to think wildly, wishing for a mind communicator to say all his last words at once.
They say, before dying, people see their life flashing by. But Lü Shu saw nothing, only blackness, terrifyingly black.
But even with such fear, he still hoped Su Ming’an could succeed once.
"Say goodbye to me, will you?"
Seeing there’s no time to say anything else, he directly said what he thought was most important.
What he wanted was always so simple.
"Goodbye." Su Ming’an looked at him.
"Mm." Lü Shu said.
He breathed hard, stumbling to finish what he had to say.
seconds.
The countdown number gradually reached a single digit.
"I’m already so happy."
seconds.
So say the most important words quickly.
"Meeting you all, I’m already so happy."
seconds.
Especially thanks.
"Thank you, Su Ming’an."
seconds.
And blessings.
Not good at blessings, but just saying what’s in the heart should be enough.
"Next spring, you will drink very good tea and see beautiful flowers."
seconds
Finally, tell them...
"You, you all..."
seconds.
"Are my..."
second.
Best...
Friends.
His lips moved slightly, murmuring something, but no sound came out anymore.
Friends...
Friends...
...
Still... missed by a second.
Practice and actual performance, they really do differ...
...
seconds.
...
At this moment, time stretched infinitely.
The digit in the heart of the white-haired young man finally turned to zero.
When Su Ming’an turned his head.
"Bang."
A sound as light as a withered leaf falling to the ground.
——Lü Shu fell to the ground.
His eyes were closed, white hair stained in the pool of blood, his face, shoulders, arms... all soaked in blood. The once purely white person, now had not a single clean spot on his entire body.
Due to long-term malnutrition, he was very tall, but too thin, almost skeletal, with even the bones faintly visible.
Like a wilted leaf, he fell into a reddish-brown swamp.
There wasn’t too intense an expression on his face, his mouth corners were tilted upward, it seemed he didn’t want to leave with the expression of "dead fish eyes."
...But this smile was also very stiff.
Not natural at all.
Lü Shu.
Su Ming’an was in a daze.
He thought,
——When Lü Shu practiced his death confession, did he not practice the smile before death along with it?
What an ugly smile.
The eerie wind sounded like a wail.
This was a very quiet moment, he thought.
Death has always been very quiet.
At least Lü Shu, finished saying everything.
...
"Ding dong!"
[Follower (Lü Shu) has died.]
...
A multicolored Divinity appeared from Lü Shu’s heart, falling to the ground like a beautiful crystal.
Su Ming’an crouched down, touched Lü Shu’s breath, stayed for a while.
After a moment, his fingers moved down, touching Lü Shu’s neck pulse.
After a moment, his hand moved to Lü Shu’s heart.
Ten seconds later, he retracted it.
"..."
Standing up in silence, he stood still for three seconds before turning and leaving.
For a moment, he actually had the thought, he wanted to take Lü Shu’s head with him too, hang it like Noel’s, so Lü Shu wouldn’t be left alone here. But soon he realized how wrong this thought was... how terrifying.
Was his spirit not normal?
Has it been abnormal for a long time?
He walked forward, smelling a sweet tea fragrance.
Turns out he was already close to the figure under the tree. The figure was still making tea, the second to last piece of Fang Tang in the jar was "crunched" by a dining knife.
Then, the figure’s hand reached for the last Fang Tang in the jar.
...
[Team members: 1/35]
...
"...Sique Olivius!"
Su Ming’an shouted, his clothes completely dyed red, original color unrecognizable.
Actually, the moment he rushed in and saw that back, Su Ming’an’s heart shook—although he couldn’t see the front, this posture was likely only Sique.
——Why is Sique under the World Tree? Has Sique been deceiving him all along?
——Killed everyone around him, did Sique’s goal reach?
"Swish!"
Suddenly, the dormant branches and leaves lunged at Su Ming’an, who cut them off.
At the same time, Su Ming’an finally rushed to the backside of the figure, at a very close distance.
——He wanted to kill this damn guy.
Anger surged in his heart, blood roared in his veins, he swung his sword.
But at that moment, the figure turned its head.
——Under the daylight, he turned his head.
Countless branches connected to the young man’s body, like soft tubes, inseparable.
As the young man turned, all the crystal branches swayed, as if part of his body, he seemed like the embodiment of the World Tree.
Seeing the young man’s face, Su Ming’an’s breath suddenly stopped. His pupils quivered violently, his mouth inhaling.
At this moment, his thoughts were paused, as if he had fallen from ten thousand meters high.
"Welcome... Would you like a cup of black tea?" The young man said faintly to him.
"With eight pieces of Fang Tang, it’s very tasty."
Those golden pupils, devoid of laughter, devoid of anger.
...The one who killed all his teammates.
...The one sitting under the World Tree.
Could it be...
The young man’s white hair bathed in daylight, a feather pen spinning in one hand, quietly watching him.
Su Ming’an’s voice was very light, his heart empty:
...
"...Su Ming’an?"
...
The young man in front, white hair, golden pupils... was stunningly Su Ming’an in Deity State.
His appearance, identical to Su Ming’an becoming a god in The World of Old Days.
So those crystal branches, are they World Tree branches or... white tendrils of God Su Ming’an?
Su Ming’an almost wanted to laugh aloud, blood flowed down his cheeks. The smile seemed less like a laugh, more like a cry.
Choking in his throat, wanting to swallow, yet wanting to roar.
——What are you exactly! What am I exactly?
——Why did you kill all my teammates!?
——Became a god in the future, so you cannot even spare "yourself"?
He didn’t need half a second to figure it out— the Su Ming’an before him was unmistakably the culprit who split himself into three pieces, the future Su Ming’an!
Luowasha’s time was chaotic, the card pool could jump freely in time, so meeting the future self wasn’t surprising. But Su Ming’an’s perception was clear—the only reality was him at this moment. Even his future self, to him, was nothing more than an outsider!
After all, even if it’s the "future self," it’s just "one possibility of the future self," he could entirely walk a different future.
Just like the difference between Noel and Dieying, Su Ming’an only confirmed Noel’s reality, and only confirmed his own reality.
"What exactly do you want to do? What created you?" Su Ming’an’s sword blade, rested against God Su Ming’an’s chest.
"The World Tree brought about the Red Sun’s destruction, it’s exhausted and went to rest, so I’m temporarily sitting here in its place." God Su Ming’an said indifferently:
"I hate riddlers. So everything about me, I’ll tell you."
"In short, I hope to ’solidify’ this Red Sun Descending group annihilation ending, so I orchestrated all this."
"Additionally, I understand your desire— to escape from the World Game."
"I can help you."
"You should already understand, the essence of Luowasha is a book. As long as it is recorded, the people in the narrative are equivalent to eternal life. This method, perhaps, can help you escape the shackles of the World Game."
"I know you feel very confused hearing this, it’s okay, sit down, and I’ll explain the principle to you."
"Take a look at this book first."
God Su Ming’an’s hand, placed on the round table.
On the round table, lay a thick book.
A dark-toned book cover, with a Lighthouse Pendant hanging from it, emitting a gentle glow. This book was very thick, even thicker than Yuanyuan’s book.
Su Ming’an bowed his head, seeing the letters on the cover.
The moment he saw the letters, suddenly the entire world went silent, it was like he saw [Ninth World·Zhai Star], his mind buzzed, suddenly blank.
Breath was torn into pieces, his whole body trembled uncontrollably, as if suddenly plunged into a black and white desolate dreamscape, his chest cavity burned like fire.
In the dead silence, he laughed lightly, slowly, as if a single touch would shatter it.
He heard his own voice rise, reading, with a faint calmness:
The cover font is sharp, like a golden clock hand——
...
...
"..."Number One Player (Su Ming’an)"?"
...
[TE2·"They Have Awaited Redemption Too Long" (Reaching the Dark Side, Ending the World Game): 92%]
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