Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 1357 - 8: Noel’s Final Ending

Su Ming’an opened his eyes.

The crystal branches swayed with the wind, and a small teakettle puffed steam with a "doo doo doo".

"Finished watching?" Deity Ming’an tilted his head.

"..." Su Ming’an rested his index finger against his chin, pondering.

These two memories, in short:

Upper couplet: The Supreme Lord chases the dream of becoming a true mad 修文.

Lower couplet: The Lord of the End of All Things gnaws on hard persimmons and gets dragged along.

Horizontal inscription: The story will begin anew.

This was the first time Su Ming’an realized he had always been watched. This Supreme Lord, in the distant universe, had always been reading his real-time space-time record body, and when he reached Luowasha, it directly spied on him personally. Probably now, this guy is still hiding in some corner, watching him.

The Lord of the End of All Things is even heavier, as a law of the universe, He always ran rampant, until Luowasha ate a humble pie, was bewildered by the magpie’s flowery words, and was dragged along for 12,300 years. When He couldn’t hold back and descended destruction, the World Tree had already found a method to depict the world, turning Luowasha into an endlessly rebounding squishy toy that just wouldn’t die.

Most of Luowasha’s mysteries were already solved. Deity Ming’an didn’t speak in riddles, he didn’t hide anything.

So, how many times has the reset happened now? He remembered in his very first dream, there was a girl named "Yijulai’er" with pink hair questioning him, but this memory contained no Yijulai’er, indicating that the reset certainly occurred more than once.

"Alright, let’s answer the third question," Deity Ming’an sliced the strawberry mousse:

"What was Noel’s final fate?"

"A. Successfully embraces the New World, becoming a free adventurer in the universe. B. Successfully embraces the New World, but becomes trapped in one realm, becoming a watcher, unable to leave freely. C. After ascending to high dimensions, faces a crisis, and eventually is killed by a stronger entity. D. Fails in the middle, is devoured by Dieying. E. Fails in the middle, counter-devours Dieying, becoming a second-generation king of scraps. F. Fails to ascend dimensions, sacrifices himself for the spring of the New World. G. Fails to ascend dimensions, lives to the end, becomes a renowned adventurer in Yu Country, opens over a thousand orphanages, and dies peacefully of old age. H. Fails to ascend dimensions, is erased by the rules, losing existence."

"Choose."

"You always give me questions with no answers. Does it have any meaning?" Su Ming’an frowned.

Deity Ming’an squinted his eyes, forked a piece of strawberry mousse:

"...This question has a correct answer."

A buzzing sounded in Su Ming’an’s mind, and his heartbeat suddenly quickened... Why would something that hasn’t happened yet have a correct answer?

Could it be that Deity Ming’an contacted someone with prophetic authority, therefore predicting Noel’s fate?

Su Ming’an decisively said, "I choose A."

Becoming a free adventurer has always been Noel’s desire. Looking at the current situation, Noel has a chance of realizing his wish.

Those inorganic golden pupils flickered, he gently laid the knife and fork down, the plate clinking crisply:

"...Incorrect answer."

Incorrect.

That indicates the ending is one of the other options.

Su Ming’an’s heart skipped a beat, as if something cold was congealing within.

"You answered this question wrong, but I’ll still show you the memories." Deity Ming’an extended his hand.

Su Ming’an closed his eyes, a cold sensation touched his forehead.

...

When Deity Ming’an opened his eyes, he was Deity Ming’an.

He was under the World Tree, memories a bit unclear. Only remembered that he had been devoured by the World Tree, and when he opened his eyes again, he became a deity.

"...World Tree, did you help me become a god?" Deity Ming’an looked at the World Tree.

The World Tree swayed its branches. It proposed that they could collaborate and it would help Deity Ming’an grow stronger.

Deity Ming’an agreed.

Deity Ming’an could feel that as a deity, his power was immense, but seemed... lacking. After all, if he had become a god, he should be in the highest tier of deities, but now he seems far from that level.

So, perhaps he is not the real Su Ming’an, because the real Su Ming’an is with the players preparing to charge the tree. He might just be a creation.

On the day the Red Sun descended, Deity Ming’an sat inside the tree, brewed some tea, wishing to see the real Su Ming’an.

As for the other 34 players? Anyway, the world is about to reset, and these 34 people will revive after being ’recorded’, so killing them is of no consequence.

Witnessing their deaths, he felt no waves in his heart. Even though he remembered some memories of past interactions, it felt as foreign as watching someone else’s story. He couldn’t understand the laughter of the past, nor the tears, nor why he used to struggle so much.

Anyway – is it not just whatever if you don’t care?

The foundation of emotions had vanished, the anchors gone, along with everything they supported. Nothing could tether him now, and his heart lacked those five threads that connected to others.

The sea of flowers bloomed, the swallows returned, what did any of it have to do with him? Who were his companions? Where was home?

Cubes of sugar sank to the bottom one by one.

Nine, eight, seven...

...One.

"Tap."

Footsteps suddenly drew near him.

He looked up, seeing under the lush tree cover, someone approaching, dragging long trails of blood behind them.

Their eyes met, both golden. One side as scorching as melting warm sun, the other as cold as solidified molten lava.

The protagonist of the story, mirrored in his reflection.

——Su Ming’an had arrived.

...

Su Ming’an opened his eyes.

Deity Ming’an’s memories were short, this was all the memory there was.

Currently, Su Ming’an knew of a total of five "Su Ming’an"s.

Su 1, Su 2, Su 3, Deity Ming’an, 2021 version Xiao Su.

The first three were his own slices before the reset, belonging to himself.

Deity Su was not himself, should be some sort of creation.

version Xiao Su was not himself either, the reason for its formation unknown, currently frozen.

"Doo doo doo..." The second pot of tea was ready.

Deity Ming’an lifted the lid of the teapot, a few strawberries, blackberries, and mulberries floating on the surface like fruits heavy with meaning. He poured two cups, pushing one in front of Su Ming’an.

"I don’t drink tea," Su Ming’an refused.

Deity Ming’an chuckled, a laugh as cold as ice: "...You will drink it eventually."

Su Ming’an puzzled: "Hmm?"

...Why say it like that?

Deity Ming’an lifted the teapot lid, brushed away the tea foam, and said lightly:

"No matter how much you persist in something, no matter how strong the reasons for nostalgia, at a certain moment in time, they will inevitably be violated."

"People will always hold onto things they want to persist in more. Once old thoughts are compared to new ones, they are like discarded tea froth, easily cast aside under the guise of ’thought innovation’."

"You say you don’t drink tea now because you’re remembering someone who has passed. But do you remember, just a few months ago, you said to another person, ’Your tea is very good’?"

"Some things are just too commonplace; people will easily overturn their previous thoughts."

"Like you, Su Ming’an, how many people have you promised ’I won’t forget you’? Xiao Han, Elisa, Nailuo, Tretiya, Su Wensheng... Just these five, you’ve promised nearly identical ’I will remember you’. And those so-called ’most competent Knight of Light’, ’freest White Bird’, ’brightest Moonlight in Dao Ya City’... How many ’mosts’ have you encountered in just half a year? When enough time has passed, how many ’mosts’ will there be?"

"I guess you’ve almost forgotten what Liu Anna looked like, even who she was, right?"

"The once sworn beliefs, under the erosion of time and ample knowledge... will ultimately become worthless."

"Standing on the scale of 19 years, looking back at your 15, 12, or 8-year-old self, it seems like viewing a completely different person. Let alone a hundred years, a thousand years, a million years."

"When you were young, failing an exam felt like the sky had fallen. But now? You feel failing an exam is nothing compared to being unable to save your hometown. And in the future? Will you feel that not being able to save your hometown is not a big deal either?"

"People’s beliefs and will depend on external input. When you become like ’me’, with a broad enough vision, you’ll understand that the things you currently confuse yourself with, adhere to, or hesitate over aren’t worth longing for."

"So, are you willing to drink my tea?"

Su Ming’an opened his palm, gesturing to the steaming tea on the table, with red and black berry fruits bobbing up and down.

... Drinking his tea would mean agreeing with his perspective.

Su Ming’an averted his gaze; his blood-stained hands remained unmoved, and he asked:

"Do you intend to negate me?"

... Deity, do you mean to negate everything about me? To negate the reasons I’ve come this far?

The deity opened his hands, lowered his eyelids, showing a hint of compassion.

He slowly replied:

...

"No."

"... I want to save you."

...

The red sun hung low, its final crimson covering the earth.

A few rays pierced through the gaps in the bark with a Tyndall effect, falling between them, like a gel-like, shiny path.

This is a holy and serene beam of light, akin to the effect when Jesus descended in religious tales, hence the Tyndall effect is also known as Jesus light.

The light fell upon the path, also separating their clear gazes.

"You still haven’t answered my initial question." Su Ming’an changed the topic: "You just said: [You hope to ’solidify’ this Red Sun Descending group annihilation outcome, so you orchestrated all this]. What does solidify mean?"

The deity replied frankly: "Resetting is a way to combat the Master of the End of All Things, but each reset brings uncertainty, entropy increase might not decrease but instead increase. Therefore, we need to ’solidify’ each outcome to ensure nearly identical outcomes each time. Complete annihilation of all is the most secure, highly ordered, absolutely deviation-free outcome."

Su Ming’an asked: "Is this the reason you killed everyone?"

The deity replied: "Yes."

Su Ming’an continued: "There’s one question I’m particularly concerned about. Next reset, will I forget these precious pieces of information?"

The deity nodded: "Yes. Next reset, you will still have no memory."

"How many days have I been at Luowasha already?"

"I haven’t kept count for you, so I don’t know."

"I don’t want to keep engaging with the Master of the End of All Things; how can I not forget all this?"

"It’s simple, I can help you. But the condition is... under the World Tree’s witness, you must swear an oath to me."

Su Ming’an felt a sense of "finally it has come."

Sure enough, the deity revealed so much to him, delivered so much information to him as bait—if you don’t pay a price, next reset, you’ll forget all these precious pieces of information.

So, pay a price, pay something.

The deity mentioned "under the World Tree’s witness", implying that this oath is not an empty promise; once spoken, it must be fulfilled, akin to a rule.

"What oath do you want me to swear?" Su Ming’an asked calmly: "To relinquish authority? To relinquish the protagonist’s identity? Or to entirely submit to you?"

In summary, just these few items.

No more than coveting, coercing, plundering. Once promised, can’t be reneged.

The frosty-haired cold youth clasped his hands on his knees, gazing at him.

He stood behind the gel-like smoke, hazily present, with golden pupils as the only clear color.

Then, he spoke:

"... Su Ming’an, I want you to swear:"

"——[From now on, I only care about myself, only focus on my own strength, only think of my path to becoming a deity.]"

"——[No longer looking back, no longer longing, no longer weak, no longer hesitating.]"

"——[To no longer connect... those people who’ve always held me back, making me constantly save others, and my hometown.]"

"——[I want to be selfish, confident, self-loving. My future is so broad, my potential so strong, I should stay away from anything that would completely destroy me. I clearly have such an expansive long road, I shouldn’t drag the limping sand down with me.]"

"——[Only by waking up. I can survive in the extremely low survival rate, live on in so many tragic options of ABCDEFGH... to escape the outcomes of these options and walk on a longer path.]"

"Su Ming’an, I want you to swear to me, swear that you will live on well."

...

...

The deity’s words exuded love and sincerity.

Su Ming’an was clear-headed.

He understood, the deity was not entirely selfless.

Only if Su Ming’an lives, the deity as an artificial creation holds a long-term existence. So, this is the reason why the deity wants him to cherish himself.

No love without reason.

The deity intends for him to abandon his companions and live long and far.

"What if I don’t swear?" Su Ming’an asked.

The deity bowed his head in compassion, with golden eyes full of sadness and pity: "... I’ll use every method to ’persuade’ you, until you swear."

"Click", the Sword of Yarman pierced the chair beside the deity’s face.

The deity’s white hair fluttered briefly with the sword edge, cut off in the breeze.

Su Ming’an’s left hand reached out, gripping the deity’s chin, knuckles taut, pressing downward to the right. It forced the deity’s right neck closer to the sword edge, his cheek touching the sword’s surface.

The wind was deathly quiet.

"... So you killed Lü Shu and the others, to let me be freed, unburdened?" Su Ming’an’s voice lowered: "It really feels different after becoming a god, able to do such things."