Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 1375 - 26: "Aren’t We Best Friends?

Holding the sticky and gooey eggs, Sique started the stove and cooked the eggs into scrambled pieces, releasing a fragrant oil aroma.

He pulled out a chair from somewhere and sat in the heavily guarded insect nursery, eating the golden crispy egg pockets one by one.

Then he took the dragon crystal he just collected, covered it with sugar powder, breadcrumbs, and egg white, and fried it in the pan, pairing it with Moon-shaped Spring and jellyfish tentacles as seasoning, and elegantly delivered it into his mouth with chopsticks, chewing slowly and thoroughly.

Su Ming’an watched this scene in shock.

—He thought Sique was going to do something earth-shattering, but he was actually just enjoying the food. The most important treasures of several races were eaten by Sique like that.

In a time destined to be reset, Sique was unexpectedly so unrestrained.

"Beep beep beep—!!" The insect race’s technology was extremely advanced, and when the eggs were stolen, the entire nursery room’s alarm sounded, followed by the clang of iron armors as dozens of insect soldiers rushed in.

The social structure of the insect race resembles ants; worker ants are responsible for labor, soldier ants for combat. The Insect Queen is the core of the race, responsible for laying eggs; she is the only one capable of reproducing offspring, almost all insects are her progeny. This social structure means the Queen’s majesty is undeniable, and the relationships between the insects are as close as real siblings.

The greatest characteristic of the insect race is their extremely voracious appetite, leaving no grass alive wherever they pass; if it weren’t for the Loksa people guarding the borders for generations in the Interstellar Gallery, the insect race would have spread like locusts throughout the world long ago. The area where the insect race lives is considered forbidden ground by the Luowasha public.

"...A living person?" Upon seeing Sique, the insect soldiers were dumbfounded; the most they’ve seen is their brethren, while other races are food, faces full of terror; they’ve never seen such a calm outsider.

Having enjoyed his meal, Sique calmly stood up: "I’m looking for your Empress."

The insect soldiers shouted angrily, "What are you? You invaded our Royal City, ate our eggs, committed such a sin, and still dare to seek an audience with the Empress?"

They were almost exploding with rage; the notorious name of the insect race was known throughout Luowasha due to their flourishing reproduction and cohesive societal bonds. Even a third-level god didn’t want to provoke them. This person was simply reckless.

At this moment, a red-haired woman wearing a Major General’s insignia raised her hand, quieting the soldiers. She scrutinized Sique for a moment, then suddenly bowed: "Forgive my poor eyesight for not recognizing that it was the Empress’s Lord King before me, please pardon me. Since you left without saying a word many years ago, Her Majesty the Empress has missed you day and night; now that you have finally returned, please follow me."

...Ah?

Not only the insect soldiers, but Su Ming’an also showed a bewildered expression... Lord King? Is it what he thinks it means?

Soon, Sique was led to a vast and boundless hall, where a gigantic insect race resembling a mantis lay in the center, its body immense, like a moving fortress, covered by a thick and resilient purple-black shell, with eight sharp legs and a mouthpiece glinting coldly. Crimson and transparent white threads covered the hall, and eggs were being produced continuously.

Its head was large and hideous, embedded with multiple ferocious eyes that twinkled with menacing light. Long tentacles extended from its head, constantly twisting as if alive.

Sique stood in front of the Empress, like a small magpie facing a colossal whale shark.

Such an impactful scene seemed like a glimpse into a grand sci-fi movie, causing the invisible Su Ming’an’s pupils to contract.

This... Sique really has unique tastes.

"Zhao Yuan, Magi, you two leave," an electric signal transmitted from the Empress’s tentacles.

The red-haired woman and an iron-armored general bowed and departed.

"...Lord King." The next moment, the Empress’s voice turned soft, her scarlet eyes fixed on Sique.

"Licanola III, Your Majesty." Sique placed his right hand on his chest: "It’s been a long time, and your grace remains as ever."

"What kind of grace can this terrifying big insect possibly have?" Xiao Love couldn’t help but whisper.

Upon hearing the compliment, the Empress’s purple-black tentacles wobbled, seemingly pleased.

"Your Majesty, over these years, have you ever missed me?" Sique asked.

Hearing such tender words, Su Ming’an was even more intrigued, silently observing with Xiao Love.

"You’re such an original jerk." Xiao Love remarked.

Su Ming’an thought for a moment, reluctantly saying: "Perhaps this is the cost of salvation..."

The Empress shook her tentacles, the mouthpiece near Sique, speaking softly: "Over these years I’ve accepted 36,000 servant kings and 1,200 side kings, none compares to a single feather of yours..."

"This one excels in being a jerk." Xiao Love was even more speechless.

"The entire insect race’s reproduction relies solely on her, it’s inevitable." Su Ming’an said.

"Luckily you didn’t choose the Insect Queen for your instance start." Xiao Love commented.

"...Better leave it to someone like Boris, feels like he’d enjoy it." Su Ming’an said.

Upon hearing the Empress’s response, Sique showed a gentle expression.

"That’s wonderful, thank you for holding such deep affection for me; I still remember, you are my best friend. Although you always call me ’Lord King,’ I wouldn’t want this relationship to tarnish our friendship." Sique clasped his hands together, smiling: "Your Majesty, do you remember promising me the Eternal Energy of the insect race—’Insect Emperor Crystal’? By my calculations, the ’Insect Emperor Crystal’ should have formed around now, and I’ve come to retrieve it."

Su Ming’an suddenly understood.

Indeed, Sique had an ulterior motive.

Previously, under the World Tree, Yijulai’er informed Su Ming’an of Su 3’s information, including a conversation between Su 3 and Sique:

...

["Su Ming’an, your small world is the key to our breakthrough. My concept is to fuse the small world with Luowasha, and with my Eden constitution, we can create a space similar to a pirated game." Sique said.]

["—World fusion!!?" Su 3 exclaimed.]

["Yes, when I saw Dieying creating a new world before, it inspired me. Dieying’s idea was to create an independent new world, which is why it was so difficult—but, what if we build the small world on the foundation of a mature world?" Sique said.]

["...Doing so, can we escape the Red Sun?" Su 3 asked.]

["Don’t rush, listen to me. I suspect that Red Sun Descending is a type of ’trigger-style collective death mechanism’—do you remember the Fifth World Ming Hui?" Sique said.]

["I remember. If the Talent Bloodline Awakening Formation isn’t successfully researched before Qin Wang’s coming-of-age ceremony, the players would trigger the collective death mechanism." Su 3 nodded.]

["I suspect Red Sun Descending is also a ’trigger-style collective death mechanism,’ similar to system punishment—if players don’t complete certain tasks before a specific day, they trigger this mechanism," Sique said.]

["Then..." Su 3 said.]

["Yes, there’s only one way to circumvent it—detach from an identity subject to mechanism punishment, which is to detach from the [player] identity." Sique said:

"This makes me think that the Disciple Game organizers introduced the 2021 version of Xiao Su and others, deliberately confusing the game IP very similar to yours with Xiao Su, likely to evade monitoring by the World Game."]

"We must learn the method the Disciple Game organizers have for breaking free of the game IP. Additionally, we need energy."

...

This conversation took place before Demon Line Su Ming’an jumped off the building, and was an exchange between Demon Line Su Ming’an and Dream Que.

In short, Su Ming’an needed to accomplish three things:

1. Create a small world, let it merge with Luowasha, and create a space to shelter the Zhai Star Humans.

2. Find a method to obscure players’ game IPs, allowing them to exit the World Game, avoiding the Red Sun Descending, which is a mechanism of total annihilation. (This method also applies to the Luowasha people)

3. Find energy.

Currently, Su Ming’an has made no progress on these three fronts. As a result, Que has gone out himself to look for energy, targeting the Insect Race, because they have accumulated quite a bit of energy over the years due to their reproduction.

Regarding Que’s recent looting of Dragon Valley, seizing the Moon-shaped Spring, and grabbing Insect Eggs, it seems like he’s "recording" these to make the reset Luowasha more complete.

Such a meticulous Magpie he is.

In this light, Que’s opportunistic play and sea-like depth were for the greater good.

As the Empress’s sharp mandibles drew closer and the long tendrils edged towards him, Su Ming’an silently turned away.

"Aren’t you watching anymore?" Xiao Love asked excitedly, its tail happily raised.

"You watch, and tell me the result later," Su Ming’an said. He was already clear about Que’s purpose, and what happens next is not hard to guess. Either Que takes the energy and escapes, or he ends up as boiled Magpie.

As the Shitposter Demon initially told him, in Luowasha, "love" represents appetite, the deeper the love, the more craving. Judging by the manner of the Insect Queen, it seems more likely the latter.

Su Ming’an vanished as he left the Insect territory, with Xiao Su waiting outside on a desolate plain in a mecha.

"Buddy, you’re out? Hop in." Xiao Su waved towards Su Ming’an, holding the control stick.

Fearing Que might do something strange, Su Ming’an didn’t bring Xiao Su inside, leaving him outside. Xiao Su isn’t someone who needs protection everywhere; he quickly procured a mecha to pick Su Ming’an up.

The mecha took flight, sweeping past shattered stars, as the Insect Race area was closest to the sky, purple-blue nebulae visible everywhere.

Following Su Ming’an’s directive, they returned to Dragon Valley.

Dragon Valley was littered with dragon corpses, resembling a mortal purgatory, with Dragon Emperor Ian still in slumber. Previously, Que had knocked him out with a pot of slept tea.

Su Ming’an jumped off the mecha, gesturing for Xiao Su to wait outside, and walked into Dragon Valley alone.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—"

A cold wind, mixed with the scent of blood, lifted his robes.

Everywhere lay giant dragons in gruesome death, rivers of blood flowing, the sight unbearable. Although for Que, whatever he does gets reset. But for the Dragon Clan living in this moment, not knowing the truth, hating Que is their common sense.

As a Royal, Dragon Emperor Ian is powerful, gradually able to retain some memories during resets. He remembers Que’s slaughter of Dragon Valley, so he’s been obsessed with capturing Que.

It needs to be clarified, these strong Luowasha people who are lucky enough to retain memories, cannot realize how many resets have occurred, nor that such an event has happened many times. Due to insufficient positional rank, they can retain the memory of only one reset, meaning: this time only remembers the last time, next time only remembers this time.

So for Dragon Emperor Ian, he remembers only that the last time, Que destroyed his Dragon Valley, and this time, Que destroyed it again.

The book Su Ming’an once read, "My Years with Que (Creator: Dragon Emperor Ian)," about the story of "Que saving Ian, helping Ian ascend to the Dragon Emperor’s position, then knocking Ian out with tea and slaughtering Dragon Valley," is also just something that happened last time.

Sometimes, they can’t remember even once.

"...Oli... Weiss." At this time, a weak voice was heard.

Su Ming’an turned his head and saw Ian was awake.

Ian opened his golden eyes, his body still paralyzed, looking at Su Ming’an. Perhaps due to blurred vision, he mistook Su Ming’an for Que, murmuring in hatred:

"Your... purple hair... really looks like a big windmill."

"When I catch you, I’m going to pluck out your feathers... one by one, all of them..."

"I’m going to scoop out your eyeballs... put them in my cave. I... I will find you..."

"Why... why did you betray me? Weren’t we... best friends...?"

The next moment, the giant dragon head fell to the ground, and the Royal of the Dragon Clan fell into slumber again.

Blood covered the ground, the mountain wind was silent.

At that moment, standing amidst the corpses, Su Ming’an suddenly felt lonely.

Repeating such acts again and again, expressing the same words of friendship again and again, appeasing the emotions of numerous royals, deceiving for precious things, only to be hated and hunted... Que’s loneliness was perhaps much denser than it appeared.

He could never truly open up to anyone, because even if an eternal and unchangeable friendship was set, oaths of reincarnation sworn, when the next reset came, everything would fade. By the time of the next reset, nothing would be remembered.

Repeatedly writing, erasing, writing, erasing.

For some of the OCs (original characters)... personally creating, destroying, creating, destroying.

——I create first, then erase.

——First obtain the brilliance of their souls, then drive their lives to extinction.

No moment has Su Ming’an understood this sentence better than now.

At the very least, Su Ming’an, along his journey till today, has reaped endless love, warmth, and gratitude, whereas Que can only start anew again and again. Love does not belong to him, nor does tenderness.

Su Ming’an, looking at the golden dragon blood on the ground, crouched down, his left hand summoning the Devouring Claw, using the Devouring Authority.

The next moment, like a stream, the dragon blood flowed into his left hand, streams of powerful and domineering energy surged into his body.

"Ka ka ka..."

Golden dragon scales appeared on his cheeks, a pair of golden dragon horns sprouted from his head.