Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 1608 - 64: The Nameless Ones’ Struggle (Part 7)
["True life is absent. We are not in the world; I call myself a prophet or angel, unrestrained by all ethics. I return to the earth, burdened with rugged duties, embracing the coarse reality."]
[——Adir Lando·"Hell Season·Prologue"]
...
"Plop!"
A bottle was thrown and hit Shen Xue, bursting into a pink mist. Shen Xue screamed and turned into a thumb-sized Alice.
The flax-haired woman stood at the bottom of the stairs, waving: "Come over here!"
Su Ming’an supported himself with one hand on the railing, turned over and landed on the wooden stairs.
"Flax!?" Su Ming’an recognized this Baisha Teacher: "You clearly have already..."
"We are not the old acquaintances in your memory, but this story needs us, so we are born again." Flax took Su Ming’an’s hand: "Wherever there are patients, we will exist. Dong Xue has recovered, yet there are still people afflicted with disease."
"Whose disease is this here...?" Su Ming’an asked.
Flax smiled silently.
...
"Dingdong!"
[You have received a quest·The Old Disease.]
[Please find out what "disease" is here and who is afflicted with it.]
[Quest reward: Complete this instance.]
...
"...Aren’t you still chasing that rabbit? I just saw it squeeze into a tiny hole." Flax took out a piece of cake: "Eat the cake, and you’ll shrink, catch up with it."
Yet Su Ming’an completely disregarded this, he directly used his body’s ability—summoning weapons. His palm suddenly became heavy, a big hole was suddenly slammed into the wall.
He wouldn’t be a shrinking Alice, he would simply smash where he could.
He rushed forward, toward the entrance of the teaching building.
...
"Eight Rabbits was originally a person beneath the tomb, met a Mad Hat Maker."
"The Mad Hat Maker gave it a card, asked why a raven is like a writing desk?"
...
Zhao Mingming died before Su Ming’an met Uncle Zhao.
Yet she didn’t know when she opened her eyes, saw before her the black-haired Boss Rabbit, who asked her if she would like to become a "Sniper" in the dungeon in exchange for a chance to live?
"A few years later, there will be a celebration named ’World Game’ opening, and you will appear as an npc in one of the instances, with a chance to meet your old relatives." Boss Rabbit said elegantly.
His demeanor was endearing, Zhao Mingming unknowingly believed: "Which instance will I appear in...?"
"Hmm... I’ve already reserved one called ’Shen Xue,’ she will appear in the third instance. And you, it should be the last instance." said the black-haired youth.
"I don’t want to die, I agree with you." Zhao Mingming nodded.
She came to this campus, joined the rabbits’ collaborative work, she saw Ninth Rabbit wanting to flee but learned the truth that it was impossible to leave. She saw Tenth Rabbit mistakenly enter this campus, turned out Tenth Rabbit was a rin clan researcher, had a child named Su Liujin, but some accidents happened, the child was gone, and she was accepted by Big Rabbit.
Just that, as the campus became more complete, there were always strange occurrences.
...
"Friend, friend! It’s you! Right?" At this moment, a call came from behind Su Ming’an.
Under the dim streetlight, Xiao Su approached, his eyes bright, back straight, full of vitality, like a college student walking on campus.
Su Ming’an turned around, his eyes fatigued and hollow.
"Friend! I recognize you, surely it’s you!" Xiao Su pulled up Su Ming’an’s hand: "Only you are so smart, you cracked the rabbit puzzle at once, so amazing!"
Su Ming’an scratched his face: "There is one sign wrong, not yet cracked."
Xiao Su clenched Su Ming’an’s hand tightly, looked at this campus: "I have a sense of déjà vu, I’ve come to this campus more than once..."
"Of course." Su Ming’an wasn’t surprised. Luowasha Reset so many times, Xiao Su certainly didn’t participate just once. Previously Xiao Su pretended to have no memory, occasionally revealed a shadowy expression, now finally didn’t pretend.
"But I remember you, friend. You are the only variable, you are the anomaly in the reincarnation." Xiao Su gazed at him.
So many reincarnations, only the one with Su Ming’an held hope.
Xiao Su pointed in the direction of the auditorium: "I remember there will be an Alice ball there, must defeat Shen Xue to clear it."
Xiao Su pointed towards the teaching building: "There needs to be a fire there, only then is there a free future."
Then Xiao Su pointed towards the laboratory: "There is a lab there, inside there’s a blond skeleton needing a bottle of purple blood to uncover the secret of the mushrooms."
Su Ming’an’s pupils contracted, looking at Xiao Su.
Xiao Su pointed again behind the auditorium: "There is a VR lab there, after wearing the helmet, we need to develop the Talent Bloodline Awakening Formation to clear it."
He slowly put down his hand, murmured: "I remembered, when everything was first established, I was one of the starters, I am... Eleventh Rabbit."
Eleventh Rabbit, the sound of piano in the music room.
"Whirr——" The page flipping sound emerged.
...
"Dingdong!"
[Welcome to the Disciple Game!]
[Contestant, your newbie dungeon task is: Perfect the unfinished Disciple Game!]
...
"Perfecting the Disciple Game" is Xiao Su’s newbie dungeon task, he must complete it to enter the first instance·Apocalypse of Mushrooms.
He was very surprised, he was both a player and one of the creators of the game.
The time flow in the newbie dungeon is different from the outside world, Xiao Su and the rabbits worked here for a long time, he used all his cunning to put forward various interesting suggestions, to build this game. For Xiao Su, the greatest crisis here—was Shen Xue.
This girl seems to have always held an intense interest in him, yet it was not like love, more like a craving for substitute meals. She constantly watched him secretly, asking about his hobbies, then regretfully shook her head and said "you’re completely different from him". Occasionally, she’d set some traps, trying to daze him, unclear about her intentions, but fortunately, he was acute enough.
One day, the Disciple Game welcomed a batch of test players.
Xiao Su confirmed these test players weren’t his Zhai Xing brethren, but were Luowasha people, immediately felt relieved, but Luowasha people were also innocent lives, yet were cast into this bloody game by the capitalists.
At that time, the rabbits hadn’t tested the safety rules of the kaidan yet, as soon as the test players arrived, they faced various instant death rules resulting in severe casualties.
At that time, Xiao Su encountered a man lying in the corridor, dying.
The man seemed to mistake Xiao Su for his son, vaguely talked about his life, saying his hometown was a beautiful place, the wind blowing over full golden wheat ears, the reddish windmill swaying in rotation, the sky blue like a mirror. Also spoke of his son not yet grown up, never able to see the son grow anymore...
"Luowasha...is it a beautiful place?" Xiao Su murmured: "I don’t seem to be able to go there... even if I complete this newbie dungeon, I can only return to Main God World."
He developed some doubts about his own reality.
Suddenly, Xiao Su’s hands were grasped by the man, the man whispered: "Seeing your age... you’re also swept into this game... innocent contestant... if someday... you can live out... take some time... to see my hometown..."
...But I’m not an innocent participant; I’m one of the creators of the Disciple Game, and this is my Newbie Dungeon task... Xiao Su mumbled, not responding.
The warmth of the hand disappeared, and the man bled to death. Xiao Su remained silent for a long time.
...
"Later, Cat Boss told me that if I want to commemorate this man, I should write a story for him. As long as his story exists, he won’t be forgotten." Xiao Su looked at Su Ming’an: "Friend, do you think it’s worthwhile to write a story for such a person?"
"Those ordinary people that the protagonists can’t see, once they die, they vanish into the vast history. But if ink remembers their cries... similar cries will echo again and again." Su Ming’an said.
This campus is everywhere filled with echoes of the past.
"Yes, so I remembered that man." Xiao Su sheathed his sword: "Later, after that batch of test players left, Big Rabbit felt immensely guilty and made a decision."
"——As longs as all the organizers in the school are dead, no one will suffer new kaidan harm."
Su Ming’an glanced sideways.
"Big Rabbit decided to completely lock down the campus, turn all the rabbits into kaidans, and until all the safe rules were summarized, no new participants were allowed to enter."
This was just my Newbie Dungeon, of course I wouldn’t die, so I watched as the other rabbits tested the safe rules in turns, they repeatedly broke the rules and died, and were written back by Big Rabbit repeatedly until the rabbits’ soul endurance finally reached its limit. Before all the rabbits approached metamorphosis, they were killed by Big Rabbit, and Twelve Rabbits was responsible for burying them."
...
"Big Rabbit raised the knife and killed one after another."
"Twelve Rabbits raised the shovel and buried one after another."
...
"After that, my Newbie Dungeon was completed, I left here, returned to the Main God World, became the Number One Player, entered the new instance of Mushroom Apocalypse, and later met you on the second floor of Henggang Hospital," Xiao Su said: "When I left, only Big Rabbit and Twelve Rabbits were left."
Xiao Su looked at Su Ming’an:
"Do you know why the burned Twelfth Rabbit corresponds to the WARNING-003 blond youth without any burn marks?"
Su Ming’an said: "Of course, because the true WARNING-003 is not the blond youth, but rather——"
He looked ahead, the figure of the blond youth gradually appeared, smiling with a doll in his arms.
"——but rather the doll in the arms of the blond youth." Su Ming’an said confidently:
"Twelfth Rabbit he... she was not Hui Bei, but Hui Cheng."
The name Hui Cheng never appeared within the scope of the Hui Family, because Hui Cheng died here and never entered Luowasha.
When all the rabbits died, when all the safe rules were on the brink of completion, the final question came——Big Rabbit as the only one among all the kaidans who could watch over forever, how could he ensure that he remained eternally awake and rational, and not become a new kaidan?
A safe item was needed.
An item that could alleviate san value.
Hui Cheng, as the part initially separated from Hui Bai, inherited the ability of "passion and courage," and she possessed an unwavering will and constantly high emotions.
She burned herself, transforming into a doll. Her kaidan rule was that if you held her, the san value wouldn’t drop.
The blond youth was not the core of this kaidan, the doll was.
"Big Rabbit, I will end myself... keep me by your side. My remaining soul... will shine a light for you, helping you walk through the campus, helping each generation of participants..." she burned in Big Rabbit’s arms, dying in the embrace of Big Rabbit.
Finally, there was only Big Rabbit left in the world.
All other rabbits were either dead or transformed into irrational kaidans.
Unmatched loneliness.
Big Rabbit became the only "Watcher."
At this moment, the entire campus seemed like a mottled photograph, revealing the splendor of the past. The abandoned laboratory before Su Ming’an suddenly became clean and new, spewing fresh clouds, the blond skeleton slowly stood up, transforming into a handsome and elegant blond youth, smiling at him; the dusty teaching building turned to snow-white walls as if newly built, the climbing vines gradually disappeared, even the pillars became bright and clean, the middle-aged woman in the hallway put down her game console, showing a kind smile; the restroom shed its grime, a girl in a beautiful red dress started dancing; no more bloodstains on the stairs, the blood-stained teacher restored his suit; the red butterflies in the jungle transformed into a healthy white-haired youth; on the rooftop, the grandfather and granddaughter gazing at the starry sky chanted poetry; and the burned doll condensed into a heroic woman with blond hair and orange eyes, blocking in front of a group of participants, guiding them away from danger...
Time crossed each other’s shadows before Su Ming’an’s eyes, and he saw twelve figures standing before him, disappearing one by one, appearing one by one, falling one by one, and standing one by one.
Zhao Mingming was a girl afraid of pain, following Uncle Zhao for over ten years, enduring much hardship, her only wish was to live the life of a young lady. However, here she became one of the rabbits, her task was to constantly test the various instant death rules of the restroom, dirty, tiring, and painful. But she wanted to see her father, the later "brother" the rabbits spoke of, she had to protect this place, so it could be a refuge in the future...
Long years and the pain of metamorphosis gradually made her lose herself, she began to forget, began to be confused, couldn’t recall those happy memories with her father, she stayed day after day by the bloody faucet, as if she was born there, her heart filled with resentment, fully exploding upon seeing Su Ming’an...
Once upon a time, her heart had only sweet longing.
Swish swish, swish swish.
And the rabbit biting the pocket watch ran past the horizon, like a meteor——
"Plop" "Plop".
Su Ming’an gently hung the Eleven Rabbits’ badge around Xiao Su’s neck.
As for the piano sound in the music room, it was just a trace left by Xiao Su after leaving, not the actual kaidan itself.
At this moment, all the rabbit badges were correct, the puzzle solved, Su Ming’an was about to receive the clearance reward.
Girls, dolls, skeletons, butterflies, little white flowers... they floated before him, all holding his fingers, like little elves dancing, like flower fairies in fairy tale stories, no longer scary, no longer terrifying, laughing as they led him forward.
"Come on, Alice!" they laughed, "Walk towards your wonderland!"
——What appeared before his eyes was a large library that had never appeared in [Mingxi Campus] and [White Sand Paradise].
It stood in the evening breeze, reflecting immense light, like a mirage that didn’t exist in the world. People stood beneath it, tiny like stones.
Su Ming’an walked towards it, as if on a pilgrimage.
...
"Ding-dong!"
[You obtained the rabbits’ item: "Eraser" (Excluded Level)]
[Eraser (Excluded Level)]
[Type: Rule-Level Item]
[Content: Erase any rule, judgment made based on the positional rank of the eraser.]
[Note: "In the face of absolute insignificance and hopelessness, writing becomes a futile anchor. But perhaps, the anchoring itself is the meaning?"]
...
Within the library, the vast collection stacked layer upon layer, filled every inch of the niche, crowded every archway.
Ancient wisdom, bygone eras, fierce arguments, silent murmurs.
Above the spiral staircase, layer upon layer of circular corridors were divided by huge arches. Light streamed through stained glass, columns of light flowing inside, billions of golden dust silently floating.
Su Ming’an stepped inside, it felt more like entering a universe than a library. Time here lost its linear meaning. Each book was like a miniature theater, performing the past, present, and future, grand enough to make the soul tremble.
Passing by, he could almost feel the weak breaths of those words under the book covers.
He looked up, the spiral staircase had no end, disappearing into the shadow of a higher firmament, as if leading to a distant shore purely constructed from thoughts.
[I have always secretly imagined that heaven should be in the form of a library...]——Borges, "Library of Babel"
"Oh my, this..." Xiao Su held his breath. Although he wandered on the wooden floor, he felt his form floating, his steps swaying as if strolling between cosmic stars, gazing at the stars.
Su Ming’an suddenly realized—that was the perspective of the "Awakener."
In their eyes, each planetary civilization was a book being depicted. Each line of text was the ongoing drama of the joys and sorrows of civilization, each archway delineated the galaxy, the edge of the library was the end of the universe, and the ink floating in the air was the traces of cooperation between planets. The tearing of pages would cause the planet to cease, increasing pages indicated the planet was developing.
The Black Water Dream, rather than a dream, is more like a gathering place for "readers." They peruse, they observe, they choose the world they love, just like Bai Qiu chose the detached wisdom, not interfering with the story itself, while Bai Chun chose the bustling involvement, actively participating in the story.
Su Ming’an already knew the name of that platform, it’s called "Starting Point."
Every book is a real planetary civilization, everything is also real life, merely leaving ink marks, which a few lucky ones in the universe had the fortune to observe, leaving traces on that platform, which in their eyes seems like reading a book.
In fact, everything is actually happening, an unchangeable fact of civilization in the real time of the universe.
They are never illusory.
They are happening.
—The text recorded life, but life is never just text.
A silhouette sits on the highest floor of the Cosmic Library.
The person has long hair like wisteria flowers, eyes like red flames, leaning against a deity statue.
Su Ming’an looked up.
In the far distance, the rustling sound of pages turning automatically, like dead leaves falling; the old wooden floor groans as a book falls; from a corner of the bookshelf, comes a suppressed sigh of a planet.
"—Su Wenjun." And Su Ming’an called out the name of the person sitting at the top.
He really jumped out of the planet, out of the veins, sitting between the intangible star sea.
He was born from Sique’s pen, just an insignificant small character, but now he has jumped out of the book called "Luowasha," smilingly standing in this universe.
"Two guests." Su Wenjun said, "Forgive me for not being able to consider myself the host, since I am merely a traveler in the vast sea of books, able only to peruse, nothing else."
"What exactly is this place..." Xiao Su asked in surprise.
Su Wenjun raised a finger:
"An inexpressible place, an indescribable place."
"You can understand it as—this is the universe’s easily comprehensible, true form."
Su Ming’an moved forward.
He felt something attracting him in the dark.
He entered a cubicle and suddenly found the books around him becoming familiar. He opened it up to see titles like "Why Does Mom Always Cry," "Grandma’s Delicious Plum Wine," "The Formula I Like," "I’ve Started Learning Piano," and other books.
"This is..." Su Ming’an suddenly realized, "My own library...?"
He looked back, the vast hall floated with books representing vast civilizations, and the cubicle he entered represented his own "library."
He continued to walk forward, the books turned into "The Best Red Braised Pork from Childhood," "Grandma Passed Away," "Dad Always Doesn’t Come Home," "The Complete Skewer Stalls at the School Gate," "Three Ways to Play the Cat’s Piano Piece," ...
Moving further, a new batch of books floated up—"How to Communicate with People," "The Stray Cats’ Routes Near Home," "The Video Game Recommended by Neighbor Yuanyuan," "Dad’s Flowers Fell," "I’m Going to Junior High," ...
He continued forward, and more vast volumes of books came into view, no less in number than the outer planetary books.
A person’s life is no less than an entire universe.
"Must-Do Exam Questions," "My Favorite Sherlock Holmes Collection," "Murder on the Orient Express," "Delicious Bang Bang Chicken Snack Brought by Tablemate Bolong," "Uncle Zhao," "The Best Milk Tea Shop at School," "Forgot My Campus Card Again Today," "The Homeless Under the Bridge," "The Envy-Arousing New Sneakers," ...
He seemed to see a teenage boy progressing from junior high to high school life.
He continued forward and saw batches of new books.
"The Jump Game Scheduled with Yuanyuan," "Five Years of College Entrance Exams and Three Years of Simulations," "Window Glass Piano," "The Night Ball," "Someone’s Leaving Me Again," "The Neighbor Said I Am a Funeral Star," "A Female Classmate Jumped from a Building," "Ten Ways to Start an Account as a Up Creator," "They Love My Horror Games," "The First Time Receiving a Gift," "Taking the College Entrance Exam," ...
He casually opened a book titled "Burning Grandma," which is a book from when he was eighteen, recording his experience of becoming a creator and playing horror games, describing how he cleared the game, how many people liked his video after posting it, how many gave him thumbs-up...
He opened another book titled "Dad’s Flowers Fell," which is a book from when he was ten, recording his final farewell with his father, sitting in the ice-white corridor, and they hadn’t had a last meeting.
He then opened "How Dad Met Mom," which is a book from when he was three, a time when he couldn’t remember much and the description in the book was also vague.
...
[... Dad said it was his first time attending an upper-class music concert, wearing an ill-fitting suit.]
["It’s my first time in a place like this." He nervously glanced at the woman like a fairy.]
[Both were silent, thinking it was over, but for some reason met again and again.]
[Mom had a pure aura, like a doll, cold, yet beautiful.]
[Dad walked by the river, Mom thought he was going to jump and tried to pull him back.]
[In fact, Dad was going to jump in and save someone, Mom thought he was so handsome, unlike those pretentious people who wore beautiful clothes.]
The story bits were fragmented, not knowing why it turned into a pledge.
...
["I swear! I volunteer to become a people’s police officer! I pledge allegiance to the country, to the people, to the law..."]
["I am willing to devote myself to a noble cause and strive to fulfill my pledge..."]
[Mom looked at the photo, smiling happily, different from her fairy doll-like appearance; after meeting dad, she wasn’t cold anymore.]
[Dad told me, this is love.]
[Love, what is love?]
[It turns out it was a cold doll witnessing Dad’s warmth and became warm as well...]
...
Wash—wash—
"Where is this?" he heard himself mumble.
"This is your library," he heard himself mumble again.
"Humans are fundamentally disassembled into books, and memories are just pages composed of books. They’re not your limb organs but are just as important as your limbs—because they exist, so you are ’you.’"
"During childhood, the books composing you were related to various toys; in junior high, the books were related to entrance exams, and in high school, they were related to the college entrance exam, and by university, they were even more diverse and colorful."
He moved towards the cubicle and saw under the ceiling’s book fragrance were reduced miniature libraries.
They may be open or closed, floating between bookshelves and spiral staircases.
"Follow me to check out other people’s libraries," Su Wenjun beckoned.
"Why exactly are you here?" Su Ming’an asked.
"Hm? Do you recognize me?" Su Wenjun replied, "I don’t know my own name, don’t know my past, only know I’m here. Perhaps, the former me erased everything and died, so I have nothing now."
"You... don’t plan to enter the world?"
"I have detached from everything, just a ’nameless ghost of the universe,’" Su Wenjun said, "Alright, stop talking so much, let me show you other people’s libraries."
He pointed to an open floating library, from which pages often flew out, heading to other libraries:
"That is a teacher’s library."
"Her library is shared by over a hundred people simultaneously, one generation of children after another goes on to read. Her books haven’t changed much; they’re all those ’math workbooks,’ ’math notes,’ ’must-do exam questions,’ ’how to make kids love math more,’ ’how to accurately throw chalk at kids lost in thought.’
"She updates her books annually based on the details, learning from others’ libraries, making her ’teaching level’ better and better. Meanwhile, one book she never forgets is called ’yearbook,’ always remembering each generation of students even though the pages may yellow and books fade, they’ll never be forgotten."
Su Wenjun pointed to another library with wide open windows, the doors tightly closed:
"That is a psychologist’s library. He is accustomed to opening his window and listening to the books of ’Pain,’ ’Depression,’ ’Mania,’ and ’Loneliness’ flowing in from others’ libraries. He chews on these books, transforming them into ’Happiness,’ ’Relief,’ and ’Relaxation’ and gives them back to others. He often walks into other people’s libraries to experience their life books, yet he almost never opens his own doors to let others come in."
Su Wenjun then pointed to a decaying and collapsing library:
"That is an old man’s library. He is a traveler who has wandered far, climbed high mountains. He has many life books, such as ’Experience of Climbing Mount Everest,’ ’How to Wear a Protective Mask,’ ’Ten Routes into the Snowy Mountains’... However, these books have already been sent to many people in advance, and as he suffers from dementia, he has forgotten all his books. The library is now empty, and even books like ’My Name’ and ’My Lover’ are forgotten. Fortunately, many have benefited from his life books and have become new travelers, heading towards distant seas and high mountains..."
Su Wenjun pointed again and again:
"That is a soldier’s library. Because the kingdom is engulfed in war, his library was burned down. Books like ’Fine Techniques of Bird and Flower Painting,’ ’Mother’s Favorite Sweets,’ ’Daughter Waiting Sweetly for Me to Return Home’ were all burned to ashes. His library now only has ’How to Bandage a Wound,’ ’How to Survive on the Battlefield,’ ’How to Live Three Days on a Slice of Bread’..."
"That is a streamer’s library. His library opens regularly but only shares books like ’Game Tips,’ ’Compilation of Banter,’ and ’Thanking Audience Gifts.’ As for ’Real Name,’ ’Real Address,’ ’Life Background,’ these books are never open to the public."
"That is a doctor’s library. His library is very monotonous, filled only with medical-related books. There are so many medical books that he no longer has the energy to look at the art books he’s truly interested in. But he has no regrets; instead, he reads and polishes the medical books repeatedly, keeping them clear and clean. This way, when encountering critically ill patients, he can recall the contents of these medical books immediately, avoiding delays in rescue time. Unknowingly, these medical books seem to become his muscles and bones..."
Su Ming’an walked as if through the vast atrium of an abyss, with a few lonely bronze lamps casting warm and faint halos on the edge of darkness.
His features flickered in the light, and he saw the libraries of Second Rabbit, Third Rabbit... The rabbits’ books were almost entirely related to the Disciple Game, nothing else remained once it burned away.
It turns out that when one devotes wholeheartedly to an ideal, all other books besides the ideal will burn away.
He understood the essence of these libraries—they are real individuals in the universe, and each person’s essence consists of a "miniature library."
Countless "miniature libraries" make up the civilization of a planet. And the civilization of a planet, as a "book," is placed in the grand hall of the Cosmic Library.
Everywhere is thus.
"Look over there." At this moment, Su Wenjun paused his finger, pointing in a direction.
It was in the direction of the cubicle that Su Ming’an had just walked out from.
"That is the library of a young Savior." Su Wenjun said softly:
"His books are read by countless people outside the library, who experience his joys and sorrows through the screen, echoing and resonating with him, investing themselves fully."
"Most of his books prior to the age of eighteen are hidden, only visible through deep digging. But after he became a Savior, many people are sharing and reading the books."
"They accompany him silently, some hoping for his success, some expecting his failure, some wishing him peace and happiness, others hoping for him to suffer pain. They follow him through the screen, as if traversing mountains and valleys with his steps, crossing the mushroom-covered apocalypse, passing through the cold and pale Floating City, walking through one magnificent world after another..."
"He is alone, yet not alone."
"Alone, in circumstance."
"Not alone, in existence."
The world of adults is cold, gray, and cruel.
But fortunately, people can give wings to their imagination, constructing libraries and Utopias.
The great reading table, like a solitary island on a chessboard, countless book pages and fibers are whispering, Su Ming’an looked up.
"Swish——Swish——"
People always say that before reading a story, first experience this world personally, otherwise one will be led astray by stories and become a monotone being that only knows fantasies. But from another perspective, isn’t the world itself composed of stories?
This is not describing the world system from the perspective of Luowasha, but can be summarized from the condition of each planet—
Understanding what constitutes the torrent, only then can one behold the grandeur and beauty of the waterfall.
Understanding why the world leads to tragedy, only then can one appreciate the rarity of happiness.
Understanding how grains and flower seeds grow, only then can one understand the preciousness of food and flowers.
Understanding the fragrance of flowers and spring days, only then can one enter a world full of idealism and stride into this world. Instead of being suppressed to lose spirituality when stepping into the world, no longer willing to explore this vast world.
Su Ming’an recalled an old storybook he read as a child, which told the story of a child becoming a Savior. A child entered a basement and found several doors, and the devices behind the doors could control the entire world. The child used these doors to save his hometown from meteor destruction. Such a story was not popular at the time and would often be mocked by many, seen as superficial and self-fantasy. Yet, precisely because of this story, those influences subtly instilled by his father gradually flourished in his mind.
It turns out, ordinary people can become heroes too. He understood this point.
Until those unfamiliar, external books were thoroughly digested and chewed by him, until they became a part of his body and even soul—until the male protagonist in the book, the child who discovered the door, finally became his own soul.
If when he was young, he hadn’t read so many books, hadn’t read the golden fishhook, hadn’t read the scattered anise beans on the table, hadn’t read the long journey of the Long March, suddenly encountered his father’s death, encountered the neighbors’ "Funeral Star" pointing fingers, would he still be able to stand firm, believing that the world is still beautiful?
Through reading, he touched the softness of leaves; through reading, he sniffed the fragrance of leaves.
He knows why there are so many homeless people under the bridge, knows why there are frozen bones on the road, he uses vision to feel that distant yet not distant world.
He walks towards the male and female protagonists of each book, takes their hands, as if experiencing millions of years of rivers.
He became a very good person.
At this moment, someone held his hand.
"Clink."
It was a young man with floating black hair, eyes like ink, wearing a heavy robe, carrying a bird beak mask. Among the endlessly flying pages, the young man was smiling.
"Indeed, you solved the puzzle and came here, deserving to be the Number One Player," said the Cat Boss.
"After all the rabbits sacrificed, you thought you would watch alone, but you encountered an opportunity," Su Ming’an pieced together the previous clues slowly: "—you met Xiao Bai, didn’t you? She is the Thirteenth Rabbit."
The Cat Boss nodded.
A pink-haired girl, who unknowingly broke into this campus, she is not an Awakener, just a traveler who entered by mistake. At that time, the Cat Boss was already exhausted maintaining rationality.
Xiao Bai told him there’s a library in the universe, only those with extremely high inspiration can perceive it; if the two of them could create a perfect story together, they might be able to enter that library.
"What’s the point of entering that library?" the Cat Boss asked, puzzled.
"There is no point," Xiao Bai said: "Just to let us understand what the essence of the universe is like."
The Cat Boss shook his head with a bitter smile: "But me? How can an ordinary person like me possibly achieve that."
Initially, the Cat Boss had no hope, but as he communicated with Xiao Bai, he gradually realized that, indeed, the "Goddess Venus" in the eyes of artists exists.
Just Xiao Bai’s few words could inspire his creativity. Whenever the Cat Boss fell into a creative dilemma, Xiao Bai would lead him out, and when Xiao Bai’s thoughts ran dry, the Cat Boss could offer new ideas. They became exceptionally good pen pals, like soulmates meeting too late.
"So, in the end...you really wrote a perfect story and perceived that library," Su Ming’an raised his head.
"Yes, no one in the entire Luowasha managed, yet such an ordinary rabbit like me actually perceived that library," the Cat Boss said, "I don’t believe I’m a genius, it must be Xiao Bai, this ’Venus’, who let me succeed."
"What is the ’perfect story’ like?" Now that the Cat Boss understood the meaning of "perfection," Su Ming’an also wanted to know.
After all, only by knowing what the definition of "perfect" is can he know how to tread that narrowest, most perfect golden path to bring happiness to everyone in Zhai Xing.
The Cat Boss smiled: "You’ll know soon enough."
His figure began to disappear.
"Are you leaving?" Su Ming’an raised his hand.
"Only the Supreme Lord and the Awakeners know how to lead others to this place," the Cat Boss said gently: "So, before you arrived, I had already completed the ceremony of becoming an ’Awakener.’"
"I forced myself to hold on until now for the sake of guiding you, it’s impossible for me to live anymore."
"I lived so long, even reached this legendary Cosmic Library, saw the truth of the universe...it was worth it."
His figure gradually melted away, turning into a book titled "Cat Boss", with a cover painted with a blood-red scale, entirely black and white.
Within the spiral staircases, among the flying pages, Su Ming’an opened this book.
...
[Rabbit February 23 Year 2]
[I have seen the crowds on earth, the bodies in suits drifting in the subway, the numb fingers flipping plastic dishes, the snail-like toes walking out from the grid spaces of office buildings. Their lives are not yet free, still with many troubles.]
[And I met that girl, she descended into my world like a genius, inviting me to write stories together, coloring my life, giving me such immense surprise—just by seeing her, countless brilliant ideas flooded into my stiff mind; just by seeing her, my long river of inspiration became inexhaustible.]
[We don’t understand why this is, we can only attribute it to her being a genius, and me a mediocrity. When a mediocrity meets a genius, colorful streamers are bound to erupt.]
...
[Rabbit Year 12, July 11]
[Hui Cheng turned to ashes in my embrace, I knew this life would only be eternal loneliness, when my heart was like dead ashes, Miss Xiao Bai came before me again, and began to gulp down cola.]
["You need to twist it open to drink!" I immediately advised her.]
[She looked at me blankly for a moment, nodded, and gurgled as she drank.]
[Is this how the geniuses in this world are—so unique? When I am amazed by her wisdom and talent, I am often speechless at her lack of common sense; she seems to belong to the vast and boundless paradise of words, capable of composing the most brilliant stars in the universe, and should not be trapped here, I know.]
...
[Rabbit Year 13, February 8]
[Sent Seventh Rabbit a bag of tea leaves, sent Fifth Rabbit a thick history book, also lit incense at the graves of Second and Third Rabbits.]
[I pulled out the records and re-read their stories.]
["What’s the point? Those people have already died, revisiting their little stories over and over is just a waste of time," Miss Xiao Bai said.]
["The grand and ancient figures need not be chronicled by us, nor is it our place to criticize those of heinous crimes; the great Olivius disdain recording the stories of ordinary folks, but I choose to record these people’s appearances," I said, "To your eyes, this is mere ink, to my eyes, it’s a grandfather loving his granddaughter to the point of feigning madness for years, firing a shot with his own life; it’s a man still yearning for his hometown on his deathbed, the golden wheat ears and red windmills."]
[She looked at me bewildered, as she always looked down at the myriad living beings.]
[The proud genius desires to touch the Cosmic Library, thus the recording of the mortals should be left to a sad ordinary person like me.]
...
[Rabbit Year 24, August 12]
["—If you are akin to an ephemeral, if the future is an unattainable wasteland, why still write? Why still inquire?"]
[I often ask myself why I attempt to touch that library. It’s like the deepest mystery of the universe, how can a mere mortal like me approach it?]
[The manuscript paper is torn over and over, yet I cannot write a story that shines with inspiration; I realize I am weakening, my soul is burning along with it. I have thought of giving up, no longer torturing myself, but each time I touch her eyes, I start looking forward again.]
...
[Rabbit Year 32, November 23]
[I once rode across the imagined frontier, and also fell beneath the icy cliffs of reality. I read countless books, they are so vast, yet so complete. This tumultuous dawn, this entanglement of the noble and the vile, this symphony of success and failure—comprises the entirety of the frontier that is "me" at this moment.]
[Perhaps, on this long journey lacking an "Promised Land," every muddy step that I record is my sole arrival.]
[I press the ink against the passage of time, battle the soul’s burning with words, even if no one listens, the act of recording itself anchors me to myself.]
[—Until I finally understood why I was so persistent towards the frontier, until I finally understood why just upon seeing her, inspiration could erupt, until I finally understood why a mediocrity could write the sound of genius stepping onto the supreme staircase.]
[It turns out.]
[I love her.]
[Love made me break through the boundaries of perception.]
...
[Rabbit Year 38, February 2]
[She said she was interested in Medieval bird-mask doctors.]
[As the face of Kaidan, I was very terrifying, so I adjusted myself to the appearance she liked.]
...
[Rabbit Year 39, August 11]
[She said she was interested in Alice’s story.]
[I slightly adjusted the campus story background, introducing the Mad Hat Maker and Red Heart Soldiers that she liked.]
...
[Rabbit Year 40, January 1]
[Turns out loving someone is wanting her to be happy.]
...
[Rabbit Year 42, December 2]
[Today I gave her cola and chips, she asked me, "Are you leaving again?"]
[I gradually learned her identity: she is the Order Guardian of this world, responsible for keeping the world’s stories from crossing the forbidden red line. Shen Xue’s, Siyi’s, Xia Luoyang’s...all the IF lines constructed in our Disciple Game are vetted by her, she knows when the spring days of every year will come, knows when the gods will clash, knows when this world will reboot.]
["Yes, the capitalists have summoned me," I said.]
[I am controlled by the capitalists, unable to confirm my authenticity—every time I return, I don’t know if I’ve been killed, or if I’m an artificial bionic body created by the capitalists.]
[If I am the original body, that would be good, but if I am the bionic body that’s been drafted...]
[...]
[—What grounds do I have to discuss love with you then?]
...
[Rabbit Year 57, February 3]
[My future is to die at the hands of some contestant, that’s my destined ending, I know.]
[I gazed at her sleeping face, she slept on a tree branch, unfinished manuscript paper was still lying on her face, her feet bare.]
[She’s really an easy-to-read person, happy when drinking cola, sad when hungry, turns out understanding a genius is so easy.]
[The perfect story was about to be finished, I thought this kind of mediocrity like me would fall into the abyss—but she always caught me, she accommodated me, like the other half arc of a circle.]
[However, Miss Xiao Bai, I am very sorry, I probably really cannot become a perfect Creator. I long for those things the public doesn’t like, yearn for those complicated disputes, desire philosophical musings not welcomed by people, I’ve just worked hard all this time to follow my library. I am like a silent white key jumping outside the dark keys, like a stubborn penholder jumping outside the dancing ink.]
[Great apologies, as you sleep, I will bid you farewell.]
[I sensed "he" is coming soon, the person named "Su Ming’an," he will end my mission, my life will also end with it, for I must become an Awakener, to receive him, then I will vanish.]
[It’s very regrettable, I still haven’t written a perfect story with you, haven’t perceived that legendary Cosmic Library.]
[My Venus, my Pegasus, my inspiration goddess Aphrodite...]
[I love you.]
[No need to respond, you surely won’t love a mediocrity.]
[We are building an eternal Utopia, this time, please go to the eternally unending happy campus to dance.]
...
Cat Boss lied.
In fact, the one who perceived that library was not this mediocrity, he died before the "perfect story" was born, in order to receive Su Ming’an.
The one who wrote the "perfect story" was the genius Miss Xiao Bai.
However, most dramatically, the tens of thousands of stories that Cat Boss and Xiao Bai wrote after much contemplation did not meet the criteria for "perfection," but after Cat Boss’s death, Xiao Bai’s casual, heartfelt elegy poem allowed her inspiration to sense this library.
It turns out that true "perfection" doesn’t require any ornate language or complex skills, it only requires...
"Freedom."
Su Ming’an’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he suddenly understood the contradictory answer between Noel Agnini and himself—
Noel wants "freedom," and he wants "perfection."
But if "freedom" represents "perfection," then what...
can’t be resolved?
That narrowest, golden road represents the formula—[Freedom = Perfection]?
It’s as if a bright light suddenly illuminated his mind, giving him an unprecedented wide view; like a fish awakening from the ocean depths, seeing the daylight.
The countless stories that Xiao Bai and Cat Boss gave their all, did not resonate with this Cosmic Library, yet her casual, sincere elegy poem did.
"As I grow older, I’ve forgotten why I initially embarked upon the path of creation... but the answer is quite simple, just like a child picking up a paintbrush for the first time..." Cat Boss’s words seemed to echo around him.
At the same time, Su Ming’an seemingly understood the answer to the next sentence:
...
"It is for the sake of."
"Pleasing oneself."
...
It’s not for pleasing anyone else, it’s not for gaining benefits or gaining awareness of the so-called library to become the greatest person among the Luowasha people.
A child’s original longing for "creation"... is just to "please oneself."
Yet, how many people have already lost themselves.
Every twist of the spiral staircase before Su Ming’an seemed to dance, like a swirling dance step.
He remembered the patients’ frantic dance steps, singing high amidst the fires, dancing wildly at Alice’s tea party, their dance steps without any rules, so free, seemingly only pleasing to their own souls.
Therefore—the true "World Book" doesn’t need any embellishment or depiction, it only requires...
"To write down what I, what we are thinking in our hearts..."
"To record every bit of inspiration, every sentence, every ray of light that emerges in our mind..."
"Perfection, is freedom."
Su Ming’an reached out, a feathered pen in ink-gold color lighting up in his palm.
What the Cosmic Library truly wants—is something not dedicated to pleasing the whole world.
Luowasha has fallen into error, and Lin Hejin and Ran Bo’s tragedy is enough to indicate this—they rotate around the views of the World Tree and Sique, neglecting the true things of freedom.
Sique too was caught in error, initially born from his heart, merely the desire to write from a little magpie in a wheat field, yet later, after encountering the Master of the End of All Things, depicting the world became his duty. He no longer described those everyday stories, his gaze cast on the nailed down frameworks.
The firmament is distant and vast, like an inverted celestial river night curtain.
Su Ming’an walks within his own library, starlight all around, relying solely on his fingertips, emptying rational thought, letting "freedom" take over to write.
The term "orange cat" comes from a school stray cat he met in childhood, "variegated red umbrella" from an afternoon picking mushrooms in the wild mountains, "old grandfather’s laughter" is the sound as the wind blew over the ten-year-old birthday calendar, "like rock candy" was his feeling when he pressed the piano key for the first time... Each word enveloped him like rainbow candies poured into a mold, dripping one by one, bouncing wildly within his body, sweet and bitter.
Underfoot, no longer a wooden loft but black and white piano keys, like a crystal clear rainbow candy, carrying incomparable colors, skipping across the keys.
These words formed him, yet at this moment, they reconstructed him, he walked within the Cosmic Library, inspecting himself for the first time so clearly—he confirmed his own existence, confirmed his memories as indisputable.
Before he knew it, patients arrived beside him, they danced frantically, laughed, jumped.
—But in his eyes, they were no longer "patients."
They were merely a group of people passionate about ideals, handing over their physical activity abilities to the "freedom" in their brain, to outsiders they seemed abnormal, but this was precisely the symbol of the thin line between genius and madman.
"Life has given me everything!" They sang Borges’ "Wendel."
"Everyone has received everything from life, but most remain unaware."
They spun, they leapt into vibrant tap dance steps:
"My throat is weary, my fingers feeble, but listen to me sing!"
"The chant of the breathless one excites me!" a female patient began loudly, and people sang high.
"From his song and musical sound I hear my own tribulations."
"A slave who gave me my first love, men who died under my hand."
"Cold dawn, light over water, oars. I pick up the harp, chanting a completely different word."
Child, why allow your soul to belong to them?
Be ruthless, be as ruthless as they are.
You walk on the road of the mortal world, poet, on the road of freedom; do not follow the opinion of the populace;
let your soul burn with the flame of freedom, do not please tyrannical fashion;
use your genius-like thoughts to capture vivid impressions, do not embellish the fruits of your thoughts!
The labyrinth of memories, the graves of thoughts, also the womb of Wisdom Eternal.
Su Ming’an, like a conductor, standing among a group of "madmen," yet writes increasingly swiftly, from his birth to growth, until growing up, until becoming the Savior, until today...
Suddenly, as if finally perceiving some indisputable answer.
—He understood!
—He had grasped the solution against the Awakeners!!!
No need for frank words, no need for whispers, in such dancing and singing, that answer jumped into his mind.
This kind of inspiration made him ecstatic, also letting him feel the intuitive sense Cat Boss felt upon seeing Xiao Bai, he embraced his Muse Aphrodite, as if flowing in the water.
The Mad Hat Maker appeared from nowhere, bursting into the library, riding a wild buffalo away.
They laughed loudly, as if all the wondrous things played out atop this intellectual sanctuary, waves upon waves singing, dancing—
—"Will you regard the life recorded through words as real?"
"—Will you regard the fragments of language in the mind as real?"
"—Will you genuinely regard the friends in the game?"
"—Will you feel nostalgia for the story planet you didn’t open for a second time?"
You hide under the parasol tree, spy on neighbor’s animation through the window, you imagine yourself as Ultraman, as Xi Yangyang, as Rainbow Little Pony, as Rainbow Cat Hero, as Hero, as the Savior who opens the door — you carry a flaming heart of stories and ideals — you’re unrestrained, you want to leap into the torrent of the world!"
Su Ming’an felt like submerged in water, he heard the moving stage music, lowering his head, saw himself dressed in pure white holy robes, Hui Shuhang smiling as he took his hand: "You have not died, Your Highness."
In a flash, Cat Boss was now seen wearing pure white holy robes, Xiao Bai took his hand, dryly reciting: "You have not died, Your Highness."
This was the scene where Cat Boss and Xiao Bai absorbed each other’s inspiration over decades, dancing to only two people in a deserted school, staging a theater.
No one listened to their stories, they told themselves.
No one offered them new inspiration; they performed instances of other civilizations, playing them out for themselves.
Cat Boss’s "love" for Xiao Bai was not entirely romantic love; it was a fondness for Aphrodite—only she, only she transformed into the rainbow in his absurd, lightless black and white art paradise.
"Hui Shuhang..." Su Ming’an wanted to grab her, but her face suddenly transformed into Shen Xue—indeed, Cat Boss and Xiao Bai would not welcome a third reader, nor would a dancer outside of kaidan appear here.
To Cat Boss, Xiao Bai was like Shen Xue to Su Ming’an.
However, Shen Xue’s love was too shallow; she did not understand that some things are higher than love itself. If all love in this world were merely romantic, how impoverished and rigid emotions in this world would be.
Shen Xue led Su Ming’an in a wild dance under the library with titles such as "First World: ’Will the Mushroom Picker Be a Cute Little Girl?’", "Second World: ’Will the Robot Become a Beautiful New Bride?’", "Third World: ’Will Alice Become the Campus’s Little Angel?’"... as though stage dramas that had once occurred unfolded upon them.
"Alice, you won’t transform into Nuoliya..." she took on the appearance of Alice, while he transformed into Eliwen.
"Moli, your love will be rewarded..." she appeared as Moli, while he took on the form of a Ghost.
"Knight, you don’t have to achieve a barrier through death; Sea Monsters change their minds and decide to retreat..." she appeared as a Sea Monster, while he took on the form of a Knight.
"Cici, all the tribes will understand you; you were never harmed..." she transformed into the shape of a fox, while he became Xiber.
"Ya Sa, you didn’t die under the fire of the ignorant; you embraced the spring..." she took on the appearance of Dawn, while he became Acto.
"Su Wensheng, you didn’t resolutely die under Moonlight; you became the youngest Councilman..." she transformed into the form of a Deity, while he took on the form of Su Wensheng.
—But, but.
If that were indeed true, if that were indeed true—if all tragedies were erased, if all conflicts were transformed into peace...
Su Ming’an suddenly shook off her hand.
"Su Ming’an—!" Her voice became shrill: "Lin Wang’an never abused you; your father didn’t die; your childhood was incredibly happy; you attended piano concerts abroad; you wore the latest sneakers, and no one went hungry under the bridge..."
No, no, no.
In a daze, Su Ming’an saw several cards.
They were the people who arrived with him.
The figure of Li Mingyue stood under the parasol tree, feeding orange cats with three children.
Hui Zi danced carefree, surrounded by siblings; she never lost anything.
Xiber walked with her brother, laughing, amidst a vibrant forest.
——[We are crafting an eternal Utopia; this time, dance in a beautiful campus that will never end.]
"A group of insatiable people! What’s wrong with this place—the eternal campus, eternal stories, a Utopia free of bias and discrimination!" Suddenly, countless cries arose:
"They need to be healed! Otherwise, they will endlessly immerse themselves in past hurt!"
"These patients are mad because they have experienced overly tragic stories! So, erasing those tragedies is the best healing for them and for the entire civilization!"
"No." Su Ming’an raised his hand:
"Not healing—is also a kind of perfection."
Not healing?
White Sand Paradise is a correctional school, with a goal to heal! Not healing, should they leave them broken?
Even Dong Xue’s unwillingness to grow was healed; she said herself, "I want to be as good as you," she chose to become an adult, isn’t this a successful case of healing?
Shen Xue’s eyes seemed to question, as if the entire library questioned.
"The boy on the experiment table... his childhood wounds can never be healed in his life. He is suspicious, clever, distrustful of anyone, yet this is part of his soul." Su Ming’an said:
"The youth wandering under the bridge... of course, I wish he never faced those hardships, but that is his ’book.’ Without these ’books,’ he will cease to be the person I am familiar with."
"The teacher pushed down the stairs, trapped here due to his dying grievance, not for revenge or any gruesome reason, simply because his obsession is—saving the rabbits, protecting history. If his obsession gets erased, then who is he? For whom did he die?"
"Obsession isn’t just obsession sometimes; it is aspiration."
"Pain isn’t just pain sometimes; it is experience."
"Condition isn’t just condition sometimes; it is life."
"The completeness of the soul, the continuation of the form, the abundant freedom of the spirit... this is what a truly ’healthy’ person is. Or else, whose puppets are they, whose story characters are they? Is it really our pen that keeps them here, rather than the guide of free will?"
It felt as though he were walking in an endless ocean, and with this singular question, all the sea water shattered.
Amid countless fracture sounds, he saw Su Wenjun sitting atop the library, Su Wenjun asked him:
"So."
"What is a perfect story, exactly?"
"Is it the salvation worth singing aloud, the tragedy that brings tears, or the eternal epic sung through the ages?"
And Su Ming’an gave the correct answer—
—It’s the brain moving freely with the fingers.
—It’s without the need for any embellishment or profit-driven alterations.
—It’s true freedom in the literal sense.
He spoke—
...
"It’s separating from ’Observation’ itself."
...
"Ding Dong!"
[You provided the correct answer, identifying what "condition" and "patients" truly are.]
[You acquired the Eye of Truth (Excluded Level)]
[Eye of Truth (Excluded Level)]
[Content: Wearing this item, you can see the trail of Awakeners, slowly understanding their essence and rules.]
[Remark: "Now, you’ve finally completely answered that Knight of Light’s question—about what ’free will’ is."
"—A future not subject to any observation or manipulation, a life not subject to critique from any existing presence."]
...
The rabbits, fueled by enthusiasm, constructed the Disciple Game, aggressively seeking their dreams, hence successfully isolated the Awakeners’ surveillance.
Xiao Bai reached the Cosmic Library with a random stroke of his pen, touching upon this "Starting Point."
Thousands of embellishments, countless intricate techniques are not the correct answer.
True "freedom," the narrowest golden path, had already been revealed by actions from predecessors—
—There is no division between HE, BE, TE.
—A life not critiqued by Awakeners.
—A life not recorded by observation platforms like the Cosmic Library’s "Starting Point" and other civilization records.
This was what he pursued, this was what the universe pursued... true "freedom."
It is the narrowest, golden road.
Elaborate stained glass windows embedded, daylight dances in the haze composed of billions of dust particles, gently pouring over the vast sea of books.
Shen Xue stopped, and those dance steps vanished.
The contestants who remained in place were surprised to find that all the kaidan trapped here had disappeared; they finally fulfilled their mission after death and were liberated.
And the patients who had been dancing wildly also calmed down, their hospital clothes turning into regular attire. Some transformed into white-collar workers tapping keyboards, some into workers holding wrenches, some into artists holding paintbrushes... walking beyond the hospital.
—because someone ruled for them, someone told them they weren’t patients.
Su Ming’an’s declaration decisively ripped off the "abnormal" label forcefully attached by society, puncturing the lies of discipline—they don’t need to be "corrected" into some rigid template of normalcy; they don’t need to undergo electric shock "treatment" to destroy unique thinking; they don’t need to be locked in an elaborate disciplinary cage called "White Sand Paradise."
—and even less do they need to use a conflagration to burn down old places to prove to the world that they are "healthy."
Because they need not escape the traits in themselves that were labeled as "illness." When they are allowed to embrace reality with their complete selves, this "illness" makes them even braver.
—to face the absurdity of the world, the wear of the mundane.
—to persist on the road less taken.
Because "illness" is merely others’ definition of them.
Idealism is not "illness," nor is it "immature," it is a fireseed, the reason one can remain vibrant and joyous in a society with little passion.
It is the "nutritional supplement" for the soul, and furthermore, an essential "ingredient" for civilization.
A society that brands those who "dare to think the unthinkable," challenge established paths, and articulate the world in different frequencies as "eccentric" or "pathological" to discipline or exclude is no less than an error of "labeling."
Su Ming’an lifted his head, the ocean formed of book planets, his sight stretched along the bookshelves, ultimately vanishing in the blurry junction of light and shadow.
Words are like artworks solidifying time itself, suffocatingly beautiful, surrounding silent scrolls, watching every small traveler who attempts to search for answers in their vast star-like body with billions of invisible eyes.
Thus, he raised his hand, like a conductor before a piano.
"Swish—"
Words poured forth, no longer to forge glorious Chapters, nor to construct fortresses of meaning, they simply exist.
"Stray cat," "piano," "jump-jump-jump game," "op host"...they surrounded him, merged into his hull, enriched his soul, becoming part of his personal library.
In the absurd weight pressure they naturally ooze out, like the warmth trickling from wounds, like breath mist, is memory speaking to itself, is past dust surging where there is no wind.
People write, merely to confirm the act of "writing" hasn’t vanished, to ignite a fireseed in this eternal night of silence.
Moments worth preserving in a lifetime are scarce but become frames, lines, and can infinitely be collected like segments of life fitted into storage boxes.
He stored them into wooden boxes, into bottles, into nine-tone boxes that rotate left and right.
Neverland, Eden, Ivory Tower.
Paradise where the soul finds rest.
He stands in this cosmic library, holding Xiao Su’s hand, looking towards the thoroughly perished Cat Boss.
"Thank you, I already know your efforts and questions, now, it’s my turn to solve everything," Su Ming’an spoke, gently caressing his chest, slightly bowing, saluting the deceased.
Only by living can one have a name, otherwise, one is simply among the nameless.
They are not any familiar names: Sique, Hui Bai, Wu Yi, Xi Li...
Only a group of nameless ones. A group without names.
They are husbands who lost their beloved wives, grandfathers searching for their granddaughters, youths who love piano, teachers who protect history, pen pals with hearts in tune.
Rabbits have rabbit ways, and Number One Player has Number One Player ways.
Now, he must solve everything like Number One Player.
He raised his head, clapping hands like a ruler summoned—
"Boss Rabbit... no, Chen Qingguang."
"I want to meet you, discuss the narrowest golden path regarding ’Observation Break.’
"I know, you must yearn for such an ending as well, only bound by rules, unable to directly inform me. Yet now, I’ve already comprehended."
"Let’s discuss — about the Radiant Mother God trying to craft the IF line, about the Lord of Dreams, about those eyes."
...
In the name of a poet, Lighthouse ah, he fantasized himself as a flame burning rules, flickering in the void, romantic yet futile.
But the foundation of his soul is a seed fiercely burned by this flame, alone fervent in the darkness.
He called himself Lighthouse, making the verses he writes a thorough abandonment, a romantic-to-death hopeless flight, a wingless bird losing wings.
Yet coursing through his veins is scalding but silent loyalty to reality.
He dances on the romantic ruins, maintains thorough, nearly self-destructive rebellion amidst worldly ridicule.
But deep down, he prays for a heart forged by reality to be scorching and deeply hidden.
When he first realized that uncontrollable [freedom],
he finally saw the narrowest golden road,
heard the sound of fireworks blooming inside,
heard the soul’s joyful weeping,
heard the untethered wind sweeping through his chest,
heard [the sound of freedom and perfection], leaving footprints in the tides of all things.
—Is this the dreamscape of a delusional patient? Will a world no longer poetic fall into desolation? Can condemned idealism pass review?
Wingless him, trapped in the Murder on the Orient Express, turned into deity and dragon,
—will cause flesh to grow?
...
A dark-haired youth appeared in the cosmic library.
He held a blood-red balance, genteel and refined, face blurred.
He is Chen Qingguang.
Also,
The former Boss Rabbit.
...
"What did you see?" It asked.
Su Ming’an smiled, only replied.
"Humanity."
...
