Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 1637 - 54: Saints and Sinners (22)

The flowing paint forms a body, descending into the pure white space, like a solidified rainbow.

Its strength is as vast as mountains and seas, as broad as the firmament, voices of all ages sing along with It.

Su Ming’an watches calmly, while Kasadia keeps laughing wildly:

"Once upon a time, there was a jellyfish in the sea."

"He swam back and forth in the sea..."

"——Hahahaha, hahahahahaha——!!!" Before finishing, Kasadia couldn’t stop laughing.

Su Ming’an was stunned for two seconds before realizing, this was the very beginning of the instance, a "not funny joke" he once told Kasadia. This time, Kasadia finished telling the joke.

"Later, the jellyfish encountered sunlight."

"The jellyfish melted."

"The jellyfish melted——hahahaha!!!——the jellyfish melted!!"

Su Ming’an silently stared.

——Facing those calm, silent, bright silver eyes that showed no hint of laughter.

He wanted to say, the Little King is not a melted jellyfish.

He wanted to tell It, the Little King has a strong learning ability, able to remember all the books read, and quickly understand the meaning of test-tube babies.

He wanted to tell It, the Little King is also very good at philosophical thinking, even ordinary fairy tales can lead to reflections on life and the future.

He wanted to tell It, the Little King plays the piano well too, even as a beginner, able to distinguish black and white keys and play a pleasant "Little Star."

He also wanted to say, the Little King is determined and independent, knowing how to disguise and play roles early on, and resolved to personally send Su Ming’an away.

The Little King is not a meaningless melted jellyfish; he is not the protagonist of an absurd fairy tale.

But he knew there was no need to elaborate, as Kasadia understood these things better than him.

It turns out Kasadia actively erased the memory, and with him, relived a truly historical experience. The dream ended, and Kasadia returned to a form utterly worn by thousands of years, leaving only those similar eyes and absurd, crazy laughter.

"Kasadia..." Su Ming’an attempted to call Kasadia’s name again, steadily, calmly, just like the last calm glance the young man gave him.

But before him was the Shitposter Demon, who only laughed loudly, wildly, and explosively, its body shaking violently, releasing countless colorful liquids.

Su Ming’an was silent for a second, saying: "You left me here, is there something you want to say?"

In theory, he should have awakened, yet after the dream shattered, he was still in a pure white space.

"Of course, it’s to answer your questions!" The Shitposter Demon twisted and turned, "Although seeing your confused smile makes me laugh out loud, I also really want to see Kritchens take a huge fall! That will make me roar with laughter even more!"

Su Ming’an calmly said: "Have you also been betrayed by your own creation? Its creation of similar beings, completely unexpected for you, right? Did you not expect, that a once vest would now become the biggest trouble?"

Kasadia laughed even more wildly at these words: "Isn’t this absurd, shocking, and amusing?"

Su Ming’an lowered his eyes; he almost forgot that what others considered troublesome, was entertainment for the Shitposter Demon.

Suddenly, he saw figures emerging one by one in this pure white space.

The Little King draped in red silk, the first Disciple Game champion 001 with a sword, a boy holding a wooden box in the sea, an Observer waist-tied with a copper bell devoid of desires, a transparent-bodied Rin Clan brother, and a rolling white stone... each walked towards him.

They were illusions, replications of Kasadia.

"This time when I wake up, this should be reality, right?" Su Ming’an looked at them. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Not reality either! To be exact, it’s the Radiant Mother God’s similar being!" Kasadia laughed.

Before, Su Rin was right, the boy was indeed trapped in one cage after another. Breaking one, was yet another.

——The Little King’s dream, the Ark’s dream, the Radiant Mother God’s similar being, finally was Luowasha.

He was born shackled by countless chains; the moment he first saw Su Ming’an was, in fact, his most free moment.

"All the Su Liujins I meet in the future, are they really..." Su Ming’an said.

"Smart as you are! Surely, you already figured it out!" Kasadia laughed cheerfully.

"Yes." Su Ming’an said, "Isn’t it still necessary to confirm with you, brother?"

Hearing this address, the face behind the mask froze, then burst into a fierce laughter, as if trying to cover something, while rolling and laughing, without saying a word.

Su Ming’an cleared his thoughts, slowly said:

"Before erasing human memory, Hui Bai and others secretly released the most complete and successful 0820 Su Liujin, because everyone would lose their memory, and these experiments were useless."

"The 0820 Su Liujin belonged to a human creation and was also affected by the contract. His memory was erased, entering the sea in complete ignorance."

"He had no parents or kin, nor any friends or teachers, even the knowledge he had was emptied, like a newborn thrown into the crisis-laden dark sea. But if left on the Ark, those desperate scientists would treat him as fodder. Only by banishing him to a people-less ocean could he escape human schemes and intrigues."

"All that belonged to the sea was the raw law of the jungle. Perhaps devoured countless times and hurt countless times... In long years, Su Liujin gradually grew up, until becoming the Observer Su Liujin, a blank slate, indifferent, and emotionless, until generations died, allowing him to understand human warmth and coldness, abandoning his ’Observer’ identity, returning to the sea."

"He was taken out by the fragmented Hui Bai who forgot everything. They participated in the first Disciple Game, becoming the first Disciple Game champion 001. In the perilous Disciple Game, Su Liujin died multiple times, allowing the capitalists behind the Disciple Game to gain much of his flesh, and restarted... the ancient human experiment."

"Such experiments were extensive, whether in covert underground laboratories or the central experiments conducted by Ran Bo, eventually succeeding in creating the transparent-bodied Rin Clan brother. His birth drew from Su Liujin’s flesh, his soul captured from Lin Hejin’s writings inspired by Su Liujin, can also be regarded as a ’white-haired boy.’"

"Meanwhile, after winning the championship, Su Liujin underwent a self-division—being the most successful of countless ’white-haired youths,’ when he split, he only needed to separate those boys previously gathered within him once more."

"He gathered the abilities of his companions, transforming into the War God Dragon King Narration, leaving me for the future, allowing me to smoothly sail through the second Disciple Game. I reached the end, detecting the clues he planted in the past, finding the form of the Supreme Lord. I speculate, the personality of the War God Dragon King Narration likely derives from the Little King’s personality traits, hence the familiar feeling."

"Furthermore, after Hui Bei feigned defection, she also helped Observer Su Liujin leave behind a residual soul in the array—[the boy holding a wooden box at sea], if I choose to venture towards the sea, the boy will attach to my soul and journey with me."

"As for [the white stone rich in energy], I only have some speculation."

Su Ming’an paused for a moment, recalling a conversation:

...

[Ian glanced coldly at Hui Bai: "Is it you? I still remember your wretched appearance from hundreds of years ago, does the seawater feel comfortable to soak in? You personally delivered the Lighthouse Jellyfish into tragedy; how do you plan to redeem yourself now?"]

...

If we disregard the scenario where Awakeners alter reality, and the differences in Luowasha across multiple reincarnations, then Observer Su Liujin has set out to sea once more.

What he did remains unknown, but it is certain that his final fate was being sent back to the sea by Hui Bai.

Therefore, [the white stone rich in energy] might originate from this period. According to the story of "The Kind Nightingale", the essence of the white stone is a heart. It’s possible that Su Liujin divided his own heart, gave it to someone, and the heart transformed into a white stone.

...

["Hui Bai? I don’t know this person." Su Liujin said.]

["After you were fished up by Red Tower Kingdom, he was the one looking after you until I came through." Su Ming’an said.]

...

This was a conversation from the early stages of the instance, in the Fourth Epoch.

As known, Su Liujin has come out four times. The first time, as Observer Yuyu, he returned to the sea. The second time, he was taken out by Hui Bai to participate in the zeroth Disciple Game. The third time, with an unknown objective, left behind the white stone and was sent back to the sea by Hui Bai. The fourth time, Su Liujin, remembering nothing, was retrieved as the Red Tower Little Prince and later possessed by Su Ming’an.

"And once before I ventured to sea, a version of Su Liujin claiming to be [World], holder of the Demon Mother God Key, with a significantly different temperament from the Su Liujin I knew — cold, unfeeling, indifferent." Su Ming’an pondered, "I saw this conversation through reading the ’World Book’."

...

["The bottom of the food chain — in a sense, also the top of the food chain. The Lighthouse Jellyfish can be eaten by all things yet transform into nutrients within everything." The white-haired boy laughed,]

["Countless creatures that have eaten me, after death, they decompose into the soil, so the soil under your feet is also a part of me."]

["Countless plants that have eaten me exhale oxygen through photosynthesis, so the air you breathe is also a part of me."]

["—All creatures that have eaten me, in the ordinary and universal cycles of life through regurgitation, decomposition, reproduction, and excretion, unknowingly brew part of this world with me."]

["The Lighthouse Jellyfish, it seemingly is just a small jellyfish. In fact, the entire world is me."]

["You can also call my race by another name — ’Luowasha’."]

...

"His birth period, logically should be the earliest." Su Ming’an pondered.

"There’s an error!" Kasadia bounced around, with sticky hands somehow holding several colorful balloons, "Eureka! There’s an error! An error!"

...error.

Su Ming’an was silent for a moment, quickly concluding:

"I see, ’World’ was originally number 0820."

"He was always at the bottom of the sea, rarely coming out, only showing himself at the end. As for the Su Liujin I’m familiar with, he’s a fragment split from ’World’, following this order: [Observer Su Liujin—Champion 001—War God Dragon King Narration (the boy holding a wooden box at sea)—Red Tower Little Prince]."

He fell silent again.

With this, doesn’t it mean...?

The mayfly envies the longevity of the Flying Bird, yet little do they know the Flying Bird envies the century-long life of humans?

The white-haired boys, discarded and in tatters, envy the Little King in the jar at the center of the laboratory, believing the Little King to be the most successful boy.

Yet, how would they know, the Little King, as a mere culture dish, envies the Su Liujin acquainted with the outside world and Su Ming’an even more.

More astonishingly, the Su Liujin familiar with Su Ming’an also originated from the fragmentation of "World".

White-haired boys—Little King—Su Liujin—"World".

However, the Su Liujin familiar to Su Ming’an is now independent and complete, much like the original Hui Bai and the later Hui Bai cannot be considered the same person. Similarly, "World" and Su Liujin are completely different.

Su Liujin is Su Liujin, "World" is "World". Even if the former split from the latter, the former is already an independent life, what he has done all along is different from "World" who always stayed in the sea.

"So, Su Liujin, all these figures are him, and they all encompass the traits of different youths..." Su Ming’an looked towards the silhouettes, "he brought them back to life once again, also granting himself a rebirth."

Ultimately, countless fragments were drawn from the original body, placed in different jars to regrow, eventually being stitched back into the original body as they reached a certain growth stage.

How, then, should they be regarded?

Those white-haired boys discarded and rendered to ruins, those "Su Liujin personas" condemned as errors are all dead yet stored collectively into the final body. After gaining freedom, the body subdivided into so many segments, seemingly replicating those disparate personas.

His misfortune is built upon the death of other Su Liujin, while his fortune also rests on their love. He proceeds with their affection to experience sweetness and the scent of candy, but he also carves his own life path.

Perhaps Su Liujin was always puzzled by the issue of self-knowledge. So many complex factors mixed in him, experimentation being first, then post-experiment fusion, followed by being cast into the sea, sliced and returned ashore, and afterward sliced himself again to hold back the Supreme Lord... over and over, remarkably four or five times in total.

One fragmentation alone is enough to cause confusion. Yet for the sake of this world, Su Liujin underwent fragmentation and fusion four or five times. Fragmented and fused, what’s pieced together isn’t always his own parts.

How should one come to grips with the entirety of "self"?

When every plank of the ship is replaced, is it still the same ship? When a person’s memory, body, and soul are repeatedly fragmented and reorganized, are they still themselves?

The Pure White Space suddenly fluctuated, colors merging and separating, as if pigments on a Palette being stirred.