Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 1638 - 54: Saints and Sinners (23)

Kasadia stopped laughing, approaching like a colorful cloud, whispering in his ear, "What do you think the self is? A continuous memory? An unchanging body? Or an eternal soul?"

Su Ming’an recalled the path he had traveled. At every crossroads, he had the potential to become a different Su Ming’an. The body could be transformed, the soul worn down, even memories might be altered by the Awakeners—Kasadia asked him in a questioning tone, how should one confront these issues?

Just as the answer Su Ming’an had always discussed with the Little King—what is "self"?

Su Ming’an had a premonition that his answer would determine Kasadia’s future stance.

"The self is a ’narrative’." Su Ming’an stated calmly, his gaze clear, "It’s a story humans tell about themselves, a fragment humans identify with."

The colorful liquid suddenly coalesced into form, Kasadia’s mask fell away, revealing a familiar face as beautiful as glass. He could have always used divine power to transform back into his original form, but he never had—

only at this moment.

Those bright silver eyes, finally devoid of ridiculous laughter, instead quietly and calmly gazed at this long-separated "brother".

"Then, if memories are altered, if bodies are replaced, if souls are divided, what then?"

"As long as the narrative continues, the self still exists." Su Ming’an looked at the colors merging and separating, "Memories don’t need to be complete, only formative; bodies don’t need to be original, only carriers; souls don’t need to be eternal, only brilliant."

"Then, if there are a group of ’Awakeners’, keeping memories in the universe’s reincarnation, arbitrarily altering others’ narratives—what kind of storytellers do they become?"

"They become tyrants." Su Ming’an’s voice was calm and clear, "Posing as prophets, altering others’ narratives, they turn living people into puppets in a story."

"Awakeners might think they are doing good." Kasadia’s voice carried a sarcastic tone, "Avoiding wars, eliminating pain, killing everyone on the wrong path, creating a ’more perfect’ future."

"’Perfection’ defined by whom?" Su Ming’an countered, "Is the only golden path the correct one? If you go the wrong way, should you be destroyed? Through pain, humans affirm existence; through betrayal, humans define loyalty; through loss, humans understand value. Even if I know I may have been influenced, my choices still belong to me, my pain still belongs to me. Even if my narrative is influenced by higher-dimensional Awakeners, I still insist on my right to tell my story."

"Therefore, ’self’ is a narrative resistance that never surrenders narrating rights, a life that doesn’t need anyone’s approval or criticism."

"Su Liujin’s confusion is that he tries to find a pure beginning, an untainted self. But such a starting point doesn’t exist for him. I think, without needing me to say, he can understand that identity is a temporary identification with a certain narrative, a crystallization of a self as fluid as a stream. It’s like marking off a section of a river and calling it ’my river’, yet it always flows and never stops. No one ever steps into the same river twice."

"Therefore, if my ’river’ is constantly changing, constantly mingling with others’ silt and stones, I won’t try to find a permanently fixed river, because water never stops flowing. I won’t seek an unchanging essence, won’t try to stop the river to remove impurities, but will instead straightforwardly plunge into the river, or perhaps... sever the river’s source."

"I won’t repeatedly ask ’Who am I’."

He lifted his head, calmly gazing back into those bright silver eyes,

"But will answer—"

"’What kind of person do I want to become’."

The young man, whose mask had fallen away, revealed a smile at this moment.

Not a wild laugh, not a mad guffaw, but a faint smile, as if it’s from the heart.

But quickly, the mask covered that fleeting smile, the demon flowing with colorful liquid laughed heartily and retreated as if the previous closeness had never existed:

"Alright! Alright! You’ve made the Shitposter Demon very happy, the Shitposter Demon will send you on your way!"

Meanwhile, Su Ming’an was also considering his attitude towards Su Liujin.

In the end, he made a decision.

No matter what, to regard Su Liujin as just Su Liujin.

The Little King is not him, the white stone is not him, the world is not him either.

Only the impression in his mind, the familiar Emperor Liu Jin. Nothing can erase this, nothing can change it.

He walked forward, and the figures of the young passed by him one by one.

After making the decision, he seemed to hear the sound of their final goodbye.

"Servant Four!" Rin Clan brother’s voice.

"Nightingale." White stone’s voice.

"Number One Player." 001’s voice.

"Su Ming’an." The boy in the sea’s voice.

"Friend of the Emperor!" War God Dragon King’s narration voice.

Finally, the Little King’s voice.

"Lighthouse Sect Leader."

"Goodbye."

Su Ming’an turned his head—

Those figures dissipated one by one, turning into dancing light spots, melting snowflakes, scattering feathers, disappearing into pure white space.

As if disappearing onto paper, becoming silent fragments, flying outside the paper.

And today I finally realized... I am me.

And Su Ming’an wants to tell that boy, he will be the certain future.

After certainty, there will be a new world filled with flowers, flowing with rivers and warm winds.

...

Kasadia recounted later events.

There is a crack on the surface of Luowasha, called a crack but more like a mirror, known as the "double slit".

Although Kasadia forcibly fused the Double Stars, most humans only stayed in the area "outside the double slit", they came up with a solution—using data! Because living beings can’t pass through the "double slit", but data can.

So, they copied the data and threw it into the "double slit", when the light of the Constant Star shines down, "outside the double slit" is the original people, "inside the double slit" are the copied data entities.

The former, henceforth called the "dark side", the latter, henceforth called the "light side".

As for the 2021 versions of Xiao Su, Xiao Nuo, and others, they were born during this period. They were a batch of images copied by Hui Bai and others from the original Zhai Star people’s data. After a long time, they were used by the Disciple Game, really creating a knockoff world tour.

Therefore, Xiao Su and others are the 2021 version. Because when Hui Bai and others entered Luowasha, it was 2021.

"Alright! Then, looking forward to a more splendid and entertaining performance from you..." The Shitposter Demon said and was about to exit.

Suddenly, Su Ming’an said:

"Kasadia... is already dead, isn’t it."

The Shitposter Demon paused.

Su Ming’an raised his head calmly, "Your soul can’t support for so long, even if it has been strengthened."

In the pure white space, the arrogant demon was silent for a moment.

"Ah hahaha—hahahahahaha!" Subsequently, the joyful laughter echoed through the space.

"The great Kasadia! The joyful words jumping on people’s lips! How could it die so easily! You really presented me with the funniest joke I’ve heard lately—! Hahahahaha—!"

"Is that so, then I would like to ask you." Su Ming’an gently said, "In the anime Akame ga Kill!, how many in the protagonist’s group survived in the end?"

Kasadia fell silent for a moment.

"In the second part of Sword Art Online, what’s the name of the girl with the gun?" Su Ming’an asked.

The pure white space was silent.

"In the anime Carnival Phantasm, why does Lancer often die?" Su Ming’an asked.

You could hear a pin drop.

"Kasadia." Su Ming’an looked up, "Even if time has passed, and you forgot those stories, as a veteran anime fan, when people like us arrived, you would revisit those things you once loved. With your perception, even a few seconds would be enough to recall those stories. Yet, you didn’t even spend a few seconds."

"Either your temperament has changed drastically, and you truly don’t love it anymore. Or, you...are no longer that young person."

Hahaha, hahahaha—

Laughter rang in his ears again, the demon laughed hysterically, as if this was the biggest joke ever.

Su Ming’an shook his head: "Just as you asked me earlier, what exactly is ’self’? I think you might be confused too. After all, your true identity—"

He paused and said softly,

"—is an incarnation summoned by my equipment."

...

[Poison Wine Skirt of the Shitposter Demon: "Who let him be reborn time and again, and taste the pain of death? —But apart from that heart, what else does he have to repay with?"]

[Physical Defense: 20]

[Spiritual Defense: 20]

[Equipment Requirement: White hair]

[Special Skill (Long Joy Here): Summon the Shitposter Demon and have it grant you one wish. For each wish granted, the Shitposter Demon will take one thing from you as its amusement. When you become a boring person, quickly pass the equipment to the next person, or you will become the "Shitposter Demon" itself :)]

...

Long Joy Here.

Kasadia persisted beneath the World Tree for a long time, until one day, he knew descendants were coming, and his own soul was worn out and about to vanish. To welcome Su Ming’an, he offered this equipment to other civilizations.

So, Su Ming’an received this skirt before the eleventh instance started.

Afterward, Kasadia was no longer there.

And the first time Su Ming’an used the "Poison Wine Skirt of the Shitposter Demon," he summoned Kasadia’s incarnation. This incarnation instantly inherited everything of Kasadia and, according to the contract, continued to be the loyal believer of the second seat. He was almost identical to the original Kasadia, but the only difference... was that this incarnation was only the Shitposter Demon, without Kasadia’s experiences before becoming the Shitposter Demon.

In other words, he was not an anime fan.

Thus, Su Ming’an thought of this layer and tested it to uncover the answer.

...

[The moment he put it into the equipment slot, Su Ming’an suddenly felt his hair stand on end, as if something was gently blowing on him.]

["Shitposter Demon, is that you?" he asked.]

[No response.]

...

So, that breath... was the sound of Kasadia’s incarnation awakening.

To ensure the skirt ended up in Su Ming’an’s hands, Kasadia even contacted Dieying in advance, let Dieying possess Little A’ba, and remind Su Ming’an at the auction that he must bid for it. The real Kasadia was no longer there, and this incarnation would disappear once everything ended, because the hatred toward Kasadia, the human traitor, would gradually be forgotten after humanity won. Thus, he consolidated his strength into a divinity and carelessly tossed it, which unexpectedly ended up with Lü Shu—Kasadia wanted to find an heir.

Joy and Pleasure... these are such positive words, yet because Kasadia needed the hatred, it led to completely opposite emotions.

And the world was saved, needing only "amusement" and no longer requiring "demons."

From now on, the heir would not need to continue being a joyous and pleasurable "demon." Without the need for hatred, the heir could simply be the master of "joy and pleasure."

Su Ming’an looked at the beautiful long skirt in the equipment slot, filled with endless joy and laughter.

That old dream took away not just the Little King, Hui Bai, Antetolia, Mu Changying...

But also a young man as strong and vibrant as green grass, as bright and cheerful as the blue sky.

...

The past cannot be chased.

Old friends cannot return.

I wonder, did anyone help that young man delete his hard drive in the end?

In his long years as a demon, did he ever dream of being an anime full of rainbow bubbles?

...

"Haha, hahahaha—!"

"Brother! Did you see it?"

"This is the most brilliant, most dazzling, most grand ’lie’ with which we’ve deceived the entire world!!!"

...

The pure white space melted away, and Su Ming’an opened his eyes.

He finally awoke from the complex dream, returning to the world, as if it had been a lifetime.

Before him was a young man with white hair and golden eyes. The young man touched Su Ming’an’s forehead, and upon seeing him awake, exclaimed joyfully:

"You’re awake!"

Su Ming’an’s vision was blurry. Had he met the awakened Su Liujin as soon as he woke up? This was wonderful...

"Servant number four! You’re awake!"

The next words instantly made Su Ming’an realize that before him was the Rin Clan’s younger brother.

He looked around, adjusting his vision. He remembered he was in the World Lord’s Palace, in the room that Hui Chi had prepared for him before he slept; why was he now in the Rin Clan’s younger brother’s Experimental City?

"Awake?" A seemingly indifferent voice came from the window. A red-haired young man sat at the windowsill with his arms crossed.

"I sensed the aura of causality... the dream you just had should have truly changed some causality. I suspect some interactions between the Shitposter Demon and Dieying assisted you somewhat; it was not just a simple dream; you indeed changed some things." Su Rin said flatly,

"Lü Shu and others contacted the ’Nest Master,’ a masked purple-haired girl, with Pudding standing behind her. Behind the World Lord’s Palace is Lü God."

"Pudding and Lü God are about to have a showdown."

...