first player

Interlude 1552: "After Shaking Hands with Noel (Part 2)"

"Little Su Ming'an" is dressed in a high school uniform, as if standing on the other side, looking at Su Ming'an.

"Are you my future self?"

"……Um."

How will my future self fare?

Su Ming'an thought for a moment and said, "You should still save people as before. You have saved many grateful and kind people, as well as many ungrateful and wicked people."

"The fire in your heart is burning you, causing you extreme pain, but even so, it continues to burn without stopping."

"You regretted it at first, but in the end you didn't regret it."

"You've reached an ending that wasn't perfect, but it's still a good one. There's just a little bit of regret in my heart."

"However, this is good, this is fine too."

After listening, the boy nodded slightly.

Su Ming'an looked around and realized that Wu Yi was gone. In the pale void, only he and Xiao Ming'an remained.

A system interface appears:
Please complete the task: "Make 'Xiao Ming'an' become 'Su Ming'an'"

[Task: Please guide Xiaoming along the exact same path you have walked in your life, witnessing his ultimate fate. Finally, ask him one question:]

"—Do you accept this ending?"

……

What kind of mission is this?
Su Ming'an frowned, and the boy looked at him calmly.

"Well, it seems that it won't end until the mission is completed..." Su Ming'an sighed.

The training has begun.

Time passed quickly in Su Ming'an's perception, like a thousand years in the tenth world. In the blink of an eye, Xiao Ming'an grew taller, and in the scene, he stepped into university.

A month later, a turning point in his life occurred.

The game began. When Xiao Ming'an walked towards the third floor of the Central Hospital, Su Ming'an hesitated for a moment. As if by telepathy, Xiao Ming'an did not go up to the third floor.

Subsequently, Aini achieved a perfect clear first.

……

If the training fails, please start over.

……

Xiao Ming'an disappeared, and a new Xiao Ming'an stepped out of the screen, calmly gazing at Su Ming'an.

Su Ming'an remained silent for a while, then began training again.

However, because of Su Ming'an's momentary hesitation or soft heart, Xiao Ming'an always goes in the wrong direction. If he deviates even an inch, Xiao Ming'an will disappear.

Just before Xiao Ming'an finally reached the eleventh world, he sat on the bed, gently raised his head, and looked in Su Ming'an's direction.

"...I can't hold on much longer," Xiaoming said. "Do I have to follow your pace?"

Su Ming'an hesitated for a moment, then said, "Yes." If you don't follow my lead, you will disappear.

Xiao Ming was silent for a moment, then nodded.

He picked up a crystal piano, one of the few things he had strayed from Su Ming'an's. Su Ming'an didn't have a crystal piano in his personal space, but Xiao Ming'an bought one for himself.

He gazed quietly at the crystal piano and gently kissed it.

At the end of the eleventh instance, Xiaoming stood under the World Tree.

Facing the scythe thrusting at him by Norl, he closed his eyes, made no move to defend, and was about to stab to the right—

Suddenly, he opened his eyes, and two lines of tears streamed down his face:
"I don't want to... I don't want to die, I don't want to become a tree..."

"clang!"

His sword blocked Noel's scythe.

Under Su Ming'an's shocked gaze, Xiao Ming launched a full-scale attack, risking serious injury, and used emotional resonance to pierce Noel's body with the sword of words.

In the silent white torrent, Xiao Ming'an looked in Su Ming'an's direction, tears streaming down his face as he smiled:
"You don't want to die, right?"

"You resist this predictable ending."

"If that's the case, 'farmer,' why are you forcing me towards this ending of the story..."

His figure gradually disappeared.

A new Xiao Ming'an appeared, calmly gazing at Su Ming'an.

Su Ming'an stood quietly in place.

"Do you understand now?" Wu Yi appeared at that moment: "This is the arrogance of the 'farmer'."

What you just saw, seemingly a memory, was actually a blank slate of a simulated person experiencing everything you've ever been through. This is what we commonly refer to as 'implanting a persona'.

Su Ming'an said slowly, "At this moment, compared to him, we are like 'farmers' and 'turkeys'."

“That’s right,” Wu Yi said. “You can guide the direction of his life, you can change his future, you are the ‘farm owner’.”

Have you ever heard of IF lines?

"For example, in an IF scenario where the world game doesn't happen, what would you be like? A powerless, ordinary person who can't even save a homeless person under a bridge."

"But in the IF where the world game arrives, you can unleash a brilliance that shakes the entire world and even the universe."

"Sometimes, even 'farmers' can only watch helplessly as their 'turkeys,' which should have been shining brightly, end up going down the path of mediocrity. For example, a child who could have won a Nobel Prize ends up getting married and having children in the mountains due to a lack of early education. A child who could have solved the world's problems has his brain damaged by a truck when he is young."

"Therefore, the IF line has no limits. You can become the World Tree, you can sink into dreams..."

"But aren't these endings... still IF scenarios?"

“As long as it is ‘observed,’ it remains an IF line, not true freedom.”

"To these children, we are like 'farmers' to 'turkeys.' And to us, the 'awakened ones' are like 'farmers' to 'turkeys.'"

“Those guys, taking advantage of the fact that we can retain some fragmented memories, arbitrarily change things, and even interfere with our ‘persona’…”

"Think about it, what if your family was originally happy and harmonious, but there was a 'sane person' who retained some memories from the past. He remembered that you were once very successful, so when you were a child, he deliberately posted a lot of negative comments about your mother online, causing your mother to suffer from depression... From then on, your family was broken up."

"So, isn't this what they call 'a character design changed by a sober person'?"

"What's even more terrifying is that those guys have learned to stick together. Even if each conscious person can only retain a little bit of memory, once they stick together and share their memories... how many memories can they actually retain in total?"

"So you mean to kill the conscious ones?" Su Ming'an said.

“That’s not entirely true,” Wu Yi said. “There are bad people and good people. The clear-headed can prevent the universe from becoming stagnant, like catfish in flowing water.”

"Then how are you going to treat them?" Su Ming'an asked.

Wu Yi smiled and looked at you:

"This time, there's probably no chance; the outcome is already decided."

"Try it next time."

Su Ming'an was silent for a moment, then said, "Since there's no chance this time, what are you doing here?"

"This is the end for you, but for many, life is still long." Wu Yi shrugged. "I'm about to hold a ceremony, want to join me?"

“Okay,” Su Ming’an agreed.

……

"Phew..." Isa blew on the painting, and she finally finished painting her lover's face.

Her lover was handsome and had a pair of gentle and affectionate eyes.

At this moment, a tall, blond young man walked in: "Su Ming'an and Noel went to chase after the castle owner. I've come to get the painting."

“Okay.” Isa handed him the painting.

Hui Bai glanced at the person in the painting and froze.

After a long silence, he looked at Isa and suddenly asked, "What is your full name? This isn't your full name, is it?"

"Isabel," said the beautiful Princess Isabel.
"My name is Isabelle."

……

"clang--!"

A bell rang, and everyone gathered in the banquet hall.

At this point, only Hui Bai, Antetria, Black, Edith, and Ying Su remained.

Wu Yi appeared in the banquet hall carrying the corpse, jumped onto a seat, and waved his hand: "Alright! Then I declare the MVP of this game to be you, Su Ming'an. As a demon, you've killed quite a few people!"

"Where did Noel go?" Ying Su asked.

"Anyway! Now let's get to the main event—you guys wait a minute." Wu Yi completely ignored them, placed the corpse in his arms in the center of the hall, and took out a pen.

“That must be his lover,” Blake said.

“Everyone says that. But we might be wrong. Not all feelings are love,” Edith said.

Wuyi raised the pen high, the tip scribbling intricate patterns, aiming at the corpse's heart.

He lowered his eyelids and whispered in the corpse's ear:

"elder sister."

"We've been apart for so long, we can finally meet again..."

The pen tip pierced the corpse, but no blood flowed out. Instead, the bright red lines from the pen tip seeped into the corpse's body. Gradually, the pale corpse regained its color, the withered limbs became fuller, and the girl slowly opened her eyes.

She rubbed her sleepy eyes and called out, "Wingless?"

Wuyi hugged her.

He lowered his head and murmured incessantly:
"It's me, I'm right here."

"There will never be knights who disregard human life again; I have brought the bad guys to justice. There will never be slums where people go hungry and cold again; I have saved many children..."

"But sister, do you know? The slums are gone. They've been replaced by skyscrapers. It's been so long."

"Even though my life was written in a whim by that bastard, even if it's a lie, I still love you, sister. That's the whole meaning of my struggle all this time..."

"Life is fake, the past is fake, memories are fake, but my love is real."

"You..." the girl looked at him, "What have you been through?"

Although she was still unclear about the situation, judging from Wuyi's expression, a lot must have happened.

Wuyi looked at the crowd, then back at them, and said:

"Of the three Rovasa remasters I remember, the first time, I participated in the zeroth Disciple Game, trying to find a way to bring you back to life, but I was too useless and died in the gas level. Before I died, all I could do was put on your old clothes..."

"The second time, I met Su Ming'an, the protagonist of the second Disciple Game. At first, I thought he was the enemy who killed you. I finally met him, but he was different from what I thought, so I hesitated and didn't attack him..."

"The third time, after many twists and turns, I finally connected with the Wheel of Fate. This ancient castle is a stronghold isolated from the outside world. Here, those people can no longer alter our destiny, and I have finally resurrected you..."

Su Ming'an stood behind the curtain and heard everything clearly. All his doubts were resolved.

—This is not the fourteenth instance of the first world game; it is still the eleventh instance of the four hundred millionth world game, Rovasa.

This is a story written without wings.

The story is a replica of the fourteenth instance of the first world game. Hui Bai, Antetria, Ying Su, and others are all clones created without wings.

Wu Yi got involved with the Wheel of Fortune, so some people from the Wheel of Fortune wrote this story with him, including Isa, White Tombstone, and others.

Su Ming'an remembered that when he participated in the second Disciple Game, he and Qianqin encountered a skeleton in the poison gas level. The skeleton was wearing women's clothes, and Su Ming'an did not look closely and thought it was a female skeleton.

In reality, it wasn't a woman, but a wingless individual who died under poison gas while wearing his sister's old clothes. That was his first death, during the Zero Disciple Game.

……

Su Ming'an groped his way forward and found a skeleton lying on the ground, mostly buried in the soil. Only a few scraps of cloth remaining on the skeleton indicated it was a woman's garment. There was a red knot on the skeleton's wrist, resembling a woman's hair tie.

"I'm sorry for the offense," Su Ming'an thought to himself.

……

After his death, Wu Yi thought he had finally found relief, but he was not spared and was written about again.

He wanted revenge and had been searching for the person who created him. He ended up finding Su Ming'an, who had just entered the eleventh instance. He sensed Oliver's presence on Su Ming'an. However, he felt that Su Ming'an was too kind, so he didn't take action.

Later, in order to revive his sister, he climbed the ranks and finally became the ninth divine messenger, only to be assassinated by Lu Shu who usurped the throne.

I thought I'd finally lost the chance, but then he was written about again.

He felt a mixture of despair and amusement—why bring me back to life? Did they really like my character that much? Should I thank that person for their blessing, or should I hate them for not letting me go?! To be unable to find peace even in death, never truly dead—how agonizing is that?

Fortunately, he still had something he needed to do: his sister…

After his third resurrection, he connected with the Wheel of Fate, went through many hardships to reach this place, and created the story of "the fourteenth instance of the first world game," trying all sorts of experiments to resurrect his sister.

At that moment, he finally succeeded.

As for the "farmers" in the sky, they are his companions from "The Wheel of Fortune," who created this story with him.

The "leader" that Isa spoke of, Wu Yi, was actually in cahoots with her lover. She was never considered a true member of the Wheel of Fortune, because she was merely a character they created.

He claims to be breaking the "wheel of fate," yet he is also manipulating the fates of others.

They are the "farmers" who orchestrate everything, and also the "turkeys" living in their own story.

At that moment, Su Ming'an heard Noel's voice:

……

The real way to cut off the "farmer's" observation is to create your own story and become your own "farmer."

If you can control yourself, no one else can control you.

……

This was the second time Noel had spoken.

Su Ming'an had a vague idea that Noel was hinting at something to him.

“How interesting…” At that moment, a blue-haired man wearing a dark purple scarf slowly walked over; it was Lu Licarbos.

"Huh? There are only five survivors left, how are you still alive?" Su Ming'an turned his head.

“Ah, because I’m not a participant in this ‘dungeon’ like you.” Lu blinked gently. “We’re both outsiders, Su Ming’an.”

He called out Su Ming'an's identity.

After the final battle beneath the World Tree began, Lu Licalpos wanted to go and provide support, but he soon discovered that the World Tree had been sealed off and he could not enter.

He certainly wouldn't sit idly by and wait for his doom. After the final snow fell, he decided to go and check out an underwater ruin he had previously explored. He believed that the Rovasa civilization still had much to offer, but he wouldn't have ventured into such a completely unknown place unless he was desperate.

The moment the final snow fell, Lu leaped into the underwater ruins and saw this story written without wings.

“I’ve heard about Wu Yi’s experiences, so I went to the original site of the slum to take a look…” Lu shrugged: “Unfortunately, there was never any slum there, only high-rise buildings. And nobody has ever heard of Wu Yi and his sister living there.”

Su Ming'an was taken aback.

Wu Yi was also taken aback for a moment, but quickly retorted in an unquestionable manner: "Nonsense! We live in the slums. I have many brothers and sisters. My sister makes a living by sewing, and she sewed many clothes for us. I clearly remember that it was a rainy day when a group of wanton knights killed her!"

“Hmm… so I also investigated the Knight’s situation… and there is indeed no record of him killing your sister.” Lu shrugged.

"They deliberately altered it! Who would write down a record of killing civilians!" Wu Yi roared. "If my sister really didn't exist, where did that old coat I'm wearing come from? Where did the red string on my wrist come from?!"

“So, I think it’s quite a coincidence.” Lu stroked his chin and took out a piece of red string: “This is a piece of jewelry I bought at a jewelry store near that place, two Sal coins a string… It seems to be the same as the one on your wrist, but you said it was hand-woven by your sister.”

Then, he took out a piece of clothing:
“This is a dress I bought at a nearby clothing store… Hmm, it seems to be exactly the same as the ‘dress your sister sewed by hand’ you mentioned…”

Wuyi remained silent.

Su Ming'an was also stunned. It seemed that while he was busy, his teammates were not idle either.

Wuyi lowered his head and chuckled hoarsely a few times.

The girl beside her was clever; she gently shook Wuyi's hand: "Wuyi, I..."

“You really are, sister.” Wu Yi interrupted her, his expression calm:
"Blue Hair, I vaguely understand why you were able to buy the same red rope and clothes nearby. It must be that when that person was writing about me, they happened to see such red rope and clothes, so they directly copied them into my character design."

"Heh... So, as expected, everything in my past was a 'setup,' a lie."

“My sister doesn’t exist, there are no slums, there are no years spent with children in the cold winter. I was just born into the world carrying these memories, like Isa.”

"My past, my memories, are all empty illusions forced upon me."

"My life was a broken line, and it wasn't until the moment I opened my eyes on the street that my life began like a baby's."

"but."

He raised his head:

"so what?"

"She exists in my memory, even though I've never actually spent time with her, and my sister doesn't exist in reality—as long as I remember her, she exists!"

“Su Ming’an, if I told you that the ‘Uncle Zhao’ in your memory never existed, that you never actually met such a kind person—that you just couldn’t accept your father’s death and your mother’s admission to a mental hospital, so you imagined an ‘Uncle Zhao’, would you believe me?”

"I don't believe it," Su Ming'an shook his head firmly. Uncle Zhao must exist.

Even though he later moved to a new place and never went back, he still believed that his past was not wrong.

“Then I also believe that my sister must exist!” Wu Yi gripped his sister’s hand tightly and curled his lips into a smile: “Even if I never found the slum from my childhood, even if the clothes I treasured... were just ordinary clothes worn by everyone else!”

"Even if what I've been passionately chasing my whole life is just a phantom of an older sister, a virtual character conjured up in my hazy memories, who says a person can't chase after a phantom that doesn't even exist?"

"Does it have to be true? Is falsehood evil?"

Is the world fake? Is love fake?

"Are the stories told through words fake? Are the love, joy, sorrow, and hate evoked after reading them fake? Is the profound empathy and thought-provoking experience people have after encountering a story fake?"

"If you believe it, then it is true."

“Su Ming’an, didn’t I tell you before that I wanted you to prove ‘goodness’ to me?”

"You have proven to me that someone like you, who so readily deceives NPCs' feelings, is actually willing to become the World Tree, sacrificing your own future and life."

"The blue-haired guy next to you also proves that even though he is already a Sea Emperor and a second-level god with a bright future, he is willing to jump into the unknown underwater ruins for the sake of humanity to obtain more information."

"These guys in the audience prove that even though they are top ten players, beings revered by humanity, they are still willing to go to space for humanity, have their memories cut, and step onto completely unfamiliar planets."

"And I can do anything to chase after the fleeting illusions of my childhood."

"All three phases of my life existed for her."

"'Goodness' needs no further explanation; I have already seen it."

"It makes a lot more sense to me than you would deliberately save a few people in the discipleship game."

"So—Su Ming'an."

Wu Yi pointed at Su Ming'an, raised an eyebrow, and revealed the same smile he had shown when they first met:
“I can repay the life-saving grace I received back then. I said then that you saved me and I would follow you.”

"Since you have proven your 'goodness' to me as promised, then I will reciprocate with sincerity."

“I have resurrected my sister and am about to complete my final task—to take revenge on the one who created this falsehood. I invite you to witness this revenge.”

"You mean Si Que?" Su Ming'an asked slowly. According to the story he read in the Disciple Game, it was Si Que who wrote the Wingless.

“No.” Wu Yi shook his head: “It is the one who is truly manipulating Rovasa behind the scenes—the ‘Lord of Dreams’ (the leader who gathers all the awakened ones). I am about to launch a final battle against him, and you will witness it from the sidelines! I will not force you to join, after all, your ending is already quite secure.”

...The Lord of Dreams isn't Si Que? Was the previous information wrong? Su Ming'an raised his head.

Wu Yi coughed and looked at Lu:
"I have only one request, you blue-haired... cough! Blue-haired gentleman, I beg you to take my sister away and take her to Eden... or the New World! I have no expectations for my own fate, but she needs a brand new future."

"She was also a victim, the embodiment of my pursuit of that fleeting phantom of 'sister'... Heh, I'm no different from that bastard, but I'm content. I won't interfere with her life. She's free, and she can erase the memories I left behind."

He stepped down from the luxurious seat, down the red-carpeted steps, and toward the magnificent golden dining table.

“I have four more questions,” Su Ming’an said, following behind.

"Speak." Wu Yi wiped his hands clean and walked to the dining table—the plate with the purple-haired human figure on it.

He took out a gleaming silver dagger and, with a "whoosh," pierced the scarlet apple stuffed inside his body.

The fruit juice, like crimson blood, flowed down the tablecloth, forming a magic circle.

"Who is Su Liujin, the WARNING-001 I met?" Su Ming'an asked.

“He is one of the ‘Awake Ones,’ but because he is ‘the World’ itself, he won’t act recklessly even though he retains fragmented memories,” Wu Yi said. “I invited him to be the BOSS in the story, and he thought it would be fun and agreed. He said he likes to play the ghost.”

The fruit juice dripped and flowed, making a sound like rain.

The magic circle formed, emitting a crimson light that shone directly onto the dome.

"The third to last question," Su Ming'an said, "The booklet I found in your room, 'The Survival Guide for Humans,' was written for yourselves, wasn't it?"

“That’s right.” Wu Yi watched the crimson mist rise from the magic circle: “Even if you are your own ‘farm owner,’ you still have to abide by some universal laws. For example, you can’t do anything unhealthy below the neck in front of the protagonist whose narrative anchor point you’re in, you can’t swear or talk about sensitive topics in front of them, you can’t do anything too bloody or violent, and you can’t have physical contact or be a romantic partner. Because the universe doesn’t allow protagonists whose narrative anchor point you’re in to be romantic partners… I don’t know who changed this rule.”

"These are universal laws?" Su Ming'an frowned. What kind of nonsense rules are these?

What will happen if I break the rules?

“It will be erased,” Wu Yi said. “It will be erased by a white eraser and will never be visible.”

……

"God! If all established scientific laws have been erased, if everything we understand is based solely on one person's common sense and values," Su Jingtang exclaimed, opening his arms wide with laughter.

"Our fate could be changed if they wanted to."

【"So."】

He turned around and slowly looked at you.

【…】

【"you say."】

"Shouldn't we kill 'them'?"

Suddenly, the sky turned pure white.

Something white and square pressed down, pressing down on the vines.

Upon contact with that thing, Su Jingtang's body shattered, turning into swirling snowflakes. Next came Blake, who then pressed down from behind…

……

That death truly felt like it was erased by an eraser... So, those absurd rules that Wu Yi mentioned are actually the same kind of cosmic rules as the Hubble Law, Kepler's Law, and the Law of Entropy Increase.

After all, these universal laws are inherently real and utterly irrational.

With a "whoosh," Wu Yi drew a slender, silver-purple sword and walked towards the magic circle.

"The second to last question," Su Ming'an said, "Who exactly is Bai Qiu?"

“Ah, you mean the leader of the Wheel of Fortune,” said the Wingless One.

"Isn't the leader Huimo?"

"No. In a very distant time, a person named 'Bai Qiu' led the Wheel of Destiny, and Hui Mo was his follower. Bai Qiu was an alias of the Supreme Lord."

"Bai Qiu is an alias of the Supreme Lord?" Su Ming'an asked in surprise. "The Supreme Lord has many aliases?"

Oh no, could it be that many of the people he's met are actually backed by this black-hearted goat?

"It's not as scary as you think. Look over there," Wu Yi said.

Su Ming'an turned his head and saw a full-length mirror to the side, reflecting his image.

For a fleeting moment, the mirror flickered, and he transformed into a white-haired, green-eyed youth, then into a yellow-eyed youth, then into a child, an old man, and a woman…

Finally, he transformed into a hamster with bright red eyes, silently staring at the mirror.

"Are all these appearances disguises of the Supreme Lord?"

"Have you heard of 'Strange Tales of Rules'?" Wu Yi turned his head to look at him and suddenly brought it up.

“I’ve heard of it,” Su Ming’an said.

"Hmm. But my version might be different from yours. What I understand is that many ghost stories live on campus, and many innocent people wander in by mistake. Some of these ghosts disguise themselves as staff, deliberately leading people to break dangerous rules, causing them to get lost and die," Wu Yi said.

"At this time, a 'dean' appeared. He was someone who had escaped from the school and knew all the safety rules. In order to protect the innocent people who kept straying in, he posted safety rules all over the campus, covering up the dangerous rules. So, the problem of conflicting rules arose. For example, according to some rules, the auditorium was safe, but according to other rules, the auditorium was dangerous."

"He kept going in and out of the campus, testing new rules and helping more people escape."

"Even though he had already escaped, he kept venturing into dangerous places, returning to that nightmarish campus, risking his life to help those who had not yet escaped."

“Li Mingyue…” Su Ming’an suddenly said.

The "academy head" that Wu Yi mentioned did something very similar to what Li Mingyue did in the old world. Back then, in order to summarize the "Rulesbook," Li Mingyue repeatedly used talismans to test the rules with his own body... In the end, he summarized a whole thousand rules of instant death from the old world to protect people.

“Oh, I know who you’re talking about,” Wu Yi said. “Li Mingyue’s position in the old world is just like… Bai Qiu’s position in Rovasa.”

"However, Bai Qiu was testing the rules that had been altered by the sober ones."

"He cloned many hamsters, named 'Red Snow'. Because he only had one life, he would possess the hamsters to test the rules... Well, at times like this, we shouldn't dwell on animal rights issues. In my opinion, human life is definitely above animal life. We are such a selfish race."

"But selfish races can do selfless things for their own kind."

"The dead hamsters piled up like mountains. He endured the pain of death time and time again, and discovered more and more rules that had been altered by the sane ones. Finally, he followed the clues..."

His wingless hand gradually clenched, and he smiled.
"—We found the dream where the conscious ones gathered."

"It was the Lord of Dreams who gathered these guys in the universe; otherwise, they would just be scattered soybeans, and even if they retained some fragmented memories, they wouldn't be able to change anything. They are like a lone tree that cannot support a forest."

"After Bai Qiu left behind the rules he had summarized, he disappeared."

"Huimo took over his responsibilities and gradually pointed the spearhead of the wheel of fate at the World Tree. However, interestingly, Huimo also disappeared after your arrival, as if it were a kind of inheritance."

Su Ming'an thought for a moment: "I originally thought the Supreme Lord was a fanatical update chaser who even created the cruel and bloody disciple game for amusement. I never expected him to transform into Bai Qiu to do good deeds?"

"Are you misunderstanding something?" Wu Yi laughed.
……

"—Do you believe there is only one Supreme Lord?"

……

what?
Su Ming'an looked at Wuyi.

“I have read the books left behind by the Wheel of Fortune. They record that each time the Supreme Lord leaves a message, He appears in a different form and with a different personality. I believe… He is not a single consciousness, but a combination of countless consciousnesses,” said Wu Yi.

……

Su Ming'an frowned as he looked at the clue panel.

He discovered that the Supreme Being was a beautiful female human. Before that, he had discovered that the Supreme Being was an ordinary-looking male human.

First, there was an ordinary-looking man, then a beautiful woman, and finally a somewhat ugly old man. Could the supreme ruler be Hydra?

……

"So, the reason He likes to follow updates is actually because countless people like to follow updates, and their consciousness has come together to form Him?" Su Ming'an said half-jokingly.

“That’s right.” Wuyi nodded: “The desire of countless people to observe formed Him as a higher-dimensional life form.”

"Bai Qiu is just one of them."

“Among these people, some support those who are clear-headed and others oppose them, thus dividing them into the ‘coastal defenders’ and the ‘maritime affairs’ faction.”

"They are 'Bai Qiu' and also 'Bai Qiu's sister'; they are the 'academy headmaster' who frequently enters and exits to protect the world, and also the 'strange tales' that create danger; they are 'farmers' and also 'turkeys'; they are 'no longer satisfied with reading and have ventured into the story', and also 'they are unwilling to interfere with the story and only want to observe from afar'; they are 'the wheel of fate' and also 'the wheel of anti-fate'."

"Therefore, in your impression, the actions of the Most High Lord must have been inconsistent, because His own consciousness was fighting back and forth."

"—Some people want your story to end, and hope that you find peace and happiness."

"—Some people want to keep observing, wanting to see you continue to struggle."

"—There are also people who feel that your current fate is not good enough for you, and they want to help you try again to return to your homeland alive. Therefore, the Supreme Lord's attitude towards you changes."

"Didn't He give you a ruby ​​that was said to be 'transcending everything' before?"

"That ruby ​​was something Bai Qiu smuggled from the Awakened One. Possessing this gem allows one to retain fragmented memories from different cosmic cycles, which is what 'stepping outside the story' means."

Su Ming'an looked at himself in the mirror.

He seemed to see countless eyes, countless red snowflakes, countless pupils of various colors—green, yellow, white…

He seemed to see countless figures: beautiful women, ordinary-looking men, and somewhat ugly old people...

Therefore, as Bai Qiu's follower, Hui Mo has been diligently managing the [Wheel of Fate]. Hui Mo's recent disappearance is due to encountering a situation similar to Bai Qiu's—he came across news of the 'Awakened Ones' and thus went to them himself.

"So, Huizhou ink disappeared." Wu Yi shrugged.

"He went, and he even took my clone Ming with him," Su Ming'an couldn't help but say. He finally understood why he hadn't been able to sense his clone Ming; it turned out that Hui Mo had taken him away to deal with the conscious ones.

Hui Mo was indeed domineering; without a word, he forcibly dragged Ming onto the pirate ship. Now, neither of them knew whether they were alive or dead, completely detached from—the story itself.

"Whoosh..."

The light grew brighter and brighter, transforming into a thick, crimson mist that quickly filled the entire empty banquet hall.

Like a boiling sea of ​​blood, wisps of mist rose, swirled, and outlined... gradually forming a huge, heavy, and ethereal dark red cloud.

It was wingless and motionless, like a stone statue rooted in the blood mist.

He slowly raised his hand, holding the gleaming silver sword, stained with fruit juice, like a ritual object, and precisely thrust it towards the center of the eerie red cloud. His gesture was not a challenge, but rather an invitation.

Behind him, figures gradually emerged—his companions from the Wheel of Fate.

"The passage is about to open, and I will face the Lord of Dreams directly." Wu Yi raised his head high.