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Chapter 1556 Final Chapter: Crossing the Sea [35]: "Wild Geese Returning in the Snow".

Su Ming'an thought that Noel would keep up with him until the very end.

To everyone's surprise, after several painful experiences, Noel "surrendered".

"Alright, alright, you can have it." Noel raised his hands: "Since you're going back anyway, why should I stop you?"

After saying that, he slit his throat and said something before he left:

"Remember, don't repeat the same mistakes we've made. Don't force me to send down the final snow ahead of time again."

Noel's decisiveness even stunned Su Ming'an.

He quickly realized that Noel had done so much to stop him in order to break the cycle. Now that Su Ming'an had chosen to turn back, Noel naturally expected him to take a new path. If Su Ming'an hadn't taken these radical actions and still insisted on becoming the organizer, Noel would definitely have fought him to the very end.

"Hey! Brother, why did you give up? What am I going to do?! That's not what we agreed on! You promised to take me to space!" Eurydilora was dumbfounded. She hurriedly waved her hands, but Noel had already passed away peacefully.

In the little world where rose petals flutter, there is only Su Ming'an and the bewildered Yuritilola.

The next moment, Su Ming'an felt that he had taken control of the small world. He glanced at Yuritilora and immediately stabbed her with a knife.

Yuritilora, who shared a soul with Noel, was rapidly weakening. Su Ming'an stabbed her a few times with "Kukuku," taking his revenge with great satisfaction. Before long, Yuritilora also passed away peacefully.

Eurydilora is not dead yet; a part of her soul remains in the World Game. However, Su Ming'an doesn't care whether she lives or dies.

"Bang!" Su Ming'an lay down on the spot and fell asleep immediately. His immediate priority was to enter Noel's dream.

—So, when Hui Bai returned from admiring the flowers, this was the scene that greeted him.

Noel fell to the ground, Yuritilola fell to the ground, and Su Ming'an also fell to the ground, a harmonious scene of the three of them dying together, head to head and foot to foot.

This sight left the tea master stunned, unsure of what to do, as if the world had suddenly changed.

"Hey, what exactly are you guys...?"

"No, Noel, you..."

……

Dreamland.

Su Ming'an opened his eyes.

In the distance stood a scarlet door, carved with flower petals. And he himself looked exactly like Noel.

He moved forward decisively and plunged into the doorway.

—Indeed, this is a dream world where the conscious gather.

Upon arriving here, he saw whales floating in the sky, drooping flowers, streams flowing everywhere, and a group of people walking around, about a dozen people.

"Hmm? The blue hat is here." They seemed to recognize Noel.

"Blue Hat, what came to mind today? But we haven't recalled any more memories yet, so I'm afraid we can't tell you," said a red-haired girl.

Through indirect communication, Su Ming'an understood the communication patterns of the sober individuals.

During the day, they are simply people scattered across different civilizations, each living their own lives. At night, they gather irregularly to share the memories they recall.

Because everyone's memories are fragmented, sometimes only a few, they need to be shared. They store their memories in a type of paper called "dream paper," which is then placed on shelves similar to those in a library for people to access.

The Lord of Dreams set up a trading system where everyone must exchange their unique possessions for the memories of others, such as emotions, abilities, or a precious memory.

Su Ming'an stepped across the rainbow stream, his head covered in stardust, and found Noel's location.

Each person here has a chair and a cabinet as their space—a chair adorned with blue roses and a cabinet carved with raven patterns; that's all Noel has here.

Su Ming'an opened the cabinet, inside were more than a dozen sheets of paper, which should be all the memories Noel had exchanged so far. He sat down, took a deep breath, and unfolded the yellow paper.

"...In a cosmic cycle long ago, Noel began to retain some extremely fragmented memories. It wasn't until his memories reached a certain amount that he was pulled into a dream by the Lord of Dreams one night and became a lucid being."

"...At first, he won't stand against me. In the end, I either ascend to a higher dimension or die, which are basically tragic endings. I've never had a happy ending where I can truly return home... Hmm, just as I expected. As for Noel, he usually heads to the universe. Occasionally, he'll stay behind to watch over Zhai Star for me."

"...Ha, [The Watcher]. So he's come to take my place because I'm gone?"

"...In these cycles, Noel basically does not retain memories until one time, quantitative change leads to qualitative change, and he becomes aware of the existence of the cosmic cycle."

"……Oh."

Su Ming'an flipped through the papers, his brows furrowing slightly.

"...he started to stand against me."

"It must have been him who realized that even if the previous endings were the best, my endings were mostly tragic, and many times Zhai Xing couldn't redeem himself, and everyone was wiped out. Having retained more memories, he began to actively enter and exit the dreams of the lucid ones, actively exchange memories, and actively guide Zhai Xing to complete the world game."

However, in the end...

Noel Agnes discovered that he couldn't convince everyone on his own. In fact, some of his bizarre behavior aroused suspicion and resentment among humans. In some episodes, he even died due to suspicion within his own community.

He realized that he had retained too few memories, and many things were unpredictable. His inadequate command would only lead to more chain reactions and more tragedies.

So he made a crazy decision.

—They've stopped caring about humanity.

Anyway, in the end it's just a cycle, isn't it? The numbers in the universe seem dizzyingly large, but for them, it's still just a "lifetime" of time, no different from anything else.

Finding the truth, learning the secrets of the universe's cycle, and breaking free from the constraints of fate—that is what he needs to do.

He didn't possess Su Ming'an's stubborn sense of moral responsibility; all he cared about was truth and freedom. Since human suspicion had become a shackle on his pursuit of the truth, why linger with it?

Why should a bird care about the jealousy of a fish?
His goal shifted from "finding clues while protecting Zhai Xing" to "finding clues at all costs," since the former was too difficult to accomplish. He couldn't guarantee that becoming a conscious person would be harmless, or how many more times this state could last.

He officially became the villain in the eyes of humanity.

At the same time, because Su Ming'an often stood in the position of humanity's savior, their relationship eventually changed from "close friends who confided in each other" to "sworn enemies with opposing stances".

One guards their homeland, the other gazes at the sky.

One aims to preserve the current peace and tranquility, while the other aims to seek the truth at all costs.

One sees the present as a treasure, the other sees the future as hope.

"...To obtain the truth at all costs, one must become powerful enough to become a god, a higher dimension, an indescribable life form." Su Ming'an read silently.

"...While he was still a weak human, siding with a higher dimension—something that others would consider shameful—was, in Noel's eyes, merely a necessary means to climb the ladder of truth, significantly shortening the time it took him to access higher-level information. He began to contact the Sixth Seat, the Seventh Seat, the Lord of the End of All Things, and the Supreme Lord..."

"...desperately grasping upwards, desperately climbing upwards, desperately enduring blame, desperately rushing towards the universe..."

"...When he betrays us, my fate will certainly be even more tragic, and sometimes I might even perish together with him... Ah, so I really did use my own body as poison to kill him." Su Ming'an saw a page of records, confirming that he had indeed poisoned Noel.

"Most of the time, he still managed to reach the universe, and at all costs, he climbed upwards at an extremely fast speed, even actively devouring the superimposed shadows to strengthen himself, even at the cost of losing a part of himself. Finally, his lifespan became longer and longer each time, and he was able to access the truths of the universe more and more deeply. He recorded all this information in his dreams, in this cabinet."

"Hmm? These cabinets all belong to the Lord of Dreams, which means that the Lord of Dreams can retain memories in different cycles. He is indeed the most terrifying."

"Most of the time, Noel regained a little bit of his memories as a conscious being after the tenth dungeon, which led him to recall a dream, find the cabinet, and learn the information he had accumulated through countless loops. So in our eyes, it was like he suddenly decided to rebel after a flash of inspiration, but in reality, he just remembered what he wanted to do."

“Until recently, with the accumulation of more and more memories in the cabinet and the increasing exposure to cosmic truths and directions of development, he finally found the best path that would lead to complete ‘freedom.’ He called it ‘the most hidden, narrowest, and most untrodden path in the golden forest.’”

"...So, he wanted to guide the world down that path."

"...This path can stop us from repeating the same tragedy, prevent us from following our predetermined fate, and prevent us from becoming puppets of destiny."

"...So, when I head in the wrong direction that has already happened, leading to a tragic end, he will go to great lengths to stop me, even to kill me outright..."

"Ha, does this person think they're a magical girl? They just presume to save me from the 'before I've reached the wrong end'?"

"However, I can understand his thinking. If it were me..."

"...I don't know what choice I'll make. It's a bit like when I faced my thirty-third playthrough, where I could only choose between companions and completing the game. If Noel hadn't lent a helping hand back then, what would I have chosen? Would I have continued to drag it out? Or would I have chosen to move forward after realizing that I truly couldn't save Yueyue..."

"...Or, if I knew I had to move on to the next playthrough, would I kill my companions from this playthrough in order to save them in the next playthrough?"

Su Ming'an folded the paper, his feelings a mix of emotions.

He leaned back in the Blue Rose chair, quietly gazing at the sky above the passing whale.

Is this a hidden secret? Yes, it is something that Noel cannot say openly; the sane are bound by [rules]. If Su Ming'an hadn't coincidentally possessed Noel's body, he wouldn't have seen these secrets.

Therefore, there is indeed a hidden story; Noel's decision to rebel was not solely driven by personal gain.

Isn't this a hidden story? Actually, no.

After all, even if Su Ming'an knew all this, so what? Noel's allegiance to Gaowei is a fact, and Noel's multiple attempts to harm him are also a fact.

Before the tenth instance, since Noel had not yet recalled his memories as a conscious being and had not yet returned to the dream to open the cabinet, all the help, kindness, and love were real.

In the eleventh instance, Noel came into contact with the Awakened Ones and, after recalling all that he had painstakingly explored within the cosmic cycles, realized that the betrayals, the hurts, and the pain were all real.

Su Ming'an rocked back and forth in his chair, recalling his confrontation with Noel.

……

"Noel Agnes, was your 'love' for us fake?" Su Ming'an recounted memorable events from the past, trying to find some evidence to support his claim.

A moment later, Su Ming'an heard Noel's very soft voice:

"...It's true."

"And now, it's true."

The close friendship was real, the collaboration was real, the anchor point was real, the bond was real... and the departure was real too.

……

The good is true. The bad is also true.

After all.

Whether or not Noel had any hidden secrets depends entirely on how people perceive him.

If one believes this is a matter of hardship, a noble act, or that Noel is enduring humiliation to end the recurring tragedy, or that he is searching for truth and the future, then one would consider it to be "hidden."

If one still believes that Noel's actions cannot be completely erased, and that someone was indeed harmed because of Noel, then it is considered that "there is no hidden truth."

It doesn't matter, Noel doesn't care.

Whether he is just or righteous, whether others like him or dislike him, whether he is black or white, Noel doesn't care at all. He doesn't need any so-called "whitewashing"; he is neither black nor white to begin with.

He walked freely in the gray, creating unique colors.

He believed that one great and proud person in the world was enough—Su Ming'an. With such a shining beacon already there, he wanted to step into the shadows and see the corners unseen by the light.

After all, there must be people in this world other than a "savior".

Ideally, the "savior" would watch over the homeland and protect the home, while Noel would fly into space to seek a way out. Unfortunately, ideals are often incompatible; there are bound to be contradictions and gaps between the two, which means that neither can be preserved at the same time.

Therefore, the current situation has arisen.

Therefore, the inevitable outcome of the present situation was created.

Therefore, even knowing the "hidden truth," it remains an unresolved knot, an unrebuildable bridge, and an unshakeable fog between islands.

Noel still wanted to find a way out, and Su Ming'an still wanted to protect his hometown. Even if they could start over once, even if they could start over a hundred times, even if they could start over countless times... no matter how kindly they spoke, their positions could not be reconciled.

"Click, click..." Su Ming'an's fingers clenched the yellow paper tightly. He slowly lowered his head, pressed his forehead against his fist, and closed his eyes tightly.

That guy...

He finally understood what Noel was thinking about those subtle changes in his expression, those fleeting moments when his eyebrows drooped.

Is he thinking, "I'll save you properly next time," or "This time I must do everything in my power to stop you"?
A moment later, Su Ming'an released his hand and flattened the yellow paper again.

"Kaka——"

However, this time is different.

This was the only time Su Ming'an touched upon these truths. Perhaps because he had cycled through them so many times, even Su Ming'an experienced auditory hallucinations similar to those of someone who was lucid, hearing the words "Don't repeat the tragedy." Perhaps those words came from some of his own obsessions from before the cycle, and the quantitative change led to the qualitative change, finally being heard by him this time.

That's why he developed radical thoughts, and why he used himself as bait to invade Noel's dream and see these truths.

This is... the closest we've ever come to the truth.

“This is… our best chance yet,” Su Ming’an murmured.

His boots pounded on the rainbow-colored stream, shattering Noel's reflection in the water.

He understood Noel's secret, learned about the development of the sea route and the coastline defense, and also understood three points:

Firstly, the "best" path likely involves the awakened and the dream master, whose gaze is omnipresent. It's like a kind of restriction; Noel probably can't even speak out, unable to clearly state the direction, and can only use various awkward methods to prevent Su Ming'an from heading in a worse direction.

Secondly, the Lord of Dreams retains more memories from each cycle—more, not all. Su Ming'an believes that even if the Lord of Dreams is incredibly powerful, it's impossible for Him to remember everything from every cycle. He's simply more powerful than an ordinary conscious being, thus retaining more memories. Otherwise, with so many cosmic cycles, Noel couldn't possibly only have a dozen or so sheets of paper in the cabinet; it's highly likely that the Lord of Dreams only remembers these few as well.

Thirdly, Noel is very concerned about Su Ming'an's "soul age," and just mentioned that "Su Ming'an cannot become a conscious person; it's fine if I become one." Therefore, it can be inferred that becoming a conscious person should be harmful and related to soul age. Does this mean that the more things one remembers, the shorter one's life will be? Or something else?
Noel never wanted Su Ming'an to live too long and wanted to kill him in order to protect Su Ming'an's "soul age"?
That's all the information on the yellow paper; it doesn't explicitly state which path is the best to take. After all, this is the territory of the Lord of Dreams, and writing down "how to deal with the Lord of Dreams" would be too Edwardian.

Su Ming'an has resolved most of the confusion.

He rubbed his temples, put the paper back in the cabinet with a "click".

After the crisp sound of the door closing, a sudden inspiration flashed through his mind.

--Wait a moment.

His hand stopped.

His "Hand of Redemption" first copied Noel's "Puppet Silk" skill. Noel was so smart, how could he not have thought that Su Ming'an could copy the skills of the gods of Cloud City?
This guy must have thoroughly figured out all of Su Ming'an's skills and rehearsed them countless times in his mind before launching a decisive battle against Su Ming'an. How could he not have considered the bug-like nature of "Hand of Redemption"?
So, that guy is...

Going with the flow... is that it?

Noel probably didn't expect Su Ming'an to take such radical measures. Su Ming'an's reverse possession was beyond his expectations. However, when Su Ming'an launched his counterattack, Noel's defeat was exceptionally swift.

The god of Cloud City thrust his sword at Noel, who had many ways to hold out for a while, but was instead pierced through the abdomen. Although this was Su Ming'an's open scheme, Noel could at least hold out for a bit.

This guy... although he did lose, he was going with the flow, hoping that Su Ming'an could see these secrets.

Su Ming'an realized that Noel was using himself as poison, Noel realized that Su Ming'an realized that Noel was using himself as poison, Su Ming'an realized that Noel realized that Su Ming'an realized that Noel was using himself as poison, he schemed against him, schemed against him, schemed against him...

"Ah."

Su Ming'an chuckled and exited the dream.

Because of Noel's death, it snowed in the small world.

This is a snowfall that signifies the impending demise of a small world. Su Ming stands quietly in the flowerbed, looking up as the edges of the small world gradually crumble, collapse, and fall away, peeling away like sand and gravel.

He didn't leave, fearing that if his consciousness returned to his body, the organizers would prevent him from dying. He was prepared to stand there until the small world collapsed, taking his consciousness with him in death.

When he opens his eyes again, it will be the very end—he will have to ponder Noel's thoughts and find that "golden forest" amidst the unspeakable metaphors, messages, and insights.

Having learned these secrets, he has ended his cycle of navigating the sea and guarding the shore.

Amidst the boundless snow, he stood alone beneath the crumbling sky, his white robes billowing like clouds.

But then someone walked up to him.

“I once heard a fairy tale.”

The blond youth with his hair tied in a braid stood side by side with Su Ming'an, both gazing at the long, windy sky.
"Once upon a time, there was a fox who played happily with the little animals."

"Until one day, the little animals accidentally fell into the pit. They put all their strength together, shoulder to shoulder and toe to toe, and tried their best to get the fox out of the pit."

"The fox said it would come back and rescue all the little animals."

"The little animals waited and waited, but it got dark and the fox didn't return. Instead, they were greeted by a group of carnivores."

"'The fox has betrayed us! It has brought the enemy here!' the little animals shouted angrily."

"But the fox just smiled."

The fox simply smiled throughout.

“At first I thought it was a story that taught children not to trust bad people. But later, I heard the rest of the story.” Hui Bai looked at Su Ming’an, holding a bunch of fresh white magnolias in her arms.

Under the heavy snowfall, the first player, both for the first and last time, stood silently.

"What happens next in the story?" Su Ming'an asked.

Hui Bai smiled, smoothing the stray hairs behind his ear, his silver hairband swaying in the wind:

"Didn't you already hear it?"

Su Ming'an opened his eyes slightly, and a few snowflakes landed on his eyelashes.

After a moment, he turned his gaze away and looked at the distant, white mountains and the crystal-clear water.

"Ah."

"I...have heard it."

"The fox was both a good fox and a bad fox."

……

(End of this chapter)