NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1000: "Survive.
Reaching downstairs, Su Ming'an looked back.
Su Wensheng carried two children on his back, even though he was equally weak.
The children who truly couldn't move any further could only lie on the ground.
"I'll... rest here..." a flax-haired girl gasped, clutching the large hole in her abdomen: "Without dialysis, I'm... in so much pain... I'll just... not go with you..."
She burrowed into a sack by the roadside, concealing herself. The sack was full of the stench of corpses and organs, as if she had become part of the corpses.
"Let me... have one last dream..." Her lips were blue and purple, unable to breathe in oxygen: "A... happy dream."
More and more children stopped on the road, some lacking organs, unable to travel far. Some had lost too much blood, couldn't be saved. Some stopped breathing right on the road.
Their throats emitted sounds like broken bellows, desperately trying to breathe air in their final moments, but no oxygen could enter their decaying bodies.
Keep moving, keep moving.
Escape this hellish place, escape this nightmare.
—They must not have woken up yet.
If they wake up, they would still be in a safe classroom, not in an operating room as soon as they open their eyes, nor lying in a sack full of organs. People's hearts can't be so cruel, surely not.
"Did I do something wrong..." Su Wensheng, carrying two children, said softly: "If I didn't take them away, they would still be lying in hospital beds receiving dialysis, they wouldn't die so quickly..."
Su Ming'an didn't answer.
He was carrying Little Li, and Little Li spoke softly:
"Little Wen did nothing wrong."
"It was Dr. Su who ultimately saved the children's souls. They did not die from persecution, they did not die naked and humiliated on the operating table, they died in the air of freedom."
"Everyone is free... they must be."
Finally, they reached the gate of the Inner City. After cutting down the surrounding guards, Su Ming'an went to push the door.
During this time, Su Wensheng continuously comforted the remaining dozen or so children:
"Everyone will escape."
"Yes, once we push open this door, we can reach the Outer City, and then we will leave the Experimental City."
"Don't worry, once we get out, we'll tell the TV station about everything."
"Little Li, then you can come live at my house, my dad is a guard, he will definitely protect you."
"We need to expose what's happening here, we need to make the bad people pay!"
Following his lead, all the children raised their fists. They looked up, as if their small fists could break through all injustice.
"We need to make the bad people pay!"
"Boom—boom—" The door opened.
In an instant, like some art effect, intense white light spilled into the children's eyes through the door.
Tears filled their eyes as their pupils trembled violently, gazing at this overwhelming brightness, stepping forward—
At that moment, Su Ming'an saw the lantern in Su Luoluo's hand light up.
—The ghost must be guarding the door firmly, not allowing people to leave easily.
"The ghost is here!" Su Luoluo's voice trembled.
A blood-red tentacle pierced through, impaling a child.
"Ah—!"
Screams echoed as blood splattered across Su Ming'an's face, and the "ghost" figure appeared amidst the red mist, its form incredibly elusive, impossible to capture.
"Yi Zhongyu, take the children to the safe house!" Su Ming'an turned and said. Little Li and these children couldn't leave the Inner City alone; there were many hostile contestants outside, they would kill Little Li.
"Shush! Shush! Shush!" More tentacles pierced forward, Su Ming'an erected a Spatial Barrier, the barrier rippled with fractures. He protected Little Li, his back was pierced by white tentacles.
"—Stand aside, Old God." At this moment, the 'ghost' spoke.
Beneath its dense black hair, a pair of pitch-black eyes concealed intense darkness: "I want to take Little Li's life, she died nine years ago, she shouldn't escape."
Su Ming'an said, "I won't back down."
A sharp imposing force approached, the ghost raised its tentacles high, many corpses hung from the tentacles.
Ghost: "Causality is confused, the ones who should have died haven't died, do you know what consequence it will cause? The seamless Mobius Ring will be disrupted by you, stable reality will also be shaken."
Su Ming'an raised his sword: "—That's unlucky."
He pointed his sword at the ghost in the red mist:
"My greatest task happens to be killing destiny. If it can disrupt, the more chaotic the better."
"Ha ha, ha ha ha ha..." Laughter echoed from the red mist, like a girl's tragic laugh: "—Futile effort. You don't understand what a sense of fate feels like, all of your struggles will ultimately lead to a predetermined ending. Like Little Li, you too."
Su Ming'an drove the tentacles forward, tightly intertwining with the ghost's tentacles, feeling like muscle necrosis.
Just then, the ghost moved, it actually abandoned the tentacles, a thin sword stabbed towards Su Ming'an, its speed so fast it caught him off guard.
Su Ming'an was backed by the gate, almost without a retreat path. He couldn't release the tentacles, otherwise the ghost would attack others.
At this moment, he sensed the sound of wind in his ears.
"Shush!"
A pair of hands grasped the thin sword, instantly pierced through her palm, the thin sword passed through her shoulder, piercing her scapula, leaving the remaining sword tip halting in front of Su Ming'an.
Her hands firmly clutched the blade, wedging it in her body, becoming a buffer for Su Ming'an. A "Cat Bamboo Stick" prop appeared in front of her, forcing the ghost to retreat three steps.
"—It's now." Blood flowed from Su Luoluo's lips.
—Su Ming'an hadn't anticipated Su Luoluo would exchange for props.
Her shoulder kept bleeding, showing signs of flesh being gouged out.
The ghost retreated three steps, Su Ming'an forcefully hurled the Sword of Yarman, the sword tip instantly pierced through the ghost's forehead.
"You..." Su Ming'an said.
"Among us, someone has to exchange for props, otherwise we can't fight the ghost." Su Luoluo staggered back a few steps: "You're important, Yi Zhongyu is also important, only I am least important, so... after you left, I exchanged my flesh for props. Even if there's a consequence, only I have to bear it."
Su Ming'an didn't expect she would have such determination.
Her shoulder was bleeding, staining the Demon King badge on her chest red.
Taking advantage of the ghost pulling out the sword, Su Ming'an picked up Little Li and along with Su Luoluo rushed into another safe house, slamming the door shut.
The ghost recovered, constantly pounding on the door, already enraged to the extreme.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Loud noises kept echoing. Su Luoluo sat in the corner, Su Ming'an bandaged her wounds. The wooden door shook continuously, the safe house seemed ready to collapse at any moment.
"The ghost has been provoked... It should keep guarding outside the door." Su Luoluo said.
"Yes." Su Ming'an already felt the ghost's demeanor was stronger than before.
"What if we can't get out? It will keep watching us, endlessly..." Su Luoluo said: "If you get hungry by then, just eat my flesh."
"I brought food with me." Su Ming'an said.
He lifted her clothes sticky with blood and skin, and she kept inhaling cold air.
"It's so painful, yet you blocked in front of me." Su Ming'an said: "Don't do that again next time."
If Key Figure Su Luoluo died, he would have to return to save her.
At this moment, Su Luoluo suddenly raised a hand, gripping his hand. His palm still had some wounds, touching her hands wrapped in bandages.
As they met eyes, her pupils slightly narrowed like a cat's: "Actually, a long time ago, Wensheng told me that someday he would become someone else."
Su Ming'an's fingers paused slightly: "Hmm?"
Su Luoluo lowered her eyes and said:
"So I would call him by different nicknames every week; sometimes I'd call him 'Little Blue Sky,' sometimes 'Little Stream.' Every week, every week, I gave him different nicknames."
"Until the week I called out 'Little Cloud.' You came. Since then, I only called you Little Cloud. The nickname 'Little Cloud' is unique and belongs only to you."
Su Ming'an paused his fingers for a moment and said softly, "It was I who disrupted your peaceful life."
Su Luoluo shook her head: "No. I never imagined that miracles could happen in this world… until I met you. That day, you hugged the Dream Patrol Helmet and told me, 'Press it once, and it will come true.'
"You told me that this world could be saved, and you said you wanted to make me the greatest entertainment anchor. At that moment, I thought, whatever wish you have… I want to be a part of it with you."
"My life before wasn't great; I've been seen as a burden since I was little, then the house got destroyed, Dad died, and Mom got sick. It's you who allowed me to save her."
"Even if just once… even if just once."
Her hands clenched.
"I want to have a beautiful dream, with you."
…
[npc (Su Luoluo) Favorability: 90 points (Shared Adversity)]
…
Su Ming'an released his hand, seeing in Su Luoluo's eyes emotions similar to those of Wang Xingkong.
That girl who hesitated at the school gate had made it this far.
"You've done well, next you should stay inside the house." Su Ming'an said, "I'll go face the ghost."
The ghost had already fallen into a frenzied state, its tendrils extended in all directions. He could already hear the people's anguished cries.
—This can't be allowed to continue.
"Can you defeat it?" Su Luoluo asked.
Su Ming'an paused for a moment: "Probably… not."
Using flesh to exchange for props, to lure the ghost, was the normal game strategy. But the ghost was constantly fixated on him. Once ten hours passed, The First Tower would fail.
No matter the cost of multiple retries, the ghost must be slain.
He placed his hand on the doorknob, took a deep breath, knowing he was about to face a lot of pain.
As he was about to push the door open, his sleeve was tugged.
"Doctor Su." Little Li's lips trembled:
"I know how to resolve it. Let me do it."
…
…
[February 9th, Overcast.]
[Today, the surgery proceeded as scheduled.]
[No one came to save me.]
[After taking my blood, they took my kidneys too.]
…
[February 10th, Overcast.]
[I asked Xiao Wen to write my diary for me since I can't hold the pen anymore.]
[He kept crying.]
[The adults drove him out, then took most of my liver.]
…
[February 12th, Light Snow.]
[Xiao Wen keeps telling me, once I get off the operating table, we'll go home together.]
[But I know, today I'll undergo a major surgery.]
[The adults want to transform me because the blood of the eligibles is strong. They're thinking, if my blood can be turned into a weapon, like crimson tendrils, just like "an exotic species that can be controlled by humans"—then they can use me to gain more resources.]
[But, if that happens, I'll become a walking corpse, no longer myself.]
[How ridiculous, I thought I could live a few more days.]
[Xiao Wen is still crying.]
[Such a crybaby, how will he save other kids in the future?]
[I told him, if someone comes to save him, he must come back and destroy this place.]
[Then, farewell.]
…
[February 13th, Heavy Snow.]
[Early this morning, Little Li passed away.]
[I am Xiao Wen.]
[Just now, a person named Doctor Su came to save me and I left with him.]
[Little Li… she was just one day short of leaving with us.]
[Just… one day short.]
[...]
[Doctor Su asked me if I had any regrets.]
[I said, if only before everything happened… If only before February 9th, before anyone took Little Li's organs, Doctor Su had come to save us, that would be… perfection.]
[But reality is not a fairy tale.]
[Doctor Su patted my head and told me I'm still young, to go home and not get involved. When I graduate and leave this small town, become someone big in the future, come find him again.]
…
[July 9th, Clear.]
[I met a person named Chao Yan.]
[She told me that to open The First Tower would allow us to see Little Li again.]
[I decided to live well until The First Tower opened.]
[She looked at me sadly, telling me the fate of death cannot be changed. Cause and effect are like an Ouroboros; even if I return to the past, it only completes the cycle of causality, only making the fate of "Little Li's death" more profound.]
[The method used by The First Tower to let people return to the past isn't to reverse time but to climb backward along the causal line. Only those whose causality is seamless can be saved back, while those who never appeared in the future are destined to die. It can at most alter the course, causing a butterfly effect in the future, but only death is an irretrievable past.]
[Like a fate that is tightly locked.]
[But I refuse to believe that.]
[I want to live, until I meet her. I want… to tell her what school feels like, what the smell of chalk is, the taste of cake, and bring her fresh tomatoes, and the new paintings I've made these years.]
[I want to give her a hug and tell her not to be afraid, that I've grown up.]
[I want to live.]
[Live until nine years later when I meet her in person.]
[I want… to live.]
[This is, a promise.]
…