Welcome to Rewind World Game

But Mo Yan was still worried. He grabbed Su Ming'an's wrist: "Brother, I'll take you away, go back and see if you've been brainwashed. If you have been brainwashed, it will be terrible."

Su Ming'an's pupils were covered with a layer of mist. He was blankly led by Mo Yan, the snowy Divine Son clothing dragging along the ground.

At this moment, a white figure appeared inside the tent.

"...What are you trying to do to my Archangel?" the Deity said faintly.

"Sure enough, still brainwashed." Mo Yan realized something was wrong. Brother's expression was too stiff, like a puppet on strings.

"...Why speak so harshly, it's just controlling the mark," the Deity laughed lightly. "Among thousands of possibilities, there are always a few hundred where he couldn't escape the Angel ritual and was successfully marked with a control mark and belongs to me. In this 'possibility,' you can't save him."

Mo Yan didn't understand. But he at least knew that he wanted to save his brother in his hand.

Who knows which one is the real brother, what if it's the real one!

Mo Yan held Brother's wrist tightly, rarely shouting: "Deity, why are you always staring at Brother? You're driving him crazy, don't tell me it's for his good, it makes me sick to hear it!"

The Deity remained noncommittal.

He merely moved his fingers, as if invisible threads pulled Su Ming'an, who walked to the Deity's side, eyes dim, limbs stiff.

Beneath the heavy Crystal Crown, the youth's eyes were devoid of color.

Mo Yan couldn't hold him, he actively shook off Mo Yan's hand and moved closer to the Deity.

"...Brother." Mo Yan called out with difficulty.

Su Ming'an lowered his head to look at him, the bright red control mark on his shoulder blades glowing glaringly. The Deity placed his hand on his shoulder, like touching a sheep.

...

A. Yamada Machiichi.

B. Lu.

C. Su Rin.

D. Mo Yan.

E. Su Ming'an.

F. Isabella.

G. Boris.

...

[E.]

At the moment when he saw the empty corridor, Su Ming'an completely understood.

He completely understood.

One day, Zhuang Zhou lay in his courtyard, dreaming he became a butterfly, fluttering and dancing, joyfully forgetting himself. Unaware of being Zhuang Zhou, he was only a butterfly. Then he woke up, and was Zhuang Zhou again. Zhuang Zhou asked himself, is it Zhuang Zhou who dreamt of being a butterfly? Or a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuang Zhou?

"Is it Zhuang Zhou dreaming of being a butterfly... or a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuang Zhou...?"

He recalled the initial system prompt of the instance:

...

[The World of Old Days will be copied into 42,293 instances, with around 10,000 players entering each instance for the game!]

...

Therefore,

"Exactly the same?"

...

[The magical world will be copied into 30,000 identical instances, each instance involved with...]

[White Sand Paradise will be copied into 13,401,489 identical instances...]

[Maritime Banquet will be copied into 22,808 identical instances...]

[City of Measurement will be copied into 32,980 identical instances...]

...

Throughout, the opening prompt of all instances never lacked the term "identical."

But the opening prompt of the Tenth World... did not.

It was too inconspicuous, like a fixed format, no one bothers to look more carefully... no one would think there's a problem here.

If in every instance, players encounter different situations... did all players really enter the same era?

Su Ming'an suddenly thought of the term "world line convergence," he looked again at these ten thousand surveillance screens, carefully checking, and suddenly discovered—

On one of the surveillance screens, there was Su Rin's figure. On the screen, Su Rin was wiping rainwater off Alice's head on the rooftop. But on Su Ming'an's side, it clearly wasn't raining.

Su Ming'an searched again and saw Yamada Machiichi on another surveillance screen, a black cat squatting on Yamada Machiichi's shoulder, but the black cat was clearly left on the ground by Su Ming'an, not moving at all.

"...I have never been in the same world as them, right." Su Ming'an looked at the close scythe and his hypothesis was confirmed.

Those voices calling him... came from worlds parallel to his. Although these worlds were very close to him, the fusion had reached a point where he could vaguely hear sounds, but they were not ultimately the same world.

A is one world, B is one world, C is one world, and so on—10,000 players, each residing in an independent world.

So even if Su Ming'an could hear Su Rin's footsteps on the rooftop, as long as he went to check, he would find no one on the rooftop.

So even if Su Ming'an could hear Yamada Machiichi's call in the corridor, as soon as he turned around, he would find the corridor empty, unable to find Yamada Machiichi no matter how hard he tried.

Thus, Mo Yan would see Su Ming'an inside the enemy's tent because in Mo Yan's world line, Su Ming'an was marked by the Deity. Whereas, in Su Ming'an's "world line," he was not marked, and the one sitting in the tent should be the gravely injured Mizushima Kawa Sora.

Intertwining.

Merely an intertwining.

If he continued searching through the remaining surveillance screens, he should find 1 player on each screen until he finds the remaining 9,997 players.

Invisible threads were stretched between everyone, though connected, seemingly ready to break at any moment.

—So this is a pseudo [single-player instance].

The isolation of ten thousand players is by world lines. As long as the edges of the world are not crossed, they would never intersect.

Su Ming'an turned his head, "Su Rin" stood before the surveillance screen, burnt to ashes.

"...I don't believe it." "Su Rin" also turned back, locking eyes with Su Ming'an. The dark golden pupils seemed drained of color. How proud he was, how could he accept this truth.

Beneath the vast surveillance screens, like a black-and-white electronic barrier... Su Ming'an also felt a sense of linguistic impotence.

It felt as if something was producing a violent turmoil in his chest, trying to tear him apart, but he was only maintaining an outward calm, while his fingertips trembled uncontrollably.

...Only he is real.

...On this "world line," only he is real. Ten thousand players from the very beginning... are on different world lines, or rather, eras.

Some players are born in the Steam Age, and in that era, he/she is the only player, the [Protagonist] of the era, and other players around him/her are fake. Similarly, on the other nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine world lines, each one also has only one real player.

Noel was born in the Witch Age, and he is the only [Protagonist] in the Witch Age. That's why he cannot leave the Witch Age for too long, nor can he speak to Su Ming'an in advance about the Witch Age because he "belongs" to that era.

...

[Nuoer, I am Su Ming'an. If this line is scrambled, it means you and I are not in the same dimension.]

...

This was a message Su Ming'an received before. He thought it was a signal left by Noel to remind him of the possibility of a fake Noel. Translating it, it means [Noel, I am Su Ming'an. If this line is scrambled, it means you and I are not in the same dimension.]

Now it turns out that this is incorrect.

—The pronoun is completely reversed. It was obviously a signal left by Su Ming'an for Noel.

But Su Ming'an never left such a signal for Noel. It could only have been left by a "fake Su Ming'an," but where did the "fake Su Ming'an" come from?

From one of the other nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine world lines.

In every world line, there should exist a fake Su Ming'an. In every world line, except for the player himself/herself, the other nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine players he/she encounters are fake.

—There are only four exceptions.

The first is Noel. Noel came crossing the edge of the world; he broke the barrier between world lines, so Su Ming'an encountered the real Noel.

The second is Lv Shu. Lv Shu is a follower, and followers will always follow the player. This is the rule of the World Game, so the Lv Shu that Su Ming'an meets must be the real Lv Shu.

The third is Su Rin. Su Rin also possesses the ability to cross the edge of worlds, so when Su Ming'an and Su Rin exchanged bodies, that must have been the real Su Rin. It's just that now Su Rin has been replaced with a fake Su Rin. The real Su Rin either remains in the Deity's hometown or has gone to another world line.

The fourth is Yuanyuan. Yuanyuan is a special Observer and has always been real.

Only these four exceptions; the other players... are most likely not real. But as the Tower and Dream Tour games advance, the degree of fusion of the ten thousand world lines deepens, and the world lines will begin to affect each other—this is why Su Ming'an can hear voices from Yamada Machiichi and others.

At the same time, the actions of the true player will also be synchronously mapped onto the other nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine world lines. That's why Yamada Machiichi and others see—Su Ming'an entered the control room. Similarly, Su Ming'an will accordingly see Yamada Machiichi and others approaching the control room.

But in reality, both sides are missing each other—both sides see reflections from another world line. Just like Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly, a butterfly dreaming of Zhuang Zhou.

A person in a mirror, a moon in water.

...

["Regarding the recent air raid incident on the city, the Old Day Church confessed to it. At noon today, Dao Ya City also suffered an air raid, with nineteen shells dropped, resulting in countless casualties..."]

—The air raid at the start of the instance, Su Rin heard the news on the ship. The broadcast said "nineteen shells," but in reality, Su Ming'an encountered twenty shells. On Su Rin's world line, the Old Day Church only dropped nineteen shells.

...

["I haven't heard Su Ming'an calling for me. Does he not need my help?" Su Rin pondered.]

—At the start of the instance, Su Ming'an called out to Su Rin several times, but Su Rin never heard it. Distance does not limit Su Rin; what limits his ability to sense is the world line.

...

["So, Mizushima Kawa Sora." Su Ming'an suddenly shifted his focus: "Why do you dare to execute Yamada Machiichi? Do you think Yamada Machiichi is fake? Did the Deity fool you?"]

[He suddenly heard laughter. He turned around and found the Deity laughing. It was the first time Su Ming'an saw the Deity laugh so genuinely, as if He really found it amusing.]

Su Ming'an completely understood.

Mizushima Kawa Sora dared to execute Yamada Machiichi because she thought Yamada Machiichi was fake. In her world line, even if she did so, she believed that the real Yamada Machiichi on another world line would not die. And she only needs to execute a fake Yamada Machiichi to gain immense benefits. However, what she doesn't know is, the ten thousand world lines reflect upon each other. When she decides to execute Yamada Machiichi on her world line, the reflected Mizushima Kawa Sora on Su Ming'an's side will also execute Yamada Machiichi.

She was indeed deceived.

The Deity found this very funny.

...

["Are you crazy? Yamada Machiichi is among those to be executed? On what grounds do you execute a player in the top ranking?" Several players surrounded Mizushima Kawa Sora.]

["Because I know the nature of this world. You all are just..." Mizushima Kawa Sora sneered, passing by them.]

—You are just fake.

...

[Lin Wang'an lowered his eyebrows: "I am sick."]

[Mizushima Kawa Sora agreed, "Yes, and you're still sick. But I can assure you, the real Su Ming'an will not be killed by me."]

[Lin Wang'an asked in confusion, "The real Su Ming'an?"]

...

—The real him is on another world line, of course, he won't be killed by her. On the world line each person resides, only they themselves are real.

...

"Your inference is correct. In ten thousand world lines, only one real player exists per world line." Su Wensheng pressed his hands down repeatedly: "The high school student Su Wensheng who died is just the Su Wensheng of your world line. And I come from one of the other nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine world lines; I am—one of the possibilities of 'Blackened Su Wensheng.'"

"So... the deceased high school student Su Wensheng is just one possibility of Su Wensheng." Su Ming'an launched a Floating Cannon, blowing away Su Wensheng: "Like [BE·Drowned in the Lake]? In fact, he has nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine possible endings? Including yourself?"

"Yes. This is the 'disassembled' world—this is 'ten thousand possibilities.'" Su Wensheng's eyes were deep.

As if the doubts of ten worlds were clarified here, Su Ming'an finally understood what HE, BE, and NE meant in the World Game—it is an extension of "possibility." Just like in other Pulaya instances, Sherrod could have an [HE·Immortality] ending, or an [NE·Endless Road] or even a [BE·Decay] ending.

Su Wensheng drowning in the lake is one of his BE endings, a possibility in his life. But if he escaped from Dao Ya City and wasn't killed by Li Mingyue, he would have other possible endings.

He could become disheartened and join the Deity, or start from scratch to build an army or devote himself to researching special medicine. During this time, countless possibilities could bloom on him, with countless figures walking out from his feet.

—Only a moment between thoughts.

Countless roads, only one HE.

"As for that Su Rin beside you, it is unfortunate he isn't Zhuang Zhou; he's just the butterfly, just an image." Su Wensheng said indifferently.

"Then—" Su Ming'an's blade trembled:

"Am I Zhuang Zhou, or the butterfly?"

He didn't need an accurate answer; he was firmly convinced of his reality. He was just wondering—when exactly did he meet Zhuang Zhou, and when did he meet the butterfly? How much had he, as Zhuang Zhou, influenced other lines, and as the butterfly, who had influenced him?

His heart raced, and at this moment he suddenly remembered a familiar saying.

...

—Am I the butterfly, or a leaf?

...

["For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."]

["—New Testament, 1 Corinthians 13:12"]

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