Welcome to Rewind World Game

The flames rushed forth, and Su Wensheng retreated several steps.

"Su Rin" stood protectively in front of Su Ming'an, the flowing fire spreading everywhere.

"Since you are aware you are a butterfly, don't think of defying the Butterfly Breeder. Su Rin-2918, your life and death do not hinge on yourself," Su Wensheng said.

Su Ming'an looked at Su Rin, whose spine remained straight, surrounded by golden red flames. But even if this Su Rin gave his all, he would definitely not match the real Su Rin, copies cannot compare to the gods.

"Then let's try." Su Rin's expression remained unchanged, the tip of his sword pointing forward.

The firelight outlined his profile, and his eyes still held deep gold. When he stared ahead, the glow in his eyes seemed to burn all obstacles to ashes.

Su Ming'an saw a fleeting confusion in his eyes, but the confusion quickly faded. Whether it was an implanted "persona" or a fake "life," Su Rin was always resolute. Perhaps in his heart, he just considered himself once again as a "substitute for the soul," just like the mindset of the Cloud City God back then. It was merely a return from man to god once more.

Su Ming'an watched the confrontation of the two, organizing his thoughts in his head.

The Tenth World was duplicated into 42,293 instances, each with 10,000 players. In the 1/42,293 instance that Su Ming'an was in, it was "disassembled" into 10,000 portions, with only 1 true player in each, and the other 9,999 players seen by that true player are fake.

"Disassemble" truly means disassemble; it cannot be described with simple words, not like slicing pudding. Instead, it is like a complete cell being divided into 10,000 parts, each containing a nucleus, cell membrane, and cytoplasm, all independent.

The 10,000 players were dispersed across 10,000 eras, becoming the Protagonists of each era. The actions of the Protagonists can "reflect" onto other eras. As for those beyond the Protagonist, their actions derive from historical traces or the reflection of Protagonists from the other 9,999 eras, sometimes manipulated by deities.

Just like Noel, who was initially born in The Witch Age, he is the Protagonist of The Witch Age. His actions in The Witch Age will "reflect" onto other eras: for instance, Noel once met a fake Su Ming'an by the seaside in The Witch Age, and simultaneously, Su Ming'an in the Pseudo-modern era would encounter a fake Noel by the seaside—like a kind of mutual mirroring.

—What you see of "him" is fake; it's the "reflection" of his era.

—What he sees of "you" is also fake; it's the "reflection" of your era.

However, if this layer of mirroring is shattered, you have indeed encountered each other.

Mutual reflections, mutual mirrors, mutual gazes, mutual intersections.

...

[Su Ming'an felt as if the dimensional wall had been broken. Speaking of which, he had encountered several scenarios similar in the real world and the game.]

[In the real world, a youth named "Hei Que" founded the Huo Muli'er Nation. Meanwhile, the "Young Girl's Dream Plan" also featured a Huo Muli'er Nation.]

[In reality, news emerged that "The Exotic Species King is about to awaken." Meanwhile, the "Young Girl's Dream Plan" featured a main quest to "kill the Exotic Species King."]

[In reality, because Shadow is both an Eligible and Exotic species, people surrounded Shadow at the execution platform. This scene was almost identical to the siege of the Eldest Prince in the Louyue Nation.]

...

"But not every action will reflect onto other eras." Su Ming'an pondered.

As the degree of fusion increases, the reflections become more real—when he heard the cries of teammates from various eras. The degree of fusion was now very high.

Mizushima Kawa Sora thought she was killing a fake Yamada Machiichi, but she did not realize that her action of "killing Yamada Machiichi" would reflect onto other eras, causing the fake Mizushima Kawa Sora in 9999 other eras to also attempt to kill Yamada Machiichi in their era, ensuring that some real Yamada Machiichi would be harmed by fake Mizushima Kawa Sora.

This "reflection" would be tweaked depending on the degree of fusion, the plot of the era, and the Protagonist's character—if it were a fake Mizushima Kawa Sora from the Steam Age, she would attempt to kill Yamada Machiichi via Execution by Fire with the Church. If it were a fake Mizushima Kawa Sora from the Louyue Era, she would attempt to kill Yamada Machiichi by collaborating with powerful Martial Artists. If it were a fake Mizushima Kawa Sora from the Pseudo-modern era, she would attempt to kill Yamada Machiichi via the Union Government's Demon Hunt Order. The process might differ but the subject of action remains the same.

The final point: The length of history into which The World of Old Days was split is only 1000 years. However, these 1000 years have been further divided into 10,000 eras, leading to the inevitable overlap of eras.

The deities threw Noel into the distant Witch Age but cast Mo Yan, Yamada Machiichi, Lu, Boris, and Isabella, players familiar with Su Ming'an, into a "Pseudo-modern" era. They all experienced similar modern plots, though with slight deviations—in Mo Yan's world line, Su Ming'an was brainwashed by deities into becoming an Archangel. In Isabella's world line, Yamada Machiichi and others held their ground in Dao Ya City. Besides these minor differences, teammates experienced largely similar events.

When the true Su Ming'an decides to head to the Nine Serenities, it would create the most profound and similar reflection on these several "Pseudo-modern" eras—all the teammates would know that Su Ming'an headed to the Nine Serenities at this time point, and they would then actively head there, gathering in the Nine Serenities across different world lines.

—And whose domain is the Nine Serenities?

—Su Wensheng.

With all of Su Ming'an's teammates gathered in the Nine Serenities at this moment, who could escape from it, traverse the world's edge, and help the real Su Ming'an in another world line?

They were all trapped here.

Isolated, unable to unite on the same world line.

This is "Destiny's" guidance—the subtle influence from reflections of 9999 other eras. Once all teammates moved to the Nine Serenities to come to Su Ming'an's aid, they could no longer assist him.

Because, the correct way to assist Su Ming'an isn't to rush to the Nine Serenities on one's world line, but to decisively cross the world's edge and head to the world line where the real Su Ming'an resides...

...

[A.]

"Ah—ah ah ah—ah!"

Yamada Machiichi sat in a pool of blood, clutching a blood-stained scimitar. A head with disheveled blue hair lay tilted beside him, its neck bones shattered.

Yamada Machiichi's eyes were bloodshot, as if only shouting could relieve the oppression and pain within him. His sanity value in the upper left corner had hit rock bottom.

Why, why.

Just then, Lu approached him from behind, dropping a sword on him. If he hadn't noticed the sword's glint through the reflection on the monitoring screen, he would have died. He never expected that the Lu who had accompanied him these past days was fake.

"Fake, all fake..." Yamada Machiichi held his bloodstained head, his vision completely distorted. Who could he trust? These past days, he had encountered too many assassination attempts, but he never suspected Lu...

Was he still conscious? Or was he still dreaming?

Did he kill a fake? Or did he accidentally kill the real Lu? How could he trust anyone now? He needed the wall to stand, his body covered in bloodstains, while an excruciating pain accompanied every move.

He held Lu's head, taking one step at a time, his robe soaked in blood, arms covered in blood, moving brought him immense pain.

Ahead of him stood a figure, like an immaculate, unmeltting snow. An ethereal existence.

"Yamada Machiichi," the voice pierced through the corridor, echoing off the walls.

It felt almost unreal, and yet, there it was, before him.

"I am not real, just a Shadow for you."

In his bloodshot eyes, Yamada Machiichi saw not his reflection, but instead caught sight of that shadow's own. He wondered deeply.

Was it all a mirage, a simulation? Had the layers been shattered, revealing the stark overlap between realities and games?

He staggered unsure; blood was everywhere, the robe was soaked through with it.

Yet, amid the chaos and ruin, stood Louyue, a ghostly, steel-white sentinel unyielding and untouched, like ever-immaculate snow, freezing above.

Yamada Machiichi exhaled shakily, trying to come to grips with his reality. "Who can I trust now?"

"""

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Therefore, crossing the world's edge is not just crossing eras, but also equates to crossing world lines, simultaneously superimposing the concepts of [time] and [space]. When Noel came from the Witch Age to the present world, it was equivalent to him moving from the year 328 to the year 830, as well as transitioning from the "world line with Noel as the protagonist" to the "world line with Su Ming'an as the protagonist."

There is one more point, which is just Su Ming'an's speculation.

Cause can lead to effect, and effect can also reverse into cause. There is no obvious sequence between cause and effect, because time is flat.

——Then, there will exist situations where cause and effect are mutually reversed. Suppose one manipulates the causal line at end A, end B will tremble accordingly. When B on another world line trembles through mapping, A will instead become the object of tremor.

For instance, A kills B, and on another world line, it might evolve into B killing A with a small probability. You kill someone, you might also be the one slaughtered.

You are the executioner.

On another world line, you are also the 9999th person he killed.

You are the priest.

On another world line, you are also the 9999th person he saved.

Everyone is you.

You are continuously becoming everyone.

...

[B.]

"Lu... believe me, I am the real Yamada, I didn't want to raise the knife against you just now..." Yamada Machiichi pleaded.

Lu's expression struggled intensely. He stared at the dying Yamada Machiichi beneath his sword, gritted his teeth, and finally cut down with the sword.

The boy's head rolled into the pool of blood. Lu picked up Yamada Machiichi's head, staring intently into Yamada Machiichi's last bloodshot eyes, not noticing two streams of tears falling down his cheeks.

He had once discussed with Yamada Machiichi on how to support Dao Ya City, how to execute tactics, and even imagined where to relax after the Tenth World ended.

But how could he have thought... Yamada was fake.

Standing still for a moment, Lu held Yamada Machiichi's head and walked out step by step, leaving a trail of bloody footprints.

The deity also blocked the corridor.

...

[F.]

The blazing fire, the shattered body, the mechanical spheres flying sideways, the broken bones.

Isabella was disassembling the body of the fake Su Ming'an, skin, bones, blood vessels... She sat amidst the pool of blood, a long sword wound on her right side abdomen. Yet, she seemed numb to the pain, her expression almost entranced.

She glanced at her extremely low sanity value, slowly sinking her head into the pool of blood, her expression no longer within the realm of normalcy, her skin radiating with metamorphic light.

"...Am I crazy."

"I am not."

...

[G.]

Boris stood with his head bowed.

He kissed a severed hand: a short piece of skin and fragmented hand bones, with a bloodstained mechanical ring on the fingers.

The scene on the ground was even more gruesome, flesh scattered everywhere, as if run over by a large shredder.

Boris did not expect Father God to suddenly attack him. As someone with the occupation of godly deception, he had already hypnotized himself in advance, making sure to see Su Ming'an as his god wholeheartedly during the instance. Only by deceiving himself could he sway others, gaining more faith value. So when he saw the fake Su Ming'an draw his sword towards him, he almost felt as if the sky had collapsed.

But soon, he realized he had never disobeyed Father God; Father God would not reject him.

Hypnosis made him paranoid and pathological, and he would always stand by Su Ming'an. But when Su Ming'an did not align with the god in Boris's mind, he would instantly turn against him.

He exerted all his strength to counter-kill the fake Su Ming'an, then frantically pulverized the fake Su Ming'an to pieces, leaving only a complete hand.

Rolling up the bloodstained golden hair, Boris looked up towards the entrance of the control room.

The deity appeared there, seemingly counting.

"...Four."

The fourth person trapped by the deity.

...

[E.]

When Su Rin confronted Su Wensheng, Su Ming'an loosened the puppet threads. Hei Que was no longer an enemy, so there was no point in restraining him.

Hei Que stood up, a bitter smile on his face:

"From the beginning, I said, Su Ming'an, you are the [protagonist]."

"But in the World of Old Days, you're no longer the only [protagonist]. Ten thousand players, each one becomes their own [protagonist]. You can't save them, and they can't save you. Do you think you are still Yasa Acto? Do you think you can save the entire city by yourself?—No longer, you are not even on the same world line, your personal heroism is invalid."

"What will you do now? You are trapped in the Nine Serenities, who can save you? Whom can you save?"

Su Ming'an did not answer.

Hei Que also knew the truth for the first time. Before, he only knew himself as a guard of the Nine Serenities. But he suddenly realized... he did not even count as a guard. What was he then?

His life had always been like this, without the miracle of a protagonist, nor the wonder of escaping a desperate situation. Now Su Ming'an seemed to be in a predicament, but Hei Que knew that Su Ming'an would definitely overcome the difficulty in the end because Su Ming'an had always been like this.

But he was different. What would his ending be?

Be erased by Su Wensheng?

Or have his memory wiped, once again left as a brain in a jar in the Nine Serenities?

Su Ming'an suddenly recalled how Hei Que once walked out of the Black Mist with amnesia, carrying the Sword of Destiny, and established the Huo Muli'er Nation...

"That was the only exception." Su Wensheng anticipated what he was thinking and frankly said, "I didn't expect that after Hei Que had one memory wiped, he would escape the Nine Serenities with the Sword of Destiny, but fortunately, he returned again."