Welcome to Rewind World Game

At that time, he saw Su Wensheng say that he had a dream, a dream in which one day he could stand on a high platform, calling on everyone to change everything, a dream where one day he would raise the flag, leading people to follow him, a dream where he stood on the battlefield, commanding the whole army to charge, crashing through the deep-rooted darkness.

But in the end, it still didn't come true.

…

On the flat ground, Su Ming'an heard a loud bang.

He suddenly looked up and saw a burst of blood-red light explode towards the direction of the rooftop.

The intense explosion echoed in the air, the rooftop collapsed, fragments scattered everywhere. Alice on the rooftop was falling, engulfed in flying steel and concrete.

Su Ming'an rushed forward, but suddenly stopped.

A white figure appeared among the falling stones. He was holding the sleeping Alice. His head slightly bowed, pure white hair flowing down, looking as if he had long been prepared for this moment.

"... This is the end." The deity said softly: "Goodbye, Su Ming'an, I'm taking the vessel."

The next moment, countless barriers rose from the ground, surrounding the deity.

He walked step by step away, holding Alice farther and farther away. Su Rin's attacks were very strong, but the deity was shamelessly using defense methods, relying on the shields of the entire Mechanical City to hold out, stacking hundreds of layers of barriers, burning through one layer after another.

"... We can't let Him leave!" Su Ming'an already had the idea of rewinding. Although the deity here was almost invincible, as long as he tried enough times, maybe he could...

He could feel a faint phantom pain coming from his temples, as if reminding him that the number of times was already too many.

... Is there really hope?

... Really...

"Su Ming'an."

He suddenly heard Su Wensheng's voice.

Turning his head, there was Su Wensheng sitting in the ruins. Half of his body was injured by the ceiling, a long steel bar piercing through his right chest, yet his eyes remained silent. The deity knew full well of his betrayal, yet surprisingly did not take his life, only leaving him to his own fate.

"Please take Su Wensheng for treatment. I will reclaim the vessel." Su Ming'an said to "Su Rin."

"Su Rin" frowned slightly: "These injuries are already..."

"No need, you come over."

Su Wensheng's voice was very light.

Su Ming'an glanced at him and walked a few steps closer.

Su Wensheng leaned close to his ear, coughing blood as he said: "... I have a secret I've never told, which can help you stop the deity."

Su Ming'an focused his attention.

"...Other information doesn't matter, I'm already a discarded pawn. But this secret, once I say it out and it becomes associated with you, it might cause unforeseeable consequences." Su Wensheng said.

"Is it related to causality?"

"Yes."

"A very crucial secret?"

"Yes."

"If you reveal the secret, will you die? Like triggering some sort of death rule?" Su Ming'an suddenly asked. If it were the kind of inconsequential outcome, Su Wensheng couldn't have kept the secret to death.

Su Ming'an saw his gaze.

Like red autumn leaves quietly hanging on tree branches, waiting for winter's arrival. Or like the scorching sun over a desert, burning yet filled with loneliness.

"Su Ming'an."

Su Wensheng did not answer Su Ming'an's question, but instead threw the question back at him:

"...Do you want to live on?"

Su Ming'an's eyes were instantly soaked with warmth. He instantly understood Su Wensheng's answer.

He asked Su Wensheng, will you die?

Su Wensheng responded, do you want to live on?

When he looked at Su Wensheng, Su Wensheng's gaze seemed to be peaceful, gentle sunlight.

"... I will not trigger Little Su's rewind."

"Hmm."

"... I will not return to this point in time again."

"Hmm."

"... If I die, time will never flow backward again."

"I know."

Three short exchanges.

Su Ming'an could no longer trigger the rewind to return here, whether it was Little Su's rewind or his own rewind, the cost of the secret was irrevocable death, otherwise, he couldn't explain the source of the information.

Yet Su Wensheng just smiled, and the black bone nail reflected shattered light; he said, he understood.

The distance between them... seemed to have closed just a little.

But only just a little.

Su Wensheng slowly reached out his hand, resting it on Su Ming'an's shoulder, conveying a bit of warmth.

In an instant, Su Ming'an heard mechanical sounds from all directions. Their attacks suddenly became frantic, to prevent Su Wensheng from saying anything, the deity finally laid death upon Su Wensheng. The deity in the distance also halted.

In Su Wensheng's eyes, there was always a calmness.

Actually, he harbored some hope in his heart, thinking that the deity might truly acknowledge him, which was why his life was spared. The deity's gaze upon him was gentle every second.

But the deity was like a gentle god, giving him softness like horseshoes avoiding flowers, imitating human emotions of "trust" and "gentleness", taking care of his needs. In reality, every bit of gentleness was false, merely weaving a net slowly waiting for Su Ming'an, while letting him sink slightly.

That's all.

There was never a place for him in the net.

He leaned forward and whispered in Su Ming'an's ear —

"Shout 'General Qin, I'm back' — and you can control the Mechanical City. This is a secret I learned by chance, the principle is unclear. I once thought I would never say it, but..."

Su Ming'an widened his eyes.

...Is it that simple?

...What is this principle?

He looked at Su Wensheng with puzzled eyes, but Su Wensheng suddenly began to turn transparent.

Blood started to drop from half of the youth's body, and the front chest, pierced by steel bars, became transparent, his eye color dimmed.

Even just a secret without stating the reason, this sentence, had already taken away his existence.

…

[TE3 · (Reaching the final ancient land, establishing a utopia) Perfect Completion Progress: 90%]

…

The perfect completion progress suddenly jumped significantly, leaving Su Ming'an astonished. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't utter a single word.

This was 10% progress gained at the cost of a life. If not for Su Wensheng's words, Su Ming'an didn't know how many times he would have to restart to discover this sentence.

Su Wensheng reached out his hands and held his right hand.

His ten fingers locked into his palm pattern, leaving shallow crescent marks. His eyes, like old forgotten oil paintings, still bore bright colors, yet couldn't hide the solitude forgotten by the world.

"...Do you know why I always wear black ear studs?" Su Wensheng said lightly.

"Why?" Su Ming'an had been puzzled by this for a long time.

"...Because you would never wear ear studs." Su Wensheng said, "Even if you became me, you would take off the ear studs. So, 'the Su Wensheng with ear studs' is the real Su Wensheng."

Su Ming'an did not expect this reason.

He had imagined many possibilities, thought the ear stud might be a weapon, thought it was a communication tool, but never considered it to be merely a... "distinguishing tool."

...He could only use the ear stud to distinguish himself.

"Right." Su Ming'an said in a low voice, "I don't like ear studs."

Su Wensheng curled his lips slightly.

His fingers finally applied a bit of force, imprinting ten crescent marks in Su Ming'an's palm, as if wanting to bury the warmth of the palm deep into the bone marrow.

"I don't know what I can leave for you." Su Wensheng lowered his head and smiled, "In fact, I'm still not resigned."

"Thinking of the impression I left you, it's all bad impressions, and only for my own world did I tell you this secret. But if I do it again, maybe I would still choose the same. I had to confirm you because in other parallel worlds, maybe the Savior isn't as qualified as 'Su Ming'an'."

"The deepest impression I probably left is the Crescent Arc that hurt you."

"Su the Savior, so I'll leave you some crescent marks, as my trace."

...What kind of reason is "only for my own world" deserving of "only" here?

...How could you be so self-conscious?

Su Ming'an's palm almost felt no pain, Su Wensheng's trace was very shallow, and his nails were trimmed short. He apparently remembered students couldn't have long nails.

Su Ming'an suddenly realized that in the Tenth World, with so many players participating, in the instances without Su Ming'an, the "Savior" might be unqualified, and Su Wensheng's choice was not unreasonable.

Just like the world Bei Wang experienced, which was ultimately completely destroyed. If in that parallel instance Su Wensheng also made such a decision, it might not have ended in extinction.

With his hand pressed against his, Su Ming'an pressed his lips together, burying the tremor in his heart.

"Su Ming'an..."

…

The sunset faded into the distance. Thousands of golden glows scattered across the long corridor, as if infused with a holy rhythm.

The young man's face bore a serene calmness, as if detached from the world, while the last ray of light danced on his black bone stud.

As if trying to confirm something, he raised his hand, touching Su Ming'an's cheek, staring fixedly at him. As if exploring what was different in these similar eyes from his own.

Is it obsession? Is it fervor? Or is it...

...What exactly molded Su Ming'an? And what reconstructed [him]?

"There are ten thousand Su Wenshengs in this world. Too many, leaving me bewildered. They seem to be shadows extending from me, similar yet different, leaving one confused." He said:

"But there is only one 'ear stud Su Wensheng'... and that is me."

"Remember me, 'Savior'."

"You must remember... that I never forgot the ideal, even if it is a fragmented ideal."

— Even if it's an ideal one in a million, it still encompasses eight billion lives.

— How could he ignore these eight billion lives, ignore the possible destruction after his death, and resolutely plunge into the death that awaits in the lake.

In the next instant, it felt as if an invisible scythe was falling upon him, attempting to erase his existence.

Su Ming'an couldn't forget the look in his eyes at that moment.

It was a gaze... like yearning for the Heavenly Father.

He was the one who hated the gods the most, so many Fire Transmitters delivered the glass bottle into his hands, yet only the deity redeemed him, preserving his ideal.

Even though it was merely a fragmented ideal.

... but this had been his nineteen-year life.

And then, the rightful Savior Su Ming'an. Su Ming'an's arrival was like a second Heavenly Father, igniting the flame of hope in the world, making him feel redemption once again.

This time, the redemption was no longer false.

When accusing Su Ming'an of being "immensely evil" on the stage, Su Wensheng was clearly smiling.

—Because he knew that this "immensely evil" as he called it, was clearly an ideal that he himself could never achieve. It was a hope he could never reach in his life.

—His life was rooted in mud. Yet, a flying bird swept over this mud.

Look, the blazing red across the sky, the magnificent glow... how beautiful this world is...

He gazed at the sky outside the window, his eyes tinged with red.

—Why would someone willingly set themselves ablaze like this.

...

[Su Ming'an respects the choices of his teammates, just as he respects the choice of the Knight of Light. When they choose to sacrifice, he won't stop them, but he will hope in his heart that next time, such things won't happen again.]

[But...]

...

In the memories about Su Wensheng, those proud bones buried by Su Wensheng himself, Su Ming'an actually remembered them all.

He remembered everything, those things that were never acted upon.

Plans written by his own hand.

Allies contacted personally.

Rescue routes for Experimental City personally planned.

The orange cat buried by his own hands.

The parasol tree, pencil case, shovel, school uniform, father's letter, grandma's plum wine, orange cat, its small grave, the lake into which the girl jumped, the starry sky at the bottom of the lake under the moonlight... and a pair of eyes just like his own.

The sunlight of the sunset danced along the corridor, reflecting on the young man's black bone spikes—unlike ornaments, they seemed like chains that confined him.

Su Ming'an felt an impulse to use a skill, which he suppressed, causing the calmness on his face to start crumbling.

But Su Wensheng's transparent fingers rested against Su Ming'an's lips.

His gaze was sharp and resolute, as if preventing even the slightest possibility, stopping him from uttering even one word of the Ruler's invitation.

... Why, when he was clearly free, did he make this decision?

Perhaps he acknowledged Su Ming'an as the Savior, wanting to help him move forward. Perhaps he had already betrayed the deity and could never return to the past.

—But when he made this decision... it might have been far before considering these reasons.

"[You're smiling softly,]" he curved his brows and eyes, his pitch-black pupils reflecting Su Ming'an.

Fingers curled, gripping his palm tightly.

The clouds in his pupils turned golden, like an oil painting. As if he wanted to remember the last beauty in his eyes.

"[No matter what I say,]"

"[I feel,]"

"[Because of this,]"

"[I've waited too long.]"

"(—The Collection of Flying Birds: 42)"

These were the last words of the nineteen-year-old youth, a poem.

In the faint red of the sunset, he was so close to the Savior, so intimate, passing on the responsibility.

He finally saw the blue moonlight he'd yearned for so long.

So he smiled softly.

... For this,

... I have waited long.

Too long.

...

Su Ming'an's heart trembled.

... The crescent arc's force in his hand vanished in an instant.

The corridor was enveloped by countless rays of sunlight, and at that moment, night slowly descended, covering them. The light particles in Su Ming'an's hand gradually turned into countless particles of light, leaving no trace.

Yet he maintained the posture of reaching out, frozen stiffly in place.

The stone above couldn't bear the weight and fell heavily in front of Su Ming'an, but he didn't react, subconsciously reaching out his hand—

... but his hands were empty, holding nothing else.

Fine points of light spread around him, the ten crescent-shaped marks in his palm slowly rebounding, though it was said they would leave a trace, Su Wensheng hadn't used much force, and the crescent-shaped marks in his palm disappeared quickly.

His final trace seemed to have stubbornly remained for only four or five seconds.

Until Su Rin approached him, lifting the stone in front of him.

Under the stone, pressed a white shirt and bow tie, along with a black bone spike, the flesh and blood body was already gone.

...

... he was no longer there.

...

—Am I pursuing the ideal itself, or something more beautiful that transcends it?

Long ago, Su Ming'an was drawn to such thoughts, unable to break free. The driving force behind forbidden acts always varied, but often it was related to obsession and passion.

But he couldn't deny that for Su Wensheng, even though his ideal didn't lead down a smooth road, whatever reason there was, the latter two would always be included.

Obsession, and... passion.

When he stood under the parasol tree holding the orange cat, gazing up at the distant campus—

...

At that moment, perhaps he was thinking about the reason he was full of resolve, unyielding despite nine deaths.

Why would a nineteen-year-old youth suddenly become selfless to such a terrifying extent?

... How could he not be.

Su Ming'an moved forward, tightly gripping his earring.

Suddenly, he felt a sting.

After all, the questioner and the answerer... aren't they both?

...

"Ding-dong!"

[Achieved (Su Wensheng) TE·"The Solitary Poem"]

[Seeing the deity holding Alice and moving away at that moment, I thought, so good, the deity did not take my life.]

[From now on, I am free. No matter where I go, no matter what I do, I am finally free...]

[And then I saw the despair in Su Ming'an's eyes.]

[He seemed to have reached an impasse.]

[At that moment, what was I thinking? Was it delight because "he too had things he couldn't do", or was it jealousy?]

[I didn't seem to think too much about it, what controlled my lips to reveal that secret—]

[The moment I met his gaze, I understood.]

[So that's how it is.]

[... So that's how it is.]

[It's still for the same reasons.]

[—It's because my blood was too hot, my face too flushed, my hands acted too quickly.]

[... After eleven years, through such a long passage of time—they still drove me to such reckless abandon. Like the eight-year-old kid breaking out of the music classroom, I rushed out once more.]

[The eight-year-old child made himself bloody, and so did the nineteen-year-old me.]

[I felt a burning pain.]

[Even though I was still the person who couldn't even rescue an orange cat. I couldn't save a child, couldn't save a female classmate, couldn't even save myself.]

[But I saved Su the Savior.]

[Perhaps, he can ensure that everyone...]

[A life full of light, peace, and smoothness.]

[For life after life, for eternity.]

...

[This world never killed me.]

[—I didn't lose to it.]

...

Su Ming'an stood up.

The night descended like a black silk cloth, gently embracing him, embracing the black bone spike in his hand.

"General Qin, I..."

He slowly swept his gaze over this unfamiliar Nine Serenities and uttered the words Su Wensheng exchanged his life for:

"I... have returned."

...