Welcome to Rewind World Game

Su Ming'an heard the overwhelming sound of machines.

The ground beneath his feet began to repair itself, all the cannon muzzles started to turn, and the machinery of this city became noisy, as if welcoming its long-lost owner.

…

[You have awakened the Mechanical City.]

[Welcome back, Old God.]

…

The deity paused, and even upon seeing Su Wensheng's death, the deity did not express any sense of retention or sorrow.

Su Ming'an ran forward, reaching out towards Alice.

At this moment, it was as if many scenes flashed through his mind; he saw many blurry images, and his perspective began to shift—

…

I felt as if I were standing in a room, writing down a long-term plan. The ticking of the clock by my ear sounded like a fixed heartbeat.

I wrote stroke by stroke, pouring the blood and sweat of millions into the strokes, writing the destiny of an entire world in ink. With the final stroke, I blew on the paper and suddenly felt very quiet.

A long-lost silence.

The desires of the city dwellers, humanity's longing for survival, and the generals' ceaseless defense day and night finally reached a result.

[Ark Project].

This plan would span millennia until the Old God awakens.

I set down the pen and heard the sound of the door lock opening. I turned around to see a black-haired, green-eyed girl walk in, her eyes like a deep pool of tranquility. She wore a short shirt and jacket, her body covered in burns.

I found myself opening my mouth and saying, "... Those guys are heavy-handed again."

The girl laughed and covered her wounds: "It's okay, it's all for the experiment. Burns are common when life force is the cost of power, and I'll probably get used to this burning pain in the future. Since I have a longer life than ordinary humans, I should do what I can."

I asked, "How are things outside?"

The girl said, "[Deities] have almost taken over the world. If the plan isn't initiated soon, I'm afraid it will be too late. Have you made up your mind?"

Su Ming'an felt a disturbance by his ear, as if some words were replaced, and the word [Deities] that the girl used should have been something else.

I handed her the plan book.

She stared at the plan book for a long time as if something profound was buried inside. And indeed, it was, as it determined the fate of nearly ten billion people—an entire world's fate. This thing fell upon my hands, condensing the choices of ten billion people into my singular judgment of right and wrong.

Her pupils brightened slightly, like a spark igniting. She clenched her fist before her lips, as if doing so could stop the trembling of her shoulders.

"... The emotions accumulated from reincarnation are the motivation, The Republic is the shield, becoming a god is the equivalent positional rank, and then we can transfer the Matrix Orders... I understand." The girl said, "But with this, no one knows if someone will awaken us a thousand years later."

I smiled, "Believe in the possibilities of humanity, believe they can awaken us—let the Ark set sail, we will eventually awaken when the Ark reaches its destination."

"Then... want to have a drink? Everyone wants to see you one last time before reincarnation." The girl said.

"It's not the last time after all; maybe we'll meet again a thousand years later..." I wanted to smile. But every bit of my smile felt stiff; I know this plan carries significant risks, but it has the highest probability of success. To let an entire civilization embark on a millennia-spanning ark to traverse the vast universe is indeed a bold idea.

We didn't go to the luxurious banquet hall, already destroyed by explosions. Instead, we sat on the eaves, watching the distant fireworks and said our goodbyes.

Under the fireworks, people's faces flickered bright and dark, and sometimes when a scarlet firework rose to the sky, it was as if a fire ignited in everyone's eyes.

"Perhaps we will become outsiders to civilization."

The first to raise a glass to me was my comrade, Li Yuxuan. His red hair and golden eyes:

"We will cry when we miss home, laugh when we look forward to the future, but we can still breathe, we still have thoughts, and we will still... sing, paint, write. We haven't yet become text on a screen or a tombstone in the minds of intruders. Through a thousand years of reincarnation, I will become various versions of myself. At that time, I hope I can live a more wonderful life."

I raised my glass to him and drank the orange juice within.

I knew his past. He once persecuted his brother in a struggle for power in his family and was exiled from the clan. Now that the Ark is set to sail, perhaps he and his brother can reconcile in the next life.

"I toast to you." The second to raise a glass was my friend, Xin Yue. Her rose-red hair draped over her shoulders, her eyes like blooming roses:

"If I can reincarnate, I don't want to be lost anymore."

I knew her past. She once was infatuated with a high-ranking official, clouded by love, though I still found it necessary to correct her.

I said, "Our lives will still end within a century, unable to break through human limitations. We only turn our persona and memories into data, stored within generations to come; it's not reincarnation in the traditional sense. They only resemble us, inheriting our responsibilities and will, claiming to be our reincarnation, but they are not us."

My idea is simple.

Human life is but a century, yet stored data can last for a thousand years. Thus, as long as 'we' are imprinted on data and stored within our souls, it can automatically find future generations most compatible with us and pass into subsequent reincarnation.

This involves souls and Word Spirit, making its execution very challenging, but fortunately, I already have a solution... although I can't disclose it yet.

"Who knows?" Xin Yue shrugged, "Like Schrödinger's cat, you won't know the cat's fate if you don't open the box. Although you say we're merely copied onto hard drives, our souls exist on them too, so who knows if we're alive or dead? Perhaps it really counts as reincarnation?"

I did not discuss this with her; the intersection of the scientific and magical realms is inherently complex, and no one is sure if reincarnation signifies we are alive. The debate over the Ship of Theseus has long existed without conclusion.

"In reincarnation, what kind of person will I become?" The third to raise a glass was my student. He leaned on the sloped eaves, the fireworks in the sky outlining his Western features. He squinted his bright black eyes and smiled at me: "I say, can you control reincarnation? I want to be a noble, can you arrange that for me?"

His elbow nudged my waist: "Or, have me become a carefree minstrel? Anyway, before the millennium arrives, we can do anything we want. I just want to go around singing with a lute."

I sipped the orange juice, the sour liquid stinging my throat. The alcohol scent on these people was strong, making me feel a bit light-headed. I pushed him away, but he came closer again, and I couldn't help but say, "Xiao Ying, stay a bit further from me."

The history between Xiao Ying and me is too long. This guy was accustomed to freedom, an explorer known as "Amber," renowned for a hundred miles around. I discovered his talent while traveling and hoped he would join my Ark Project, but he rejected me harshly.

He ridiculed me for being a teetotaler, unworthy to command him.

So, I wagered a game of Russian roulette with him, using a revolver to take turns shooting at ourselves. By the penultimate shot, he conceded defeat; he didn't dare to stake his free life on a fifty percent chance of death. According to the bet, he became my student and helped me with my tasks. Every day he acted unwillingly, and even grumbled when asked to write some data.

This guy knew he was finally going to be rid of me, he should be happy.

I said, "I cannot control anyone's reincarnation. I don't even know what kind of times we will face in the future. Everything is unknown, like sailing into uncharted deep seas."

I saw the gleam in his eyes dim slightly. The way he looked at me appeared somewhat sorrowful.

... Sorrowful.

Someone accustomed to such freedom also showed this expression, although everything in the world was like his entertainment.

He insisted on being petty, spilling his drink on the ground, mumbling something, but I didn't mind.

In my plan, everyone would enter reincarnation, but I am the exception... I have more important things to do. This concerns whether I can be awakened like them a millennium later.

"What's wrong? You don't look so good." The fourth person to toast me was a black-haired man. He is my elder, both a teacher and a friend, named Li Mingyue.

He always treated me with a motherly attitude, looking young but acting like someone much older... It even let me experience a sense of long-lost kinship.

"Have you thought about what kind of person you want to become in the future?" I gazed into his indifferent pupils.

He seemed to ponder seriously for a moment.

His work involved searching for all kinds of Kaidan. Since [Word Spirits] invaded, many odd Kaidan rules appeared, all due to the invasion. And he, relying on his skill, actually dared to actively test these rules.

It was really too bold.

I often saw him covered in blood. Several times, I nearly lost him.

But after a thousand years, there shouldn't be so many unknown rules. I remember he likes children very much... maybe he could open a research institute and recruit talented kids. Maybe he could become a university professor? These would all suit him well.

"I don't think future generations count as us." Li Mingyue says, "Even if they originate from us, their lives are independent. Therefore, I don't want to set a plan for my reincarnation."

"The future me, whether becoming a professor, a state preceptor, even a director, or a security guard, it's all their own choice. Thousands of possibilities bloom within them, they're just my 'potentialities.'"

"However, if I really were to dream, I hope that in every life, I would devote myself to exploring instant death rules, until several lifetimes later, I could single-handedly unearth all the instant death rules, writing a rule book spanning a millennium. From then on, no one would die from it."

His voice was light, as if speaking of something trivial.

I admired his persistence, realizing that throughout lifetimes, he dedicates himself to such a cause. This cannot even be described by utmost devotion and self-sacrifice until death.

I said, "But during the thousand years, [Deities] will repeatedly try to erase history, erase the traces of our existence, and also erase the rule book you discovered."

Li Mingyue pursed his lips: "I will secretly print them in my hard drive... if I still remember it."

This reminded me of a story I once heard.

There was a forgetful child whose memory was poor, easily forgetting things. So whenever he went to school, he would secretly copy his lessons onto his arms and stomach, thus fooling the old scholar afraid of having his books stolen at the entrance. After leaving school, this child spread the lessons so that everyone could have books to read. Henceforth, people were endowed with wisdom and knowledge, no longer toiling as ignorant laborers.

Today, it seems Li Mingyue is like that child.

He will secretly copy the "lessons" onto his "arms and stomach," until "departing from school" to disseminate the "lessons," letting people possess the wisdom and knowledge to resist the rules.

It's very difficult, if he can achieve this throughout lifetimes, even "perseverance" falls short to describe him.

I exchanged a glance with him, then looked away.

Under this night, we raised our glasses together, watching the long-standing fireworks.

I listened to their visions.

I noted their expectations.

I remembered their faces.

Perhaps, generations of future descendants are us, possessing our emotions, our personas, our responsibilities. Perhaps, they also have independent freedom, and we are merely the 'past lives' attached to their souls.

Gathering this... until my Ark is perfected, until the Old Gods awaken.

We would become priests, perhaps in the next life, we would be a priest's believers.

We would become doctors, perhaps in the next life, we would be the babies personally delivered by the doctor.

We would become soldiers burying bones, perhaps in the next life, we would be executioners initiating wars.

Generations of skeletal remains accumulating. A thousand years later, when the Old Gods awake, everything can draw to a close.

"They returned in their dreams to that civilization not yet destroyed, laughing in spring, fishing by the lake, weaving hats from straw, and wreaths from flowers."

And I hope,

——That when the Ark reaches its destination, and the Old Gods awaken, what we see when we open our eyes will not be a dream.

Until that day, when the Deity issued the order "completely erase history, erase the Old Gods' traces."

I stood on the white High Tower and activated the plan.

...

Su Ming'an's perspective was abruptly interrupted.

He had yet to understand what kind of plan this was, what the Ark was, what the iceberg was, and what the purpose of reincarnation was.

And then he saw someone blocking his way.

The Black Blade extended forward, blocking the incoming long sword, Lv Shu's white hair fluttered, with blood flowing from his overexerted wrist.