Welcome to Rewind World Game

Su Ming'an quickly recalled his own experiences.

In the previous loop: After returning to his room from the church, he logged into "Louyue Nation." He went onto the deck and greeted Yi Zhongyu and others, and Zou Yuqing helped him style his hair. Just as they were about to reach Penglai Fairy Island, he was attacked in the real world, and he immediately exited the game, getting killed in the real world.

In this loop: Right after he woke up, he was already in "Louyue Nation." He didn't go onto the deck; instead, he called out to Mo Yan in the room, asking Mo Yan to use the Water Control Talisman to speed up the ship, arriving at Penglai Fairy Island twenty minutes faster than in the previous loop. He only went onto the deck and ascended the island at the moment they reached, skipping the part where Zou Yuqing styled his hair.

So, logically, in this loop, his hair should have been loose and scattered, not styled. Mo Yan telling Zou Yuqing not to fall in love was something that happened in the previous loop.

"So..."

Su Ming'an quickly turned his thoughts around.

——If Du still remembers what happened in the previous loop, then there's only one possibility.

"..."

Su Ming'an looked up, gazing into the silent night sky.

He could clearly hear his heartbeat, one beat after another, with all the muscles in his body tensed.

"King?" Xiao Jingsan observed Su Ming'an's expression.

"I'm fine." Su Ming'an maintained a calm demeanor on the surface, hiding all panic deep within his heart.

——If Du still remembers what happened in the previous loop, there's only one possibility.

——There is no such thing as a "previous loop."

In other words,

——He didn't actually rebound.

——After being assassinated in the real world, he didn't rebound but directly loaded into the game "Louyue Nation." Time was normally progressing, and there was no retrospection.

In the eyes of Mo Yan, Yi Zhongyu, Zou Yuqing, and others, he merely suddenly exited the game and then suddenly loaded back into the game, with nothing more than asking Mo Yan to speed up in the cabin.

Upon closer recall, many details bore clues.

First, when he thought he had rebounded and regardless of Mo Yan or Yi Zhongyu, they did not greet him like they did in the "previous loop." Clearly, in the previous loop, Yi Zhongyu specifically came to say hello, but in this loop, he didn't say a word.

Does this imply that——they had already greeted?

Secondly, after thinking he had rebounded, he asked Mo Yan, "With the maximum ship speed now, how quickly can we reach Penglai Fairy Island?" Mo Yan replied, "If it's the fastest, it will take only a dozen seconds, but boss, do we really need to be in such a hurry? We're already so close."

——So close.

Su Ming'an pondered.

In the previous loop, it clearly took more than twenty minutes to reach Penglai Fairy Island, yet suddenly it became "so close."

This indicates that the ship has been continually sailing. He truly did not rebound.

Moreover, a Water Control Talisman shortening a more than twenty-minute voyage to merely a dozen seconds is inherently strange. At that time, Su Ming'an was contemplating the assassination issue and didn't think it through, but now he realized that the principle of the Water Control Talisman is to propel ocean waves to assist the ship's voyage. The cabin wasn't overly jolted, so accelerating over a hundredfold was impossible.

This only indicates that the distance between the ship and the island itself wasn't that much.

Su Ming'an controlled his increasingly rapid breathing.

——What caused his erroneous judgment?

——It was the login mechanism of "Louyue Nation."

Logically, players should appear where they logged out when logging in. However, "Louyue Nation" is not like this. After logging out below the deck, even though it was only a few minutes later, upon logging in again, Su Ming'an appeared in his cabin.

This made him mistakenly believe he had rebounded to a past time point.

If at that time he had boarded the deck to take a look, he could have noticed the island's distance was incorrect, but just as he was about to go on deck, Mo Yan's Water Control Talisman began to vibrate the cabin. When he held onto the wall to go on deck, Penglai Fairy Island had already arrived. He missed the opportunity to confirm the distance, leading to a blind spot in thinking.

Therefore, the truth should be——after being assassinated in the real world, he didn't trigger the Death Rebound but suddenly loaded into the game "Louyue Nation."

Now two only doubts remain:

Why didn't he trigger the Death Rebound?

And, why did he enter the game "Louyue Nation" after dying in reality and was unable to log out?

Speaking of which, the mechanism of the Death Rebound is——after he dies, it triggers time retrospection, rewinding to a fixed time node, usually when a crucial event occurs.

But "death," how is it being judged?

Physical death, or spiritual death, or——"I thought I died?"

Su Ming'an pondered.

There was once an experiment in the world where a prisoner's eyes were blindfolded, and a scalpel was used to lightly cut the prisoner's wrist, without actually slicing it open, followed by the sound of dripping water to simulate the sound of blood dripping. The prisoner believed his blood was continually flowing out, and before long he died. In reality, the prisoner's wrist wasn't cut open, and not a drop of blood flowed. Later examination revealed the prisoner's body's reactions were all the same as symptoms of massive blood loss——meaning, his consciousness believed he was bleeding, causing the body to have reactions to excessive blood loss.

The prisoner believed he died, so he truly died.

The real world is already like this; it's even more evident in the Tenth World. Everything is formed from "acknowledgment," so if everywhere in the Mortal World is an illusion, where there's no acknowledgment, no reality, where everywhere can be acknowledged, everywhere can be real.

Even Su Ming'an himself didn't know if, at this moment, he was being led by some existence, or if he was having a "recognition error."

"..."

Su Ming'an vaguely sensed danger.

This seemingly real and unreal world is what's most frightening. The scariest part is when you haven't reacted, you miss the opportunity to break the impasse—if you think Penglai Fairy Island is a fairy island, then in your eyes, it truly is a fairy mist-enveloped island; if you think a fairy is a fairy, then you subconsciously overlook the fairy's embarrassment and ugliness.

——Then, what if you think you are dead?

Su Ming'an carefully recalled the feeling during the assassination at that time; it was an assassin with an unseeable face. The long black hair had a hint of a lemon scent. At that time, his chest was pierced through, logically very hard to survive, but it can't be assumed that he died.

He believed that at the last moment before he died, he was intercepted by some kind of existence which allowed him to continue living, resulting in him not dying, thus not triggering the rebound.

Death must trigger a rebound. This is an absolute truth up to now.

After he was assassinated, his consciousness vanished without actually dying. Then he was placed into "Louyue Nation," and due to some kind of [rule], he couldn't exit the game.

As for the principle, more information is still needed. Otherwise, it's challenging to come up with a reasonable answer, no matter how much one thinks.

"Du, you clearly saw me being assassinated in the real world, why didn't you express any thoughts on the matter?" Su Ming'an spoke slowly.

"Huh? Because Anjiang, you didn't allow me to speak." Du replied, bewildered, "Before, when I played music, you always kept telling me to shut up, and I strictly followed your instructions. Unless Anjiang you actively ask me, I won't speak up. I was also quite puzzled why, after you were assassinated, you could still play the game so calmly."

… Really?

Su Ming'an said, "I'll cancel that command. In the future, feel free to say whatever you want."

"Yeah." Du was very happy.

Su Ming'an took a deep breath and raised his hand.

The situation was completely clear now, and everything could be covered up.

"King, what are you doing?" Xiao Jingsan was still watching him.

For a moment, Su Ming'an's hand actually trembled a bit.

But he quickly smoothed out the tremble, as a flash of annihilation surfaced at his fingertip and stabbed into his temple.

Petals of peach blossoms drifted past his eyes, brushed over the back of his hand, and bright red blood trickled down his cheek. To ensure his death, he was ruthless, stabbing deeply, with annihilation frantically penetrating through the wound, droplets of blood falling onto the peach blossom carpet on the ground, and he collapsed downward.

"Bang."

Lying in his own blood, Su Ming'an's eyes opened slightly, his fingers still trying to dig deeper with the last ounce of strength, until his vision was a blur of blood.

This act was so ruthless it did not seem like suicide, but more like dealing with an enemy.

He vaguely saw Xiao Jingsan rushing over, supporting him. The look in his eyes was like confusion, yet also seemed like enlightenment.

After death, everything would be rewound, everything would restart. Everything Su Ming'an had done or said, including the pact with Xiao Jingsan, would be ruthlessly erased by the timeline, leaving no trace.

Su Ming'an seemed to see a kite, a bright red kite in the sky, it swept past his bloody vision, soaring up quickly and high, while his body was so heavy, as if separated from it by a thousand miles.

Blood flowed along the peach blossom petals, staining them an enchanting crimson red, the tidily arranged hair bun was also tugged into disarray, with black hair spread like a spider web on the ground.

He slowly closed his eyes, carefully perceiving the gradual fading away of his life, finally confirming... complete death.

...

Death Rebound.

Death... Rebound?

...

Su Ming'an opened his eyes.

A kaleidoscope of colors poured into his vision. His breath caught for an instant, then quickly resumed a normal breathing rate.

When he looked up, colorful light reflected in his eyes.

Under the stained glass windows of the church, the Holy White Angel statue held a scale in one hand and a long sword in the other, appearing both compassionate and sacred.

...Indeed, he hadn't triggered the Death Rebound earlier.

...Now this was the true Death Rebound.

Here was the church, an earlier time node. Here, he met the black-haired girl, and also observed the conversation between Chao Yan and Xiao Jingsan at night.

Su Ming'an turned around and returned to his room. Based on his experience from the previous cycle, he would be assassinated in over twenty minutes.

He closed and locked the doors and windows, let out the black cat and white cat to be alert of the surroundings. This behavior wasn't exactly prophetic, at most it was being very vigilant.

Then, he loaded the "Louyue Nation" game, the third chapter started, he awoke from the bed in the cabin and walked onto the deck.

"The First Dream Patrol Family, you finally came online, it's already past two in the morning, you kept us waiting." Yi Zhongyu approached, his tone was not at all irritated, more like teasing.

Su Ming'an observed the deck, Zou Yuqing, dressed in red silk, stood at the bow, Mo Yan stood aside, with no difference in their positions from the last cycle. Yi Zhongyu's words, demeanor, and tone also did not change.

Indeed, this was the true rollback.

Su Ming'an opened the [Live Broadcast Management], launched the Dream Patrol live broadcast room, and the audience poured in immediately.

[The First Dream Patrol Family! I'm here!!]

[Did you really join the City Guardian Department? Why not come to the Human Self-Rescue Alliance, we'd really love you there.]

[Tomorrow at midnight, the "Tower" inside the relics will open, the Union Government invites all streamers with over fifty thousand fans to participate, will the First Dream Patrol Family come?]

[In what capacity will the First Dream Patrol Family come? As a member of the City Guardian Department, or as a Dream Patrol streamer?]

[The First Dream Patrol Family... return soul... return soul...]

...

Su Ming'an watched these bullet comments.

In the last cycle... did he livestream?

Why did he have no impression of these bullet comments at all? He felt as if he didn't see any bullet comments the entire time. He hadn't noticed anything amiss.

Indeed, he was unknowingly influenced in terms of "cognition". This influence was subtle and gradual, unless by rebounding, making his mind a little clearer, otherwise, it's like being in a play, very hard to break away by oneself.

"Your Highness." At this time, Zou Yuqing approached him, touching his hair: "You are the Eldest Prince of Louyue, look at how messy your hair is?"

Mo Yan, seeing this, cautioned: "Stay away from elder brother!"

Zou Yuqing laughed: "Do you know how to comb hair? We can be informal, but not Your Highness."

Mo Yan pouted: "Anyway, remember, elder brother will not indulge in love, if you have any improper thoughts, just give up."

Zou Yuqing chuckled softly.

Su Ming'an watched their interaction. They were saying almost the same words as in the previous cycle, like a group of NPCs.

He even had a feeling that he became the only "Player", as long as he looped back, people would only say the exact same words, like a group constantly repeating their actions NPCs.

Only he could change these people's actions, only he could alter these people's destined endings.

Only he could guide everyone's destiny.

"Thank you, it's all yours." Su Ming'an slightly bowed his head, letting Zou Yuqing comb his hair.

Zou Yuqing gave a light chuckle, tying his bun neatly.

Twenty minutes of sailing later, the big ship was about to reach Penglai Fairy Island, and Su Ming'an stood on the deck, ready to exit the game at any time, as the Assassin would come at this time point.

"Brother, you don't look well?" Mo Yan came up.

"Maybe it's because I haven't slept for too long." Su Ming'an said.

"Staying up late causes sudden death, sleeping past two AM increases the chance of sudden death, and exacerbates various ailments, causing organ failure." Mo Yan expressed concern, "Brother, next time don't log on so late."

"Okay." Su Ming'an smiled gently.