Welcome to Rewind World Game

After falling into a coma, Su Ming'an's consciousness drifted in and out.

He vaguely heard the voices of two people.

"——At three in the morning, I received the news of Chao Yan's death." Xiao Jingsan's voice.

"——Yes." The Deity's voice.

"——Was it you who killed her?" Xiao Jingsan's voice.

"Yes. So, your resistance this time has failed. Su Ming'an cannot escape my control, he belongs to me now." The Deity's laughter.

Xiao Jingsan was silent for a long time.

"——Before the World is reset, may I ask you to set him free?" Xiao Jingsan said.

"——You should know, the victor of the game has the right to claim all the spoils, I will not let him go. Furthermore, I do not plan to reset the World this time, I am very satisfied with this world line." The Deity's voice.

"——You!" Xiao Jingsan's urgent voice.

"——No matter what you say, I won't let him go. But if you're worried, you can stay by his side, accompany him." The Deity's voice.

Xiao Jingsan was silent for a long time once again.

"——Xiao Jingsan, why do you hold such strong feelings for him, you're not even that familiar with him now, are you?" The Deity's voice: "I've always been confused by human emotions."

"——Because you're just a lifeless thing." Xiao Jingsan said coldly.

"——No matter what you say. I will ensure he safely gets through these twenty days, and after everything ends, send him out of this World peacefully. This way, everyone can have a happy ending." The Deity's voice: "I'll keep him confined, would you like to stay with him?"

Xiao Jingsan was silent for a long time again.

Until his voice turned deep, hoarse, trembling, like the last wisp of an unfinished breeze.

"——Alright." Xiao Jingsan's voice.

...

After that, Su Ming'an had a very long dream.

In the dream, a girl held his hand, leading him through a field of blooming lilies, her hand wrapped in a Sword Cocoon was somewhat rough, touching his palm lines like a current passing through.

The petals were reflected in her clear pupils, and she softly whispered in his ear——"Detective Lord."

It was as if something sprouted and grew in his heart, a kind of familial care and happiness that he had never really experienced before.

He didn't know.

He had never seen something like this.

As they walked down the long snowy road, he reached the seaside, where a Medic Girl carrying herbs came out from a house, smiling and calling him——"Your Highness the Eldest Prince."

Her smiling face was reflected in the seaside sunset, like layers of fiery clouds. The cross necklace on her chest fluttered in the wind. In that moment, he felt——a suffocating, nerve-wracking, painful, sweet, eternal——emotion.

What is this?

He had never experienced something like this.

He and she sat together under the sunset, neither of them speaking.

Occasionally, they would get up and walk slowly on the beach, with the sea breeze lifting her black hair, which had a fresh lemon scent.

Whenever Su Ming'an thought about waking up, the girl would stop and brew him a pot of red tea, and then Su Ming'an would forget his intention to leave.

"——Su Ming'an, wake up, wake up!"

Occasionally, Su Ming'an would also hear some voices, as if they came from a distant place, blurred and unclear.

He often struggled within these voices, wanting to wake up because he had a strong feeling——he was not used to comfort and happiness. These would burn him, and make him fearful.

However, the girl said: "This is reality, please don't fall asleep. Those who call you to wake up are actually trying to drag you into nightmares. The dreams are desperate, painful, and will become the beginning of your life's suffering."

Occasionally, Su Ming'an would see a fluttering butterfly by the seaside.

It scattered faint phosphorescence, like stars. The butterfly told him, this is reality, he was born to belong to happiness and not to calamity, he was born to belong to joy and not to pain, he was born to belong to peace and not to madness. This is the true——Utopia.

Here, no one would watch him, and no one would blame him. Here is a happy, eternal, ideal——end of everything. This is what he wanted to create but could never reach——Paradise.

"Do you like it here?" the girl asked him.

Su Ming'an just shook his head, he vaguely felt, something was not right here.

"Why?" the girl asked, puzzled.

"I do not belong to happiness." Su Ming'an said.

The reason he couldn't accept it was not because it wasn't happy enough here, but because he was afraid of happiness.

At that moment, he felt heat in his fingers, though there was no accessory on his ten fingers, it was as if there was a ring that shouldn't exist heating up.

He looked up at the butterfly.

——Butterflies should have a special meaning in his memory, so much so that when he thought of the image of a butterfly, his heart would tremble. But as he looked at the butterfly now, he couldn't remember what it meant.

So, there must be a problem here.

He wanted to awaken, until his consciousness gradually detached——

When he completely broke through the dream, all the happiness disappeared. The girl looked at him, sighed softly, as if staring at a creature that was arrogantly defying the inevitable.

...

Su Ming'an opened his eyes, and there was an unfamiliar ceiling above him.

He felt that his body was very heavy, this was a deep sleep.

His consciousness lingered for a moment, then quickly cleared——after being knocked out on the chariot by Xiao Jingsan, where did he come to?

"Tick, tock."

He heard a faint sound, like the sound of a liquid dripping.

So he turned his head——on his right wrist, there was unexpectedly a heavy iron chain. Blood was sliding down his palm, falling into a copper basin, bringing a burst of cold pain.

He leaned against the bed, next to the window, and below the window were very tall buildings.

Until there was a creaking sound, someone pushed the door open and walked in——

In modern attire was Xiao Jingsan, his brows downcast, slowly entering. The wooden plaque on his waist jangled as the high ponytail swayed in the wind. He was holding a pipe in his hand, smoke rings floating up.

In that moment, it was as if some broken mirror was reassembling there, Su Ming'an heard his own rapid breathing.

Xiao Jingsan's expression was shrouded in gloom, like a faint mist in a forest, his usual smile had completely disappeared, his mouth corners drooping weakly. Until he met Su Ming'an's gaze, he seemed to want to smile, but his facial muscles were too stiff, twisting his smile into a half-crying, half-laughing expression.

Su Ming'an really wanted to say stop smiling, it's such an ugly smile.

But Xiao Jingsan continued to smile, it seemed he only had the strength to smile left, nothing else.

"...Is there anything you want to explain to me?" Su Ming'an said.

Why did he appear in this unfamiliar place and even have his blood drained after being knocked out by Xiao Jingsan?

Xiao Jingsan walked over to him slowly, every step very heavy.

He squinted his eyes, took a puff from the pipe, but turned his face, letting the smoke waft out through the window so it wouldn't blow on Su Ming'an's face.

"...We have already failed, you cannot escape the Deity's control, so nothing matters anymore." Xiao Jingsan said: "You are an Eligible, your blood is useful to the Deity, so It made me the Guardian, to watch over you, to bleed you."

Xiao Jingsan once thought he could defy Destiny, but he found that if any part of the plan went wrong, all hope would shatter, as if no resistance had ever been made.

Eventually, even he himself would lose his freedom.

Su Ming'an had the urge to laugh out loud.

As if he saw the gears of destiny clicking back to their original position.

Looking at Xiao Jingsan's sorrowful eyes, Su Ming'an spoke: "Let me leave."

Maybe the Death Rebound was the best solution, but he remembered the deity's words, "forbid self-destruction," surely this was the deity's domain.

"I can't do that." Xiao Jingsan said: "…Forget it. Forget those things from before, just assume…the instance has just been activated, and nothing you've seen has ever happened. In fourteen days, you'll leave the instance, and the Perfect Completion Progress will directly increase to one hundred. This is the deity's promise, He Himself is a user of the rules, He won't break His promise."

Su Ming'an said: "—You want me to forget Su Luoluo, forget grandma Lin, forget the Ark Project, forget the Fire Transmitters, forget all the history I've already traced back to? Let me stay here comfortably, confined for fourteen days?"

Xiao Jingsan took a puff from his pipe.

He laughed softly, clearly belittling Su Ming'an, yet his tone seemed to scold himself:

"…Just forget it."

"After all, besides being a blood supply, you have no other role."

His tone had completely lost its usual banter, his expression solemn as a statue.

The wooden tag at his waist jangled, he turned his back, no longer looking at Su Ming'an.

"Then why are you staying with me." Su Ming'an said: "The deity's target is only me, you can escape. The deity cannot kill someone without reason, you can stay alive."

"I just think, better you have me with you than being confined by the deity alone." Xiao Jingsan said: "At least there's someone to talk to, right?"

Throwing himself into hell was the simplest.

Xiao Jingsan had been trying to defeat the deity…until he received the news of Chao Yan's death, he knew he had failed. Once Chao Yan died, the grand scheme of humans was meaningless.

He could only preserve Su Ming'an as best as he could, at least Su Ming'an was innocent.

The deity cared a lot about Su Ming'an, He locked Su Ming'an in a very tall building, sending Xiao Jingsan to guard him, to take his blood.

"Why does Chao Yan's death mean failure?" Su Ming'an had to understand this.

"She was…the bearer of everything." Xiao Jingsan said: "She had something on her that allowed us to resist. Without it, in the final battle, we couldn't confront the deity."

"I understand now." Su Ming'an said.

Xiao Jingsan looked at Su Ming'an puzzled. Did he still think there was a chance to turn things around?

Su Ming'an just smiled.

The black cat on his shoulder had long disappeared.

The ensuing time was very ordinary.

Xiao Jingsan constantly guarded Su Ming'an.

Su Ming'an would often be drawn into dreams, his consciousness always hazy, perhaps due to the indoor incense or maybe the deity was controlling him, preventing his clarity.

Sometimes he'd have his cognition blocked, forgetting who he was, but the overly blissful scenes in his dreams always made him feel anxious.

Thus, he repeatedly experienced being drawn into happy dreams and then waking up anxiously.

Due to the isolated building, he couldn't know what was happening outside or sense the passage of time.

During a cloudy moment—there was a moment—he seemed to see a pair of eyes. Pale eyes, like a full moon. Those eyes once gently watched him, and their owner once warned him not to leave the small town.

Whose eyes were those?

Li…Ming…Yue?

Li…Ming…

Li…

…

—Whose eyes were those?

Can't remember.

He could vaguely recall the experiences of the first nine worlds, but everything about the Tenth World was blocked from his cognition, gradually remembering nothing.

The deity would come to him, dismiss Xiao Jingsan, gently holding Su Ming'an's hand, carefully examining the wounds on his palm, then smile.

"Don't worry, it's alright, there won't be anyone hurting anyone anymore." The deity gently told him:

"Rest assured, the world is running as usual."

"I am your friend, I will take care of you."

When Su Ming'an asked about Xiao Jingsan, the deity said, Xiao Jingsan was just a stranger, here to guard you. Nothing ever happened between you two.

The deity said, the Tenth World is like this, nothing worth caring for story-wise, nothing worth retrieving history-wise, everyone lived well.

The deity said the Tenth World only had a fourteen-day process, and today was the first day of Replica Activation.

The deity said he was the first person Su Ming'an met after entering the Tenth World.

The deity said if you remember any fragmented scenes, don't mind them, they were merely dreams, not past events. Outside the High Tower, it's all paradise, everyone is very happy.

No matter what Su Ming'an wanted, the deity would comply, except freedom. He was like the most patient friend.

The deity would often sit quietly by the bed, brewing red tea, looking extremely serene.

—Until the clock pointed to one in the afternoon.

"Boom!"

A violent explosion echoed from downstairs, the deity's expression changed slightly, and he rushed out the door.

Su Ming'an stood up confused, not knowing what happened.

The next moment, a black cat jumped in from outside the window, extending its paw, arranging Su Ming'an's right hand into the posture that activated the "Eternal Dawn" skill.

The next moment, the "Eternal Dawn" skill was activated.

Su Ming'an's eyes regained clarity. He petted the black cat's head and put it away.

…

[I underestimated the strength of the tentacle monster.]

[No matter how long I try, I cannot defeat it, it's too powerful, gathering too many negative emotions.]

[At most, I can fight until three in the morning, then I'll be physically exhausted, 'killed' by it.]

[In that case, this path won't work. I need a way to reset the world line, and before the world line resets, for Su Ming'an to gain more information for next time break-solving.]

[—"Chao Yan Diary"]

…

…

[A black cat told us Su Ming'an's location.]

[At three in the morning, I contacted Noel Agnini.]

[He said he would come to end it all.]

[—"Chao Yan Diary"]

…