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Chapter 160 - 158: "The Oriole Bird

Chapter 160: Chapter 158: "The Oriole Bird

Wen Jie was taken aback; he didn’t know if the Number One Player was testing him or being serious.

The Guardians were all chosen from elite members of the army, and as their captain, he was an elite among elites, not only possessing great strength but also a peerless family background. Logically speaking, even if the Number One Player had some suspicions, they should not have been so direct...

But in the next moment, he saw the adorable little girl stretch out her hand.

...And then, he no longer thought the girl was so cute.

"Bang!"

Like a machine violently smashing into mashed potatoes, an invisible force suddenly pressed down, as if weighing a thousand pounds, crashing down on Wen Jie, flattening him completely. His finely crafted armor felt like it was made of paper, and he didn’t even have the chance to utter a question.

There wasn’t even a question asked, not even a reason given.

The little girl held her chin up, the dark halo pulsing in her hand.

"Drag him away," she said, her tone flat and indifferent, as if she had done something most trivial.

Wen Jie was pulled away in his daze.

He looked with hopeful eyes at the NPCs he had got along well with in the past few days, but not one of them pleaded for him.

What remained was only silence.

And after Wen Jie was dragged away, a few players hidden among the Guardians immediately fell in line. They watched the scene with trepidation and put aside any other scheming thoughts.

Su Ming’an watched Wen Jie being pulled away, and then he saw the conversation in the channel:

[Wen Jie: The Number One Player is that Sage Master! The one with silver eyes, accompanied by a little girl!]

...

[Bark: Any brothers in the Revolutionary Army? I’m on the northeastern edge of Hodar Forest, all alone. Can someone come pick me up?]

[Gary: Fishing again, this guy is definitely not there.]

[Lucas: I think I just saw someone reveal the Number One Player’s identity.]

[Walker: Again? How many times has it been, everyday there’s a report, just yesterday someone said the Number One Player was the leader of the Revolutionary Army, I checked and that person is still with the Regular Army, now I just don’t believe it anymore.]

[Zhang Hongyi: Contribution Value is so hard to earn, it’s exhausting to be at the forefront...]

[Shitatou Yu: Forget about the Number One Player already, at this rate, I’ll just be a spectator in this instance again...]

[...]

Perhaps with a ’nothing to lose’ attitude, Wen Jie, knowing he had no hope of gaining anything from this instance anymore, simply blurted out Su Ming’an’s identity.

And after this message appeared, Su Ming’an noticed dozens of gazes turning towards him from the various groups of people beside the square. But they obviously didn’t pay too much attention; after all, there had been many false reports over the past few days, and Wen Jie’s message didn’t stir up much in the torrent of channel chats.

Su Ming’an had no intention of driving the players to extinction—Players were not his enemies.

It was just that, in a team so close to his own, uncertain elements needed to be eliminated.

"Let’s go," said Su Ming’an.

Hui Shuhang nodded, and then Su Ming’an saw a chariot engraved with various arrays and adorned with gemstones of many colors, looking quite ostentatious, being driven over.

"..." He silently watched the chariot that exuded a nouveau riche vibe from every angle.

"I can walk," said Su Ming’an, proceeding to walk past it.

Hui Shuhang blinked: "But your body..."

"A walk will do me good, I can manage that."

Su Ming’an always felt she was overly concerned about him, as if worrying about a seriously ill patient, but he himself felt fine physically.

"Okay," Hui Shuhang replied gently, "As you wish."

As she spoke, she quickly caught up, and then, the sound of armor clashing followed behind her.

This mixed guard squad, filled with players harboring various thoughts, would accompany them on this journey.

As they moved forward to the outside, Su Ming’an looked up.

He saw buildings on the edge of the square, with golden flags fluttering. Servants were numerous as clouds, with robes trailing on the floor. The ground was spotless, so clean it could reflect one’s image.

In the distance, there was a dome-like arc, resembling a defensive barrier, stretching from an endless horizon along the blue-purple starry sky to a faraway point. The golden barrier shimmered with a breathing luster under the starlight.

This was a landscape he had never seen on Zhai Xing.

He remembered that in his memory, he always saw only the grey-white sky polluted by city smog, or at most, the blue sea and sky at tourist spots during travels.

...But he had never seen such a magnificent scene.

The previous Apocalypse, Mingxi Middle School, and Terrily Town, gave him the feeling that there was not much difference from Zhai Xing. Even White City, he adapted to it well, after all, it still seemed within the realm of science.

But in this world, he felt a sense of strangeness for the first time—this indeed was no longer the world he knew.

It wasn’t a movie, nor virtual reality, he was really breathing the air of a new world, able to touch everything before him. The world was breathing on its own, all the NPCs were flesh and blood, and he was an outsider who had stepped into this mix of reality and illusion.

This was all brand new.

As he stepped out of the square, he felt something and looked back.

From the highest building that seemed to float in the clouds, he saw a protruding balcony.

Above the balcony, there stood a white shadow, seemingly watching him.

...

"—Teacher?"

Before Su Ming’an could see clearly, he heard a warm and gentle greeting from beside him.

He turned his head and saw a purple figure, with hair the color of a starry galaxy, like the beautiful milky way in an oil painting.

Xu Anna seemed to have just come back from outside, she smiled at Su Ming’an with a tranquil smile.

Behind her, followed two little girls.

The girls wore clothes from fine fabric, but their slender figures, like reeds, made the clothes look ill-fitting, as if they had just grabbed a dress and put it on.

"Are you going out for a walk? That’s nice, I remember Teacher has been in the laboratory for eight years straight, having hardly gone out..." Xu Anna looked at him with a longing gaze.

"Who are those behind you?" Su Ming’an suddenly asked.

He could tell that these two little girls were clearly not children of nobility, even with their dresses on it was evident from their malnourished bodies. They were skinny, pale, and their eyes lacked luster, out of place in such surroundings.

Hui Shuhang looked over, rare contortion of his lips implying a ripple of emotion, as if he held disdain for Xu Anna’s demeanor.

"They, they are children I rescued from a village surrounded by war," Xu Anna said as she gently touched the dry hair of the little girl, her smile unchanged, "From now on, following me, they can also integrate into life here."

Su Ming’an glanced at the trembling girls under her palm, guessing that they might be players as well, younger players. Because generally, unfamiliar NPCs would show some increase in favorability towards him—after all, this shell of his did look handsome.

But right now, he heard no prompts about rising or falling favorability, so these two must be players.

...If they were rescued by a noble like Xu Anna, then their situation should be better than a few days ago, right?

Su Ming’an took another look and then moved on, the guards around him also started moving in unison.

Xu Anna stood there, watching him, her eyes filled with admiration.

System prompts suddenly rang out:

[NPC (Xu Anna), Favorability: 95+5]

[Current Favorability Rating: Deeply Rooted Affection]

[Attention: Current favorability has reached (Love Line・Maximum)]

[Attention: Maximum favorability has its pros and cons, please act cautiously.]

...

...It’s the highest now.

However, it seemed that this woman was truly of no use, even with maximum favorability, Su Ming’an hadn’t heard any system prompt about an increase in his survival chances.

He paused for a moment, then quickly put this matter behind him and didn’t look at Xu Anna’s eyes again.

"—Are you curious about Miss Xu Anna?"

Su Ming’an turned his head and met Hui Shuhang’s beautiful eyes.

"Not particularly curious," he said.

"Among all the students, you seem to care about her the most," Hui Shuhang smiled.

"Because she’s always hovering around me."

"I see, I thought perhaps you liked her," Hui Shuhang said.

Su Ming’an’s footsteps faltered slightly.

The somewhat cool breeze of Ming Hui got into his neck, and his body began to chill unconsciously.

"I am sorry." Hui Shuhang realized she had made a gaffe as soon as she spoke, and she bowed her head slightly, her eyes and brows drooping: "I’m very sorry, I said something strange..."

"What’s wrong with Xu Anna?" Su Ming’an didn’t let her continue to confess, this little girl was serious and sometimes stubborn, if he dwelled on it, she would keep apologizing until night.

"Those two children." Hui Shuhang said: "They probably won’t survive the night."

"What?"

"The ancient methods say, bathing in the blood of a virgin girl can preserve everlasting youth," Hui Shuhang said. "Miss Xu Anna’s lovely skin must have cost the lives of thousands of children."

Su Ming’an’s steps briefly halted.

He recalled the slightly shy smile of the purple-haired girl, when he first saw her, Xu Anna already had a pure aura, like an innocent girl unaware of the world’s affairs.

But now, Hui Shuhang was telling him that the blank page he saw was not just a single color.

He suddenly remembered the scenes he had seen over these past few days.

...Lowly servants, for a few gold coins, laboring all day, and losing their heads over the slightest conflict with their superiors; innocent commoners, snatched away abruptly to be used as sacrifices for experiments, dying obscurely; for not following etiquette when entering, the Duke’s daughter had her knees broken, her life as flimsy as paper.

Now, even on such an innocent-looking girl, the skin she wore, the blood wedged between her fingers, inextricable, all were the fresh blood of children.

"...I remember, you didn’t care about these things before," Hui Shuhang suddenly turned her head, looking at him, her gaze clear: "But now you are actually harboring doubts."

She spoke in a declarative tone.

"Because I’ve had a change of heart lately," said Su Ming’an. "Is it strange?"

The little girl looked at him intently for a while, then suddenly smiled.

Su Ming’an rarely saw her genuine smile, usually it was precisely calculated in angle, a smile proper in etiquette, but now seeing her smile, it was as exuberant as a blooming flower, like the children he had seen in the amusement park.

"No," she said softly. "I am happy that you have such thoughts."

Su Ming’an suddenly heard the system prompt that Hui Shuhang’s favorability had risen to 70.

Simultaneously, there was a series of additional identity information:

[Identity information has been automatically supplemented.]

[Received Qin Wang·New personal declaration: "I know my birth was a mistake, I truly shouldn’t exist, but I want to live until the day I am supposed to die—"

"I want everyone to be able to stand tall on the wasteland, for them to no longer kneel, for their blood to not be meaninglessly spilled into the soil. I want those who flee to be away from the war, and for the returning wanderer to have a home to come back to."

"Rather than being crowned in light as a deity, it is better to accept death through darkness."

"I will walk towards a grand death, but I want the reborn orioles, the children who no longer cry, and the people weeping with gratitude to sing before my grave."]

[Identity Information Completeness: 70%]

...

Su Ming’an looked at this system prompt and laughed.

He was starting to see that the character he was playing was truly very proud.

Because he could research alone the results that could change the entire continent, Qin Wang was even more unwilling to accept the choice of fate.

If it weren’t for the bloodline of the evil dragon, as long as he could keep living, his wisdom would surely be able to steer the currents of the era, and he could indeed become a person engraved in history.

The endless expanse, all the people, would change because of him.

The world’s ship’s helm was in his hands.

Qin Wang was like a child longing for affirmation, an adolescent who had not outgrown his second phase, who, already knowing his destined fate, only sought gratitude from others in his rebellion.

——He wanted people to affirm him, his value, not just because of the sacrifice of his life.

...But in the end, he had not made it in time.

The moment Su Ming’an opened his eyes, he could no longer awaken.

...

"Cough cough..."

As Su Ming’an focused on this piece of information, he heard coughing beside him.

When he saw who was coughing, he was somewhat surprised.

Hui Shuhang put away the handkerchief with blood into her spatial luggage, as if nothing had happened at all.

"What’s wrong?" Su Ming’an asked.

"An old injury from years ago," Hui Shuhang said casually, glossing over the matter: "Alright, look ahead—there’s the first stop of our trip, Kriliri Town."

Su Ming’an looked ahead.

Following the main road, he could vaguely see a huge arch, beasts with a single horn carrying luggage, kicking up dust on the road.

Travel-worn people were entering and leaving the city gates, he could already faintly hear the noisy sounds of conversation.

He was prepared in his heart, having already planned his next move.

From the moment he said he was going out for a breath of fresh air, he had prepared several plans—although Hui Shuhang treated him well, that didn’t change the fact she was there to surveil him. If he were to turn back and join the Revolutionary Army, her presence at his side would be the biggest obstacle.

...He needed to find a way to have this factor "eliminated."

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