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Chapter 410 - 407: "When You Wake Up at Dawn.

Chapter 410: Chapter 407: "When You Wake Up at Dawn.

[6:30 PM]

"Shasha shasha..."

The delicate sound of carving rose.

A girl with waterfall-like white hair quietly sat on a wooden chair, meticulously carving a piece of wood in her hand.

Unlike the previous carvings, this one was of a long-haired girl.

The wooden girl’s features possessed a bright and generous beauty, with elongated eyeliner and lips that were always slightly turned up, as if she had endless vitality.

... Just like its carver.

Su Rin leaned her fiery-red spear against the table and bowed her head slightly, her focused gaze fixed on the carving.

Though she still looked youthful, her back was already somewhat hunched.

She seemed to be immersed in her own world.

The blood-red hue of dusk filtered through the paper window, casting its light on her pale face, now void of color.

Su Ming’an glanced at the sky and asked Duoya if there was a bed nearby or a place where one could sleep.

He couldn’t miss tonight’s final challenge; once night fell, he had to enter the nighttime instance.

He had no romantic feelings for Nailuo; she probably liked Kaya, who possessed Su Rin’s appearance and will.

And even then... strictly speaking, not even Kaya himself could be considered the object of her affection.

The Kaya of the past had long been eroded and supplanted by Su Rin’s memories; she must have loved the original Su Rin.

So, in strict terms,

The man she loved was already dead.

Dead for the sake of this world.

"There’s a rest room nearby, but because the beds there were needed by the Southern District wall, they’ve all been moved, even the bricks have been dismantled," Duoya hesitated. "If you don’t mind, this room has some space, and I can have someone bring a bed here right now..."

"No need."

Su Ming’an raised his hand.

With a loud "bang," to the astonishment of several Soul Hunt members, a crude makeshift bed, poorly crafted and lopsided, crashed down onto the empty floor of the room like a boulder.

This was the nighttime "Divine Artifact" Su Ming’an had personally crafted. After returning from the sea, he made another one to ensure he could enter the instance on time in case of emergency.

For such important matters, he was always meticulous.

To enter the nighttime instance, the requirements were a "bed" and "an enclosed space"; lying down on a bed in the middle of the street was not an option. Thus, if he was too late to return, lying in this room would suffice.

"Wait... you’re going to sleep here?" Duoya stared, wide-eyed, at Su Ming’an’s decisive action of laying out the bed.

Behind her, several Soul Hunt young men were peeking around, their eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.

Unaware of the prerequisites for the nighttime instance, witnessing the legendary Su Rin casually set up a bed struck a profound chord in their young minds.

Su Ming’an glanced at the System Time, noting it was 6:30 in the evening.

Typically, the nighttime instance would start at nightfall, and the sunlight outside was already growing dim.

Keen to seize even the slimmest chance to confront the Brave, he had no intention of wasting time on the road.

He sat down on the nearby bed, ready to enter the instance in the very first second it was possible.

Watching Su Ming’an settling down so naturally, Duoya’s lips moved, but she said nothing.

She thought, perhaps Su Rin had his own considerations.

After all, he was a legendary hero who had led Pulaya to withstand two potentially annihilating disasters. It was normal for his thoughts to differ from those of ordinary people...

She silently led the Soul Hunt members out, also intending to invite Nailuo, who was still carving, to leave.

But as she approached, Nailuo hugged the carving to her chest like a small animal guarding its food, watching Duoya warily.

Seeing Nailuo’s somewhat childish behavior, Duoya realized this was a symptom of Nailuo’s fading self-awareness.

The ebbing of life force and soul is like that; once symptoms of memory loss appear, it signifies the most serious of conditions.

After that, she would face an accelerated decline in will, loss of senses... and then, the entire person would become insensate, dying silently and unconsciously.

Her time was running out.

Duoya bent down, whispering to Nailuo, "I’m not taking yours, child. It’s just that we don’t want to disturb Lady Su Rin here."

Nailuo was stunned for a moment.

Suddenly, she lowered her head and made several final strokes with the carving knife on the wooden sculpture, etching out those fine strands of hair.

Moments later, she blew a breath of air, and the fine wood shavings floated around the room like stardust.

She had completed the wooden carving in her hands.

"Here."

She suddenly raised her hands and, holding the completed wooden carving of the young girl, handed it to Duoya.

"This... for me?" Duoya was somewhat surprised.

She had assumed that the wooden carving of the young girl was something Nailuo was going to give to Lady Su Rin. After all, anyone could see how much Nailuo adored Lady Su Rin.

"Sister, even though I seem to have suddenly forgotten many things... and I’ve forgotten who you are..." Nailuo’s somewhat faded eyes looked straight at Duoya:

"But... I still remember, you’ve always been very kind to me. Thank you."

She held the wooden carving high, as if hosting a bright star, and stuffed it directly into Duoya’s arms.

"..."

Duoya’s originally composed expression suddenly crumbled.

Her hands trembled as she took the wooden carving; her fingers clutching the carving were quivering.

Looking at the suddenly tearful Duoya, Nailuo blinked.

Her memory was fading, her senses were growing dim; she had forgotten the big sister’s name in front of her, forgotten what she had done for her. But she knew the big sister seemed to have been very, very good to her.

So, she wanted to give a gift in return.

Her life wasn’t just about love.

She did like Su Rin, but her emotions were never solely dependent on one person.

For Duoya, the deputy director who had always taken care of her, even though she had forgotten a lot, she still remembered how kind Duoya had been to her.

Before this, she seemed to have been alone for a long time.

Like a small boat adrift at sea, at any moment it could sink. She had no fellow travelers, no sailors to accompany her, no compass or captain to guide her. She was sailing alone on the sea, seemingly heading straight into a lifelong confusing mist.

But ever since she arrived here, she seemed to have met many people who cared for her.

Her vessel had docked.

Although the time she would spend here was much shorter than that of an ordinary girl.

Watching Duoya suddenly weep, Nailuo didn’t quite understand what the big sister was so sad about.

"Don’t be sad anymore," she said abruptly, opening her arms.

The blood-red sunset touched her cheeks, casting a golden reflection in her eyes.

"Hug," she said, with her arms wide open.

At that moment, Duoya could no longer restrain the tears at the corners of her eyes.

She stepped forward and held Nailuo tightly.

The white-haired girl was thin, her bones hard, like a skeleton wrapped in flesh, and very light in her embrace.

A warm heat transferred into her body, and Duoya closed her eyes, resting the girl’s head on her shoulder.

After a moment, Duoya gently released Nailuo.

She knew Nailuo apparently wanted to stay here.

She did not try to deter her anymore but instead looked deeply at Nailuo, as if to imprint her image forever in her heart, and then turned around.

The room’s door was gently closed, leaving only two people inside.

Nailuo turned her head, her gaze somewhat vacant as she looked at Su Ming’an sitting next to her.

"I remember you too," she said, "... I definitely remember you."

The somewhat dim sunset light spilled into her eyes, making them as dazzling and intense as flames.

White strands of hair fell in front of her forehead, she reached out to tuck them aside only to touch a broken lock of hair.

She looked at the broken white hairs in her palm and suddenly smiled.

"Even if I’ve forgotten everything... I still remember you," she said.

The dense clouds outside the window slowly moved, about to swallow that bit of sunlight from the day.

Dusk was fast approaching.

"Do you like the wood carving I gave you?" Nailuo looked at him, "Keep it, take it away, go... anywhere you want to go."

In a moment of silence, she suddenly said this.

Su Ming’an lifted his head and saw the smile on her face.

A gust of wind suddenly rushed in from the outside window, instantly lifting her rosy hair.

She closed her eyes slightly, and the hem of her dress flowed lightly in the breeze like white water blossoms.

As dusk fully descended and the last rays of the sunset completely faded, he saw her open her now completely colorless eyes.

"Rin... No. You, whose real name I don’t know."

She curved up the corners of her eyes slightly, and in those eyes that were once fiercely colorful, there was now a twilight-like dimness:

"...Happy nineteenth birthday in advance."

...

The next second, the night pressed in, instantly covering her fluttering pale hair.

The scene changed.

...

Su Ming’an stood amidst a fiery red lava field.

The sandbox floated, the Royal City was silent, and the burning wind scraped past his eyelashes.

His expression was somewhat vacant, as if he was frozen in place.

[Welcome back to Demon King City —— Respectable and great Demon King ——!]

The intense and lofty system voice arrived as expected, ringing in his ears.

But before his eyes, it seemed he could still see Nailuo’s clean and extreme smile.

She was wishing him a happy birthday.

His own nineteenth birthday.

"..."

Su Ming’an could be certain that Nailuo was not some self-aware NPC; otherwise, with her disposition, she wouldn’t have maintained silence for so long.

Even just now, when Luna had arrived, she kept her disconnected attitude of silence, with no reaction to the words "Player," "World," and others.

But just now,

in the countdown of her life,

...this girl seemed to have achieved a self-awareness close to breaking the system’s limits.

She realized the difference between him and Su Rin, out of pure love.

With the simple will of a "human," she broke through the "character setting" limits imposed by the system.

[Great Demon King —— stop dawdling, please quickly deploy Demon King City, to welcome the Brave who will be arriving ——!] The system’s excited voice continued to sound, as if eagerly urging him on.

But he suddenly laughed.

An uncontrollable smile emerged from the corner of his mouth, then spread wider and wider like a tearing fissure.

"Ha, hahaha..."

He clenched the wood carving he’d just taken out from a slot in his backpack, his laughter flooding across his face as if it were ripping it apart.

[...]

The system seemed to have glitched.

[Demon King, please don’t celebrate too soon! The Brave’s strength is very formidable, you...] It immediately started shouting.

In the previous instances, its emotions had never been so intense, perhaps it was the final level that made it excited.

"System," Su Ming’an’s fingers grazed the wooden carving, "you didn’t manage to fool us."

The system hesitated, seeming somewhat puzzled: [Lord Demon King, what do you mean...?]

Su Ming’an reined in his smile.

He was delighted,

because he had finally seen a truly independent and free being.

The moment he saw Nailuo’s pure smile, he understood that Sherrod’s choice was not the result of the system or character design—this knight’s firm belief was confirmed in that instant.

...They were clearly creatures of flesh and blood.

Even NPCs, who were set to be "incapable of Awakening," had somehow broken through their limits in extreme circumstances, under a surfeit of emotions.

Human potential is limitless, and their emotions are something even research can’t fully clarify.

For her child, a mother can lift a car far beyond her capacity, and for their loved one, even those who are usually extremely afraid of death can rush into a blazing fire without looking back.

It is a force that can easily make people defy their usual "settings," allowing them to break through their ordinary selves and become beings of limitless luster.

When he saw Nailuo smile and wish him "happy birthday," her image became incredibly vivid in his mind.

No longer was she just a reflection of the "spoiled young lady who came to Pulaya for her lover after losing her family."

Her soul, under the countdown of life, had clearly become utterly free.

Of course, this could also be explained as "an NPC character who can break limits under special circumstances," but at this moment, this extraordinary "character design" had become unimportant.

In everyone’s eyes, she was alive.

He looked at the wooden carving in his hand.

The carving depicted a handsome young man with an upright spine, a lifting smile, and a pair of eyes that were forever bright.

The fiery sparks of Demon King City exploded in his ears, and as he lifted the carving, he saw a line of small text on the base.

...

[When you wake in the quiet dawn,]

[You will see me soar high.]

...

...

Epic war music began to play.

In the blood-red Demon King City, the legendary Brave had finally arrived.

Su Ming’an watched as the silhouette of the sword-bearing Shadow, deliberately obscured by the black mist, slowly approached, and he heard the system’s voice.

[Lord Demon King! The Brave has the "God-Gifted Heart," and you cannot strike at him directly, but you can conjure the phantom soldiers that you once developed to help you fight—to defeat the Brave!]

Su Ming’an stretched out his hand.

A flash of white light passed.

A host of puppets with diverse forms stood guard over this blood-red land. The moment they saw the Shadow Brave, they roared and rushed at him.

Jin Qiangwei, Black Devotees, Moonlight Watchers, Frost Rulers, Sacred Glow, Blue Rose, Silent Knights... One by one, names Su Ming’an knew well surged forth like a flood.

Their enemy was reduced to that single Shadow, marching forward through the epic music.

"Roar—!"

"Roar—!"

The unintelligible roars echoed across the blood-red land.

Sparks exploded in the air, while the Brave advanced like an inferno, cutting through the puppets attacking him with a mighty, unparalleled stance, charging towards Su Ming’an standing at the cathedral’s entrance like slicing through watermelons.

The puppets fought fearlessly, falling in rows, but more would quickly take their place, throwing themselves fearlessly into the fray to protect this land of blood.

As Su Ming’an observed the Shadow Brave surrounded by wooden puppets, his feelings were oddly mixed.

At this moment... it should count as him facing his future self.

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