Welcome to Rewind World Game
Chapter 559 - 556: "I’ve brought Qing back.

Chapter 559: Chapter 556: "I’ve brought Qing back.

"——So, regarding Miss Mizushima Kawa Sora’s appointment as the interim family head, the proposal is passed unanimously."

In a large room with wooden structures, under a Fusang plaque with white background and black characters, a middle-aged man with a stern expression brought down the gavel.

The black-haired woman sitting at the head of the long table swept her gaze over the elders who dared not meet her eyes.

At her side, the sheathed Black Blade was laid upon the beige tatami, adorned with a red rose paper flower on its scabbard.

She raised her hand, picked up the sword, and slowly departed under everyone’s gaze, the aura of a Peak Player imbued with fiercely intimidating energy shaken these old men.

Only after her figure had completely vanished behind the wooden sliding doors did the group breathe out as if waking from a dream, their eyes mixing emotions of caution, wariness, and helplessness.

"The murderous intent on Adventurer Players seems to be growing heavier..."

"Is it the influence of the Eighth World? I always feel like I’m facing a fierce beast. I’ve never felt this even when facing our ancestors..."

"It’s her sister’s death that has provoked her. Sometimes when I pass by Mizushima’s room, I can always hear her talking to a cloth doll as if she is possessed."

"The world has really changed. We old bones can’t hold up the scene anymore. We must leave the future to the young..."

"It’s just a pity that the young masters of the main family are all too timid, allowing a woman to monopolize the position..."

"Shh, and be careful, Mr. Xu... walls have ears."

...

Mizushima Kawa Sora returned to her room and stretched lazily.

She absent-mindedly watched the cherry blossoms fluttering outside the door, gazing through the winding stream and the shadow of the greenery to see the afternoon sun casting fragmented shadows onto the rockery, tinting it with golden edges.

It was a perfect time for a nap.

She poured water and combed her hair. Although the Main God World provided a digital body, which made everything convenient—even cutting and combing hair could be done with the push of a button—she preferred a simple lifestyle.

It made her feel as if she was still living on Zhai Xing, as if nothing had ever happened.

She stood up, dressed herself, combed her hair, cleaned her sword, prepared snacks and tea, and went to call her crazily playful sister to eat...

"Haru, it’s time for snacks." Mizushima Kawa Sora laid out various pastries and dumplings, taiyaki, yokan, and mochi on the table, and called out to the inner room.

After looking at the snack tray, she switched the positions of the red dumplings and the white ones, making the arrangement look more pleasing to the eye.

"Haru, if you don’t eat, I’ll eat it all myself," she continued.

No response.

Her brows furrowed slightly as she kept calling out.

"Stop playing video games all the time, Haru," she said. "I should never have agreed to buy you that...what, a Switch? You just lie in your room all day long, watching those electronic figures; Father will scold you again."

No response.

Cherry blossoms fell gracefully from outside the door, landing on her shoulder.

She tore open a dorayaki to reveal the sweet red bean filling inside, taking a bite.

The sweetness of the red bean paste was just right, slightly sticky to the teeth, but this was Mizushima Haru’s favorite level of sweetness. She had made sure the cook got it right. The outer edges of the dorayaki were also soft and elastic, the texture Haru liked.

"The dorayaki tastes very good, just like you’d want it," Mizushima Kawa Sora continued to the inner room. "I remember when you were little, you liked to eat it half and half with me. You always wanted more of the dorayaki edges, begged me, said you wanted to eat more edges and less filling..."

She took another bite.

No response.

"Are you stuck in the game? Shall I send you back in?" she asked, lifting the tray, stepping into the inner room through the warm mist of tea fragrance, and sliding open the wooden door.

Cherry blossoms gently fell from her shoulder, landing on the tatami floor.

She looked inside—seeing a round cushion and neatly folded girls’ clothing beside it.

On the cushion, there was no one.

Only a Fusang doll with its hair covered in black cloth strips.

The doll wore a hemp kimono and had a fiery red festival fan on its back, about one meter sixty in height, the same proportions as a real person.

Upon seeing the doll, Mizushima Kawa Sora’s gaze softened.

"Haru," Mizushima Kawa Sora said to the doll, "it’s time for sweets."

She placed the sweets in front of the doll, took its hand and handed a dorayaki to the doll, clenching the doll’s hand around it.

"Clack."

As soon as she let go, the doll’s hand naturally loosened.

The dorayaki fell onto the tatami, making a slight sound as the bean paste smeared and rolled across the floor.

Mizushima Kawa Sora stared blankly at the motionless doll and the fallen dorayaki.

Her eyelashes trembled slightly, as if she was pondering something.

After a moment, she bent down, tidied the sweets, and wiped off the bean paste.

"... You won’t even eat sweets anymore!" she said, somewhat angrily, "Fine, if you want to be like that, I won’t bother with you as your elder sister anymore. There is a meeting in a few days, and I can’t come back. Don’t go begging Auntie Sanchi at home to cook for you."

Carrying the plate, she turned and left.

When she reached the sliding door, her steps halted abruptly.

Although there was no sound in the room, it was as if she had received a response, tilting her head slightly and looking at the doll lying on the ground.

"...Haru, apologizing now won’t do you any good. As the eldest sister, like a mother, I really wanted to teach you well, though I am only slightly older than you," she said,

"Don’t bother acting spoiled, I won’t fall for it now.

"Hmph.

"...Alright. I’ll leave some for you. When you finish the game and come out, remember to eat. Don’t forget."

Mizushima Kawa Sora continued to talk to herself, gave a few reminders to the doll, and left.

Her mood was good now, and she greeted people with a smile. Those who saw her so amiable were somewhat taken aback.

"Is the head of the family in a good mood?" a middle-aged man in a long robe, smiling broadly with an ingratiating air, asked.

"Because of my sister," Mizushima Kawa Sora replied with a smile, "she was very obedient today."

"Oh...Oh." Hearing this, the middle-aged man’s expression changed slightly. He maintained his smile with difficulty, flattering her a few more times before hastily departing.

These people were already aware of Mizushima Kawa Sora’s setbacks in the Eighth World and were carefully watching her mood, not wanting to provoke her.

For even in defeat, Mizushima Kawa Sora remained a peak player who reached the final phase. Times had changed, and they had come to understand the true nature of the world’s games and knew the influence and power that peak players held.

If they continued to brazenly treat Mizushima Kawa Sora as a chess piece, using their seniority to suppress her, they would be the ones made an example of.

Only by genuinely clinging to her coattails could they prosper together, rising to great heights.

The world’s power dynamics had already shifted.

A woman who was once considered a marriage prospect had become an existence far superior to them.

But ever since the Eighth World ended, this woman began acting insane, clutching a cloth doll she called sister and warning them not to come close, taking care of the doll as if she were in a state of self-hypnosis, eating and sleeping with it, and talking to it...

Crazy, they’re all crazy.

The people at the forefront of humanity... had long been assimilated by the craziness of the instances, they had gone mad a long time ago...

Mizushima Kawa Sora watched the middle-aged man hurry away, then turned around and continued humming her tune.

Her sister was very naughty, rebellious and out of touch, dressed like a bad girl. She had even intentionally gone missing for a while, just to make her worry.

But it didn’t matter.

...Because she had found her sister again.

Her sister had improved a lot recently. Although she was picky and ate nothing, she didn’t resist anymore; whatever clothes she picked for her sister, her sister wouldn’t object and would wear them, even wanting her to help dress her by hand.

Today she wore a kimono and carried a festival fan, what should she wear tomorrow...

That’s right, there were also bows, Haru liked bows a lot; she would go buy dozens more from the store. After all, the prices were much cheaper now; she wouldn’t blink an eye even if she bought hundreds.

It’s just that there were always some blind fools who said her sister was a cloth doll... How could that be a cloth doll. She could see clearly that Haru talked with her and laughed with her every day.

"So nice," Mizushima Kawa Sora opened her arms towards the beaming sunshine.

"Ha, hahaha, hahahaha..."

She laughed aloud.

The sunlight fell upon the back of her hand, revealing six perfectly cleared pattern marks, not one missing.

"So nice," she said smiling, standing beneath the falling cherry blossoms, as if embracing the world.

"Nobody can separate us, nobody can."

"Haru is not dead, she has come back, right beside me, always with me..."

"So nice."

"...I have found Haru,"

"back."

...

"——Su Ming’an, about the matter concerning the Peak Alliance, let’s meet at this location..."

After leaving the United Group, Su Ming’an received an email from Lu.

He arrived at the address specified in the email, District 120, an ordinary server.

The location mentioned by Lu was an ancient castle tucked away in a corner. The district’s style leaned towards the Middle Ages with many scattered ancient castle structures.

The regular meeting place of the Peak Alliance was actually a castle, he wondered if it was due to Lu’s adolescent tastes or some sort of ritualistic sentiment.

There he met Lu, who still sported that characteristic smile.

The so-called "Peak Alliance" was something he had discussed with Lu in the early stages of the Eighth World—it was a group united by mutual interest, with Adventurer Players who were at the pinnacle of strength at its core and players of various other occupations forming its outer ring.

The number of Adventurer Players was capped at nine.

These nine Adventurer Players didn’t have to lend their titles to anyone nor worry about their identities being used by any organization to serve their agendas—because each of them was an absolute core of the alliance. They held complete control over their own rights.

Lu was attempting to establish a "parliamentary" system.

He wasn’t simply power-hungry; rather, he wanted to use the influence of this "parliament" to establish organizations like the Superpower Control Bureau to maintain peace after the game ended.

These influential commanders could inspire a chaotic crowd to temporarily unite under a common goal. Even if the alliance disbanded and they had to liaise with other organizations, they would at least possess the capital to negotiate on equal footing.

This alliance was but a simple framework; from this point forward, they were no longer individual peak players, but a collective existence in the eyes of the people.

Just like Su Ming’an’s Lighthouse Theory, it was an act to deepen people’s impressions and elevate the situation, akin to the United Group’s "Hero Plan".

Moreover, compared to the United Group, with its countless entangled interests, this small group of just nine members was much more straightforward and clear.

Lu handed over a piece of paper to Su Ming’an detailing the aforementioned content— once Su Ming’an signed it, their alliance would officially be established, amounting to a formal recognition.

Under the dim candlelight of the ancient castle, Su Ming’an could barely make out the words; he truly wondered if Lu had come for a candlelit dinner.

Seeing that Su Ming’an did not move to sign, Lu thought he was hesitating.

"Don’t worry, your foresight is already at a level that makes me sigh with admiration. The layout you orchestrated early in the World Game was also exquisitely clever. With you as the Alliance Hierarch, we can surely continue together in this world of despair," Lu said sentimentally, "—if it’s you, there will definitely be no problem."

For Lu, who practically deified him in his imagination, Su Ming’an was lost for words.

He glanced at the list of Nine Thrones: Lu, Bei Wang, Lv Shu, Yamada Machiichi, Alger, Isabella, Luna, Eleven.

Aside from Alger and Eleven, the others were familiar faces, and their character wasn’t bad either.

Using the light from his wristwatch, he signed his name.

...At the moment of signing, he suddenly felt like he was making a choice that would determine the ending.

As if his decision to join or not join the alliance would lead to different world endings.

Join alliance storyline / Do not join alliance storyline.

...He must have played too many instances.

After he finished signing, the paper was torn into two, one copy for him to keep, the other went into Lu’s hands.

Establishing an alliance, the long-term benefits were not immediately apparent, and he couldn’t ponder the aftermath beyond the end of the game. But the current advantage was that they could try to form teams and stick together.

There were three open spots on Su Ming’an’s team, aside from Noel. Whether it was Lu, Yamada Machiichi, or Luna, they were all quite reliable.

After leaving the ancient castle, Su Ming’an suddenly received a communication from Noel.

"—Su Ming’an, I have a lecture about the ’New World’ this afternoon."

The blond-haired boy looked at him warmly through the screen.

Su Ming’an noticed, extensive bloodstains covered Noel’s body.

"You’re bleeding, what are you doing?" Su Ming’an asked.

"...Would you like to come and listen to the lecture this afternoon?" Noel didn’t answer, but instead removed his bloodstained white gloves.

Behind Noel, a child attached to several mechanical tubes was slowly standing up.

Su Ming’an recognized the child’s face, it was Xiao Chen, who after the end of the Sixth World, in the children’s shelter, had called him "Lighthouse Brother", a cute boy.

But now, the child resembled a machine that had just been born.

"Lighthouse brother." Xiao Chen also saw Su Ming’an through the screen.

There was a slight clicking sound, Xiao Chen’s footsteps still somewhat rigid.

"Xiao Chen?" Su Ming’an said.

"That’s great." Xiao Chen said with a smile, "I also want to become a strong player like Lighthouse Brother."

He flashed a brilliant smile, like a spring flower in full bloom.