Welcome to Rewind World Game
Chapter 578 - 575: "Could You Really Be the World Boss?

Chapter 578: Chapter 575: "Could You Really Be the World Boss?

"—If your counseling work continues to be like this, I don’t think we’ll need the Dawn System to evaluate; you won’t need to stay at the Psychological Control Bureau anymore."

In an office, a middle-aged man with a goatee fiercely criticized the young man in front of him.

Drenched in spittle, Lv Shu kept a somber face and lifted his head.

Today was the fourth day in the instance, and his current task was within the City of Measurement’s Psychological Control Bureau, responsible for providing psychological counseling to residents in the surrounding urban areas or to the inmates of the containment facilities.

But because of his extremely low empathy and poor communication skills, the effectiveness of the counseling... could only be described as hard to look at, some even became emotionally overloaded and achieved reverse healing while talking to him.

"Theodore, get ready for work." A colleague came to inform him: "Today we are working in The Fringe. The residents here tend to be somewhat violent, so be careful."

"Fine." Lv Shu reluctantly shoved several thick books into his embrace and walked into a room.

The psychological counseling room was pure white, with a wooden barrier in the middle. The counselee would sit on the other side, much like the confessional in a church, where both parties couldn’t see each other.

Lv Shu closed the door, with a listless expression. He couldn’t be bothered to care what emotional stresses the person on the other side had. He was a psychological counselor with a severe lack of professional ethics.

"Name." Lv Shu asked offhandedly.

"Lewis." A low and gentle male voice came from the other side of the board.

Lv Shu’s ears twitched slightly. The voice sounded a bit nice, much better than the crude swearing he had been subjected to these past few days.

"Gender." Lv Shu pressed a button on his left wrist, and a transparent keyboard panel appeared. He began to type, recording the information as a matter of routine.

"The same as you." The person on the other side said.

"..." Lv Shu said, "Age."

"Maybe in my twenties? I can’t really tell," said the person on the other side.

Lv Shu took a deep breath; he knew he was probably dealing with yet another weirdo. This response sounded anything but serious.

In the past few days of conducting psychological counseling, he had encountered all sorts of strange characters: many were depressed, bipolar, or madmen, and some were even better at counseling than he was.

"What kind of stresses do you have? I might be able to help you," Lv Shu said in a flat tone.

"I’m not really under any stress, I just came to see what psychological counseling is like. Oh, and can you put me in contact with your department head or someone like that?" The person on the other side said.

"Impossible," Lv Shu said. He couldn’t possibly let such a dangerous person from The Fringe contact his superior.

"Then...psychological doctor, can you listen to a story?" The person on the other side said.

Lv Shu lifted his eyelids.

In front of him was a tightly covered wooden board. He couldn’t see the face of the person sitting across the table; he could only hear the voice coming through.

"Go ahead," Lv Shu said as he opened the book in his hand. As a psychological counselor, he had to chat with each seeker for at least five minutes. This was his job. Listening to a story was at least better than being harassed by seekers.

"Let me tell you a story... about The Fringe, starting with a little girl who lost her parents due to a mechanical war..." said the person on the other side.

Lv Shu listened carelessly as he browsed through the thick book in his hand.

The cover of the book bore the words "On the Lighthouse Theory and the Summary of the Number One Player Forums." It was a book he had picked up from a small stand during his rest period in the Main God World, concise and suitable for learning.

However, one minute into the person’s story, Lv Shu closed the book he was holding.

Three minutes into the narration, Lv Shu lifted his head, his eyes becoming somewhat hazy.

Five minutes into the story, Lv Shu’s fingers loosened, and the book fell to the ground without him noticing.

When the person stopped talking, Lv Shu was completely captivated by the story he had told. He immediately asked, "—What happened next? How did the story end?"

The other party didn’t speak; the room fell into a silent stillness, interrupted only by the faint "tick-tock" of the wall clock.

At this moment, Lv Shu was engulfed by an excruciating sense of urgency. He found it unbearable—what on earth happened in the rest of the story! Why did it stop there, he was dying to know!

He hadn’t yet realized that his mindset had undergone a drastic change from just five minutes earlier; he had been completely captivated by the other party’s tale, falling into a state akin to being hypnotized.

"—You’ve got to tell me, what happened to that little girl afterwards...?" Lv Shu so desperately wished he could smash through the wooden board in front of him, grab the other person by the collar, and force him to continue.

"...Looks like the effect of ’Missionary Halo’ is quite pronounced," said the other party out of the blue.

Lv Shu was momentarily taken aback, his brain temporarily frozen, unable to grasp what the other party was saying.

"If I continue telling you this story, would you be willing to introduce me to your minister?" the other party asked.

"I..." Lv Shu’s instinct was to agree.

But quickly, his 80 Mentality Points vaguely alerted him to something, a look of struggle flitted across his face, his eyes blinked slightly, and for a fleeting moment, he saw clearly again.

"Well, it looks like it won’t work," the other party laughed, turned, and walked away. Lv Shu stood still, taking a full ten minutes to recover.

...What had just happened to him?

Lv Shu was thrown into a panic.

It was difficult for someone at his level of strength to be influenced on the mental plane; even a pure Mentality Attack could typically be fended off by him.

But why... after just hearing a simple story, he felt like he had been led around by the nose, dazed?

Exactly who was the other party?

...

Su Ming’an pushed the door open and left the psychological aid temporary branch in the Third Division of The Fringe. He looked back, giving the mobile, large-scale building one more glance.

Early this morning, he heard that the Department of Psychological Assistance had temporarily moved to this area to offer free counseling services. He had immediately come to join the buzz, and incidentally, to test his ’Missionary Halo’ on the psychological counselors.

The result of the experiment was very gratifying.

It was a skill of subtle influence; as long as someone could engage in a conversation with him for a few sentences, they would involuntarily fall into the scenarios of his words. The longer the time, the stronger the effect. He had just shared a five-minute story, and the person across from him was almost begging him to continue, addicted to his words.

If he had kept on talking for another fifteen minutes, he estimated the person would have directly offered to introduce him to the minister.

No wonder it was a Gold Level skill. Though it had no direct offensive power, it proved to be extremely useful.

"Ding-dong!"

Glancing down, Su Ming’an saw that in the team chat, Lv Shu was frantically ranting about the experience he’d just had. Lv Shu claimed it must have been a World BOSS he had encountered; otherwise, the psychological suppression couldn’t have been so terrifying.

[Su Ming’an (8:02): Is there a possibility that person was me?]

[Lv Shu (8:03): ...]

...

"Ding-dong!"

[Lu (8:03): Is there a possibility... you really are the World BOSS of the Ninth World?]

[Su Ming’an (8:03): Not ruling it out.]

...

Closing the chat interface, Su Ming’an planned to enter the inner city since The Fringe no longer held any value.

Passing by a small bungalow, he saw Dong An’an squatting on the ground, fiddling with a scrapped android.

"Dear... don’t be afraid... in the dark of night..."

The android’s voice stuttered, its appearance covered in dust, a large part of its body corroded, leaving only the singing device still operational, automatically singing.

Su Ming’an had heard this song before in Central City; it was an old pop song, and many androids had loaded the corresponding music modules.

Although androids possess human form and wisdom, they do not have human rights; like machines, they too are tools. The one thing that sets them apart is that they can marry humans, but even then, they are dependent on the human partner within the marriage.

When discarded or deemed defective and scrapped, they would be transported on airships and dumped, mixed in with airdropped resource boxes.

[You, came back?] Dong Ann saw Su Ming’an in the wheelchair and signed with her hands.

"Yep, leaving now." Su Ming’an passed by her.

Hearing this, Dong An’an’s face, which previously bore a smile, dimmed slightly.

"I’ll come back later." said Su Ming’an.

Dong An’an’s smile returned.

[I, wait for you, to come back.] She signed: [I haven’t yet, thanked you for saving me.]

"Hmm." Su Ming’an acknowledged.

Dong An’an had the Dawn Code on her, and now her favorability was stuck at 60 points; he had other things to deal with first.

As he was about to leave, Su Ming’an noticed a young girl carrying a dark bread bag walking toward him.

The girl wasn’t wearing the red cloak from the night, which seemed to be a symbol of the "night occupation." Now, without the bright lipstick, she looked like an ordinary sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl.

Coughing, she noticed Su Ming’an and her expression became somewhat awkward, as they had met only the night before.

She didn’t dare to look at him directly, lifting the dark bread slightly, the oblong loaf hiding her dim eyes, with the striking purple bruises on the back of her hand evident in the sunlight.

As he passed by her, Su Ming’an heard her voice, fading as if it might vanish with the wind.

"...Thank you for looking after my sister." she said.

"You’re welcome." Su Ming’an said.

She did not speak further, but quietly passed by him like a breeze about to dissipate.

...

Ten minutes later, Su Ming’an lined up behind the queue to enter the Third Ring District, observing the checkpoint ahead.

The entry from The Fringe into the Third Ring District wasn’t very strict; passing the checkpoint was all that was needed since The Fringe was technically still a part of the City of Measurement.

Below the checkpoint were identity scanners spaced five meters apart in a set of four working simultaneously, with three teams of soldiers in rows of six standing vigil, each armed with a standard submachine gun, a pistol, a bulletproof vest, and a steel shield. In case of a conflict, they were ready to alert the Hawk Hound mechanical forces stationed in the Third Ring District at any time through an alarm.

Su Ming’an stood in the back of the line, listening to the people’s discussion in the front.

"...Have you seen the big shots of The Fringe?" Two men who seemed to be relatives were talking.

"I have, the four big bosses of The Fringe, those in charge of arms, drugs, flesh trade, and gambling; I met all four this time. They’re very interested in the R03 type emotion-stabilizing drugs. With it, many of their men can enter the city without worrying about emotional overload."

"Hmm... The defense force of the Third Ring District is indeed weak, and they don’t enforce rules strictly. The second-type personae are not good either. There are plenty of defective characters, adopting all kinds of damned habits."

"Right, I went there to transport ’medicine’ this time, that stuff can be addictive. Anyway, no one cares about these gray-market trades, profits are high, enough to live well for years..."

The two men kept talking, all of which Su Ming’an overheard.

"Xike." He looked at his right wrist: "Why are there these gambling, drug selling, and arms trafficking activities even with the Dawn System’s monitoring?"

Xike’s silence lasted for a moment.

"...Because Dawn does not consider it ’wrong,’" it said: "Their emotions are very stable, and no one is going to kill because of it. As long as it doesn’t cause emotional overloads, the Dawn System won’t interfere; these are all... normal transactions, just skirting the edge a bit."

Su Ming’an understood.

The existence and operation of a city is bound to include its shadowy parts.

Just like the personality recognition of Shadow Ming’an, for those who live in the shadows, such trade isn’t viewed as ’evil’ but rather as a necessary factor for the city’s functioning. Thus, their ’evil deeds’ at this moment are no longer considered ’crimes.’

...The City of Measurement is just a ’relatively ideal’ city after all. ’Sin’ is not always absolute in a universal sense.

As the line moved forward, it came time for Su Ming’an to be scanned, and the identity detection device beeped.

[Number: TP1092

Name: Lewis

Address: Core Area·Plata Street·Fu Fort 042

Occupation: Psychological Counselor at Constantine University]

...

Xike created a temporary identity for Su Ming’an, allowing him to pass through the identity check.

Seeing the words "Core Area," the soldiers who were bragging and smoking snapped to attention, and one of them even took the initiative to offer him a cigarette.

Su Ming’an shook his hand and proceeded inward.

A beep sounded as the second scan passed over him. This was the checkpoint’s Dawn subsystem running its check.

[Persona: MBT (Dawn Type Personality)]

[Current Emotional Status: Green Zone (Stable)]

...

Two lines of text appeared above Su Ming’an’s head, nothing unusual.

However, seeing this, the soldiers exchanged glances, quickly took out their walkie-talkies, spoke in code, and their gazes locked onto Su Ming’an in the wheelchair. Even the soldier who offered the cigarette trembled and withdrew his hand.

"...How come it’s a Dawn Type?"

"It’s been over a decade since the City of Measurement had a Dawn Type Personality. Central City..."

Just as Su Ming’an sensed something amiss, the next moment, the iron gate behind him slammed shut, barring the people still looking to enter the city outside.

...It also blocked his way back.

"What’s going on? Why can’t we enter?"

"I had an appointment to return to my job today. You can’t close off now!"

The people barred outside were causing a fuss, voicing their dissatisfaction.

Su Ming’an tensed up, gripping the wheelchair’s armrest tightly.

"Xike, what’s happening?" He whispered.

"—Orders from above, the Third Ring District is now under temporary lockdown. No one is allowed in or out." Before Xike could respond, a man in military attire with a peaked cap came down from the adjacent tower, dispersing the discontented crowd trying to enter the city.

After saying this, the man turned and fixed his gaze on Su Ming’an in the wheelchair.