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Chapter 591 - 588: "Su Rin Express, Send Whenever You Want.

Chapter 591: Chapter 588: "Su Rin Express, Send Whenever You Want.

Su Ming’an lay in bed, staring at the turned-off Xike on his wrist.

He was still thinking about what Xike had just said.

[— Humans must be sufficiently aware to survive the apocalypse that could annihilate them.]

"The apocalypse that could annihilate them"... The World game should count, right?

But those who possess enough "awareness" seem few and far between, and even the world chat was still filled with debates about "arresting Su Ming’an."

He turned over, his shoulder hitting the wall, and suddenly noticed something was off.

...The sound seemed a bit hollow.

He raised his hand and pressed against the wall, realizing there might be something hidden behind it.

...This was the home of Xiao Mei and Dong An’an, just an ordinary house, so why was there a hollow space behind the wall?

He held his breath and concentrated, the red circle of the Clue Insight skill gradually appearing before his eyes. He sat in his wheelchair and slapped the protruding corner of the wall—

"Click—"

A slight sound followed, and a secret passage appeared.

Inside the passage, the stairs descended, flanked by unlit lamps, leading to an unknown place.

Su Ming’an did not believe that Xiao Mei, a normal girl, could have built such a passage; it must have been the work of Dong An’an during the night.

He didn’t have the Dawn Chip on him, and Xike was in sleep mode, so no one could monitor him now. This was the best time for exploration.

He drove into the secret passage. After about ten minutes, a dim light came from above—this must be the end.

He raised his hand—"Click", a crisp sound, he lifted the wooden board, and his wheelchair soared into the room above.

The walls of this room were made of red brick, with a brass chandelier tinged with black spots hanging from the ceiling. Below a wooden rail draped with green vines, a candle burned dimly.

As Su Ming’an ascended, the flames in the wall fireplace crackled with a "pop", the warm air cutting through the cold night, drying his damp clothes.

The decor of this room was rich in humanism, showing none of the mechanical style of the City of Measurement.

This must be the headquarters of one of the three major organizations—[Sanctuary]. Unlike the Mechanical Army [Hawk Hound] and the bionic organization [Eden], Sanctuary revered nature and opposed the fusion of humans and machinery.

But why... could a tunnel in Dong An’an’s house lead to [Sanctuary]?

At that moment, he saw a red-haired young man, dressed in a robe, sitting elegantly with his back to the direction of the passage, reading a book:

"...Grading thinking, and some elitism, applicable specifically. For a small group, it’s an individual; for a collective, it’s a small group leadership; and the upper echelons must be worthy of trust, and the merit should match the position..."

The red-haired young man murmured, turning his head upon hearing the noise from the passage, his gaze meeting Su Ming’an’s.

Su Ming’an immediately knew what he was reading.

This rhetoric felt familiar... wasn’t it the Lighthouse theory?

"You wouldn’t happen to be Su Rin, would you?" Su Ming’an looked directly at the red-haired young man leaning back.

It was too coincidental; he just happened to wander through a passage and saw Su Rin.

"..." Su Rin did not speak.

"Why are you reading the Lighthouse theory?"

Su Ming’an remembered Su Rin saying in person that the Lighthouse theory was a "nonsensical theory to deceive others" and had despised it, yet today, Su Rin was caught reading it.

"Don’t get me wrong, I just like all thoughtful writings." Su Rin said.

Su Rin reached into his chest and took out a deep blue pendant, tossing it to Su Ming’an.

"Express delivery." Su Rin said, "This pendant is the Dawn Code; I’m not sure what it’s used for, but it should be what you’re looking for."

Su Ming’an took the pendant.

...

[You have obtained the second position: Dawn Code.]

[Syllable: "Kosai"]

[This syllable can be decoded to yield meaning.]

...

[You have earned the right to return to Central City without the aid of AI Xike.]

...

So, this was the code pattern.

Su Ming’an had originally thought that the five Dawn Codes would either be letters or numbers, but now he realized they were syllables.

Moreover, he could now teleport back to Central City immediately, which was good news.

"Kosai," he muttered, the syllable sounding somewhat like a function, reminding him of the painful memories of doing trigonometry in high school.

"What did you see on the pendant?" Su Rin asked.

Su Ming’an held up the pendant, its blue inner patterns billowing like waves: "...You can’t see the text on the pendant?"

Su Rin squinted his eyes; to him, it was just a smooth, ordinary blue stone.

"Only you can see that text," Su Rin said. "Based on my observations so far... The persona you are inhabiting, Yasa Acto, appears to be a pure idealist, he has a compulsive need for mental purity, is rational, highly idealistic, and likes pursuing visions that might be unattainable.

Thus... for the sake of utmost fairness, it is unlikely that Acto would have the direct authority to modify the Dawn System. So, this code must be for achieving something you cannot do, such as... shutting down or destroying the Dawn System?

The difference between you and others lies in two aspects — you are the only existing Dawn Type personality and the only pure human. This grants you the ability to see the text."

Listening to Su Rin’s almost entirely accurate analysis, Su Ming’an suddenly realized something.

"Su Rin — you must have a Dawn Chip in you," Su Ming’an said.

He himself was the only pure human in City of Measurement, an existence not implanted with a Dawn Chip.

But, whoever Su Rin was inhabiting, he surely had a Dawn Chip. Their conversation must be fully exposed under the watch of the Dawn System.

"—You needn’t worry about that," Su Rin said. "I don’t have a chip."

"No chip?"

"You and I are the only two in the City of Measurement without a Dawn Chip. Whatever you want to say, you can say here. This is the only place that is not under surveillance," Su Rin said.

Su Ming’an’s heart suddenly relaxed.

Since the beginning of the instance, he had been under the surveillance of that voyeuristic Dawn System. Now... he could finally relax a bit.

"I’ve removed the Dawn Chip from this body," Su Rin said. "I don’t like the feeling of being watched."

Su Ming’an was astonished.

—Could this thing really be removed?

"Slice open the back of the neck, remove the chip, then stop the bleeding, stitch it up, all primarily relying on life-sustaining energy," Su Rin explained. "My life force is quite strong, so removing it wasn’t a problem."

Although Su Rin spoke lightly, Su Ming’an knew that removing the Dawn Chip was definitely very painful.

The Dawn Chip couldn’t control a person’s actions, but it could release painful electric shocks if someone tried to remove it.

Apart from enduring the pain, cutting open the neck directly to remove the chip without medical conditions was akin to suicide. It was hard for him to imagine how Su Rin managed to cut open the back of his neck and stitch it up alone.

"After the chip was removed, I also deliberately caused a riot once, but the Dawn System did not deal with me, instead, it issued an arrest warrant for you," Su Rin said. "Logically guessing, it might be in trouble, perhaps it has also been invaded by Ta Wei?"

"Very clever," Su Ming’an complimented.

"—When do you plan to counter-attack?" Su Rin suddenly asked, out of the blue.

"..."

"You’re not the kind to sit and wait for death, waiting here to be hunted down by the whole city is definitely not your plan," Su Rin reopened the book. "You must want to break into Central City, just like pulling a deity down from the clouds."

"After tonight, I will negotiate with the Dawn System," Su Ming’an said. "Me, Dawn, Ta Wei—there must be a certain balance of power among the three."

He made a decision that not even the barrage of comments had anticipated—negotiating with Dawn.

"Negotiation, huh," Su Rin said. "The Dawn System isn’t some little girl who likes you, do you plan to tame a data deity ruling a city-state with just your words?"

"The sarcasm is enough," Su Ming’an retorted.

"You actually heard that," Su Rin said.

"I believe the reason the Dawn System issued a red alert against me is not because my action of collecting the Dawn Code was exposed, but—because it wants to force me into the ’Danger Zone,’" Su Ming’an suddenly said.

He had already conceived of a simple logic.

If the Dawn System didn’t issue a warrant for his arrest, he would eventually return to Central City; Dawn wouldn’t need to mobilize the whole city to force him back like this.

Therefore, the objective of the Dawn System must not be to directly capture him, but something else.

For instance—mobilizing the power of the entire city to coerce him, forcing him to flee passively, out of the City of Measurement and into the "Danger Zone," to achieve some purpose of its own.

This also explained, why Dawn never mobilized a large army to siege him; because its purpose was not to capture him.

—Then, negotiation was possible.

"Anyhow, thank you for bringing the Dawn Code," Su Ming’an slid the pendant into his backpack.

"If you’re thanking me, bring me back to Pulaya a few times later when you have the chance," Su Rin suddenly said.

Su Ming’an noticed, on the windowsill beside Su Rin, there was a wooden carving of a young girl holding a daisy.

—That was what Gerald looked like when he was young.

It was the young girl with rice wine bid farewell by the young captain at the river before he left.

...Even after the spirited young captain later became the Cloud City God guarding his homeland.

After all, it was he who, for the sake of completion, forcibly took Su Rin out of his hometown and into a completely unfamiliar place, which led to this situation.

But Su Rin did not hate him; she even helped him twice.

Su Ming’an fell silent for a moment. "Alright. Once my Ruler’s level advances, perhaps I could take someone with me to return to the world we’ve experienced before," he said.

"Waiting for your promotion," Su Rin said.

He slowly turned the book on his knee, his bright red hair hanging beside his face, which did not look odd on him, despite the unconventional red color.

Su Ming’an wanted to say more, but the night meeting suddenly began.

A strange fluctuation passed, he opened his eyes, and saw a long table with eight other people seated.

"So, tonight’s meeting officially begins, please start reporting," said the woman in silver suit number three.

Su Ming’an quietly listened to their respective reports on the resolutions of the City of Measurement, and after all matters were handled by the eight, Su Ming’an spoke up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am wanted by the Dawn System," he said.

As soon as he said this, the others all revealed looks of astonishment.

Su Ming’an saw their expressions, and his perplexity grew.

...Strange.

These people were supposed to be managing the supreme decisions of the City of Measurement, weren’t they? Why did they not know that the City Lord was wanted?

The eyes of the eight individuals met for a moment, and then the woman with the number two millet-colored long hair shook her head.

"I am sorry, Doctor, but we cannot intervene in this matter," she said, "The Dawn System is ’absolutely correct,’ and we cannot assist you. You could personally return to Central City and discuss it with it, after all, you are the one who modified it."

"Are you saying I should... surrender myself voluntarily?" Su Ming’an furrowed his brows.

When he met their gaze, they all averted their eyes.

"Doctor—isn’t this your own philosophy?" Number two said, "To ’maintain the absolute correctness of the Dawn System.’ Even if it is you, with an arrest warrant issued, you should not resist... "

"What if Dawn has been invaded by Ta Wei? It has fallen into chaos and disorder! Do you expect me to surrender without a fight?" Su Ming’an did not expect to receive such a response to his plea for help.

—He had been hiding for a long time; the nightly meetings were one of his few hopes.

"Dawn cannot be invaded by Ta Wei," the woman in the silver outfit with number three said. "You must trust Dawn; it is the strongest force against the invasion of Ta Wei..."

...These people had been thoroughly brainwashed.

Su Ming’an should have realized sooner—the most severely brainwashed were not those committed to the resistance from the lower ranks, but those from the highest echelons, who had become the greatest beneficiaries... like these individuals.

Of course, the Dawn System might not actually have been invaded by Ta Wei, but its decision to arrest him already showcased its unfriendly attitude.

"...I understand." He took a breath. "Let’s end the meeting."

He had tried the Ruler’s Skill.

The skill to forcibly raise favorability... it was ineffective on these people.

...What should he do then?

Could he only negotiate with Dawn?

His capital... was his current information sufficient?

After the night meeting ended, with a flash of white light, Su Ming’an returned to his original spot, his mood slightly heavy.

He suddenly saw Su Rin sitting at the table, playing with puppets.

...Wait, Su Rin was playing with puppets?

It seemed he was performing a play alone. Several puppets with different appearances were manipulated by the silk threads in his hands, moving according to his soliloquy:

"Sherrod, after I’ve told you all this, do you think you can still escape?"

"Princess, if this is your wish, I am prepared to die for you."

"Don’t say that, Sherrod. You are the Knight of Light that I have the highest hopes for. I still hope that you can live for the future of Pulaya... "

Suddenly, the soliloquizing Su Rin closed his mouth.

He stiffly began to lift his head bit by bit and saw the suddenly appearing Su Ming’an:

"...Didn’t you just teleport away?"

Su Rin had not expected that Su Ming’an could reappear so quietly in the room, especially since he had just been teleported away by a flash of white light.

"Did you use to play with these in Cloud City?" Su Ming’an asked.

...Thinking about it, that Cloud City had nothing. One of the few amusements there was probably playing puppet shows alone, imitating the people of Pulaya.

Thinking this, Su Rin seemed quite pitiful, capable of performing scripts all by himself... that must have been incredibly boring.

"..." Su Rin put away the puppets in his hands and silently changed the topic, as if nothing had happened:

"Su Ming’an, I will take you to meet the people of the Sanctuary."