Welcome to Rewind World Game
Chapter 651 - 648: "Lv Shu Has Long Been Dead.

Chapter 651: Chapter 648: "Lv Shu Has Long Been Dead.

"Dadada—"

Amid the sandy terrain, a squad with guns stood back to back, firing at the surrounding exotic beasts.

The heavy rain pattered down, mingling with the blood-red sun, casting a hue like that of blood water, so oppressive it made it hard to breathe.

"Energy has exceeded its load, unable to recover in the short term," said the captain, wearing goggles, anxiously.

"Rapid-fire attack disabled, defensive barrier reduced to lowest level, all instant activation devices stopped, estimated repair time two hours," their combat AI, floating at their wrists, reported the battle situation.

"Captain, we’re out of energy!" a blood-soaked teammate said urgently.

"Beep—Beep—" The red warning lights flashed continuously as a shield shattered, the squad member within burst open with blood gushing like a bomb, splattering the ground.

Over a hundred exotic beasts had surrounded the squad, and the nearest human settlement was a full thirty li away.

They were initially an elite reconnaissance division from the Freedom Faction’s Forty-Seven Cities nearby, having heard that the Deity Faction’s agent Lin Guang seemed to plan to go out for something, they rushed to explore. Unfortunately, they were ambushed by a horde of exotic beasts en route.

Yasa Acto, who vanished ten years ago, had not reappeared, leading some to suspect that he might already be dead.

If Acto is dead, no one would willingly obey the orders from Doomsday City; everyone wants to be the feudal lord who stabilizes the world.

"Beep—Beep—" With a crisp sound, the blue flow on the firearms flickered and vanished; the squad’s energy exhausted at that moment.

"Abandon reconnaissance, get in the vehicle!" the captain shouted, drawing a longsword with a flash of light from the "Source" around him, the blade suddenly stretched an extra foot, cutting down the approaching exotic beasts.

An armored vehicle, tightly encapsulated, started with a hum; the waiting teammates inside reached out, pulling each squad member up one by one.

However, at that moment, among the dense shadows of the exotic beasts, a muffled thump came from the ground.

As if something struck the ground heavily below, a moment later, "Boom" like the explosion of a landmine, a white hibernation capsule rose up.

"What’s that?" A squad member was stunned; he didn’t expect a hibernation capsule to suddenly emerge from what seemed like ordinary ground.

With a "click," the hibernation capsule was abruptly split open, and a figure sat up.

"That must be a hibernation capsule, someone’s inside!" the captain immediately said, "Save him!"

"Captain, we..." The teammates felt awkward. They didn’t have the luxury of the time to rescue a stranger awakening from a roadside hibernation capsule.

With a "clack," the captain, disregarding the danger, jumped off the vehicle and pulled out a metal hook chain with an attached electronic defensive shield. He observed the direction of the figure, intending to throw the hook out.

However, what happened next was far beyond his imagination.

"Boom—!"

The exotic beasts around them froze in that instant, fine cracks spreading across their bodies.

The figure stood up from the capsule, tearing off the tubes attached to him one by one.

Although there was no sign of the "Source" on him, as he raised his hand, all the exotic beasts were sliced through the air, shattering and falling to the ground.

"...Who is that?" The pink-haired squad member swallowed, feeling that the scene of the air vibrating was somewhat familiar. It looked like something she had seen ten years ago...

The captain watched the figure in a daze.

Approaching the armored vehicle, they saw a blood-red painted Demon Fox mask on his face, with a pair of deep, dark gray eyes faintly visible.

"You are...?" the captain’s tone was almost like he was about to cry.

"You’ve grown up," Su Ming’an said, "Yao Wen."

He had thought that upon his return to Kaius Tower, he would be in the Ninth District of the Deity Faction. After all, that was where he had assassinated the Lord of the Ninth District right before entering the intermission, so his location shouldn’t have changed.

But to his surprise, when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a hibernation capsule, surrounded by darkness save for the tubes that restrained his body. He woke up the AI Yeah to check the time, only to realize that 10 years had passed.

Could it be that after assassinating the Lord of the Ninth District, Acto had come to sleep in this hibernation capsule for 10 years?

He put on the Demon Fox mask left by Qiu Li to avoid exposing his face and causing unnecessary trouble, and by chance, he encountered the grown-up Yao Wen.

"City Lord, where have you been during these 10 years?" Yao Wen’s face still carried the innocence of youth despite having not fully matured.

He looked at Su Ming’an, his emotions somewhat collapsing, "We really thought you were killed, or captured by the Deity Faction—we waited for more than two days for your return, dispatched countless reconnaissance teams, and still had no idea where you had gone. These years, sister Tereya and Sen have suffered so much trying to suppress the news of your absence, to prevent the subordinate settlements from rebelling... "

"..." Su Ming’an didn’t say a word.

He hadn’t anticipated that time in Kaius Tower was discontinuous. It seemed that his nighttime ventures to personally assassinate other lords, followed by his disappearance without a return for 10 years, had caused a huge misunderstanding.

The squad members around him showed shock upon hearing Yao Wen’s cries. The truth about Acto’s disappearance had been well concealed by the higher-ups, and they were completely unaware that this was the case.

In recent years, Acto’s reputation had nearly reached deification, with members of the Lighthouse Church worshipping him as if possessed.

"I... for these 10 years," Su Ming’an said, "was sleeping."

He didn’t know how to explain his actions, why would Acto have slept for 10 years?

Yao Wen was left speechless by his answer.

"Perhaps the City Lord doesn’t find it convenient to say, Yao Wen, don’t be too pressing," the pink-haired squad member said softly. She was Sita Xi, a tender young girl 10 years ago, but now she had grown into a beautiful and graceful woman.

"I wasn’t being pressing, I was just asking..." Yao Wen turned his head and muttered in response.

Even with such questioning, his fondness for Su Ming’an remained above 90.

Around Yao Wen’s neck hung a somewhat damaged seashell necklace, a relic of Fayse. After Fayse died of poisoning, Yao Wen wore her necklace around his own neck. Time had weathered it, even the string of the necklace had faded.

"Now that the City Lord has returned today, you should come back with us," Sita Xi said.

"Alright... wait a moment."

Suddenly, Su Ming’an noticed a piece of information. Staring at it for a moment, he said, "You go back first."

"City Lord, where are you going again—" Yao Wen didn’t finish his sentence when he saw a shadow flash by, and Su Ming’an, riding on a wheelchair, soared into the sky.

Yao Wen felt a sudden collapse of emotions—could it be that the City Lord would disappear again for another 10 years?

...

Su Ming’an frowned deeply.

Just now, AI Yeah had successfully hacked in and obtained internal information from the Deity Faction:

[——Acto died in the Ninth District 10 years ago following the assassination, the cause of death being physical weakness, and his body was preserved in the biochemistry laboratory of a subsidiary domain of the City of Gods.]

This contradicted Su Ming’an’s assumption that Acto might have run off to this hibernation capsule to sleep for 10 years after the assassination. But now it seemed that the moment he went into the intermission, Acto had already died due to physical weakness.

He had to go to that biochemical laboratory and look at the corpse himself to confirm whether it was really him.

Shielded by "Spatial Concealment," he rushed toward the biochemical laboratory, overhearing passing researchers conversing.

"What exactly is the meaning of the Agent’s actions? For 10 years, they have been hiding the news of Acto’s death, not letting it leak out. If the news of the death got out, the Freedom Faction would likely fall into disarray," one researcher said.

"He doesn’t allow us to dissect the body, or even touch it, keeping it frozen in the laboratory all this time, what a waste. Such excellent experimental material, yet we can only look but not touch," another researcher lamented.

"Today, the Lord suddenly came to take the body away, I wonder what it means..." The researcher said, "If it were up to me, I would decapitate Acto’s head and hang it at the city gate, it would surely deter the Freedom Faction..."

Listening to their discussions, Su Ming’an confirmed Acto’s death to some extent. He continued under "Spatial Concealment," heading in the direction of the City of Gods.

The blood-red sunset spilled down, and the City of Gods seemed like a transparent city built upon glass. The dazzling floor-to-ceiling windows reflected shimmering light, shining like gemstones, almost allowing one to see the entire city from the outside.

Passing the pure white detection system, Su Ming’an arrived at the entrance of the City of Gods, just in time to see Lin Guang ascending the steps, carrying a body from outside.

Lin Guang’s combat power was above his, capable of seeing through his "Spatial Concealment." Su Ming’an immediately pressed himself against the wall, using the snow-white pillars as cover, circling around to hide himself.

Perhaps preoccupied with the ice coffin behind him, Lin Guang did not notice Su Ming’an behind the pillar. He walked step by step up the stairs, greeted by the long-waiting Yamada Machiichi, Violet, and others at the entryway.

"My lord."

"My lord."

Several of them saluted one after another.

Sticking close to the pillar, Su Ming’an took a quick glance and saw indeed it was Acto’s body inside the ice coffin, eyes closed, face completely pale, even dragging a well-preserved blood-colored cloak behind him.

Lin Guang, with his head bowed, his white hair covering the sides of his ears, Su Ming’an couldn’t see his expression.

After Lin Guang entered, Violet, staring at his back, remarked, "I didn’t expect the Lord to unilaterally designate Acto as ’best friend’ again, even though when he was alive 10 years ago, he barely paid him any attention."

"Acto was Su Ming’an’s player character, right? With Acto dead, where can Su Ming’an attach himself to now?" Wu Yu, clad in Dragon Country martial arts attire, wondered.

"I don’t know..." said Violet.

Su Ming’an silently passed by with "Spatial Concealment" in place. Violet seemed to sense something, glanced around, but did not discover his location.

Since Lin Guang’s combat power was quite strong, Su Ming’an maintained a considerable distance to prevent being detected. It wasn’t until Lin Guang spent more than ten minutes in a room on the top level that Su Ming’an quietly approached.

Looking through the open glass door, he saw Lin Guang sitting in a chair, facing the ice coffin, reading from a book in his hands.

"Your birthday is on December 31. You usually like to read books about psychology and mystery stories."

"You like games, I don’t quite understand what games are. They seem to be activities that people enjoyed before the Century Catastrophe. Sorry, I lack information and cannot recreate those games..."

"You are Lewis... In my eyes, you are Lewis. It doesn’t matter to me whether or not you are Acto, I knew you as the one who strolled with me at night. You are a good person, Lewis... All the ’Players’ have returned, 10 years have passed, why haven’t you come back yet?"

Lin Guang continued to mutter to himself, looking at the corpse as if it might open its eyes the next second.

Su Ming’an suddenly realized—Lin Guang thought he would awaken in the corpse, which was why he sat beside it, waiting.

However, he had awakened in a hibernation capsule underground elsewhere in the world.

It seemed that indeed, there were many Actos... when one died, another would awaken...

Lin Guang mumbled on for an hour, but there was no movement from the ice coffin.

An hour later, Lin Guang left, and Su Ming’an quietly slipped in.

He surveyed the room—filled with all sorts of buttons, levers, and devices, as well as a series of surveillance screens spanning his field of view. This must be the control room of the City of Gods that can operate most of the Mechanical Army.

It was a godsend opportunity that he actually managed to sneak in. If it weren’t for Lin Guang’s poor spirit today, he would’ve been discovered long ago.

He reached out, his Yeah wristwatch aimed at a heart-like crimson core of the control room, "Yeah, link to the control console."

...

[You are currently contesting for control of the City of Gods·Central Control, current progress: 1%, please maintain calibration.]

[Faction Contribution Points: 14000]

...

The moment his wristwatch targeted the core, the Faction Contribution Points soared as if gone mad, skyrocketing by several hundred points in just a few seconds.

Su Ming’an watched the scene with a cold eye.

As for Lin Guang, he had no particular thoughts about him. Lin Guang was just too lonely; as soon as he met someone he felt close to, he would cling to them like seeing a mother, desperately lacking in friends.

But a deity’s agent who slaughtered millions of people couldn’t be whitewashed in his eyes. He was a representative of humanity, their stands absolutely contradicted each other.

...

[Current progress: 10%, please maintain calibration.]

...

As the red light flickered, the calibration progress bar kept rising and the Faction Contribution Points soared to 15000.

A "click" sounded crisply as the automatic door suddenly swung open, and Lin Guang, holding a pure white pistol, aimed it at him.

"You’ve come back..." Lin Guang said.

He stared fixedly at Su Ming’an, who wore a Demon Fox mask, not blinking, as if he didn’t notice the control system being hijacked.

Countless blood-red tubes were reconnected behind him, rumbling as he advanced.

"I only ask you one question, just answer me correctly, and it will be the greatest help to me," Su Ming’an raised the Glory Hunter with one hand, aiming at Lin Guang:

"Lin Guang, are you really Lv Shu?"

Lin Guang was taken aback.

At this moment, he suddenly wanted to flee.

"So you’ve always thought I was Lv Shu?" he asked, "What would you do if I were?"

"Depends on the situation, save people," Su Ming’an said.

"I’m not," Lin Guang said.

"Don’t lie to me."

"I—am not, Lv Shu," Lin Guang’s tone grew colder: "He’s long dead, I killed him personally."