Welcome to Rewind World Game
Chapter 657 - 654: "What is Love?

Chapter 657: Chapter 654: "What is Love?

"Lewis, don’t go," Lin Guang said.

He pointed to the table and chairs arranged on the rooftop, with delicate dishes and red wine placed on the table, and a sunshade standing beside it, blocking the somewhat dazzling sunlight.

"Look, I’ve prepared a seat for you. Just stay here, drink with me, chat, and let’s enjoy the view together today, okay?" Lin Guang pleaded.

"Dream on," Su Ming’an turned to step onto his wheelchair.

...Now that Lu was invaded, and the fate of Yuanyuan and the others was unknown, he couldn’t neglect his duties to his troops—he had to go back.

"Bang!" Pain shot through his leg, and Su Ming’an’s body lurched before he fell to the ground.

He looked back; his right leg had been penetrated by a silver-white bullet, and blood splattered out.

He had never imagined Lin Guang would shoot him.

Over the years, Lin Guang had been too good to him. In his memory, Lin Guang had become an Lv Shu version of a naive and sweet man, nearly making him forget that Lin Guang was a faction boss.

"I said—don’t go." Lin Guang held the gun, his expression extremely cold, the laughter in his eyes completely gone. In the blink of an eye, his mood fluctuated wildly.

A second ago, he was smiling and wanting to enjoy the view. The next, he shot and broke Su Ming’an’s leg.

Seeing Su Ming’an still attempting to move, Lin Guang shifted the gun barrel, aiming at Su Ming’an’s left leg, wanting to cripple his ability to move.

"Swish!" Immediately, Su Ming’an released twenty Judgments; his right hand emitted a flicker of Cross Light, and a fierce Spatial Vibration burst forth.

"Boom—!"

His vision momentarily obscured by the flying dust and debris, Su Ming’an endured the pain, contemplating his next move in the fight.

Shadow State had already expended all its methods. He should switch to Bright State now to see if he could take the initiative using the suppressive effect of the Sword of Yarman...

After his Sword of Yarman had ascended to Gold Level, it had acquired a very powerful passive ability. As long as Lin Guang’s Combat Power wasn’t over 5000, he should be able to contend with him.

...

[Absolute Suppression: Your attacks possess the "Absolute Initiative" effect against any entity with a Combat Power lower than 5000, negating all control and damage from late-coming opponents.]

...

This meant that as long as he swung his sword first, Lin Guang’s series of follow-up attacks couldn’t interrupt him.

The floating cannon materialized behind Su Ming’an, the five fish-like muzzles rapidly aligned and locked on, activating the [Large Buoyant Cannon Form].

However, at the next moment, he heard a voice that made his hands tremble.

...

"Ding Dong!"

[Boss fight mode activated.]

[Current Boss (Lin Guang·City of Gods), Combat Power: 6000+]

...

No use!

Su Ming’an’s gaze wavered, and he made a decisively quick move, pulling the Teleporting Blood Seal Pocket Watch out from his chest, the gold chain flashing in the sunlight. He just needed to shout the name of the teleport destination, and he could leave immediately.

"Yuanyu—" His words had just started.

A crisp sound.

A hand flew in the air, accompanied by the sound of breaking bones and tearing flesh, a numb pain stabbing into his brain. The pocket watch dropped to the ground with a "clack".

A silver-white bullet fell to the ground; Lin Guang had shot through his arm.

Under Su Ming’an’s Spatial Vibration, Lin Guang was almost completely unharmed.

"Do you see? If I don’t want you to leave, you simply can’t," Lin Guang said.

He walked step by step towards Su Ming’an, his back to the setting sun, casting a long shadow in front of him.

Su Ming’an had once used the Blood Seal Pocket Watch to threaten him, but Lin Guang was never afraid.

Lin Guang didn’t care what became of the war progress; as long as he was in the City of Gods, it was an unbreakable shield. Nobody could penetrate his defenses.

"But you broke our agreement," Su Ming’an said through the pain. "You said you’d kill Edward within a day, but he’s still not dead..."

The blood pooled on the ground, soaking his lower half entirely. His right leg and right arm were immobile, and even Spatial Displacement wouldn’t get him far.

"No matter, just wait here," Lin Guang said. "It won’t be long before there’s no one else in this world. I will keep my promise to you."

"What?"

Su Ming’an had already considered rewinding time to avoid being transported to this place again, but now Lin Guang said—there would be "no one else in this world" soon?

He had to understand what Lin Guang meant.

"I’ve always been thinking... keeping everyone alive might be good for the world," Lin Guang murmured to himself, "But gradually, I’ve realized that people are ugly, full of jealousy, without self-awareness, and eager to oppress heroes... These people have no sparkle in my eyes. Why should I save them? Lewis... tell me, why do you save them?"

"Because of the ’Player’ tasks," Su Ming’an answered quickly.

"Because of... ’Player’ tasks," Lin Guang chewed on the words: "So, to prevent the situation from getting worse, I might as well just kill all these people. That way, I can fundamentally stop the invasion of ’Ta Wei.’"

Su Ming’an was stunned.

—What kind of thought process is this?

—To avoid the invasion of Ta Wei into humanity, just kill all humans? What kind of unconventional problem-solving solution is this?

Lin Guang was indeed a madman. No one taught him how to think like a normal person. He was like an entity missing part of his emotional judgment, always thinking from the result to find the answer. It always led to absurd and ridiculous behaviors.

There was an impermeable thin membrane between him and normal people, never to be pierced, never to be understood.

Su Ming’an raised his left hand, drinking from the Blood Bottle under Lin Guang’s gaze to prevent death from excessive blood loss.

Lin Guang silently watched him drink from the Blood Bottle, seemingly uninterested in intervening as long as he didn’t run away.

"Tell me, what is the Dawn System?" Su Ming’an asked immediately after drinking the Blood Bottle.

Lin Guang’s eyes suddenly brightened.

"Do you want to chat with me now?" Lin Guang showed a radiant smile, his mood changing rapidly as if he wasn’t the one who had just fired the gun.

...Madman.

Su Ming’an muttered in his heart, continuing through the pain, "Yes, I want to chat with you. Tell me, what is the Dawn System?"

"I don’t recommend that you activate the Dawn System to solve your predicament," Lin Guang said, "Once activated, you’ll have no way out."

"Do you mean to say that activating the Dawn System can counter Loss Disease and ’Ta Wei’?" Su Ming’an confirmed.

"Of course," Lin Guang said, "The principle of the Dawn System—it’s about taking everyone into a ’Two-Dimensional World,’ isn’t it?"

Su Ming’an was slightly taken aback.

He immediately activated AI Ado’s Baidu Encyclopedia and searched for the definition of the "Two-Dimensional World."

...

[Cute Little Ado Baidu Encyclopedia:]

[Two-Dimensional World: A virtual world activated by computer 0s and 1s through electric currents. It is a flat world without thickness, similar to the world on paper.]

[Three-Dimensional World: The normal world you currently reside in.]

...

Su Ming’an suddenly grasped the meaning.

To make an inappropriate comparison—the two-dimensional is like the two-dimensional world on paper, the three-dimensional is like the normal three-dimensional world.

And activating the Dawn System means "Downgrade Dimension," taking humans from the three-dimensional world full of Loss Disease risks to hiding in the two-dimensional world.

There isn’t much essential difference between these two worlds; the environment, characters, city structure, layout are all basically the same. It’s just that the two-dimensional world has an additional membrane that blocks the invasion from Ta Wei. It resembles a sort of illusory parallel world.

"I’ve recently done some research on games," Lin Guang said, his eyes gleaming:

"Lewis, you’ve played games; you should understand the principle. Through the game system, a virtual, more suitable world for human survival can be created.

If you choose to fully activate the Dawn System, then all humans will enter this fabricated ’Two-Dimensional World’ and gain access to a ’Safe Zone’ without Ta Wei’s prying."

Lin Guang’s words struck Su Ming’an like thunder.

According to history, Acto had indeed succeeded in activating the Dawn System. So—was the City of Measurement in the year 102 of the Catastrophe actually a ’Two-Dimensional World’?

He’d always thought that Caius Tower was a simulated world—now Lin Guang was telling him that the City of Measurement in the year 102 of the Catastrophe was the actual virtual world?

"What happens to all the people who enter the two-dimensional world then, and what becomes of the three-dimensional world we are now in?" Su Ming’an’s voice trembled.

Lin Guang said, "Downgrade Dimension means—the Dawn System will record everything in the three-dimensional world and transfer all human brain data into its constructed two-dimensional world. This way, the people who can’t live in the three-dimensional world will have a chance to survive in the two-dimensional world.

When humanity in the two-dimensional world finds a way to suppress Ta Wei, they might ascend back to the three-dimensional world and completely drive out Ta Wei.

So if you decide to activate the Dawn System, it is a stopgap measure. It’s as if humanity has given up the whole real three-dimensional world, forced to flee into the two-dimensional world constructed by the Dawn System.

And if we can’t find a way to completely suppress Ta Wei, then we won’t be able to ascend back, forever trapped in the Dawn System’s two-dimensional world. In case something goes wrong with the Dawn System, or it too gets invaded by Ta Wei, then humans are finished."

Su Ming’an fell silent.

Although Lin Guang’s words were complex, careful understanding made them clear.

Even if one still didn’t grasp the meaning of the difference between the two and three dimensions, it could be thought of like this—the Dawn System is like a harbor of refuge, where the two-dimensional world can give humans a breathing space. But once there’s a problem, everyone inside is done for.

Looking at the state of the City of Measurement in the year 102 of the Catastrophe, the Dawn System clearly had issues. Ta Wei was still wildly able to invade the City of Measurement, which was in two dimensions.

So... looking at the outcome, not activating the Dawn System might have been even better.

To jump the whole world between two and three dimensions to avoid a crisis of total invasion... Acto’s Dawn System was a genius idea but unfortunately did not succeed.

"Lin Guang, I heard the Dawn System is in the City of Gods, let me have a look at it," Su Ming’an said.

Lin Guang walked up to him and crouched down.

Blood had already pooled on the ground, and Su Ming’an, having lost too much blood, really didn’t have the strength to speak; he just looked at Lin Guang.

"You want to see the Dawn System?" Lin Guang asked.

"Mhm," Su Ming’an nodded.

Lin Guang reached out, grabbed Su Ming’an’s left arm, pulled aside Su Ming’an’s blood-stained fingers, and pressed them against his own heart.

"Do you consider me a friend now?" Lin Guang asked.

"Mmmhm..." Su Ming’an gave a perfunctory response.

"Then have a look," Lin Guang said.

They stood still, and the scene fell silent for half a minute. Su Ming’an waited a while, but Lin Guang didn’t move for a long time, like a statue.

"Where is the Dawn System?" Su Ming’an asked weakly, almost out of breath.

Lin Guang didn’t speak, just gazed at him.

Su Ming’an looked up.

All he could see was the blood-red light of the setting sun filling the sky, and through the gaps between his fingers, he could faintly sense Lin Guang’s heartbeat—one beat after another, the vibration of a living being.

...Wait a minute.

Sudden realization gripped Su Ming’an with panic, clenching his heart.

"You said you are—" Su Ming’an’s voice pitched up sharply before he coughed violently.

"Yes," Lin Guang smiled:

"The Dawn System, it’s inside my body."

Su Ming’an stared at Lin Guang’s chest.

"I was looking forward to stopping the apocalypse with you, but I don’t want to give our real world to Ta Wei. I don’t want everyone to live inside a system, so, I won’t let you activate it," Lin Guang said.

Su Ming’an shook his head:

"No..."

He wanted to persuade him further; after all, his main quest was to obtain the Dawn System.

Just then,

He saw Lin Guang’s smile broaden, strange and exuberant, like someone who had gotten his wish.

"Boom—!"

All of a sudden, he saw a cloud of fire-like light in the distance, a magnificent brilliance rising before his eyes, as dazzling as the sun.

High-rises snapped, collapsing downward, the blood-red sun seemed to be ignited, and the world appeared to freeze at that moment.

Endless waves of wind surged out, accompanied by the terror of a nuclear explosion. The ground twisted, cracked, and trembled...almost filling his entire field of vision, save for the City of Gods—only this place was like a fortress, a city favored by the gods, untouched by the explosion.

Su Ming’an watched this terrifying scene, and only with a delay did he realize what happened outside.

That light, one blast after another, made the world seem like a still frame in black and white.

A nuclear blast.

Lin Guang had set off a nuclear explosion.

—So this was why Lin Guang had been indifferent to the war. When the situation became uncontrollable, Lin Guang chose to initiate a nuclear blast, killing everyone except those in the City of Gods.

No wonder Lin Guang had said earlier, "Soon there will be no one else left in this world."

Lin Guang had been waiting for this moment—the moment when everyone else would be dead.

Su Ming’an’s heartbeat seemed to stop, everything trembling before his eyes invaded his vision, nearly stripping him of all ability to think.

...Then, what about those not in the City of Gods, Yuanyuan and Luna from the combat group... others outside, like Lu, Tretiya, Dong An’an, and... and the hundreds of millions of innocent lives...?

He heard the system alert.

For the first time, he knew that the death of individuals with special statuses related to him would trigger an alert.

...

[Mission-related individual (Dong An’an) has died.]

[Teammate (Luna) has died.]

[Teammate (Lu) has died.]

...

[Observer (Yuanyuan) is dead and cannot be resurrected.]

...

The desolate wind brushed past Su Ming’an’s eyelashes.

City of Gods was too comfy, too warm; he couldn’t sense the radiation and heat from outside, nor could he see the endless bodies.

But the death notifications in the system bar were as red as blood—the outside world was now a mortal purgatory.

"——Alright, everyone is dead! Now no one can be infiltrated by Ta Wei." The white-haired youth spun in circles on the spot, cheerfully saying, "The world is safe!!"

He laughed as he looked at the apocalyptic scene, as if it were an extremely delightful comedy:

"——Lewis, I have some anti-radiation equipment here. Let’s go for a walk in the nuclear blast zone tonight, just like that walk we took on a winter’s night."

"——I learned a new song called Ode to Joy. It was Violet who taught me... Ah, she was sent out by me before, she’s probably dead, no worries, I can continue researching the song with you."

He laughed out loud amidst the firelight of the apocalypse, his eyes glittering like brilliant stars:

"That way, I won’t have to always stay in the City of Gods either; maybe I can try to recreate the game from before the Century Catastrophe and then we could play together. You could teach me..."

As he was speaking, he suddenly realized that Su Ming’an had not responded to him.

He turned his head and saw Su Ming’an lying in a pool of blood.

He touched Su Ming’an’s shoulder.

"Lewis?" he asked, with a particularly puzzled look in his eyes: "Lewis?"

A slight stream of blood trickled, drop by drop, from Su Ming’an’s temple, mixing with the large pool of blood on the ground.

Lin Guang stared blankly as Su Ming’an’s slowly falling fingertips, stained with blood. Su Ming’an, however, didn’t even glance at him, his deep grey eyes reflecting no one’s shadow.

Su Ming’an had committed suicide.

Lin Guang seemed to choke up, and after a moment, he barely whispered.

"Why," he said.

Su Ming’an did not respond, the gleam in his eyes gradually dispersing.

"Everyone is dead... You don’t have to protect the world anymore. There is no one worth saving, no one asking you to be a hero... you’re already free," Lin Guang stared into his eyes, his voice trembling:

"You could play games, read detective novels, if you want to play tennis, I can create many Mechanical Armies to play with you. If you want to go to school, the City of Gods has classrooms, I can build a university for you..."

"If you like strawberries, the City of Gods’ gardens can grow them, if you want chocolate, I can make that for you..."

"Lewis... The world is safe now, if you leave, there will be no one left to talk to me..."

Su Ming’an squinted his eyes.

Piercing through the temple, his breath gradually faded away.

He saw the blood-red sun below and the dense fire clouds in the distance, like the dirge of countless souls. Endless waves surged up, the world beyond the City of Gods a chaotic ruin.

This world was devoid of people now.

What remained were malevolent spirits, devils, executioners who had slaughtered hundreds of millions.

This horrible world could be left to such a terrible executioner to enjoy alone.

In his final moments, he saw Lin Guang’s almost pleading eyes, and an expression as if about to cry.

"Lewis... Su Ming’an."

"Did I do something wrong again?"

"You’re my best friend, can you tell me... what are friends? What are emotions? What is love?"

Lin Guang murmured repeatedly.

He longed to grasp something, yet feared shattering it with too much force, Su Ming’an’s blood-stained hand fell to the ground.

Countless images crazily intertwined in Lin Guang’s mind, these suppressed emotions twisting and colliding, almost splitting open his brain. He tried to remember something, but there was only a blank.

...Who was he?

...Why couldn’t he remember anything?

His desperate eyes, like a dying meteor in a blind universe.

"So it really is ’despair’..."

...

Su Ming’an closed his eyes, his life extinguished.