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Chapter 664 - 661: "Butterfly and Ginkgo Leaf.

Chapter 664: Chapter 661: "Butterfly and Ginkgo Leaf.

"Whoosh—"

A warm breeze brushed past.

The lines of the grand avenues stretched out, smoothly merging at the horizon, their vastness heart-stirringly evocative, reminiscent of an ocean blending pure white with a blood-red sun. In this city akin to a holy place, every living thing basked in the daylight was favored by the sun, vibrant with life.

Su Ming’an stepped in, his heel striking the ground, emitting a crisp sound as if jade were colliding with stone.

"Thud."

A mechanical guide led the way for him. He swept past flower beds bursting with fresh blooms, with fountains casting rainbow-like light. Everything he saw was glaringly white, spotlessly clean.

At the end of the avenue—where the light converged—stood a transparent colossal structure like a pillar of glass, erecting straight into the sky, its entire body sheathed in a lustrous glow. A young man with white hair stood quietly in front of the building, the bright red tubes trailing behind him on the ground, firmly connected to the edifice.

"You’ve finally arrived, Lewis," Lin Guang revealed a rare smile. He was still dressed in Western nobility attire, closely resembling the style of Noel, even donning an ostentatiously extravagant rose top hat.

By his side stood many players who had pledged allegiance to the City of Gods faction, now arrayed like a line of welcoming hostesses at the door. Upon seeing Su Ming’an, their eyes filled with awe, fervor, and envy.

They diligently toiled under Lin Guang to gather faction contribution points, while Su Ming’an arrived like a guest, with Lin Guang even commanding them to receive Su Ming’an like maids. Why was there such a vast gap between people?

"Lin Guang, can you show me around the City of Gods?" Su Ming’an said.

He stared into Lin Guang’s eyes, yet the emotions he knew so well were no longer there, leaving behind only a shallow hue. He couldn’t find any emotions that would match Lv Shu.

Lin Guang was, in his eyes, merely Lin Guang now.

"Of course!" Lin Guang immediately descended the steps. With a "click," the tubes behind him fell away naturally.

He was overjoyed, his legs trembling as he walked.

"Let’s go," Lin Guang said with a smile.

Su Ming’an scanned behind Lin Guang; without those tubes, Lin Guang’s combat power must have decreased. But he didn’t make a move, as this was after all the City of Gods.

The City of Gods was uninhabited, like a dream city crafted by the hands of deities, brimming with a sci-fi fantasy style, even the buildings were squeaky clean, square and as pristine as polished glass display cases.

This was Noah’s Ark, a gathering of the most advanced weapons of the time, preserving the flame of human civilization within.

Lin Guang took him to see the largest garden in the City of Gods, where flowers from every season bloomed, and even all the blossoms were kept in the most beautiful state of full bloom. Roses blazed like fire within the flower beds, contrasting against the scattered white lilies pure as snow.

"Knowing you were coming, I had each flower in the garden stay at its most beautiful moment," Lin Guang led him through the garden.

"How did you do that?" Su Ming’an asked.

"I don’t want to tell," Lin Guang said.

Su Ming’an could only hold his silence.

He had figured out Lin Guang’s way of thinking; Lin Guang would never speak of things he didn’t want to discuss.

They walked past the garden, then by a stream and a swimming pool. In a world where fresh water was extremely scarce, such a clear stream was a rare find.

The babbling of the water was soothing, the sound of the stream rendering one’s heart at ease. Lin Guang’s guided tour was likely meticulously planned long in advance, without a single step wasted.

Passing the stream and the long bridge, Su Ming’an caught sight of an ecological forest, with different types of trees that should grow in separate regions standing together. The golden yellow of the ginkgo leaves flickered briefly, intermingling with the lush greenery, brilliant as gold, resembling a vivid dream with a stark contrast in colors.

Was that... ginkgo leaves?

"Lewis, look over there," Lin Guang extended his hand.

His smile was natural, his eyes filled with anticipation.

Su Ming’an followed his gaze—to suddenly behold thousands upon thousands of golden butterflies fluttering under the sky.

This scene, under the blood sun, was stunning and beautiful, countless butterflies spreading their wings, a cascade of brilliant, scattered gold, their edges tinged and reflective as if forming a golden path stretching towards the horizon.

A moment later, Su Ming’an collected himself.

...No, those weren’t butterflies.

It was the fluttering, falling, butterfly-like leaves of myriad ginkgo trees—a breeze brushed through the branches, scattering these "butterflies" to the wind, countless golden leaves shimmering like stars, their hue shifting from gold to white with the changing light, as if silver-plated.

The seemingly endless ginkgo trees suddenly opened up before him, thousands of fluttering golden "butterflies" filling the seemingly never-ending path, like a vivid and magnificent golden dream.

The golden ginkgo leaves were born in autumn, yet he caught a glimpse of their beauty in the cold of winter.

For an instant, Su Ming’an forgot that he was in the perilous City of Gods; beside him was not a dangerous madman, but a companion sharing the scenery with him.

Dust storms, radiation, wasteland, Origin Stones... these dangers seemed to be filtered out and distilled from his thoughts, leaving only pure and clean tranquility. Underneath the myriad of gold, the landscape was as shocking and exquisite as miles of drifting snow, and he was in the midst of it.

"Butterflies..." Su Ming’an murmured.

"They’re not butterflies, those are ginkgo leaves," Lin Guang said.

Su Ming’an fell silent for a moment.

"Okay, ginkgo leaves," he said softly.

Lin Guang glanced at him, confusion and incomprehension filling his pale eyes. He didn’t understand what Su Ming’an regretted. Could it be that ginkgo leaves were inferior to butterflies?

His way of thinking was always different from ordinary people, separated by an unbreakable barrier from human sensibility.

What he liked he sought to obtain, what he disliked he extinguished, angered he became enraged, upon meeting someone close he wanted friendship, and those he detested he killed. He was as simple and straightforward as a blank piece of paper, his actions strange and cruel, unlike those of ordinary people.

Whatever the situation, he had a specific way to respond, to "activate," to "react." His judgment methods and patterns of behavior were all aligned.

Or rather...

He was more like a "program" composed of zeros and ones, only capable of producing results through rigid, formulaic thought processes.

No one taught him, no one accompanied him, no one told him—what you should do.

Perhaps Violet had shown him what "love" was, but she, too, only wanted to harvest Faction Contribution Points, not intent on guiding him thoroughly. He never met someone who truly did not fear him, who could speak with him on equal terms. This led to an increasingly vicious circle as his methods became more and more brutal, his temperament ever more violent, and people grew increasingly fearful of him.

He longed for a sense of "closeness."

Or rather, "familiarity."

—So, in the moment he first saw Lewis, he couldn’t contain his yearning for light, a feeling more like a swift returning to its nest, a long-lost child finding a companion.

He tried to put himself in the other’s shoes, wondering "if I were Lewis, why would I dislike ginkgo leaves"... But no matter how much he thought, he couldn’t understand, only concluding that Lewis probably really preferred butterflies.

It didn’t matter. In the future, Lewis could see more butterflies.

So many that... they would be like a dream. Like the Illusion Realm.

He raised his arms high, as if to embrace the entire blood-red sky, while sunlight filtered through the emerald and teal leaves, showering down like strands of hollowed-out golden light. Beneath the beautiful, butterfly rain-like flurry of silver star leaves, he looked up, as if to bury his head in the full bloom of spring.

"Spring has come, look, Lewis!" He said excitedly, "Spring has come. This is the spring I prepared for you!"

He noticed Su Ming’an’s eyes were misty, as if he was lost in thought. He felt certain that Lewis must love this scene.

This Ruined World originally had no spring.

The sky was forever a dark blood-red, and what people felt was only the bitterly cold wind, stepping only on the magma-like desolate ground, unable to see flowers, vitality, or spring.

Yet, in the City of Gods, amidst the thousands of golden ginkgo leaves, amongst the blooming roses and lilies, Lin Guang presented such a "spring."

Su Ming’an gazed at the brilliant scene of flowers, silent for a long time.

Golden ginkgo leaves landed on his shoulder, light as feathers of negligible weight, and he glanced at the System Time.

"Click," "click," crisp sounds came from underfoot.

Stepping on the shattered leaves, they made their way towards the direction where the bloody sun shone even brighter, like stepping into an illusory "spring."

An unreachable, dream-like, unreal "spring."

...

——Yet for so many people, spring is forever out of reach.

...

[Outside World]

"Pop, pop, pop—"

The sound of bursting bubbles rose as a glass container opened, and a person stepped out.

Che Kylstia, draped in a blood-red cloak, and the black-haired girl No. 9 from the night meeting, Xi, took notice of the commotion and lifted their heads.

"Has he arrived?" Xi asked.

"Mm," the young man said.

"Little Handsome, are you getting used to this body?" Xi spoke, "Be careful, don’t let Lin Guang notice something’s off."

"Don’t worry, multitasking is a skill I’m quite good at," Su Ming’an said.

He moved his hands, then his legs. The bionic body felt somewhat unfamiliar and weak, moving with a sense of resistance, but he could barely handle it.

Although his real body had entered the City of Gods, he needed to keep tabs on the outside world.

Using a remote-control chip, he could multitask to control a bionic body, following the team searching for the Origin Stone. However, his real body’s skills were unusable in this bionic body, which could only be compensated for with the use of guns.

He took the Glory of the Hunt, wrapped in purple light, from the carriage and fired at a rock in the distance. The rock exploded upon the gunshot, and dust billowed.

"Cough, cough, cough... Suffocating!" Xi complained. She was one of the few people who could communicate with Su Ming’an on an equal footing; her personality was sharp-tongued and straightforward, always speaking her mind.

"This body can barely be considered combat power." Su Ming’an cradled the Glory of the Hunt after looking at the commotion caused by the bullet, "Let’s go."

He blinked his slightly hazy eyes. Multitasking was still somewhat painful, leading him to occasionally zone out.

"City Lord, the search for the Origin Stone is underway. The underground river networks are extensive; some areas have collapsed after years of warfare, making it difficult to find the Origin Stones buried back then. Intense fighting is happening below, and at least hundreds of thousands of mechanical beings are prepared to intercept us." Che approached, saying, "I personally advise you not to go down. If you get surrounded by the Deity faction, it will be troublesome."

To this day, he still didn’t understand why Lewis wanted to rush into Kaius Tower. Wasn’t it good to stay put in the City of Measurement?

But Lewis was his friend, leading the fighting squad, and no matter the danger, he had to accompany him.

Su Ming’an didn’t answer and jumped straight down.

Che sighed helplessly and followed suit. His blood-red cloak unfurled, flickering like flames in the breeze.

...

[Kaius Tower・Eastern District]

Amid the continuous valleys, a voice rose in a fit of rage.

"——Damn it! How much longer are you going to stay in my place!"

A white-haired, blue-eyed boy was tightly bound to a grapevine arbor. He hurled insults at a youth in a military cap sitting in a wicker chair reading a book:

"——Get out of my house! Adonis, you ungrateful bastard, I should have never pitied you and let you into the valley!"

Cloning Ming raised his eyelids slightly, flipping through the pages of the book in his hand: "Hmm, too bad, Beili Sier, you’re already too late with regrets."

A few days earlier, he had discovered this place, a paradise profoundly mismatched with the outside world. The owner of the valley was the white-haired boy before him, named Beili Sier, who initially warned them with a smug face not to wander off, or he would kill them.

However, over the days, the situation had completely reversed.

He had brutally beaten Beili Sier and hanged him up. Now he had usurped the position as the master of the valley.

This place didn’t look at all like it belonged in the Apocalypse. He had to uncover its secrets.

"You’re so despicable! Too despicable! I should have never been kind-hearted and brought you in—" Beili Sier spat angrily, his face covered in scars from the beatings he had received from Ming over the past few days.

"Possession of treasure leads to trouble." Ming, without looking up: "I had already discovered this valley by then, so it’s rightfully mine. You’re too weak, and that is your fault."

Over the past few days, he had read many ancient books, with stories from before the Century Catastrophe, and Beili Sier, a keen reader, had collected many books. This information was useful.

"Ming flipped to the next page, his gaze sharpening.

"So that’s it." He said, "I’ve finally found it..."

He stood up and untied Beili Sier.

"What’s this? Finally letting me down? If you apologize to me now, I might still forgive you..." Beili Sier’s anger was still evident as he landed on the ground.

"Wrong?" Ming spoke indifferently, "Everything done for the ’beauty of the world’ counts for nothing. Everything I do is absolutely correct."

He placed his hand on Beili Sier’s shoulder: "You can end your seclusion now, Beili Sier. This world needs you."

Beili Sier stepped back: "I don’t understand what you’re saying."

Ming said, "Haven’t you all been waiting for a turn of events? The opportunity has arrived, and his name is Lewis."

He closed the book: "So... it’s time to end all of this."