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Chapter 688 - 685: BE19 - "Encounter

Chapter 688: Chapter 685: BE19 - "Encounter

Su Ming’an stared at Edward’s corpse, uncertain of what would happen next.

A clown’s drama had already concluded before his eyes.

After the Ninth World ended, he might face a world upheaval, the change of Mizushima Kawa Sora’s status, the emergence of new Perfect Pass players, the attitude of the United Group, and that woman lying in the hospital...

...

[By killing a player with a "Purple Grade" skill, your occupation skill has advanced to lv.34.]

[Please choose your occupational evolution direction:]

[Option 1: Bright Night Clone: Enhance combat, survival, free action, and clue exploration abilities in the "Bright" "Shadow" state.]

[Option 2: Judgment: Enhance single-target control abilities and group suppression abilities of the "Judgment" skill. Increase the infectious ability of Emotion Infusion effects.]

...

"Judgment," Su Ming’an said.

The Judgment skill had infinite clever uses, apart from needing to collect Emotion Value, it had no drawbacks. His current combo was Judgment + Spatial Vibration. A trick that worked wonders; even if other players knew about this tactic, they could do nothing against it.

...

[Judgment lv.4: Long-range control, forcibly imposing Weakened State on the enemy. (Single Judgment consumes 50 Energy Points, Group Judgment consumes 500 Energy Points.)

Comes with Emotion Infusion/Seed of Curse: You can infuse your stored Emotion Value into NPCs or players to alter their mental state. You can detonate the "Seed of Curse" within the target’s body, causing environmental contamination effects. You can attach these "contaminants" to skill use.]

...

After the upgrade of Judgment, an effect has been added: "You can attach these pollutants to skills used." This signifies that Spatial Vibration can also carry the curse effect in the future, which is a significant enhancement.

...

[You have obtained the equipment (Ring of Time lv.1)]

[Ring of Time lv.1 (Purple Grade): "Since everything leads to the very beginning, then why come and add an illusory luster to this journey?"]

Spirit +20

Control time of time-related skills +1 second

Special Skill (Time Loop): Consumes mana points to revert the space within a certain range around you to the state it was in one hour ago. Cooldown time twelve hours. This skill cannot be used on living beings.

Note: This equipment can evolve. For every important NPC death you witness, the equipment gains 1 level.]

...

Su Ming’an removed the Aurora Ring that he had been wearing on his ring finger since the First World, retiring the equipment that had served to increase his mana points.

After switching to the new ring, he approached the blood pool in front of him, where a thick fog obscured his sight, making the bloody waters look like translucent red glass.

He bent down and plunged his hand into the blood pool. Instantly, a sizzling sound erupted as a burning sensation swept over him. This abnormal terrain, a result of environmental pollution, resembled liquid magma in its physical state, with an extremely high temperature.

"..." He withdrew his hand, numb from the pain.

He got on his wheelchair and charged straight in, the fog momentarily hiding his figure.

Five minutes later, he saw several sparse shadows, like branches. Dozens of people were struggling aboard small boats that bobbed and sank, paddling with great difficulty. Some were severely scalded, their bodies charred, on the brink of unconsciousness.

Had Su Ming’an not arrived, these soldiers would most likely have died from Edward’s crushing artillery fire.

Hearing the sound of the wheelchair rushing by, their faces showed shock:

"City....City Lord?"

Su Ming’an guided his wheelchair down. He still felt in terrible condition, like an ant suspended over a hot pot, ready to plummet at any moment.

His voice was hoarse: "Where is Luo Kylstia?"

"It really is the City Lord..."

"City Lord, have you really come to rescue us?"

"City Lord..." The people looked up high, reaching out their hands as if to grasp the sunlight.

"Where is Luo Kylstia?"

Su Ming’an’s voice rose, and the entire ship fell silent. Thirty-some people exchanged glances, and one person stretched out a hand, pointing toward a deeper fog.

"The captain gave this great ship to us, she and others are paving the way ahead, otherwise no one would survive..." someone said.

Su Ming’an propelled his wheelchair, rushing over.

The mists rose, thick black smoke piercing his throat, causing him to cough as he gazed straight into the fog.

"Lv Shu, I advise you not to go save..." the voice of the deity wafted through the air, but Su Ming’an completely ignored it.

Two minutes later, Su Ming’an saw a corpse, floating and sinking in bloody waters, its skin charred black—it was a soldier who had died en route.

Three minutes later, Su Ming’an saw another corpse, its cheeks blackened, eyes red, and its body marked with frenzied scratches—the soldier had died of the deficiency disease.

In the fleeting eight minutes, Su Ming’an saw twelve bodies in total, pausing slightly at each to confirm none of them were her.

The level of the pool rose higher and higher, with the sky above turning into rock layers, the visibility growing dimmer and dimmer, even the reflected snow light yielding to the void.

Eight minutes later, he drove the wheelchair, slowly coming to a stop.

—He saw an extremely shocking scene.

Countless charred bodies braced in the water, like sunken coal, piling up into a small mound of black and red. Dozens of corpses, their rigid hands raised like torches, fingers splayed as if a celestial maiden were scattering flowers—they, with the same pose, the same charred hands, supported an extremely narrow boat, as though lifting the hope of a new century.

The cause of this scene was the sudden rise in the pool’s level. Those who were seriously injured already lacked the strength to climb up to the rock layers, to leave this deadly deep pool—so they held the remaining boat high, striving with all their might to deliver the souls of the survivors to the other side.

The crimson hue was etched into their eyes just before death, as if composing a frantic symphony.

And on the boat—already out of the blood pool on the shore, lay an unconscious girl, her body still shielding a dead soldier.

Her black hair scattered on the hot ground, exuding a strong burnt smell, with crimson sparks flying in the air, like the afterglow of the blazing sun.

"Who..." she heard a voice, faintly calling out, her eyes slowly opening.

Upon seeing Su Ming’an, her eyes suddenly brightened.

"I’ve come to rescue you," Su Ming’an reached out his hand, barely pulling her up.

"... Is it an illusion?" Yuanyuan whispered.

"It’s not an illusion," Su Ming’an said.

"Don’t save me..." she said.

However, Su Ming’an had already lifted her up to prevent further burns.

She was covered in injuries, too weak to move; he laid her gently in the wheelchair seat while he himself sat on the armrest. While doing this, he could hear the tearing sounds from his body, his insides cold due to energy loss, while his outer skin cracked from the heat, the mix of hot and cold disintegrating his body.

Cyan and magenta hung before their eyes, like a tableau of the end of life.

"You shouldn’t have saved me," Yuanyuan gasped, her voice lacking strength: "The other survivors have all left. Do you know why I didn’t join them..."

Her eye rims were crimson, her cheeks flushed like the dawn, even emitting white smoke on touch, as if they would crumble at a mere brush.

"I don’t want to know, I must save you," Su Ming’an said.

He drove the wheelchair forward, passing one corpse after another, this place resembling a mass grave strewn with bodies, filled with terror, heat, and death.

System time eleven fifty-two, eight minutes to the new year’s chime. She’s still alive.

"I remember... I didn’t send you persimmons this year," Yuanyuan suddenly changed the subject, her voice soft: "And you didn’t send me a new fairy tale book this year."

"How old are you, still reading fairy tales," Su Ming’an laughed.

As he laughed, blood began to trickle from his mouth; he realized his body had begun to bleed internally.

"... You’re getting worse at talking. By the way, I heard from other players that you’ve started liking chocolate," Yuanyuan said: "I remember you didn’t like sweets before, why..."

"Because it’s too bitter," Su Ming’an suddenly spat out blood, repeating to himself in a murmur as he had a premonition: "... Too bitter."

Too bitter.

"..."

Yuanyuan stretched out her hand, burnt and sore, touching his face also marred with wounds.

The contrast between them was so stark—an individual whose time was endlessly stretched, maintaining a perennial curiosity for new things, as pure as a newborn. Yet, one who had saved several worlds in just a matter of days, was heavy with gloom, his body exhausted.

"If it’s too bitter, just eat more sweets," Yuanyuan said. "You insist on the bitterness yourself; no one else can make you taste the sweetness."

She wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

In that moment, the smile faded from Su Ming’an’s face, and he seemed to return to that familiar, deep-night-like silence. He gazed into her eyes, and she, too, stopped smiling. It was as if the warm, everyday conversation they were having had been an illusion.

As the wheelchair sped along, she could see the depth in his pupils, as if they harbored a loneliness etched into his bones.

Eight minutes earlier, the moment Su Ming’an heard the deity tell him not to save her, he knew it was too late.

Three minutes earlier, when he saw a body of a deceased victim of the disease, he knew it was contagious, and now he could clearly see the red in the bottom of her eyes.

But she would not die.

She had always been strong; she would hold on; she would not die.

"Can I save you?" Su Ming’an suddenly asked.

"Maybe not," she answered in understanding.

"How late am I?"

"...I don’t know when I caught the disease," Yuanyuan said. "You shouldn’t have taken me with you; I will lose my sanity and die like a madwoman, in a way that’s hard to look at."

"Listen to me, talking with me can heal this disease; you mustn’t fall asleep..." Su Ming’an immediately said.

He knew he was late; that place just now was where Yuanyuan had died in her last iteration.

But the progress for a perfect pass hadn’t decreased; he believed his actions to save her were correct, he hadn’t made a mistake, he just needed to hold on a bit longer... She surely wouldn’t die, otherwise, he would have no way to save her anymore...

Otherwise, he would have no way to save her anymore...

"Hu—" He pushed the wheelchair forward at the fastest speed, barely making out the city lights in the distance.

Yuanyuan’s breath waned, her eyes gradually glazed over, and she clutched his jacket so tightly, as if, in doing so, her dying life could meet with his.

For the first time, he realized how fragile a life could be.

—Hadn’t he told himself when he died in the basement of the First World that he would no longer be afraid?

—Hadn’t he resolved after hearing that "big brother" in the Sixth World that he wouldn’t be weak anymore?

—Hadn’t he decided after Noel pushed him off the crow in the Seventh World that he wouldn’t be troubled by emotions?

But why...

He heard her weak voice:

"I heard from Noel that on your birthday, you promised to take everyone home..."

The bright red hue, like the reaper claiming lives, slowly climbed into her clear eyes.

Her mouth turned up bit by bit, her smile unchanged:

"Don’t count me... in."

...

[Ming’an, this game is so difficult...]

[I’ve finished all the chocolate bars.]

[Ming’an, that philosophy book you gave me is so hard; I don’t understand it, but I’ll do my best to read it...]

[Your dad is gone, but you have me; I’ll be with you. If your mom bullies you, I’ll take up the sword and beat her...]

[Isn’t the jumping game coming out? Shall we play together during the New Year?]

[You are my only friend; you are my best friend...]

[Ming’an...]

[Ming’an.]

...

Su Ming’an lowered his eyelids.

"No."

He said:

"They’re gone too."

...

"Dang——"

From a distant place, the long toll of a bell sounded.

Brilliant fireworks lit up the sky, like a galaxy laid out, stars congregating into an ocean.

System time midnight, February 1st, the New Year.

She whispered in his ear:

"Ming’an, Happy New Year..."

She wanted him to kill her, to prevent her from losing her mind.

But he didn’t move.

[She wasn’t an Observer who would resurrect; she was going to die.]

He still did not move.

Her eyes gradually turned bright red; ten seconds later, a light saber pierced his heart. Her red eyes dominated her emotions as she lost her sanity and struck him with the sword, her arm tearing from being raised so high.

And yet, he still did not move.

He sat still on the armrest of the wheelchair, facing Yuanyuan, with a blue light saber piercing through his chest. Blood flowed down the blade, also staining the front of her dress.

—Like a scalding blood vessel; as if at this moment, their two hearts were connected.

For an instant, it seemed she still retained some rationality, her eyes full of tears, but neither could save the other. Her mournful cries for him to kill her were buried by the red mist and the snowstorm.

Once, she became the Queen to crown him, wishing him a prosperous campaign, yet at this moment, she killed him with her own hands.

"Sorry..." she said the word so obscurely, teeth clenched.

She could barely hear what he said.

But he repeated it many times.

He said it was alright.

He said it was alright, alright, alright.

...and then he started to apologize as well.

She knew she was crying, and in the last moments, she heard him still apologizing, saying sorry, that he wouldn’t carry the burden of her wraith, that he would still do his utmost.

What else would he do?

She didn’t know.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry..." So in the last moments of life, she apologized with him, and then gradually fell silent.

She couldn’t hear anything anymore.

Ten seconds later, because the controller lost vital signs, the wheelchair stopped.

Tiny dappled lights shone like a vast cluster of stars, so far away that they resembled a fragile dream.

"Hu..."

Under the long wind, only two people clinging tightly to each other, leaning against the wheelchair, covered in frost and snow, seemed to sink into a deep slumber together, frozen by the icy snow.

A blue light flashed, and the figure of AI Yeah emerged, watching the two with closed eyes, calmly, the screen flashing and disappearing into the air.

"Confirming loss of vital signs..."

"Goodnight, Doctor...

You’ve worked hard, see you next time."

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