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Chapter 702 - Six Hundred Ninety-Nine: "Can I Dream?

Chapter 702: Chapter Six Hundred Ninety-Nine: "Can I Dream?

After learning the location of the Dawn Code, Su Ming’an went to sleep.

When he woke up and ascended to the surface, he saw cream-like white lilies and star-filled skies swaying in the valley. Light shone through the delicate wings of butterflies, casting a faint rainbow hue.

The white-haired boy stood amidst the flowers, his figure somewhat forlorn.

"You’re awake? There are ten minutes left until 6 a.m.," Beili Sier said.

A creaking sound rose as those household robots emerged again, looking at the two of them.

"You’re awake! You’re awake!" the refrigerator voiced.

"I told you he wasn’t Acto," the computer said.

Su Ming’an had originally thought that these chirpy robots were Beili Sier’s secret weapons, but now they seemed more like Beili Sier’s companions, playing and chatting with him...

It was like a fairy tale, with only the boy who tended the flowers and his large group of robot friends in the valley.

If someone with ill intentions broke in, this group of powerless fellows would struggle to escape unscathed.

"I slept well, I’m setting off now," Su Ming’an said.

"You can’t stop the nuclear explosion now, it’s almost 6 a.m...." Beili Sier stroked the screen of a TV robot as if petting its head.

"There’s still time," Su Ming’an said, "Goodbye."

Beili Sier was slightly taken aback.

He saw blood flowing from Su Ming’an’s temples, and he collapsed.

Companionship is a curious thing; despite just a few hours together, Beili Sier had already come to see Su Ming’an as a friend. He once again witnessed a friend dying before his eyes.

"Where are you going to?" he whispered softly, yet felt it unreachable.

...

Su Ming’an embarked on his journey to find the Dawn Code.

After leaving Yamada Machiichi behind in the City of Gods, Su Ming’an and Noel started their secret communication.

"I’ve heard you’re also a member of the Lighthouse support group?" Su Ming’an bent his middle finger and began to discuss the Lighthouse theory with Noel.

["l" (right hand middle finger bent) + "i" (discussing Lighthouse Theory) — "Last cycle, I went to the valley to obtain clues about the Dawn System."]

Noel listened quietly to Su Ming’an’s talk and after a moment nodded, "In that case, next time I’ll show you the summary of the Lighthouse forum posts I’ve written."

["m" (nodding) + "i" (discussing Lighthouse Theory) — "Do you need the Dawn Code?"]

Su Ming’an sighed faintly, "I think those summaries of the Lighthouse theory are too biased..."

["d" (sighing) + "i" (discussing Lighthouse Theory) — "Number One."]

Su Ming’an rubbed his eyes and added, "There are also some new posts, after the Ninth World ends, I intend to write something new, you can help me review it then."

["x" (rubbing eyes) + "i" (discussing Lighthouse Theory) — "West side."]

...

They communicated the information with a tacit understanding, until the location of the initial part of the password was clear to both of them.

This method of communication still had flaws, such as the unclear correspondence between individual letters and sentence meanings. Talking about topics other than the Dawn Code could lead to miscommunication. However, Noel gradually perfected the secret language, developing an independent language system. For the time being, as it was their first exchange of codes, they just needed to be clear in their own minds.

Anyone else would perceive they were just discussing Lighthouse Theory, no different from everyday chatter, even the audience didn’t react, still focused on topics related to New Year’s Eve night.

...

"Ding dong!"

[You have obtained Two Dimensions Dawn System • Dynamic Code • Number One • Kemo.]

...

At 4:30 a.m., amidst the search at the edge of the world, Su Ming’an heard the system prompt.

Finding the codes was not easy; a staggering five Dawn Codes were scattered across the globe, and only he could trigger them. It was impossible to find them all within ten hours.

To piece together the five codes, Su Ming’an could only find one code per loop. Moreover, the Dawn Codes were dynamic. Each time he found the previous code, he had to return to the valley of Beili Sier and deduce the optimal timing to trigger the next code based on feedback from the Dawn System, ensuring a consistent dynamic sequence for the five codes in the next loop.

Yuanyuan had died at midnight, so he had to find a set of codes that could activate the Dawn System before 12 a.m.

At 5:20 a.m., he and Noel arrived in the valley of Beili Sier.

The Dawn System was a bright red crystal, resembling a heart, connected by myriad crimson tubes. Su Ming’an input the first code into the Dawn System and calculated the best time to discover the next code.

"What on earth are you doing..." Beili Sier’s eyes held confusion, "The set of codes you’re looking for has already expired. They are from today’s 12 a.m., and now they’re more than five hours overdue. You’ve missed the activation time."

Su Ming’an did not answer Beili Sier’s question; he initiated the next loop.

...

This was an exceptionally arduous journey.

The first Dawn Code was very easy to find, but locating the second required Su Ming’an to reach the code’s location at an extremely precise moment to trigger the second code in the same sequence as the first. The third code was the same, needing to be in the same sequence as both the first and second codes.

It was like a cumulative sequence; the further along, the harder the codes were to find. If the timing was slightly off, he would get the wrong code, given he was alternating between different loops.

Sometimes, he and Noel would be caught up by fully armed forces from Lin Guang. Sometimes, the sudden outbreak of natural disasters would overwhelm them, the scalding heat eroding their bones and flesh. Sometimes, they failed to find the code before six in the morning, and he watched as Noel turned into charred bones; if they were closer to the nuclear blast, not even ashes would remain.

With every encounter with death, Noel held his hand tightly, even as their skins melted away, Noel’s palm remained unyielding, even as his blue eyes splintered like burnt paper.

Noel was always by his side on the path against the current, waiting for him at the endpoints and beginnings of the retrospection—as a Watcher waiting on both shores of the Time Long River.

Upon retracing his steps, the first thing Su Ming’an saw when he opened his eyes was Noel. The last second before death, it was still Noel he saw.

Due to the overlapping of different loops, the accumulated psychological suggestions became too chaotic, occasionally leading to communication errors, wasting some loops.

However, what Su Ming’an was best at was facing death repeatedly and quickly restarting after making mistakes. Even a Player in front of a computer screen would grow tired of the repetitive game loops, but not him.

The second code was discovered in an unremarkable town.

After finding the code at 4 a.m., they rested together in the town for two hours. They made braids, hung red cloth, and ate snacks like rice cake sweets.

"Happy New Year." Noel lifted a sugar block translucent like candied haws.

"Happy New Year," Su Ming’an said with a braid Noel had woven on his wrist.

They looked up to see fireworks bloom and vanish in the distance, Noel squinted, spotting a rising mushroom cloud afar.

"It can’t possibly be a parallel world... right, Ming’an." Noel muttered to himself, standing amidst the panicking crowd, calmly facing the spreading blaze, like a stable rock in a surging sea.

The next second, the brilliance of the nuclear explosion engulfed him.

Su Ming’an closed his eyes as the warm touch on his left hand gradually faded.

...

The whispers of the Deity were growing louder.

Su Ming’an often heard the anxious voice of the Deity by his ear: "Lv Shu! What on earth are you doing? I’ve laid out the path to victory for you; why would you run off to a place like this?"

The side effects of nearly three hundred doses of Mentality Stability Elixir were starting to backlash.

He was aware that his mental state was good, but it was just a stimulant, like someone who’d only slept two hours in the early morning—awake, yet harboring a significant hidden threat within.

Sometimes, he would sense the audience’s questions.

[What is the Number One Player doing...]

[Is he ignoring the City of Gods now? What about the war at the frontline...]

[Is the nuclear explosion about to happen? What exactly is he doing, he’s even sold out Su Rin...]

Su Ming’an would not consider the situation in parallel worlds. That was too despairing, too cruel for him.

In the twenty-seventh loop, he did not take the Mentality Stability Elixir. The drug was addictive, and he had a vague feeling that if he continued this way, it would be himself that crumbled first.

"Ding dong!"

[You have obtained the dynamic password · third digit · Lighthouse.]

The third digit of the password is located at the Blood Pool, found beside Yuanyuan’s body.

By the time Su Ming’an and Noel had arrived here, Yuanyuan was already dead, deeply entrapped in the scorching red soil, her back charred, her fingers’ skin curling up, like a butterfly that had been burnt to a crisp.

Until her death, her eyes remained open, hollow, reflecting the hellish landscape around her.

"..."

Su Ming’an squatted down and closed her eyelids, his face showing neither joy nor sorrow.

He would have saved her.

Every one of his deaths was about laying stepping stones for one perfect ending.

Just like when he had seen Acto’s ashen white bones in the basement of Central City in the City of Measurement. Now his own bones were piled up like a mountain, accumulating in a timeline invisible to others.

Each of his deaths aligned him a little more with Noel with fresh information. Whether it was the mechanics of the password, the timing needed to trigger the password, or the location of the password... he feared missing anything with every second that passed.

[It must be absolutely perfect... cannot replay the initial cycle, must reduce the number of rewinds, must reduce my own mistakes...]

He always thought this.

Until he reached out and closed the unblinking eyes of Yuanyuan, turned around—

He saw the family portrait on the wall, the red checkered dining table wafting with the aroma of food, the television set playing a New Year’s skit. It was the interior of a familiar home.

In an instant, he realized something was amiss, he was in the Blood Pool, he couldn’t possibly see these scenes.

—Hurry and leave this place!

In that moment, reason and sentiment furiously clashed in his mind, one voice saying, he had already found one of the passwords this cycle, he could rest now. Another urged him to leave quickly, not to indulge in the weakness of the Illusion Realm.

Suddenly, he heard the clanking sound of keys.

"Click." The sound of the door opening.

He looked to his right, where there should have been a door—

A middle-aged man with a square forehead, broad face, and thick eyebrows walked in, hanging his blue police uniform on the coat rack by the door. The man was tall, with strands of silver mixed into his black hair, and wrinkles on his face like dense cracks in farmland. His dark eyes bore an uncanny resemblance to Su Ming’an’s.

"Ming’an?" the man looked at him, "Sit down for the New Year’s dinner."

Su Ming’an paused in his stride.

He hadn’t taken the Mentality Stability Elixir this cycle, and he knew what was happening before his eyes.

"...Can I dream?" he said.

The person he actually wanted to spend the New Year with was not Yuanyuan or Noel, but—

"Dream?" the man shook his head, "You are already ten years old, what dreams to have."

"What about grandma?" Su Ming’an said.

"Grandma is sleeping in her room," the man replied.

Su Ming’an stood still, unable to avert his gaze. He looked longingly at this family member who had passed away...

Suddenly, he heard another set of footsteps, as a woman wearing an apron came out of the kitchen with dishes and stuffed a red envelope into Su Ming’an’s hand.

"Ming’an, don’t you even know to thank mom?" the woman said with a smile.

"..."

Su Ming’an remained silent.

"Call me mom," the woman said.

"..."

Su Ming’an turned and walked to his room without looking back.

...

This New Year’s Eve was very joyous.

The woman assumed the child was just throwing a tantrum and didn’t take it to heart. The family of three gathered around the TV to watch the Spring Festival Gala. The screen of the 2012 television was a bit blurry, but grandma laughed happily.

"The sketches at the Spring Gala are getting less and less interesting..."

"I heard that in a few years they’re going to ban fireworks, no idea where that came from..."

They cracked melon seeds, ate layered cake, and grandma put a gold necklace in his hand, saying it was for buying him a house in the future.

Su Ming’an sat stiffly in his room, as if living in another world. Until his father patted his head and said:

"You’ve worked hard, goodnight."

At that moment, Su Ming’an suddenly felt tired.

He blinked and his thoughts plunged into chaos. He suddenly thought it would be good to rest a bit; the mission for this cycle had already been achieved...

The woman’s humming reached his ears, light and floating, like a lullaby soothing his soul.

"Little treasure, sleep tight,

"In dreams, I will be by your side,

"I’ll accompany your laughter, your weariness,

"Close to me, you’ll always confide...

"Little treasure, sleep tight,

"You’ll dream of me more than twice..."

The next day, he woke up in the morning, his thoughts hazy, and subconsciously made his way to the bathroom with stiff steps.

He couldn’t find the towel when washing his face and sleepily called out:

"Dad, where’s the towel?"

No one replied.

He went to the living room and saw nothing on the dining table except a bag of instant bread and some pickles. The photo hanging on the wall wasn’t the colorful family portrait but a black and white one.

There was no police uniform on the coat rack.

He turned around.

—Right, his father had long been dead.

That New Year’s Eve when he was ten, he spent the night eating bread and pickles alone, wrapped in a blanket.

He stood in the empty house, as if he had fallen from one dream into another. He crouched down, hugging his knees.

"Su Ming’an—Su Ming’an—!"

Suddenly, a voice pierced through like it was coming from under the sea, the scenery before his eyes shattered, replaced by a blonde-haired youth.

Noel woke him up.

Su Ming’an opened his eyes, his consciousness gradually returning. He saw the burning Blood Pool before him.

"Are you alright? Did you see a hallucination? You looked relaxed, so I didn’t wake you up until it was almost six in the morning..." Noel looked anxious.

Su Ming’an was silent for a moment:

"..."

"Seems like I still need to take the medicine..."

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