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Chapter 721 - 718: "I Also Would Want Him to Die.

Chapter 721: Chapter 718: "I Also Would Want Him to Die.

[Main God World]

A flash of white light, and a black-haired woman with twin ponytails landed, the fluttering cherry blossoms clinging to her hair.

This was the residential area of the Ancient Martial Fusang District, with buildings exuding a Japanese style. Holding a doll in her arms, she walked across the pebble path.

A gardener saw her and exclaimed as if he had seen a ghost, "Mizu... Mizushima Kawa Sora!"

...The instance had only been activated for eighteen days, so how had Mizushima Kawa Sora returned already!

Mizushima Kawa Sora walked on, greeted by countless horrified stares. A wooden door slid open, and several people in robes blocked her way.

"Mizushima family head, how did you... return?" the people asked. Mizushima Kawa Sora had ended her live stream last, and no one knew of her progress.

"The instance is over, so I came back," Mizushima Kawa Sora said indifferently.

"Mizushima family head, wasn’t it supposed to be twenty days?" a middle-aged man with slightly white hair and wearing a pitch-black robe called out to her.

"Hmm... the Ninth World is really interesting," Mizushima Kawa Sora sneered. "It’s the first time I’ve encountered an instance that doesn’t keep time, and it’s full of traps. The initial mission requirement of ’surviving for twenty days’ was just a trap. In fact, this instance doesn’t have a definitive end-time at all. This is truly the first time I’ve encountered such a thing."

"No definitive end-time? Doesn’t that mean it could go on indefinitely?" someone said.

"Not necessarily. The dimensions of the City of Measurement are going to collapse. I think it’ll hold up only for a few more days," Mizushima Kawa Sora stated.

The people looked at each other in dismay, and Hashimoto Loulan from Ancient Martial, bowed respectfully, saying warmly, "Could you please share some details about the instance? Mizushima family head."

"Let’s talk inside," Mizushima Kawa Sora replied drily.

She stepped into the wooden house, continually stroking the red-haired doll she held, her sister’s doll. As long as she did this, she felt as though Haru was still by her side.

Just as she entered, Mizushima Kawa Sora sneered, "The World Game is such a big scam, I never thought the plot of the Ninth World would be so astonishing, really an eye-opener! If it were someone like Su Ming’an, wouldn’t his faith collapse?"

A number of middle-aged men hastened to flatter her, praising her intelligence and acuity, all in the hopes of hearing a few words about the Ninth World from her.

As they flattered her, they felt humiliated. Before the Fifth World, Mizushima Kawa Sora was just a junior they could manipulate at will. Now, they had to rely on her for their livelihood; one Mizushima Kawa Sora, they couldn’t afford to lose her, she had become their shadow.

"What main quest... what side quest... what City of Measurement, what Caius Tower, they’re all useless!" Mizushima Kawa Sora scoffed coldly, condemning the evil of the Ninth World’s Underworld: "Yasa Acto is completely dead, and the mystery has been unravelled! They really treat people’s intelligence like something to be trampled underfoot. It’s infuriating... does the World Game really think so little of me, insisting on focusing on those nine, am I going to die later on..."

"Er..." The men blinked, not understanding a word.

"Haru, would you say the Dawn System is disgusting or not, why doesn’t it like me as a person! I think Xi is quite suitable, why not me..." Mizushima Kawa Sora suddenly began to rave, staring at the doll in her embrace, muttering words that people couldn’t understand.

The people became slightly alarmed, exchanging glances.

It appeared that Mizushima Kawa Sora’s mental state... was becoming increasingly abnormal; at least before, she didn’t suddenly talk to herself.

If things continued this way... would any of the top-ranked players actually be sane?

...

Su Ming’an opened his eyes, entering the third segment of Acto’s memory.

By the Lotus Pond, in the sweltering summer heat, lotus flowers basked in the sunlight, swaying gently, the scene picturesque.

"——Teacher! Teacher!" Under the azure sky, Tretiya in her teal long dress clutched several mechanical spheres, running up to Acto beneath the gazebo.

This must have been the period just after the Century Catastrophe, the most wonderful time for humanity.

"Teacher, look, this is my new dress." Tretiya set down the mechanical spheres and twirled around, her green dress fluttering like the leaves of a lotus, clearly showing that she had dressed with great care.

"Hmm hmm hmm..." Acto nodded absently, his attention fixed on the mechanical spheres.

"——Tretiya!" From afar, a white-haired youth holding a cup of tea approached: "Don’t bother him."

"Are you jealous? Lin Guang, I’ll tell you, you’ve lost your innate advantage to get close to the teacher, and the unfortunate thing is that you are a man..." she said.

"Crazy." Lin Guang cursed under his breath, but his expression softened quickly when he looked toward Acto, placing the tea on the gazebo table: "Brewed it for you."

Acto took a sip of the tea.

Seeing Tretiya standing aside with a hurt look, Acto added, "Tretiya, the dress suits you well, you would look good with lipstick." Then he took another sip of tea.

This maneuver managed to consider Lin Guang’s feelings and respond to Tretiya at the same time, a familiar scene to Su Ming’an. Acto was truly a qualified master of defusing tension; his pond was full of fish.

"Really?" Tretiya’s face lit up with joy: "I’ve never worn lipstick before, but since teacher likes it, I’ll wear lipstick every day from now on, every single day..."

"Hmm hmm hmm..." Acto responded unenthusiastically.jpg.

Following this, Su Ming’an witnessed Acto’s astonishingly Sea King-like side.

The somewhat taciturn and reserved Beili Sier, not as talkative as others, revealed a smile after being cajoled by Acto several times.

The golden-haired Noah, who clamored, "Acto, shall we go play a game, I have something good," was fed a strawberry lollipop by Acto and laughed happily like a blooming chrysanthemum.

Su Ming’an saw interactions with those he had never met, those who had already died in battle, white-haired Moon and blue-haired Qi, both talking and laughing with Acto. Acto talked about finding Moon a suitable girlfriend so she could escape singledom soon...

And the familiar Xi.

And the familiar Rong Yuan.

These eight people, who would appear in the night meetings, came one after another. Acto addressed each one of them, and everyone left satisfied.

Their faces still bore smiles, their conversations were perfectly normal, showing none of the neurotic behavior that would manifest decades later. Tretiya was like any ordinary girl, not crying and raging madly. Lin Guang wasn’t breaking bones at the drop of a hat. Beili Sier wasn’t somnambulantly muttering to himself; no one knew that later, he would live like a ghost in a valley.

The sky was blue, the earth still verdant, lotus flowers in the Lotus Pond bloomed, reflecting the glorious sunlight, everything was as beautiful as if it were a dream.

Perhaps no one expected that within a year, everyone would be forced to hide in "Two Dimensions," and all beauty would turn to ashes.

In the end, Tretiya and Acto walked by the Lotus Pond, and Acto gave her a silk daisy hat as a gift.

"Teacher actually giving me something, I will carry it with me for a lifetime..." Tretiya carefully stowed it away.

"The depth of life is worth more than its length. If one day... I suddenly leave," Acto said suddenly: "Don’t linger on me, don’t bother thinking of me."

"..." Tretiya’s smile faded.

She twirled her beige hair and said:

"Okay.

"After Teacher leaves, I will live like Teacher, leading everyone to survive. In this way, Teacher will never have left."

...

The image ended, and Su Ming’an opened his eyes.

There was nothing important in this memory, mainly images of Acto and the other eight people chatting casually. There might be clues, but he didn’t see anything special.

He continued on his journey.

Compared to the warm memories, the present world was even more despairing. The air grew colder, the ground was frosty. Refugees wandered everywhere, some slept on the ground, some gnawed on potatoes, some lay gasping their last breath. The ground was littered with bodies, their clothes stripped off, leaving them naked in death.

At this moment, an extremely weak refugee, dragging a burlap sack, approached Su Ming’an.

"...Would you buy my grass? Young man." An old granny with white-haired trembled as she asked, mistaking him for an ordinary passerby.

"Grass?" asked Su Ming’an.

The old granny opened her sack to reveal one withered, dark, common weed after another—nothing remarkable.

"Grass, these are treasures, whatever you want to trade with..." the old granny repeated her stammering words. She was insane, perhaps driven mad by the cold and despair. She regarded the weeds as treasures, and from her bloodied feet and tattered clothing, it was apparent that no one had bought her ’treasures’ along her way.

"..." Su Ming’an said, "Alright, I’ll buy."

He took off his black windbreaker and handed it to the old woman. She happily picked out for him a weed that was the brightest in color and seemed to still hold a hint of spring.

"Happy Fuyuan Festival, young man," the old woman said joyfully as she left.

Su Ming’an, now in a white shirt, turned and walked away.

"Young man, where are you going?" the old woman suddenly asked.

"Doomsday City," Su Ming’an said.

"Doomsday City has been besieged for two days now, it’s dangerous there, with warfare, you’ll die, don’t go," the old woman urged.

Su Ming’an shook his head.

He got onto the wheelchair with limited energy and sped off. The closer he got to the direction of Doomsday City, the more unsettling the surroundings became. The sky was filled with black smoke, the fierce flames seemed to burn through the bloody sun.

Noel had told him earlier that something had happened in Doomsday City and had told him not to return. But how could he not go back?

Outside Doomsday City was a siege, the land was ravaged, with gunfire and lightning flashing in the sky. Soldiers were arrayed in dense formations like dark spots on the land. Bullets pinged off tank shells, ringing out like the clear song of cuckoos.

The attackers were the [Ta Wei] army.

Now, Su Ming’an’s Lighthouse Church recordings could hardly change the [Ta Wei] soldiers, as the invasion intensified and the extreme desire for survival overcame religious belief.

——Today was the [Ta Wei] army’s all-out attack.

They wanted to breach humanity’s largest Doomsday City.

Hundreds of cannonballs whizzed through the air, striking halos on the city’s Defensive Barrier, each shell representing the depletion of survival resources for hundreds of people; tens of thousands on the city walls fed energy to maintain the Defensive Barrier, like a flowing blue river. They swapped defending positions in batches, resisting with all their might, refusing to step back; while ordinary citizens, intimidated by the breach, scrambled to escape through the back gates, pouring out like a dark tide.

The internal consumption of humanity by the "Ta Wei" Invaders drained their last resources, casting their hopes of survival into dim uncertainty.

What a spectacular sight it was.

In that moment, humanity seemed to split into entirely different races. Different philosophies, different wills, different actions. Some fought to the death, some slaughtered their own kind, some desperately fled.

The Deity was cunning in Its ways.

Over and over, It toyed with the humanity of this land with words, driving them to lose everything, to become deranged, to turn inward with their pointed weapons, to kill their own hopes of survival, all the while shouting that the responsibility was not with them.

It made the blind believers gullible and the calm ones mad, turning the world into an absurd spectacle.

And the Guardians, donning sheep’s wool, with bloodshot eyes lifted their torches, facing Doomsday City, heads held high, they shouted—

"— Cast Yasa Acto from the edge of the World, and all troubles shall be cut clean! City Lord of Doomsday City! Please appear before us!"

"— Yasa Acto, your survival has killed tens of millions of innocents, do not avoid your responsibilities, save humanity, appear before us!"

...

The ruddy glow of the fire flickered across their faces, casting a thick black smoke over the land for miles around.

For a moment, everyone’s expressions seemed exceedingly righteous as if every word carried weight and authority.

Players hid in the military formations, clucking their tongues in dismay.

"These people are really ruthless. When they need him, they call him City Lord, but when they don’t, they see him as a criminal. It’s like being warm Mr. Shu at one’s convenience, and dignified Mr. Wen otherwise."

"Why does Number One Player always end up with such an unlucky identity, with death constantly looming? And on the third day of the new year, they stir up trouble like this. The game instance is intent on not letting anyone live. I was even thinking of going back to eat some glutinous rice balls."

"When you really think about it, you can’t blame them. If my survival meant Su Ming’an had to die, I’d want him dead too..."

"If the World game had this kind of ’either/or’ question, a billion people would not hesitate to let him die..."

...

The bombardment continued to fall relentlessly.

The technological might of Doomsday City stood at the pinnacle of humanity, but the heedless resource exhaustion by the "Ta Wei" forces would ultimately bring down all humans.

Little Bi stood atop the city walls, her black hair billowing in the wind.

Behind her stood tens of thousands of people like Noah, Noel, Yuanyuan, Yamada Machiichi, Violet, who used up their last streaks of Yuan Guang, their last Mana Points to sustain the teetering Defensive Barrier.

Although most ordinary citizens agreed to hand over Acto, most Doomsday City soldiers still held steadfast to the conviction of fighting to the bitter end.

They believed that even if they handed over Acto, it would be a slow death; as Invaders, "Ta Wei" would definitely not spare them. It was better to fight to the death than to surrender their only hope to Lin Guang like in the Dawn War.

At that moment, the leader of the enemy forces, a woman with honey-colored hair, soared towards them. She wore a green dress, her eyes bloodshot, and on her chest, she wore the golden badge of the "Ta Wei" military leader.