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Chapter 723 - 720 · HE · "Love Without Sight" ("Go with the Flow 86" Alliance Hierarch 2k additional release)

Chapter 723: Chapter 720 · HE · "Love Without Sight" ("Go with the Flow 86" Alliance Hierarch 2k additional release)

The blood sun rose from the horizon, and the army was endless.

"Swoosh!"

Beili Sier fought fiercely within the ranks, when he suddenly realized the battlefield was very close to his valley.

But the valley was secluded, and it was guarded by Doomsday City troops; even in his absence, there surely wouldn’t be a problem.

His home robot companion often said that good people are rewarded... they were all good people, so nothing would go wrong.

"You’ve come to the battlefield too? I thought you’d be holed up in your valley for a lifetime," Noah said beside him, his tone cold and derisive.

"Mind your own business," Beili Sier snorted, before throwing himself back into the fray.

He was a romanticist, believing that every story must have a happy ending.

But upon seeing Su Ming’an, he realized that perhaps he should do something; otherwise, that perfect ending might never come, not in a lifetime.

...

"Tap, tap, tap."

Su Ming’an entered the high tower and saw Treya, surrounded by red-eyed soldiers. Missiles were displayed on the wall screen, ready to be launched at any moment.

She sat beside an indoor lotus pond with babbling water, wearing sandals. The lotuses made her skin appear as white as snow, her beige hair flowed like moonlight.

When she saw Su Ming’an, her eyes were tender, as if the gruesome war below didn’t exist, as if she were still his student.

"Teacher, would you like some strawberry cake?" she offered with a smile. "Fresh strawberries, you can’t get them outside. If you want some, I can get it for you."

Su Ming’an approached her calmly, with only the rumble of cannon fire outside the tower reaching his ears.

...Another psychopath.

...Night-time Nine Thrones, can’t you all go mad in the same direction? It’s almost like each one of you is crazy in your own unique way.

As the military leader of Tretiya, Treya’s combat power reached 3500 points, almost the same as his. If his skill execution was clever, he could kill her.

He just needed to wait for the right moment.

He observed the girl in the green dress before him, certain that there were guns aimed at him from all around, and he couldn’t act rashly.

"I heard you like strawberries, like mushroom soup, like the piano, like white fluff..." Treya said, and after a moment, she lowered her head, "Teacher, if you don’t come back, I really can’t hold on much longer. I’ve missed you so much over the years."

The soldiers nearby held their guns, always aiming at Su Ming’an.

Su Ming’an had known for a long time that Treya was a madwoman.

He had understood it back in the 49th year of the Catastrophe in the City of Gods when she jumped off the high-rise, raving madly, "Teacher, are you a machine? You don’t even dare to love, you don’t even know how to hate!"—her love was full of selfishness and desire.

...

[So you are the most terrifying of all, teacher. You act as though you have no feelings when you clearly do—you’re a deity! I regret falling in love with a god!]

...

In the 32nd year of the Catastrophe, Treya was the first to accompany him. Later, she revealed to the entire city that he was a bionic body, persecuting him.

In the 49th year of the Catastrophe, she saved him in the City of Gods. In the 63rd year of the Catastrophe, she betrayed humanity.

Her stance flipped back and forth, she both loved and hated him. She aided humanity as much as she aided Ta Wei. Like the unpredictable wind and rain, he could not comprehend her.

"Teacher, why won’t you speak?" Tretiya tilted her head, standing up.

"If you hate me, push me away," she said, taking steps toward him:

"If you like me, hold me tight."

It was as if a thick shadow was dragging behind her, concealing endless darkness. She moved closer to him, step by step.

Regrettably, she was in love with the original Lord of Acto City, or rather, a soul resembling Yasa Acto, not with the man himself.

Su Ming’an took a half step back.

Tretiya’s "Source" ability was to control mechanics; he couldn’t rashly draw his sword, for if missiles were launched by her, everything would be over. The best strategy was to use Noah’s Chain, waiting for Tretiya’s lethal attack to rebound on her, killing her with one blow.

"Over these years, I’ve lived through countless lonely days and nights. Talking to myself has become a habit; sometimes, I would murmur to your photo for hours on end, as if you were right beside me..." Tretiya was getting closer to him:

"I would imagine you were still there, imagine your gaze, your eyes, your every move.

"I miss when you gave lectures, when you drank tea, and when you taught me research...

"So, seeing you, I was thrilled. I thought finally you had come back, and I wouldn’t have to talk to myself anymore, that finally someone could see me..."

She looked up, neck craned like a girl starving for affection.

She suddenly stepped forward and hugged him.

Su Ming’an was ready with Noah’s Chain’s skill, unsure if unsheathing his sword at this moment could deal a critical blow to her. Below the tower, countless people were fighting, lives lost by the second, he had to kill Tretiya here and couldn’t afford to make a mistake.

"Let go!" He used the most basic method, pushing away the madwoman.

"I won’t let go!" She clung to him persistently, her body stained with the stench of blood, while Su Ming’an was covered in wounds from battle. He had been fighting in the military formation for a day and a night, his clothes soaked with blood.

"I won’t let go! I won’t let go!"

She bit down on her teeth, holding him tighter, her expression so lonely it neared tears of despair. Su Ming’an pushed her again; unprepared this time, she fell backward into the Lotus Pond with a splash—"Splish"—the ripples muffled her choking sound, her skirt spreading out like a waterlogged lotus leaf.

The red-eyed soldiers on both sides were instantly on alert, raising their guns and aiming at Su Ming’an.

Tretiya lay in the pond, her eyes blank as if she had been slapped hard.

She seemed on the verge of crying, but she quickly got up, her face contorted into a forced smile, like a clown:

"Teacher, I’m sorry, I was impulsive, I’ll get up now... I’m not worthy of your attention, how could I approach you."

...She knew very early that if she didn’t learn to get up on her own, no one would help her.

...She couldn’t cry out, he detested weakness.

...Just cry this once, only this once... don’t leave him with the worst impression...

"Tretiya, why on earth did you side with Ta Wei?" Su Ming’an asked coldly.

"Teacher, because humans cannot be trusted," Tretiya said.

Su Ming’an was silent for a moment: "At least today, their actions have made me believe in them again."

"So just by seeing a little bit of goodness, you can turn around and save them again?" Tretiya said: "How noble, how... selfless. But I simply can’t do it; I just want you to survive."

"..."

"Teacher, I must strive with all my might to stand at the same height as you..." She said with a choked voice:

"You’ve done so much for this world, constantly struggling to keep everyone alive. Otherwise, humanity would have been extinct since ’49. In the end, they want you dead.

"—Even though their lives were given by you! Clearly, everyone should have perished under the persecution of the Deity camp!

"How can they—how can they so rightfully, once again, ask you to die..."

Su Ming’an remained silent throughout.

He understood the actions of the people. But to say that his heart wasn’t heavy, that would be a lie.

He had changed everyone’s destiny, one that was supposed to end in extinction 49 years ago. At the last moment, on the verge of the new century, people turned against him and demanded his death.

If he didn’t go, he would become the "monster that could be revived," the "City Lord who fears death and clings to life," in the mouths of the people. All his past salvations would be in vain.

Even some spectators who had witnessed everything thought he shouldn’t be alive.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t go.

It’s just that everyone was pushing him to do so.

"Teacher, the height you stand at is too high, the place you see is too far. The giant mountain in front of me is merely a pebble to you. No matter what, I will never catch your eye," she said while crying:

"Seeing those people wanting to push you to death, I visited the edge of the world, and it was really cold there, with winds everywhere that could cut the skin... How can you jump into such a place, absolutely not...

"You who stand so tall, astonishingly, have no one to love.

"...So I thought, I want to love you, I want to hold onto you."

Su Ming’an had a premonition of what she was about to say, but unexpectedly, in the next moment, she suddenly burst with great speed, lunging at him, trying to take control of him.

He immediately invoked his strength, swinging his arm with his sword, and the Sword of Yarman thrust straight forward.

Treya shifted her body, and the blade passed by her left shoulder. She clenched her fist tightly, striking out with the ferocity of a lion, her bones "crackling" with the force, and slammed a punch at him.

An evil wind came head-on, and a Cross Light of space emerged around Su Ming’an, instantly flashing behind her. Just as he was about to strike forward, Treya, as if having eyes on the back of her head, rolled forward, dodging his sword.

"Teacher," she said, "why don’t they appreciate you, why can’t they see your goodness..."

"Ding—" A faint mechanical sound rang out, and gun muzzles were aimed at him. Without daring to delay, Su Ming’an immediately activated the "Yellow Rose Lock" Equipment’s Mandatory Hit effect, and he shot out like a catapult, slashing heavily at Treya who had just gotten to her feet—

His sword was not fast.

He had thought Treya would dodge.

He had even prepared five sets of variations, the tip of his sword tilted outward.

But what he didn’t expect was that, in this instant, Treya...didn’t even try to avoid it.

The blade pierced through her, penetrating her body with 3500 points of Combat Power.

Blood sprayed out, and her body fell back like a ginkgo leaf, her hair pouring down like a waterfall—

The two of them froze for a moment.

She fell backward.

"Thud!"

She fell into the Lotus Pond, her hair spreading out like a fallen spider web, with lotus flowers casting shadows over her locks.

In her hand, the Yuan Guang flashed momentarily! Beside her, the soldiers with red eyes exploded as their Mechanics detonated, not even having the chance to resist before they were all blasted into char.

"Boom—boom—boom—!"

Explosions started on every floor of the High Tower, filled with people’s screams. At this moment, entering the High Tower, besides Su Ming’an, were only the Ta Wei forces.

Su Ming’an listened in shock to the explosions throughout the tower, the ground trembling beneath him.

...Treya’s gesture had killed all the Ta Wei forces in the High Tower, it was premeditated.

Suddenly, Su Ming’an realized why Treya had said earlier, "Yasa, you come in alone."

To avoid harming the forces of Doomsday City.

His hand holding the sword was trembling.

"So..."

The girl with sandy hair lay in the Lotus Pond, blood flowing from her green dress. She held up her arm high, blood spilling from her mouth, her eyes bright.

Just like in Zone Eleven, when she first greeted him:

"Today, you will become the hero—the Lord of Acto City—who killed the leader of Ta Wei, weakened the Deity, and erased the Catastrophe—"

"Congratulations—"

Her lips were so brilliantly red, like burning flames, her words like a judgment—

"You’ve personally killed Ta Wei."

In her chest, was his blood-stained Sword of Yarman, a fatal wound.

She was the leader of Ta Wei.

He had personally killed the leader of Ta Wei.

...

[Lewis, the only known way to weaken a Deity, is to kill a person invaded by a Deity.]

...

Su Ming’an’s fingers involuntarily curled.

Her warm blood spilled onto his fingers, her gaze locking onto him like a steel hoop.

So, Treya’s betrayal of humanity these years...was to lure the king into the jar, to get the strongest Deity to invade her. And then, she climbed to the position of leader of the Ta Wei forces, bleeding all the way, controlling the reduction of human casualties...only to be killed by Su Ming’an in a dragon slaying campaign?

In this way, the massive Deity resources deceived by the Ta Wei forces would fall into the hands of Doomsday City, and people could survive a bit longer...

And she would be spat upon for years, losing all her reputation, regarded with contempt by humans worldwide.

—Her constantly changing sides, her elusive traces for decades, were actually...all to pave the way for this moment.

Countless masks were affixed to her face, disguising her so thoroughly one couldn’t see her true features, leaving only her striking red lips.

Like fire.

And she, like the wind.

Treya reached out her hand to him, pressing his hand down, driving the sword deeper.

"...Teacher," she said through her tears, "why are you so kind and yet no one cherishes you, why is it only I who loves you?"

"Why, why have I fallen in love with a soul like yours?"

To say she wasn’t scared would be a lie.

The lonely wait, being spat at, being hated, being insulted, being pierced through the heart by a sword... She didn’t want him to leap into the abyss of the world, so she resolved to let herself be killed by him, to help him survive.

—Could this feeling of hers at the moment be called "love"?

—What is love?

When she was very young, her relatives were all killed by people with Missing Disease, and there was no one left to love her. She wondered if someone could remember her forever, would all that she had done have meaning, would she be able to exist eternally in him amidst the darkness?

Stripped of vitality forcibly, she felt an icy chill to the bone, her senses shattered and scattered like glass fragments.

It hurt so much. She had never felt such pain before.

She shivered as she moved towards him.

The offices in Doomsday City, her friends, her relatives, everything she cherished... she had given up all of it herself.

She had nothing left.

Only him.

...

"Teacher."

"Did you even... did you love me a little bit? Can you see me... can you love me?"

...

She said.

Looking at Su Ming’an, covered in blood, she remembered how he stayed up all night taking notes on technology, how he gave his all in lectures to save others, how he never gave up even after losing the deity’s blessing...

She wanted to see him lower his head and laugh, wanted to see the worries fade from his face, wanted to touch his white coat that smelled faintly of chocolate. She remembered how he had leapt over the City of Gods’ building with her on that night, the glass shards in the sky like stardust...

At that moment, a thought flashed through her mind like lightning, piercing straight into her heart.

It seemed she understood.

The one she loved was not a soul of the same nature. The one she loved now was not, in fact, the shadow of Acto.

She envied him, even jealously cursed his indifference. But she loved him, with all her might. She loved him selfishly, and selflessly; she loved him tolerantly, and greedily; she loved him proudly, and humbly; admirably, and disgustingly; with hope, and with despair. Her love simply could not be described in words.

"The one I love is..."

She fixed her gaze on him, fresh blood gushing from her mouth, but she couldn’t say that one word.

Su Ming’an looked at her.

"Sorry," he replied.

...Why would someone love him so much?

Compared to the outstanding Yasa Acto, what about him was worth being loved?

He always thought she loved her previous teacher, the city lord who was far better than himself.

Players love the "Number One Player," NPCs love "Acto," but now someone was telling him that what she loved was...

She cracked a smile, her expression unclear.

"It doesn’t matter," she said, "I love you."

She paused for a moment, repeating it over and over.

"I love you. I love you. I love you."

"I love you. I love you. I love you."

"I love you, I’ve always loved you."

"..."

Su Ming’an was silent.

His father’s love for him was very restrained, his mother’s love barely there; for the first time, he heard someone say to him with such intensity,

"I love you."

When he spoke again, his voice was hoarse.

"Sorry, Tretiya," he said, "but I remember you, I have seen your soul."

The last scenery she saw in her life was still one of despair and rejection, yet her lips curled up, her beautiful red lips as if coated with streaming light, forcibly proving the grace and happiness in her eyes.

"It’s okay, I’d rather... hear that answer than your lies," she said in a halting voice, "Love is not about forcing, it’s about giving... Teacher, I finally... understand that.

"I wonder if I have attained... a soul that you could look at with respect...

Thank you for crossing worlds to come here. Feeling love... I’m truly happy..."

...She cannot cry out loud; he dislikes the weak.

...She cannot complain; he dislikes people who are nagging.

So, she must smile at the end, too.

When the overwhelming darkness engulfed her consciousness, her radiant red lips moved slightly.

If only she could have been cared about, even just a little... she would have been so happy...

Even though, in the end, she didn’t even know his real name.

...

"Lord of the City—!"

When the army burst in, they saw Acto holding the corpse of Tretiya, staring silently.

They thought, surely this hero of the city-state must have killed the evil leader of Ta Wei. Good and evil get their due rewards; the human traitor Tretiya deserved her death.

None knew in her heart was a love close to that of a deity, a soul that was selfish and selfless to the extreme.

All they could see was the crimson in her eyes that remained, a symbol of sin, and the Sword of Justice that pierced her chest. This demon seemed to be crucified, her sins burned away completely by the sacred justice.

People laughed and said, "Lord of the City, congratulations on killing her."

People laughed and said, "Lord of the City, you truly are a hero."

People were elated, scavenging resources from the High Tower, which were enough to sustain them for a little while longer.

The hero placed her, with her eyes closed, into the Lotus Pond, which was the grave she had long prepared for herself.

Before her death, she said, "Please, do not clear my name. Otherwise, there will be those who hope for luck and actively listen to the Whispering of the deity."

"Let me be the demon beneath your sword."

"Whoosh—"

The sound of the water carried away her delicate green Shadow.

From then on, there was no echo.

...

"Ding Dong!"

[(Tretiya) HE Ending Progress: 100%]

...

Su Ming’an leaned on the wall, walking out of the room.

Around the corner of the High Tower, there was a life support capsule which made a "beep" as he passed by it, and the door opened with white steam puffing out.

"—Detection of Miss Tretiya’s death confirmed. According to the program set by Miss Tretiya before, activate the bionic body."

A girl with beige long hair, bearing a resemblance to Tretiya’s appearance, came out.

"Hello, Mr. Acto. I am bionic body M-01, created by Miss Tretiya. I specialize in the fields of Mechanics, Biochemistry, and Artificial Intelligence research. I have been infused with all of Miss Tretiya’s knowledge and skills. Even without Miss Tretiya, I can replace her and become your most qualified assistant," the girl said graciously:

"Miss Tretiya instructed me to accompany you just as she did. You don’t have to worry about lacking someone to care for you. I will always provide you with help."

"..." Su Ming’an looked at the bionic girl with vivid lips and did not utter a word.

"Are you not in a good mood?" the girl asked, tilting her head, then suddenly said, "Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Treya. Miss Tretiya set up a reset program for me. After working for you, I will delete all information about Miss Tretiya to prevent my persona from undergoing Metamorphosis and bringing negative emotions to you."

... The meaning of the bionic body was, if she morphed into Tretiya’s persona, it would bring him negative emotions.

... So this is how Tretiya viewed herself—a person capable of bringing negative emotions.

How very humble.

Yet she loved with such pride, such fervor, such exclusivity, so much so... that it burned intensely like a Flame.

She was a living volcano.

Erupting herself completely, then burning down to nothing without leaving an inch.

Su Ming’an still didn’t speak.

"By the way, Miss Tretiya left a final message with me, for me to inform you." Treya smiled, her lips a translucent red.

"What is it?" Su Ming’an asked.

"She said," Treya spoke with earnest:

"[Teacher, you must believe that there is nothing in this world more worthy of being loved than you.]"

"..."

Su Ming’an lowered his head.

"... Okay," he said.

He turned around and walked downstairs, with Treya closely following alongside him. The two descended the stairway as the roar of gunfire erupted outside the windows.

"Humans are so strange..." she mused as she walked, suddenly looking at his face.

"What’s wrong?" He was taken aback.

She reached out, tentatively touching his face.

"So it’s..." she stared at him in wonder:

"Humans do shed tears when they feel loved."

...

...

"Ding Dong!"

[You have achieved the (Tretiya) character ending: HE·Love Without Sight]

[(Love Without Sight):]

"I can’t cry, you would hate me."

"I can’t depend on you, you would leave me."

"So, to stand at the same level as you and be killed by you, is that okay?"

"I, who am humble, if I love you in this way... could I, shrouded in darkness, eternally exist within you?"

"..."

"Don’t be pushed into sacrificing yourself, they’re not worth it."

"Don’t go to the edge of the world, it’s too cold there."

"... I have hugged you."]

...

[I love you.]

[Please remember me.]

...

...

"Ding Dong!"

[Witness the death of an important NPC (Tretiya).]

[Ring of Time (Purple Grade) upgraded to lv.2.]