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Chapter 745 - 742: "Help me.

Chapter 745: Chapter 742: "Help me.

"On a cold winter night, a young man wanted to invite the girl he secretly adored to dance. He needed a red rose, but despite his long search, he could only find white roses,"

"A nightingale perched on the branch was moved by his affection. It pressed its breast against the rose’s spikes and sang throughout the night under the moonlight. The white rose was dyed red by its blood, and the young man finally got the red rose he needed to court her."

"The nightingale died clinging to a hope for love, yet the young man was rejected by the girl for his poverty. In his anger, he threw the red rose into the gutter, and the wheels of a passing chariot crushed its petals."

"’Look, look!’ the great tree cried, ’The rose is ready.’ But the nightingale did not reply, for it lay dead among the bushes, with the thorn still lodged in its heart."

"...That is the end of the story."

Before her were a microphone and a receiver; the girl read the fairy tale, which she had heard from the players, with emotion and expression. A large group of children gathered around her, listening to her storytelling.

This place was Border City—since Doomsday City was not safe, many children had been sent out of Doomsday City early, waiting in areas distant from the war for humanity’s final outcome.

A fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl raised her hand to ask a question: "Sister Xiao Mei, if the nightingale had known the ending beforehand, would it still have chosen to meet that young man?"

Xiao Mei paused briefly:

"This... I’m not sure."

Since her return to Kaius Tower, she had stayed in the relatively safe Border City. She didn’t want to cause any trouble for Su Ming’an, so she had been very good, not daring to wander about.

After discovering a signal tower here, her longing for an emotional radio station was reawakened—at the City of Measurement, where she had listened to the broadcast, she had always dreamed of becoming a radio host.

So, during this time, she sat at the signal tower, telling stories to the children through the audio equipment.

"Then, Sister Xiao Mei, if you were the nightingale, would you choose to meet that young man?" the girl asked in another way.

"I..." Xiao Mei pondered for a moment, and facing the children’s expectant eyes, she spoke hesitantly, "I probably wouldn’t do that... Although that act is touching, I’m a very timid person, I’m afraid of pain, and I’m afraid of death, I couldn’t dye the rose red with my blood while praising love, that’s just too painful..."

"I wouldn’t do that either, the nightingale is too foolish, why should it die for someone else’s love?" a boy said.

"Doesn’t the text contain a sentence? ’Yet love is greater than life, and how can the heart of a bird compare with the heart of a man?’" the girl said: "But I’m curious... Sister Xiao Mei, I often hear people talk about love, what is love, anyway?"

What is love?

Xiao Mei subconsciously clenched the pages of the book in her hands. The question was too complex; poets and philosophers had exhausted opulent diction and lengthy paragraphs to describe it, full of romance and tragedy, yet no one could accurately define its meaning.

But upon hearing this question, the first thing that flashed in her mind was just one person.

In the early hours of the morning, he passed by her in a wheelchair.

On a rainy day, in a pool of blood, he was the one reaching out to her.

On a clear afternoon, amidst the bustle of the city, he walked with her into the cinema.

In the private room, at her most desperate moment, he was the one who broke in.

His gaze was always full of acceptance and respect; even in the coldest downpour, she saw sunlight in his eyes.

People say when a person thinks of another upon hearing the word "love," that other person embodies what love is.

So, in her eyes, "love" was...

"Meow~" The heavy white cat on her shoulder was purring, its fluffy tail brushing against her cheek. Xiao Mei, as if suddenly awakened, trembled in her fingertips, not answering the question.

If in the fairy tale the "young man" was him, and the "nightingale" was her, would she dye a rose red for him?

Would she?

It seemed like she... still didn’t dare.

"The story for today is over, you all should go back to sleep," Xiaomei promptly stood up, tidying up the scripts on the table.

It was already late, and the children left the Signal Tower, yawning. Only Xiaomei remained, staring blankly at the reflective glass in front of her as the surrounding microphones flickered with a rustling static noise.

At that moment, a series of footsteps approached.

"Xiaomei—I heard you’re quite close to Su Ming’an. I want to give him a New Year’s gift, can you help me choose something? Do you know what he likes?"

The speaker was a female Player. She had dyed brown-gold hair and wore huge crystal earrings, looking very mature. When Xiaomei lived in Border City, it was this female Player who had always offered her friendly protection.

Players’ actions are always purposeful, and this female Player was no exception. She knew Xiaomei was Su Ming’an’s mission target, and she wanted to help Su Ming’an, so she protected Xiaomei.

Xiaomei said subconsciously, "Why do you want to give him a gift? Do you like him?"

The female Player was taken aback, then quickly laughed and said, "No, I just want to give him a gift, that’s all. The Kaius Tower is about to end, he should rest for a few hours, and maybe I can give him the gift while he rests."

Xiaomei asked in confusion, "You don’t like him, but you want to give him a gift? He doesn’t even know you."

The female Player responded, "Does that matter?"

In Xiaomei’s puzzled look, the female Player sat down on a chair next to her, looking down at Border City’s peaceful tranquility through the somewhat blurry glass. The Signal Tower’s screen data flickered, casting a cold, pearl-white sheen on her sharp-profiled face.

"Indeed, many people like him, but unrequited love is too sad, so I gave up," the female Player said.

"Then why..." Xiaomei began.

"Do you want to hear it? It’s not a very interesting story," the female Player said.

"I want to hear it," Xiaomei said.

She wanted to hear everything related to him.

The female Player smiled and lowering her head, said:

"Three months ago, I was deep in depression, crying day and night. I was afraid of zombies, of skeletons, afraid of all the monsters in the instances.

When I was sitting in the park crying, a small group of missionaries passed by me, and they gave me a ’Lighthouse Memoirs.’ They said that everyone can shine with their own light."

At this point, the female Player smiled, very lightly and slowly:

"I didn’t take it seriously at the time, I just went ahead and looked up Su Ming’an’s live stream. The more I watched, the more addicted I became. I thought if he, a person of my age, could be so powerful, why couldn’t I..."

"On the day he was teaching in Constantine, my mother had been mentally ill, and I had already been in despair for half a month. But his piano playing woke me up... At that time, I thought, if he could play such beautiful music despite his heavy burdens, why couldn’t I bloom as well?"

The female Player lifted her head, looking at the dancing white light on the ceiling, warm mist swirling at the tip of her nose:

"He never helped me in a moment, but he was always helping me invisibly, encouraging me to keep going. No matter where he was—if I just looked up, I could see him.

I think that’s what a lighthouse is like.

At least, I was illuminated."

As she told this long narrative, Xiaomei felt as if she were witnessing a flower blooming. The brilliance in the female Player’s eyes was very bright.

"You seem... to understand him well," Xiaomei said.

The female Player smiled, a bit embarrassed.

"He’s a very attractive person to me."

She fiddled with her fingers, as if filled with longing or reproach:

"He often doesn’t say what he feels. Sometimes he’s clearly in pain, but he always bears it silently on his own.

Though exhausted, he always liked to push himself to the limit, not sleeping for several days in a row, and saying, "Just leave everything to me."

Though he feared losing his companions, he always purposely displayed a cold appearance, not letting anyone get a hold on him.

His most common phrase was, "It’s fine. I’m not tired. Just do as I say"... but how I wished he would say "I’m so tired, help me, please help me" more often. That way, people would see his fatigue. But he never did."

When the female player said this, she paused, her eyebrows dancing:

"But many people like him because that’s just the kind of person he is.

I think, if I could meet him, I would definitely want to say these things to him, I want to give him gifts, and I want him to know that actually, someone loves him very much."

Hearing these words, Xiao Mei lowered her eyes, speaking in a suppressed tone as if tearing through the thick air:

"...Love."

She looked at the spirited female player, clutching the script in her hands, a heavy feeling in her chest, as if something was stuck there.

She suddenly didn’t want to wait any longer.

Despite being out of reach, despite it being her humble yearning... but she wanted to tell him everything that was in her heart.

Tell him to rest more.

Tell him she was willing to face everything with him.

Tell him that actually, many, many people love him, and among these many people, she was included too.

Countless words mingled in her throat, as if the fog before her eyes had suddenly been lifted—

—she must tell him.

Since she was considered the "key figure for passing the level," she would no longer fret over her uniqueness; she wanted to use his regard, to go before him in person, to tell him directly—

In her eyes,

He was the most perfect, dazzlingly colorful dream.

She liked him very much, really liked him.

...

"Shua!"

The vibration spread, and the entire building shook violently.

"Clang——!"

The Sword of Yarman shimmered with a brilliant golden light, its blade ringing as if resonating with the wielder’s soul.

This Gold Level weapon, still ranked first in the world game, finally unleashed all its strength in Su Ming’an’s all-out battle. Each strike, dealing 200~500 points of True Damage, rendered the Mechanical Army’s Defense Shields as good as nothing, shattering them like broken eggshells, like searing magma slicing into icy waters.

...

[Absolute Suppression: Your attacks have the "Absolute Initiative" effect against any entities with Combat Power below 5000, negating all their later attacks and damage control.]

...

Under the bug-level passive of "Absolute Suppression," each sword strike from Su Ming’an had the highest priority in judgement. As long as the opponent’s Combat Power didn’t exceed 5000 points, his blade automatically acted as a Block, negating all incoming attacks—including bullets, explosions, melee weapon strikes, and even the turbulence of wind and flame.

As if erecting a golden shield made of blades, he stood in knee-high rainwater, his pupils reflecting a sharp golden luster, his arms numb from continuous sword swinging, yet he did not stop the forward slashes for a moment.

It was now 9:22 PM, and control of the Dawn System had advanced to 85%.

"Boom——!"

The corridor ahead had turned into a gaping hole, strewn with metal debris and blue viscera. The remains of the Mechanical Army rained down from the glass walls on either side. From a distance, every second saw large chunks of Mechanical Army carcasses falling, like a torrential metallic downpour.

After casting the last Spatial Vibration, Su Ming’an’s Mana Points, standing at 4760, were nearly depleted.

He could no longer remember how many members of the Mechanical Army he had slain. They were like endless locusts, reaping one batch after another.

"Ding dong!"

The pleasant sound of the system prompt rang out:

...

[You are about to be promoted to rank (Fifth Order I) player! Please complete the advancement tasks to advance.]

[Fifth Order Advancement Tasks:

1. Individual Alliance Residence construction degree reaching 2000 Points (pending)

2. Combat Power reaching 3000 Points (completed)

3. Publish a post on the World Forum and receive (one billion/player’s personal world ranking) in popularity (pending)]

...

With a notification, Su Ming’an’s Level was forcibly stopped at the Fifth Order, but the experience he gained wasn’t stuck there; it would be tallied up and added in one go after his level up.

The "Individual Alliance Residence" was a section he had never heard of before, probably opening after his return to the Main God World. The world game was updated from time to time, perhaps... the version 0.03 of the world game was about to launch.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz——"

He stared at the Mechanical Army in front of him, nearing his limit—his Mana was nearly exhausted, and the wheelchair’s Shield had also disappeared. The Deity’s calculations for him were very precise; indeed, he would struggle to last until the end.

But then—

He suddenly heard the sound of birds’ wings fluttering.

"Swash——"

—How could there be the sound of birds’ wings here?

Like a vast light shimmering in the midst of red warning lights, the sound of shattering glass resounded, crackling loudly,

He turned his head, and above the corridor—there were hundreds of white birds clustered together, their wings as pristine and white as lilies. They smashed through the windows, rushing into the corridor bathed in scarlet warning lights, like a mix of red and white roses flowing between rivers.

Countless flocks of birds stormed into the room, screeching wildly, their feathers sharp like blades, stirring up a storm of blades. Amidst the flurry of white feathers, they desperately attacked the Mechanical Army, relieving some pressure off Su Ming’an.

"Squeak squeak—"

"Whoosh——"

Sounds of fluttering wings, feathers flitting about, glass being struck... Some of them flew past Su Ming’an, resolutely crashing into the room where Noah was, using their sharp beaks and claws to block the shadowy attacks for Noah.

Feathers scattered and fell like fireflies in broad daylight.

"Swash——!"

Thousands of white feathers fluttered, like a magnificent and vast snowfall.