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Chapter 805 - 803: "City Lord Su Ming’an, Goodbye.

Chapter 805: Chapter 803: "City Lord Su Ming’an, Goodbye.

"Swish--!"

The white teleportation light faded, and Su Ming’an returned to the original timeline.

He looked around but didn’t see Acto.

"--Su Ming’an, I’m here."

Su Ming’an looked up to see a figure in a white coat standing atop the old Bell Tower.

He walked over to Acto’s side. From there, they could overlook the entire City-State’s view, including the lush ginkgo trees, the towering tea houses, and the Acto statue at the center of the square.

Amidst the cluster of paper flowers, the Acto statue and the fist sculpture representing the Dawn War stood together, overlooking the whole City-State. Su Ming’an glanced at the Acto statue, then at Acto beside him. Their gentle and steadfast eyes were almost identical.

From here, the entire City-State could be seen. Su Ming’an thought this was precisely why Acto stood here.

This City-State was what Acto had been dedicated to all his life, even as an AI striving to save the Ruined World.

"Su Ming’an, first, congratulations on linking with this Destiny’s Ouroboros." Acto said.

"Mm." Su Ming’an said.

He indeed hadn’t thought... in the Ruined World, space, time, and dimensions could form several trajectories. The initial encounter turned out to be an Ouroboros with no beginning or end, and the initial time was reverse calculation. It turns out Yasa Acto’s three-dimensional firewall is not just passive defense.

This could be achieved only with the Dawn System, and its significance extends far beyond "delaying." It’s about breaking the Rules’ limitations through different combinations of space, time, and dimensions.

"Tonight, the mission of Kaius Tower will come to an end, and tomorrow, the people of the City of Measurement will proceed to the final battlefield." Acto said: "I’ve left all my arrangements and plans for you to conclude."

"You trust me this much?" Su Ming’an asked.

Acto looked at him: "Why not?"

Under Acto’s gaze, Su Ming’an always had the illusion of looking into a mirror.

"Are you saying this because you’re leaving?" Su Ming’an asked.

"I am merely the AI stationed at Kaius Tower. Human death is irreversible. Whether in body or soul, I reached the end in the first year of the Catastrophe. Without meeting, there wouldn’t be leaving." Acto said.

"You once said that the lifespan of the human soul is limited, and when one has gone through the maximum time they can endure, even if the body is young, they will face death." Su Ming’an said.

"Yes."

"I’ve experienced your Emotional Resonance, yet now I seem to have no side effects." Su Ming’an said.

"So, take a good rest afterward. You just haven’t noticed the side effects." Acto said.

Su Ming’an looked into the distance.

Below the Bell Tower, the funeral crowd was no longer visible. The golden edge in the distance slowly sank into the darkness, like a gradually melting tide.

The two stood quietly on the Bell Tower for a while until Acto spoke.

"Humans have survived in this World for so long, the continuation of civilization from generation to generation, I don’t wish for it to end before my eyes." Acto reached out, placing his hand on the edge of the Bell Tower: "For people like us, the World seems to offer many choices, but there aren’t many correct ones."

"For instance?"

"For instance, pulling that trolley lever, making the people in the Two Dimensions become sliced-up programs. Or, not escaping one’s destined death, not becoming a Flying Bird—Su Ming’an, what you truly believe in and won’t regret is what’s correct."

"..." Hearing this, Su Ming’an thought of the last piece of memory from Acto’s Emotional Resonance, an image he could never forget—a twenty-year-old Acto spreading his arms amidst countless cannon fires, seemingly embracing all of the public’s malice and hatred. Subsequently, the Hero died in the people’s angry bombardment.

"You don’t regret?" Su Ming’an asked: "If you hadn’t sacrificed your life force to activate the Dawn System, perhaps..."

Acto merely looked at him, his expression as gentle as ever, his gaze unchanged.

At this moment, Su Ming’an suddenly recalled the conversation at the start of the instance with Noel on the mountain of garbage:

—[In society, the survival of the Race always takes precedence over individual existence, this is the general trend, the basic logic of humanity. When personal Force surpasses that of the Race, the World must have an extraordinarily rational yet humane transcendent being to balance out possible Catastrophes and allow civilization to continue.]

Yasa Acto achieved this.

"...A thousand, ten thousand times again, I would still choose to die in that year." Acto said.

Su Ming’an’s fingers trembled slightly.

Acto was Self-Deprecating as a God.

So-called sympathy, compassion, jealousy, or envy were all things imposed on him. Even the Divinity itself was something bestowed by people. He was always himself.

He had seen more desperate tragedies, more apathetic souls, more terrifying desires, more tragic deaths.

To him, Death was just a release. He had done everything he could do, walked all the possible paths he needed to. His Name will not perish, but live on eternally in the name of the City-State. He had seen enough of this Mortal World.

Humanity’s Destiny treads a precarious narrow plank, surrounded by malice that watches over it, one misstep means total loss. So Acto chose to become the "God" that would save them.

"Su Ming’an, if this World truly has hope... then it lies in the hands of people like you and me." Acto said.

His hand supported against the railing, his black hair lifted like raven feathers. Though youthful in appearance, he seemed like a living fossil.

The ginkgo leaves of the City-State danced beneath the Bell Tower, also known as "living fossils."

Su Ming’an’s gaze trembled.

Under the cold crimson sunset, the Bell Tower glimmered like a giant torch, the two of them standing side by side upon it, shoulders bearing the weight of the warm sun.

Su Ming’an thought, some histories would be buried in the past, some Heroes wouldn’t be properly named, and the sacrifices might not leave names, with no fairy tale where "everyone got a happy ending."

Yet, between the dimensions and virtual worlds abandoned in the past, someone always smiles and closes their eyes.

Like a magnificent feast, or a shattered dream.

Even though Su Ming’an only leaped through a few crucial moments in Kaius Tower, haltingly leading this Dawn War, he seemed to have lived many people’s lives—some immersed in past dreams, some never touching the future, some finding relief in stagnant time, awaiting a thorough awakening.

All while Acto, who orchestrated it all, stood by his side on the Bell Tower of Doomsday City, watching over the people he loved. His white coat was as white as frost, as if it might melt away in the twilight’s dusk at any moment.

"Please let me watch them one last time, set off from here... at the timeline of Kaius Tower when the Eternal ends at the seventy-second year of Catastrophe, this dimension buried within history." The youth in the white coat said.

His gaze seemed to pierce through the buildings of the City-State, spanning a great distance, his expression serene and calm, as if he had washed away all suffering and resentment.

"You’re truly resolute." Su Ming’an said.

Upon hearing this, Acto revealed a child-like earnestness on his face.

—Just like when he was nineteen, first declaring his intent to unite the Nine Thrones and prevent Humanity’s civil war with the same earnestness.

Many said it would be wonderful if he could have lived on. If he could live to this year’s end, it would be wonderful.

But if that were so, it would be as if his soul was torn apart, and he would no longer be Yasa Acto.

"Perhaps the Dawn was so beautiful that it made people forget how to escape." Acto said:

"Su Ming’an, learning to give up is too hard. That’s how you feel too, isn’t it?"

Su Ming’an said nothing.

The sun had set, and the stars had yet to rise.

The seed breaking through earth could penetrate all shackles. No longer just an endless, dense Darkness.

The youth’s gaze was steady, rational, imbued with the tranquility of a forest, as if emerging from millennia of history; these deep grey eyes, Su Ming’an had possessed for twenty days. However, looking into those familiar eyes now felt familiar yet strange.

The pure white coat seemed to merge with the sky’s light.

Su Ming’an seemed to see an old man with white hair, wearing a white coat, stepping slowly into the depths of night, never once looking back.

The past World had become an annotation of the story, devoured by Time.

—Perhaps he shouldn’t have walked into the shadows.

How radiant he was.

The love for this World never ceased.

"Su Ming’an, can you carve a poem on my grave? My tombstone in Kaius Tower has stood for a long time without an epitaph." Acto said.

"Alright." Su Ming’an said.

...

Su Ming’an visited many places that evening.

It is said that Noah was buried beneath a newly cultivated sunflower field, where in spring, the field faces east to welcome the closest sunrise.

A flock of white birds always perches nearby, and while looking up at them, Su Ming’an thought that perhaps one of them was Noah.

Beili Sier was buried in the frozen valley, alongside his household electronic companions. Little Bei had returned home.

Sen was buried near the war monument, next to Xia Sheng’s grave. Tretiya rested in the Lotus Pond beneath the Ruined High Tower, together with her favorite flowers. Yao Wen was buried on a small western hillside, adjacent to Fayse’s mother’s grave, with a glass of milk placed before it. As for Lin Guang... no remains were left.

When Su Ming’an faced the rows of ink-black tombstones, he fell silent for a long time.

Thousands upon thousands of tombstones, each face and name on them different, their number suffocating.

While he stood there quietly, a bouquet was placed on the grave in front of him, and he turned his head to see an elderly grandma.

Though very old, the grandma had tied her hair with an unusually bright red ribbon. She wore a pitch-black long dress, her wrists adorned with countless cords, almost covering her entire arms. Upon quick observation, there seemed to be around a hundred cords.

"You..." Su Ming’an stared at the grandma’s face.

The grandma slowly lifted her head, her eyes curved as she smiled at him.

"Little handsome, don’t you recognize me?"

Su Ming’an heard this nickname: "Xi, how are you..."

"This is the last simulation; I am one without a future." Xi said, "The Nine Thrones’ youth is maintained by resources; the war is over, and I have no need to stay young. This is my true age. You wouldn’t... find me ugly, would you?"

She grinned with loose teeth, yet the smile revealed glimpses of her lively and beautiful self.

"No." Su Ming’an shook his head.

They stood quietly before the grave, one tall and one short, her pupils displaying the greyness of aging, yet her gaze was bright.

She looked at the grave before them, engraved with the name Yasa Acto: "Is this the grave he erected for himself?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to inscribe a poem for him?"

"Yes."

"Let’s do it together, my handwriting is beautiful."

"Okay."

Su Ming’an stretched out his hand, and Xi supported his wrist, helping him correct his script, as the engraving knife fell upon the tombstone, leaving the symbols of the Ruined World.

While inscribing, Xi whispered beside his ear:

"Little handsome, thank you."

"...Turns out we electronic sheep can also dream of spring."

Su Ming’an opened his mouth but said nothing.

The last ray of sunset faded in the distance, her hands with wrinkled, purple-blue skin, warm upon the handle covered in golden light.

In the boundless cemetery of stone monuments, it seemed as though many souls stood here, holding flowers and singing songs.

"Dear, don’t be afraid in the night,"

"Join me to witness the rebirth at dawn,"

"We enjoy the freedom of the wind."

"If the lamb runs between 0 and 1,"

"If the butterfly dances among the data flowers,"

"Dear,"

"Dear,"

"Do electronic sheep dream of spring...?"

...

...

This is the last simulation; the people of Two Dimensions will all vanish. The laughter, the tears, the works of art and songs will no longer exist.

They are people who cannot cross into the future. Their twenty-three hundred simulations were all to ignite the fire of the future, to construct new cities on the ruins of death, to uplift future human civilization, watching humanity walk towards a hopeful light.

While engraving, Su Ming’an seemed to hear a voice within his heart.

"Thank you for your forty years of efforts and companionship."

"Fighting alongside you was enjoyable."

It was also as if someone, through time, responded to him—

"We were also very glad to meet you."

"Thank you, City Lord Su Ming’an."

Years later, what people glimpse from history books and radio stories may be only a few short names, emotions and love falling behind the coldness of time. Yet someone always remembers, on that cold night, someone raised a torch and declared a never-yielding battle against the Deity.

Embracing warmth during the cold winter, igniting the beacon in the long night, persevering through the pre-dawn darkness.

Below the engraving knife, a short poem Su Ming’an read was inscribed upon the tombstone.

...

[This is the warmth you embraced in the Doomsday War,]

[Crossing land scattered with corpses,]

[Standing upon a stretch of ruins,]

[You sing softly:]

["This bright red pigment is the color of blood,"]

[This cold metal is the texture of iron,]

[This strong soul is the flame’s burn..."]

[You thought no one would walk with you anymore,]

[But upon turning, you found,]

[A group of comrades just eternally departed—]

[Standing quietly upon a field of blooming red spider lilies.]

...

...

Catastrophe Year Seventy-Two, January First, 6:30 PM, the Dawn War ended.

Participants numbered one billion seven hundred seventy-five thousand three hundred fifty-three, auxiliary personnel numbered seven million two thousand eight hundred seventy-four, deaths numbered five million three hundred sixty-four thousand.

...

[TE1·"Pioneer Immortality, Eternal Dawn" has been achieved.]