First Player

 Chapter 1024 Chapter One Thousand and Twenty-Two · "—Win."

Chaoyan's legs were shaking after walking out of the church. She grabbed her long skirt to prevent herself from looking back. She was worried that she would not be able to help but look back at Su Ming'an. Although they still "never knew each other" at this time.

  Control yourself, restrain yourself...Chao Yan.

 In his eyes now, you are just a suspicious stranger.

"Okay, okay, next step..." She breathed lowly.

 The blue moonlight shines on her long skirt.

She stumbled forward, crushing the moonlight everywhere.

 …

  【Chaoyan Notes:】

  【Number of game days: fifth day, early morning. 】

　　【Inner Note: Su Mingan has basically understood the world and the preparations have been completed. Next, you can tell him the information about "Xiao Su's Return", so that he can use his own "Xiao Su's Return" to formally and deeply explore the world. 】

　　【The best way is to kill him directly once and let him trigger "Xiao Su's retracement". 】

 【It’s just that this step is the most difficult...】

 …

　Su Mingan’s early stage of this week’s episode was really smooth.

Chao Yan has been waiting for him to die once so that he can know that he has a "Xiao Su return". However, it is already the fifth day and he has not died yet. In desperation, she had to do it herself.

 In the previous nine weeks, she had been an enemy of Su Ming'an and knew his skills and fighting style very well. Although he was very strong, if she knew him well enough, she might be able to successfully assassinate him.

"First of all... we have to take advantage of him while he is sleeping." Chaoyan held a pencil in his mouth and wrote down in a small notebook: "I happen to have the Immortal Talisman Seal: Sleep, which can make him die in his sleep. However, if he does not fall asleep, If so... I have to avoid his space vibration first. Then, when he sends out judgment, I can't dodge, so I have to make him fall into control at the same time when he sends out judgment... so that I can survive..."

 She stared at the moonlight outside the window.

 Then approach the door of the room and take out the Immortal Talisman Seal·Hibernation.

 …

  【"You are affected by the (immortal Talisman·Sleep) command and cannot act!"]

Su Mingan couldn’t see the other person’s face clearly until his chest was pierced. 】

 …

Chao Yan’s assassination was successful, and Su Mingan did die once, but he responded quickly after returning to the scene.

After returning to the file, Su Mingan heard footsteps at the door, and then the sound of a key turning. The assassin actually had the key. 】

Su Mingan was immediately shaken by a space shock. In an instant, the assassin stepped on the top of the kerosene lamp like a prophet, and unexpectedly found the weakest point in the space vibration, and jumped over in a few steps. The moment he issued his judgment, the assassin's talisman turned into a violent wind and struck. 】

　　—The assassin seemed to know him very well. 】

 …

Chaoyan stumbled away, her arms covered with bloodstains left by space vibrations. Even though she was experienced, she was almost torn to pieces by this violent attack.

 After she got rid of Su Mingan completely, she knelt down and sat under the bright moonlight, blood dripping all over the floor.

 …

  【Chaoyan Notes:】

　　【Number of game days: The fifth day, morning. 】

　　【Inner Note: The assassination failed. He didn't dream patrol, but was always awake, as if he was waiting for me on a special trip - how is that possible? How could he not be on Dream Patrol at this point in time? It's like... a prophet. 】

【what happened? what happened? Judging from his usual movement trajectory, it is impossible for him to still be awake! That was the only thing I didn't expect. It's almost like...he already knew he was going to be assassinated by me. 】

　　【At that moment, he seemed to have briefly changed from an "NPC" in my eyes to a "player" - because he did something I didn't expect at all, and he no longer acted in the same pattern as before. What led him to carry out the exact opposite pattern of action? 】

　　…Let’s give up the assassination for now. 】

　　【He is going to start investigating the Ark Project. Give him some candies today. 】

 …

 All plans started to deviate from the fifth day.

Chaoyan felt for the first time that things were getting out of control.

After Grandma Lin's death, Su Ming'an, Wang Mingming, Han Han, and Shang Qi took a walk by the river. According to the experience of the previous week, Su Ming'an would return to Daoya City after the walk.

 However—Chaoyan didn’t expect it at all.

 This week, the gods blocked the bridge across the river and directly invited Su Ming'an to his home. Like the devil blocking the entrance to Novice Village.

On the bridge across the river, the white hair of the **** was blowing in the wind. He smiled meaningfully at the camera next to him, as if he was mocking her.

"How could this happen...how could the gods be so direct..." Chaoyan looked at the picture on the TV and broke into a cold sweat. She never expected that the gods would **** people away midway, and her favorability with Su Ming'an hadn't increased much yet. In this way, under coercion and inducement, Su Mingan would most likely agree to become an angel. Then, the gods will give him the mark of control in an angelic ceremony.

Mingmingly, in the nine weeks before, the gods had never been so aggressive. This time, too, He seemed eager.

 Fortunately, Chaoyan gave Su Mingan a candy in advance, otherwise this week would have been a complete failure.

"Su Mingan. You...must...choose me..." Chaoyan clasped his hands together and prayed into the air.

 …

After looking at the portraits of the fire bearers, the gods took Su Mingan to perform an angelic ceremony. Seeing the tentacles gradually turning an ominous blood red, Su Mingan felt a crisis. 】

　　【At this moment, three things on his body began to glow. 】

　　【Chaugao's candy. 】

  【Li Mingyue's cross necklace. 】

  【Xiao Ying's peach blossom cufflinks. 】

 …

Chaoyan didn’t know whether Su Mingan would choose her. Among these three people, it is actually very obvious who he trusts the most.

"You should choose Li Mingyue." Chaoyan looked at the moonlight outside the window, there was no hope in her pupils. Whether judging from this situation or his usual pattern of actions, he will definitely choose Li Mingyue, whom he trusts most.

 And she...she was just an annoying riddler this time, and couldn't even speak clearly. Why would he choose her?

If she chooses her obviously, she can take him directly to the edge of the world, and she can remove the control mark on him within today... There will no longer be... Su Wensheng assassinating Su Ming'an in the sea later. Even if he chooses Xiao Ying, Xiao Ying will take him to her.

 But he... really would only choose Li Mingyue—this is the worst choice.

Except for being able to learn about Li Mingyue's "Immortal Talisman Seal·New Construction" and a rule book composed by Li Mingyue's life, Su Mingan would not get any information.

 At this moment, Chaoyan felt deep despair. From the first week, a heavy sense of destiny has been tightly wrapped around her, like a spider's thread hanging around her neck.

 “You really look like an NPC…Su Mingan.”

"You can obviously be more willful and try some actions that you wouldn't take..."

 …

  【Chaoyan Notes:】

  【Number of game days: seventh day, early morning. 】

  【Inner Note: He has been marked by the gods with a control mark, so I must defeat the tentacle monster on the seaside to allow him to cross the edge of the world and release the control mark. 】

　　　This is not an easy thing, but there is no other way. 】

　　　Because he did not choose me. 】

　　【Su Mingan, Su Mingan, you are really... too difficult to conquer. If I'm too close to you, you won't pay much attention to me. If I'm too far away from you, you won't believe me. 】

  【If I also have a favorable impression of you, how much would my favorable impression of you be? 】

 …

Chaoyan stood on the beach by the sea, the waves brushing against her bare feet. Strands of black hair were blowing in the wind. When she walked towards the huge tentacled monster alone, she looked up at the starry sky again.

 The starry sky is still so beautiful, and the stars are particularly bright. People have been tracing back to history this week, so the starry sky is becoming more and more gorgeous, and she can even faintly see overlapping shadows.

 She walked alone towards the sea - the dark sea at night, which seemed to be the loneliest, vastest, largest and most terrifying thing in the world. However, the girl just walked step by step in thin clothes and bare feet.

 No one accompanied her, no one helped her, and she walked through the repetitive process of more than ten days from beginning to end.

 Until now—the other protagonist won’t know how much she secretly did for him. He wouldn't know that if she hadn't been in the shadow of the story, he would have been broken into the light.

 And she wouldn’t know it—in his eyes, she was also an NPC who would not change her behavior in the aftermath of his death.

 The two of them are constantly shuttling back and forth, seeing each other as "NPCs with fixed behavior patterns", reminding each other, missing each other, and despairing of each other.

 Lonely with each other.

 Flowers and leaves never meet.

“[When she opens at noon],”

 She slowly read out the poem that Su Mingan had read to her more than five times.

“[Hard as coral].”

  He raised his sword, his hair was dyed the color of flames, and his whole body began to burn like a raging fire.

 Her whole body began to leak fluid, which was caused by burning, pain and burning. Her long fiery red hair was flying behind her, and the flames were like the feathers of a bird, fluttering behind her.

 It hurts so much.

 …but no one cares.

　　No one cares that there is a **** the edge of the world. She does not have much strength, nor does she have a strong belief. She can only defeat the tentacle monster by burning her life and save the other protagonist from the predicament he is facing.

 In this vast, long, and desperate tragedy, there is never a heroine’s story on the screen. The perspective is always focused on the male protagonist who is still persisting, and no audience can see what the heroine has done in the shadows.

 She could no longer remember how many times this was the first time she had burned her life.

 In the long journey, in the repeated glances, time and time again...she has long since lost count.

 Sometimes it’s to get out of trouble, sometimes it’s to save him, sometimes it’s to advance the plot——

“[The sun is close to the glass],”

 It hurts every time.

The brain seemed to be burned, the retina seemed to have turned into the color of flames, and those beautiful and colorful tones turned into dull gray and black. The nose was filled with gas that was about to be scalded, bubbles appeared on the lips, and there was a burning sensation in the throat. A sound like boiling water.

However, this pain made her laugh.

 It’s not that she’s not afraid of pain, she’s just... laughing at her own fate—what is she fighting against? As a human being, defy a **** who has the power to reverse? Or as a "player", defy the superior high-dimensional creatures?

How arrogant—and overestimating herself—should she be to always be like this?

“[…to see her shine].”

 “Stab it—!”

 The next moment, a violent flash of light erupted from her body.

Like a sharp long wind, it rushed towards the tentacled monster so huge that it covered the clouds and the sun.

 The roaring wind in the rotten forest cannot yet reach me. The swallows fluttering in the waves are like her sword.

 “Swish-swish-swish!”

Today is the seventh day of the tenth week. Su Mingan's progress in this week is very slow. He has not yet started to collect faith - she knows that it will be difficult for her to defeat the tentacle monster. But if she didn't fight, it would be too late to save him.

 After the struggle—

 She was still alone.

 “Su Mingan…”

 The girl's voice was lost in the blazing flames, burning into blackened ashes.

  She seemed to smile, and she seemed to shed tears that no one could see.

 …

In the afternoon, Su Mingan stood in front of the colorful window to endorse. Suddenly, he saw a flame suddenly burning in the sky, which lasted for nearly an hour before dimming. 】

He felt the candy in his arms was slightly hot. When he took it out, he saw that the lemon candy had broken into pieces. He peeled off the candy wrapper and put the broken candy into his mouth - the candy Chaoyan gave was very sweet, and he didn't know what she was doing now. 】

 …

  —What is Chao Yan doing?

 —She is burning her life for you.

 …

 Su Mingan.

 You will not remember me.

 You won’t choose me.

 So, I need to swallow this bitter pill for you.

　　You are not wrong, you have not failed me - because I want you to win, I just want you to win that god.

　　If I die like a burning moth in the fire—

 At least, maybe you will find Xiaosu backtracking and save me for the "mission of keeping NPC Chaoyan alive". If you really treat me like a stranger and never save me, then wait until the eleventh week for us to meet again.

 Wait for me at the end of time—Protagonist.

However, maybe I am very powerful, and I may actually be able to successfully defeat the tentacle monster - then, please seize the opportunity this time, please...

please,

　　—Win.

 …

　　【While unconscious, Su Mingan heard the voices of two people. 】

“—At three o’clock in the morning, I received the news of Chaoyan’s death.” Xiao Jingsan’s voice. 】

　　　"—Yes. Your resistance this time has failed." The voice of the gods. 】

 …

The sound was like an unfinished, hot, painful wind. It's like the girl's last painful, desperate, silent gasp.

 Everyone is trying their best to guide him, just hoping that he can... win.

 Fate forms a cyclical web, and he is the butterfly burning in the web.

 …

 The candy melted and fell into the sea.

 The girl's corpse turned into charcoal and fell into the sea together, her fiery red hair burned into ashes.

 Her pupils were burned to a grayish white color, and no dawn could be seen.

 In the distance, the sun rises.

 The wild geese are flying high, and the new day is as old as the old.

 “Yan.”

 (End of this chapter)