First Player

  Chapter 1072 Chapter One Thousand and Seventy · "TE·Unmanned Poetry."

At that time, he saw Su Wensheng and said that he had a dream. He dreamed that one day he would be able to stand on a high platform and call on everyone to change everything. He dreamed that one day he would wave the flag and let people follow him. He stood on the battlefield and ordered the entire army to charge and break away the deep-rooted darkness.

 But in the end, it still didn’t happen.

 …

On the ground, Su Mingan heard a loud noise.

He raised his head suddenly and saw a burst of **** red light exploding in the direction of the rooftop.

 The sound of a strong explosion reverberated in the air, the rooftop collapsed, and debris flew everywhere. Alice on the rooftop fell downwards.

Su Mingan rushed forward, but stopped suddenly.

 A white figure appeared among the falling stones. He holds sleeping Alice. And He lowered his head slightly, his pure white hair flowing downwards, and he seemed to have been prepared for this moment.

“…That’s it.” The **** said softly: “Goodbye, Su Mingan, I’ll take the carrier away.”

The next moment, countless barriers rose from the ground, surrounding the gods.

He walked out step by step, holding Alice as he walked farther and farther away. Su Lin's attack was very strong, but the god's defense method was completely shameless, relying on the entire mechanical city's barrier to wear out hundreds of layers of barriers, burning through one layer after another.

"...We can't let Him leave!" Su Mingan already had the idea of ​​turning back. Although the gods are almost invincible here, if you try enough times, you may be able to...

 He could feel the faint phantom pain coming from his temples, as if reminding him that this had happened too many times.

 …Is there really hope?

…real…

 “Su Mingan.”

 He suddenly heard Su Wensheng's voice.

Turning his head to the side, he saw Su Wensheng sitting in the ruins. Half of his body was injured by the ceiling, and a long steel bar was inserted from his right chest, but his eyes were still silent. The gods knew that he had betrayed, but they did not take away his life, but just let him fend for himself.

“Please send Su Wensheng to receive treatment. I’ll go get the carrier back.” Su Mingan said to “Su Lin”.

"Su Lin" frowned: "This injury has already..."

 “No need, come here.”

Su Wensheng’s voice was very soft.

Su Mingan glanced at him and took a few steps closer.

Su Wensheng leaned into his ear, coughing up blood and said: "...I have a secret that I have never told, which can help you stop the gods."

Su Mingan concentrated.

"...Forget about other information, I am already an abandoned son. But once I tell this secret and it is related to you, it may have unpredictable consequences." Su Wensheng said.

 “Is it related to cause and effect?”

"yes."

 “A very important secret?”

"yes."

"Will you die if you tell the secret? Like triggering some kind of death rule?" Su Mingan said suddenly. If it were that kind of innocuous consequence, Su Wensheng would not be able to keep the secret forever.

Su Mingan saw his eyes.

Like autumn red leaves hanging quietly on the branches, waiting for the coming of winter. It's like the scorching sun on the desert, hot but filled with loneliness.

 “Su Mingan.”

Su Wensheng did not answer Su Mingan’s question, but instead threw the question back to him:

 “...Do you want to live?”

Su Mingan’s eyes were instantly filled with warmth. He instantly understood Su Wensheng's answer.

 He asked Su Wensheng, will you die?

Su Wensheng responded to him, do you want to live?

 When he looked at Su Wensheng, Su Wensheng's eyes were like peaceful, soft sunlight.

 “…I will not trigger Xiaosu’s retracement.”

"Um."

　　…"I will never return to this point in time again."

"Um."

“…if you die, time will never flow backwards again.”

"I know."

 Three short questions and answers.

It is impossible for Su Ming'an to trigger a reversal and return here. Whether it is Xiao Su's reversion or his own reversion, the price of the secret is irreversible death, otherwise he will not be able to explain the source of the information.

However, Su Wensheng just smiled, the black bone nails reflected the broken light, and he said, he understood.

 The distance between them... seems to be a little closer.

  But only a little.

Su Wensheng slowly stretched out his hand and put it on Su Mingan's shoulder, showing a little warmth.

In an instant, Su Mingan heard the sound of machines from all directions, and their attacks suddenly became crazy. In order to prevent Su Wensheng from saying anything, the gods finally killed Su Wensheng. The gods in the distance also stopped.

Su Wensheng’s eyes have always been calm.

 In fact, he had some hopes in his heart, thinking that the gods might really recognize him and therefore did not take his life. The way He looked at him was tender every second.

 But He is just like a gentle god, giving him the softness of a horse's hooves to avoid flowers, imitating the human emotions of "trust" and "gentleness", and taking care of his needs. In fact, every bit of His tenderness was false. He was just slowly weaving a net waiting for Su Ming'an, but it made him sink a little.

 That’s all.

 He was never in the network.

 He leaned forward and whispered into Su Mingan’s ear—

“Shout ‘General Qin, I’m back’—and you can control the Mechanical City. This is a secret I learned accidentally, and the reason is unknown. I thought I would never tell it in my life, but...”

Su Mingan opened his eyes wide.

…It's that simple?

  …What is the principle?

 He looked at Su Wensheng with confused eyes, but Su Wensheng suddenly began to become transparent.

 The blood on half of the young man's body began to fall, and the area around his chest that was pierced by steel bars became transparent, and the color of his eyes dimmed.

Even if it was just a secret without stating the reason, this sentence had already taken away his existence.

 …

 【TE3·(Arrived at the final land of the old days and established an ideal hometown) Perfect clearance progress: 90%】

 …

The progress of perfect clearance suddenly jumped a lot, which surprised Su Mingan. He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but he couldn't say a word.

  This is 10% of the clearance progress obtained in exchange for one's life. If it weren't for Su Wensheng's words, Su Mingan would have had to go back many times to find out what he said.

Su Wensheng stretched out his hands and held his right hand.

Hands of fingers clasped around his palm, leaving a shallow crescent mark. His eyes were like forgotten ancient oil paintings, still bright in color, but unable to conceal the loneliness forgotten by the world.

“...Do you know why I always wear black earrings?” Su Wensheng said softly.

 “Why.” Su Mingan also wondered about this for a long time.

“…Because you will never wear earrings.” Su Wensheng said: “Even if you become me, you will take off the earrings. Therefore, ‘Su Wensheng wearing earrings’ is Su Wensheng.”

Su Mingan didn’t expect this reason.

He thought about many possibilities. He thought about this earring as a weapon, and thought about it as a communication tool, but he never thought that it was just a..."distinguishing tool."

 …He can only distinguish himself by his earrings.

"Yeah." Su Mingan whispered, "I don't like earrings."

Su Wensheng raised the corners of his lips.

With a final push of his fingers, he buried ten crescent moons in Su Ming'an's palm, as if he wanted to bury the heat in his palms deep into his bones.

"I don't know what I can leave you." Su Wensheng lowered his head and smiled: "In fact, I am still unwilling."

"Thinking about the impression I left on you, it's all a bad impression, and I'm only telling you this secret for the sake of my own world. But again, I might still choose that way, I have to confirm you, because In other parallel worlds, maybe the savior is not as qualified as Su Mingan."

“The deepest impression on you is probably Yue Hu who has hurt you.”

“Savior Su, so I leave you some crescent moon marks as my traces.”

 …What is "just for the sake of one's own world"? Should "only" be used for this reason?

　　…Why do you have such low self-esteem?

Su Mingan felt almost no pain in his palms. The marks left by Su Wensheng were very shallow and his nails were cut short. He also seemed to remember that students were not allowed to have long fingernails.

Su Mingan suddenly realized that there were so many players participating in the tenth world. In the dungeon without Su Mingan, the "savior" might be unqualified. Su Wensheng's choice was not unreasonable.

Just like the world North Wang experienced, it was completely destroyed in the end. If Su Wensheng had made such a decision in that parallel copy, it might not have been the end of extinction.

 Putting her hand against his, Su Mingan pursed her lips and buried the trembling in her heart.

 “Su Mingan…”

 …

 The sun fades into the distance like the sunset. Thousands of golden lights are sprinkled on the corridor, as if it has been infused with a sacred rhythm.

 There was a transcendent calm on the young man's face, and the last ray of light wandered over his black bone nails.

As if to confirm something, he raised his hand, touched Su Mingan's cheek, and looked at him steadily. It was as if he was exploring the differences between these similar eyes and his own.

 Is it obsession? Is it fanaticism? still…

 …What exactly shaped Su Mingan? What reconstructed [him] again?

“There are ten thousand Su Wenshengs in this world. There are so many that I feel at a loss. They are like shadows extending from me, similar, yet different enough to be confusing.” He said:

“But there will always be only one ‘Earring Su Wensheng’...that’s me.”

 “Remember me, the Savior.”

"You have to remember...I have never forgotten my ideals from beginning to end, even if they are fragmented ideals."

 —Even one ten thousandth of an ideal is equivalent to eight billion lives.

How do you want him to ignore these eight billion lives, ignore the destruction that may occur after his death, and fall into the lake to his death without hesitation?

 The next moment, it seemed as if an invisible machete fell on him, trying to obliterate his existence.

Su Mingan could not forget the look in his eyes at that moment.

 It was a look that looked like longing for Heavenly Father. He is the person who hates God the most. So many fire messengers passed glass bottles to his hands, but only God redeemed him and preserved his ideals.

 Although it is only a fragmented ideal.

 …But it has been nineteen years of this life.

 Subsequently, the real savior Su Mingan. The arrival of Su Mingan was like a second heavenly father, igniting the fire of hope in the world and making him feel redeemed again.

This time, redemption is no longer false.

When he accused Su Mingan of "heinous crimes" on the high platform, Su Wensheng was clearly smiling.

—Because he knows that this "heinous crime" in his mouth is obviously an ideal that he himself cannot achieve. It was a hope that he could not reach in his entire life.

 —His life is rooted in the mud. But a bird flew across the soil.

 Look, this sky is filled with red, this sky is filled with glow... How beautiful this world is...

 He stared at the sky outside the window, his eyes slightly red.

 —Why, would someone just burn themselves up like this?

 …

　　【Su Mingan respects the choices of his teammates, and he also respects the choice of the Bright Knight back then. When they choose to sacrifice, he will not stop them, but he will hope in his heart that next time, such a thing will not happen again. 】

【But…】

 …

 In Su Wensheng's memory, Su Ming'an actually remembers all those proud men who were buried by Su Wensheng himself.

 He remembered all those things that had not been carried out.

 Handwritten plan.

 Allies contacted personally.

 Hand-planned rescue route for the experimental city.

 The orange cat buried by his own hands.

　　The sycamore tree, pencil case, shovel, school uniform, father’s letter, grandma’s plum wine, the orange cat, its little grave, the lake where the girl jumped, the starry sky at the bottom of the lake under the moonlight… and a pair of eyes like his.

The light and shadow of the setting sun danced on the corridor, and the young man's black bone nails reflected the light - it was not like an ornament, but like a chain that imprisoned him.

Su Mingan had an urge to use skills, but he suppressed it, so that the calmness on his face began to collapse.

But Su Wensheng’s transparent fingers were in front of Su Ming’an’s lips.

His eyes were sharp and firm, as if to stop even the slightest possibility of him uttering even a single word of invitation from the powerful.

 …Why is he willing to make this decision even though he is already free?

Perhaps he recognized Su Mingan as the savior and wanted to help him go on. Maybe he had betrayed the gods and could never go back to the past.

 —But he made this decision...perhaps long before any of these reasons had occurred to him.

“[You are smiling slightly,]” He arched his eyebrows, and his dark pupils reflected Su Mingan.

Hands are bent and the palms are firmly clasped.

 The clouds in his pupils were dyed golden, like an oil painting. It was as if he wanted to remember the last beauty in his eyes.

“[Don’t say anything to me,]”

　　　　【And I think,】"

 “[For this,]”

　　　　【I have been waiting for a long time.】"

  (—"Birds Collection: 42"

 This is the last words of a nineteen-year-old young man, a poem.

 In the red sunset, he was so close to the Savior, so intimate, and handed over the responsibility.

 He finally saw the blue moonlight that he had missed for a long time.

 So he smiled slightly.

 …for this,

 …I have been waiting for a long time.

too long.

 …

Su Ming'an's heart trembled.

 …The strength of the crescent moon in the palm disappeared in an instant.

 The corridor was enveloped by thousands of rays of the setting sun. At this moment, the night slowly pushed in and covered them. Su Mingan's palm gradually turned into countless light particles, leaving no trace.

 But he still maintained the posture of stretching out his hand, stopping stiffly in place.

The rocks above fell unbearably, pressing heavily in front of Su Mingan. He didn't react and subconsciously reached out—

 …But his hands were empty and he had nothing else.

Fine spots of light spread around his body, and the ten crescent marks on his palms slowly rebounded. He clearly wanted to leave traces, but Su Wensheng didn't use much force, and the crescent marks on his palms quickly disappeared.

His last traces seemed to have been stubbornly left for only four or five seconds.

 Until Su Lin approached him and lifted the stone in front of him.

 Under the stone, there was a white shirt, a tie, and a black bone nail. The flesh and blood body was gone.

 …

 …He is no longer here.

 …

 —Am I pursuing the ideal itself, or something better than this?

 Su Mingan was attracted by this kind of thinking a long time ago and could not break away. The driving force behind a forbidden journey always varies, but in the end it often has to do with obsession and love.

 But he could not deny that for Su Wensheng, although his ideal did not lead to a smooth road, no matter what the reason, it would always include the latter two.

 Obsession, and love.

When he stood under the plane tree with the orange cat in his arms, looking up at the campus in the distance—

 …

At that moment, what he was thinking about may be the reason why he was full of consciousness and never regretted it.

How could a nineteen-year-old young man suddenly be so selfless to a terrifying degree?

…How not.

Su Mingan walked forward, clutching his earrings tightly.

He suddenly felt a sting.

 It turns out that the questioner and the answerer...are not both.

 …

 “Ding dong!”

　　　　　　　(Su Wensheng) TE·"Unmanned Poetry"』

　　【The moment I saw the gods carrying Alice away, I thought, great, the gods did not take away my life. 】

　　【From now on, I am free. No matter where I go, no matter what I do, I am finally free...]

  【Then I saw the despair in Su Mingan's eyes. 】

　　　【He seemed to have reached a desperate situation. 】

　　【What was I thinking at that moment? Are you proud because "there are things he can't do", or are you feeling jealous? 】

  【I didn't seem to think too much, what controlled my lips and made me tell the secret——】

　　【The moment I looked at him, I understood. 】

【I see. 】

【…I see. 】

　　【Still these reasons. 】

　　—My blood is too hot, my face is too hot, and my hands are moving too fast. 】

　　…Eleven years later, after such a long time - they still make me so desperate. Like the eight-year-old kid who broke into the music room, I rushed out again. 】

　　　【The eight-year-old kid made himself bloody, and the same happened to me at the age of nineteen. 】

　　　【I felt burning pain. 】

　　【Although I am still the person who can't even save an orange cat. I couldn’t save the children, I couldn’t save my female classmates, and I couldn’t save myself. 】

  【But I saved Su Da, the savior. 】

　　【Perhaps, he can make everyone...】

　　【Life is bright, healthy and smooth. 】

　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　dedscript from all epochs . 】

 …

　　　【This world has never killed me. 】

　　——I did not lose to it. 】

 …

Su Mingan stood up.

 The night was like black silk, gently embracing him and the black bone nails in his hands.

“General Qin, I...”

 He slowly swept his eyes across this strange Jiuyou, and said the words that Su Wensheng paid for with his life:

"came back."

 …

　　Prepare for the exam and take three days of rest.

 (End of this chapter)