Chapter 144 - One Hundred Forty-Two:

Chapter 144: Chapter One Hundred Forty-Two: "Love This WorldLv Shu’s reverence for him was stubborn, even to the point of being distorted.

And faced with this unstable factor, the only thing Su Ming’an could do was just this.

"Lighthouse brother," Moli said, "It’s okay. Just sleep first. If you really can’t find it, then maybe just trust the other person... I see that brother is really anxious, but just being anxious doesn’t help..."

What Moli said made sense.

Seeing Lv Shu’s confident demeanor, perhaps he was truly prepared.

... Su Ming’an really couldn’t hold on anymore.

He didn’t even have time to help Moli find a house; he set the alarm and collapsed on the bed.

"Don’t go out, stay here and wait for me to wake up..."

He left a pile of food on the table, instructed Moli, and then quickly closed his eyes.

Perhaps because he was truly exhausted, as soon as he closed his eyes, he felt his body sink into the bed, and his consciousness swiftly blurred.

Like walking through the mist, he closed his eyes, and his eyelids cut off everything from the outside world.

... But he heard a burst of piano music.

Crisp, pleasant sounding, as if seeing a deep blue sea with white dolphins leaping up, glimmering with the light of the water.

The calmed emotions surged again in an instant.

A strange condensation feeling started to rise in his heart, between moments of time, and he suddenly opened his eyes to see a somewhat blurry room in his vision.

The room was small, with a gentle breeze carrying the scent of spring coming in through the curtains, a piano bathing in a cascade of light.

The black and white keys were quietly interwoven, the brilliance dotting the floating dust in the air.

... A lucid dream? A vivid dream?

He stared fixedly at the piano, with which he was very familiar, but it shouldn’t have looked so desolate...

No sooner had he thought this than he saw a person suddenly appearing on the piano stool.

Hands appeared on the self-acting piano keys, the woman with long black hair, half of her face near the halo, her cheeks dyed in light, her hair flowing like quicksilver.

The features of her face veiled in mist, unclear, her blindly playing fingers incredibly nimble. It was as if silver fish were swimming around her, with sunlight casting mottled shadows.

Her piano sound was very pleasant, each key struck with precision, catching the rhythm whether slow or fast, and the expansive techniques were displayed to their fullest extent.

Laymen might praise her skill, but Su Ming’an could see that her piano playing lacked a certain "spirituality".

It was like a lifeless zombie, a silent black-and-white film with no sound, a manufactured puppet only capable of mechanical imitation.

Su Ming’an watched for a while, finding it ironic, and then turned and left without any reluctance.

He knew this was a vivid dream, a dream that could be controlled with his own consciousness, but since entering the world game, he hardly ever had them again. Every day was so busy, where was the time for such energy-wasting dreams?

He had to quickly enter a state of sleep to prevent his mental state from deteriorating further.

As for dreams that resembled memories, they were meaningless. He did not need these psychological comforts now.

Su Ming’an shifted his thought, wanting the scene to disappear.

He saw bloodstains beginning to appear on the woman, and her fingers started to break apart, a sign that the dreamscape was on the verge of collapse.

But Su Ming’an saw, by her side, there was an appearance of himself.

Himself as a child.

The woman’s dry piano playing suddenly changed, she became as fresh as a revived withering flower, her tone exceedingly gentle:

"You are in love with this world."

Su Ming’an heard the woman teaching "himself".

"... In any case, love this world."

She continued to speak.

The woman’s blurred face autonomously dissipated. Su Ming’an saw that in an instant when she looked over, her gaze was silent yet extremely bright, like someone who willingly drowned.

He snorted coldly and then turned and walked away, not staying any longer.

"—Ming’an, you and I are different, your eyes are real... Your emotions are the most precious treasure to mom."

The woman’s prayer-like voice came from behind.

The piano music grew faster and faster, a stream of notes chasing from behind, accompanied by the persistent voice of a woman:

"—Ming’an, your gaze, your eyes filled with such intense emotion, they’re truly beautiful."

He didn’t stop walking.

The piano music came in waves, chasing his footsteps.

"—The warm breeze of winter, the snow lotus on the mountaintop, the pearls from the deep sea... You are everything I can imagine, you are Mom’s brightest treasure, her eternal pride..."

His pace suddenly halted.

A hand from below seized his arm fiercely, and he turned his head to see that the hand grabbing him was covered in fresh blood.

The woman had appeared beside him at some point, her facial blur completely dissolved, revealing a beautiful face with almond-shaped eyes, resembling his own.

Her face was smeared with blood, slowly trickling down her cheeks.

The piano music still floated through the air, like waves surging towards him.

The woman’s gaze was fixed intently on him, as though her eye sockets were locking him in place, her eyes reflecting his image as he looked at her. She seemed terrified he would suddenly vanish.

She struggled to open her mouth, then word by word:

"... Ming’an, you are the only one in my world."

"No matter what—"

Her gaze was heavy, but her grip was getting weaker.

Su Ming’an placed his hand over hers, and bit by bit, pried her fingers open.

"—love this world."

She declared this sentence as if making a proclamation, and then she let go of her hold.

The piano sound ceased abruptly.

The sound of glass shattering echoed in his ears. The afternoon room fragmented, dissipating into pieces, with dark crevices slowly appearing.

Under the pull of Su Ming’an’s thoughts, this dream came to an end.

He watched the room fade away, the piano quiet and bathed in a cascade of light.

The woman was no longer there.

He saw himself still playing the piano.

"You should feel sorrow," Su Ming’an said to the puddle of blood left by the woman on the ground:

"After eight years, what remains in my memory of you, what appears in my dreams, is still such an absurd image."

"You should be thankful that Father raised me to be who I am now."

"I will love this world, but not because of you."

"... Stop appearing in my dreams."

With that said, he didn’t look at the scene any longer but closed his eyes, emptied his mind, and let himself drift into a deeper dream.

In sleep, he dreamed of nothing else.

This dream was very deep, very heavy, as if his body was sunk in clouds.

He felt nothing, had no troubles... just like the countless dreamless nights on Zhai Xing, enveloped in the silent night, with neither stars nor moon in sight.

...so much so that when he just opened his eyes, greeted by the personalized space alarm clock’s full-faced morning glow, his eyes still held the haze of sleep.

He sat up, rubbing his eyes with one hand, and sluggishly opened the forum with the other.

"..." He stared at the pinned headline, his eyes still blurry, as if not seeing clearly yet.

The simulated morning glow in his personal space fell into his eyes, brilliant to the point of stinging, and he squinted his sore eyes.

"Fake news?"

He muttered to himself and clicked on the pinned forum post.

And then... he saw a butterfly corpse by the greening woods of the 12th district server, blasted to only a patch of butterfly wing remaining.

Little Red.

He continued to scroll down.

Lying beside a thicket of flowers was the broken blade of a mantis, a jade green that glittered in the early morning light just as the morning glow began to shine.

Little Bi.

He silently looked downward, and finally, he saw a corner of clothing.

Black, with a crest pattern, it was the Han-style clothing Lv Shu had worn that day.

The ruined corner of the garment had been blasted to a singed mess, and the owner of the clothes was nowhere to be found.

...Death in the Main God Space is true death.

He closed the forum post, his whole being as if frozen stiff, not yet recovered. He stared at the panel for a long time, his gaze utterly unfocused.

Moli, who was resting in her chair, woke up. Her clear eyes looked over, cutting through the fog like a lamp.

"...Lighthouse brother?"

She asked, noticing that Su Ming’an’s state was obviously not right.

Su Ming’an bowed his head.

When he opened his hands again, he saw the crescent moon imprint in his palm, oozing fresh blood.

"Ding Dong!"

Suddenly, he heard a system prompt.

Su Ming’an stared at the communication request, stunned for a moment.

He chose to accept, and the video unfolded. There sat Lv Shu, dressed in black Han-style clothing, beside a tea table. Behind him was a view through a mahogany window lattice, and the weather seemed pleasant.

In front of him was a purple clay teapot on a small stove, a scarlet butterfly perched on his shoulder, and even the always-jumping mantis was sitting quietly to one side.

"Su Ming’an." Lv Shu was looking at him:

"This is a timed video recording."

Su Ming’an stared at the screen.

"I think you’ve already discovered it because you’ve always been smart," Lv Shu said, his fingers caressing a teacup: "My sudden change of attitude is because I saw the note describing your past."

"You’re smart, you should also guess that I believe this note so much because I’ve also seen notes describing my own past."

"The World Game is omnipotent and yet too focused on rules... If it was just to drive us apart by giving me a fake note about you, I don’t think so."

"So," Lv Shu looked at him intently: "I believe everything that was presented on that note."

Su Ming’an awaited his next words.

"...I once wondered why I believed in you so fervently. Before, I didn’t think it was blind, nor did I think so after viewing the world’s forums," said Lv Shu calmly: "But after seeing Moli’s behavior, I suddenly realized... that I, too, had lost my way."

"I didn’t see the whole picture of you, only what I wanted to believe."

"I come from a reclusive noble family, having not seen the vastness of the world."

"Moli and I are similar... We obsessively and crazily believed in someone we’ve decided upon, not letting go, not changing, and so blindly unaware even as we bleed."

"...Just when I wanted to erase my past self, I suddenly came to understand."

A note appeared in Lv Shu’s hand, carefully bound with a rubber band, with nothing revealed.

"If, just because of a note, I decide again that you’re not a good person... that would be no different from the old me, equally shallow, equally stubborn."

"...So."

His fingers picked up the rubber band on the note, then slowly began to pull it off.

"...I don’t believe your passion was just a disguise. Or should I say..."

He slowly unfolded the note, straightened it, and then, slowly brought it in front of the camera.

"...Su Ming’an, you only ever disguised yourself once."

Su Ming’an watched the content of the note on the screen.

Lv Shu held the note in front of the camera for ten seconds before slowly retracting it and, treating it like a treasure, carefully rolled it up again and tucked it into his chest.

"You can actually understand this?" Su Ming’an conversed with the recording across the void.

"...I understood," Lv Shu continued:

"After this judgment—I still think you’re a good person. I affirm you; the note might be about your past, but the current you must be righteous and just."

As he spoke, he suddenly turned around and took out a huge plastic bag from behind him.

"...Number One Player, Su Ming’an, I will clear all obstacles for you."

"I will kill that guy Edward... to make those organizations that think about cultivating minds understand that the leader of the world can never be a ’bad person’."

"Su Ming’an, you are a good person, and you should continue on."

"This is a video recording, one that I made before leaving and set to a timer. If I return successfully, I will cancel the sending, as if nothing had happened."

"Which means—if you managed to see this video."

Lv Shu looked into the camera, his eyes clearer than ever before.

"...it implies I’m already dead."

"But Edward will be dead too. I thought the best outcome would be me returning safely, and the worst would be both of us dying together—but either way, no one will be able to target your path anymore."

"Don’t mind what the audience says; don’t care about what those people think."

"Keep going, always."

[Mantis (Growth: Red) (Unnamed)

Level: lv.1

HP: 400

MP: 0

Type: Physical Type, Speed Type

Note: It has a huge appetite initially; please ensure its survival by feeding it cabbage continuously!

Remark: A legacy insect of the mantis "Bi," awakened after the death of the previous generation.]

Su Ming’an stared at the blackened panel in front of him, the little mantis hopping around beside him, seemingly very hungry.

"Brother Lighthouse..."

Moli seemed to understand what had happened; she clutched his sleeve tightly, unsure of what to say.

"Moli," Su Ming’an suddenly spoke up. He opened the World Forum and rapidly scanned through the events, then pinpointed the location of the battle.

"...Hmm?"

Moli looked at him, puzzled.

"Some people are still worth saving," Su Ming’an said, as he raised his hand.

"...Even if they haven’t achieved a Perfect Pass."

He placed his hand on his temple.

"—Sometimes, I might be grateful that I’m the one who got this ability,"

he said.

The Annihilation activated.