Chapter 192 - One Hundred Ninety - ’The Future of Humanity

Chapter 192: Chapter One Hundred Ninety - ’The Future of HumanityLv Shu waved at him and made a gesture.

Su Ming’an knew that the gesture meant "turn off the live broadcast."

He hadn’t had time to talk to this person in the past few days, but now he seemed to have a moment.

Su Ming’an turned off the live stream, curious about what Lv Shu wanted to initiate in conversation.

"Ten minutes, let’s walk and talk," he glanced at the system time, "the longer we drag this out, the more I fear those captured will start a riot."

"I once read a passage in a book," Lv Shu said.

Su Ming’an looked at him.

"Only when humans depend on each other, and their mutual needs link them, can a relationship of enslavement form," Lv Shu said.

Su Ming’an hesitated for a moment, then looked at Lv Shu with new eyes.

"Is this what you’ve been wanting to tell me for over ten days?"

"All the current rules seem step toward this," Lv Shu said, "People’s dependence is becoming more apparent, for the top players and even more so for the Number One Player. Without knowing how much weight they hold, they would subconsciously believe in the positive side, believe in you who could advance the progress bar for all humanity and stand till the end—they rely on you, and though it results in a lot of petty talk, it’s evidence that you are seen and trusted by the majority."

"So, are you trying to console me?"

"No, I’m telling the truth," Lv Shu said, "Su Ming’an, you are a good person. By leading the majority, making them depend on and believe in you, you assure them you won’t fail—this will absolutely help you achieve a Perfect Pass. You needn’t care what others think, because you are the absolute future."

"Everyone needs to be reviewed, whether they accept it or not," Su Ming’an looked at him, "Listening to these comments and information, even if most of it is noise, there are parts worth considering. Being in such a high position doesn’t mean I need to disconnect from everyone—that would only push me further away from these people."

"Furthermore," he shook his head, "leading them doesn’t mean I have to enslave them—Lv Shu, although I can tell you’ve prepared these words carefully, I still have to say... thank you, but you still don’t understand."

He said this, catching up with Hui Shuhang on the side.

Lv Shu stood in place for a moment, then quickly caught up with him.

"What I mean is..." Lv Shu said, "If there are things you’re not comfortable handling, I can do them for you."

"What?"

"Dealing with those people," Lv Shu said, "You don’t need to face the resentment in their eyes—they don’t understand anything. I can take care of this boring task for you."

Su Ming’an turned and asked Hui Shuhang, "Where are those four hundred people now?"

"Shen Golia Grand Valley," Hui Shuhang said softly, "Due to the inconvenience of surrounding them on flat ground, I have herded them into a valley flanked on three sides by high mountain walls, leaving only one opening covered by stationed personnel, which also makes it convenient."

"Let me face these four hundred people," Lv Shu said, "You have more important matters to attend to. Once I have drained their Points and Props, I will turn them over to you."

"So, what do you plan to do?" Su Ming’an turned again to ask Lv Shu.

A blue mantis leaped from Lv Shu’s shoulder, his eyelids half-drooped as the mantis’s blade edge shimmered with a cold light under the sky.

"I’m very skilled at interrogation," Lv Shu said, "Handing them over willingly is fine, but if they refuse..."

By now, as they continued on their way, Su Ming’an saw the towering mountain walls gradually come into view.

Between the closed mountain walls, a small opening allowed passage, with a circle of soldiers and several robed figures standing outside, while inside players could vaguely be seen walking around, some eager to break out, others conversing, seemingly desperate to escape.

In channel chat, Su Ming’an also noticed many people discussing how to break out, where to breach, and ways to bribe the guards NPCs... meanwhile, there were also many pleas directed at him, begging him to spare them, not to strip them of their strength.

With the progress bar mechanism in place, many were pleading to contribute some of their Points so as not to be directly killed, saying some still wanted to preserve some strength to participate in the next instance, entering downright unequipped was too dangerous.

Hui Shuhang led Su Ming’an to the opening, where the robed figures noticed them and immediately approached, bowing together to him.

"Sage Master."

"Sage Master."

"Teacher."

Some, still clad in their research robes, seemed to have been temporarily reassigned from the lab.

Su Ming’an spotted a mage with purple hair still displaying energy wave fluctuations. This one was said to be the second strongest in the Regular Army next to Hui Shuhang, always in charge of managing backup plans left by the Holy Initiation. It was only because these players were too dangerous and by the commands of the Sage Master that he had been urgently moved here.

In other timelines, this purple-haired mage had almost been turned into a sieve; nearly every timeline’s version of him had been impersonated by players.

Su Ming’an, looking at these respectfully bowing people, slowly stepped forward and reached out his hand.

His movements were slow, exuding a confident demeanor. In everyone’s gaze, his hand gradually neared the purple-haired mage’s head, and then lightly touched his temple.

The mage’s smile stiffened slightly and, as the finger neared him, he couldn’t help but step back half a step.

Su Ming’an smiled and withdrew his hand.

"Take him too," he said.

...As expected, he was a player.

Beyond those exposed and driven into the valley, many players hidden among the leaders had not been revealed. He had just reached out to test and had caught one, fearing that among these respectful people, there might be some who had slipped through the net.

Hui Shuhang immediately moved his hand, ready to unleash a formidable force.

The next moment, the purple-haired mage burst out the cry, "Attack!"

It seemed to carry some form of sound amplification; the voice was loud, instantly spreading across the entire valley. The next moment, previously inactive players sprang forth, shimmering lights twinkling in various colors.

Even where Su Ming’an was standing, a giant magic array lit up, its vivid red hues trapping everyone standing outside.

Su Ming’an knew then that the power of four hundred was not so simple, even if it was a mere mob. When pushed to extremes and united, their combined force was immense.

He heard the system’s judgment:

The bright red light instantly clung to him like a snake, and blood-red patterns quickly spread across his body. As he saw a debuff "Complete Binding: Lasts 5 seconds, no movement possible." appear beneath his health bar, he also noticed the players’ extremely excited expressions inside.

Hui Shuhang immediately tried to act, but suddenly, a colored bubble was thrown from inside the valley. Before she could react to the energy wave around her, the bubble completely enveloped her.

The next moment, a look of astonishment crossed her face, and as the spatial vibrations spread with the bubble bursting, her figure vanished from the spot.

...Forced teleportation?

Su Ming’an realized, these players really had a multitude of tricks.

No wonder in other timelines, even Hui Shuhang couldn’t protect Qin Wang.

At the same time, those previously respectful robe-wearing individuals also began backstabbing, with various attacks surging in an instant, mixed with beams that seemed to control effects.

...These people, really wanted to take him out just like they were fighting a boss. Even knowing the amount of progress he carried.

Lv Shu furrowed his brows, his spirit not exceeding 30 either. Facing the overwhelming energy waves, he too couldn’t dodge, a significant restriction for a melee assassin player. This crowd had clearly considered his presence.

"Binding successful!"

"Take him down!"

"No, don’t kill! The Number One Player has a lot of stuff on him, whatever he did to our previous teammates, we’ll do to him too; strip him of all his belongings!"

"— What are you doing! How dare you attack the Sage Master!"

"— Stop!"

A group of NPCs also clearly freaked out, they could never have guessed why anyone would strike a harmless Sage Master. When backstabbed, they hadn’t even realized what happened before being restrained by various control skills.

Su Ming’an had long known that the only thing limiting these players from teaming up against him was information; once the players truly came together, able to communicate tactics without needing a public chat, taking him down would be easy.

He had also seen some players, even when trapped, sending messages on the channel, warning him not to come, but he didn’t care.

...He just wanted these people to understand who was most likely to be the last one standing.

He reached out, grabbed his sword, and a layer of milky white light appeared around him.

...His previous robbery had been lucrative, possessing more than a dozen mid-level defensive barriers. Beneath the shattering layers of light, he watched the players, expressions varied, rushing towards him, the darkness momentarily engulfing the blade.

He reached out, swung his sword—

In an instant, dozens of bright red numbers popped up, the clear four-digit numbers wiping clean the approaching players’ health bars, instantly silencing those still excitedly screaming in the chat, "We’ve caught the Number One Player!"

The air seemed to suddenly solidify.

The body of the young man, adorned with blood-red patterns, held a sword as dark as abyssal depths.

Ignoring the sound of the group sucking in a cold breath, when the layers of defensive barriers around him had all shattered, he swung his sword again, releasing another string of horrifying numbers that burst like fireworks in front of the players, whose health bars had been suddenly wiped clean.

The only effective defense of players nowadays were defensive barriers, and these were mostly mid-level; even if there were high-level ones, they only protected against enemies with combat power below 1000.

Due to many players having died and had their powers reset, those participating in the Fifth World mostly started with nothing, averaging combat power between 200-450.

The distribution of players was spindle-like, with both high-level and low-level players being extremely rare.

Knowing that the faction leaderboard in this parallel instance did not have top-tier players, Su Ming’an had no thoughts of backing down.

His combat power, from his main body alone, was as much as 1485.

If he included clones of the same combat power...

He turned his head and saw players who were possessing strong NPCs launching attacks with extremely strong energy fluctuations at him.

Especially that purple-haired Mage, surrounded by star-like gleams, who in a flash converged and struck like a meteor plummeting towards him. Its force was hardly inferior to Hui Shuhang.

Around Su Ming’an, spatial light began to fluctuate.

The bonding array prevented movement on the ground, but spatial displacement was a judgment above that; unless there was a specific spatial bonding array, nothing could completely immobilize him.

He initiated a spatial displacement to dodge this attack but saw a colorful bubble suddenly thrown from the diagonally below, striking him squarely.

...Forced displacement?

Before he could react to what was happening, he found himself on a mountain ridge, in an extremely safe position, just narrowly evading that powerful beam of light.

He looked down, gazing at the now chaotic cliffside, and saw a player, leading a small team, smiling up at him.

—It was then he realized, not everyone was attacking him.

In the valley, not all were charging the defenses; some had turned coat and were backstabbing other players with their teams—perhaps they realized that killing the Number One Player was too difficult, and not worth the result, not like deicide or proving godhood, and it was better to attack players in similar predicaments to strengthen themselves.

But at the same time, he also saw players supporting him.

...He even saw a small team, pulling out a flag from nowhere, blazing with a bright Lighthouse symbol, the team’s captain slashing through his own ranks while shouting, "The Number One Player is the best in the world!" His strength was considerable, forcing other players to flee continuously, from one end of the valley, waving the flag to the other.

He also saw an acquaintance, Lin Yin. This violent healer seemed to have been hiding in the valley for a while, emerging to rapidly form a long line of followers, catching some players off guard with sword skills better than many melee fighters, pushing them until they were out of breath.

At this moment, the valley was like a massive PvP battlefield, with each slashing at one another, and some players only wishing to survive, scurrying around and turning the situation into complete chaos.

In such a massive instance World with thousands of Players, Su Ming’an really saw a lot.

The images formed by people with varying attitudes toward him were shimmering and chaotically colorful.

As he watched the purple-haired Mage switch directions and launch another attack toward him, he turned his head and looked up at the mountain wall.

—There, Shadow was raising his hand.

"How about experiencing the highest damage ever since the World Game began?"

Shadow smiled. His Mana bar emptied in an instant, and the Spatial Vibration fully activated!

An extremely terrifying number flashed in bright red, like a burst of fresh blood.

The beam shattered.

The purple-haired Mage looked up with disbelief in his eyes, his figure falling backward.

After hearing a series of system notifications, Su Ming’an stood on the high mountain wall, watching Shadow chug a Mana Potion while causing rampant Spatial Vibrations, fishing Players from his high seat, knocking them to the ground one by one.

As Hui Shuhang quickly returned, all of this was nearly finished.

Players lay sprawled out like corpses across the valley floor.

And in a corner, there was a high pile of Props and Equipment.

...These were the proofs given to him by Players who had voluntarily surrendered everything after the battle ended.

Lv Shu voluntarily took on the hard work, forcing the stubborn resisting Players to hand over their Points.

"Your behavior... is truly utterly disgusting," one player on the ground managed to lift his head.

Facing the expressionless Lv Shu, he revealed a malicious smile, his face smeared with blood, "Lv Shu—you’ve really sunk low, not even considering how others see you. Helping a likely Number One Player with impure intentions, stripping others of their futures for his benefit, I bet you’ll regret it in the end."

Lv Shu’s eyelids drooped as he looked at him, his expression unmoved.

The Mantis brought down its blade edge.

Screams rose from below, and people’s eyes filled with fear and disgust.

"Some people are born to stand in the spotlight, but someone like me, being illuminated at all is enough," Lv Shu said, his tone neutral:

"...People like you, who have failed, better not meddle in these matters."

"Learn to ’Grade,’ and then, don’t stand in the way of ’good people.’ I’m doing good deeds for good people—you bad people wouldn’t understand."

"Handing over your Points is your only worth—other than that, just shut up."

"Top ranking Players... are indeed mad!" someone screamed nearby, "How can the future of humanity be entrusted to these people, their moral compasses are completely twisted! Who knows if they’ll end up like the Organizers..."

He was silenced by the resolute gaze of Lv Shu, sharp as a knife.