Chapter 421

Chapter 421: Chapter 418: "I want to give you a wonderful birthday.Su Ming’an unwrapped a packet of the herbal candy Duoya gave him before he left and popped it into his mouth, browsing the latest trends on the World Forum.

The white cat meowed pitifully on the floor, but he wasn’t bothered and simply stuffed it into the pet column.

However, it didn’t take long for the white ball of fur to jump out on its own, perhaps aware of the dangers of touching his bed, and chose to lie down on the wooden table beside it.

The room quieted down, with only the crisp sound of the herbal candy being crushed.

"..." Su Ming’an’s fingers glided over the interface.

Looking at the World Forum, the overall sentiment appeared much more positive than right after the Sixth World had ended.

He remembered that at that time, the forum was almost full of posts looking for relatives, seeking help, Adventurer Players going insane, Casual Players sharing their fears, as well as some mixed in with self-harm imagery and players threatening to commit suicide in public squares.

Even with the intervention of major organizations trying to calm the public, this wasn’t the old cyberspace anymore, people couldn’t delete others’ posts, and public opinion simply couldn’t be controlled. Posts that spread panic sprouted up like bamboo after rain, utterly uncontrollable.

At that time, both the online World Forum and the offline Main God World were pervaded by an atmosphere of panic and madness, with numerous people launching panic attacks, and many others self-detonating in full view of the public.

Some of the Adventurer Players who had just returned were oozing blood, scaring many of the Casual Players who were still on the sidelines.

It was the opening of the auction house and the "Hero Plan" launched by the United Group that barely suppressed this atmosphere.

Looking at it now, there were hardly any extremely negative posts anymore.

Su Ming’an glanced and saw it was all about "Happy New Year!" "The human progress bar has increased so much!" "Such a high player survival rate!" "Hooray!" and other celebratory posts.

While browsing the posts, he even saw some strange ones, like , .

A variety of mini-games, serialized dramas, movies, novels, comics were emerging one after another; the long-suppressed entertainment was slowly surfacing into people’s view.

Speculations about the future, the heroic pursuit of the top players, rational analyses of the Seventh World, excitement for the year-end events... these topics surrounded the corners of the forum, comforting to see.

But Su Ming’an knew... the beauty on the surface was the most terrifying kind of beauty.

The organizers loved to play tricks that lifted your spirits before delivering a blow, their taste for malice was quite strong, and their appreciation for the contrast in human emotions was quite poor, they wouldn’t be pleased to see the players so happy.

Su Ming’an, having finished browsing the forum’s recent trends, suddenly noticed a brightly distinctive special category amidst the multitude of posts.

The special category required Casual Players to use Points to open, and it would be very prominent on the homepage, generally used for hosting some large-scale temporary events.

The reason Su Ming’an noticed it at first glance was because of the post, which had attached a picture of himself...

This was an index post.

Inside the post were links to various "birthday celebration" events, it looked like there were at least a few hundred activities.

There were those who wanted to gather remotely and celebrate in teahouses and taverns, those who wanted to gather at Guild Headquarters and collectively record birthday videos, those who rented an entire senior service area to dance and sing all night long, those who wanted to hold a "Lighthouse Gathering" to share their lighthouse theories throughout the night, and there were hundreds of High Rank living Occupation Players’ "Strategy Groups". There even appeared "Number One Player" cosplaying groups, planning to attend the "World Games Culture Annual Exhibition" together... (also known as the "World Annual Comic Con" spoken of by Lin Yin).

This post can almost be said to be the hottest post recently, ranking first on the world forum’s popularity leaderboard, with tens of millions of replies, including those in agreement, those who want to sign up to participate, and those who mock "Really treating the Number One Player like a god"... Of course, among them, there are also messages from the likes of Noel.

His comment, as always, drew a lot of hatred, with tens of thousands of replies listed below.

Everyone in the world was celebrating their own birthdays, but Su Ming’an was actually the last to know about it.

He looked at the post, and there were many comments below it.

Su Ming’an closed the world forum.

He had some guesses in his mind.

...Actually, from the comments on the post, one could see that the tone of the world forum was generally positive, indicating that someone had indeed intervened in the public opinion.

—This must be the result of the so-called "Hero Project".

As for the attitude toward the Number One Player, the United Group was quite clear, taking a stance that "neither defames nor blindly believes," but rather a method of creating momentum for him.

They are sending a message to a wide range of players—the world will see more and more "heroes" like him.

As an initial leader and the most dazzling and seemingly strongest among them, he too was "one of them".

But at the same time, they didn’t disregard him or intend to make him disappear amongst the many heroes.

On the contrary, they seemed to value him quite a bit.

There are reasons for this, one being his identity as the Number One Player, but more so his performance in the instances and his innate ability to spark discussions.

He was a student from Dragon Country.

He represented "ordinary people," seemingly without any background, yet he managed to come this far.

Some might doubt his motives, but many more would feel empathy and kinship.

Not to mention, his attitude toward NPCs and the Lighthouse theory he spoke of were both influential and newsworthy because the public liked this kind of story.

——Because the public liked it, they needed it, and because it was needed, it had to be taken seriously.

While suppressing negative public opinion after taking control of the Sixth World, a hot topic like his could effectively divert people’s attention and prevent collective breakdown.

It just so happened that it was the end of the year, and festivals were frequent, stirring up people’s emotions; couple that with the birthday of a person of interest, and many were rallying to make a big deal of this celebration.

Therefore, fueling the fire and combining this day with various end-of-year events was a win-win situation.

It would cause a chain reaction of sorts, drawing people’s attention away from sad events and preventing chaos.

Moreover, the Number One Player himself was more inclined toward Adventurer Players, which fit the prevailing belief that "Adventurer Players are more useful than Casual Players." They could seize the opportunity to beautify and slightly alter the so-called "Lighthouse theory" to guide other players’ actions using this hot topic.

Kill two birds with one stone, a multipurpose move.

For the overall situation, this was a no-lose move.

When Noel’s communication came through, Su Ming’an had analyzed all this for him.

"..." As Noel listened, his gaze shifted slightly, seemingly deep in thought.

"Really? Su Ming’an," he said, "Is this the conclusion you came up with after reading that birthday post?"

"Yes," Su Ming’an replied, "You should be thinking along the same lines, right? It’s not hard to roll out something like this. To be honest, I’m not against it. In doing so, we can not only boost the influence of the ’Number One Player’ but also suppress the oppressive atmosphere following White Sand Paradise, and promote the Lighthouse theory, making it easier for them to confirm grading. The overall progress bar will also..."

He said a lot, but Noel let out a sigh.

"Stop," he said.

"Hm?" Su Ming’an was taken aback.

"Stop," Noel repeated with a smile, "I think the reason they made that birthday post wasn’t for you to think about these things, right?"

Su Ming’an looked at Noel’s face on the screen.

Noel seemed to be busy at the moment, his hands shuttling among threads, apparently crafting some small toy.

Golden bangs fell across his forehead, his butterfly-like lashes fluttering. Suddenly, he looked up, his eyes holding a trace of helplessness.

"Su Ming’an," he said, "I think the original purpose of this post... was probably just to make you happy."

Su Ming’an: "..."

Su Ming’an: "Is that so?"

"See, they are quite good at having fun, aren’t they? I heard many small groups booked different areas, like amusement parks, commercial streets, and virtual vistas of famous scenic spots... all for setting up so-called birthday venues. Even though they know you probably won’t see it, they still gather together, sing from afar, dance, and record videos to celebrate your birthday," Noel said with a smile, "Including this post, initially, it was just a gathering place for enthusiasts. Even though there were quite a few influential people pushing it later, the pure fans are still the majority—they truly want you to rest, they really want you to be happy."

"..." Su Ming’an paused for a moment: "Actually, I understand."

He wasn’t unaware of this point.

It was just his instinctive way of thinking that made him consider the issues from a broader perspective.

He instinctively started analyzing the event from the perspective of looking down from groups like the United Group, summarizing the impact of this event on everyone.

So much so that he momentarily couldn’t focus on the initial and most sincere intention of these people.

"Su Ming’an, actually... seeing all this, I’m quite sad too," Noel said abruptly.

"The rest is fine. Fame, influence, honor, the title of Number One Player... whatever, let them use it. But this is just your simple birthday... Why, why do these guys have to complicate things, fill them with ulterior motives, turn them into something utterly utilitarian? These people, they even need to hype up your birthday..."

"It’s unavoidable," Su Ming’an said.

"Yeah, it’s unavoidable," Noel paused for a moment in his speech.

He seemed to be pondering.

But soon after, his face lit up with his signature smile, as if he didn’t want his negative emotions to spread.

"So," he said, his eyes locked on the comm screen, his tone incredibly earnest, "So! Su Ming’an, we will definitely make you happy.

——I swear, we won’t let anything disturb your birthday. I don’t know what your days were like before, nor how you spent your previous eighteen birthdays. But this year, the year we met you.

...I will do my utmost to give you the purest, most wonderful birthday, unadulterated by anything else.

I’ve said it before, play the game with a smile. I wasn’t joking then, and I’m serious now.

I will, without a doubt, leave you with the most beautiful memory. Tomorrow, you don’t have to be the so-called Number One Player, you are just my most valued friend.

...On the fresh first day of your nineteenth year. As long as you’re happy, as long as you like it, no matter where we go or what we do, it’s all good."

Noel’s words were earnest, his tone sincere, and his eyes so clear they almost reflected a person’s shadow.

At that moment, he seemed to be shining.

"Yeah," Su Ming’an nodded, "I understand."

"Then I’m going to hang up," Noel waved, "See you tomorrow morning. I will definitely prepare the most beautiful birthday for you."

After Su Ming’an responded, the communication ended.

"Click."

Su Ming’an furrowed his brow slightly.

...Noel really was a frightening person.