Chapter 60 - Fifty-Nine:

Chapter 60: Chapter Fifty-Nine: "I Love Her

The man’s health bar went down by a fifth, and he seemed to only be stunned for a mandatory 0.5 seconds.

But that was enough for the clone to pounce in front of him.

As soon as the Sword of Yarman appeared in the clone’s hand, it slashed towards the man’s neck!

It was clearly the neck, but there was no indication of a fatal strike; the sword seemed to have hit an iron pillar, producing a grating screech. The next moment, the man came to his senses, and his blades swung fiercely!

Even though the clone retreated in time, a cross-shaped pair of blood flowers blossomed on its chest. The attack was deep, and as Su Ming’an felt a sharp pain on his chest, he noticed the clone’s health had dropped by half.

After one strike, the man continued to lunge at the clone, while the clone fought back with its great sword. The blade was fast and ruthless, hacking crisscross cracks onto the blade of the sword. If not careful, it would leave deep, long gashes on the body.

Blood splattered all over the floor, but the man’s movements were getting slower. After an overly forceful forward motion, Su Ming’an teleported right in front of the man!

The man had just extended his blades, his arms open in position, never having expected someone to get so close, but in the next moment, Su Ming’an quickly spread his hands and pressed them directly onto the man’s face, over his eyes.

The man’s body toppled backward, and Su Ming’an took off his gloves, looking towards the clone that lay in a corner covered in blood.

The health bar above was also shockingly low.

"You rest here for now," Su Ming’an said as he opened the store and tossed two Blood Bottles to it.

As he was leaving, he noticed the timid Siyi.

"Big Brother... I’m scared..." She clung to his clothes, uncomfortable with the bloodiness inside the room.

"Then learn to get used to it," Su Ming’an pointed to the room, "The attacker has been cleared out, this place is now the safest. Wait here, and I’ll go take a look outside."

With that, he walked down the corridor.

If his guess was right, as a twelve-year-old boy, Qin Ze should be "a protected existence" in this Floating City, and he shouldn’t be subject to any attacks.

He noticed the clone’s message feed was still scrolling:

Su Ming’an didn’t disguise the tone of his speech, guessing he might be recognized, but for now, it didn’t matter.

On his way, he allocated the attribute points. He found that both his main body and the clone could assign the points, duplicably. He attempted to allocate Strength, Fitness, and Agility to himself, but after seeing the reminder, he decided to put all three points into Spirit, while for the clone, he evenly distributed the points into Strength, Fitness, and Agility.

He first went to the unoccupied rooms, where he collected the seven Evolution Gems that had not yet been found and put them in his backpack, then went to find Noel.

As expected, Noel’s door was ajar, and intense fighting sounds were coming from inside. As Su Ming’an pushed the door open, the fight had just ended.

Noel retracted his dagger from the forehead of the man in white. The blade flashed white for a moment, as if electricity was flowing on it. His body was splattered with some green liquid, but there wasn’t much blood, and he seemed much better off than the clone, as if the fight hadn’t troubled him too much.

"They are bioroids." Noel looked at him and said, "The city rulers aren’t so easily killed. The one who guided us might have just been one of his clones, and so are these sent to us."

"I see, no wonder we haven’t seen any other leaders on our way to the center. He wants to make himself into an almost immortal being. If all the leaders are just him... then he could establish absolute rule." Su Ming’an stroked his chin and said, "He’s also a person of ambition... His pursuit of power isn’t bad, it’s just that his methods are a bit disgusting."

"Let’s go check on the child first." Noel walked out.

Noticing that there was also an artificial flower in Noel’s room, and its core seemed yet to be discovered, Su Ming’an took the opportunity to collect the ninth Evolution Gem while Noel had stepped out.

Qin Ze came out, his room neat and clean.

Glancing inside, Su Ming’an noticed the paper flowers in Qin Ze’s room were spotless. Obviously, the gemstone on it had already been taken by Qin Ze.

Children in this world were protected; he had no intention of snatching it from them.

"No clues... Hey, were you attacked, npc?" Qin Ze looked at the blood on Su Ming’an’s arm curiously, seeming not to have been attacked himself.

"...I’ll go check the other rooms first." Su Ming’an glanced at Qin Ze and confirmed his own suspicion.

He noticed the head of the man in white on the ground had disappeared, not knowing who had taken it.

He raised his head and looked at a room that appeared unique.

The nameplate on the door was engraved with this name. It was clearly the room of a female player.

Su Ming’an pushed the door open.

The decor inside did not have the cold, standardized look of their rooms, but rather had an authentic medieval European style.

The brown-yellow curtains were neatly drawn to one side, and a pile of untouched fruit sat on the wooden table, giving off a feeling of life.

In the rosewood bedside table, Su Ming’an found a diary.

The journal cover was made of brown leather, and its content was handwritten, which seemed rare in this mechanical city. He flipped through the pages, and the first thing he saw was lines of twisted text—the emotions of the writer seemed agitated.

"Bai Xiong’s diary?" Su Ming’an remembered that man in the white coat, the ruler of the city.

There seemed to be many Bai Xiongs; after all, even after he killed one, the system indicated it was just a bioroid, and then another "Bai Xiong" with high combat power burst into the room.

This was Bai Xiong’s diary; it should contain clues about the city’s secrets.

What was his plan? Cloning? But why did he get involved himself?

Why were all the families in the Inner City shut in... What was the reason?

Perhaps this was the key clue for a perfect pass.

Su Ming’an began to read through it.

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The handwriting became increasingly chaotic, with several blurred lines. Su Ming’an turned the yellowed pages, continuing to read.

The handwriting grew even more disorderly, each sentence dotted with thick ink spots, and the following words were even more twisted:

The handwriting here suddenly stopped, leaving only large blotches of ink stains. Su Ming’an flipped through several pages before finding the next sentence, but on it, there was a very clear bloodstain.

Large clots of blood covered the words, several pages turned were even entirely blood-red, as if soaked in blood. After several more pages, Su Ming’an continued to read the blood-smudged words.

—Incorrect.

I... I am clearly human.

Why would I write such words?

I... Have the mechanical parts inside of me influenced me too?

No.

No.

No.

The handwriting kept frantically repeating "No," until it became more and more distorted, more and more slanted; gradually, clumps of blood congealed upon it, it was unknown what the diary’s owner had done.

[No.

I... am I still the initial me?

Am I "me," or a robot that is called "me"?

I retain the memories of a human, constantly copying myself, but my thoughts... my brain... everything about me is gradually being replaced by mechanical parts...

All of my past is slipping away, even the "me" that comes to write in the diary is no longer the same "me"...

All of my thoughts and feelings now—whether they are the fervent love and devotion of a human,

or... that which was inscribed on memory chips time and again by my predecessors, a pre-written program named "Love her"?

I clearly love her so much, that I even killed the original me for her.

But when she truly falls in love with me...

She will kill me, inheriting everything of mine, my worldviews, emotions, thoughts, inheriting the scepter of the Mother Goddess, and becoming the most powerful and lenient ruler of this city.

She will kill me, she will become me.

She will embrace all that I am and walk forward, carrying all my love and ideals.

She will bear my most tender curse, filled with faith, stepping on my corpse and ashes.

She will become a complete agent, devoid of any bias or discrimination.

She will step forward for the future all her life,

And the me that has passed will forever shadow her.

——After imprisoning her for ten years, will there come a day when I am killed by my beloved her?]

The writing in the diary ends here, completely; the following pages are entirely blank.

Su Ming’an closed the diary, pensive.