Chapter 61 - Sixty -

Chapter 61: Chapter Sixty - "You Can’t Possibly Understand Him"Found anything?" Noel approached from aside, and Su Ming’an handed him the notebook. He saw the slight change in expression after Noel browsed through it.

Meanwhile, Cloning leaned in to have a look at the journal, chin in hand as he said, "This seems to be an experimental observation diary...

Bai Xiong, that man in the white coat. It makes sense now, the diary’s writer is him. He’s created many copies of himself using bionic technology, and is secretly cultivating an experimental being named , but it seems he’s fallen in love with her...

He wants to make her the most perfect and impartial city ruler... and yet he also wants to turn her into the one he loves the most... How contradictory, considering her feelings towards him are nothing but hatred born from captivity."

As he spoke, he sighed softly, "It’s such an interesting and resolute ideal... an experimenter willing to lay down his life for the results, yet so blindly in love to this extent. His future seems bleak, his hope... has long since ceased to be his. This love is a dishonorable existence, he should have chosen to eradicate it long ago."

"—Talking such now is pointless," Noel interrupted Cloning’s speech for the first time, showing a firm attitude. He stared at Cloning with a look of disapproval: "You do not understand his dedication to his ideals, your heart only knows the one, shining Lighthouse... As such, you need not offer him any advice, because you will never comprehend the madness of his love."

Cloning had always been very nice to Noel. He raised his hands in surrender, indicating he would not argue further on this matter.

Su Ming’an stared at the notebook, not saying anything.

He had Cloning put away the notebook, and as he stepped outside, he saw the last door at the end of the corridor—it looked like it led to the outside world and was exceptionally sturdy.

"Big Brother, are you leaving?" Siyi clutched the hem of his clothes, her eyes filled with a touch of longing.

"Yes, I’m leaving," Su Ming’an patted her head: "Thank you for accompanying me this far, but the road ahead is very dangerous, and I can no longer take you with me. You should hide in the room marked with , never come out, it’s the safest place. Later on, some older sisters might find you. You can trust them, but still do not leave the room. In about one or two days... everything should already be over."

Worried she couldn’t read, he took her to Qin Ze’s room, made her sit down, and left plenty of food for her.

Before leaving, Siyi grabbed the hem of his clothes.

"Big Brother, everything is going to end, right?" The little girl sat in the plush sofa, her extremely frail body nearly sinking in.

Yet, under the light of the room, her eyes were so clean and bright, like a stream of clear, flowing water, looking up at him earnestly:

"There won’t be any more sisters suddenly disappearing, no cold machines pulling them away never to be seen again as ’brides’. Dad won’t be hungry anymore, he won’t keep saying he’ll send me up for money, and there won’t be scary uncles and grandpas staring at Siyi... Everything will end, right, Big Brother? You’ll succeed, save us, so we’re not made into ’brides’ by the machines anymore... Is it so?"

Su Ming’an looked at the girl steadily.

His gaze was faraway, as if it transcended the girl, seeing other people, as if it saw a world.

"I will save you," he murmured, then smiled at Siyi.

"You must not fail," he responded earnestly, his tone extremely fervent, as if making a promise to himself, and as though proclaiming to many others:

"Brother... has only ever allowed himself to succeed."

After searching for the last clues available, they moved toward that somewhat heavy-looking door at the very end of the corridor.

Su Ming’an crushed nine core beads and heard his Core Skills level up by three levels consecutively.

"One level in Bright State, two levels in Shadow State," Su Ming’an had always been mindful of his 300 hit points in Shadow State.

Su Ming’an initially thought he might gain some free Attributes, but instead, he was given several passives.

However, if the passive levels are raised later on, they can basically become immune to those troublesome abnormal states. He had heard that there are now quite a few troublesome mentality series occupations among players.

"Shall I do the honors?" Noel glanced at the others and applied pressure to his hand.

The door opened, and brilliant sunlight spilled in.

In front of them, the blindingly white Colosseum gleamed, its mechanical sculptures flashing cold, white light.

"Kill—!"

"Kill them—!"

"Fight for the Eternal White City—!"

"For the Eternal National Celebration—!"

All the spectators sitting on the stands stood up and cheered, their expressions wild, their gestures frenzied, as they welcomed the four who stepped into the Colosseum with dancing and reveling.

"What’s this, treating us like monkeys? Or do they want us to slaughter each other?" Qin Ze walked into the Colosseum, curling his lip as if he found it all very boring.

"Creak, creak—"

Under their watchful eyes, the mechanical gate opened before them. A very tall and muscular man appeared—it was Eli, but he was in a strange state. Aside from the red pattern mark that flashed on the back of his hand, his skin was ruptured all over his body, which was swelling grotesquely. His legs, initially muscular, had become twisted and pliable, like the attractive curves of a barmaid.

...As if he was proudly displaying his feminized features.

After escaping from the mechanical woman, filled with extreme fear, he had sought the Goddess Mother’s gift, entered the Inner City, and successfully received the transformation from a deity.

He roared and, with bloodshot eyes spotting the four from this group, charged straight toward them.

At the same time, the group also heard the system’s prompt:

Noel made a split-second decision, pulling out the pistol from his waist and attempting a test shot, but the target, like a four-legged cheetah, dodged the bullet in an instant and pounced toward the group.

Logically, even after entering the Force route, this should be a boss for eight to ten players to fight, but the problem was that before entering the city, several players had died, leaving only this few to face the battle.

Moreover, the moment the fight started, Qin Ze immediately shrank back, as if he had no intention of joining the fray.

Since the other was just a kid, Su Ming’an did not insist on anything; he had his clone holding a sword step up to block.

Noel, with a dagger in hand, moved in to assist, more to complement the clone’s attack. As the man lunged at them, Noel raised his arm and shot out an invisible energy wave at him.

The damage that appeared swiftly took away one-third of the opponent’s health. In the next moment, the clone’s greatsword struck the man’s head, emitting a sound like the clashing of iron.

At the same instance, it seemed as if invisible threads had appeared in Noel’s hands. As Eli was about to extend his claws toward the clone, Noel’s hand fiercely pulled forward!

As if manipulated by countless invisible strings, a perplexed white light flickered in Eli’s eyes, and he involuntarily retreated, while Su Ming’an instantly teleported, directly aiming for the man’s eyes!

However, the resulting damage was not as fatal as expected, and Su Ming’an, startled by the numbers that popped up, wasted no time and immediately teleported back.

In the next moment, a rush of blood-red light instantaneously swept across where he’d been standing, screeching against the frosty-white ground and leaving five deep gouges.