Chapter 884: Chapter 881: "Lighthouse Lover.
It’s like repeated attempts destined to fail. The girl tried to speak out numerous times, tried to convey over and over, yet each time her efforts were blurred, forgotten, silenced, wiped out. The repetition by the girl was long, Su Ming’an listened carefully, but the two could not commit this short name to memory. This situation made their spines chill, leaving them utterly helpless.
Finally, the girl lowered her arms, and a cold expression on her face finally showed emotional fluctuation—she felt defeated.
Su Ming’an could only give up, watching her leave.
He thought she was going to leave, but she quickly returned, clutching a small purple and white flower.
"Since you can’t call me by my name, then use a nickname for me. I heard many people’s names come from flowers." The girl held the small flower: "This is the only flower I found nearby, I don’t know its name, so use this flower’s name to call me."
Su Ming’an looked at the little flower in her hand, the purple and white petals were wilting, ready to decay at any moment.
"This is a morning glory." Su Ming’an said.
"Not pleasant sounding." The girl frowned.
Su Ming’an thought for a moment: "If it doesn’t sound good... this flower actually has a prettier nickname."
The girl softly inquired: "What’s it called?"
Su Ming’an looked at her enchanting, beautiful, emerald eyes.
"Chao Yan."
——She indeed was a strange person.
She found him seriously injured on the plain, yet she did not inquire about his identity or background, nor was she curious why he was being hunted.
She claimed to have met him for the first time, yet the fire in her eyes was alarming.
She was a lone girl from a remote village, yet fair, beautiful, as exquisitely crafted as a porcelain doll, hard to imagine how she made a living.
Her name could not be known, pronounced, or conveyed, like some ancient, untouchable taboo.
Upon hearing the flower’s name, the girl trembled violently.
She stared blankly at him, the flower in her hand fell to the ground. The water glow in her eyes came and faded, tears wanting to fall but suppressed by her, like waves rising and sinking.
Su Ming’an couldn’t comprehend—why did she tremble because of his words, why did she suddenly show such a sorrowful expression. Nor could he understand the painful sensation suddenly rising within his body.
Heartbeat accelerated physiologically, breathing became hasty, these things seemed to remind him—within this instance, the person before him was extremely crucial. Like Acto’s emotional resonance.
She was obviously just a NPC in the "Louyue Nation" game.
Why?
In an instant, a fierce noise surged into his mind, as if a voice was shouting—
...
[I curse you, painless, numb, undying.]
[——I curse you, painless, numb, undying!!]
[Do not Dream Patrol! Do not Dream Patrol! Do not Dream Patrol! Do not Dream Patrol!]
...
Su Ming’an covered his ears, suppressing these mysterious sounds, preventing his sanity value from falling.
The girl stood before him, repeated once more.
"Chao Yan."
"I remember it."
She picked up the wilted morning glory from the ground and tucked it inside her floral skirt.
"Although I don’t know why you are being hunted, you can only be safe when your injuries recover." Chao Yan helped him pull on a thin blanket: "Sleep, it’s very secluded here, no one will come."
Su Ming’an narrowed his eyes, medicine required sleep to be fully absorbed. A few more hours of sleep and his injuries would heal, enabling him to participate in the Penglai Immortals selection.
When he closed his eyes, Chao Yan still did not leave, instead, she stood by his bed, extending her hand, withdrawing it, extending it again, her whole body trembling as if in convulsion, her thoughts seemed to be in a fierce struggle.
Her fingers pressed against his chest as if stroking, a knife quietly appeared in her palm, the tip pointed at his heart.
Su Ming’an sensed it but pretended to be asleep.
"You don’t remember." Chao Yan murmured to herself: "I am so amusing, aren’t I."
...What does it mean? Su Ming’an couldn’t understand.
She maintained the posture of holding the knife, silent for three full minutes, before murmuring to herself:
"Obviously killing you will end it, yet I... can’t do it."
Her eyelids drooped, standing there for tens of minutes before giving up killing him. She turned and walked towards the door, entered the room next door, closed the door to sleep.
At three in the morning, Su Ming’an got up, thinking about Chao Yan’s words.
After a while, he put his thoughts aside.
Right now, he simply could not comprehend the riddles Chao Yan spoke, nor many things. But he knew, as long as he kept going, once he reached the pivotal point, all doubts would be solved seamlessly—that would be the moment like a domino effect, when all clues would unfold. Thinking about many things would only increase annoyances.
He bowed his head, the speed of his injury’s recovery surprised him, clearly a severe injury, yet Chao Yan just fed him some medicine, and the wound was about to heal. What kind of divine medicine did Chao Yan, a lone girl from a small village, feed him?
Su Ming’an donned his coat, suddenly seeing a group of village men carrying lanterns approaching, their shadows blurry in the night rain.
They knocked on the door, Su Ming’an opened it.
"Ah, a stranger." The villagers saw Su Ming’an, paused, but not surprised: "Looks like that lone girl saved someone again."
It seemed Chao Yan often saved people, Su Ming’an was not the first. She was indeed kind-hearted. Without waiting for Su Ming’an to speak, the villagers turned towards the adjacent room, the leading man knocked heavily on the door:
"Lone girl! Lone girl! You are inside, right, come out and help! The old man by the sea has fallen ill!"
Chao Yan was the only one in the village with some medical knowledge, and when anyone was sick, they would go to her. But seeing these people urging her tone, waking someone up in the middle of the night, their attitude towards Chao Yan wasn’t great. They even called her merely "lone girl".
From the master bedroom came rustling sounds, a dozen seconds later, Chao Yan opened the door, slightly disheveled, weary bloodshot eyes.
Yet the man pretended not to see her exhaustion, urging: "Hurry, hurry. Lone girl, you don’t want to see others suffer from illness, do you?"
"This time, is there treatment money?" Chao Yan softly inquired.
The burly man frowned and waved his hand, saying, "You are an outsider, the village allowing you to stay here is already generous."
"But I’ve already treated you all thousands of times over the years, every day someone asks me to heal headaches and fevers. It should’ve long compensated for my accommodation costs. The extra money for healing is enough to buy many fields, yet I haven’t received a penny," Chao Yan said.
"Oh dear, young lady," the older woman behind said, "Just consider it an act of goodwill. We do give you some buns, though not much, it’s enough for you to live. You, a young girl, what do you need fields for? Accumulating virtue through good deeds is the duty of a doctor. Do you intend to watch us all die from illness? Then you truly have no conscience."
Su Ming’an watched silently. This was clearly moral coercion. These people could obviously afford the medical fees but bullied the young girl who had no support. If Chao Yan were not just an ordinary orphan girl, she would probably resist.
But Chao Yan merely nodded quietly, without saying a word, took her medicine basket, and walked out with the villagers.
—It truly felt just like an ordinary orphan girl from a small village, oppressed and dared not resist.
Su Ming’an frowned and silently followed.
The fresh red lanterns swayed ahead, the village seemed close to the sea, the air carried a salty damp smell.
"What are Wang Lao Han’s symptoms?" Chao Yan’s voice remained ethereal, devoid of the anger of being threatened. She appeared indifferent to the oppression from the villagers, as distant as a deity.
"Oh, this morning he just had a common cold. But by evening, when he returned with his fishing net, he suddenly began yelling toward the sea, tearing his face while crying," the older woman said, "Shouting words like ’gift, nourish, fish food, lost, devour’—we don’t understand them. His wife tried to stop him, but he recklessly dashed out of the house, running towards the sea to dive in."
"Several men went up to drag him back home. He seemed to have gotten some mad cow disease, still shouting strange terms about ’descend!’ ’revive!’ even when bound to the bed," another woman said.
Chao Yan nodded.
Su Ming’an noticed this was no ordinary illness. It sounded like a metamorphosis by some presence.
The sea?
Speaking of, he indeed hadn’t heard of anything about the sea.
"Orphan girl, can you heal this illness?" An old man with white hair asked.
"Not sure. It doesn’t sound like an illness," Chao Yan said, "I mentioned long ago, this village is very close to the sea, and you should relocate. Though it’s unclear what’s dangerous about the sea, these are clearly symptoms caused by delving deeply into it."
"Hard to leave one’s homeland. Our village worships the ocean deity, how could we leave," people sighed.
Su Ming’an followed silently along the way.
It seemed this was a village that revered faith, worshiping the sea deity—namely the immortals from Penglai Fairy Island. Yet it was the sea that drove Wang Lao Han mad; could it be that the immortals weren’t good people?
He sensed the main plot’s movement, realizing even if he fell into a village, this village wasn’t ordinary, directly touching the essence of the world’s mystery.
[Is the First Dream Patrol Family still wandering in the small village? I saw the Penglai Immortals have started in the Capital City, starting early this morning. The First Dream Patrol Family even missed the registration time.]
[It’s fine. The Penglai Immortals have a rule; the final winner of the competition adopts a ’defending’ mechanism. As long as the First Dream Patrol Family waits until near the end of the Penglai Immortals, they can challenge the final winner to replace them for the island qualification.]
[The Penglai Immortals have three slots. Besides the Jing He Princess’s direct admission, the Demon Sect’s Enchantress takes one, General Yi Zhongyu takes another, and the last is unknown. Wonder who the First Dream Patrol Family will challenge when the time comes.]
[Can he beat Yi Zhongyu?]
[...]
The Dream Patrol live broadcast room style is quite similar to the World Game audience, very focused on his role as the "First Dream Patrol Family."
Upon reaching the seaside, dozens of houses stood like iron boxes, a few fishing boats quietly docked by the coast. Beside them stood a towering Lighthouse.
Su Ming’an was instantly captivated by the Lighthouse.
He stood in place, raising his head to admire the Lighthouse by the coast. Its bright glow streamed through the high windows, directly illuminating the rippling sea surface like a thin light saber, vaguely revealing silver-white fish beneath it. This scene was extremely serene and harmonious.
Under the heavy dark clouds, the Lighthouse became the sole light source amidst the darkness. It stood firm on the edge of the dangerous tides, seeming to tear through the dark fissure, supporting the vast night alone, like a mighty warrior standing tall.
...Lighthouse.
He looked at its glow, which seemed like a reflection of himself.
In the Dream Patrol live broadcast room, numerous obvious player comments suddenly appeared:
[Initially puzzled by the face, now I’m sure, the Eldest Prince is 100% Su Ming’an.]
[It’s you! Lighthouse Lover!]
[Begin chanting.]
[Oh! My Lighthouse Lover! Please transform quickly to a human form!]
[You don’t understand, you lack taste. Not transforming is best; let one abnormal head come.]
...
Su Ming’an watched the Lighthouse. Chao Yan and the villagers entered a small house to check Wang Lao Han’s condition. The villagers seemed afraid Chao Yan would flee, flanking her closely.
They feared losing the village’s only doctor, remaining vigilant toward her. Her everyday life was likely unsatisfying too; if she wanted to leave the village, the villagers would capture her back. Though she never tried leaving, simply remained quietly in her home, occasionally bringing sick people back.
Her emotions were more akin to "divinity" than humanity—God loves all, indifferent to their greed, desire, and ugliness. Rather than being threatened not to leave, it was her active choice to stay, wanting to redeem them.
Though human nature was difficult to change.
Su Ming’an waited at the door but suddenly heard a sound like a whale’s hum.
He covered his ears, retreated several steps, only to see what was initially a calm sea, suddenly swell with terrifying waves. Black whirlpools rose against the sky as if something horrifying was about to burst out.
...What happened suddenly at sea? Tsunami?
"What’s that sound?" Villagers stared at the sea in shock, while Wang Lao Han on the bed suddenly burst into mad laughter:
"Coming! Coming!!"
Drooling, he shouted:
"Grotesque entity! Source entity! Fusion entity! Haha, hahaha—Humans don’t understand their enemy, assuming Penglai Fairy Island is all—"
Dense dark clouds gathered in the sky, the sea surfaced fragmented objects which were indecipherable. Eerie cold winds blew, overturning fishing boats. Pitch-black fractured blue-green waves twisted like soup, surging, striking, dancing wildly on the ocean, akin to a gradually awakening demon.
The villagers retreated in terror, some turned and fled, some wept in fear.
Su Ming’an suddenly heard a ’click’ sound.
Beside him, that towering Lighthouse got hit by a black surge, with a ’click’, splitting in two, its upper light extinguished instantly.
"Boom—"
The Lighthouse broke completely, ripped apart by the surge, lay like a pile of mud before his eyes.