Chapter 701: Chapter 698: "His real name is the Lighthouse Sect Hierarch.
"...Look at him, black hair and gray eyes. He’s obviously Acto from the legends."
"No, no, I’ve seen what Acto looks like on the screen. He’s not Acto. His real name must be the Sect Hierarch of the Lighthouse Church. I’ve seen him telling stories to people. You’re mistaken!"
"Nonsense! If he wasn’t Acto, why would Beili Sier save him? It would be better to let such trespassers die!"
"Hey, hey, he seems to be waking up..."
Su Ming’an awoke amid the chatter.
He slowly raised his hand as his vision gradually cleared. He had fainted due to blood loss after landing in the valley, and it seemed that Beili Sier had rescued him.
He saw an underground valley, with rocks painted pure white, neatly paved stone slabs on the ground, and furniture placed beside the bed. The valley looked like a well-ordered underground city.
He had thought the noise was a group of children, but found only a bunch of cold-mechanical beings around him, including TVs, computers, refrigerators, washing machines... Their dual eyes were made of transparent glass beads, and their limbs were stiff metal columns; these appliance-like entities had gathered around his bed.
"Who are you...?" Su Ming’an asked, suddenly recalling the clue he had received.
...
[You have obtained a hidden clue·Beili Sier’s Valley]
[(Beili Sier’s Valley): Beili Sier, who fears neither heaven nor earth but only his underground mechanical creations, can coax out a secret clue from him. It’s said that this clue is related to the Dawn System, which can turn the world upside down and retrieve the missing ones...]
...
"He’s awake!"
"I’ll go call Beili Sier!"
"Handsome, handsome, are you Acto? Xiao Hei keeps arguing with me about this, he says you’re Acto. But I don’t think you are; Acto wouldn’t come to this valley..."
Suddenly, a cacophony of noise flooded his ears, almost bursting Su Ming’an’s eardrums.
"—Back off!"
Suddenly, a crisp voice came from afar. A young boy with white hair and blue eyes approached, carrying a fresh basket of flowers.
The mechanical people stepped back, some calling him "Beili Sier".
The young man placed the flower basket at the head of the bed. The bright red roses were vibrant and striking, and the white lilies were exquisitely tender. He carried a fragrance of fresh flowers mingled with the sweetness of cream and sugar, utterly out of place amidst the harsh backdrop of the Apocalypse, like a survivor living in Peach Blossom Spring.
He turned his head, staring at Su Ming’an sitting on the bed.
"Acto, welcome," Beili Sier said. "Even though you’ve changed your face, I can still recognize you."
"..."
Su Ming’an knew that Beili Sier, Tretiya, Noah, Lin Guang, Rong Yuan, and Xi, along with the deceased Qi and Yue, were comrades who had fought side by side with Acto during the Century Catastrophe.
Their relationship... must have been good.
Beili Sier didn’t care that Su Ming’an was silent, and kept talking to himself:
"You’ve come... The valley is still the same, flowers blooming in clusters, almost taking over my resting spot. The underground stream hasn’t dried up either; I have to stop them from playing in the water every day, even though they’re already inside mechanical shells and still don’t know they’re not waterproof...."
"A group of rascals came to the valley before, including a pervert named Adonis. He not only beat me but also forced me out of the valley. I threatened him with suicide before he gave up, but he has disappeared recently; let me not catch who sent him..."
"Since you left, I’ve been managing this valley. I didn’t expect to see you today; maybe I’m having a nightmare again, this half-asleep feeling is very distressing..."
Beili Sier poured out all sorts of words, his mouth never stopping. His voice was light and fluffy, as if he hadn’t woken up yet.
His eyes were devoid of light, even the movement of his pupils was stiff, like a struggling living dead.
Su Ming’an glanced at the System Time—it was four forty AM, and there wasn’t much time to waste; only one hour and twenty minutes were left until the nuclear explosion.
"Beili Sier," Su Ming’an said, "I need your help."
Beili Sier lifted his eyelids, his gaze dim.
"Lin Guang is going to launch a nuclear explosion, I need the Dawn System..." Su Ming’an said.
Su Ming’an hadn’t finished speaking when Beili Sier suddenly interjected, interrupting him.
"Wait, you..."
Beili Sier’s originally somewhat dry eyes suddenly changed drastically; he stretched out his hand and placed it on Su Ming’an’s shoulder. His pale blue pupils trembled violently, his gaze repeatedly scanning Su Ming’an’s face, as if confirming something. Finally, a look of disbelief emerged in his eyes.
In that moment, a light suddenly burst in his eyes, as if he had just awoken from a dream.
"...you seem, not to be a hallucination?" Beili Sier murmured, "If you were a hallucination, you wouldn’t mention the Dawn System, you would just chat with me..."
Su Ming’an finally understood the sense of incongruity surrounding him—Beili Sier had always treated him as a hallucination, no wonder he felt that Beili Sier seemed to be sleepwalking.
"Of course, I’m not a hallucination, I am Acto..."
Su Ming’an had already entered the Strategy mode, but before he could finish speaking, Beili Sier suddenly embraced him.
"Acto! You finally came back, you’ve finally returned—You didn’t die 48 years ago, right? I knew Tretiya was lying to me, how could you die giving life force to the Dawn System, that kind of death isn’t worthy of you..." Beili Sier’s eyes moistened: "I absolutely can’t accept your death, you trickster, you promised to lead us into the new century, you promised to take us all home..."
Su Ming’an’s hands rested on Beili Sier’s back. Warmth moistened his chest, Beili Sier was crying.
The other’s voice was sobbing, trembling, his fingers clung tightly like steel hoops, like a long-lost traveler who had finally found a haven.
Acto... truly was a heartthrob.
His death almost robbed everyone’s life of its light. Whether it was Lin Guang, who would recklessly come close upon seeing black hair and gray eyes, or Tretiya, who was madly in love with the soul of Acto, or Xi, who cried and called him "Little Handsome," and the Beili Sier in front of him, living like a sleepwalker... The death of Acto left them all as if their souls had been drawn away, wandering in this world like ghosts.
They were all extremely outstanding humans (except Lin Guang), yet they were unsettled by the death of Acto, yearning from the first year of the Catastrophe to the 49th year, almost losing themselves.
"These years, I have walked through the edge of the world you programmed, I passed by the tomb Tretiya made for you, I nestled under your statue... Eventually, I returned to this valley, planted the ginkgo and lilies you liked, and fantasized about your return... I feel like you are still alive, I don’t believe the obituary issued by Tretiya, your end can’t possibly be a sacrifice for civilization, that would be too sad, you said you would take all of us home..." Beili Sier released his hands, his gaze trembling madly:
"But... but everyone said you were dead! Including me—I know this is only the two-dimensional world, you died the year the Dawn System was launched, you died in the outside three-dimensional world. But I don’t believe it—I don’t believe it, even if there are no bones of yours in the two-dimensional world..."
Beili Sier clenched his fists, his voice breaking:
"Even though your body and I are separated by an entire dimension..."
"..."
Su Ming’an’s eyelids drooped slightly.
The emotions bursting from Beili Sier nearly overwhelmed him.
Everyone... they all missed Yasa Acto as if Acto were their life. Even though no one remembered what happened during the Century Catastrophe, they still regarded him as a hero of humanity.
Apart from Tretiya, Lin Guang, and Beili Sier, even the emotionally reserved Xi, Rong Yuan, and Noah bore faint shadows of Acto. Xi held his hand tight during the Fuyuan Festival, gave him his first bracelet, wept for his frailty, and called him "Little Handsome"... as if forging a contract exclusive to her.
Acto had long since died.
The Acto in the two-dimensional world was just a bionic body created from an admin account, at most a firewall tool named "Acto."
...And he himself was also just a bionic form of "Acto," merely a tool. The fervent emotions these people released did not belong to him.
"Beili Sier." But Su Ming’an quickly adjusted his mindset, needing the clue that Beili Sier held: "Listen to me, Lin Guang is about to launch a nuclear explosion at six in the morning, I need..."
Suddenly, Beili Sier straightened up.
"No... I remember now, you’re lying to me! Even if you aren’t a hallucination, you are still a programmed simulation, the real him is long dead!" He cried out in despair: "He is dead! Dead! Saying human civilization will last forever, saying he will take us all home, saying everyone is his hope—he was a complete liar, he left himself in a past world, he still wanted everyone to think he is still alive..."
"If you don’t want to betray his sacrifice, then tell me the clue!" Su Ming’an suddenly reached out, grabbed Beili Sier’s collar, realizing that normal communication with Beili Sier was utterly futile, Beili Sier was nearly insane:
"—Beili Sier! There is going to be a world-destroying nuclear explosion at six in the morning! Can you really do nothing as the explosion happens? There are so many machines underground, don’t you care about them? If the outside is destroyed, how will you repair them?!"
Madness is humanity’s theme.
This utterly ruined world, the desperate situation of humans paralleled that in the world game. Ta Wei watched greedily, the flames of internal strife burned endlessly through the night...."
"Ah, the machines too..." Beili Sier suddenly awakened, his wildly flailing arms soon drooping down.
He fell silent for a moment, his head hanging down like a doll that had lost its swing.
After a moment, Su Ming’an released him, his body slumping to the ground as if suddenly drained of all strength.
Shadows of the underground machines faintly emerged, squatting behind the mountain walls like children, their metal heads peeking out, curiously watching the two arguing.
After a while, Beili Sier caught his breath:
"I can help you.
... Part of the Dawn System is with me, used to check Lin Guang and prevent him from recklessly using the Dawn System after obtaining it, this is also why my valley remains spring-like throughout the seasons like the City of Gods.
As long as you activate the Dawn System, you can take people into ’One-and-a-Half Dimensions,’ lying between one and two dimensions, leaving the nuclear explosion without effect—As for why it is ’One-and-a-Half Dimensions’ and not ’One Dimension,’ it’s because the real ’One Dimension’ has been active for 72 years in the wake of the catastrophe, belonging to the City of Measurement. And now you are opening the Dawn System in the ’Two Dimensions,’ performing a multiplication rather than addition, not stacking fixed data, which cannot achieve a perfect 1.0 times downgrade... I don’t know if you understand my explanation."
Su Ming’an was not very knowledgeable about programming, but Beili Sier’s explanation was straightforward, and he understood.
Beili Sier: "But I don’t recommend you do this. The Dawn System in the two-dimensional world uses a five-digit dynamic code, only by synchronously entering the five digits at a specific time, can the Dawn System be activated. You have only an hour and a half left, the five digits are scattered around the world, you won’t make it in time..."
"Can the activation of the Dawn System heal the loss disease?" Su Ming’an asked.
"It can. Once the Dawn System is activated, the dimensional transition into the stack state will reduce the depth of Whispering’s intrusion, and the loss disease will disappear."
"Good." Su Ming’an nodded.
With that response, he had enough.
He stood up, swallowed eight Mentality Stability Capsules, maintaining an optimal state throughout each cycle. As for the side effects, he would deal with them after the end of the Ninth World.
Redeeming Zhai Xing was his purpose, and also the reason he repeatedly faced death, he couldn’t destroy this meaning or doubt its worth. Because even a slight wavering in this belief could collapse this resolve—once he began to waver, once he was no longer steadfast, it almost negated all his prior efforts.
He wouldn’t regret it.
He inquired about the general locations of the five passwords, while injecting the Mentality Elixir, Beili Sier suddenly looked up.
"That one." Beili Sier couldn’t even speak his name: "Although I know, Acto really is dead, I can never see him again..."
But why..."
Tears welled up in Beili Sier’s eyes:
"When I see you, I feel... you are him, he really has come back?"
Su Ming’an injected the syringe, leaving tiny holes on his neck.
"Everyone says I look a lot like him." Su Ming’an put away the syringe. This was natural, every person he possessed bore similarities to him.
"But you are almost exactly him, so similar, so alike..." Beili Sier muttered, "You both give me a feeling..."
"What?"
"Although I know it’s just my fantasy of the future, you are so similar..."
Beili Sier paused, his voice choked up:
"...a god who cannot die."
Su Ming’an wanted to laugh upon hearing this.
...What god who cannot die.
He nearly died every day.