Chapter 912: Chapter 909: "You Will Die in the Sky (Part 1)
"Why do you like me?" Su Ming’an asked.
[...]
[Guess?]
The words on the screen disappeared, and the deity seemed to have left.
Su Ming’an really wanted to beat up the riddler. Unfortunately, he couldn’t even see the face of the deity.
"Little Cloud, I have an idea recently," Su Luoluo said. "I don’t want to just be an entertainment Dream Patrol streamer. The things in this city, similar things in this city, I want to spread them out. I recently found a war forum, where there are many war help posts. Many people want to seek help but are hindered by their own lack of influence, and no one listens to their voices. I think since I have a certain voice now, I want to help them convey it."
"That’s your idea, go ahead and do it," Su Ming’an said.
This is Su Luoluo helping her past self, those who couldn’t speak, able to voice their sounds through her throat. It’s a very kind gesture.
"Alright!" Su Luoluo started preparing. She started tuning the voice transmission equipment, editing text, and posting announcements. People just needed to send her private messages seeking help, and she would filter them and broadcast them during her stream.
If Tao Meng could have had someone help her back then, maybe she wouldn’t have chosen to jump. Many unnoticed tragedies could also be changed. This is Su Luoluo’s wish. Although she herself is just an ordinary person, she hopes to help people like her.
"Is there an old lady trapped in the Land of Utter Darkness in District Thirty-Seven? Is she your mother? Okay, I understand, I’ll help you post a help message..." Su Luoluo had already started replying to private messages.
Seeing this, Su Ming’an didn’t disturb her and closed the room door.
Back in his room, Su Ming’an placed the doll in the cabinet. When he closed the cabinet, he suddenly discovered there was a secret compartment underneath it.
Upon opening it, he found some medication inside.
At that moment, as if his memory was activated, a series of images suddenly flooded Su Ming’an’s mind.
...
Under the blood-red sunset, Su Wensheng stood at the corner of an alley, conversing with a person completely shrouded in a white robe.
"Is this the medication that can agitate depression?" Su Wensheng looked at the medicine box in his hand.
"Yes, Hierarch. You said you needed this kind of medicine, and the Vice Sect Hierarch immediately had me find it for you," the white-robed person said respectfully.
"Don’t call me Hierarch, I haven’t agreed to your Vice Sect Hierarch," Su Wensheng said lightly.
"Yes, yes," the white-robed person nodded immediately.
"Get lost." Su Wensheng said, "Inform your Vice Sect Hierarch not to try to find my reclusive place. If he dares to come, I will make sure he can no longer see the person he truly wants to meet again."
"Yes." The white-robed person’s attitude was very humble.
In the next scene, Su Wensheng had already returned home. He opened the medicine box, took out a bag of red and white powder, and mixed it into water.
"Little Blue Sky, are you back?" Su Luoluo’s voice came from outside the scene.
Su Wensheng picked up the water glass, his eyes cold: "Hmm."
...
Su Ming’an came back to his senses. He had just—seen a part of Su Wensheng’s memory?
It turned out to be like this; seeing certain key items triggered some memories.
Su Wensheng’s personality... was somewhat different from what Su Ming’an had expected. Previous individuals like Qin Wang, Su Rin, and Acto were relatively mild-mannered people, even if they looked down on others they wouldn’t show it directly. But in this memory, Su Wensheng appeared obviously sly, even his expression towards Su Luoluo was very cold.
Why did Su Wensheng want medication to agitate depression? Could it be that Su Luoluo’s depression was because...
Su Ming’an realized, he might be possessing a person who is considered a bad guy for the first time.
He closed the cabinet, just as he was about to put on the Dream Patrol Helmet, he felt the space around him tremble.
He heard the sound of the system:
[Due to a player reaching the world’s edge.]
[From now on, every day at noon, one thousand players will be randomly summoned into a closed space for a half-hour special activity.]
[You have been selected.]
[Countdown until today’s noon: ten, nine, eight, seven—]
...
The sudden system prompt made Su Ming’an pause his action of wearing the helmet.
—A player reached the world’s edge?
It must be Su Rin successfully reaching the world’s edge.
"What kind of activity requires someone to reach the world’s edge to trigger?" Su Ming’an thought. "If no one were like Su Rin going to the world’s edge, wouldn’t this activity never be triggered?"
However, the curiosity of the players is infinite. For something like the world’s edge, there would certainly be people exploring it. The world must have anticipated this, which is why there is a triggering mechanism. Once someone reaches the world’s edge, a special activity will be activated.
Su Ming’an sat on the bed, very curious about what this special activity involved. This should be the first time since the instance activation that players have gathered together; before they were scattered all over.
As the countdown ended, the teleportation white light lit up.
"Swoosh!"
Su Ming’an opened his eyes and found himself sitting in a seat.
He looked around, this was a hall about one thousand square meters, with many players seated around him on chairs, numbering about a thousand. Everyone’s faces were shrouded in black mist, making it impossible to recognize each other.
Su Ming’an sat in the most central chair, most conspicuous.
"Where is this?" Someone asked out loud.
"Out of ten thousand people, they chose a thousand, how did I get picked? I was just playing a game and suddenly got summoned." Someone complained.
"Yeah, I was fighting monsters, suddenly got summoned, what about my teammates?" Someone was speechless.
"This place looks like a viewing hall, are they going to show us a movie?" Someone remarked. "This activity starts every noon, choosing a thousand each time, everyone should get a turn."
Su Ming’an noticed this hall really resembled a viewing hall. The lights were a bit dim, the seats arranged in rows, and at the front was a large screen where everyone could see clearly.
"Is there anyone familiar? I can’t see your faces!" A sharp voice rang out, it was Agnes from the leaderboard, her voice very distinctive, recognizable by people.
Agnes sat in the front row, trying to stand up, but an invisible force kept her pinned to the seat.
Some players also tried to stand up but couldn’t leave their seats. Everyone could only communicate while seated. Su Ming’an tried, but he couldn’t leave his seat either.
"This Tenth World is too big, fifty-eight independent states, I still haven’t left my city. It’s like the size of fifty-eight City of Measurements." A Northeast dialect voice spoke out, indistinguishably from whom. "What’s World Game playing at, the map is getting bigger and I’m dizzy."
"Su Ming’an is in our parallel instance, right?" Someone shouted. "I’ve watched the livestream, isn’t the first Dream Patrol Family the face of Su Ming’an?"
"Ahh, Su Ming’an! You must be in this parallel instance! I want to be your dog!" Someone outrageous shouted.
"But Su Ming’an likes cats," someone else replied, not missing the chance to poke fun.
"But Su Ming’an likes white-haired people." Someone started spreading rumors.
"I’ll sacrifice sixty years of my roommate’s card-drawing luck, just to meet Su Ming’an!" someone shouted loudly.
"Don’t sacrifice sixty years, maybe not even a year, everyone would be dead by then."
Listening to these voices, Su Ming’an finally found a bit of familiar feeling. The atmosphere of the Tenth World was too oppressive; the players’ antics were consistently more amusing. Players never tire of making a scene, cracking jokes to lighten the mood, no matter how dangerous the situation, someone would still tell a joke.
Su Ming’an glanced around, unable to spot any familiar faces. Perhaps among this crowd, there were familiar ones, like Noel, Yamada Machiichi, Lu, Rimu Sheng. But the smart ones stayed silent, making it impossible to locate them.
Amidst the clamor, someone started passing information: "Did anyone join the Old Day Church? What exactly is this Old Day Church, slaughtering cities everywhere, so annoying."
"Yeah, what’s this Exotic Species, my teammate almost went insane." Someone said, "It’s outrageous, just a glance can drive you mad. Even General K isn’t this omnipresent, this Exotic Species is everywhere."
"I bet the Deity is Su Ming’an!" Someone shouted, "If the Deity isn’t Su Ming’an, I’ll stand upside down and wash my hair with pee!"
Instantly, everyone around stopped discussing and immediately asked for this person’s ID, saying they wanted to supervise him washing his hair with pee in the end.
About a minute later, everyone fell silent all at once.
Not because they stopped being lively, but because the event had begun, and everyone was constrained to their seats.
The dim movie theater lit up, and a white line of text appeared on the central screen:
[Welcome to the Destiny Viewing Theater.]
[Due to someone reaching the edge of the world, a certain mechanism was triggered, allowing players to finally gather here.]
[Here, this theater will randomly display the future of five people present.]
[After watching the future of these five people, you may leave the theater, and this event will conclude.]
...
After the text displayed, the theater fell into a brief silence.
People exchanged glances, some not understanding what this event meant. Watching a movie?
Until——
"Oh my god! The Viewing System!!!" It was unclear which girl shouted this.
Su Ming’an didn’t understand the meaning of the term, but many people seemed to suddenly comprehend, shouting out loud.
"Oh my god! The Viewing System!"
"Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!"
Instantly, the theater became noisy again.
"This Tenth World is too good at this, this theater must be the work of the Deity! The Deity sure knows how to have fun!"
"This Deity is so trendy, what is this, even the Viewing System is out!"
"No wonder I felt this prelude was so familiar, preventing people from leaving their seats, suddenly summoning everyone to watch, and so on, made me happy beyond words."
"What’s going on?" Su Ming’an saw how excited these people were and didn’t understand the meaning of "Viewing System."
From his left wrist, Du’s voice sounded: "Anjiang, what the players understand by ’Viewing System’ is probably that they can observe a player’s clearance experience like watching a movie."
"What’s so exciting about that?" Su Ming’an didn’t understand. Isn’t this just a viewer’s perspective?
"Perhaps they think this kind of group watching can let them see through a person’s heart," Du said. "This event differs from their understanding. The event is simply watching five people’s futures, not a true Viewing System. They just misunderstood."
"I see." Su Ming’an nodded.
At this moment, he wasn’t considering how interesting this "Viewing System" was, he was just considering the issue from a replica’s perspective. What was the Deity’s intention in creating a viewing theater for players to watch the futures of five people?
To... guide destiny?
If players learned some future events, could the Deity guide the destinies of these people, leading them to achieve a certain outcome the Deity desired? Like opening the box of Schrödinger’s cat, making the cat’s death in the box a foregone conclusion.
Seen from this angle, this viewing might be a trap.
"Anjiang." Du said, "You can’t choose not to watch because you’re afraid of destiny. I believe if it’s you, even if you learn some destined outcomes, you can change them. Don’t be constrained. You must obtain all the clues, and not miss this viewing."
Su Ming’an nodded.
His thoughts were similar; he couldn’t avoid all the possibilities due to fear of being guided. If events were predestined, then even if he didn’t watch these futures, he might still be guided. It was better to have the clues in his own hands.
"Du." Su Ming’an said, "You seem to have become much smarter."
If it were the past, Du wouldn’t have been stupid not to play silly music; it was already quite good. This time, he could actually consider the issue from his perspective.
"Wasn’t there a super AI evolution authority in the Ninth World? I’ve already evolved." Du proudly said, "I’ve become much smarter, haven’t I?"
"Yeah, yeah." Su Ming’an praised perfunctorily.
He touched the mechanical ring on his finger and looked forward.
The film had already started.
...
A line of white text first appeared on the screen:
[The future of the first player.]
[Player name: Agnes.]
...
"Huh, is it me?" Agnes said in surprise. As a top-ranking player, her Fourth Rank strength was considered master-level. Although not invincible in the world, she always felt her situation was safe, so there’s probably no problem with her future.
"The first one is Agnes, indeed a top player," someone commented.
"Let’s watch carefully, it will undoubtedly reveal the future situation of the Tenth World," another player said.
"Agnes certainly won’t have any problems."
Amidst people’s discussions, Agnes’ film began to play.
...
Yellow sand swirled, and the horizon fell into a blood-like sunset.
A lone eagle cut across the sky, soaring the heavens along with drifting clouds.
Agnes stood on the battlefield, clad in armor, gazing at the encroaching Black Mist, her eyes sharp as an eagle’s. Tens of thousands of robed people followed her, gathering around her.
She held a long spear, step by step approaching the Black Mist, the spear tip straight towards it.