First Player

Chapter 804 Chapter 803 · "City Lord Su Mingan, goodbye."

"Wha—!"

The white teleportation light faded, and Su Mingan teleported back to the original timeline.

He looked around and didn't see Akto.

"——Su Mingan, I'm here."

Su Mingan looked up and saw a figure in a white coat standing on top of the ancient bell tower.

He walked over to Akto. From here you can overlook the entire city-state. Including those lush ginkgo trees, towering teahouses, and the Akto stone sculpture in the center of the square.

Surrounded by paper flowers, the Akto stone sculpture and the fist stone sculpture representing the Battle of Dawn stand together, looking at the entire city-state from afar. Su Mingan looked at the Akto stone sculpture, and then at Akto beside him. Their gentle and calm eyes were almost exactly the same.

You can see the entire city-state from here, Su Mingan thought, this is why Akto is standing here.

This is the city-state that Akto has been achieving throughout his life, and this is the ruined world that he has been trying to save since he became an AI.

"Su Ming'an, first of all, congratulations on linking this fateful Ouroboros." Akto said.

"Yeah." Su Mingan said.

He really didn't expect... In the ruined world, space, time, and dimensions can form several trajectories. The initial encounter turned out to be an Ouroboros without a head or tail, and the initial time was calculated backwards. It turns out that Asa Akto's three-dimensional firewall is not just a passive defense.

This is something that can only be done with the Dawn system. Its meaning is far more than "drag", but it can break through the limitations of the rules by playing with different combinations of the three elements of time, space, and dimension.

"Tonight, Kaiusta's mission will end here, and tomorrow, the people of Measurement City will go to the final battlefield." Akto said: "All my layouts, all my plans, are handed over to you. Let’s wrap things up.”

"You believe me so much?" Su Mingan said.

Akto looked at him: "Why not?"

Being watched by Akto, Su Mingan always had the illusion of looking into a mirror.

"Are you saying this because you are leaving?" Su Mingan asked.

"I am just Akto's AI stationed in Caius Tower. The death of human beings is irreversible, whether it is body or soul. I reached the end as early as the first year of the disaster. Without meeting, how can I leave." Aktor Tuo said.

"You once said that the life span of human souls is limited. When a person experiences the limit of time that he can bear, even if his body is young, he will die." Su Mingan said.

"Yes."

"I have experienced your emotional resonance, but now I don't seem to have any sequelae." Su Mingan said.

"So, you should have a good rest afterwards. You just didn't notice the sequelae." Akto said.

Su Mingan looked into the distance.

Under the bell tower, the funeral crowd could no longer be seen. The golden edge in the distance slowly fell into the black curtain, like a gradually melting tide.

The two stood quietly on the bell tower for a while until Akto spoke.

"Human beings have survived in this world for so long, and civilization has continued from generation to generation. I don't want it to end before my eyes." Akto stretched out his hand and placed it on the edge of the bell tower: "The world seems to have many choices for people like us. , but not many are correct.”

"for example?"

"For example, pulling the trolley pole makes people in the two-dimensional world become sliced ​​programs. Another example is not escaping the fate of death and becoming a flying bird - Su Mingan, what he believes in and will not regret is correct."

"..." When Su Mingan heard this, he remembered the last memory of Akto's emotional resonance. It was a scene that he could never forget for the rest of his life - the twenty-year-old Akto opened his arms in front of countless gunfire, as if he was Embrace all the malice and hatred of the people. Then the hero died under the fire of angry people.

"Don't you regret it?" Su Mingan said: "If you don't sacrifice your life force to activate the Dawn System, maybe..."

Akto just looked at him, his expression as gentle as ever, his eyes unchanged at all.

At this moment, Su Mingan suddenly remembered the topic he and Noel talked about on the garbage mountain when the dungeon first started:

——[In society, the survival of the race is always better than the survival of the individual. This is the general trend and the underlying logic of mankind. When the force of an individual is greater than that of a race, the world must need a man of absolute rationality and extraordinary humanity to check and balance possible catastrophes and allow civilization to continue. 】

Asa Aktor did just that.

"...If it happens a thousand times or ten thousand times, I will still choose to die in that year." Akto said.

Su Mingan's fingers trembled.

Aktor is devaluing himself as a god.

The so-called sympathy, mercy, or envy and jealousy are all imposed on him by people. Even the position of god itself is conferred by people, and he is always himself.

He has seen more desperate tragedies, more numb creatures, more terrifying desires, and more tragic deaths.

To him, death was only relief. He has done everything he can and has gone all the way. His name will not die, but will live forever in the name of the city. He has seen enough of this world.

The destiny of mankind has been walking on a shaky single tree, surrounded by malicious prying eyes. One wrong step and everything will be lost. So Akto chose to become the "god" who saved them.

"Su Ming'an, if there is really hope for this world... it lies in the hands of people like you and me." Akto said.

His hands were holding on to the railing, and his black hair stood up like crow feathers. Although he looked young, he looked like a living fossil.

The city-state's ginkgo leaves flutter under the bell tower, and it is also known as a "living fossil."

Su Mingan's eyes trembled.

Under the scarlet red and cold sunset, the bell tower shone with golden light, like a giant torch. The two of them stood side by side on the bell tower, both carrying the heavy warm sun on their shoulders.

Su Mingan thought that some history will be buried in the past, some heroes will not be rectified, and the victims may not be able to leave their names. There is no fairy tale where "everyone gets a happy ending."

Abandoned between the dimensions and virtuality of the past, there are always people who smile and close their eyes.

It's like a beautiful feast and a broken dream.

Although Su Mingan only jumped between several key points in time in Kaiusta and led the Dawn War intermittently, he seemed to have experienced the lives of many people - some were immersed in the dreams of the past, and some were immersed in the dreams of the past. People can never touch the future. Some people find relief in the stagnant time, waiting for a complete awakening.

And Akto, who dominated everything, stood beside him, staring at the people he loved on the clock tower of Doomsday City. The white coat was as white as frost and snow, and seemed to melt into the sunset at any time.

"Please let me look at them one last time and set off here... In the 72nd year of the catastrophe, the Kaiusta timeline of the eternal end, this dimension is buried in history." The young man in the white coat said.

His sight seemed to penetrate the city-state's buildings and span a long distance. His expression was calm and peaceful, as if he had washed away all the suffering and unwillingness.

"You are really determined." Su Mingan said.

When Akto heard this, childlike enthusiasm appeared on his face.

——Just like when he was nineteen years old, he first said that he would take the Nine Seats to stop the human civil war with the same enthusiasm.

There are always people saying that it would be great if he could survive. If only he could survive this year, that would be great.

But if that happened, it would be like tearing his soul apart, and he would no longer be Asa Akto.

"Perhaps the dawn is so beautiful that people forget how to escape." Akto said:

"Su Ming'an, it's too difficult to learn to give up. You think so too, right?"

Su Mingan said nothing.

The sun has set and the stars have not yet risen.

The seeds that break the ground can break through all the shackles. It’s no longer an endless expanse of thick darkness.

The young man's eyes were calm, rational, and as quiet as a forest, as if he had stepped out of a thousand years of history. Su Ming'an had owned these dark gray eyes for twenty days. However, looking at these familiar eyes now, it feels familiar yet unfamiliar.

That pure white lab coat seemed to blend into the skylight.

Su Mingan seemed to see a gray-haired old man, wearing a white coat, walking step by step into the darkness of the night, never looking back once.

The world of the past has become a footnote to the story, swallowed up by time.

——Maybe he shouldn't go into the shadows.

How dazzling he is.

My love for this world never ends.

"Su Mingan, can you carve a poem for me in front of my tomb? My tombstone has been erected in Caius Tower for a long time, and there has never been an epitaph." Akto said.

"Okay." Su Mingan said.

…

Su Mingan went to many places this evening.

It is said that Noah was buried under a newly cultivated sunflower bed. In spring, the flower bed faces east to welcome the nearest rising sun.

There is always a group of white birds perching near the flowerbed. When looking up at the group of white birds, Su Mingan thought that maybe one of them was Noah.

Beilisel was buried in the frozen valley with his fellow appliance people. Xiaobei went home.

Sen was buried in a tombstone near the battle group, next to Xia Sheng's cemetery. Tredia sleeps with her favorite flowers in the lily pond of the ruined tower. Yaowen is on the hillside to the west, next to Feisi's mother's grave. There is a glass of milk in front of the grave. As for Lin Guang... there was no body left.

When Su Mingan faced the rows of tombstones as dark as ink, he was silent for a long time.

Thousands of tombstones, with different faces and names on them, the number is suffocating.

While he was standing quietly, a bouquet of flowers was placed on the tomb in front of him. He turned his head and saw a gray-haired old woman.

The old woman was obviously very old, but she tied her hair with a particularly bright red hair rope. She was wearing a long black dress, with countless straps hanging on her wrists, almost covering her arms. At a glance, there were probably hundreds of straps.

"You..." Su Mingan stared at the old lady's face.

The old lady slowly raised her head, bent her eyes, and smiled at him.

"Xiao Shuai, don't you recognize me?"

Su Mingan heard this call: "Xi, how could you..."

"This is the last simulation. I am a person with no future." Xi said: "Jiuxi's youth is maintained by resources. The war is over, and I have no need to stay young. This is my real age, you You won’t… think I’m ugly.”

She grinned her loose teeth, but her smile gave a glimpse of how she looked when she was lively and beautiful.

"No." Su Mingan shook his head.

They stood quietly in front of the tomb, one taller and one shorter. Her pupils were gray and white with aging, but her eyes were very bright.

She looked at the tomb in front of her, with Asa Akto's name engraved on it: "Is this the tomb he built for himself?"

"Um."

"Are you going to carve a poem for him?"

"Um."

"Let's go together, I write very well."

"good."

Su Mingan stretched out his hand, and Xi held his wrist to help him correct the font. The carving knife fell on the tombstone, and the words of the ruined world fell.

While carving, Xi whispered in his ear:

"Xiaoshuai, thank you."

"...It turns out that we electric sheep can also dream of spring."

Su Mingan opened his mouth, but said nothing.

The last ray of sunset fell in the distance, and her hand, which was covered with purple and wrinkled skin, was warm on the handle of the knife covered with golden light.

In the boundless forest of steles, there seemed to be many souls standing here, holding flowers and singing songs.

"My dear, please don't be afraid in the dark,"

"Watch the dawn of new life with me,"

“We enjoy the wind of freedom.”

"If the lamb runs between 0 and 1,"

"If butterflies dance among the flowers of data,"

"Honey,"

"Honey,"

"Do electric sheep dream of spring...?"

…

…

This is the last simulation, and people in two dimensions will disappear. Those laughter, those tears, those works of art and songs, will no longer exist.

They are all people who cannot cross the future. Their 2,300 simulations were all designed to ignite the fire of the future, build a new city on the ruins of death, hold up the future of human civilization, and watch people move towards a bright light full of hope.

While carving the words, Su Mingan seemed to hear the voice in his heart.

"Thank you for your forty years of dedication and companionship."

"It's a pleasure fighting with you."

It was like someone was answering him across time—

"Nice to meet you too."

"Thank you, City Lord Su Mingan."

Many years later, what people glimpsed from history books and radio stories may only be a few short names, and the emotions, love and hate cannot keep up with the cold time. But there are always people who remember that on that cold night, someone raised a torch and launched an unyielding declaration of war against the gods.

Hug together to keep warm in the cold winter, light a beacon fire in the long night, and forge ahead in the dark night before dawn.

Under the knife, a short poem was carved on the tombstone.

…

[This is you in the end of the war,]

[The only warmth of a hug. 】

[Walking through a land littered with corpses,]

[Standing on top of ruins,]

[You sang softly:]

["This bright red paint is the color of blood,\