CHAPTER 1013: CHAPTER 1010: SIMULATION (PART 2)

Su Ming’an discovered that this game can be restarted.

Each round lasts sixty minutes, culminating in an ending. If dissatisfied with the ending, he could start over from the beginning. He started over again and again, repeatedly balancing the three values, eventually successfully reaching the tenth round.

He already recognized that the seventh round was from decades ago, and the eighth round was the present day. Because in the eighth round, "Little Su" appeared and was initiating a divine war, and this term of the first Dream Patrol Family appeared in people’s bubbles.

The ninth round seemed like the future, with a huge red dot appearing on the map—representing Su Sheng’s Exotic Species King.

He had already found the correct way to play—the correct way to play the game was not to fulfill people’s wishes one by one; doing so would only continually elevate people’s greed, allowing them to enjoy unearned benefits.

Crises must be used to stimulate people.

Only when exotic species appear, will people realize the need to build defensive props. Only by actively destroying city walls will people realize the need to reinforce them. Destroying some plants makes people realize the need for environmental protection instead of unrestrained consumption. Tempting some unscrupulous individuals with treasure will bring about soldiers and guards. Allowing some officials to accept bribes will create an orderly regulatory system. The rampant epidemic will hasten medical research in a life-and-death effort.

The progress of a civilization often requires the push of crises. But crises must be appropriately leveraged, or they will only backfire.

Finally, Su Ming’an achieved a very good ending.

...

[You have achieved the ending (Tide Born on Sea)]

[(Tide Born on Sea) Ending: "The Exotic Species King was unable to revive, and the subsequent towers could not be activated. People lived and worked in peace and contentment, except for forgetting history, they seemed very happy."]

[Ending Evaluation: S]

...

Su Ming’an stared at this ending for a long time.

He achieved four endings, and this was the best among them. The previous three endings were either all humans becoming puppets controlled by strings due to excessively high Faith Value, losing the ability to think for themselves, or world destruction due to overly high Danger Value.

However...

...

[Do you want to end the Fate Simulator?]

...

"No," Su Ming’an said.

Yet, it’s not enough.

There must be an even better ending.

The red-robed boy had been standing silently for a long time, and upon seeing Su Ming’an’s choice, he turned his head slightly to look at Su Ming’an.

In the next round, Su Ming’an began exploring various extreme operations.

For example, what would lead to world destruction. What would cause the Exotic Species King to revive. How to ensure Little Su survives until the end. How to make people not forget history. Only by seeing most of the endings could he determine how to achieve the best ending.

Humans are indeed a very resilient race, even if there was one round where the living space for humans was extremely limited, and the population had been reduced to five digits, they still tenaciously survived until the end of the tenth round.

Only by targeting internal unity could they completely destroy them.

From the beginning, divide human factions, making them into narrow and niche groups. Let the leaders of large organizations compete with some lone heroes, they will encircle their own heroes, exacerbating conflicts. Also establish special identities, favoring those with special identities, guiding people to be suspicious of those with special identities. At the same time, guide public opinion, blocking positive statements and intentionally elevating malicious statements. This way, people would gradually see only the evil in the world. Finally, establish large organizations fraught with hidden dangers, dividing distances between adventurers and recreational members, widening the rift between the two.

——In this way, humanity will be destroyed.

——Just like what the organizers are doing to the players.

Seeing these progressions, Su Ming’an felt heavy-hearted. The simulator had directly shown him what conclusion humanity would reach if they continued to fight internally.

At nine o’clock in the morning, Su Ming’an initiated the ninth round.

In the first round, he fulfilled people’s needs as much as possible to gain sufficient Divine Power cards. Then he created appropriate crises, guiding civilization to progress rapidly. In the eighth round, he allowed "Little Su" to act freely, until the revival of the Exotic Species King, and all the towers were activated by "Little Su", making it impossible for people to forget history.

The divine war broke out, and in the ninth round, "Little Su" became a god.

The world was like a fast-forward film, one seedling after another being sown by him, quickly growing into towering trees. Each seed buried in the soil transformed the landscape into a vast sea, wheat fields becoming vast oceans. The era progressed continuously, occasionally with buildings on the map taking on ancient styles, sometimes transforming into Steam Age styles, and sometimes into Western Fantasy eras. Scenes flashed by at a dizzying speed.

Sometimes, just when he found someone suitable, planning to appoint them as a priest, the next second, the person would have aged, and then in another second, their personal data would vanish from his hands, turning into dust. In his overlooking perspective, time passed all too quickly.

Throughout the game, he kept an eye on the actions of "Little Su."

"Little Su" started appearing from the eighth round and was indeed a very useful game protagonist. No matter how things spiraled out of control in the world, as long as Little Su died once, time could be traced back, returning to before the crisis occurred, allowing Su Ming’an to operate quickly and timely.

Meanwhile, he also tried to minimize Little Su’s deaths, ensuring "Little Su" died as little as possible across several rounds, only allowing him to die once when situations were truly irreversible to remedy his operations.

A black-haired girl always accompanied "Little Su," both of them quite strong, though her body was fragile and needed armor attachment to become sturdy. Su Ming’an speculated that the black-haired girl might be Chao Yan. In one of the rounds, when he neglected the black-haired girl, tentacles grew from her body, resulting in a terrifying world-ending conclusion. Afterward, he kept paying attention to her mental state, trying to keep her negative emotions as low as possible.

In the tenth round, the Exotic Species King revived. In such a scenario, only Little Su could resolve the predicament.

When Su Ming’an directed Little Su to proceed, a blood-red warning popped up.

...

[You really want to do this? (letting Little Su face the Exotic Species King head-on.)]

...

Su Ming’an tilted his head, looking at the red-robed boy.

The red-robed boy continued to watch him.

"Will anything go wrong?" Su Ming’an asked.

"Based on this round of your progress, there won’t be a problem. Little Su can perfectly resolve it," the red-robed boy said.

"Will Little Su... be in trouble?" Su Ming’an asked.

The red-robed boy rubbed his temples, sighed, and said, "Nothing will happen; you have to trust Little Su. Moreover, there isn’t a better ending than this, right?"

Su Ming’an fell silent.

He had also tried finding alternative methods to suppress the revival of the Exotic Species King. But the only method was to make everyone forget history and not activate the towers—which was the S-grade ending he achieved, (Tide Born on Sea).

This was also what the deities had been hoping for him to do—not to take risks, not to interfere, not to activate the towers, just patiently waiting for the instance to end.

But surely this wasn’t a good ending; after the tenth round, the world would face destruction. So, the only way was... for Little Su to ultimately confront the Exotic Species King.

——It also aligned with what the deities said——"If you persist, you’ll ultimately be devoured by the Exotic Species King."

Gazing at the warning before him: [Do you really want to do this?]

Su Ming’an’s fingers trembled for a moment, then chose [Yes].

"Trust Little Su," the red-robed boy said.

...

Round ten, Little Su faced the Exotic Species King.

A large red dot flashed on the map, while the yellow dot representing Little Su moved closer to the Exotic Species King.

Most people followed behind Little Su, as if Little Su was a flag that would never fall. These people had never been so united in the previous ten rounds, but now they seemed to have gathered all their strength.

At the moment Little Su met the Exotic Species King, Su Ming’an held his breath.

...

[Round ten ends.]

[Faith Value: 30 (Many people remembered the Old God, saying the Old God is their true god.)]

[Goodness Value: 70 (The divine battle sparked the light in people’s hearts.)]

[Danger Value: 30 (Little Su faced the Exotic Species King, calming the crisis.)]

...

[You’ve achieved the ending (Sealed by Me)]

[(Sealed by Me) Ending: "After Little Su became a god, he faced the Exotic Species King, calming the crisis. The shadows lurking in the starry sky departed, and all the precious things were preserved. Fate can indeed be severed, and he used his sword to swear to guard human dignity to the death."]

[Ending Evaluation: SSS]

...

It’s over.

In the final moment, the game did not specify Little Su’s personal ending, but clearly, Su Ming’an achieved the most perfect world ending.

The shadows peering in the starry sky did not succeed, the world wasn’t destroyed, and Little Su had a chance to survive.

He rubbed his bloodshot eyes, his whole body feeling as heavy as if filled with lead. Full concentration for a full nine hours, watching every corner of the map, because he knew a small slip might cost many lives.

During the game, he always thought—if only he could be more mindful, more serious, as long as he stayed focused, much death could be avoided.

A boy in a red robe supported his trembling form, asking: "Are you satisfied? Little Su’s fate is still unknown."

Su Ming’an’s vision was spinning, and he lowered his head: "There is no... better ending, right?"

This was the path he intended to follow. It turned out this path was the right one.

The fourth game was indeed very short, but incredibly informative. He had gradually learned everything about this world through several loops.

"Can I come back after I quit the game?" Su Ming’an asked.

"Of course, as long as you come back, you can start a new loop at any time, because it is essentially a ’simulator’. It doesn’t matter how many times it’s simulated." The boy in the red robe said: "The game will record your highest scoring loop, which is this ’Sealed by Me’ ending."

In this way, if Su Ming’an lacked any information in the future, he could return to this simulator to acquire it.

He took one last look at the game.

The 3D-rendered map presented a style where realism and virtual coexisted, dead old trees sprouting new buds, withering peach blossoms blooming, and hundreds of bubbles floating above people’s heads, these little figures on the map jumping, seemingly cheering and celebrating.

["We won!"]

["That’s great!"]

["Old God! Old God!"]

They laughed freely, singing songs from a thousand years ago. They placed the sculptures and portraits of the fire transmitters and sacrificial victims into exhibitions, so their stories would be remembered by posterity.

For a moment, even floating in the sky, Su Ming’an could faintly hear singing coming from the map.

He noticed that on the map—there was no longer the figure of "Little Su" or the black-haired girl, even their personal data disappeared. Even those who were initially on the comprehensive ability leaderboard like "Child of Darkness", "Xiao Yue", "Yueyue", had all vanished completely.

Su Ming’an watched for a long time.

"...End game."

In an instant, his five senses began to switch, bringing Su Ming’an back to reality.

...

"Ding dong!"

[You have gained Dream Patrol Spirit Points: 10,000 points.]

[Current Dream Patrol Spirit Points: 97,192 points]

...

[TE3·"Your and His Utopia" (Reach the Final Old Place, Establish Utopia) Perfect Completion Progress: 70%]

...

[You have obtained the title: "Sealed by Me"]

[Title Effect: After becoming a god, you can see the causal lines on the Exotic Species King.]

...

Su Ming’an took off his helmet, suddenly noticing it was very quiet outside the door.

He pushed the door open, and in the silent morning light, a black-haired youth stood quietly in the hall, spinning a dagger in his hand.

Seeing Su Ming’an come out, the black-haired youth pressed the dagger to the neck of the sleeping Alice.

"Let Alice return to the church, Su Ming’an." Su Wensheng said: "Something happened in Burg Castle, the church has begun slaughtering the residents of Burg Castle. If she doesn’t return, all her old friends will be wiped out."

"If she goes back, it’s only death." Su Ming’an said.

"The deities abandoned her only because she refused to harm you. But the deities won’t really kill her, because she’s your weakness." Su Wensheng said: "Isn’t your main quest to break the Prophecy Stone Wall? The true Prophecy Stone Wall is in the deities’ hometown, if you return with her, feign allegiance, you can access the Prophecy Stone Wall, break it, and history will return to the mortal world. The deities don’t sense my words right now, because this is Dao Ya City, and Li Mingyue isn’t by your side."

Su Ming’an’s eyes widened slightly.

"The Tenth World is one of your few opportunities, Su Ming’an." Su Wensheng said: "Don’t you want to know, what does the shadow in the starry sky intend, and what kind of wager do the deities have with the organizers?"

Su Ming’an’s palms were cold, Su Wensheng was indeed speaking the truth.

Su Wensheng tossed an Immortal’s Talisman, Su Ming’an caught it.

——Immortal’s Talisman - Expansion.

This was the Immortal’s Talisman needed for the sixth stage of the main quest, Su Wensheng had actually found it directly and given it to him.

"Let the next rain fall, Su Ming’an." Su Wensheng leaned against the window: "The next... rain to end everything."

Su Ming’an stared at the Immortal’s Talisman in his hand, his fingers slowly tightening.