CHAPTER 1042: CHAPTER 1039: "THE WITCH AGE, YEAR 328

People with corresponding relationships will, under the convergence of such world lines, become increasingly similar, like—[my past self fused with my future self].

"That’s why Su Wensheng’s attitude before and after was different," Su Ming’an pondered, "because the depth of era fusion intensified, he was influenced by ’Su Wensheng’ from other eras."

He recalled what Su Wensheng once said to him.

...

["Deities control many worlds—those who have passed, Qin Wang, Sherrod, Nailuo, Noah... perhaps the deity can help you find the ’them’ who are still alive."]

...

...So indeed, they are different, just similar at most.

The deceased are gone, no matter how similar, they are not them anymore, never to return.

"In the end, it’s the Dream巡 game, and we’ve already unveiled its essence," Noel said.

From "The Cat and Her," it is evident that the essence of the Dream巡 game is—transforming humans into the Fourth Catastrophe and sending them into other eras. Through tasks, dialogs, trading, and interactions like favorability, the degree of fusion between different eras deepens.

As long as people from the current world descend into it, no matter what they do, it brings the two eras closer in some sense.

[Game.]

[World.]

Su Ming’an increasingly perceived the vastness of this world.

The Dream巡 game is indeed the most shocking place for him. Anyone’s life, with small tweaks, can turn into a game.

—Happenings from other eras, with slight modifications by "Dream巡," become the—main storylines for players to experience.

—The lives of people from other eras, with a little disguise by "Dream巡," become the—side storylines for players to experience as game NPCs. Players can change NPCs’ attitudes, actions, and plans, disrupting their lives at will.

—The emotions and families of people from other eras, with a tad of concealment by "Dream巡," become the favorability system that players can participate in, along with the [love, marriage, childbearing] function in the game.

—Positive feedback from other eras, like power enhancement, money gain, treasure acquisition, slightly replaced by "Dream巡," become the [Dream巡 spirit points] that players can exchange for.

By adding task prompts, numeric displays, health points and mana calculations, follow-up task tracking, and positive feedback like Dream巡 spirit points, the "world"—can turn into a "game" named era.

The soldiers of the war era, shedding blood while risking their lives to escort a little girl, becomes—the asymmetric chase escape competitive blood pressure game "The Cat and Her."

The historical fact of the Eldest Prince Your Highness in ancient times, devoted to the people, refusing to descend into darkness, and stopping the Exotic Species King’s rebirth, becomes—the option-based real-time action ancient style game "Louyue Nation."

The historical fact of the steam era’s girl, chosen as a goddess, leading people through a world crisis, becomes—the warm healing simulation raising game "Girl’s Dream Project."

And players transforming into the Fourth Catastrophe, entering, changing, and disrupting the game. They are curious about any trash can, any ceramic pot, and any box in a resident’s house. Even out of curiosity about what rewards might drop, they might kill a person. Even wanting to trigger a certain dark side storyline, they may massacre the innocent, go to jail proactively, or shout on the street shirtless.

Under the cognition of Dream巡,

Under the cover of the game,

Under the deception of the deities,

Under the reckless Fourth Catastrophe "gaming mindset" of people—

...

—Thus,

—The game became life.

...

—Others’ [lives] became your [game].

—Your [game] became others’ [lives].

...

The aroma of black tea wafted in from the air.

Noel blew the bubbles on the tea’s surface, seemingly very attached to this somewhat childish act, like a child chasing colorful balloons.

"Transforming the [world] into a [game], and [game] into [life]... the deity truly has a way," Noel sighed lightly, "World... game..."

It really is a chain of nomenclature that gives one goosebumps.

"Game" here is given special meaning. It no longer belongs to a plane, nor within a screen, nor a tool of entertainment, nor merely... simple zeros and ones.

Su Ming’an collected these sorted clues into his mind, looked towards Noel, "So for the past few days, you were always in other eras?"

Noel said, "I was in an era of witches and black magic, the time approximately Old Day 328, never once encountering you."

...

[Under the bright candlelight, Su Ming’an instantly saw Noel—Noel wearing a white ribboned shamanic robe, with gold ornamental metal at the cuffs glimmering, this attire afar from contemporary style revealed how much Noel had gone through to get here.]

...

No wonder, in that deleted playthrough, Noel wore such a uniquely styled outfit. At the time Su Ming’an didn’t ponder over it, but now realized—the then Noel had come a long way from the witch era, otherwise Noel could not dress like this in modern times.

But...

Su Ming’an looked at Noel, suddenly exchanged coded messages.

Su Ming’an sent a code—dead file. No say. Era. (Why in the discarded cycle, you didn’t tell me you came from the witch era?)

Noel responded with code—not. (If I didn’t say at the time, it meant I couldn’t say at the time.)

Su Ming’an initiated code—why.

Noel hesitated a moment, then replied with several codes:

Divination, Witch—(I encountered many divining witches in the witch era.)

Can’t say—(They told me not to reveal this era’s matters to another era in any form.)

Deity—(Otherwise would alarm the deity and lead to unknown consequences.)

To be safe—(I wasn’t sure if causality could pinpoint our codes, so to be safe, I didn’t say. If I informed you and it caused you to be unable to return to a file, that would be troublesome.)

Though Noel only replied with four or five nouns, Su Ming’an understood Noel’s meaning. Their codes were never meant for long exchanges, nouns alone sufficed.

Su Ming’an replied with the code: Now, Fusion—(So the reason why I can say it now is because my era and your Witch Age have already merged, so there are no more boundaries?)

Noel’s reply—Correct, the fifth, game. (You’re right. As far as I know, the fifth dream tour game should be the story of the Witch Age.)

Su Ming’an replied with the code—Difficulty (Will the game be difficult?)

Noel’s reply—Fun (It’s fun.)

...

Their secret codes went back and forth, exchanging vast amounts of information, like a massive glacier lurking beneath the sea, intertwining with unseen shoals of fish.

On the surface, however, it was just Noel inviting Su Ming’an for tea, with the two chatting and eating pudding as if nothing was happening.

"Will the deities catch up with us?" Su Ming’an glanced back. The distant mountains stretched on, with the golden-red sunrise shining on the world, accompanied only by the fiery clouds of orange hue.

Noel laughed, "Not for the time being. The deities can’t act directly against us; they can only use the power of words to tempt people like Mizushima Kawa Sora and Xue Qixia to become a Goddess and a Divine Son, allowing them to receive ancient powers. But as long as someone on our side also accepts the ancient powers, we can contend with them."

"Remnants from a thousand years ago..." Su Ming’an nodded. The deities are the only ones who remember history, so they know where the ancient ruins are, no wonder Mizushima Kawa Sora is so powerful.

But Noel said that someone on Su Ming’an’s side also received ancient remnants, implying that someone on Su Ming’an’s side has also allied with the deities?

"It’s Xiao Jingsan. He didn’t side with the deities; he sided with another person who also remembers history," Noel said.

Su Ming’an was speechless for a moment, contemplating a possibility: "...Sided with the Exotic Species King?"

He always felt that the shadow in the starry sky was the Exotic Species King. The deities wanted to expel the Exotic Species King and sought to destroy the world to gain some power. So the deities are villains, and the Exotic Species King is also a villain; both are no good.

"I know both are enemies," Noel said, "but... when fighting against a tiger, we can only seek skin with another tiger. Otherwise, with no one becoming a god for now, it’s hard to survive in the tiger’s mouth. Even if the Exotic Species King has ulterior motives, we can only exchange power from it to fight people like Mizushima Kawa Sora."

"Xiao Jingsan..."

Su Ming’an felt his mouth dry and cold.

Mizushima Kawa Sora gained such powerful strength; the deities couldn’t have given it to her for nothing. She must have paid a price. Either her persona, her dignity, or some other restriction. So seeking power from the Exotic Species King must also come at a price beyond imagination.

"Xiao Jingsan... what did he pay to be strong enough to... reclaim my body and even hold back the deities?" Su Ming’an asked.

Noel stared into his eyes.

Slowly placing down the cup of black tea.

A clear clink.

"Self."

Such a word escaped from the youth’s mouth.

This word doesn’t sound like a heavy price, as if it can’t compare to life and soul. But for some people, it weighs more than life.

Xiao Jingsan... he actually reached this extent.

Su Ming’an’s initial impression of this person was not good. Xiao Jingsan killed so many people and bombed Dao Ya City; although it was later proven to be Xiao Ying’s doing, Xiao Jingsan indeed executed people from the City Guardian Department. He wasn’t a purely good person and stained his hands with blood for his obsessed "paradise."

However, even villains would pay a price for the world and make such sacrifices.

Someone’s reputation for good and evil is not simply black and white.

Noel lifted his head, also wearing an earring—an intertwining of red and blue. In Noel’s Witch Age, he was in a protagonist position similar to "Su Ming’an," having acquired an item akin to "Heart’s Blood," a record of history prop.

Su Ming’an had already dragged the earring into the equipment slot, yet Noel still wore it. Under the sunrise, the earring shimmered brightly, with the red streaming between it like the blood vessels of countless people, like numerous streams of flowing blood.

History... era... destiny... world. These vast, weighty words shouldn’t rest upon tiny individual shoulders, let alone those of teenagers.

Yet these concepts have already been condensed into this earring, concentrated on their shoulders.

"The special medicine rain this time fell for two hours and then stopped. It should be that the Holy City regained control, causing Yamada Machiichi’s army to retreat, so the rain was forced to stop," Noel said. "This special medicine rain recalled about a hundred years of the ’past’ and three years of the ’future’."

"...Three years."

Su Ming’an sighed.

Before feigning death, he noticed signs of time acceleration. It seems this rain accelerated time by three years.

Many things must have happened.

Su Luoluo should be twenty-one now. How is she doing? Has she become the most outstanding entertainment anchor? How has Li Yuxuan’s Human Self-Rescue Army developed? Three years have passed, have the supporters of the Old God given up because of its death?

This time acceleration felt to players like a fast-forwarded slideshow, allowing them to know what happened around them and somewhat understand what they experienced in these rapidly passing three years, yet they wouldn’t exactly live through them, nor detach from reality.

"Let’s go." Noel suddenly stood up, the pudding on the dish already eaten: "We’ve arrived—at the Human Self-Rescue Alliance’s base."

...

The crow’s altitude began to descend,

and the distant sunrise gradually returned to the mountains.

Su Ming’an looked down and saw—

Terraced light tracks and overpasses spiraling between cities. Jagged skyscrapers reaching dozens of meters high, painted in high saturation colors. Lights like pythons covering pipelines and skyscrapers, maintaining an eccentric allure even in broad daylight.

Old-fashioned eaves mixed with mechanized steel, with red lanterns featuring Western cross elements hanging in front of people’s houses. The very center—was a towering cathedral.

What left Su Ming’an dumbfounded was the plaza in front of the cathedral, where there stood a statue of himself, over ten meters tall, surrounded by chrysanthemums. Even now, many players were crying in front of the statue. Some knelt to kowtow, others bowed in offerings of incense, some donated money for merit, and others embraced his black-and-white photo with bitter cries.

"Su Ming’an... go well... ahh... Su Ming’an..."

"Su Ming’an... wuwuwu... Su Ming’an..."

It was evident that the players were genuinely heartbroken.

Seeing the myriad expressions on Su Ming’an’s face, Noel laughed: "It doesn’t matter anymore, after all, you are still alive."

"Welcome to—" He spread his arms as if embracing the storm:

...

"—The Old Day 831 (now), Old Day 622 (past·Louyue Era), Old Day 512 (past·Steam Age) periods."

"The Old God resurrected by death."

...