CHAPTER 1184: CHAPTER 1180: REBORN—BUGGING THE WORLD GAME

[End of the tenth round.]

[You achieved the ending (With My Seal)]

[(With My Seal) Ending: "After Little Su became a deity, he confronted the Exotic Species King and quelled the crisis. The shadow in the stars departed, and everything precious was preserved. Destiny is not unbreakable; he swore with his sword to guard the dignity of humanity to the death."]

...

[Su Ming’an took one last look at this game.]

[The three-tone map presented a style where reality and virtual coexist, with dead old trees sprouting new shoots, and withered peach blossoms blossoming again. Hundreds of bubbles floated above people’s heads, as if cheering in celebration.]

["We won!"]

["That’s great!"]

["Old God! Old God!"]

[Su Ming’an noticed there were no longer images of "Little Su" and the black-haired girl on the map. Even those who were on the initial comprehensive ability leaderboard, like "Child of Darkness," "Little Ming," and "Yueyue," had completely disappeared.]

...

Thinking back now, "Little Su" should be Chang Ge, the black-haired girl is Chao Yan, "Child of Darkness" is General Qin, "Little Ming" is Shan Changge, "Little Yue" is Li Mingyue, and "Yueyue" is Yuanyuan, right...?

Indeed, they all should be gone.

Whether through death or permanent departure, they have all run towards the dawn in their hearts.

...

"Ding dong!"

[You have completed the perfect pass of the tenth loop (the final loop) - "His New World"]

[Mission requirements: Kill the Shadow, drive away the Shadow, or... take away the Shadow.]

[Mission reward received: New World.]

[The reward has been distributed to the back of your hand, please claim it promptly.]

...

"Ding dong!"

[You can receive extra information rewards from "Deity" or "Shadow" for completing a special route perfect pass.]

...

"Ding dong!"

[Detected that you have interacted with the key figure "Chang Ge," your weapon "Sword of Yarman" has merged with "Sword of Destiny."]

[Sword of Yarman (Gold Level, partially damaged, can grow): This is his great final sword.]

Note: Born in an apocalyptic world, this damaged longsword once shone with endless light, awaiting restoration by a great one.]

[Upgraded to:]

[Sword of Yarman (Gold Level, complete form, can grow): This is his great final sword - To drink and sing, how long is life?]

Attack Power: 90~100

Durability: 30/30

Equipment Requirement: One-Handed Weapon, Strength Requirement 120 or above

True Damage Attribute: Inflicts 300~600 points of true damage, ignoring defense, causing fixed value damage.

Magic Infusion Attribute: Infuses the blade with mana, significantly enhancing sharpness and damage. The infused mana can remain on the blade for 90 seconds until exhausted.

Absolute Suppression: Your attacks have the "Absolute Initiative" effect against any existence with combat power below 5000, reducing all opponent’s subsequent control and damage.

Newly Added:

Destiny Cutting Attribute: You can use this weapon to sever causal lines.

Emotion Harvesting Attribute: The essence of this weapon is a "Life Hard Drive Recovery System," allowing you to harvest others’ emotions during attack.

Note: "Once upon a time, the key of the World of Old Days shattered into two halves, one half falling into a city called Henggang as the Sword of Yarman. The other half stayed with the deities, becoming the key to unlocking Evil Long Song, known as the Sword of Destiny."

"Now, with the collision of [past] and [future], you have successfully repaired this sword - great one, you have connected the First World and Tenth World, turning [partially damaged] into [complete]!"]

...

[Time remaining to leave the world: 6 hours.]

[Return now?]

...

"No."

...

In the tea-scented room, Su Ming’an gazed out the window.

Due to the passage of Chang Feng, many light white tendrils still floated in the air, like an endless, lengthy snow.

This is the epoch-making scene to be recorded in the annals of history, spanning thousands of years - the day of the deity’s descent.

The scorching sun and white snow coexist, the twilight and blue moon share the same color.

The fine snowflakes resembled white birds flying against the wind, carrying the branches of dawn towards afar, bearing the souls of the departed across to the other side.

People stood in place, silently gazing at the sky - for those departed lives, and for the self-sacrificing deity.

From now on, any household with a small piece of white tendril collected in their home indicates that their ancestors experienced the "Genesis" - a snowstorm of historical, enduring, everlasting millennial legend.

"Should I forbid people from treating your white tendrils as heirlooms?" came the voice of a deity in front of him.

Su Ming’an lowered his head, seeing a deity of about 1.8 meters looking up at his roughly 2-meter stature.

"No need, let them live freely." Su Ming’an held a teacup, steam rising.

Yamada Machiichi on the sofa took a sip of tea and reached out to touch Su Ming’an’s fluffy large white hand, "Isn’t this a kind of deity’s merchandise? I’ve collected a small section of tendril, planning to make it into an acrylic pendant to hang on me, henceforth under the protection of God Ming An."

The looks of shock on Lu and Isabella’s faces... Why didn’t they think of it? Could it be that Yamada Machiichi is truly a genius?

Lv Shu quietly sipped his tea. No one knew that his backpack was already filled with tentacles, completely packed, yet he told no one.

Mo Yan shouted, "Damn it! Why didn’t I think of collecting them! I’m going to get some right away. Sigh, I’m already thinking about going back for the half-year celebration. Brother, are you coming along?"

Then he casually touched Su Ming’an’s big white plush toy, finding it quite nice to touch.

Beside him, Isabella couldn’t resist grabbing it with both hands, rubbing it non-stop.

It was like the day after the college entrance exams were over, all matters had concluded, and the long-standing burden was finally lifted.

"I don’t need so many people here." The deity looked at this group of uninvited people, closing the book of poems in his hand. These people, claiming they had important matters for Su Ming’an, ended up lying here enjoying tea, lavishly consuming the offerings given to Him, turning the quiet tea house into a marketplace.

"Du. Is it true that besides civilization, Wensheng and me, you don’t care about anyone else?" Su Ming’an asked.

"...That’s not my name." The deity shifted the topic: "You threatened me from the start, saying you would put me inside the white cat plush and kick me like a ball within twenty days, and now it’s you who’s inside."

Though His statement was plain, it somehow made Su Ming’an sense a feeling of mockery.

"I can still kick you like a ball right now." Su Ming’an said.

"Aren’t you going to find Dieying? He’s already given you his location." The deity asked.

"He gives me the location, and I have to go? Last time I went, he locked me inside a Ferris wheel. It was hard enough to kick him out of The World of Old Days, I’ll leave him hanging for a while." Su Ming’an said.

The deity nodded satisfactorily and said to those extravagantly consuming the offerings: "You all leave, I need to discuss something important."

Yamada Machiichi and Mo Yan left with their gains, hollowing out the deity’s offerings as they ate and bragged on their way out. The room soon fell silent.

Su Ming’an and the deity locked eyes, with only the aroma of tea floating around them.

"So, why is the progress bar for TE negative?" Su Ming’an spoke first.

The deity said, "What do you think the perfect completion progress is judged by?"

Su Ming’an had pondered this question: "Mission completion rate? NPC ending completion rate? The extent of world changes?"

These were the commonly accepted answers on the world forums.

The deity shook His head: "None are entirely correct."

Su Ming’an was surprised. None of these answers were correct?

The deity said, "In fact, the perfect completion progress is judged by... the assessment of the World Game. Terms like ’TE·Heavenly Dream’, ’TE·Day of Blossoming’ are created by the World Game based on your clearance story experiences, like a title."

"If you stayed by my side for twenty days, the final outcome would be terms like ’HE·Firework Excursion’, ’HE·Online Vacation’. However, your resistance led you to approach ’TE·You and His Utopia’."

"From this term, ’you’ refers to Su Ming’an, ’he’ refers to Chang Ge, or it can also mean all the sacrifices in this millennium plan of The World of Old Days. As for ’utopia’, it is a polysemous term, which could refer to ’The Republic’, or mean ’the glorious future people dream of’."

Su Ming’an nodded upon hearing this: "It’s just like doing a reading comprehension exercise."

"Indeed." The deity’s eyes were shallow and unruffled, His tone implied deep meaning: "Isn’t it just... a [reading comprehension]?"

"So, the actual meaning of the perfect completion progress bar is..." Su Ming’an said.

The deity dropped a bombshell:

"It’s [reading progress]."

"Suppose your fifty-plus days of journey is like a book. The perfect completion progress is the [page number] of the book. Wherever you reach, the [page number] gets pushed forward a bit. How much [reading progress] you are short of this term: ’You and His Utopia’, this is the meaning of the perfect completion progress bar."

"Why the progress bar grew very slowly at the beginning, because the World Game thinks you might switch paths anytime, to pursue endings like [TE5·’One Flower, One World, One Leaf, One Bodhi’ (help ’Li Mingyue’ complete setting up the rule system completely)], [TE6·’The Floating Dust of Mortal World, Blessings Arrive at Dawn’ (where ’Chao Yan’ doesn’t die within twenty days)]."

"Until Li Mingyue really died, the World Game confirmed that you were on the path to building The Republic, and your [TE·You and His Utopia] progress bar began to surge."

Su Ming’an recalled that this was indeed the case. The closer to the latter stages, the faster the progress bar increased.

The deity said: "Essentially, [TE·You and His Utopia] and [TE·Sealing with Myself] both involve building The Republic, and they differ by just one factor."

Su Ming’an asked: "What?"

He had always wondered about the similarity in the descriptions of these two endings, and why the final lock was [Sealing with Myself].

The deity said: "Whether you decided to preserve the other 9999 world lines."

Su Ming’an suddenly understood.

When he expressed his determination to establish The Republic, the World Game saw his "possibility" existing in two forms — the first form, when establishing The Republic, retaining the other 9999 world lines, results in [TE·Sealing with Myself], requiring "Shan Changge" from the other 9999 world lines to slay "Evil Long Song" to complete all the causal connection of The World of Old Days. The second form, not preserving the other 9999 timelines when establishing The Republic, results in [TE·You and His Utopia], with "Shan Changge" from the other 9999 timelines disappearing along with the integration, even making timelines non-existent, naturally negating the need for the nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine slays.

"So, [TE·Sealing with Myself] being negative is because the World Game believes... I didn’t follow its recognized storyline?" Su Ming’an asked.

"Yes, originally the end should have been you slaying yourself." The deity said: "But from the start, I arranged for Chang Ge onto your path, making him the final ’player’, while you entered the white cat plush, becoming a temporary ’npc’, escaping the final slay, causing the World Game to fall into a Schrodinger state of judgment, not understanding — is this considered complete?"

"The ending was indeed achieved. But in actuality, the one who occupied your player body at the last moment, stepped into the finale, and completed the ending was Chang Ge, not you. However, Chang Ge is a Su Ming’an bot, a derivative you created, which can be identified as the ’prop’ you left in the Ninth World, and fundamentally still considered your outcome, leading to data confusion."

"But even as a negative, it doesn’t affect mission rewards. You can consider it as us successfully exploiting a bug."

"Exploiting a bug..." Su Ming’an murmured.

It turns out, the deity had already started exploring whether the World Game could be exploited for bugs.

"So, have you figured out what fate is?" The deity asked: "Is it my observation, Dieying’s inducement, or predetermined death? Answer me carefully with this question."

Su Ming’an, however, smiled and answered directly:

"Of course, I’ve figured it out."

"The greatest fate—isn’t it the [World Game] itself?"

What is fate?

For Li Mingyue, fate is his obligation to watch the moonlight over East Lake of Dao Ya City. For "Chang Ge", fate is where the last sword returns. For the deity, fate is the responsibility to continue civilization. For Dieying, fate is the millennium of waiting.

For everyone, fate varies. Some cannot break free, some are unwilling to break free.

And for Su Ming’an, his fate might just be to burn himself with all strength, lifting up his hometown.

But as a player, his current fate... is essentially the "game system."

The system gives him tasks which he must fulfill. The way the system charted perfect completion, he must complete— isn’t this a kind of inevitable fate?

How to use "choices" to broaden future possibilities, how to use "interaction" to change the laws of fate, how to use "values" to observe the course of destiny, how to use "interaction" to achieve better endings—this is the "game", it is the "salvation or destruction of high dimensions to low dimensions", and it’s an inescapable "fate".

But the deity ultimately exploited a bug, in a situation where shadow clones were unusable, he broke free from the fate of death, broke free from the game system’s planning.