Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 208 - 205: "I Didn’t Expect You to Become Wang Xingkong

Chapter 208: Chapter 205: "I Didn’t Expect You to Become Wang Xingkong

"Why not?" Su Ming’an countered, "If it better achieves the ultimate goal, why take a detour?"

"I see," Noel said with a smile, "So that’s what you think."

His fingers moved slightly, seemingly opening something. As the screen moved over, it displayed the ongoing human self-rescue meeting.

The live broadcast interface was extremely popular, with comments fluttering like snowflakes, almost to the point of being unreadable.

"It seems we have reached a critical moment in the agenda," he said, "I feel you still have reservations about me. Let’s watch the live broadcast together and talk more."

Su Ming’an looked away.

He had never opened the livestream interface during rest periods.

Although the system always prompted that players could start livestreams even during rest periods, there were no Points rewards and he had nothing to broadcast, so he naturally never paid attention to it.

During rest periods, not only Adventurer Players could start livestreams but some Casual Players could too. They livestreamed forging processes, potion mixing, exercising, making milk tea, studying, eating broadcasts, painting, playing online games... even just chatting and soothing viewers to sleep. All were unrelated to the World Replica, like a tranquil little haven.

If some Adventurer Players had nothing else to do, they would also start livestreams, purely chatting sometimes. Like Iris in the past, in order to maintain her audience, and perhaps to showcase her Charm, she would start livestreaming during the three-day rest period, chatting and interacting with viewers.

At that moment, Su Ming’an saw that the most popular livestream was still ongoing.

On the screen, a group of people argued heatedly while a young man in a white suit sat quietly at one end of the round table, smiling warmly and harmlessly.

Noel rested his cheek on his hand, his long eyelashes fluttering against the somewhat transparent screen, "’Destiny’. I’ve heard this piece too, a very nice piece. But it never touched me the way Ming’an played it."

"With crisis looming and extinction imminent, people are more moved by a piece that resonates with them," Su Ming’an said.

"Are you the same kind of person as Ming? If you were to play that piece..." Noel looked at him, "I can tell, the person playing that music, ’loves this world immensely.’"

"I haven’t played the piano in a long time; I can’t evoke that feeling," Su Ming’an shook his head and averted his gaze.

He looked towards the screen where comments were rapidly flooding in like a deluge:

[God!]

[I thought some world-class pianist had come to the scene, but it turned out to be that man!]

[... is there really anything he can’t do? This, this...]

[It must be a Cloning, right? I don’t think he would attend such a meeting; hasn’t there been news that Su Ming’an and Noel had gone to meet?]

[Humanity is holding a self-rescue meeting, yet the Number One Player doesn’t attend in person and just sends a Cloning... what does he mean by that?]

[Three loyal followers, NPCs with excessively high Favorability, continuous positive views from Boss Rabbit, and all those bizarre acts, and overly predictive thoughts, I really find this person suspicious.]

[But he plays really well, it really moved me to tears, I think maybe we wronged him before, should we trust him a bit...?]

[...]

In the barrage of comments, whether of astonishment or skepticism, the core of their discussion was Su Ming’an.

Even though Ming’an had been sitting down for quite a while and the agenda items proceeded one by one, the discussion seemed never to change, always spotlighting on the quiet Ming, as if the United Group’s livestream had turned into a special topic solely about the Number One Player.

His topics were always trending, every move he made captivating the public’s attention, this occasion being no exception.

Compared to the flowing comments, the screen showed a topic that was somewhat out of place, still underway.

It was displayed at the top of the livestream.

The topic was:

[For those present, why do you think the Organizers are hosting such a game?]

The first to speak was Donna from Aier.

"For the sake of the game," Donna said gravely.

A few chuckles came from below, and Donna’s frown deepened.

"—For the sake of the game, why do you find this funny?" he slapped his hand on the table:

"A game is an activity based on material needs, taking place in a specific time and space, following certain rules, existing to satisfy spiritual needs.

It is a necessity for the development of a civil society, representing a rich spiritual world, an essential spiritual need, a source of biological happiness.

Since the late Cambrian when cephalopods were born, organisms have played with rocks and shells.

Large predators would toy with their prey before letting it die.

It is a spiritual relief, a liberation from physical shackles, a free dance of the soul, a carnival of excess energy expenditure.

Even animals, which to us appear lower, need games.

So, on what basis do all those present believe that extraterrestrials, or even high-dimensional beings, can’t play games?"

"Ding—"

"So, why can’t it be an experiment?" Sopel, a smiling arms dealer with a golden tooth, stood up:

"Just like our human sociologists or biologists, for the sake of conducting research, deliberately categorize humans as observational subjects or provoke animals like ants to exhibit various behaviors.

Donna, you cannot compare yourself to high-dimensional beings. Moreover, you are a follower of ’Hobbesian culture’, and I can’t resonate with your view at all.

Just like paper dolls can’t imagine our existence, we, being a lower dimension, also cannot comprehend the existence and thoughts of high-dimensional beings."

Donna scowled, "How ridiculous, why do you think of the Organizers so highly?

Have you not heard Mr. Hu Runkang’s conjecture?

[Main God Construction Stream].

Perhaps they only mastered a certain technology and are not as divine as we think? Otherwise, they could directly erode our spiritual world. Why would they need to take such a roundabout approach?"

"Ding—"

Dressed in military attire, Liu Jiahe stood up, "I agree."

He said, "From what we see now, mankind’s overall progress doesn’t seem so dire.

If, at the last moment, the Organizers didn’t trip us up with an extremely difficult instance, we wouldn’t need to be so urgent.

Perhaps our vision could extend further.

For instance, seeing beyond, even above the game..."

"... "

Su Ming’an furrowed his brows as he watched the scene unfolding on the screen.

He had long felt that the agenda of this type of human self-rescue conference was meaningless, like a group of people had gathered the floating speeches from the world forum, compiling them, and dumping them into a marketplace-like conference room.

From the topics chosen by the United Group, these topics seemed valueless or, to say, not rigorously filtered.

These people were afraid that the organizers would not have enough malice towards them—they actually said something like "Let’s all go look for loopholes from the organizers" in such a globally watched live broadcast.

He did not know if the "Main God Construction Stream" was valid, but he knew that the organizers indeed had their limitations.

Some of the discussed content held meaning, but he would absolutely not get involved.

"Humans are social animals, they are accustomed to moving in groups," said Noel, who was sitting opposite him, suddenly speaking.

He seemed to have noticed Su Ming’an’s expression, smiled, and seemed to comfort him, "You also don’t need to be so harsh on them. Facing the crisis of the world, what they want is a bunch of people sitting down to talk and communicate their thoughts.

But facing some problems, they might be too optimistic.

In the absence of data, people often fill in the gaps themselves. And all the pessimistic remarks seem to sound much more profound than the optimistic ones."

Listening to Noel’s words, Su Ming’an suddenly realized—

The Number two rank in this world had always seemed to have a posture, a stance, that stood in opposition to humans.

Noel used "they" to refer to humans and used "humans" instead of "we," never placing himself on the side of "humans," using the tone of an observer.

Combined with what Noel had previously spoken about inviting him to eliminate the old civilization and embrace the new civilization.

Su Ming’an realized—perhaps, in his heart, Noel never considered himself to be human.

As for the future, for the "New World," he always carried an adventurer’s curiosity in exploring the unknown, and in the face of humanity’s near-extinction crisis, his tone was also like that of high-dimensional beings looking down on the living.

"Noel," Su Ming’an looked at him, "you have been assimilated."

Noel smiled and asked a question completely unrelated to his statement, "—Are you going to release that video?"

"What video?"

"The video of Edward and the others attacking you, you must have recorded it, right? You’re not the type to just sit back and wait for fate. Even if you retreat temporarily, it’s always for the greater good, and when the moment comes to strike back, you definitely seize the best opportunity and then... deliver a fatal blow," Noel said.

...Noel knew him too well.

Su Ming’an took a deep breath, watching the fierce discussion among the elite players on the screen, "Now is not the right time."

He leaned back slightly, his back resting against the cold backrest.

The light from outside shone distantly in front of his eyes, reflecting off the bright screen, he watched Noel’s smiling eyes, sensing the hidden sharpness and probing in the seemingly childish Number Two’s words.

"Did you know? I watched your entire strategy about the Fifth World," Noel said, "I really appreciate... a question you once asked Hui Shuhang."

He was still playing with the building blocks, the collapsing blocks making a crisp "snap, snap" sound, which was particularly distinct in the silence.

"—’Do you think the world you are in is real?’" Noel said, "At that time, you were subtly reminding Hui Shuhang, telling her that the world she was in might just be a fabricated world replica. And everything she thought she knew, her memories, emotions, might have been artificially infused into her and might not actually exist."

Like Wang Xingkong before her, you know about his case too.

Wang Xingkong also once thought he was a pure player, one who hadn’t died yet, who had a bright future. He could have limitless possibilities and could fight for everything freely.

And afterwards... he realized that the peace he knew was all an illusion, his future, had never truly existed from the beginning. He loved this world to the extent that his heart turned lifeless, and to stay in this world, he had debased himself to the dirt.

But his entire past, turning him into this being living in a dream, was just a plaything under the control of the Organizers.

Like constantly walking on the wrong path, but going deeper and deeper, until there was no way to turn back..."

"What are you trying to say?" Su Ming’an asked.

Noel remained silent for a moment.

A cylindrical block rolled off the table, sliding along the slightly slanted table, and Noel didn’t reach out, letting it fall to the ground with a crisp sound.

His hand remained on the long block, frozen in place.

"Su Ming’an."

His gaze came over, the sparkle in his eyes slowly sinking into the color of the night as the lights shifted.

"—I just never thought that one day, you would turn into Wang Xingkong."

...

[People always prefer the optimal choice, yet the pursuit of the optimal choice often leads to unintended consequences.]

[—It is often those benevolent wishes that lead humanity into a mortal hell.]

...

Below a residential area disguised in Main God Space, a vast underground laboratory was hidden.

Researchers holding notebooks walked on the cold white floor, and from the center of the lab, there came the sounds of a wounded beast howling.

"Impossible! Why can’t I go back, why—"

"I want to go home, death can take me home, why haven’t I died—!"

In the center, a young man with a fierce expression was bound to a chair, trembling all over.

Though he couldn’t move, he still trembled as if exerting all his energy, seemingly about to burst out like a mad lion at any moment.

Suddenly, as if he realized something, his violently trembling body quieted for a moment.

Then, lifting his head abruptly, his face and features twisted together, covered in despair and madness.

"I can’t escape, can’t escape—" he suddenly screamed, his face streaming with tears, becoming a visage of gushing ravines.

"I can’t escape, hahaha, even death can’t avoid it, I can’t even die—I can’t run away, can’t shake off, this damned game, it will always be with me, hahahaha—"

"—If you can’t kill me today, I will surely make you all die... Satan is coming, none of us can escape, can’t escape... hahahaha..."

The young man kept screaming, his laugh grim, his face smeared with blood, that smile mingled with the dark red, looking particularly ferocious and horrifying.

The light split his face into two, one half with furrowed brows and a curved mouth, seemingly laughing, while the eyes of the other half drooped down as if split into two different people.

In front of him stood a plump, middle-aged man with a rich appearance, watching the screaming, brutally pained man on the chair, the middle-aged man tapping his cigar in hand, his face full of worry.

"...Is he still like this?" he asked a nearby researcher, his tone filled with concern.

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