"What is it?" I said.

The child stood up and said, "Teacher, when will we go to die? Can you tell us?"

Her voice echoed in the large classroom, her expression very innocent.

Reincarnation requires depositing the soul and information into a Life Hard Drive, and once the soul is gone, a person cannot continue living. So if we want these generations of children to endure in the Nine Serenities, they need to "preserve" themselves before they near death.

So I replied, "You can die at any time. If you feel you're not going to live long, let the teacher know promptly, so the teacher can help you save yourself. If you die too quickly and don't have time to preserve yourself, there will be no reincarnation for you. So theoretically speaking, the sooner you die, the safer it is, but you can also wait until your natural end to store yourself."

... Li Mingyue, what kind of answer is this? This is too cold.

But I don't want to deviate from historical traces, so I won't interfere with this body's words and actions.

A few children, hearing such a cold answer, immediately started crying.

"... Don't cry." I felt myself open my mouth and speak to the twelve or thirteen-year-old child, the voice still cold.

... Li Mingyue from a thousand years ago really wasn't good at dealing with children, couldn't his tone be a little gentler?

But I quickly understood how Li Mingyue thought, after all, his thoughts also influence me in real-time.

... I thought, this tone was already considered soft.

Crying gradually rose in volume in the classroom.

"Teacher Xia told us... we might never be able to leave... is that true..."

"Will reincarnation still be us... Teacher, can you tell me..."

"Will we really die... I don't want to die..."

The cries converged into one, leaving me at a loss with these children.

Just then, Xia Jiawen came to the rescue in time. He moved swiftly, dashing to the front of the children, handing each one a piece of candy. Soon, with the candy, the crying softened.

Xia Jiawen looked at me helplessly, and lightly said, "Mingyue. The children are still young and can't understand a lot. Sometimes, instead of telling them many truths, it's better to give them a piece of candy."

His tone became much more intimate, without involving the thousand-year plan, Xia Jiawen's attitude was not so solemn, like he was dealing with an old friend.

I didn't respond.

— But compared to the blade destined to fall, which weighs heavier, the candy or the responsibility?

Do the children know their responsibility, is it death?

...

Xia Jiawen arranged a room for me, located at the top of Experimental City. Interestingly, this room, a thousand years later, happened to be the room Hei Que arranged for me.

Now there's no piano placed in the room, nor are there coffee and sweet treats on the table. I sat on the bed, watching the sunset outside the window gradually settle down.

I suddenly felt a strong sense of disparity.

As if someone would knock on the door, bringing me a cup of coffee, asking if the new piano sheet they wrote sounds good or not. Yet whether past or future, the young man named "Su Ming'an-3030" had already died. On the rooftop, there won't be a black-haired, purple-eyed girl sitting alone on a chair, awaiting the sound of a heartbeat growing louder.

I looked at my fingers, on the ring of time glowing with a bluish hue, the names of Hei Que and Su Wensheng had long appeared, along with other names densely packed together, as if they had established an unbroken forest of memorial tablets between my fingers.

I walked down the corridor, the blood-red alert light hadn't blared, the control room hadn't been activated, nothing had happened yet. I strolled to three-quarters of the way down the corridor, here was where Su Wensheng died.

I stood there for a long time.

As if I could see a young man with black earrings walk towards me.

Until the sunset gradually fell, I resumed my steps.

Last time I pushed open the door in the corridor, I saw the young man identical to me, playing the piano, cooking, livestreaming, reading. Now I pushed open the door, only a few children doing homework were in the room, it seems this was their student dormitory, filled with the atmosphere of daily life.

This made me feel the disparity.

Upon seeing me enter, the children raised their heads, one fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy asked, "Teacher Li, is there something you need?"

I twitched my mouth slightly, casually asking, "Are you used to living here?"

Though they were destined never to leave the Nine Serenities, it was very safe here, no outsiders would affect life here. This was an island set to wait a thousand years.

"Quite good! No hunger, no cold, and books to read!" The skinny boy responded, he was called Xiao Hou.

"We can celebrate tomorrow!"

"Teacher Xia said we can put gifts beside the Peace Tree, by night there will be fireworks, and we'll unwrap gifts together!"

"Teacher, look, the Gundam I assembled myself." The short-haired boy handed out a small robot, his name was Xiao Long, he liked assembling mechanics.

"Teacher, look, this is a board game I designed myself!" The boy with mid-length hair held up a box, his name was Lin Shuo.

"This is an instrument I crafted myself, teacher look..."

"I heard some girls made cookies and chocolates, it would be great if we could taste them, haven't had any desserts lately, Teacher Xia said I'm overweight, can't eat them."

"Haha, Teacher Xia is concerned about you! If it were an ordinary teacher, facing thousands of students, who would remember your physical condition one by one, only Teacher Xia could do that..."

"Teacher Li, join us for the festival tomorrow!"

The children were very enthusiastic.

I could see their intelligence, a kind of intelligence favored by the world. Carefully designed exquisite board games, personally crafted pleasant instruments... Each of these children, chosen for Nine Serenities and cultivated for reincarnation as researchers, had exceptional talent.

From them, I seemed to see the future of the world.

I agreed to spend the Peace Festival together. Since I couldn't leave the Nine Serenities temporarily, I could only wait for the arrival of the Life Hard Drive, for the thousand-year plan to officially begin.

After that, I met Xia Jiawen again, he was drying pants. It was said that a child fell into the water, and he jumped in to save them, leaving several tears in his pants.

I opened my mouth and said, "Without suit pants, just wear shorts."

Xia Jiawen chuckled awkwardly, his face slightly red, "I feel it's not appropriate..."

Why is he embarrassed?

He is someone who doesn't care about personal grooming, only having kids in his eyes. And now he is worried about a pair of suit pants.

Xia Jiawen and I chatted a lot, mostly past experiences. In recent years, I have been researching Word Spirit, Xia Jiawen has been teaching students, with nothing particularly noteworthy.

During our chat, he patted his thigh, determined to somehow recreate hotpot in Experimental City, he used to love hotpot before the turmoil began.

"In the future, I'll also try to make milk tea and cakes, the food here is still too scarce," he said:

"I still want to make the children's living environment better, after all, we are going to spend a long time here..."

"Living in such an ivory tower, without needing to encounter the ugliness of the outside world, isn't a bad way to spend a lifetime. Ming Yue, if you didn't have to write the Rule Book, I would even invite you to join us."

Through his eyes, I seemed to be examining the many figures in this world. Those planning, those watching, those rushing, those sacrificing...

Together, we looked forward to an untouchable future. Hot pot, barbecue, milk tea, amusement parks... His eyes glimmered with light; this teacher was truly planning a future that belonged to them, a pristine, flawless future. For this future, he was willing to pay any price.

It was then that I suddenly became aware of the difference between him and me, even though I thought he was an indiscriminate good man. But his heart was warm, while perhaps there was nothing inside my chest.

He had a little to drink.

After a few sips of alcohol, when I turned my head, I could actually see the watery glint in his eyes.

Was he crying?

Why.

Why would such a carefree guy cry?

"...Ming Yue." His voice was somewhat hoarse, his face tilted sideways, his glasses lens shifted a few degrees, quickly obscuring the slight watery glint in his eyes.

His body leaned towards me; this was the green area of the Experimental City, with few passersby. He finally could expose his loss of composure.

In the past, he was Teacher Xia, the role model of the children, the fifth Principal who stood tall. At this stage, when the Millennium Plan was about to start, perhaps I was the only one he could confide in. On the occasion of his eternal farewell to the world, it was by chance that I appeared by his side.

"Ming Yue, I seem to be trapped in a cage." The young man said hoarsely:

"I keep walking, keep walking, but can't find a way out..."

I held his shoulder, understanding what he meant.

A solitary island standing for millennia, though a paradise, yet isn't it also a colossal prison?

Isolated from the world, saying a final goodbye to all family and friends, living under the Nine Serenities for life, awaiting an unknown result millennia later... How cruel that is.

The sound of the wind grew a few notches larger, the wind mixed with metal powder blew from the end of the street.

It felt like something was throbbing in my chest, thump, thump, I pursed my lips.

Humans are only one race in this world, whether it's the birth of a distant new star, or an explosion in some corner of the universe, or the end of a constant star, all are unrelated to humans. Torrential rain can wash them away, flames can burn them all, tsunamis can engulf them. Despite building the Ark spanning millennia desperately in the face of disaster, no one knows what chance of success it has.

On this Ark, someone is building the deck, someone is constructing seats, someone is filling it with fuel, someone is inspecting the course with a telescope... Shadows shuttling densely, Teacher Xia and I tried our best, a lifetime only amounted to adding a plank to the Ark, what more?

I don't even know where it will sail to, nor who will continue to navigate for us in the end, with what kind of existence are we really fighting.

I used to think the enemy was the Deity but it turns out there are even more profound High Dimensions above the starry sky. Humanity as a collective term is already insignificant, let alone reduced to one in eight billion.

The man beside me.

... He cried and said he couldn't find a way out.

It seems like we never had any choice from start to finish, spending our entire lives in a cage.

In the vast universe, humans are no different from flying birds. Flying birds may be free, but we still cannot ascend to the distant stars.

"Teacher Xia." I held his hand.

A scalding liquid fell on the back of my hand, the drunk man murmured, his emotions stifled for too long, his glasses obscured his vulnerability.

"I want a pair of suit pants..." He repeated:

"I really want a pair of suit pants, Ming Yue... In the big shopping mall, you can buy them whenever you want, without needing to report to the seventh Principal, having him help us transport it in..."

"I want to freely buy a pair of suit pants... Really..."

I sat quietly beside him.

... How could I not know if what he yearned for was beyond just suit pants.

He just dared not speak of deeper dreams, as they are too far-reaching, too rare for us...

Until the last ray of the setting sun fell, the long night was coming, the night covered the mountain fields with white, vision sinking into a black-gray whirlpool.

Only then did I slowly release my hand.

To drape a coat over him, who had fallen asleep on the bench.

... For that purpose.

We have been striving for too long,

Too long.

...

Su Ming'an opened his eyes.

In front was a long table lit with candlelight, the daytime session of the first day had ended, and he was summoned back to the table.

...

[Last night, Christmas Eve.]

[Now entering the player discussion phase.]

...

While Mizushima Kawa Sora and others were probing each other's identities, Su Ming'an gazed at the faintly burning candlelight on the table, lost in thought for a long time.

The feeling of returning to a thousand years ago, though not as intense as emotional resonance, was also his way of experiencing the emotions of Li Mingyue at that time. Every thought of Li Mingyue back then would affect him.

It turns out that the Godfather, who resided in Dao Ya City for a long time and appeared to have no influence, was actually the fourth Principal in the plan a thousand years ago. Li Mingyue's subordinates should have been numerous and powerful; if not for the deity's swift action forcing Li Mingyue to abandon everything and flee into the Nine Serenities, there should have been many strengths behind him.

...Those people whom Su Ming'an took for granted in the present, like Li Yuxuan, Xiao Jingsan, Chao Yan, were very likely big figures over tens of thousands a thousand years ago. However, past years have faded into the grind of history.

And who was the only one, the first Principal "General Qin," who had no reincarnation in the present, a thousand years ago?

Perhaps only by continuing to watch will he find out.

He disengaged his consciousness, to observe the actions of Dieying. It had been a few hours, he wondered how things were on the other side.

Upon this sight, Su Ming'an almost thought he had come to the wrong place.

The originally vast, desolate, and distant sky had totally transformed. The surroundings no longer illuminated by cold starlight were replaced by soft chairs and a dance floor. Dieying sat not far from him, shaking a wine glass, though there was no red wine in it, the motion looked very elegant.

"...Back?" Dieying saw Su Ming'an open his eyes and immediately sat upright. This posture made Su Ming'an think of an elder waiting for their descendants to "often come back to visit."

Su Ming'an looked down, there were no new wounds; Dieying indeed kept the promise not to harm him one bit.

"Gone." Su Ming'an then detached his consciousness coldly.

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