"Yes, now it has finally come true, we are in a secluded fisherman's house. After that, we will become free explorers, and no one can bind you anymore." Xiao Ying said.

"I... don't want to..."

"So, Su Ming'an." Xiao Ying's eyes glimmered. Like a believer yearning for a deity. He almost presented all his darkness, evil, and selfishness in front of the deity, only hoping the deity would grant his request.

"—Stay in this fisherman's house."

"Let me go..."

"—Only then are we truly free. I don't want you to become a dead nightingale."

"Let me out..."

"—Because once you leave, once again become a deity, return to that Holy City once more—"

"No..."

"—Then you will truly be no longer free."

"No..."

"—Promise me, okay?"

"..."

"—The thing I want, only Shadow can give me, so I promised Shadow I wouldn't let you become a deity again. If you insist on going back, we can only meet with blade edges."

"..."

"—Promise me, okay? You can clearly pity Su Luoluo, keep seeking her repeatedly. Then please pity me, just this once."

"..."

"—Su Ming'an..."

"..."

"—I beg you."

...

"...No."

...

This was their final conversation.

Even with only instinct left, Su Ming'an never relented.

Xiao Ying's knife trembled for a long time, but ultimately it fell, stabbing toward Su Ming'an's neck. Unfortunately, Chao Yan suddenly appeared, intercepting his blade edge. His hesitation took too long, and his decision came too late. These few seconds of hesitation led to a completely different outcome.

Xiao Ying fled.

In the 7th year of the Heavenly Era, Su Ming'an gradually regained his mental state. Through Xiao Cheng's slip, he learned about Chao Yan's lifespan issue.

On the rooftop, he and Chao Yan looked at each other across a few meters.

"Why." Su Ming'an said.

He was incredulous... Why, is your lifespan coming to an end?

"I want to leave the Life Authority for you, I'm familiar with it, even if it weakens when separated, it will still be useful to you." Chao Yan calmly answered.

"I need you, Chao Yan." Su Ming'an said.

"I am not the protagonist in your story, and you have a longer journey to go, we should at least repay you with something." Chao Yan said: "That girl named Yuanyuan, her soul's lifespan isn't much longer, the Life Authority can be given to her. As your anchoring point, she can accompany you for longer, can't she?"

Su Ming'an's pupils suddenly constricted.

—He had actually always been avoiding this issue. Yuanyuan was the same.

A long time ago, they knew the soul's lifespan was limited. Yuanyuan had lived through so many lives, and this life was especially long, likely lasting a thousand years; her lifespan... was also nearing its end.

He thought of how she had recently rarely met him, mostly staying in the Old Divine Palace to rest, appearing very silent in the entire World of Old Days.

But why... must it be...

As if the castle in his heart had collapsed, he remained motionless, unable to say any words.

—How could he agree or refuse Chao Yan? How could he weigh the lives of these two people?

—Even if he were to ask for Yuanyuan's opinion, she would surely lean towards not taking Chao Yan's life. Just like Chao Yan at this moment, she also leaned towards saving Yuanyuan's life.

The bright red trolley pole reappeared in his hand, and he stood silently by the tracks, the train's wind blowing his black hair as a piercing whistle sounded in his ears. In a daze, he himself seemed to be tied on the tracks, watching the heavy as a mountain train inch towards him, the cold wind stinging him.

He thought again of his initial answer with Chao Yan.

[I think... I'll stand in front of the train myself. That way, no one on either side will die.]

...

"...But it's not at the end yet." He said softly.

Chao Yan's eyes widened slightly.

"It's not at the end yet... is it?" He said: "Acto's soul lifespan is thousands of years long. Even if Yuanyuan's soul lifespan is shorter, she can at least endure one or two more instances. By then, I'll find a method to make her endure long. Even if the time flow of future instances is long... this is a problem we will have to face sooner or later."

Chao Yan sighed.

Once again, she thought, this truly was something uniquely his, somewhat naïve but precious... idealism. Over five years, it hadn't changed at all, no matter how she taught it wouldn't change.

She stepped closer, cupping his face, squeezing his cheeks.

This action bore no special meaning, as if it was merely subconscious. Like an elder treating a younger, immature child.

"I know you can't make up your mind." She said: "Alright, I'll try to live a little longer, and in the end, let's have a good talk."

Her eyes were like a pair of emerald jades.

Su Ming'an had once thought this was something eternally unchanging, just like her years. The Life Authority brought enviable longevity from others, yet she easily offered it up.

"I have no relatives, no true friends, no lover, no ties, and no hatred." Her forehead touched his, representing a blessing. Her eyelashes lightly brushed the edge of his pupils: "My bland life has nothing. That's why I want to die early, transition to the next reincarnation, so at least I can have some bonds... like Alice, she has a detective sir who cherishes her, a life like that, even if difficult, is at least happy."

"For me, immortality is just a torment, I can't retain anything, even the greenest child will turn to dust before my eyes, and the last person in the world with a blood relation to me has long since died."

"But for you, I can endure this torment."

"Su Ming'an. You never knew my real name, right? If I let you know, you'd probably be shocked. So, it's better to keep that anticipation."

"When I'm close to dying, I'll secretly tell you."

"If needed, take me away at any time."

"By the way, I almost forgot one thing..." she suddenly remembered, staring into his eyes as if intending to be angry about something.

...

[NPC (Chao Yan) Favorability: 100-2!]

...

She slowly moved her forehead away, revealing a smile:

"Alright."

"This way... there will be no mistakes."

...

That night, Su Ming'an stood on the bell tower, looking at a dazzling array of relics, watching for a long time.

He didn't go to find Chao Yan, nor Yuanyuan, nor see the on-the-verge-of-collapse Su Luoluo. All three of them were almost hanging at the line of death, and he never stepped onto that track.

He didn't know who else he could save, rescue had almost become his instinct. The heavy snow dyed his hair white as he casually glanced down, noticing Yuanyuan sitting on the city wall.

She too quietly gazed at the distant rolling white mountains, her whole head of black hair completely dyed white.

He closed his eyes.

...In his heart was a pain that no action could dispel.

...

Since then, Chao Yan's frailty hasn't ceased. He knocked on the door, but there was no sound for a long time. When he used the key to unlock it, he found her lying on the bed, barely able to move, like an elderly person in decline.

As for Su Luoluo, he hadn't visited her for a long time. After all, he had personally locked her up, and her episodes of madness grew increasingly prolonged. As time went by, he stopped going to see her, to prevent her from consuming herself further.

This was merely a reflection concentrated on the two of them. Such despairing circumstances were countless in the millennium plan; he just couldn't see it.

In the tenth year of the Heavenly Era, Su Ming'an heard that Su Luoluo could hardly remember anything, her rationality had been almost completely eroded.

When he entered the room dressed in protective gear, Su Luoluo was sitting on a chair, her hands and feet firmly locked by chains, resembling a monster, her skin almost entirely covered in a bluish-green sheen, her eyes vacant.

——But even the chains were locked by her own hands.

In the few moments of lucidity, she chained herself, to prevent harming others during her madness.

...She remained this way.

A coward can't accomplish much, but before retreating, she locked herself.

Su Ming'an's consciousness flickered, as he gazed at her on the chair, suddenly having a vision of the Exotic Species, locked up tight in the basement.

Their figures seemed to overlap completely at that moment…

He became the Doctor of Dao Ya City, and she the Exotic Species in the basement.

...It turned out they had reached a place of no return.

"Su Luoluo, if you want to give up, just say it." Su Ming'an stood in front of her, a meter away, still able to feel the pollution from her body.

She raised her head, her eyes a deep red.

Her first words were——

"Little Cloud… is dead, right?"

Su Ming'an's pupils contracted.

——She seemed to have mistaken him for the military that had captured her and didn't recognize him as Little Cloud. Her perception seemed to be completely disordered now.

"It's me, Little Cloud, Su Luoluo." Su Ming'an took a few steps closer, trying to touch her shoulder, but she bared her teeth in a resisting expression, like a cat with its fur bristled, refusing contact.

"You… let me see him, will you? I beg you… if it's him, he definitely would set me free, I don't want to go on like this…" She wailed, shedding tears as she pleaded: "Let me see Little Cloud, please, he'd definitely let me go…"

"I'm sorry, I was lying, I'm just a coward… I don't know if my Causality Authority is strong enough, whether it can fully construct the dream cruise game… I don't want this authority anymore, I don't want it…"

She couldn't hear voices anymore.

"We still have to watch… the sunset…" she said haltingly: "Little Cloud… save me…"

This was her only beautiful memory, as if all her obsessions were tied to it.

Blood flowed from her struggles, stained with a bluish-green hue, as if cancer cells had penetrated every drop of her blood.

His fingers trembled, almost wanting to forcibly rescue her, to make her stop constructing causality, but he remembered the promise they made at the beginning.

...

["Don't let me escape."]

...

The more she suffered, the more confused he became—like two strings tightly pressing around his neck. The more he pulled, the more she suffered.

"Mm." He answered softly. Gazing at her mad appearance, hardly recognizing the once vibrant young girl. That longing for Little Cloud, even in such mania…

He closed his eyes, almost forgetting what he was saying——

...

"...Little Cloud was killed by me."

...

Ultimately, Su Ming'an faltered.

He initially intended to turn and leave, but suddenly thought… perhaps she genuinely wanted to give up and wasn't just going mad. Because he found it hard to discern her mental state, perhaps she was truly exhausted.

He unlocked her chains, feeding her a large amount of his blood. After regaining consciousness, she stared at him in confusion until she confirmed what he had done.

"...You woke me up." She repeated the sentence.

"Mm."

"I painstakingly gathered all the malice onto myself, and you… dispelled it all." She said.

Her face showed a collapse from past efforts going to waste.

Then he suddenly realized… that she had never wavered. He was the one who faltered first.

He thought she was calling for help, but she never did. He was the first to break the promise.

Su Luoluo collapsed.

This time, it was a true collapse. She couldn't bear the pain of her efforts going to waste, and although she received redemption, what greeted her was an emptiness-like despair. Her body was already in extreme decline, and she achieved nothing.

The string of reason snapped instantly, and like a madwoman, she rushed out, with no sign of life in her eyes. He didn't know where she was headed, perhaps to a cliff, perhaps to the sea.

Now, the only thing sustaining her life was her obsession. If he took it away, she would die.

...They did so much, all just for the future, a millennium later.

However,

...Where is the future?

Su Ming'an walked alone to the rooftop, contemplating suicide to "rest for a while." Even he couldn't hold on much longer, and the only way he could think of to test it…

The torrential rain drenched his hair. He looked at the lights of the myriad homes below, took a step towards the edge of the rooftop, his eyes full of the stillness of the night.

"..."

A red umbrella was held above his head.

"Where are you going." Noel held the umbrella.

"The Ideal Country." Su Ming'an said.

"Are you too tired?"

"Mm."

"Want some strawberry cake?"

"No need."

"There's just three days left, hang in there."

"Mm."

"Do you want the umbrella?"

"No need."

A strange scene unfolded for the viewers. On the rooftop, Noel watched as Su Ming'an walked towards the edge, making no attempt to stop his "suicide." Instead, he quietly stood with the umbrella, took off his high hat, bowed, as if calmly bidding farewell to a traveler departing for a faraway land.

"Best wishes." He said softly.

A small Black spot fell in the rain,

like a Black crow in freefall, laughter echoing, as free as the wind.

Passing through the red and green festive lights, completely unobtrusive.

Lv Shu and Lu Meng, discussing below, turned their heads to see the body that had crashed into a puddle, blood splattering their shoes. They stared almost blankly, minds in a void, only later recognizing the smile on the face of flesh and blood.

Blood smeared beneath him, like a pair of wings unfurled behind his back.

From the high building, Noel dropped the red umbrella, as if bidding farewell to a nightingale flying away to distant forests.

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