[Suitable for: rituals, fasting, combining accounts, coming-of-age ceremony]
[Avoid: digging wells, visiting the sick, funerals]
The snow and wind outside the window have temporarily stopped.
Shafts of sunlight pierce through the pure white sheer curtain, seeping inside, like flowing gold sprinkled on the window frame.
Su Ming’an slowly opens his eyes and detects a faint floral fragrance in the air, seemingly accompanied by the scent of cooking. The murmurs by his ear have gradually faded away with sleep.
He raised his hand to check the system time: 4:20 PM, a good time for making New Year’s Eve dinner. He didn’t rush to go out, but instead walked to the window to glance at the sunlight outside.
The silky, sleek light poured into his pupils, delicately outlining his pale cheek.
Outside the villa windows were large expanses of flower beds, filled with roses and lilies. When the wind blew, it was like mischievous insects falling in the waves of wheat; petals brushed across the glass piece by piece as if he had an illusory vision of the only warm-toned garden in the cold City of Gods.
The metallic ring on his index finger clinked and clanked as it spoke:
"Sunlight... so good."
Su Ming’an’s fingers tightened slightly: "Hmm, if you could see it, it should look nice."
The metallic ring no longer responded; the voice was but a fleeting blossom.
Su Ming’an walked to the door, vaguely heard voices of Noel and others, but didn’t rush to push the door open.
He extended his hand and opened the world forum, wanting to take a look at human topics after the end of the Ninth World.
Rest is necessary, but one must not be out of touch with humanity.
In the world forum, a large number of posts jumped out.
[(Hot)(Pinned) United Group Meeting United Invitation Post — "Full Perfect Clear Players, this world needs you!" United Group invites all Full Perfect Clear players to participate in the meeting in the 12th server on February 10th at 20:00, to discuss the future of humanity. (Posted by: United Group Official)]
[(Hot)(Pinned) World Game 0.04 Update Announcement, Boss Rabbit has unlocked the female dress form, thanks for everyone’s love. (Posted by: Organizers)]
[(Hot) Ruined World Plot Route Full Summary — City-State Peace Line, Ta Wei Cooperation Line, Kaius Tower Destruction Line, Dawn Reboot Line, etc., a total of 238 Ruined World plot lines, 1092 Ruined World endings have all been collected — Newly added Number One Player’s deepest route "Revival of All Things"! The only storyline completely thwarting Ta Wei! As one whale falls, all things thrive, where will Yasa Acto’s myriad backup plans lead? (Posted by: United Group Hubert)]
[(Hot) "Dragon Country New Year" is being warmly celebrated, sincerely inviting Number One Player Su Ming’an to come and celebrate the New Year with family! (Posted by: Wanli Army Zhang Tao)]
[(Hot) The Mystery of Humanity’s Progress Bar at 35.2% — Despite survival numbers dropping to less than fourteen million, nearly ten times less than surviving numbers in the Seventh World, why does the progress bar not decrease but increase? "World Independence Association" Ivy League mathematician Xu Bowen has provided guidance through data comparison! (Posted by: World Independence Association Official)]
[(Hot) The appearance of "Ta Wei Symptom" makes us reflect, comparing to the billions of heroes in the Ruined World, is the mental state of Zhai Star Humans too fragile? How should we cope with the murmurs around our ears? (Posted by: Peace Dove Mutual Aid Association Official)]
[(Hot) Peak Alliance Live Broadcast Preview! As the counterpart of the "Nine Thrones at Night," we will uphold the saving spirit of people like Yasa Acto and wholeheartedly maintain human civilization, defend human order. The Number One Player as Alliance Hierarch will strive to avoid the tragedy of the Ruined World. Welcome everyone to watch the alliance formation ceremony at the time. (Posted by: Peak Alliance Lu)]
[(Hot) The contrast between Yasa Acto and Number One Player Su Ming’an, can humanity consider that Su Ming’an’s true purpose is not to dominate Zhai Xing? Regarding the contrast between the Nine Thrones at Night and Peak Alliance, can we consider that Yuanyuan, Mizushima Kawa Sora, and Eni, are unable to walk out alive from the world game?]
[(Hot) Speculations about the Tenth World — modern city? Ancient Immortal Hero? Future interstellar? Top-ranked player Flora stated: she hopes to become the Insect Race Queen Mother, experiencing indescribable joy and leading the Insect Race to destroy humanity.]
[(Hot) Boris, leader of the Dawn Sect with 23,000 believers, claimed: Compared to Noel, Su Ming’an is the chosen son of the Supreme God. Boris was reportedly the Godfather who guided Su Ming’an to adulthood.]
Su Ming’an’s finger scrolled down the posts; at first, these posts seemed quite serious, but the further he went, the stranger the topics became.
Things like "Noel Agnini actually has Han Country blood," "Laine claims to have witnessed Su Ming’an being domestically abused, the reason being the piano got wet," "Luna marrying a beautiful mature blonde woman, wedding to be held in three days," and even "Lv Shu is dead, Mu Team is actually played by the Dawn System, and returning with Su Ming’an"—such absurd guesses.
Su Ming’an clicked on a post titled [Hot - Mystery of Humanity’s Progress Bar at 35.2%].
In the post, mathematician Xu Bowen listed out the progress bar situation after the instance ended, and wrote a whole lot of formulas that Su Ming’an didn’t understand, like an old grandma’s cloth wrapping, with tens of thousands of words.
Su Ming’an dragged down, skimming past a bunch of graphs and tables, straight to the result:
[In summary, the reason for the nearly 7% rise in humanity’s progress bar is: the combat effectiveness growth of peak players, particularly Su Ming’an and Noel, whose weight far exceeds our initial estimated value.]
[Even if the third-ranked player Edward’s strength is emptied, he still does not weigh as much as the combined weight of Su Ming’an and Noel. Simply put, we should pay more attention to the combat efficiency values of the top ten, even top five, top three players, rather than other players.]
[We need to reevaluate the importance of the Number One Player.]
[Acknowledgments: ...]
"I see." Su Ming’an spoke to himself.
His combat effectiveness soared by nearly seven hundred in the Ninth World, not counting the combat efficiency increase from advancing to the Fifth Rank. And what calculates into humanity’s progress bar is: "The comprehensive value of humanity’s existing points and combat effectiveness," apparently the combat efficiency value holds considerable weight.
Meanwhile, the situation in the Ninth World was: strong players gained substantial benefits, weak players as if imprisoned—just Caius Tower and the Dawn War alone allowed only strong players to gain advantages from the battlefield; weak players basically worked like prisoners in the City of Measurement. It’s precisely the top-ranked players who harvested substantial benefits that caused the progress bar to rise instead of drop; apparently, the "weight" factor is rather important in the progress bar.
Su Ming’an clicked on the post speculating the Tenth World, where many people shared their predictions.
Among them, the highest-voted prediction was Flora’s prediction among top-ranked players. She believed the Tenth World would be an Insect Race interstellar instance.
[Flora v: Considering we’ve already experienced instances like fantasy, technology, apocalypse, interstellar instances are the most suitable type for our engagement! Whether it’s piloting a battleship to glimpse the universe, or discussing the rationality of monarchic versus alliance societies, these are good world systems. Among these, I hope the biggest boss of the faction to be the Insect Race Queen! That would prevent Su Ming’an from starting with the strongest identity!]
The very reason her topic gained such popularity was because of her last sentence.
[Avril: Why can’t he? I want to see Su Ming’an as the Insect Race Queen!]
[Su Shi: Kind of want to see it.]
[Ma Qiaoli: Although it’s immoral, I’m really curious. If the condition for a Perfect Pass is having enough Insect Soldiers, it’ll be even more interesting.]
Su Ming’an scrolled down grimly, spotting not only predictions about the insect star stargate but also several fairly reliable guesses. Some mentioned that the Tenth World might mirror the Third World, with players entering the game based on nationality. Those assigned to Dragon Country could experience ancient Immortal Hero, while Western players might encounter Witch Judgments, etc.
Some speculated that the Tenth World could be a modern city where players’ Force was frozen, relying solely on their Intelligence to pass.
Su Ming’an was browsing the posts when suddenly a cry came from outside:
The voice was shrill and at a high pitch, likely Noel’s voice.
Su Ming’an immediately pushed the door open and went out, finding the hall surprisingly empty. Only Noel’s voice echoed from the corridor:
The cry of a cuckoo pierced the silence, turning into a long-lasting lament; it’s hard to imagine what Noel faced to make such a scream even more agonizing than death.
Su Ming’an dashed towards the corridor. This villa was huge, divided into east and west halls—the west having the castle style that Su Rin favored, while the east was more conventional, housing the kitchen, living room, etc. Noel’s voice came from the east.
Crossing the passageway, there was a massive single-pane glass door ahead; Su Ming’an placed his hands on the handle and pushed——
A strange smell of meat broth hit him.
"Help! Don’t stab me! Ahhhh——"
Seeing one, two, three, four...the huge living room shockingly had nine people. By the floor-to-ceiling window, the lights of several screens emitted eerie glows, with incessant "clacking" keyboard sounds.
The air-conditioning, long table, color TV, standing cabinet... the Chinese living room resembled a hotel lobby, complete with furniture, akin to a cozy home. At the entrance where Su Ming’an entered, still fresh ink spring couplets were displayed with a pot of promisingly thriving green plants.
If one looked up, the walls had pictures and posters like: Su Ming’an and Noel at the amusement park, a photo of Lv Shu making tea, scenic images of Luna and Lu on a train excursion, and an aerial view of Pulaya, etc.
Su Ming’an entered, taking a closer look—there were eight people seated row by row on the sofa, surrounded by computers, apparently gaming.
In the kitchen stood a figure out of place, precisely Su Rin. Su Rin seemed uninterested in the activities of these eight individuals, stirring a pot of suspicious broth with ominous bubbling sounds like Cthulhu’s call.
On the table were some unfinished dumplings and dough wrappers, meat filling neatly placed aside, with several exceptionally ugly dumplings clustered together, reminiscent of Jiu Shen’s sanity-eroding slick white tendrils.
Noel was dressed in soft and fluffy attire, sitting on the sofa, frantically clicking the mouse, shouting while pressing, showing even more fear than when facing death before: "Don’t come over! Don’t come over here!!"
Beside him, Lin Yin, wearing a white butterfly bow, was furiously typing on another computer’s keyboard, frantically yelling: "I’m a good man! I really am a good man! Noel don’t run, don’t run! I won’t stab you!"
"Your credibility is 0! I don’t believe, even Lv Shu is more trustworthy than you! Lv—Lv, you died too early—" Noel shouted while rapidly clicking the mouse, his expression completely liberated. This computer game, more than the underworld’s world game, brought out his genuine smiles.
"Hey, Su Ming’an is here." The third person on the sofa looked up, Lu noticed Su Ming’an, and smiled as he greeted him: "Here? We are playing a game."
Today, everyone embraced Dragon Country attire. Even Lu wore a Tang suit under his coat, Lin Yin adorned with a flower hairpin, and Lv Shu dressed in Hanfu. Su Ming’an glanced around, except Su Rin who still wore Yun Shang City clothing.
"I thought you guys would be playing board games." Su Ming’an closed the door.
Upon hearing his voice, Lv Shu immediately looked up. His screen showed the character he controlled had already become a drifting ghost, indicating he died very early.
Beside him was Yamada Machiichi "in battle." He held a mouse in one hand, keyboard in the other, gazing vigilantly at the screen, uncertain about his suspicious conduct.
"Su Ming’an?" Luna looked up and waved towards Su Ming’an: "Nice to see you again."
"...Hm." Su Ming’an glanced at Luna, noticing her complexion was good, showing no signs of distress from losing her strength: "I’m sorry."
If he had been a bit stronger then, Luna wouldn’t have jumped off the train and died.
"It’s alright. Come over!" Luna stood up cheerfully, laughing heartily: "Come over, let me introduce you to two new friends today."
She pulled Su Ming’an closer to the sofa’s deepest side, where two familiar faces sat.
Upon seeing, one of them wore a sullen face—it was a certain blonde young master.
Seeing Su Ming’an approaching, Eni immediately raised his chin.
"Su Ming’an, come, today I will definitely defeat you!" Eni patted the empty spot beside the computer, proudly declared: "Reserved a spot for you, come on!"
Knowing defeating Su Ming’an was hopeless, he directly chose another route, attempting to "defeat the Number One Player" in the game domain.
"I have already grasped the method to defeat you, today, I am destined to win..." Eni’s eyes burned fiercely, pointing at Su Ming’an, as if facing a grand conquest.
However, his appearance today was far from intimidating, adorning a baby tiger hat with a big red flower on the shoulder, like he had just fled out of a kindergarten.
Su Ming’an glanced at Eni’s "Dragon Country attire," turning to ask Luna: "Who recommended this outfit to Eni?"
The child must have been tricked; someone with ill intentions recommended such "childish" Dragon Country attire to Eni.
Luna subtly gestured with her mouth, pointing to the smiling Lu beside her.
"Su Ming’an—come, I’ve realized the fire..." Eni shouted.
Su Ming’an waved his hand: "I’ll let you have it, you can have it."
The Fire Mystery, what an ominous thing.
He turned away, ignoring the yelling Eni, looking around, noticing a young man with white hair sitting at the table, staring intently at him.
"Su Ming’an." The white-haired youth tilted his head.
Seeing Su Ming’an, his gaze was somewhat sharp:
"My wish is—I want to make three more wishes. What about you? What wish would you make?"