CHAPTER 1034: CHAPTER 1031: BORN WINNER

Su Ming’an immediately rewound, the events of the eleventh loop were already completed. Whether it was all the talismans mastered by the State Preceptor or the revival conditions of the Exotic Species King, he remembered them clearly.

A moist breeze blew by the sea as he opened his eyes to see a pure white figure standing beside him.

—The deity immediately grabbed Su Ming’an’s wrist firmly.

"Why can you remember the previous things... there’s no reason, no explanation..." The deity realized that Su Ming’an retained his memory.

... Was it Little Su’s rewind that got triggered?

Su Ming’an didn’t care; he was too lazy to even answer the deity’s question. With Chao Yan’s help, he triggered the rewind once more.

...

[Su Ming’an Death Rebound: By the seaside, 3 PM. (This critical time point has been rewound: 5 times (before seeing the Prophecy Stone Wall) + 9 times (after seeing the Prophecy Stone Wall))]

...

This time, what was triggered was his own death rewind.

The waves splashed on his shoes as Su Ming’an stood in the evening breeze, time appearing to him like a long river flowing backward.

"...Which time is this?" someone arrived as expected.

Su Ming’an turned his head and smiled: "The first time."

"What do you plan to do next?" Su Wensheng said, "This place isn’t safe, you’re close to the deity’s territory and by the seaside, there’s nowhere for you to run."

Even if Su Ming’an knew the revival conditions of the Exotic Species King, it was still too late. Unless Su Ming’an stayed away from the Prophecy Stone Wall, the deity would come to capture him.

"There’s definitely a chance to escape." Su Ming’an smiled slightly, "Help me out, would you?"

In the brief exchange of glances, Su Wensheng immediately understood Su Ming’an’s intention.

"Which one do you like...?" Su Wensheng raised an eyebrow.

"The less painful one." Su Ming’an replied.

A dull, penetrating sound was heard as Su Wensheng’s hand pierced through Su Ming’an’s chest, blood dripping onto the yellow sand, washing into a faint pink tint by the waves.

The black earring reflected fragmented light as Su Wensheng laughed, "Sorry, I didn’t bring a weapon, hope you understand."

Su Ming’an spat out a few mouthfuls of blood, gazing at the horizon where the seawater met the sky in a luminescent blue, so beautiful it cleared his mood like clouds parting to reveal the sun.

"It’s... fine."

He soon fell.

...

[Little Su Rewind: Last night, 11 PM. (This critical time point has been rewound: 1 time.)]

...

Su Ming’an opened his eyes.

He sat in the inner room of a chapel, vibrant flowers by the bedside. Blue moonlight spilled through the window, adorning his eyes. He covered his face and laughed softly.

"..."

Ever since knowing about Little Su Rewind — he had thought of an interesting method to break the situation.

It was known that a rewind could only return to a specific critical time point. No matter how many times he rewound within a period, it would only return to the same critical time point.

However, the critical time points of the two rewinds were not overlapping; his own death rewind was at 3 PM, and Little Su’s rewind at 4 PM.

Suppose — he triggered Little Su’s rewind after 4 PM, then he would return to 4 PM. If he triggered his own death rewind, he’d return to 3 PM. No matter how many times he triggered his death rewind, it would always return to 3 PM, seemingly blocked because the deadlock’s key point was — even if it was Su Ming’an’s rewind, it would just be one hour early, not enough to change anything.

— But, if at that point, he triggered one more Little Su Rewind.

At this time, it was 3 PM. And the critical time point for Little Su Rewind was 4 PM. The rewind could only go back in time, couldn’t lead to the future, so since the "4 PM" critical time point hadn’t been reached yet, the Little Su Rewind would have to flow upstream — until it found the previous critical time point.

That is — an earlier time point.

Looking now — it was 11 PM the previous night, when he was sleeping in the chapel. That is — in the safest place, Dao Ya City.

As long as he stayed away from the sea, away from the deity’s location, he wouldn’t be forced to approach the Prophecy Stone Wall and could figure out how to fulfill the Exotic Species King’s revival conditions.

That was the solution he had thought of early on — [Alternating Rewind]. Like a torch in the hand of a Fire Transmitter, as long as he returned before a critical time point, he could flow back to the previous critical time point.

"But there’s an additional danger..." Su Ming’an stared at the door.

With a "bang!," the door swung open.

With cold eyes, Li Mingyue burst in, waving his hand as the fragrance of the flowers became intense.

— Because this was Little Su Rewind, the deity must know that Su Ming’an had returned from the eighth day to the seventh day. The deity would likely block him here.

But the deity wouldn’t know that Su Ming’an had already seen the Prophecy Stone Wall because his own 3 PM rewind had already overwritten the deity’s memory. The deity would only think that Su Ming’an was suddenly killed by Su Wensheng at the seaside at 3 PM, returning to the seventh day. This would be enough to make the deity feel something was off.

Amid the intoxicating scent of flowers, Su Ming’an saw a figure.

— Mizushima Kawa Sora.

When the deity felt something was amiss, he would summon all forces, trying to initiate a world reset. Unable to kill Su Ming’an himself, he called Mizushima Kawa Sora.

"Do I really have to capture Su Ming’an?" Mizushima Kawa Sora burst through the window, standing among the shattered glass, gazing at Su Ming’an on the bed, full of hesitation. It was an order from the deity, but she didn’t want to act.

"Control him—take action!" said the deity.

A flash of the black blade, Mizushima Kawa Sora gritted her teeth, as a sharp black light shot towards Su Ming’an, but Su Ming’an was one step ahead, jabbing his temple with annhilation.

Under the shocked eyes of the deity and Mizushima Kawa Sora, Su Ming’an fell.

...

[Su Ming’an Death Rebound: By the seaside, 3 PM. (This critical time point has been rewound: 5 times (before seeing the Prophecy Stone Wall) + 10 times (after seeing the Prophecy Stone Wall))]

...

The sea breeze lifted Su Ming’an’s black hair as he stared at the waves before him and sighed.

... As expected.

"The ’real time’ is the most crucial river."

If we set "3 PM on the eighth day" as a key time point, labeled as Time Point A, the time outside the instance should be "the thirty-first day since the Tenth World opened."

If he uses Little Su’s rewind to return to an earlier time, "11 PM on the seventh day", labeled as Time Point B, the time outside the instance does not reset with Little Su’s rewind but continues to progress normally, gradually reaching "the thirty-second day since the Tenth World opened."

However, his Death Rebound overrides everything. It does not consider the time within the Tenth World; it only looks at the time outside the instance, meaning—it solely takes into account the factor of "real time."

When Su Ming’an triggers his Death Rebound at Time Point B, he will not rewind to a key time point earlier than "11 PM on the seventh day" like Alternating Rewind, but will only return to "3 PM on the eighth day," Time Point A. For the time outside the instance, he is going from "the thirty-second day since the Tenth World opened" back to "the thirty-first day since the Tenth World opened." If he could trace back to similar earlier time points like "the sixth day" or "the fifth day," it wouldn’t be compatible with "real time," not matching Su Ming’an’s Death Rebound when his positional rank is highest.

Therefore, [Alternating Rewind] only applies in one situation—the key time point of Su Ming’an’s Death Rebound is before the key time point of Little Su’s rewind.

Only in this situation can Alternating Rewind be used to return to an earlier time point. If Su Ming’an’s Death Rebound key time point is after Little Su’s rewind key time point, then no matter how the rewind is triggered, it will not move forward.

After contemplating for a moment, Su Ming’an once again has Su Wensheng kill him to trigger Little Su’s rewind.

...

[Little Su Rewind: 11 PM. (Number of rewinds at this key time point: 2 times.)]

...

The blue moonlight sprinkled on his eyelids, and the flowers in the chapel exude a rich fragrance. At the moment Su Ming’an opened his eyes, he got up and dashed. He couldn’t let the deities block the exit.

"—Hold him down."

The voice of the deities came from behind, followed by Mizushima Kawa Sora’s pursuit.

The sound of clashing metal echoed from the air. Su Ming’an raised his hand, and the Sword of Yarman blocked Mizushima Kawa Sora’s blade edge, black hues spreading rapidly over her blade edge.

"Swish!"

A light sound, and a dark shadow appeared on the ground, stabbing directly at Su Ming’an’s calf—this was Mizushima Kawa Sora’s skill, Shadow Summoning.

She excelled in darkness, annihilation, and shadow. Extreme destruction, extreme dissolution.

Spatial cross lights appeared, and Su Ming’an stepped onto the mechanics roulette. The shimmering moonlight intertwined in their vision like a cold icy blade. Mizushima Kawa Sora’s pale complexion reflected under the moonlight, pupils as alert as a cat, fixated intently on him.

The crystal crown on her head was too dazzling. The golden arc pendant flying around her neck was equally brilliant. She had long agreed to become the Goddess of the deities, and her presence was immensely powerful, like a towering mountain.

Shadows appeared faintly in the sky—Bluebird held a long bow, standing behind the clouds. Xue Qixia held a sniper rifle, aiming at Su Ming’an. Bivis held a long sword, standing on a flying craft. Several other figures, their wings spread, floated above, watching this side with tiger-like vigilance.

Raging flames burned before Su Ming’an, and the sword in Mizushima Kawa Sora’s hand was engraved with patterns praising the deities, her gaze shrouded in a murky shadow.

"Why," Su Ming’an said.

...Why listen to the deities. You are so perceptive, can you not sense that this is very likely a trap?

Mizushima Kawa Sora’s face remained calm, her gaze half-resentful, half-helpless, staring at Su Ming’an.

Below, more people gathered, including students from the chapel, soldiers from Dao Ya City, teachers from the school, and Lv Shu rushing over in a hurry... They gazed towards the grand battle in the sky.

"—Su Ming’an! I’ll call Yamada and the others to come help you!" Lv Shu shouted from below.

Su Ming’an had no time to respond to Lv Shu, focusing intently on Mizushima Kawa Sora. She had become a lackey of the deities, her strength vastly different from before.

"Tell me... why. Tell me, why should I become the Goddess." Mizushima Kawa Sora spoke slowly.

"Because the deities showed you someone very much like your sister. You just thought—in this vast universe, you found her again?" Su Ming’an said.

"Ha... Hahaha... Is that right? Is that what you think? Yes, that’s what you should think—you... think I’m a selfish person—"

Bitter laughter, hysterical laughter, helpless laughter.

Her laughter burst forth abruptly, sharp and bright, making Su Ming’an recall Mizushima Haru’s last despairing laugh in the rain that night. What they shared was—a nearly identical gaze.

Mizushima Kawa Sora raised her sword blade high as tears streamed down from her eyes:

"—Because there’s no Original of mine in the Ninth World—don’t you understand?!"

Su Ming’an gripped the sword hilt tightly.

He felt a fine rain on his face.

"Every time—every time I see your starting position so high—do you know how I feel?" Mizushima Kawa Sora closed her eyes. "Every time—seeing you possessing such a formidable ability—even—an unparalleled rewind ability—do you know how that feels for me?"

Her bitter smile, too, was like the endless fine rain.

"Why does Destiny judge me so, declaring my end even before I’ve finished the World Game—declaring that I can’t live past the end of the World Game? Why does Destiny refuse to show me my Original? Why does it take away my only family? Why am I to be born into the world as the ’Goddess’ and not the ’Old God’?"

"You think I wanted to be part of the deities, huh? But if I don’t become this ’Goddess’, what do I face—what do I use to face you, someone born as an ’Old God’? What do I use to complete the Main Quest? This game—"

"Su Ming’an."

Up until this moment, her bitter smile faded away, her voice suddenly calmed, her expression as cold as ice.

"You are a natural winner."

"If I were the ’Old God’, if I were ’Su Shaoqing’, if I were the ’Detective’, if I were ’Su Wensheng’—I wouldn’t lose to you."

"It’s the game mechanics that decided my defeat, forcing me to resort to all kinds of despicable means to reach your level, so in your eyes, I became the ’despicable one.’"

Su Ming’an slowly raised his sword blade.

"Rewind," Mizushima Kawa Sora chuckled bitterly. "Rewind... you have that kind of ability. Every time, even if I achieve something, all you need to do is rewind, and it’ll be erased. Even what I’m saying now will be erased... So, I never plan to win against you, there’s no need, and it’s not possible. You should be the one who wins in the end."

Once again, she gave that despairing laugh.

Su Ming’an lowered his eyes.

Her perception was already distorted.

She had mistakenly thought that the rewind on Su Ming’an, Little Su’s rewind... was the highest positional rank rewind.

"You will regret it if you become me," Su Ming’an said.

"I won’t," Mizushima Kawa Sora said resolutely.

Su Ming’an only shook his head: "I’ve witnessed that despair alone."

He gazed at Mizushima Kawa Sora, "Let’s make a deal."