Welcome to Rewind World Game-Chapter 829 - 827: "I’m here.

Dawn looked at him, its eyes with data fading away, becoming as clear as a mirror, clearly reflecting Su Ming’an.

Its illusory hand pressed on Su Ming’an’s shoulder, the perfect face inching closer—

"What do you mean by ’so that’s how it is’... what is it?" The voice was close to Su Ming’an’s ear.

Su Ming’an raised his hand and closed the live broadcast room. In an instant, the billions of eyes filled with fear, confusion, bewilderment, and dissatisfaction were isolated.

He took a few breaths, with bloodshot eyes, his face slightly flushed, an expression seemingly condensed with a ball of fire, always burning, as if even approaching would get burnt.

Following that, he slightly pulled at his lips.

"...’redeem Zhai Xing’, what kind of foolish wish is that."

He grinned.

"If Acto had said back then he wanted to rule Zhai Xing, to govern with the power of one person, would the Ruined World not have so many troubles?"

There was a taste of blood in his mouth, as if he was chewing his own flesh and blood.

He stared straight at Dawn, seeing it sigh slowly.

"If the Doctor had wished a little more selfishly back then." It said: "Perhaps... he really wouldn’t have died."

This sentence pierced like a sharp long nail into Su Ming’an’s heart.

His legs trembled for a moment, but were quickly controlled by himself to stand firm.

"The Doctor proposed the wish ’redeem Zhai Xing’ back then, however, there existed another perfect pass individual who proposed the wish ’let Zhai Xing ascend to High Dimensions’ at the time." Dawn said:

"These two wishes conflicted with each other."

"If you want to ’redeem Zhai Xing’, that implies bringing Zhai Xing’s sovereignty back to humans, the organizers and other High Dimensional forces can no longer interfere with Zhai Xing, including Ta Wei’s High Dimensional Civilization, they also cannot meddle in Zhai Xing’s affairs."

"If you want to ’let Zhai Xing ascend to High Dimensions’, that implies Zhai Xing will become part of High Dimensions, and will have myriad connections with the organizers and other High Dimensional forces."

"In a conflict of wishes, the Rules determined both the former and the latter. It retained Acto’s ’protection’, while also retaining the other person’s ’Dimensional Ascension’."

"The wish took effect."

"High Dimensional forces can invade Zhai Xing, but cannot truly meddle in Zhai Xing’s affairs, only able to incite human internal strife through indirect means—such as whispering temptations, technology deployment. Meanwhile, the other person took some of his companions and successfully ascended dimensions, completely leaving Zhai Xing to explore his utopia."

"Zhai Xing was redeemed, yet it’s as if it wasn’t."

"Humans gained the opportunity for ascension, able to hear whispers from High Dimensions, yet it’s as if ascension hadn’t occurred."

Dawn spoke to this point, the space was silent.

An origin of a battle, mixed with human nature and helplessness, between civilizations, arose slowly from its words. Simple language, yet it revealed the magnitude of past conflicts and sacrifices.

Su Ming’an finally understood why Ta Wei, with such strong power, didn’t launch a full-scale invasion of the Ruined World from the beginning—Ta Wei could have, during the first year of the catastrophe, while the Dawn System’s firewall hadn’t been established, wiped humans out, but Ta Wei didn’t do that.

—Merely restrained by Acto’s wish, they couldn’t do that.

"The ’Source of Civilization’ of the Ruined World should have belonged to both of them respectively, but after the other person successfully ascended dimensions, only the Doctor still counted as a human, thus all the ’Source of Civilization’ in the Ruined World was solely attributed to the Doctor—Doctor was the ’world’ itself." Dawn said:

"At the time, on the last day of the World Game, the organizers proposed that as long as the Doctor died, they could spare everyone and prevent other civilizations from invading."

"People at the time also thought that the ’Source of Civilization’ represented everything in the world, including longevity, wisdom, strength, the upper limit of human technology... As long as they could obtain the ’Source of Civilization’, it seemed everything could be accomplished."

"Thus, the day before the World Game ended—most people wished the Doctor would divide the ’Source of Civilization’ among everyone, they felt such a precious thing shouldn’t be concentrated in one person’s hands."

"But the ’Source of Civilization’ was already attributed to the Doctor, inseparable from him, unless the Doctor died, it couldn’t be distributed to others."

The Dawn System paused at this point.

Upon hearing this, Su Ming’an raised his hand, staring at the back of his hand. Six Perfect Pass Pattern Marks were firmly engraved on the skin of his hand, even if the skin was gouged out it couldn’t disappear.

"So—" Su Ming’an said in a low voice:

"Were they forcing Acto to die? Forcing a hero who redeemed the planet to die?"

Dawn coldly replied:

"Isn’t that precisely human nature?"

Its voice was icy, yet infused with indignation.

The white data flowed around them, 0s and 1s flashing like Morning Stars. Su Ming’an’s eyelids lowered slightly, and he set his hand down.

"Back then people said—" Dawn said:

"’Acto, if you don’t divide the Source of Civilization among everyone, it means you want to become a dictator’."

"’Acto, you clearly promised that you would bring everyone home. Now home is right in front of you, for the sake of the overall power of humanity, why won’t you give us the Source of Civilization?’"

"’Acto, the organizers have already promised, if you die, they’ll spare us, since you’re already the hero of humanity, why can’t you be a hero to the end?’"

"But the Doctor knew this couldn’t be done. What was on him was all of humanity’s ’World Origin’, apart from the other wishmaker who had already left, there was no second eligible person who could undertake this ’World Origin’, once the Doctor completely died, the Ruined World would immediately lose sovereignty."

"This was a trap pushed by the organizers, few believed the Doctor wasn’t afraid to die, but rather couldn’t die. Even if there were people standing by the Doctor’s side, there was no evidence."

Upon hearing this, Su Ming’an already imagined the situation at that time.

All the people he had personally saved pushed Acto to die together for a "promise of safety". It seemed only by dying, a hero could be eternal and deserved to be memorialized with a monument later on.

Back then, what was Acto’s mood listening to these voices?

Among these voices, there must have been private human agendas, fear of dictators. Even some people didn’t think Acto would dictate, but simply didn’t want him to live on.

Su Ming’an thought if it were him, he certainly wouldn’t show mercy to these people.

"Finally, at the moment the World Game ended, the Doctor chose to eliminate everyone’s memories related to the World Game to prevent a complete internal chaos among humans." Dawn said.

"How did he eliminate the memories?" Su Ming’an asked.

"Participants in the World Game could bring back a part of their strength from the game." Dawn said: "The Doctor’s occupation at the time was called ’Cost’, he could exchange what he already owned as ’cost’ for attribute points, skills, equipment, technology, wisdom, and abilities. This occupation, by the later stages of the game, had almost developed into an ability akin to authority."

"Sounds quite powerful." Su Ming’an said. This kind of occupation sounds like a very strong hidden occupation.

"The Doctor used a part of his own strength as a ’cost’ to erase people’s memories of the World Game. So in your memory, the Doctor’s personal combat power isn’t particularly strong," Dawn said.

"...I see." Su Ming’an recalled the figure that died under the populace’s gunfire.

His heart suddenly tightened.

Yasa Acto.

"’Cost.’

He mouthed this occupation name, feeling the weight of these two words, as if soaked in tears and blood.

After the Century Catastrophe, why were there only eight companions by Acto’s side? Did Acto have no other allies?

There must have been. Even Su Ming’an has dozens of companions now. With Acto’s charisma, there’s no way he lacked people around him.

But in the end, only eight remained by Acto’s side at night.

—Cost.

Using such an occupation as an ability, Acto must have paid costs that people could not see. Were his distant friends, who did not make it out of the World Game, also part of the ’cost’?

The journey of the story ends with only one person left. Past scenes vanished under the heavy cost. Were there those who willingly sacrificed themselves to say farewell to Acto, becoming an ’inevitable cost for civilization’?

"..."

Su Ming’an pressed his lips tightly, the light in his eyes flickering.

The weight of destiny bore down on his shoulders, pressing down little by little.

After a while, he said:

"I want to ask, why did their wishes conflict... Couldn’t they have discussed it beforehand?"

"No," Dawn said. "The Doctor tried to negotiate, but was refused. They were once good allies, but later, due to differences in ideals, they parted ways. The other chose to embrace the High Dimensions and always tried to lead all of humanity to ascend dimensions. Even on the brink of making a wish, the other was unwilling to communicate with the Doctor. The Doctor kept trying to kill the other in the end, to prevent them from wishing, but never succeeded."

"The Doctor had already seen that, no matter what, the wish to ’ascend to the High Dimensions’ was a trap. Should humanity step blindly into the domain of Ta Wei, it would mean giving up all protective measures, being consumed by the High Dimensions without restraint, losing sovereignty."

"With the Doctor’s wisdom, he long predicted the other’s wish was to ascend to the High Dimensions. The Doctor could have wished for something similar like ’I want to become a stronger being in the High Dimensions,’ which could preserve himself and even become more powerful. However, the Doctor believed he had to keep civilization’s baseline intact."

"He had to wish for something like ’redeem Zhai Xing,’ to protect Zhai Xing, ensuring its sovereignty was at least still in human hands."

"Even if it meant bearing immense pain and invasions afterward, even if he himself likely wouldn’t meet a good end."

"Even if he knew that after making this wish, he would lose the opportunity to ascend dimensions and glimpse the universe’s truths — despite his intelligence, his desire to comprehend the universe’s truths and mysteries."

"But for humanity, he gave it up. This way, at least most people would still have the chance to live on, rather than becoming sacrifices post-ascension to the High Dimensions."

"The Doctor anticipated that after making his wish, humanity would inevitably face invasions from other civilizations — so since the World Game began, he had been developing one ’back-up plan,’ using items and abilities found in various instances to continually refine it—"

"Ultimately, by the end of the first year of the catastrophe, his ’back-up plan’ was ready."

Listening to this, Su Ming’an looked up at the Dawn System: "That’s you, right?"

Dawn nodded.

Its eyes full of human-like compassion and sorrow, recalling this part of civilization’s history, it seemed to also have a soul:

"I originated from a technological instance, initially just a small wristwatch, with the lowest form of artificial intelligence."

"It was the Doctor, through his journeys across different instances, who refined and supplemented me bit by bit until I grew stronger. I gradually becoming capable of constructing virtual worlds, gradually able to create firewalls."

"Later, in the first year of the catastrophe, in the harsh winter, the Doctor placed all his abilities on me, completed my transformation, enabling me to construct a complete Two-Dimensional world."

"Finally, the Doctor activated me, using death as a cost, injecting into me the ’Source of Civilization’ he carried, activating a complete Two-Dimensional world. Subsequently, humanity was taken into the Two-Dimensional space, establishing layers of firewalls, initiating a series of simulations lasting two thousand three hundred times—"

"And then, Su Ming’an, everything you personally experienced in the ’Ruined World.’

"After winter passes, comes the warmth of spring."

The data space was silent.

The person who brought spring died in the harsh winter of the first year of catastrophe.

He originally could have smoothly ascended to the High Dimensions, even using his wish to surpass the other wishmaker, gaining anything possible. Eternal life, superior technology, immense strength...

But he voluntarily died in the harsh winter, just past the age of nineteen.

For one hundred and two years, two thousand three hundred simulations relied on the bionic body he left to constantly guard human civilization.

Su Ming’an’s heart felt as if it was weighed down by a thousand pounds, pressing down inch by inch.

The name Yasa Acto seemed to carry endless meanings, making even uttering a single syllable feel difficult. It was as if he was not calling out a person, but a monolith of civilization.

"Including the deity of Ta Wei, who was also a participant in the World Game, whose occupational ability was ’Observation,’ hence the deity’s omniscience—the deity wishes for his civilization to survive, thus aimed to strip the Ruined World’s civilization," said Dawn.

"This is the war of civilizations, Su Ming’an."

"—This is ’civilization.’"

Su Ming’an curled his lips, as if tasting blood.

—There is no such thing as Ta Wei,

—Merely different dimensions of ’Doctors’ leading their civilizations on the path to survival.

He lifted his hand, the Ring of Time reflecting names in fine silver glimmers.

His end won’t be the same as Acto’s.

Absolutely not.

"Anjiang."

At that moment, the voice of Du on his left wrist spoke softly, as if comforting him.

"Yes." Su Ming’an smiled, suppressing the long-held moisture in his eyes.

"...I’m here."

This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om