Chapter 1732: Chapter 76: The Reclusive Is Bound by Mortal Ties
"Brother, have a drink!" At the stone table, Ocean Angel Najasha (Tao’er) poured wine for Su Ming’an, her sea-blue hair flowing in curls, "Brother finally decided to take a break? I haven’t seen you all day, what have you been busy with today?"
"Today... too much happened." Su Ming’an brushed the peach blossoms off Li Mingyue’s sleeve.
"So can you rest now, brother?" Ocean Angel Najasha (Tao’er) squinted her eyes.
"Yes, I can." Su Ming’an nodded.
...
Ocean Angel Najasha never left Su Ming’an’s side.
When Su Ming’an allied with World Master Su Wenjun, and in the palace met Li Mingyue and Tao’er, Tao’er comforted the weary Su Ming’an, quietly entering his heart, further solidifying her image—as long as the protagonist completely believed in the existence of "Tao’er," no one would perceive her falsehood, she truly existed.
"Brother, you gained two family members, but now you’ve lost one." Ocean Angel Najasha (Tao’er) giggled, holding his arm,
"But brother, once this journey is over, you will finally be able to rest..."
...
—I am tainted, hands stained with blood, unable to become the protagonist in your eyes, so let me be the antagonist.
But if you despise me so, unwilling even to remember me as the antagonist, then let me once again become the protagonist, making me unforgettable to you.
I do not concern myself with morality, nor do I pursue the truth, do not boast of nobility, nor do I proclaim myself a hero.
I do not care about Ocean Angels or Lords of the Divine Mountain... I do not care. I do not care how high the sky is, how deep the ocean is, what lies beyond the universe, or who the Little Fortune Star might be...
Gnawing and sucking blood, killing without mercy to become the most terrifying villain. Or compassionate and charitable, becoming the most noble saint. I can become anyone. I can play any role. Whether protagonist or antagonist, I care not about the joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness of the mortal world.
Because my eyes have seen farther than anyone else, since any test is meaningless... I do not vie for divinity, nor for strength or weakness. Let me become a free-swimming fish in your eyes, reborn with the beginning of the New World.
"When I was in school, I heard Mr. Zhu talk about some tales." Ocean Angel Najasha’s long hair drifted with the texture of seaweed as He nudged him upward, chuckling softly,
"Mr. Zhu asked me, if a deity eats people, is the deity a protagonist or an antagonist? I answered, an antagonist, how can one be good after eating people?"
"However, Mr. Zhu asked again, if the deity eats people to protect more, is it a protagonist or antagonist? I hesitated."
"This question seems profoundly complex, but in truth, I already had an answer in my heart—whether others are protagonists or antagonists depends on what role I play."
"If I am the one being protected, then the deity is the protagonist. If I am the one being eaten, then the deity is the antagonist. How intuitive! Whether a person is good or bad really only depends on who is standing here to judge."
"When I first appeared before you, it happened to be my time of madness, deceived by Olivius for a long time, I smelled his scent, emotions losing control, blood covering my body. In your first impression, I was undoubtedly the indiscriminate killer, the antagonist."
"I knew well that I could no longer reverse your impression, so Tao’er appeared. She became apprentice to Li Mingyue, innocent, romantic, optimistic, healing your wounded mood, like a little sister. She is the unquestionable protagonist, doubted by no one, not even the audience."
"Because of your completely different perceptions of the two, I successfully deceived everyone’s observation, everyone thought Ocean Angel Najasha and Tao’er were two people... Look, it turns out deceiving the world is so simple, it only requires fooling you."
"I am the protagonist, and also the antagonist. From this moment, from the moment I self-expose my identity—I have left an indelible mark in your eyes, you remember me, you cannot forget me... whether you know me as Ocean Angel Najasha, Tao’er, or a unique protagonist-antagonist... I am supremely honored."
He revealed sharp teeth, his features resembling Tao’er fleetingly displaying the charm of Ocean Angel Najasha with the purity of a girl.
—He can be a saint cutting his own flesh to save others, or a great demon wielding the butcher’s knife.
—He is a girl steadfast in kindness, not taking a life, or a deity executing villagers in revenge for a friend.
—He is a butcher with bloodstained hands, killing mercilessly, deserving of hate. Yet he is also a pitiable, pure girl, dying by the villagers’ mob, deserving of gratitude.
The overlay of duality of good and evil, an "protagonist" and "antagonist" difficult to judge... This truly transcends the question of "protagonist" and "antagonist," emerging from this sandbox problem.
"Are you a protagonist or an antagonist? You have killed, you have saved, will you be a protagonist or an antagonist?"—Faced with this almost unsolvable question, Ocean Angel Najasha provided a perfect answer.
Both, and yet.
Neither, and yet.
No one can decisively determine His role, devoid of judgmental space, He transcended the dichotomy of black and white.
...
— Protagonist: "The deity’s osmanthus cake... so bitter..." Tao’er touched Ocean Angel Najasha’s hand, spoke haltingly. She swallowed the soul, extended her life, surviving the rain.
— Antagonist: "You ignorant fools..." Ocean Angel Najasha held Tao’er’s corpse, gazing at the blood and flesh on the ground, his eyes blood-red.
...
— Protagonist: "Brother, brother, you’ve gained two family members!" By the stone table, Tao’er hugged Su Ming’an’s arm, giggling.
— Antagonist: "Wait a moment, I will stop all the rains for you, take you to a place of constant sunlight, give you a dress immune to any blade or spear..." Ocean Angel Najasha returned to the seabed holding the corpse, murmuring while caressing Tao’er’s body.
...
— Protagonist: "Safe journey, brother, you will definitely win!" Under the peach blossom tree, Tao’er held Li Mingyue’s hand, waved goodbye to Su Ming’an.
— Antagonist: "I will avenge her..." Ocean Angel Najasha buried Tao’er’s body, picked up the sickle, left the seabed.
...
Two logically irreconcilable outcomes simultaneously exist in Su Ming’an’s experience, he both met a living Tao’er and witnessed Tao’er’s death. There was no reason for her to survive until the day she became Li Mingyue’s apprentice, yet he met the alive "her" before witnessing her death.
As long as it can "deceive," any situation can occur, any irrational logic can be established.
But people did not expect such a method to be employed so skillfully by an Ocean Angel, Su Ming’an himself indeed noticed the logical inconsistency, since Tao’er died in the past, why did she live in the future as Li Mingyue’s disciple? He thought it was some method of resurrection or a clone and never considered the possibility that "Ocean Angel Najasha was exploiting the rules to deceive." His viewpoint always hovered high above Luowasha, after all, perspective determines thought, but life within Luowasha... has also accomplished this.
Ocean Angel Najasha disassembled herself, weaving "good" and "evil," "life" and "death," these fundamental elements into two sets of internally consistent yet contradictory facts. One set is the tragedy of "Tao’er’s tragic death, Ocean Angel Najasha’s fall to revenge," and the other is the heartwarming tale of "Tao’er being saved, Ocean Angel Najasha sent her as an apprentice." He exploited the Luowasha world’s reliance on historical retrospection, providing two sets of historical records. When outsiders attempt to discern the truth, they fall into a logical paradox.
He knew well that Su Ming’an was the key point of this world. Therefore, He meticulously arranged the timing of interactions with Su Ming’an. Letting "Tao’er" provide comfort and support to Su Ming’an at the right moment, solidifying the "protagonist" impression, while letting "Ocean Angel Najasha" present danger and chaos before Su Ming’an, solidifying the "antagonist" impression. He ensured Su Ming’an had deeply ingrained and emotionally complex memories of both.
With this, testing Luowasha’s underlying rules. By alternately playing the extreme good and the extreme evil, dancing wildly alone, crafting a final, heart-shaking dance.
Su Ming’an once placed the Luowasha people in the "protected" position, seeing them more as support to players, like Dragon Emperor contributing combat power, High-class Race battling enemies... After all, problems unsolved for millennia by natives still needed "Saviors" players to solve. Besides, how could puppets within the Cat Box, deeply ingrained for eternity, rebel?
However, Su Wenjun, Hui Chi, Hui Bei, and Najasha... these indigenous people attempted to break out of the chessboard time and again, making Su Ming’an see that they too were dancing.
They are not just the background of this epic, nor are they lambs waiting for redemption, but are people who dance passionately alongside him.
Najasha did not do this out of some grand intention, but merely to be remembered by the protagonist, to be resurrected in the world when the dust settles. Yet, it was precisely their personal greed and desire that made their actions so impactful and captivating.
The Sea Monsters have no extraordinary strength, no hacks to escape the world, and they may never truly understand what "High Dimensions" means in their lifetime. But they grasped the underlying logic of this world—a world that can be deceived by perspectives.
The sea breeze brought forth a faint sigh.
Those alluring eyes gazed at him: "People always like to ask—are you a good person or a bad person? As if life were a single sheet of paper, black or white, and choosing wrong would lead to eternal damnation."
"But I choose neither."
"I play the kind Tao’er, sewing clothes for the deities, cooking cakes, and watching the peach blossoms with you. I also play the mad Najasha, singing loudly in the abyss. I show you two completely opposite souls, and in the end, tell you—both of them are me."
Their nails were bright red and striking:
"You cannot define me with any simple term. I possess all the virtues of a ’hero’ while committing the sins of a ’villain’... The evaluation system of ’hero and villain’ is ineffective for me. I have become a logical fallacy, a paradox..."
Their form gradually melted away, one part seemingly wanting to keep them, while the other part drove the sea currents to surge them upward.
The light above the sea lay close at hand, and faint sunlight shone into Su Ming’an’s water-laden eyes.
He saw the Sea Monsters before him begin to transform—like a black-and-white mask jumping back and forth, simultaneously manifesting as a black villain and a pure white girl.
"So, forget what that blue-eyed kid just told you. Don’t listen to nonsense like ’being born a lower life form, you’ll never score ten thousand points.’ If your highest score is one hundred points, then I, a creature of a lower dimension with whatever strength, can only score ten. But I overcame my limits a hundred times over and scored over a thousand. So, you can also break your limit a hundred times and score ten thousand points..."
Sea-blue strands brushed across the cheek, bringing a soft sensation.
A great force propelled Su Ming’an to the surface of the sea with one final effort, where the sunlight shone upon him.
The Sea Monsters scattered like stars and sand into the deep sea.
"Divine Son, we’re almost at the surface, you’re going out!" the believers raised their heads high.
Su Ming’an kept his head low, looking at the gradually disintegrating Sea Monsters below.
The shimmering sea surface, the Sea of Consciousness was slowly closing, as if a giant beast was shutting its deep blue eyes.
Amber hues fell through the sea surface into Su Ming’an’s eyes, as if someone was still holding him, singing softly.
Like decayed honey, or diluted blood, also with untamed vitality.
It was as if their laughter burst from the chest, their arms soft and cold like ocean currents, making a teeth-gritting sound of pressure, the pupils reflecting their sinister and greedy silhouette.
The slight sweetness of Tao’er osmanthus cakes, the rusty smell of the townfolk’s blood, the decay of millennia-old deep-sea silt, the burning desire to be remembered... suffocation, fullness, a sense of memory, as if infused with each breath.
"If there really is Hell in the mortal world, I will be in Hell, watching you forever..."
Their wickedness, their compassion, the different versions of them in every mirror.
This life that captivates the heart...
...
[Name: Ocean Angel Najasha]
[Identity: Supporting Role of Unknown Gender (First)]
[Height: 193]
[Weight: 75]
[Birthday: September 30]
[Food Chain Level: Extremely High]
[Relationship with Protagonist: Enemy]
[Current Character Setting Fullness: 87% (This fullness can be increased through dialogues, experiencing events, digging into backgrounds, exploring HE, etc.)]
[Current Ending: HE·Pride and Prejudice]
[Ending Rating: 82]
[The ending of "Global Crossing: Evolution of the Infinite World Tree Starting from the House Arrest Prince" has been recorded.]
...
"Splash——"
Su Ming’an broke through the sea surface, took a deep breath, and saw Chen Yuhang’s team.
Beneath the Star Sea, the currents surged.
Violet raised their shimmering wings high, protecting the boy below from the omnipresent black aura and blustering winds.
Chen Yuhang lay on the ground with eyes tightly shut, his breath faint, a dark hole in his abdomen, dried blood, and clothes dyed in black and red.
The red-haired wild wolf stood by their side, nervously on the lookout.
"Su Ming’an... is it Su Ming’an?" Violet saw the transparent Su Ming’an, eyes gleaming with joy, "They all said you were dead, but I knew you couldn’t be gone so easily. Are you alright? Can you hold on?"
"Su Ming’an." The eyes of Si Nian, who had transformed into a red wolf, lit up as if seeing hope.
Chaos fog enveloped Su Ming’an, his face shadowed with a bluish-grey hue, his heart like a vortex. Yet, he persisted: "I’m alright, what’s the situation?"
He heard Wang Xingkong saying that five people chose to come in, but now he saw only Violet, Si Nian, and Chen Yuhang. Where are Joy and Yang Changxu?
Violet coughed heavily a few times, face pale, gasping: "We tried to find the location of the Demon Mother Goddess, but without a guide, it’s too difficult. There are errant flows, broken concepts, and chaotic auras everywhere, Joy and Yang Changxu quickly fell behind, Chen Yuhang was grazed by an errant flow, and now he’s seriously injured... Luckily, I exchanged for the divinity of the ’Radiant Angel’, supporting a light barrier, barely holding on. But after Chen Yuhang fell unconscious, we couldn’t find our way forward. The Source Point is indeed not a place for beings of our level to roam freely, so we can only stop for now."
