Chapter 1743: Final Chapter · Across the Shore Arc [87] · "Return, Forward.
Beyond the door.
The swamp was covered in black, with skeletal claws and ghosts floating heavily. In the heart of the dead zone where even deities dared not tread, a miracle unfolded with a sea of flowers in full bloom.
A figure was crawling.
His skin was severely ulcerated, and almost everything below his knees was missing, with charred strips of cloth and shriveled black skin hanging, dragging moist traces. The muscles of his arms were shrunken and deformed, with skin tightly clinging to bone, resembling a pair of jagged skeletal claws.
Dense demonic qi hovered, making it impossible for anyone to recognize him.
—Except for the support system players who had been guarding outside the abyss, along with Qiuqiu and Xining who stood by.
"Brother Wang..." Qiuqiu’s face was full of pain, seeing Wang Xingkong crawling back, he anxiously said, "Wasn’t his mission already over? We were planning to pick him up, why is he crawling back?"
Xining thought for a moment and shouted towards the abyss:
"Wang—Xing—Kong!"
"Crawl towards us! You’re going the wrong way!!!"
Perhaps Wang Xingkong had stayed too long, his five senses completely blurred, getting the direction wrong.
Xining’s shout served as a reminder for the bewildered support system players, who promptly began to shout in unison, waving desperately:
"Over here!!"
"Brother Wang, crawl towards us!! We’re over here!!!"
"Brother Wang, can you hear us!"
"Here! Here!!"
One shout after another, voices male and female, young and old, several young men shouted until their faces turned red, exerting the same fervor as shouting DJs at internet cafes, shouting hoarse.
They stayed at the edge, witnessing Wang Xingkong as an ordinary person persist at the very center of the abyss from the first round of games all the way to the thirteenth. The transport team had thrown thousands of balls, and Wang Xingkong had thrown information into the doorway one by one. This kind of determination was terrifying. They all stood far away yet felt the terrifying wind, and none of them was not impressed with Wang Xingkong.
Even if you’re scolded every day in class, even if you fail exams, it’s at moments like this, those who stand up are the heroes.
Who would have thought such an ordinary young man could now shine so brightly, astonishing the entire world? They didn’t even know whether to feel fortunate or regretful; if it weren’t for this ordeal, no one would have seen his brilliance.
They called out desperately, yet Wang Xingkong continued crawling back.
"No, he can’t hear us!" Cocha, a support system player, shouted over ten times, his voice hoarse.
"The demonic qi is too heavy, isolating sound and sight..."
"Before, he could hear. Could it be he’s intentionally crawling back?"
"Intentionally?"
"Yeah, doesn’t he have Lin Yin’s communicator? If he went the wrong way, Lin Yin would remind him. Maybe he still wants to persist until Su Ming’an comes out."
"Good lad, such strength, a real hero, a real buddy."
"Brother Wang looks like he can’t hold on, not even for ten minutes..."
"But if he holds on for ten minutes and brings out the Number One Player, then this wave is truly invincible. Brother Wang and Brother Chen inside and out, simply heroes."
"Brother Wang! Hang in there!"
"Brother Wang! Brother Wang! Brother Wang!"
"Brother Wang, we’re all here waiting for you, brothers and sisters to take you home!"
Their address gradually changed from "Wang Xingkong" to "Brother Wang". Even Wang Xingkong didn’t realize that there was a group of people from afar who recognized him as their elder brother. This was a true acknowledgment of him and a real admiration for him.
If it were under normal circumstances, knowing he gained such a large group of skilled brother and sister players, he would have been overjoyed. What did he desire most? To be recognized, to be seen, to shine under the spotlight.
A person who died early on the Mingxi campus was now being seen by the entire world for his "potential". He realized he wasn’t just a student who suddenly died before his homework, he was a brother, a hero...
"Splash... Splash..."
Sticky, wet, painful, scorching.
Wang Xingkong could barely feel his own existence, flames licking his flesh, the pain causing his entire being to tremble uncontrollably, as if being hammered inch by inch into pieces...
The moment the Blue Mist descended, he realized something—the Blue Mist Man stood here, intending to finally seize him. He had previously reported the presence of the Blue Mist Man to Lin Yin, but from the outside no one could see this Blue Mist Man, and no one could deal with it.
The Blue Mist Man manipulated his body, crawling back little by little, stopping about five meters from the door. This was where Wang Xingkong had previously lain.
Wang Xingkong had realized what the Blue Mist Man intended to do—the Blue Mist Man wanted to mislead Su Ming’an, even setting a trap here!
"Stop...!" Wang Xingkong’s consciousness trembled with the pain.
The Blue Mist Man said faintly, "High-rank beings never care whether an ordinary person lives or dies."
"What do you mean?"
"You’ve been deceived," the Blue Mist Man said, "As long as you stay here for more than a few minutes...the residual poison of the Source Point will remain in your body. For those players favored by the World Game, this level of rejection reaction means nothing. After clearing the game, the system will help them remove it. But for you, this is a deadly weapon. You really expect an ordinary person to stand outside the Source Point unharmed? A few minutes might be okay, but this long is impossible. Otherwise, wouldn’t everyone be able to enter with Domain skills? You’ve already become hopeless."
Wang Xingkong’s body trembled.
"You’ve always been an outsider. Even if you give everything, those old men still see you as a prop... All it takes is a verbal ’great cause’ to awaken your spirit of sacrifice," said the Blue Mist Man. "Crawl out, and you die. Stay here, and you die... Giving your life for a group of humans who don’t even recognize you as life."
Wang Xingkong bit his lip, almost unable to think due to the shock of this news. After a moment he murmured, "Why didn’t you tell me earlier?"
"What obligation do I have to warn you?" The Blue Mist Man crossed his arms.
Wang Xingkong realized... That’s right, this guy is the enemy, there’s no obligation to warn me... At least now he told me the truth.
"I don’t understand..."
"This is humanity; this is human nature. They won’t care how much you love them. As long as you dare to give, you’ll become their nourishment."
"No." Wang Xingkong denied, "I don’t understand why you’re telling me this."
The Blue Mist Man suddenly stopped speaking.
Wang Xingkong felt strange; he was just an ordinary person, and once the Blue Mist Man possessed his body, there was no need to talk with him. Why say so much? Rather than mockery, it seemed more like... an explanation. To prevent him from being completely ignorant. Such a minor act of kindness seemed particularly abnormal.
It seemed as though the Blue Mist Man was rebuking him with every word, yet in truth, he was revealing the truth to him.
"Do we... know each other?" Wang Xingkong asked.
The Blue Mist Man had already started setting traps and replied indifferently, "We know each other."
... They actually knew each other! Wang Xingkong was even more puzzled. He searched through his barren memories but could not recall when he had met such a powerful being.
Impossible.
"Does it matter if it’s true or false?" The Blue Mist Man shook his head. "Just accept it, Wang Xingkong. Ordinary people should never have been in this position from the start."
Wang Xingkong felt his purple-black decaying hand aim at the core of the doorway under the control of the Blue Mist.
No!
No time to think, Wang Xingkong roared, "Get out! Give me back my body!!"
He wanted to live!
He tried hard to escape from the false campus, fought tooth and nail to stand here, endured inhuman pain, all just to survive and see the real world!
But the reality is, not only would he fail to become a hero, he would end up as a pathetic "Sinner", laying traps for Su Ming’an at the door!
Tears uncontrollably slid down his swollen purple-black cheeks. The Blue Mist Man attempted to suppress Wang Xingkong’s violent emotional upheaval. But the tears seemed like springs; once they gushed forth, they were difficult to suppress.
Wang Xingkong cried silently, yet fiercely.
He wanted to drink the soup his mother made, to hear his father say "I’m proud of you," to play games with Chen Yuhang, that brat, to see with his own eyes the moment when Brother Ming’an saves the world and everyone gathers with smiles...
But he would become the accomplice that led to Brother Ming’an’s demise and the destruction of all hope...
If the entire world refused to acknowledge his existence and did not see him, who was neither Zhai Xing person nor Luowasha person, as a brethren, Brother Ming’an was different. In Brother Ming’an’s eyes, there was no distinction of civilization, nor "those outside my clan are sure to have a different heart"; he would only thank him and view him as a friend.
He suddenly thought of something.
Perhaps it was the situation that reminded him.
There was a gun at his side waist.
...
"The gun! Take this gun!"
Flora handed a silver pistol to Yamada Machiichi, advising him, "This is a ’Spirit Body Gun’ created by Forging Master Seruo, combining the wisdom of hundreds of Mentality Series players, a Red Level equipment that, when hitting the opponent, can directly attack the soul."
Yamada Machiichi was genuinely surprised, exclaiming, "This is too powerful! Did you foresee such an occurrence before Luowasha began?"
Cyrus waved his hand, "How could we! They were forged on the spot, the United Group put in a great deal of effort, and they specially sent people over! Hundreds of them, each of us gets one, another batch is sent to the battlefield."
Yamada Machiichi was even more puzzled. Forged on the spot? How were they sent over?
...
Main God World.
Twelve hours ago, after the United Group learned the current situation, they organized a response plan immediately.
The colossal machine named the "Human Civilization Emergency Collaboration System" began operating, led by the United Group, integrating official representatives from various continental districts, top scientific research institutions, large civilian strategy groups, resource guilds, and logistics networks... Inside the elliptical main command hall, over three hundred screens lit up.
At the same time, all players registered with Master Level skills in forging or enchantment received summons, regardless of which Safe Zone they were in, gathering at the workshop within half an hour.
Through countless research experts on spiritual power, Rune Masters, Ancient Mystery Scholars, and Mentality Series players... repeated deductions and machine calculations, ten hours later, they initially planned out a targeted weapon. Named "Soul Gun" by Seruo.
A portion of Adventurer Players not involved in the eleventh instance were urgently mobilized; their task was to become couriers, and upon the first batch of "Soul Out of Body Gun" being produced in the workshop, deliver the guns into the instance.
Meanwhile, the player teams still fighting in Luowasha, such as the main guild forces and elite strategy groups, received the information. Due to their relatively stable positions, they were designated as a temporary material receiving point, responsible for the next transfer of these weapons—delivering them first to critical teams like Yamada Machiichi’s.
Since before Luowasha began, some players in the United Group had predicted the idea of "this instance having mid-stage interventions is possible," hence gathering a batch of strategic reserve teams, and specialized communication units entered the instance in stages, updating real-time status of various transportation lines.
—Like electrical signals in a neural network, this was a grand and complex, intricate collaboration involving thousands of individuals.
For a sudden catastrophe-like crisis, humanity always has a set of rapid and effective procedures. Hence, the heavy silver pistol in Yamada Machiichi’s hand... it represented the sleepless analysis of tens of thousands of analysts, the efforts of thousands of top craftsmen, and countless transporter teams, allowing these tens of guns to reach their team’s hands.
Not only guns; Yamada Machiichi also received a small metal box containing "Soul Stabilizing Potion," "Spirit Talisman"... Nobody knew if these items would indeed be useful, as the World Game couldn’t even restore spirit, perhaps these were all psychological comforts.
Next to him, Kristin said, "The United Group’s idea is to rely on top players on the front battlefield. But for this type of collective disaster, they must establish a standardized process that even ordinary players can participate in against such threats. This is... the war method of an entire civilization."
Erwin’s hoarse voice echoed, "The upper echelons of the United Group are very clear, relying solely on a few ’heroes’ won’t take civilization far. In every disaster, the pattern of response strategies must be turned into systems and tools, converted into tasks that the most ordinary people can do."
Yamada Machiichi gripped the gun tightly in his hand.
This was a collective collaboration involving millions, touching upon the limits of the gods. This small gun, weak enough to not bear a single blow, yet he grips it tightly, feeling that his hands no longer held nothing.
He looked around, atop dozens of white cranes, each player was checking the standardized silver firearms they had just received, donning talismans emitting a faint glow. No one cheered, everyone was very calm, confirming and preparing.
They all chose to return; regardless of what lay ahead, they would no longer fear.
Tight-fitting gears rotated seamlessly.
For survival.
For civilization.
"Hold tight!" Cynthia commanded softly.
The wings of the white cranes tore through the crimson rain curtain, their wing edges tinged with a tragic, dark red. Dozens of white figures carved a decisive trajectory in the sky, like fish swimming against the waterfall’s current, diving towards the crisis-ridden final act.
Beneath the Red Rain, no one remained uninvolved.
...
