novellk Chapter 1715 Final Chapter: Crossing the Shore [59]
Chapter 1715 Final Chapter: Crossing the Shore [59]
Chapter 1715 Final Chapter: The Crossing of the Shore [59]
Chang Yue shuddered violently, as if waking from a nightmare. She looked at the gun on the table; the silver Grim Reaper had just taken a life.
The pressure was like a tangible tide, pressing down on her from all sides. Alger's death shattered her last shred of hope.
She witnessed the scheming and psychological warfare between top players, and realized the insurmountable gap between herself and Su Ming'an. Even someone as formidable as Alger ultimately fell to Su Ming'an; what chance did she have?
Fear began to spread uncontrollably, and her hands trembled uncontrollably.
"Shoot, Miss Chang Yue," Su Ming'an's calm voice rang out.
Chang Yue couldn't calm down. She couldn't win... Even though it was a game with a lot of luck involved, she still couldn't beat the person in front of her who could create endless miracles... She had watched the live stream for too long, and she knew clearly how powerful this person was.
The image of splattered blood flashed repeatedly in her mind. Would she be like that? After the next "snap"...
"I...I shot Su Ming'an." Chang Yue's voice was barely audible, trembling with despair. Almost instinctively, she hissed, "Rotate! I'll rotate the magazine!"
She chose to leave her fate to the uncertain probability. This was her way of avoiding facing the verdict of death.
Heidi nodded. The magazine spun silently, the process seemingly endless. Finally, it stopped.
The hammer struck at position 6.
Chang Yue's face turned deathly pale, completely devoid of color.
Position 6!
This means that in the next round, the hammer will move to position 1—the position where the bullet is!
She instantly realized her predicament.
It’s over.
The thought hit her like a bucket of ice water, freezing her completely, even stopping her trembling. She stared blankly at the gun on the table, at the "6" symbolizing the end, her mind a complete blank. Alger's death was still vivid in her mind; was it going to be her turn now?
Resentment, fear, confusion, resignation... a variety of emotions clashed violently in her eyes, finally turning into a deathly silence.
My mind kept replaying the thought... If I hadn't rotated the magazine, maybe I would have had a chance to win... No, could I really have won? What if I had just played it the way it was...?
如果按部就班玩下去……阿尔杰死后，击锤顺移至2，若常悦不旋转弹仓，则会是“苏明安（2）——常悦（3）——苏明安（4）——常悦（5）——苏明安（6）——常悦（1）”的顺序。她有概率赢……
Is there really a chance of winning?
After the deceased appeared, the rules proposed by Su Ming'an became invalid, and the game returned to its original pattern.
Su Ming'an looked at her calmly. He didn't speak, but waited.
Time passed slowly, and Heididoa did not urge them, as if giving the loser a final bit of dignity.
The pallor on Chang Yue's face gradually faded, replaced by calm.
“As expected, it still doesn’t work.” She spoke softly, her hands clenched tightly. “Even Mr. Alger lost… How could an ordinary person like me possibly beat you, Mr. Su Ming’an?”
She paused, her gaze focusing on Su Ming'an's face.
“It’s my turn, isn’t it?” she asked Heididoa.
Heididoa nodded: "Yes, please carry out the order to fire."
Chang Yue reached out her hand, this time much steadyer. She fired a shot at herself, then gently placed it on the table and pushed it towards Su Ming'an.
Then, she looked at Su Ming'an with a cautious pleading look in her eyes, "Mr. Su Ming'an... before the next round... may I... have a hug?"
This request was unexpected. Su Ming'an was slightly taken aback.
“I know this request is abrupt… but I really want to… feel, very closely, what the temperature is like for someone standing at the center of the world. This might… be the closest I’ve ever come to a ‘miracle.’ Is that alright?” Her voice was soft, filled with fear and the plea of a dying person.
Su Ming stared at her quietly for a few seconds, then slowly stood up and walked around the table.
Chang Yue also hurriedly stood up, her body stiffening from nervousness.
Su Ming'an walked up to her, opened his arms, and gave her a simple and restrained hug.
Chang Yue's body stiffened at first, then slowly, little by little, relaxed. She reached out and carefully embraced Su Ming'an, her hands hovering loosely, gently resting her face on his shoulder, her hair brushing against his back. The embrace wasn't tight, carrying a restrained respect. It was like two people frozen stiff in the snow, embracing for the first and last time.
“Mr. Su Ming’an, do you know… I’ve always been watching you. From a very, very far place, through a screen, I’ve watched you and your companions fight, struggle, laugh, and cry in an incredible world… You are like a dream for all of us, a flame that refuses to be extinguished in despair.” She said softly.
"I admire you so much... I admire you for getting to where you are today, carrying so much, and still being able to keep moving forward. I also... I envy the people around you."
“I know I’m too ordinary. I don’t have Mr. Noel’s wisdom, Ms. Yueyue’s decisiveness, God Lü Shu’s focus, or Mr. Alger’s ruthlessness… I’m just the most inconspicuous one among thousands of admirers.”
"Being able to sit here and play this game with you, to think and make choices like a real player, and even... to be taken seriously by you, already feels like a dream."
“I’m going to die. This is my choice. I don’t regret coming here. After all, no one in this world cares about me anymore. Rather than slowly growing old and rotting until I’m scattered into the sea, I think it’s romantic to die for the future of the world in the universe… It’s a naive thought for young people, but that’s really what I think.”
"It's just... a bit of a shame that we won't be able to see the final ending."
"But Mr. Su Ming'an, please, you must keep going. Keep going until the end, and see that new world, okay?"
“I know that you have lost many, many people along the way… like Mr. Alger, like Mr. Mo Yan, like some companions you don’t know, like nameless people like me, and many more… Please, please don’t choose to stop just because you are carrying too much weight of life.”
"Because... if we stop, we'll have nothing left..."
Su Ming'an felt a damp heat on his shoulder.
Her tears silently soaked the fabric on his shoulder.
“Because you are Su Ming’an…” she said softly.
The name seems to carry all the weight, making one feel incredibly heavy.
"If... if there really is a new world, if there really is reincarnation, a place where souls dwell... even if I am not who I am now, even if I am just a plank on the Ship of Theseus... I hope that I can hear your story again in a better world."
"Please continue onward..."
"With everyone's regrets and expectations, and my humble blessings."
She released her grip, took a step back, looked up, and gave Su Ming'an a forced, bitter smile with tears in her eyes.
"Thank you, Mr. Su Ming'an. This hug was very warm."
"Goodbye."
After saying that, she turned around, picked up the gun on the table, and pressed the muzzle against her temple before Su Ming'an could speak or Heididoya could announce the start of the next round.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, she quickly looked in Su Ming'an's direction, as if looking behind the screen:
"Ryoko! I haven't even had a chance to see what kind of person Sasa's new owner is. I'm entrusting her to you... You'll definitely find her a warm home, right?"
"I've transferred all my boarding fees to you; it's all my leisure points. I'll make sure to help those stray dogs find good homes!"
She closed her eyes and pulled the trigger in fear.
"boom--!"
Gunshots rang out.
Chang Yue's body trembled slightly, and a small red mark appeared on her forehead. Her expression froze, and the light in her eyes quickly dimmed.
Her body slowly leaned back, slumping into the chair, as if sinking into a deep sleep from which she would never awaken again.
……
[Player Chang Yue has died. Game lost.]
[Congratulations, Su Ming'an, you are the sole survivor of this game and have won.]
……
The cold, impersonal system notification sounded again.
In the room, only Su Ming'an remained standing, along with Heidi Doya, who sat expressionlessly on the hosting platform. A faint smell of gunpowder and a heavy stench of blood filled the air.
Su Ming'an slowly lowered his arm that was holding the gun, his arm steady and without the slightest tremor.
He won.
"Congratulations on your victory. Do you have any words of celebration?" Heidi said gently.
Su Ming'an squatted down, tore off his sleeve, and wiped the bloodstains from Chang Yue's face. He then walked a few steps slowly and wiped the bloodstains from Alger's face, tidying up their clothes.
Then he stood up, wiped the blood-stained gun, and gently and slowly placed it on the table.
"Click".
A soft sound.
Heidi waited quietly until Su Ming'an stood up straight again and looked over.
"Where will she go?" Su Ming'an asked.
"Huh?" Heididoa was taken aback.
"Chang Yue, Alger... where will their bodies go?" Su Ming'an lowered his head and looked at the signature he had left on her sleeve, the words of which would become blurred with her death.
“The dead will dissipate and turn into cosmic dust; this is an eternal truth,” Heididoa said.
“Really…” Su Ming’an said. So this signature really can’t be taken back.
"Are you tired?" Heididoa suddenly changed her pronoun.
Su Ming'an slightly closed his eyelids.
“Then why not choose a more perfect ending?” Heididoa suddenly said, her watery eyes looking over. “My master has learned that you have come here, and now, He is willing to extend an invitation to you… If you nod, we will do our best to send your civilization back to a previous stage… You can turn back immediately and take all mankind into Yueyue’s chocolate dream… Or, you can choose again at the dividing line between crossing the sea and guarding the shore, and choose the latter.”
Su Ming'an opened his eyes.
"You simply can't turn back, can you? But if you were given another chance to go back to the previous [game level] and choose again, would you still cling to the path before you?" Heidi said softly, reaching out to Su Ming'an. "Come on, you've already passed eight rounds of the game, but the remaining two rounds, and even the final battle... sacrifice, death, slaughter, despair... such a tragic future is something you certainly don't want to see. Turn back, choose again—my master is willing to help you walk a happier path."
"Please, take my hand, and don't walk any further into tragedy and nothingness."
"We still have one last chance to turn back... to achieve a happy ending."
A pleading look was evident in those blue eyes.
"Please turn back."
……
[You sensed a future filled with despair and nihilism. Tianyu, Huichi, Linyi, Moyan, Alger, and Changyue… their deaths caused you profound pain.]
The person behind this is now offering you a chance to turn back. Will you take Heidi's hand, abandon your current suffering, and return to your previous path?
Even if it's something unattainable, it's still happiness, isn't it?
……
[(Entering the observation node soon.)]
[(For the possibility of shaking hands with Heidi, please return to "Endgame 1: Her and His Eden", "Endgame 2: The Last Communion", "Endgame 3: Death from the Ocean", "Endgame 4: The Guiding Light in the Universe"... anchor this as the final ending)]
Please proceed with caution...
……
“No,” Su Ming’an said resolutely, slapping Heidi’s hand away.
In an instant, it seemed as if countless possibilities shattered before his eyes, leaving only a straight road leading to a distant end.
"Bang--!!!"
Like the loud crash of shattering glass, or the sound of something being violently torn apart—[Endgame 1: Her and His Eden], [Endgame 2: The Last Communion], [Endgame 3: Death from the Ocean], [Endgame 4: The Guiding Lighthouse in the Universe]... They were not real matter, yet they seemed to shatter with his swing, their light and shadow scattering and violently shaking, like dominoes swept by a gale, breaking one after another!
Heidi's sorrowful, pleading expression froze, even showing a hint of astonishment. The shock of humanity attempting to shatter "possibility."
"—I refuse." Su Ming'an looked at Heididoya and said resolutely, "Tell your master, the Lord of Dreams—"
“His garden, His path, His choices… I don’t do them.”
"I have only ever walked this one path. There are no forks, no turning back, and no second chances offered out of charity."
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
It was as if countless fireworks exploded and shattered.
Su Ming'an did not turn around.
He stepped over the multiple-choice question, eliminating all the comfortable "what ifs".
The road no longer forks.
It only leads in one direction.
--blank.
……