novellk Chapter 694 - Six Hundred and Ninety-One:
Chapter 694 - Six Hundred and Ninety-One:
Chapter 694: Chapter Six Hundred and Ninety-One: "Don’t Leave Me Here...Yuanyuan was real.
The shopping trip tonight was also real.
The ginkgo leaf wreath she wove was real too.
She had brought him back to the hospital, and that was real as well.
But in the end, he suddenly began to furiously condemn himself on the bed, questioning why he had left the City of Gods, like a madman having a hysterical fit.
Anyone who experiences such excessive, repetitive stress in a short period of time is very prone to breaking down. If drugs that forcibly suppress emotions are also involved, the situation worsens once the effect of the medication wears off.
Having gone through so much, the fact that he had not descended into madness was a miracle of mental fortitude.
"..." Yuanyuan watched him quietly, her eyes and eyebrows tinged with faint sorrow.
Including the fifteenth loop, he had used the Mentality Stability Elixir over one hundred and eighty times, far exceeding the normal dosage. The type of pain that surpasses human endurance, like death, could not be healed by drugs.
Yuanyuan did not speak; she simply stayed by his side until he calmed down; then she said, "Sleep now, your body hasn’t fully recovered yet."
She drew the curtains, blocking the light of the fireworks outside, and with a click, she turned off the lights inside the room, leaving only the bedside monitor faintly glowing, reflecting off the luminous ginkgo leaves.
She removed the red string from her ponytail, and her black hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall, waiting for him to fall asleep before she would leave.
Su Ming’an closed his eyes. Five minutes later, he opened them: "I can’t sleep."
He wanted to stay awake until six in the morning, at least to confirm one outcome. Otherwise, he feared that the next time he opened his eyes, he would be lying in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass of the City of Gods corridor again, facing the endless cold winds and snow—signifying that the last route to save her had also failed.
This meant that he could no longer save her.
If he had to consider her side of things, then Red-eyed Noel, then Yamada Machiichi... and the millions of soldiers and civilians on the battlefield... he couldn’t look after them. He had left the City of Gods, and the nuclear explosion couldn’t be stopped.
"Lin Guang does not want you to die, so now that you are outside, he definitely will not launch the nuclear bomb," Yuanyuan said. "You must believe that nothing will happen at six in the morning."
"Then let’s talk until dawn," Su Ming’an said.
"Hmm... I want to hear you finish the novel you didn’t complete before..." Yuanyuan said.
Just like when they stayed up during New Year’s in their childhood, they chatted from north to south, talking about the World Replica, their experiences over these four months, and their aspirations for the future.
Both were aware that six in the morning represented a moment of life and death; neither slept that night. He leaned back on the bed, she sat on the edge, and their trivial conversations swept through like a breeze, brushing past the ginkgo leaves, attempting to make up for the decades she spent in the replica world.
They talked until it was nearly six, the edge of the sky gradually rippling with the coming dawn, and the faint morning light spilled through the window, casting its rays inside through the curtain.
As if to witness this touching miracle of night turning into day, Yuanyuan stopped talking and silently stared outside the window.
In an unknown small city far away, they didn’t know the front-line situation, nor did they know whether the nuclear bomb capable of destroying the whole world would go off; they simply quietly watched the beautiful dawn slowly ascending, as if to hand over a bright and splendid future to this beautiful human world.
"Click."
The second hand moved, and it was six o’clock in the morning, the anticipated time for the nuclear bomb to be launched.
At this moment, it seemed as if everyone had stopped breathing, facing an unknown fate, not knowing if they would be annihilated in the blast of the entire world.
However, at this moment, Su Ming’an did not hear a roaring sound, nor did he see the orange-red flames or mushroom clouds that destroy everything; he still lay in the pure white hospital room, and nothing happened.
"We succeeded."
Tears slid down Yuanyuan’s face as she clenched his hand.
Lin Guang had chosen not to launch the nuclear bomb; at this moment, the world had not perished.
"... We succeeded?"
Su Ming’an still felt an unreal sensation; he had teleported on the sixteenth loop to rescue Yuanyuan because he knew that this path was almost impossible.
"We succeeded! Ming’an! Six o’clock has passed, we have seen the dawn!" Yuanyuan gripped his hand.
This time, unlike the night that was like a farewell blessing, her face showed genuine joy.
Su Ming’an quickly regained his composure: "Let’s leave here immediately, don’t stay too long, just in case Lin Guang has a backup plan."
"I sat all night and now my legs are numb, I can’t walk, can I sit in your wheelchair?" Yuanyuan reached out her hand, her legs had gone numb from sitting.
Su Ming’an pulled her up, her bones slightly stiff, and he placed her in the wheelchair; with a whoosh, they rushed out of the hospital window, surging into the sky.
The dawn lifted the night’s light veil, breathing out a brilliant morning. The girl’s black hair lifted with the wind, her robe fluttering lightly behind her like the wings of a dove.
Like two birds, they dashed toward freedom, with the world around them seeming inverted.
Su Ming’an wanted to take her to a safe place and then return to the dangerous frontline himself.
"Why do you think Lin Guang initiated a nuclear explosion?" they discussed as they circled around in the air through this instance.
"Lin Guang said everything he did was to pave the way for me, but I can’t understand why launching a nuclear explosion would pave the way for me," Su Ming’an said.
"Do you still not think he is Lv Shu?"
"Even if I feel that way in my heart, I still respect an independent entity. In my eyes, he is just Lin Guang," Su Ming’an said.
"Hmm..." Yuanyuan thought for a moment, "Look on the bright side, maybe Lv Shu has been roasting sweet potatoes somewhere all this time."
Su Ming’an smiled, "I hope so."
Scenery swept past the speeding wheelchair; this was an aerial journey. A moment later, Yuanyuan swayed her head slightly and sang:
"You are the beginning of faith, the end of a poem, the conclusion of a fairy tale~
"You are the miracle that’s meant to be~ you are how beautiful the moonlight is~
"You are the gift Santa Claus gives to a good child~"
This cycle, she bore no burns or bloodstains, pure as if newly born. He had finally saved her completely.
Her singing soared through the sky, with the wheelchair heading towards the edge of the world, almost like a Pegasus flying into a fairy tale.
"The scenery is so beautiful..." she stretched her arms wide and raised her head high.
The scenery of the ruined world was a view Zhai Xing had never experienced. There were ponds rising with vitality, mountains shimmering like amber, and colorful fireflies flickering through the mist... At this moment, his mind felt serene, and every sight in the world appeared beautifully colorful.
As if to cast everything away, his mind was for the moment free from the lingering mission tab that had haunted him for four months; only her melodious singing remained.
Only at this moment did he truly feel alive.
"You are the adventure across thousands of waters and mountains, the waypoint I was
He wanted to be with her.
He wanted to live on with her.
"..."
"..."
—But why did he have to bear her wraith?
—But why did he have to become her tomb?
"..."
His hand holding her phalanges trembled uncontrollably; her body lay before him in the sixteenth loop, no loop more tragic than the present.
"I’m sorry."
He had tried his best.
He had even thought for a moment that he had succeeded.
The word he spoke was so obscure, as if a sharp knife was tearing at his soul.
There was no echo.
The charred bones sat quietly in the wheelchair, just as she had still waited by his bed until six in the morning.
He didn’t want to be strong anymore, he wanted to say he had always been in pain, his whole body terribly hot as if being roasted on a fire, his throat excruciatingly painful as if it was being torn apart, his nerves in his brain nearly shredded... he had never felt any peace from the beginning to end, through all sixteen loops, even though a hundred and eighty doses of medication constantly tormented his soul...
But she couldn’t hear anymore...
But no one could hear anymore...
"Step."
A footstep landed.
As piercing as a steel needle.
In the flickering flames, Bi with black hair and green eyes, accompanied by a massive data stream, arrived next to Su Ming’an, the blade pressed against his throat.
"Complete mental collapse, you have been fully invaded, Lewis," Bi looked down slightly: "As per the contract, I am here to take you away."
Su Ming’an raised his head:
"360 Security Guard, you’ve arrived..."
"Huh? I’ve told you, I’m not your so-called 360, whatever that is..." Bi was about to curse more.
But she quickly stopped.
Between the silver-reflected blade,
...she saw him crying.
"I’m sorry..." Bi said. She felt she shouldn’t have been so harsh in tone.
And he, holding the bones in his arms, frantically apologized with her:
"I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry..."
The Ruined World was too cold.
Don’t leave her here.
"..."
Bi silently watched him apologize, tucking a fallen gingko leaf into the palm of his hand.
"There, don’t cry now." She touched his head: "It’s okay..."