【But……】

…

In his memory of Su Wensheng, Su Mingan actually remembered all the pride that was buried by Su Wensheng himself.

He remembered everything that had not been done.

A handwritten plan.

Allies contacted in person.

The rescue route of the experimental city was planned by myself.

The orange cat buried by myself.

The paulownia tree, the pencil case, the shovel, the school uniform, the letter from his father, his grandmother’s plum wine, the orange cat, its small grave, the lake where the girl jumped into, the starry sky at the bottom of the lake under the moonlight… and, a pair of eyes like his.

The light and shadow of the setting sun danced on the corridor, and the young man's black bone nails reflected the light - it didn't look like an ornament, but more like a chain that imprisoned him.

Su Mingan had an urge to use his skills, but he suppressed it, causing the calmness on his face to begin to collapse.

But Su Wensheng's transparent fingers were pressed against Su Ming'an's lips.

His eyes were sharp and firm, as if to prevent even the slightest possibility of him uttering even a single word of the invitation from the person in power.

...Why was he willing to make this decision when he was already free?

Maybe he recognized Su Mingan as the savior and wanted to help him move on. Maybe he had already betrayed the gods and could never go back to the past.

——But when he made this decision...perhaps long before he thought of these reasons.

"You smiled slightly," he curved his eyebrows, his dark pupils reflecting Su Ming'an.

Bend your fingers and clench your palms tightly.

The clouds in his pupils were dyed golden, like an oil painting, as if he wanted to remember the last beauty in his eyes.

"[Don't say anything to me,]"

“And I think,

“For this,

"[I have waited a long time.]"

"(——"Strange Birds: 42")"

These are the last words of a 19-year-old young man, a poem.

In the rosy sunset, he was so close to the Savior, so intimate, and took over the responsibility.

He finally saw the blue moonlight that he had longed for.

So he smiled slightly.

...For this,

...I have been waiting for a long time.

Too long.

…

Su Mingan's heart trembled.

…The crescent-shaped power in the palm disappeared in an instant.

The long corridor was covered by the thousands of rays of light from the setting sun. At this moment, the night slowly rolled in and covered them. Su Mingan's palm gradually turned into countless light particles, leaving no trace.

And he still maintained the posture of extending his hand, standing stiffly in place.

The rocks above fell down under the heavy weight, pressing heavily in front of Su Mingan. He didn't react and subconsciously reached out his hand -

...But he had nothing in his hands.

Tiny spots of light spread around his body, and the ten crescent-shaped marks on his palms slowly rebounded. Although he had said that he wanted to leave traces, Su Wensheng didn't use much force, and the crescent-shaped marks on his palms quickly disappeared.

His last trace seemed to have stubbornly remained for only four or five seconds.

Until Su Lin approached him and lifted the stone in front of him.

Under the stone, there was a white shirt, a bow tie, and a black bone nail. The flesh and blood body was gone.

…

…He is gone.

…

——Am I pursuing the ideal itself, or something better beyond it?

Su Mingan had long been attracted to such thoughts and could not break free. The driving force behind the forbidden journey is always ever-changing, but in the end it is often related to obsession and love.

But he could not deny that for Su Wensheng, although his ideal did not lead to a smooth path, no matter what the reason was, it would always include the latter two.

Obsession, and... passion.

When he stood under the sycamore tree holding the orange cat and looked up at the campus in the distance——

…

At that moment, what he was thinking in his heart might be the reason why he was full of awareness and would not regret it even if he died nine times.

How could a 19-year-old suddenly become so selfless to such a terrifying degree?

...How come there isn't any?

Su Mingan walked forward, clutching his earrings tightly.

He suddenly felt a sharp pain.

It turns out that the questioner and the answerer...aren't they both...

…

“Ding Dong!”

【Dacheng (Su Wensheng) TE·“No One’s Poem”】

[When I saw the spirit carrying Alice away, I thought, it’s great that the spirit didn’t take my life.]

[From now on, I am free. No matter where I go, no matter what I do, I am finally free...]

【Then I saw the despair in Su Mingan's eyes.】

【He seemed to have reached a dead end.】

[What was I thinking at that moment? Was I proud of myself because “there are things he can’t do” or was I jealous?]

[I didn’t think I had thought too much about it. Something controlled my lips and made me tell the secret—]

【The moment I looked into his eyes, I understood. 】

【I see. 】

【……I see. 】

[The reasons are still the same. ]

[——My blood is too hot, my face is too hot, and my hands move too fast.]

[… Eleven years later, after such a long time, they still made me so desperate. I rushed out again like the eight-year-old child who broke into the music classroom.]

[The eight-year-old child made himself bloody, and so did I at the age of nineteen.]

I felt a burning pain.

[Although I am still the person who can't even save the orange cat. I can't save the child, I can't save the female classmate, and I can't save myself. ]

【But I saved the Savior of Suda. 】

[Maybe, he can make everyone...]

【May your life be bright, healthy and smooth. 】

【For all eternity, forever and ever. 】

…

【This world has never killed me.】

[——I didn’t lose to it. ]

…

Su Mingan stood up.

The night was like black silk, gently embracing him and the black bone nail in his hand.

"General Qin, I..."

He slowly swept his eyes across this unfamiliar Nine Netherworld and spoke the words that Su Wensheng had exchanged his life for:

“I’m back…”

…