Su Ming'an did not approach Noel, only watched from afar.

Regardless of whether Dieying is related to Noel or not, Dieying will certainly be keeping an eye on Noel. Unless necessary, Su Ming'an doesn't plan to exchange pleasantries with Noel to avoid alerting Dieying.

"Su Ming'an, it's been fifteen years... You've been gone for fifteen years..." Noel said to himself, sorrowfully:

"Go peacefully... It's a pity for the journey we walked together in those years, those smiles of ours, and now I can only look back alone..."

"Lv Shu doesn't know where he's gone, probably to practice with his sword again... Ever since you left, he seems to have become a different person, more focused on his swordsmanship. Perhaps he's mourning you with silence and solitude... I'll take good care of myself, and I'll guard our memories..."

Watching Noel getting into his performance, Su Ming'an walked away with peace of mind.

Su Ming'an walked down the spiral staircase of the Old Divine Palace, the Deity was reading a collection of poems. Under the lamp, the silver hair flowed with a warm hue, and the expression was very focused.

"The Collection of Flying Birds? So you also have an artistic cell." Su Ming'an removed the Spatial Concealment.

The Deity had foreseen Su Ming'an's arrival and put down the poetry collection, looking at him calmly: "You're back, now it's vacation time. Congratulations, Su Ming'an."

"Collecting 'Good'... is it to enjoy life?" Su Ming'an said.

"Yes. You've raised your 'Positional Rank' by passing the Dream Tour Game, essentially increasing your spirit threshold, gathering the Source scattered across various eras. Do you remember your Occupation?" The Deity said.

"Ah..." Su Ming'an remembered.

Whether it's "Bai Shen" or "Hundred Gods", he improved his occupation skills by relying on "Skill Points". And the method of obtaining "Skill Points" — was by doing good or doing evil.

It turns out, starting from the Second World, he had already embarked on the emotional path of collecting "Good" and "Evil". This is indeed the fundamental power system of the World Game.

"The malice accumulated over a thousand years will far exceed your imagination. So, you must seize this thousand-year time, do your best to increase your spirit threshold, ensuring that at the moment of confronting evil... you don't collapse." The Deity said.

At this time, the curtain was lifted, and a young girl walked out, holding a chocolate stick in her mouth.

"In the eyes of the player, except for certain critical time nodes, most of the thousand years will pass quickly, and you won't be able to grasp every minute and second. But for a local person like Yuanyuan, the flow of time is normal, and she can help manage your behavior." The Deity said.

Su Ming'an understood what this mechanism was. Just like when he was talking to the Deity, which is a critical time node, the time he perceives is at normal speed. But if he enters the thousand-year vacation period, most of the time he cannot experience it in detail.

Simply put, it's like... dreaming.

When people dream, they feel that the things they experience are very real, they might even dream a lifetime, as if a long time has passed. But upon waking up, they realize that only half an hour has passed. For a player like Su Ming'an, it's equivalent to having a thousand-year-long dream which, in reality, only takes two or three days.

But for Yuanyuan...

She is a local resident, and she will truly live through the thousand years. Every minute, every second, to her, is a real life.

"...Now, I really can't calculate your age anymore." He said with a wry smile.

His three days are equivalent to her thousand years. Their perception of time is even different.

It's almost equivalent to... a mayfly and a ginkgo.

Yuanyuan smiled, smoothing her eyebrows, with a vibrant emotion in her eyes: "It doesn't matter, nothing has changed all along."

Except for the initial sacrifice, which turned Yuanyuan from a blank slate into an independent girl, Su Ming'an never felt any change in Yuanyuan. From the Third World to now, time left no trace on her.

Every time, Su Ming'an could recognize her at a glance.

Although she had experienced long years, she still remained vibrant like a sunrise, living a new and youthful life every time, still full of hope, like a girl.

In contrast, having been less than a year, Su Ming'an had undergone tremendous changes, as if his heart has become desolate.

"The flow of time above the starry sky is very slow, Dieying hasn't discovered that you've escaped yet. Go on your vacation, and don't interact too much with acquaintances, it shouldn't alarm Dieying." The Deity flipped open the poetry collection again.

"Where is Su Luoluo?" Su Ming'an asked.

"She continued to travel five years ago, very safely." The Deity said.

"What about Chao Yan?" Su Ming'an did not believe that Chao Yan would die, a perfect pass did not show failure.

"Don't worry, she did not die. She's in... a very distant place." The Deity said: "At the last moment of her life, she made a transaction with me, giving the Life Authority to Yuanyuan. Then, her soul found a safe place to sleep, her body preserved on the sacred tree."

"What transaction did she make?"

"If you cannot live a happy life, she'll be your backup... You don't need to inquire further, if the chance arises, you will know." The Deity said.

Su Ming'an still wanted to ask, but the Deity's figure disappeared.

He understood the reason for the vibrant energy in Yuanyuan... Chao Yan had given the Life Authority to her.

Without consulting Su Ming'an and Yuanyuan, Chao Yan resolutely... gave away the Life Authority. Otherwise, even if her lifespan was short, she could still extend her life by absorbing Energy. It was her own choice... to never choose to absorb other people's life from the start to finish.

She didn't even say goodbye, disappearing silently.

"—Deity, have we really... changed destiny? Are we still in the Third Tower?" Su Ming'an shouted into the empty corner. He still didn't know the truth of the thousand years.

After a moment of silence, the Deity's voice came from somewhere unknown:

"The world has thousands of possibilities, thousands of futures."

"I have simulated these thousands of possibilities, seen these thousands of futures."

"The result is, in 99.999% of the possibilities, civilization leads to destruction. Only two or three kinds of possibilities could successfully resist the invasion of Dieying. The higher probability of success is only one possibility."

"My Observation for a thousand years later is the only probable possibility — if civilization wants to survive a thousand more years, we have only this one path to take. Therefore, the Observation for a thousand years later will definitely achieve one-hundred-percent, even if there are slight deviations, it will not deviate from the main path. Because once this possibility is not realized, civilization cannot continue for a thousand years, and the concept of 'a thousand years later' doesn't exist. There's no premise condition of 'the first day of the instance, Su Ming'an opens his eyes in Dao Ya City a thousand years later', the premise of entering the Tenth World doesn't exist."

"It's not that there are no other futures, but the other futures can only lead to destruction."

"Rather than saying we are simulating the future, it's more that we are continuously searching among countless paths of destruction for the only viable 'possibility'."

"In the year 0 of the Heavenly Era, you used the Time authority to finalize the only 'possibility' I observed, making it an inevitably occurring reality. At that moment of finalization, everything had happened. Time is not truly linear for us; it depends on Authority."

"So from this perspective, you could say... we didn't change Destiny, we just allowed the 'possibility' of this only path to survival to occur."

"But you could also say... we changed Destiny. Because you eliminated countless other paths to Destruction."

"The probability of Civilizational Destruction approaches infinitely close to 100%, the probability of Civilizational survival infinitely close to 0%."

"But as long as that one path was observed by us, finalized by you—0% would instantly become 100%. Those remaining millions of possibilities for Destruction would disappear at the moment of finalization."

"As for The Third Tower, it was a trap embedded by Dieying during observation. I originally wanted to call you back, but Dieying interjected, trying to force you into becoming a god. Thankfully, you avoided it."

"So, [Did I kill Destiny]—this question depends on your subjective cognition."

"Do you think—it's your finalization that caused a change in the Destiny originally leading to the Destruction of The World of Old Days, you changed Destiny."

"Or do you believe—from the moment you opened your eyes, you were in the possibility that 'The World of Old Days was destined to survive,' so you inevitably finalized this possibility. Therefore, you didn't change Destiny."

"This depends on your thoughts."

"'Kill Destiny,' in itself, is a false proposition. When you wish to 'kill Destiny'... isn't it also a Destiny named 'I must kill Destiny as per the task'?"

"Su Ming'an."

"—[Destiny cannot truly be killed; it objectively exists forever. The only thing that can 'kill' it is your thoughts]."

...

Su Ming'an's pupils narrowed.

He suddenly understood everything... He had inverted causality.

A thousand years later is a simulation, but it can also not be considered a simulation. It is a reality that will occur at 100%. Because if it doesn't happen, then civilization could not lead to 'a thousand years later,' it would lead to the abyss, perish in some year, and thus the concept of 'a thousand years later' would not exist at all.

—It's not that before the start of the Tenth World, deities had completely simulated the actions of him and the players.

—It was first the actions of him and the players in the Tenth World that made deities confirm that this possibility of a thousand years later could be fully established, completing a thousand-year connection, thus making this simulation a reality.

Su Ming'an walked out the best ending. Without those Fire Transmitter and Resisters, he would not have obtained Heart's Blood and Soul Ferry, embarked on the road of resistance, he might calmly stay twenty days a thousand years later. Deities would arrange everything. The one using Time authority in the end would not be Su Ming'an, but the Old God himself passing through the Fourth World Game a thousand years ago.

The one finally responsible for retrieving General Qin's Life Hard Drive would also be someone else. Of course, compared to Su Ming'an doing these things, it would entail a great deal of sacrifice, far more than now, but it would still be a path to survival.

Mainly the path does not change, but the details can deviate.

So, prior to opening "The Third Tower," they would say [Players cannot change history a thousand years ago].

—Because this is fundamentally not considered history, but a sort of future.

During Su Ming'an's contemplation, Yuanyuan is biting on a chocolate stick, crunching.

"Sweet." Chocolate stick handed to his face, Yuanyuan's lips coated in cream: "It helps thinking."

Su Ming'an bit into it, both biting their respective chocolate sticks, crunching together.

"...So, it's me who took the place of the Old God. Even if I didn't exist, the Old God would do all of this in my stead." Su Ming'an bites on the chocolate stick. "Then... why did the Old God suddenly disappear?"

This is the only doubt.

According to the original plan, Su Ming'an should have leisurely vacationed a thousand years later, enjoying the hot springs and concerts prepared by deities. Meanwhile, the Old God from a thousand years ago partakes in the Fourth World Game, gaining Time authority, finalizing the lone possibility, doing what Su Ming'an is doing now.

Su Ming'an defied deity's arrangements, achieving all faster and better, returning a thousand years ago, replacing everything of the Old God. So, where did the Old God go?

Deity's voice carried a faint smile: "This answer, go find yourself."

Su Ming'an contemplated: "Could the Old God possibly be you?"

Deity neither affirmed nor denied.

"Deity." Su Ming'an bites on the chocolate stick, asking seriously: "You are indeed very powerful; you can simulate a path of survival for civilization. But why couldn't you simulate that I would resist you? If you told me these things from the beginning, maybe there wouldn't be so many upheavals between us…"

In retrospect, to reach this point, everything had to occur, not a single thing was meaningless. Deity couldn't predict that Su Ming'an would be so determined; He wanted to preserve Su Ming'an in the Civilization Gambling Pact, not wanting him to expose Authority, thus had to prevent him from going further. Su Ming'an would never heed deity to slack off; he would still attempt to complete the plot, achieving the most Perfect Pass. Under Dieying's surveillance, information couldn't be exchanged, these conflicts wouldn't resolve unless reaching this point.

Everything leaves trails, impossible to change.

But if Deity had predicted from the beginning that Su Ming'an would be so determined... Su Ming'an wouldn't be so exhausted.

Deity was silent for a while.

He slowly said: "I can indeed simulate many things. But this is built on... the simulator having no Ability above me."

Su Ming'an froze.

He instantly understood Deity's implicit meaning.

Deity can simulate everything, even anticipate most of Su Ming'an's actions. But only cannot simulate... Su Ming'an's Death Rebound.

Death Rebound, transcending the simulation authority of deity.

He carefully recalled... and horror-inflected realized it was true—without Death Rebound, he would have been locked up in deity's domain far earlier, everything really would procede according to Deity's arrangements. Death Rebound gave him the chance to create new "possibilities."

So, deity couldn't foresee his determination.

...Hence, this was also destined.

It originates... from the wisdom of an entire civilization.

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