The deity ascended into the sky.

White tendrils hung from Its back, ten thousand rays of light spilled from above the Holy City, instantly illuminating the night.

Their rhythm of movement was harmonious, like the wondrous life rhythm of nature, synchronized with the breathing of the world.

Six, twelve, a hundred, a thousand...

Centered around It, the tendrils grew exponentially, spreading outward, gradually enveloping the entire sky, presenting a scene akin to the growth of branches and leaves. Those rolling dark skies, bluish-green decaying fish swimming, giant birds dyed with starlight… once touching the white tendrils, were all swept away, like snow coming to cover, and flames melting.

Swish, swish.

Behind the deity, it was as if countless white-winged doves flapped together, collectively converging behind It, forming tendril-like rays of light.

In an invisible hymn, they not only were extensions of Its divinity but also represented the brilliance and love It bestowed upon the world.

Selfless, vast, inclusive.

People gazed up at this scene in the sky, trembling hands maintaining their praying posture.

"Oh deity..." came the rising and falling prayers.

At this moment, all doubts, anger, and sorrow towards the deity dissipated; no one could maintain any discontent beneath this sight. Countless figures devoutly bowed down, and the Holy City instantly reduced to half its height.

The white tendrils too sacred, numerous. Compared to the deity's own figure, like seeds compared to giant heavenly trees.

— So much so that people couldn't see Its expression.

Nor could they see Its freshly tidied sleeves, slightly torn from the overwhelming torrents, like a tattered flag fluttering in the air.

Couldn't see the candy that fell from Its pocket.

Couldn't see Du on Its wrist, looping the images of teammates.

Couldn't see the shining mechanical ring T-0321 on Its finger.

Couldn't see the red and blue pendants swaying by Its ear.

Compared to the myriad white tendrils like snow and clouds, these were too insignificant.

With cascading black hair, glinting with a glass-like texture, Its eyes could no longer see pure black, gleamed with a subtle golden shade.

It gazed blankly at Its palm — the palm gripping the torrents of time, instantly capable of upheaval... But why did Its five fingers tightly clutch five threads? What do they connect to, and lead towards? Why does It... always hold onto them?

Could this be some powerful authority?

Could this be some formidable causal line? By holding onto it, does one gain unparalleled strength?

It reached for the end of one thread, only to see a corpse. A youth slumped beside the pure white divine throne, head slightly bowed, the blue rose on the hat in full bloom, causing one to think of some fresh and naive sensation, causing Its otherwise calm pain receptors to twitch. This did not originate from the body, but from Its heart.

Its heart, enduring countless hardships without extinction, now pained by the sight of a human corpse.

— But why does it clutch the useless five corpses?

Beneath the loose black hair, the deity's eyes flashed an indiscernible pain. Humanity and divinity clashed momentarily within Its eyes, like the passing of blue and red, but soon, only a frost-like indifference remained.

"...I knew you would be... beautiful."

From above the starry sky came a voice of surprise. This voice, usually skillful and composed, was now somewhat urgent.

Dieying floated before Su Ming'an, though Dieying had no facial features, its starry aura's frequency allowed one to feel its current exhilaration.

The sky-covering white tendrils continued expanding to the horizon, the cross on the deity's forehead slightly swaying, reflecting a gemstone-like halo. It looked back at Dieying expressionlessly, eyes absent of anger, fear, or hatred. Gold and blue brilliance surrounded It, the torrents of time like elves.

The brilliance was dazzling.

Only one word suffices to describe the deity at this moment.

"Indeed, after abandoning the burdens of the past, you can be so beautiful. It was that low civilization that burdened you, those vile and shallow humans burdened you."

Dieying picked up a wisp of the deity's long black hair, its attitude cautious, incomparable with before. As if at this moment, it finally placed Su Ming'an on an equal standing to converse. Previously, much were deception, coaxing, disguise, like treating a small animal.

Only now, within Dieying's starlit form, reflected the white deity.

"They revered you, yet feared you, relied on you, yet cursed you, admired you, yet dreaded you. Humans were shallow, selfish, greedy, for their own desires could harm you... And since the beginning, you were different from them, since the beginning... you've stood at a high position."

"You were born belonging to high places, not dust, you were born to advance rather than look back, you were born to be the stars above, not the Lighthouse below."

"You have no obligation to rescue them, you've done enough until now, those names, forget them."

"Come, follow me to farther places. There might be what you truly want, be it strength, wisdom, or secrets... perhaps, it's our mutual homeland."

"I want you to become..." Dieying's voice trembled slightly, as if a reaction also occurred in Its heart:

"...my soul's true friend."

Su Ming'an tilted Its head.

It seemed somewhat confused about Dieying's gentleness, puzzled at Dieying's previous arrogance now turning humble. As if Dieying waited specifically for It to become a deity, craving to see Its divine form.

Perhaps indeed so.

Abandoning humanity, losing oneself, then all reasons keeping It firmly at the Lighthouse vanished. If not ascending with Dieying to the high dimensions, what interesting things could there be.

— It was Dieying who forcibly uprooted Its anchor. Ashes rose from the seabed, the reasons for Its standing faded, the great wheel should sail toward the starlit sea.

As for the people, things, and objects behind It— the white-haired youth's unwavering protection, the black-haired girl's trusting and naive gaze, the blond youth's final smile... all will become relics of the seabed, sinking into silt.

The pillar-like white tendrils swayed, casting strong and enchanting halos upon Su Ming'an's face, exuding an unusual, pristine, glassy beauty, reminding one of silent porcelain bottles in display cabinets, as if time wondrously condensed at this moment, It stood still for a moment, seemingly in deep thought.

Become the light that walks in the darkness.

It had already achieved it.

What next?

Su Ming'an, gazing at the Dieying close at hand, could feel Its life essence aligned with Dieying's, whereas the billions of humans on earth became vastly different from itself. If wanting to continue forward, only beings sharing the same life essence can mutually understand in this vast world.

"Let's go, travel to the farthest places." Dieying's voice excited, like a story reaching its end, finally as It wished — maybe from the beginning, it was for this moment.

"Anywhere is fine, we can go see flowers and plants afar, be free travelers. You have time, I have causality, we can indeed see everything in the world... go on any adventure."

It condensed facial features, a face brimming with radiant smile.

"... You are finally free, Su Ming'an."

The Puppet Master stopped the threads in his hand.

From beginning to end, the threads eternally hovered around them. Su Ming'an had walked billions of paths, traversed billions of possibilities: sleeping beside the deity, exiting early, his soul dying by the Holy Sword, tormented to collapse by the rewind of time... All these possibilities existed, but had any one of them truly happened — Dieying would not have seen the now brilliant deity.

But in the end, Su Ming'an still walked here according to His expectations.

This was inseparable from the threads in His hand.

Whether it was the earlier prophetic dream, provocation against the deity, seemingly greedy invasion, temptation in disguise as human form, alteration of the Prophecy Stone Wall, false legends under the name of the Exotic Species King, offering a goodwill waltz, imprisonment under the Nine Serenities, tracing back thousands of years, feigned tenderness to hold in the dance hall, crossing ten thousand causal lines of pollution, control over Xiao Ying's humanity, the final explosion of the Holy City... it all seemed for this step.

— To force the person He wanted to become god.

Cutting off millions of other possibilities, erasing billions of paths that never existed, leaving only one great road — leading Su Ming'an to the path of the deity.

The affairs of the world are like puppets pulled by threads, dancing with His fingers. Millennia of fluttering, ultimately nothing but a dream, falling entirely into His palm.

He is,

The most cunning, the wisest, the most passionate, the most ruthless, the most naive, the most cruel, the freest...

[Puppet Master].

...

In the eyes of the "god", there is only civilization and gods of the same level. Dieying's vision, it turned out, was no different from the deities.

They all faithfully followed their essence of life, adhering to their desires belonging to deity — nobly pursuing civilization and brethren.

Dieying lifted the black hair of the deity, intending to offer a greeting between gods, but a blue flash led Su Ming'an to suddenly withdraw several meters away.

The strands slipped away swiftly from the fingertips of Dieying. He was slightly stunned.

Swoosh.

A soft sound.

A blazing, dazzling, mirror-like blade, carrying the light and heat of the sun, was held in Su Ming'an's hand, pointing at Dieying.

There was no expression on Su Ming'an's face, yet his eyes were filled with deep confusion — He did not know why he refused to release the five puppet threads between his fingers.

Though they served no purpose, merely connecting five ant-like corpses.

As if the lingering humanity was shouting something, the nineteen-year-old youth was still raising his arms in his heart, he couldn't hear specific words but could hear vague cries.

Humans are beings standing on meaning.

He pierced through the vision of civilization, seeing the brilliant galaxy, yet also a yawning orange cat.

The orange cat lazily turned around, facing its rear towards Him. Clearly a small and fragile life, yet so arrogant. It jumped onto a piano, treading out discordant sounds of varying pitches, a woman's angry scolding faintly came from afar, an illusory pain echoed through the joints of His fingers.

Su Ming'an blinked.

In his ears was the ticking sound of the game machine, the sound of Tetris clearing. Then appeared a pair of blue, smiling eyes...

He tightened his grip on the sword hilt.

Looking at Dieying.

"Get away," Su Ming'an spoke, awkward as a child learning to talk, yet he spoke word by word: "I will go to the endless cosmic starry sky... I will go myself. After everything is over, I will look for what I want, if I want to go then."

"I don't need to go through you, nor do I need... your company."

"I absolutely don't need your charity. I don't have to end my path here, becoming your vassal. I still have... infinite possibilities, I can create them with my own hands."

He spoke like a child who just found his voice, or rather, at this moment his humanity, under overwhelming pressure, slightly rippled. He stared at Dieying, colors rapidly swirling in his eyes:

"You are just a villain cutting off the possibilities of my future, a self-assured high-dimensional thief wanting to use me, someone ruthless enough to destroy my deity. From your standpoint, there's nothing wrong, but I do not accept."

"My true friends are far better than you."

"You are not my..."

"True friend."

Dieying took a step back.

The colors of the starry sky flickered madly, hinting at a strong discord forming in His heart, like a boiling chemical reaction. He stepped back once more, then again, as if not hearing Su Ming'an's words clearly.

However, a high-dimensional being couldn't possibly not hear such words.

He subconsciously developed a sense of disbelief, this retreating was something He hadn't experienced in a long time, like the occasional timidity before becoming god... Clearly, He had said goodbye to such emotions for a long time. Yet because of a few words from Su Ming'an, it was instantly evoked.

Su Ming'an said, he still has infinite possibilities.

Su Ming'an said, he can personally create a more perfect ending.

Su Ming'an said, he will ultimately personally seek the secret of the stars. This ending, far from sufficient.

... You are too greedy! Too greedy!

A raging anger enveloped Dieying, a fierce emotion He hadn't felt in millennia.

You've only lost those few people! But you gained the vast universe, billions of lives kneeling to you! What? You want more?

... Why.

Ultimately, all the boiling complex emotions condensed into this one sentence.

Why.

Why was it so hard to elevate Su Ming'an to the divine height, letting him soar towards the vast universe. Yet he felt he could do better.

Why after becoming a god, Su Ming'an's humanity wasn't completely eroded.

... Why, He personally didn't find this ending lacking. Why... there was such a great chasm between them.

Previously He always thought, regardless of how great and selfless Su Ming'an was, once becoming a god and humanity diminished, Su Ming'an would become someone like Him. After all, He wasn't purely kind-hearted inviting Su Ming'an, but desiring a companion of time authority. Yet until now He realized... once the gulf exists, no matter how much one tries to bridge it, even if life essence becomes identical... some people are destined to be more "greedy" than others.

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