Chapter 1491 - 478: Fierce Battle with the Gamer (Part 4)

He also began to speak the lines of the fourth stage:

"Not bad at all, you actually managed to get this far. The Infinite Building can't do without you."

The scene shifted again, releasing a white light.

Lu Mingxuan also completely became an invincible target that could not be hit.

The scene finally froze; Wen Xishu could see, up in the sky, Lu Mingxuan's cold eyes watching the ground like suns hanging in the heavens.

Elementary school playground at dusk.

In the distance a blurry group of kids were playing soccer, laughter drifting over, but their backs were forever turned to this place.

A crude board was drawn on the ground in chalk; Lu Mingxuan was crouching on one side of it: "Come on, let's play a game I designed."

The game board appeared.

This was a forced board match, but the rules were extremely unfair: Lu Mingxuan's pieces could respawn infinitely.

And it wasn't any existing board game; strictly speaking, it was a tabletop game—there weren't just pieces, but also cards.

"The board is tilted in my favor, and my pieces will respawn three turns after they die. Don't complain—reality's rules are the crappiest game of all, full of exploits!"

"You can become my piece too, become an eternal, undying existence."

This was a game that was almost impossible to win.

Even under fair rules, Wen Xishu would struggle to beat him. After all, Lu Mingxuan was a programming master—calling him a humanoid computer wouldn't be an exaggeration.

His abilities were different from Wen Xishu and Horn, those strategy-type players.

He was pure calculation power, the type who overwhelmed opponents by sheer processing.

That kind of player, plus unfair rules—this was nearly unbeatable.

But on top of that, Lu Mingxuan was an outstanding game designer.

"Look, this piece is called 'Friend.' Its movement rule is 'must be invited'… but I can never draw an 'Invitation Card.'"

When Wen Xishu touched the deck and actually drew an Invitation Card, Lu Mingxuan spoke this line.

Right now, Lu Mingxuan was just a preset program. He had given himself plenty of advantages, but had also programmed in weaknesses.

Wen Xishu knew that if he used the pieces well, he could win. "Friend" was the key to defeating Lu Mingxuan. He suddenly felt the loneliness of this child.

He began to play against Lu Mingxuan, exploiting the rule that Lu Mingxuan could never "invite a friend," and started attacking that weakness relentlessly.

Though several times, Wen Xishu nearly had his pieces captured, he pulled through every time.

It had to be said, Wen Xishu's raw calculation might not match Lu Mingxuan's, but it was definitely not something to be underestimated.

Even though Lu Mingxuan's pieces could revive, as long as he captured the "King" and "Queen" during their respawn cooldown, it would be enough.

Wen Xishu also saw clearly that Lu Mingxuan's "King" and "Queen" took the form of his parents.

Luck was on Wen Xishu's side; though Lu Mingxuan's calculating power was terrifying, Wen Xishu kept drawing good cards, and cards could alter the rules to some extent.

It was like a Chinese chessboard: the knight moves in an L, the bishop moves diagonally across fields, but if you draw a special card, you can make the knight step outside the usual pattern.

Wen Xishu could already see…

That good ending—he had a ninety-five percent chance of playing it out.

A legend of the Infinite Building, regaining his freedom, very likely gaining generous rewards—bringing some in-game item or ability back into reality.

There was no doubt this was great. It was far better than ending up as an NPC stuck inside the game.

But that was not the ending Wen Xishu wanted.

He lifted his head and looked at the "Gamer" opposite him, who was utterly absorbed, as if the whole world had shrunk to this single game.

The setting sun fell on Lu Mingxuan's body, making him look so small, so alone, like a child in the corner of this vast playground, forever waiting for playmates who never come.

"This place… isn't the Desire Tower, isn't the Deceit Tower. This is reality…"

"I'm going to change him. Now. I don't need to wait for any invitation… This is my only chance."

Wen Xishu decided to gamble. This was how he became reckless.

He took a deep breath and made a move that no preset program could comprehend and that was utterly irrational—

He took that [Invitation Card] he had just drawn, shimmering faintly between his fingers, and gently, solemnly placed it on Lu Mingxuan's side of the board, right in front of that solitary "Friend" piece.

Then he picked up the key piece with which he was about to deliver the finishing blow, and pulled it back one step.

That single retreat even created a fatal flaw in his own formation.

Lu Mingxuan froze.

He stared blankly at the [Invitation Card] that had suddenly appeared within his domain, then looked up at Wen Xishu, his eyes filled with vast confusion and glitches his program could not process.

"Lu Mingxuan."

Wen Xishu's voice was very calm, yet it carried a force that pierced through every false barrier:

"Enough. Does a game like this really mean anything?"

Lu Mingxuan's lips moved, as if he wanted to say something, but only meaningless electronic noise came from his throat.

His program had no dialogue branch for "opponent voluntarily abandons victory and gifts the key item."

"You can't say it, can you?"

"You've realized, haven't you, there's no such operation in your code?"

"You've realized that in all your dialogue boxes, there's no line for this situation!"

"I know you've been through a lot of goodbyes. I also know nobody plays one game forever. But the beautiful memories… don't vanish just because the game ends."

"Sure, I'll never play Contra, Mario, or Adventure Island again. But in my heart, they will forever represent the joy of my childhood—nothing can replace them!"

There was a subtle change in Lu Mingxuan's eyes, but he still couldn't speak.

Wen Xishu said:

"Humans are born, grow old, get sick, and die; there are separations that are destined to come. Precisely because these exist, we feel that every encounter is infinitely precious."

"Now your mom and dad have become eternal inside your game, but does that make you stop missing them?"

"Stop lying to yourself. You can't forget who they really are. And you've always known that the ones in the game are not truly them at all!"

Wen Xishu placed another piece down—then, once again, he pulled one of his own moves back. This invalid play made his weaknesses even larger.

But perversely, Lu Mingxuan's heart was now in disarray.

"Real parents don't just say what you want to hear. Real friends don't always play strictly by your rules. Real 'being alive' has warmth, has accidents, has arguments, and also… has separation and death."

He wanted desperately to answer Wen Xishu, No, that's not it, that's not it.

I don't want my parents to die—is that wrong? I don't want everyone to leave me—is that wrong? I want them to stay with me forever in the game—is that wrong?

This world is an unreasonable game to begin with. I made everything reasonable—is that wrong?

But he couldn't say it, because those lines had never been entered into the program.

And he slowly began to remember.

If he were not a game, but a person, maybe then he could talk back, right?

The sun sank below the horizon, and the last ray of light skimmed across Lu Mingxuan's face.

The inhuman, "Gamer's" icy mask on his face shattered completely.

Tears rolled from his eyes without any warning.

Not a simulated data effect, but real, warm tears, bearing the weight of countless years of loneliness.