As a player, can you be normal?

Chapter 738 Tea Making!
No matter how hard Sauron thought about it, he couldn't figure out what was missing.

Everything Li Nuo experienced should have started with "NieR" and then proceeded along a predetermined path. During this time, as long as Lillian did not regain her memories and as long as he did not interfere again, no accidents would occur.

What exactly is missing...?

For the first time, Soren Lee's mind was blocked by a roadblock, preventing him from moving forward.

He opened the panel.

Looking at the data of the little devil that he and Lillian might create in the future.

【The Explorer】Gains insights into information.

【???·plum】

[One of the possibilities from the future]

[Conditions for achieving this ending: 1. Lillian survives; 2. Lino survives; 3. You survive]

"Only if Li Nuo comes back to life can more possibilities be created..."

Soren lowered his head.

My finger slid from the frame of my glasses to the tip of my nose.

“I come from the future, so the eyes of the future are also observing me, but they cannot interfere with the past, because at this time you have just completed the takeover of ‘Endless’.”

He looked at the only television in the room.

The screen emitted a strange aura, a stench unique to the "Border Prison," mixed with the smell of blood.

It was nighttime.

The room was pitch black.

The screen flickered a few times in the darkness.

The flickering light reflected on Soren's lens.

A black figure floated on the screen, the guy grinning, revealing gleaming white teeth.

"Did you notice that?"

"No, I was just guessing."

Soren said to the person on the screen, "Judge, should I address you this way, or should I use another method?"

“Shufarel,” the person on the screen said, “or whatever you want, call me an idiot or something worse, it doesn’t matter. I deserve to be hated by you for what I’ve done.”

“I hold no grudge,” Sauron said. “You were able to lie dormant in the World Tree for so long and achieve this reversal all by yourself. I can only admire you. There are no truly good or bad people in this world, only a matter of perspective. If you were the protagonist, then everything you did would be reasonable and the best counterattack. But here, the protagonist will never be you.”

"Hahaha...hahahahahahahahaha—!" the judge laughed.

No one knew what he was laughing at.

Soren didn't want to know. He tried to use the [Explorer] to uncover the truth about the judge, but he couldn't. The other party had been lying low in the World Tree for too long, and his methods and preparations must be... extremely thorough.

“Mr. Schwarrel,” Soren interrupted the man’s laughter, “you personally brought the fruit created by Lino to its end, you personally stuffed ‘Lino’s Room’ into that fruit, you personally blocked the possibility of destroying the past, you personally destroyed all the possibilities that could interfere with me. These events were not unexpected by you, were they?”

The guy on the screen was laughing.

"Yes."

"So you're observing me, figuring out how to stop us from causing trouble."

"Yes."

"So, have you made up your mind?"

"Yes."

The silence lasted for a long time.

in the darkness.

The Explorer and the Judge locked in a silent eye contact. The Explorer, who had mastered the strategy, couldn't see through the solution to all of this. The administrator who controlled the players was powerless to interfere with the guy in front of him.

The two remained silent, each waiting for the other to speak.

"Soren Lee".

The judge spoke first.

“I will not interfere with you, because I cannot do it. My abilities only go so far. If Li Nuo can come back to life, everyone related to him will be isolated from the ‘Endless Corridor’. But after that, whether you live out the rest of your lives in peace or put an end to the cycle of cause and effect, that is your choice.”

"In other words, you won't attack us again."

"It's completely unnecessary and too risky."

“What a tough opponent…” Soren raised his head, looking at the ceiling covered by the dim light: “I’m afraid of guys like you who speak the truth and know when to stop. Someone like you must have a lot of backup plans. For example, what else did you leave in the World Tree?”

“That’s the risk,” the judge said. “I only said a few words, and you already know the truth.”

“So you made a mistake,” Soren said with a smile, then looked at the man on the screen and said, “This time, no one can hurt anyone else; we can only wait for the other to make a mistake.”

Soren knew very well what mistakes he was going to make.

"During my exploration, I discovered that some people will be replaced by the veteran players you 'redeemed.' Lillian and my child show that this is just a possibility for the future, so Lillian will also be slowly replaced. Perhaps this has already happened."

“Yes, it has already happened,” the judge said.

“But I will not be replaced.” Soren said with a smile, “I am the only player below level 99 who can scheme against Li Nuo. If I go back to the future, I will forget everything now. You will keep me and let me, who has been brainwashed, take action at a critical moment, in case Li Nuo is resurrected and launches an unpredictable revenge, just like now.”

"Truly worthy of being called explorers." The judge exclaimed sincerely.

“So I can’t let myself make a mistake,” Sauron said. “For the bastards in my crew, for the kids I might have in the future, for everything I have now.”

Soren took off his glasses, revealing an arrogant, never-say-die look on his thin face, and a victor's smile playing on his lips.

"I choose death."

His hand was steady as he crushed the glasses, destroying the only soul he had left in this era.

Sauron lowered his head and died there.

He never understood what was missing until his death... What was missing for Li Nuo to come back to life?

……

Endless Corridor

Sauron is dead.

[Resurrection: Li Nuo is resurrected, meaning that all lives associated with him will also continue to be resurrected.]

……

The compass in Master Wang's hand predicted Sauron's fate.

"Four-eyes is quite tough."

This is the Tanggula Mountains.

Master Wang Li showed the information on the compass to Tia.

"This is a prophetic compass created by my [Critical One] ability. It may not be completely accurate, but I can say that it is... roughly accurate."

[Observer's Compass: One of the abilities of the Critical One 3.0, allowing one to see through fragmented information about the past and future to make short-term predictions about a particular life form. Cooldown time: 1 month]

This is a world disconnected from the corridor, and from a timeline perspective, it is the end of the second storyline initiated by Sauron.

Tia sorted out the timeline.

"A thousand years ago, the judge was defeated by Karl, and the Endless Corridor was born. The judge used some kind of ability to be reborn as a black merchant in the World Tree."

"For a thousand years, this guy has been lying in wait at the World Tree, carrying out his revenge plan."

"The plan included, but was certainly not limited to, brainwashing the 'Circus Association,' which turned the Endless into a bloody place. They used the rules of the 'Corridor of the End' to cause trouble in the Endless, and the consequence was that the 'King' would have to bear unwarranted responsibility. But this plan was interrupted by Lillian."

"Li Nuo appeared in the 'Endless Corridor' as a [Low-Blooded Player]. During the World War, the Judge saw something interesting..."

Tia remained silent for a moment.

"The story of 'Linuo's Room' begins here. From this point on, the story of the room becomes the prologue, pointing to the ending where Linuo's death is intervened, the judge is resurrected, and replaces the king. This concludes the first playthrough."

"The future timeline Sauron travels back in time and influences the Sauron of the first timeline. The Sauron of the future who just committed suicide comes from the second timeline. The story of 'The Room of the Warrior of Light' was made to be a real event in the first timeline, and the second timeline begins."

"And Wang Li, your encounter and experiences are all part of the second cycle of the story. Including now, the content of the second cycle has progressed to the point where Li Nuo's death has been interfered with. Soren used suicide to preserve the possibility of being controlled by the other side."

Tia stood up and walked towards the tavern door. "Sauron did not die in vain."

She pushed open the door, and bright light shone into her eyes.

"The most important thing Soren did was to make the existence of the mechanical cult a real thing in Nottingham."

outside the house.

The summit of Tanggula.

Hundreds of Steel Soul cultists stood in the square outside the tavern.

The ground was marked with an inverted cross symbol that summons an evil god.

When Sauron brought the mechanical cult to reality, the cursed seal that had been unable to contact the evil god emitted a bright light.

The sky darkened.

The evil god emerged from the inverted cross.

A white lab coat.

A handsome face.

That wicked smile.

"Humph……"

Marjee has been resurrected once again.

However, it exists in spirit form.

"As long as faith exists, evil gods will never die; this is the belief of our Steel Soul."

Tia walked through the believers.

Standing closest to Marger, the moment she knelt on one knee, all the believers knelt down as well.

"I am Tia, the third bishop of the Steel Soul, and also the only remnant of the 'Corridor of Redemption' who escaped the player's identity."

When she said "remnants," she raised her head, her emerald green eyes locking onto the eyes of the evil god.

“What happened…” Marje frowned, looking somewhat pained: “Did Nemesis secretly curse me? God… Don’t get up, just kneel down before me like this.”

Tia and her followers knelt before him for a long time.

Master Wang leaned against the door frame, staring at hundreds of mentally ill people.

Finally, Marjee spoke: "I sense your distress, as if something as dirty as mud has been thrown onto our souls. Now, your piety has moved me, and I will give you the blessings you deserve."

"Is he crazy?" Master Wang thought to himself.

“My friend who cultivates immortality.” Marje’s sharp eyes looked at Master Wang: “Although you and I are not of the same origin, and your faith is not mine, we are of one faith. We should value diversity, so whatever you believe in, it is ultimately me. Since that’s the case, why not kneel?”

Hundreds of eyes turned to Master Wang.

Hundreds of mouths spoke in unison: "Why don't you kneel?"

Under pressure from public opinion, Master Wang had no choice but to kneel down.

"Hmph, alright, believers, now you may speak of your troubles," Marjee said, waving his hand.

"My Lord Evil God... I will relay this to you." Tia respectfully recounted the matter to Marger. Here, it's important to explain why someone as powerful as Tia would submit to Marger. First, she was the agent of the "Steel Soul." Second, and most importantly, she thought Marger was very handsome.

After listening to Tia's story, Marjee understood. He was still thinking about how, after Li Nuo left, he was happily preparing to regroup when he suddenly lost consciousness. The next time he regained consciousness was now.

"I see……"

Marger lowered his head.

"You... summoned me to save me."

Forced to kneel, Master Wang wanted to see what else this guy could say. Since it was all for saving you, how could you still put on airs in front of your followers?

Suddenly, Marger raised his sculpted chin and looked up at the sky.

"Damn Witcher, finally dead."

The voice just fell.

The cultists roared, "Finally dead!"

Maniacal laughter filled the summit of Tanggula.

Master Wang was dumbfounded. This was a group of lunatics, utterly insane!
“But!” Marger suddenly spoke, and the cultists stopped laughing. He said, “That damned Witcher did not die at your hands, so why are you laughing? Someone stole our doctrine, and that person deserves to die. As for that Sauron Lee, I will grant him the honor of being a lifelong follower.”

"Lord Evil God, what should we do next?" Tia asked.

Marje's body was half-hidden and half-revealed, unable to leave the summoning circle, indicating that his existence was too closely related to Li Nuo. The reason he was able to be reborn was because of his faith, and also because Tanggula Mountain, as the headquarters of the "Steel Soul" branch of the "Mechanical Cult," was located in a world that was separated from the corridor.

However, the players who disappeared because of Li Nuo's disappearance were not so lucky.

Thinking of this, Marger blurted out, "King."

He looked at Tia and asked, "Do you know how to contact that administrator?"

Tia understood that she had not followed the wrong faith; Marger had directly addressed the core of the problem.

"Archiving... but to meet this requirement... is just too difficult."

Marger smiled and said, "Please rise and speak, those who are not involved are free to move around."

Only he, Tia, and Master Wang are involved in this matter. The idiot couple and Phil have long since left and are currently completing missions on the other side of the planet.

Before getting to the important stuff, Marger tried to open the player's panel, but the panels were all locked. Skills were available, but only summoning spells.

He tried to summon fifty mechanical lifeforms, and looking at these little guys, Marger felt a little more at ease.

Tia found a chair, sat down gracefully, and said with a serious expression, "What I know as a player is actually not much different from what you know... The only information I can give you is... Administrators will have their save files preserved in certain special environments. These save files are not managed by the Corridor and must be related to a certain player."

Master Wang: "It's very difficult... This kind of thing requires a lot of coincidences, and it also involves those subspaces with archives."

Just then, a mechanical life form jumped out: "I can do it."

Everyone was stunned.

The mechanical lifeform looked at Marger and said, "Marger, I can do it."

A group of mechanical lifeforms were unhappy.

"This guy calls the cult leader by his given name."

"Hit him."

"beat!"

Forty-nine mechanical lifeforms surrounded and beat this mechanical lifeform.

The mechanical lifeform that had been attacked suddenly shouted, "I am, Cha Bai!"

Cha Bai is the second bishop of "Steel Soul," the "White-Haired Witch," so the hundreds of Steel Soul followers who were keeping watch in the distance also came over.

“A mere bucket dares to impersonate our second bishop.”

"Hit him!"

"beat!"

At the crucial moment, Marger shouted "Stop!", stopping the violence.

The small mechanical life form, sitting on the ground covered in dust, took a few minutes to recover before saying, "I really am, Cha Bai."

To confirm her identity, she said directly, "You, in the lab, there's a locker, inside is..."

“No, that’s not important!” Marger immediately stopped her from continuing.

He was thinking about another problem.

If Li Nuo were to be resurrected, and that guy found out that his followers had ganged up on Cha Bai, a mechanical lifeform, then Marger himself would be in big trouble.

So, Malger chickened out: "You, you should not... no, not Miss Cha Bai for now... unless, you tell Li Nuo that I, I did not participate in the beating of you, otherwise, you, you are not Miss Cha Bai..."

Cha Bai said, "The place to solve the problem is the world where Sha Yu is."

(End of this chapter)