Absolute Choice

A smile suffused across Dawn’s lips. At that moment, she clearly looked like a handsome boy, but the way she smiled had the youthful charm of a girl. She had always looked deadpan and treated everything coldly also to perfectly hide the fact that she was a female in disguise. But in front of Shi Xiaobai, she had lost all her defenses and opened up her heart. Of course, she would not mind revealing the emotions she had strictly sealed inside her.

However, the smile did not last for very long as Dawn’s expression suddenly turned solemn. She looked into Shi Xiaobai’s eyes and said seriously, “I’m only a person listening to a story and should not have too many comments, but since it’s a ‘chat’, I think I shouldn’t hide my true thoughts. Honestly, that human’s questions are very interesting. The questions in rapid succession seem to be reasonable, but could it be that there were other reasons for you to question the laws you created by you?”

“That human’s question does stand on reasonable grounds, but it’s actually simply resorting to sophistry as justification. It is obviously not enough to use the words good and evil to define complicated human nature, but isn’t it a bit forced to question if good and evil has any meaning to its existence for humans?”

“Regarding the teenager’s hypothesis of going from ‘Pseudo-good’ to ‘Evil’, it is after all just a hypothesis. It is a problem of probability. It can only be said that there is a high probability that the teenager would kill the unredeemable sufferer to save himself from pain. But there is an extremely small probability that the teenager will eventually bear the pain but not give up trying. At this point, it can be certain that the teenager’s ‘Pseudo-good’ has sublimed to pure ‘Good’.”

“Humans do have their own will, but against the various choices in life, they can make their choices of their own free will. This is obviously considered an action in one’s self-interest. But if they are forced to make a choice that goes against their will, their own will cannot be carried out as they wish. ‘That human’ said that when forced, one can make the choice of ‘acceptance’ and ‘resistance’, and that being forced is also a ‘self-centered act’. Isn’t that expanding the concept of ‘self-centered acts’ and exaggerating the existence of ‘self-centered acts’? Wouldn’t the definition of ‘selfishness’ become too all encompassing?”

“In summary, I believe that a part of the human’s questions are worth contemplating over, but it’s not sufficient to waver your will. I believe that for me to be able to see something amiss with it, it must also mean that you can see it. Therefore, I believe that the reason why you are doubting the laws of good and evil is not as simple? Or could it be…”

When Dawn said to that point, she suddenly came to a halt. In fact, she wanted to say, “or could it be that you fabricated a story in a rush so you did not think of the loopholes?”. But in order to continue chatting ‘happily’, she decided to silently agree that whatever Shi Xiaobai said was real. There were indeed many parts of the story that could be faulted on, but if one questioned the story itself, there would be no end to the debate. She wished to understand Shi Xiaobai’s thoughts through a chat, and not understand Shi Xiaobai’s ability to engage in a debate.

Of course, by directly pointing out the loophole in Shi Xiaobai’s fabrication of the ‘questions posed by that human’, she was actually trying to see how fast Shi Xiaobai’s reaction speed was. When his fabricated story was exposed as having several loopholes, how long would he take to think in order to fix the loopholes?

But what surprised Dawn once again was that Shi Xiaobai had responded the moment she finished her words.

Shi Xiaobai said with a smile, “This King has underestimated you. This King never expected that you were not only listening to the story, but you were standing from the point of view of god to consider the story in such a clear manner. What you said is right. It was not so simple for This King to question the laws of good and evil. In fact, after ‘that human’ died, This King traveled to the human world on a whim. To This King, who is a supreme existence, the human world was like an ant’s nest, a place he would never step foot on. But after this trip to observe the human world, This King realized that he had committed a grave error.”

“In the human world, This King saw many illogical situations. A child that steals food for his starving mother was considered a ‘scoundrel’ and was beaten to death. The cruel punishment of slashing a murderer and putting him up on a pole to die from exposure is deemed by people as a ‘good act’. As an act of pity, a rich young lady gives a beggar a few pieces of gold, causing the beggar to attract trouble because of his wealth. Not only was the gold stolen away by thugs, the beggar was also crippled. The rich young lady’s ‘benevolence’ was actually an ‘act of evil’. In order to satisfy his ambition, a king instigated a war causing countless of deaths. If the invasion were successful, it would be deemed as a grand act of ‘good’, but if his invasion failed, he would be cursed for ages as a ‘savage king’…”

“There is no end to such unreasonable matters. Good and evil is frequently distorted and misunderstood in the human world. It even goes as far as confusing right from wrong. Although judgment of good and evil needs to consider the viewpoint of the judge, but the biggest problem is that the viewpoint of the majority becomes the true definition of good and evil. And no matter if the viewpoint of the minority is ‘right’ or not, their viewpoint will be distorted into being ‘wrong’. Good and evil is governed by ‘strength’, so whichever side is ‘stronger’ is the side that is ‘good’.”

“The original understanding This King had of humans was that of inferior beings in a lower plane of existence. But it is because humans are inferior beings that result in their requirements and desire to be much higher than superior beings. Their requirements and desires result in their nature being even more complex than gods and demons. This King, who had been focused on superior planes of existence, never noticed this. Although the good and evil created by This King is more suitable for gods and demons, it is far from sufficient for humans.”

“Why did ‘that human’, who worked hard to cultivate for millennia allowing him to go from a mere human to an existence that transcended gods and demons after all sorts of trials and tribulations, choose to come before This King and ask such questions that ended up ‘courting his own death’?” Why was he willing to risk questioning good and evil despite the possibility of him being killed by good and evil? The reason why he would do so was because the laws of good and evil was not only the imprisonment of ‘original sin’ in the human world, but shackles for ‘self’. To humans, strength is the source of good and evil.”

“He loved humans deeply, but he also hated humans a lot. But he was helpless when it came to changing the present situation, so instead of saying he was questioning This King, it would be better to say that he was using his life to implore This King.”

After Shi Xiaobai said that, he took a deep breath as though he was cherishing the memory of that great human who was willing to bring destruction on himself. It also seemed like he was sympathizing with the contradiction of good and evil in the human world.

Dawn fell into a daze for quite a while when she finished hearing his monologue. She had underestimated Shi Xiaobai’s reaction speed and even more so, she had underestimated Shi Xiaobai’s ability to fabricate a story. After hearing the full story, she was surprised to suddenly feel a sense of repression, as though the story was true. Although concepts like the ‘King of kings’ and the ‘laws of good and evil’ were so exaggerated and fake, she could not confidently determine if the story was real or not.

Was it because he had perfected his story in an extremely realistic manner?

Or was his acting extremely realistic? That look of him cherishing the memory made her feel like she was looking at a former monarch who was questioning his creation of good and evil.

Or was it because she understood the ugliness of human nature too well that she felt that the story he fabricated and the reason behind it resonated with her?

Dawn suddenly felt her chest turn heavy, as though something was blocking it. She took a deep breath and said, “That is not the fault of good and evil, but a problem with human nature. Human nature is like that. As humans, questioning human nature is equivalent to questioning ourselves. The only thing we can do is to work hard to exercise restraint in the face of darkness, but there is no way we can change the darkness of human nature.”

Yes, that was her understanding all along.

She was unable to change the good or evil nature of anyone. The Patriarch was the instigator of Project Orphan. He was the mastermind behind her being thrown in the uninhabited island for three years, but the Patriarch had treated her like his very own granddaughter. He had given her the best of everything, and had compensated her with the best environment for growing up as well as the brightest future.

She could not change the Patriarch’s nature, nor could she judge if the Patriarch was good or evil. She did not know if she should hate or be grateful to him.

Human nature was too complex and she too was living it.

What she could do, or the only thing she could do was to act in accordance to what she felt was good and evil, and by doing so, not let the darkness of human nature devour her.

She could not change human nature.

So she chose to distance herself from it.

So she was willing to live in a world of her own.

That was her understanding. Was she wrong?

“You aren’t wrong.”

At that moment, the boy in close proximity suddenly lifted his hand to touch her head. It was as though he was comforting a lost girl.

But he quickly removed his hand that made her embarrassed but not repulsed. Suddenly, he grinned and his eyes burned with a fiery beam as he said loudly to her, “You aren’t wrong. Humans cannot change human nature. They can’t change good and evil, but This King is not human. Don’t forget that This King is the King of Kings that created good and evil! There is nothing This King can’t do!”

“This King has the right and the obligation to revise the imperfect good and evil! The current laws of good and evil are only suitable to superior beings with relatively simple requirements and desires, but it is not suitable for humans with complex human nature! If the laws of good and evil can be sufficiently perfected, so perfect to the point of it not being able to be twisted by human nature and strength, or make true good and true evil to become an irrefutable truth, then everything would change!”

“Although This King hasn’t thought of the perfect laws of good and evil, but This King will search for it, and will continue searching for it! When This King finds the correct answer, This King will snatch his sealed throne and change the laws of good and evil!”

The boy’s voice was filled with energy and excitement. It was like a wave that surged into the sky while constantly heading for the firmament of freedom.

Dawn widened her eyes and fell into a daze.

So that was the reason.

So that was the reason why he was different.

So that was the reason why she could hear his voice.

The words he said that sounded like bullshit were all filled with his profound feelings. Be it that strange confession of ‘are you willing to be a side hoe’ or the ridiculous story of ‘This King is the King of kings that created good and evil’, they were filled with innumerable thoughts and reasoning despite them being words said on a whim. And these thoughts and reasoning were not said on a whim, but treasures that had long been engraved in his heart.

Those were his thoughts and reasoning!

Ah, I finally understand.