Chapter 1374: Audience Meeting — Layout |
"The Benefactor said:"
"Let me cut open your compassion and see if the kindness inside is actually what I think it is."
"And then he personally killed the unarguing and unspeaking Tria..."
"That was also the first time I knew of the existence of the Faith Container. That dazzling [Corruption] container just fell in front of me."
"The Benefactor let me take it away and told me to deliver this container into your hands at the right time."
"And then came the matter of the Sinking Land."
"..."
Cheng Shi was stupefied.
Just killed directly like that?
Good news, his good brother Aph Ros's commission was completed, he found the murderer.
Bad news, the murderer was his direct superior, this case would likely become an unsolved, unjust mystery...
Cheng Shi frowned, filled with extreme doubt. "He only said this one sentence, nothing else?"
Bai Ling shook her head:
"No, unless the Benefactor erased my memory. Otherwise, I missed absolutely nothing."
"But I think since He made me remember this sentence, there was no need to erase anything else, otherwise simply waving me away before doing those things would be the same."
"I've never understood why He would kill Tria in front of me. Even though Tria was indeed a subordinate of [Corruption], the other party had never done evil, or even shown up much."
"For a very long time after that, I thought it was the Benefactor's beating on me, wanting me to maintain the devotion of my faith, until I saw you here again..."
"I only realized then that these words weren't spoken for me to hear at all."
"Now I understand. Big shot, you were right. When you were able to find me here, it meant His gag order had passed."
"..."
Cheng Shi of course knew that these words were exactly what the Fun God wanted Bai Ling to bring to him, but the problem was that knowing these trivial details didn't help with his current situation at all, and it even made his mind more confused.
What exactly did Tria's death represent?
This must be very important, otherwise it wouldn't be worth the Fun God laying out a plan across half a year, leaving this clue until the Audience Meeting to be revealed.
Cheng Shi's expression changed, his brows locked tight, but he still couldn't think of an answer.
Seeing Cheng Shi so solemn, Bai Ling asked nervously, "Can these things... be of help?"
Cheng Shi smoothed out his brow and smiled, nodding. "Yes, they helped a lot."
Bai Ling's face lit up with joy, and she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good, that's good. Then what else can I do?"
"Big shot, I am very strong now and I can help. My tamed beasts are also very strong, they..."
"Wait, wait, wait." Cheng Shi smiled and interrupted Bai Ling's words, asking curiously, "Let's put aside the matter of helping. Tell me about your Beast Tamer identity. Why did you play Xiao Qi?"
"Xiao Qi is Du Qiyu. He has some ties with me. Don't be nervous, he and I aren't friends."
"I broadly guessed some of the process. Xie Yang... you should know him, right?"
Bai Ling never dreamed of hearing the name "Xie Yang" from Cheng Shi's mouth!
Of course she knew him! That Gap Light Iron Thorn was precisely pulled into the Torchbearers by her!
"You know Xie Yang?"
Cheng Shi couldn't help but smile. "Yes, he's my neighbor."
"..." Bai Ling froze, blinking her eyes. "This world is really small."
"Yes, this world is really small, so why did you play Xiao Qi?"
Speaking of Du Qiyu, Bai Ling's eyes immediately became cold and fierce, like a vicious beast waiting to hunt.
"Fishing!"
"I was fishing!"
"Perhaps the previous me was too weak; I didn't feel too much of the suffocating and despairing malice of this world. But as I became able to see through the lies of others, I found that some people simply don't deserve to be called human."
"They walk in the world wearing human skin, like man-eating demons. Using the talents bestowed by the gods, they not only harvest the lives of innocent players, but also crush the dignity of ordinary people."
"They are either crazy or insane, calling it beautifully 'embracing the game and enjoying the apocalypse,' not knowing that they are merely indulging their beastly hearts. They are not [Corruption], but they are worse than [Corruption]!"
"The Torchbearers are resolved to save the world, wanting to reshape a brand-new world. But whenever I think that there are still so many rotten people in this world, I feel that they are not worthy of reaching that brand-new world. Even the path leading to the brand-new world, they are not worthy of stepping on!"
"Passing the fire is to hold fast to the beautiful, but blindly holding fast is useless. The rotting cloudy wind will continuously harass the flame in the darkness, and I don't want to be a wall against the wind, I only want to be the knife scraping the sore, returning a clean slate to the new world!"
Bai Ling spoke sonorously and forcefully. The determination in her eyes and her clenched fists fully expressed her experiences.
Cheng Shi nodded; he understood.
"So you played the role of an extremely evil character, even proclaiming yourself the opposite of passing the fire, to attract people with similar foul tastes, and then took them out?"
"Yes!"
"I used to be a follower of [Corruption]. I best understand the confluence of desires, so naturally, I know how to find these scum."
"The City Breakers used this method to punish many evil people; they got what they deserved."
"But I don't think this is any great merit. Compared to Sister Qing and the others' perseverance, I am just a person who indulges in my desires."
Despite saying so, Bai Ling smiled very happily. There was not a shred of falsehood in this smile. Obviously, she was deeply proud of this "work".
Cheng Shi sized up the little bird in front of him who seemed to be shining brightly, and nodded with a smile:
"Everyone has desires. You being able to protect that glimmer of light in your heart while satisfying your desires is very good, but..."
"Forget it, I won't say more. Just be yourself."
Bai Ling froze for a moment, then understood Cheng Shi's meaning, and said with an incomparably firm gaze:
"I know, big shot. I will never set up the name of 'evil' for myself or the Torchbearers with that arrow named 'good'."
Hearing these words, Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow. "Good awareness. Who taught you that? Fang Shiqing?"
"It was President Qin."
Qin Xin?
It made sense, because Qin Xin himself was exactly such a person.
When the [War] of a world brought to the world not the flames of war, but the fire of holding onto beauty, how fortunate was this world!
"I understand."
Cheng Shi said with a serious expression, "The Path of Fire Passing is long, and the road ahead is still rugged."
"I am not a Torchbearer, and I have no position to ask you to do anything. So I'll say it again: be yourself!"
"This is the principle I realized from so many sufferings."
"You probably can't help with the matters on my end, and favoring one person isn't the meaning of passing the fire either."
"Go back. Keep walking in the direction you think is right, keep walking, until you see the light on the other shore."
"But remember, it is not that you found the light, but the heavily scarred you who brought that glimmer of light to the other shore."
Cheng Shi's tone was deep and full of sighs. Bai Ling originally thought her experiences were rich enough, but hearing these words, that kind of heaviness that struck directly at the soul felt as if someone was shouldering the weight of the entire world.
She had many doubts, but she didn't ask, because the big shot told her to go back.
So she had to go back.
But before leaving, she really couldn't hold back and asked a small question.
"Big... Cheng Shi, are you really the Flame of Hope?"
Cheng Shi froze for a moment, then gave a bright smile:
"Yes."
"You are too."
"Every one of us is the Flame of Hope for this world."
...