"You talk nonsense!"

Suddenly there was a roar.

The old man looked at the boy with tears in his eyes, without a trace of waves.

Xiu suddenly roared like crazy, stood up, and endured the trembling of his body, the fear in the ninja's heart, like a young wolf blocked in a cave by a hunter, and wanted to show him in horror that he didn't have minions at all.

The old man did not respond to him. Just a faint look at the boy's fierce reaction.

However, a hint of guilt loomed in his eyes.

Soon, there was no trace of it.

The old man just waited, waited. The words that had just been waiting for him quickly took root in his heart, and then spread to the roots, filling every inch of his thoughts, waiting, and he began to doubt himself.

But the old man's words seemed to work better than he had imagined, and the rapidly changing expression on the boy's face had already told him that the time had come.

The old man stained this pure white soul with the first dirt.

"You're already thinking about every time you kill someone in your head now." The old man said lightly.

That's for sure, every time the picture is played, I won't let it go.

Xiu's face turned ugly. The old man knew that the pictures that made Xiu uncomfortable were echoing in his mind one by one.

He's so clean, clean is a blank sheet of paper. Snow-white paper like his hair.

It's too easy for anyone to add some traces to such a paper. Moreover... He is an experienced painter.

"What scenes of the picture, if you had to do it again." The old man's cold pupils stared at the dim purple eyes, "Will you kill them?" ”

The old man doesn't need to know what those pictures are, he doesn't need to know who he killed, how many people, and what he killed for. He just needed to know that he could make Xiu kill people must be because he didn't have a second choice at that time.

So he knew that this question, Xiu would definitely choose the answer he expected.

He had already lowered his head, didn't look at Xiu's expression again, and then asked a third question.

"After killing them, before you regret it, do you feel a moment of great joy? At that moment, it was a relief. ”

The old man closed his eyes.

When you have to kill someone, there must be a problem that cannot be solved. There was a backlog of emotions in his heart that he couldn't vent, or there was so much anger that he had swung his sword before his brain even had time to think.

In that case, it's normal to feel like this.

Xiu will definitely feel this way. The old man's heart thought.

Because...

Whoever is in that situation will feel like this.

At this time, he couldn't feel any movement in Xiu.

Right now... He just had to wait. Waiting for the moment when the boy couldn't help but speak.

He didn't wait long.

"Why did I become like this..."Xiu was like losing his soul, his fingers clasped his head tightly, and even his voice became sharp, but incomparably small. Like the last scream of a suffocating man.

The old man opened his eyes.

"Now, tell me."

"Are you really resistant to killing?"

Be quiet.

Or rather, deathly silence.

There seemed to be a voice coming out of Xiu's mouth.

"I didn't hear it." The old man said ruthlessly.

"Yes—" the voice didn't get any louder.

The old man didn't let him raise his voice again. Because he knows that no matter how high it is, the heat will pass.

The old man sighed softly.

"I'll ask you some questions first, and you have to answer me."

“... Well. ”

The old man closed his eyes slightly, collected his thoughts, and then opened his eyes to look at him.

"How did you get here?"

"It started out as a pirate tracker. Then there was a storm. ”

"Why track pirates?"

“... I don't know, my commander wants us to do this. However, I guess something bad has been done. ”

"Then you think that if you didn't encounter the storm this time, you caught the pirates very smoothly. So..."

"Xiu, you tell me. What will happen to them? ”

Xiu fell silent again.

The old man waited for a long time and did not wait for an answer.

"Then I'll ask a different question." The old man's voice was like a long sigh. A deep voice echoed through his roar, like the ringing of an ancient bell. "In the very beginning, why did you choose to pick up the sword in your hand?"

In the beginning... Xiu lowered his head, thinking.

"There's something I want to take care of." His voice was small: "I didn't find it before, but then it did." I have something I want to protect. "It seems to be a delusion. The old man seemed to see a smile on his face.

"Yes." Looking at Xiu Shang's immature face, the old man asked again, "So... Are you ready to kill? ”

The smile seemed to freeze on his face.

"Murderous... Ready..."Xiu unconsciously clenched his fists, "Do I need to be ready to kill at any time?" ”

The old man looked at him and did not answer. Just looked at him so firmly, waiting for Xiu to answer: yes or no.

"Shouldn't I be ready to cut the blade I used to face the Honkai into the bodies of the people I should protect!" Xiu's pupils twitched slightly.

Homicide...

Slaughter...

Take away life!

"That way, that way, what's the difference between me and those broken things! What is the difference between me and them! He asked what he had been resisting in his heart: "What's the difference between me and those devils!" ”

The old man heard the name 'Honkai' for the first time. He didn't understand what that was.

But he was not interested in terms that he did not understand. Now, he just wants to be sure of one thing.

"Why would you be so resistant to killing. You see the people you want to protect being oppressed and persecuted! And you, on the other hand, are forced to lose what you hold dear, cherish! What the hell are you holding on to in front of someone who wants to make you lose everything! ”

“...”

"That's right! You did kill them, you resisted! But now you regret it, blame yourself, cringe... And so on and so on, it shouldn't have been, but it has made you what you are now! These feelings will almost destroy you alive! The old man's eyes were filled with a layer of coldness, "Do you think these things you stick to are the so-called justice?" No! Your current behavior is hypocrisy! Utter hypocrisy! This is hypocrisy! ”

“...”

"You hypocritically want to make others think that you were forced to kill someone, not that you wanted to do it! Your hypocrisy makes you feel like you were originally kind! But you have to! And then you're in regret, remorse! ”

“...”

"You hypocritically want to make others feel that you are in pain after killing someone, and the pain is to the point of collapse! Your hypocrisy makes you feel that the way you are now will make your conscience more satisfied! ”

“...”

"But can you wipe out all the sins you have committed? No! You can't erase it! And they did! It's very real and it's in your hands! Are you trying to use your current childish behavior to make others feel that you need to be forgiven and comforted? ”

"I tell you, no one can forgive this behavior! What you have taken is human life! Even if he is a wicked person, it is a sin if you kill him! ”

"Now tell me... Why do you want to make a disgusting posture that you want to protect others, when you are so hypocritical. ”

Xiu lowered his head and didn't dare to raise it.

“... Actually, I can bear to kill them..."It took a long, long time before he seemed to be talking to himself, and he seemed to whisper, "It's just... I can't do it. ”

"Can't get it?"

"Their desperate eyes before they died, their struggles before they died... Know that I was... I was—" his voice suddenly desperate and sad, "I, like them, have been struggling with all my might to survive!" ”

"Then have you ever thought about it, are the people who are persecuted by them still struggling desperately before dying like them?"

“... Didn't think about it. ”

"Then you think about it now... The girl named Sakura, struggling under their knives..."The old man's voice paused suddenly.

For a moment, he felt a chill hit his body.

It was a bone-chilling murderous intent.

The old man's eyes closed slightly.

"If you can't raise your sword for everything you want to protect, then... You don't want to stay here. Get out of here. Stay away from me, away from this shrine. ”

"Why..."

"Because you don't deserve to defend anything!" The old man's voice suddenly became stern.

"Murder is a sin. Even if the person you kill is a wicked person, if you kill him, you are sinning! I will never glorify this into such a bright and noble thing. At this point, I won't. But—" The old man's eyes seemed to have a hint of scrutiny, a hint of coldness, and a hint of disappointment.

"But if you are not even prepared to bear the sin, then from the beginning, you should not have it!"

"There is no end to the evil in the world, and if no one bears it, then the evil will spread to the person you want to protect! If you can't bear this crime, then don't boast about Haikou, make a big promise, take an oath, make a decision to protect, and protect someone! Because you don't have that consciousness at all! ”

"You don't know what you're going to pay for this protection!"

"You don't know what you're going to endure for this protection!"

"You don't know what you're going to face for this protection!"

"You don't even think about what you're going to do for the sake of this guardian or thing! You will, just keep thinking in your head, I'm going to protect, protect, protect. In this way, you can only watch at the end, what you want to protect, right in front of you, in front of you, but you can't change it, a little bit of falling apart! ”

"This is what you are now." The old man struggled, sat up little by little, stretched out a hand tremblingly, and pointed at Xiu's forehead, "Look at the way you look now!" Look at what you look like now! If all people are like you, then there will be no justice in this world! ”

"Justice is not something that can be obtained by thinking about it, but by using your hands to pry it from under the sharp teeth of others, little by little! Even if the hands hurt to the bone! ”

"If you can't do this, you are not qualified to be a person who can protect others, and you should stop talking nonsense and saying that you want to be a person who can protect others!"

"I'm not! I'm not like that! "Xiu wanted to defend something.

"So, tell me—" The old man forced his eyes to Xiu as if he were finally interrogated. Why, killing someone, makes you have such a big reaction? ”

"Because... That's a bad thing! He shrunk himself into a ball, clutching the little corner tightly, "I tried desperately to make myself an admirable knight, but... Can I still be a knight if I kill someone now... I'm already a bad person! I've become a bad guy who wants to be killed..."

"Knights don't need to kill." The old man said.

"Knights are protective of others, why kill people..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the old man asked again, "Well, if the knights don't kill people, then who will kill the bad guys?" ”

Xiu raised his head slightly, but stared blankly at the old face.

He didn't know about it.

"Is the person who kills the bad guy a bad guy?" The old man asked again.

This time, Xiu shook his head.

"But they also killed. Do you think they're bad people? The old man asked again.

Xiu thought about it and shook his head hesitantly.

"Then you became that kind of person, do you think you are a bad person?"

Xiu didn't answer any more.

"Do you think that the heroes and heroes who punish the traitors and eliminate the evil are all villains who disregard human life?"

“... No. After a long time, he answered.

"That..."

The old man looked at the door.

"Tell me your choice."

"Continue to tell others with tears that you are a weak person."

"Or take your sword and tell someone..."

"You're a knight."

(End of chapter)