Chapter 705: Chapter 43: I Just Want to Take Those Like Away
The warehouse was imdiately plunged into a deathly silence. The children, always too afraid to make a sound, still dared not approach Lair lying in the pool of blood, as if he was no longer a person but a corpse awaiting decay.
No one knew how much ti had passed before he ambiguously made a sound.
“Why… did this happen?”
The children exchanged glances, unsure if Lair was talking to himself or to them.
Only Bai Wei knew he was talking to himself.
So Bai Wei ponderously spoke: “Which part are you referring to?”
“All of it…” Lair rasped, “I don’t understand… What exactly did I do wrong… I just wanted to live a better life, to prove to my family that I was right… that’s all, but this world… is unfair to , truly unfair.”
“Where is it unfair?”
“Everywhere.” Lair said in a low voice, “People outside… are born with a vast sky, fresh air, a past and a future, but we have none of that, can’t even imagine it.”
“Is that really unfair?”
“Isn’t it?”
“Then by your logic, what about these children you call goods?” Bai Wei said, “They truly have a vast sky, fresh air, the past and future you ntioned… at least they should. Are they fair then?”
Lair’s eyelids twitched: “This has nothing to do with . Even without , they’d still end up like this.”
“Then who is your unfairness related to?”
Lair was stunned.
“You can’t just complain about so-called unfairness only when disaster befalls you,” Bai Wei said. “That would be the greatest unfairness.”
Lair opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to argue, but didn’t know how to start.
No one knew how much ti passed before he seed to find an answer: “If that’s the case… then I’m not wrong at all…”
“Really?”
“This is just how the world is, how everyone is.” He seed to be persuading Bai Wei, or perhaps himself, “So why bla ? It’s the… world’s fault, not mine! What can I do alone?!”
The last half of the sentence, Lair almost scread hysterically, but because his mouth was full of blood, his words were incoherent, sounding like the delirious ramblings of a dying man.
Only Bai Wei could hear clearly what Lair said. He calmly waited until Lair had finished venting, then leisurely spoke: “Yes, it’s almost impossible for one person to change the world. Even if you actually tried to be a good person, you might still end up like this, because this world is just rotten.”
Seeing Bai Wei actually agree with him, Lair was montarily stunned.
He originally thought Bai Wei would ridicule him, would scold him, might even “educate” him, like the legendary gods guiding their followers.
Yet Bai Wei agreed with him.
The legendary Visas, a presence rivaling the gods, also agreed with him that “the world is just rotten.”
Lair thought he would be happy, would feel relieved, but he wasn’t. Instead, a pressing sense of grief and despair spread within him.
And at that mont, a soft rustling sounded in Lair’s ear. He lifted his head to see two children carefully bring a basin of water to his side.
Lair heard their deliberately lowered voices.
“Should we really help him? He’s with those people.”
“But he’s dying, at least give him a drink of water.”
“…Alright.”
A brief exchange, but it made Lair’s body tense up.
The two children tried to feed him the water, but Lair kept his mouth shut, refusing to drink.
One child anxiously said, “Why won’t you drink? You’ll die if you don’t.”
The other child responded, “He’ll die even if he does drink.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
…What if?
…
“Why did you have to leave with him? He tricked you!”
“But what if he’s telling the truth?!”
…
Lair’s lips parted, water sliding into his throat, cold and piercing.
“Is this enough?”
“Yeah… should be enough.”
After giving him water, the two children quickly left. They didn’t say much else to Lair, feeling they had already done enough by saving his life (in their eyes).
Lair stared blankly after them.
“Rember five years ago, what was the world like in your perception?” Bai Wei spoke again after a mont of silence. “No sky to see, no fresh air to sll, the average life expectancy was forty years, no past or future, those were your exact words. But did you know what the outside world was like back then? Why did you dare to leave behind that perpetual wasteland based solely on a word from the Black rchant? Weren’t you afraid he was deceiving you, that there wasn’t a better world out there, but rather a worse one, and that leaving ho would only bring irreversible doom? Didn’t you think about that?”
Lair opened his mouth.
“Of course, you thought about it, but you still went through with it,” Bai Wei said. “Because you were betting that what he said was true, betting on that ‘what if.’ In your eyes, that ‘what if’ was worth everything you had. So why didn’t you resign yourself to fate five years ago, but do so today?”
Lair’s breathing gradually intensified.
“I’m not accusing you of anything. Not everyone can walk that path, but those who can are worthy of admiration, aren’t they?” Bai Wei said, “Just as your son would certainly be proud of the Lair who dared to venture beyond the wasteland five years ago, wouldn’t he?”
Lair fell silent.
Although his breathing was still heavy, like a damaged instrunt, compared to the previous disorder and agitation, there was an unusual “calmness” about him now.
He remained silent for a long ti, so long that the two children wondered if he had already died, hesitating whether to check on him, but finally, Lair spoke.
“My son…” he softly asked, “where is he?”
“Lyra,” Bai Wei said, “an abandoned place, but still with so hope.”
“Ah, Lyra… I know, I know.”
Lair gently closed his eyes; he didn’t ask how Bai Wei saved his son or make any demands, just continually repeated “I know,” like a broken record.
After a mont, he slowly opened his eyes and asked, “Are you Visas, or the Tongue they speak of?”
“Does that question matter to you?”
“It matters,” Lair said, “because if you are Visas, I can make a wish to you.”
“A wish to see your son?”
“No,” Lair said, “another wish, one you promised , to lend your power.”
“Even if it requires life as the cost of that power?”
Lair said nothing, but clearly assented.
“If you use it, you’ll never see your son again,” Bai Wei said. “Does that not matter?”
“I no longer have the face to see him,” Lair said softly. “I’ve let down my wife, let down my parents, and let down my son… so I want to do sothing.”
“So you want to save all the children here?”
“No.” Lair shook his head and then looked towards the Black rchants outside the warehouse, saying word by word, “I just want to take away those like .”
Bai Wei was silent for a while, then smiled.
“Alright.”
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