Free Web NovelChapter 495: Chapter 112: Pride and Greed
The southern cemetery is a place shrouded in black fog. To reach this cemetery, one must pass through the heart of Well Four.
As Evil Fallen around them kept dying, a strong, pungent stench of blood quickly filled the air.
However, Bai Wu and Wu Jiu had experienced all sorts of deaths in these days, including having their faces smeared with some disgusting mucus.
Therefore, neither of them was too affected by the odor.
On the path, Wu Jiu saw that Bai Wu was unusually downcast and said,
"History is just like that. Heroes die, and perhaps a second before, they were thinking about saving the world; the next, they slip and die in a latrine."
Bai Wu frowned:
"Captain, these words don’t fit with a character like you."
Wu Jiu said:
"The lowlifes from the bottom aspire to become heroes because heroes are powerful enough. But the history I know is such that very few heroes get to die a grand death."
Walking over the ruins and the corpses of giant Evil Fallen, Wu Jiu stopped and said earnestly,
"If you feel regret or dissatisfaction, then always remember those who have died and live on by inheriting their will."
Bai Wu smiled and felt much better:
"That does sound like something the captain would say."
The great battle had ended, and although it culminated in the heavy event of killing Tao Xingzhi, the aftermath was inevitably a relief.
Bai Wu quickly rallied, but Wu Jiu became serious:
"These days, I have gained quite a lot of power. Not from battling, but from Li You."
The Myriad Forms Doomsday Shape, an imba ability, was something Bai Wu also envied.
Power at the Origin Level, though mighty, was always fraught with great variances, no matter how well one could control it, given its distortive nature.
And it consumed too much as well.
One couldn’t just unleash their ultimate skills whenever a battle ensued. If possible, Bai Wu also longed for more fighting techniques.
Of course, Wu Jiu’s purpose wasn’t to brag. He said earnestly,
"This means that Li You has been through numerous battles. Is it possible... what you saw in the revelation is happening?"
Bai Wu’s expression grew solemn:
"You mean, the monsters from the farm are starting to attack the High Tower?"
"Yes."
Wu Jiu was anxious, but he could only sense Li You when Li You sensed him.
When Li You severed the connection, they couldn’t share their perceptions.
Bai Wu nodded:
"That’s not beyond the realm of possibility."
"Aren’t you worried?" Wu Jiu looked at Bai Wu.
Bai Wu observed the captain, certain that within the captain’s heart must lie some form of anxiety and guilt.
The High Tower was a place he cared about deeply, even though it had once been very corrupt.
But it was where Wu Jiu’s original intent lay; Bai Wu knew that if the High Tower were to be destroyed... he would definitely wish to be standing guard at its side.
"Of course I’m worried, but what I’m about to say might sound cruel."
Bai Wu walked ahead of Wu Jiu, then turned around to face him.
In this period, the two had lived and died together over a thousand times, naturally leaving no secrets between them.
"What are you going to say?"
"We are not gods, and there is no god in this world. Maybe we can save many, but we can’t save everyone."
"I know..."
Bai Wu shook his head and said:
"Lin Wurou, Shang Xiaoyi, Wang Shi, Qin Lin... These former Paozes might be fighting in blood right now. Maybe they have already been engulfed and torn apart by hordes of Evil Fallen."
As these familiar names were mentioned, Wu Jiu’s expression changed.
"I say this not because I don’t care about them, but because the revelation made me realize something: perhaps what we desperately try to avoid is ultimately inevitable."
"What do you mean?"
Bai Wu turned around and, seeing that the captain’s mood was still relatively stable, spoke as he walked:
"Exactly what it sounds like. By making certain choices, we also abandon other choices.
If we blame ourselves for the choices we abandon, then we will never be able to make decisions in the future."
"Revelations may not always be entirely accurate, but at least they provide direction. Going to the High Tower now, perhaps all we can do is delay the deaths of a few of our subordinates... but we can’t change anything." frёewebηovel.cѳm
"I don’t know if the High Tower is under attack, but I know that it will surely face that day."
"When the concentration of distortion reaches a certain level, and the High Tower disappears again, Farmer Jing Yi will definitely attack the High Tower like crazy."
"If I were, like Jing Yi, to fight against it for seven hundred years, I might be confident in preventing this from happening."
"But I am not starting from the same starting line as Jing Yi. I believe what Bai Yuan, a worthy adversary mentioned, accomplished in these seven hundred years, must be more than what Jing Liu did."
"If just with our current selves, we could prevent the destruction of the High Tower... I believe that the entity that revealed the truth to me would not have used such a concealed method."
"I also believe... Bai Yuan, The First Generation, the enemies they face won’t be easily stopped by us. We need to have more trump cards."
Wu Jiu looked at Bai Wu’s back, feeling somewhat unfamiliar:
"So if you had to choose, even if the High Tower was under attack, even if your former companions faced death, you would still choose to come to Denglin City?" freewēbnoveℓ.com
Bai Wu didn’t respond to that, but his decisive stride had already told Wu Jiu the answer.
Wu Jiu said:
"Does this bring you peace?"
Bai Wu turned around again:
"My words, they are not meant to bring me peace; they are for you, Captain. I am grateful that you, Captain, would rush over to Denglin City alone for my sake."
"Knowing that the Captain will carry the heavy future and join the farm, I also swore to change such a future."
"It’s great that friends worth fighting for are also willing to fight for me."
"But I’m different from the Captain. To me, the trolley problem is the simplest question in the world. Between saving a few and saving many, I can easily make a decision, but it’s different for you, Captain."
Bai Wu continued:
"Captain, you are the kind of person who will feel guilty for the choice you abandoned, no matter what decision you make."
Wu Jiu didn’t like this, but he was very clear that Bai Wu was right.
"Only by obtaining the Seven Sins can we truly be qualified to contend with the people from the farm. Maybe our appearance is too late and will lead to a dire situation. But that’s still better than total failure."
The two fell silent.
It wasn’t until they reached the cemetery that Wu Jiu finally said:
"I can’t do what you do. If I knew in advance that Wurou and the others were in danger, maybe I wouldn’t have come to Denglin City."
Bai Wu thought the captain probably couldn’t get past this issue, but what the captain said next warmed his heart:
"I can’t weigh the value of one life against another, but I trust that the choice you make is the optimal one."
Bai Wu nodded:
"I am not a businessman who can weigh the pros and cons of human lives. If possible, I would have the Captain never have to experience a dilemma. But I also hope the Captain... can understand, if one day someone dies, it’s not your fault."
After the conversation, the two men stopped discussing the topic, exchanging a smile before moving on.
Their gaze soon fell upon the most conspicuous tombstone in the graveyard.
Not because of the tombstone’s appearance, but its prominent location, and particularly the aura exuding from the two weapons which drew the attention of Wu Jiu and Bai Wu.
There were no inscriptions on the tombstone, but Bai Wu was still able to observe its information through his eyes.
"A single stele serves to honor two close friends of a once crazed individual—one whose name he knew, the other he did not."
Naturally, the "crazed individual" referred to Jing Si, the known friend being Professor Tao, and the unknown being The First Generation.
Wu Jiu knew that the next step, the identification process, had to be left to Bai Wu.
He remained silent, patiently waiting.
Bai Wu seemed slightly lost in thought, and to Wu Jiu, it seemed that he had encountered some message that moved him.
Indeed, the information on this stele made Bai Wu suddenly think of the loneliness at the top.
Jing Si, whose immense fighting prowess made him appear as a monster in everyone’s eyes.
All scientists feared such a monster.
Yet, until his death, Professor Tao believed in Jing Si’s inherent goodness.
And The First Generation, though grievously wounded by Jing Si in the end, still forgave him.
Bai Wu was beginning to understand Professor Tao’s dying words, Jing Si was not the savior.
"This stele was erected by Jing Si in memory of Professor Tao and The First Generation,"
Bai Wu began to narrate:
"Jing Si’s power was too great, a single rampage was a disaster, and he would go insane from time to time, uncontrollable by anyone when it happened."
"With such power, Jing Si paid a price—he had no friends, except for Professor Tao and The First Generation who considered him one."
"The First Generation and Professor Tao—one seemed carefree, the other serious. But in reality, they were the same kind of person."
Wu Jiu asked:
"What kind of person?"
"Unwavering, unchanging, never looking back. In the face of Jing Si, The First Generation remained the same until death, never regretting his choices."
"Professor Tao was the same, the scientists in Ddnglin City’s Technology Building deserve respect—they were beaten by reality but not ashamed, however reality did not beat Professor Tao. To the end, Professor Tao met death with equanimity."
"Such great people, they really were... one could say they both died for Jing Si."
A trace of puzzlement crossed Bai Wu’s face:
"They were the closest to being saviors, though their efforts were in different directions."
"Jing Si... he was tragically deceived by a prophecy. Waiting for a savior, he ended up killing the savior with his own hands, again and again."
"Professor Tao, in his last moments, told me Jing Si was not the savior. Now, I understand that The First Generation and Professor Tao had such expectations for Jing Si."
Wu Jiu understood:
"So Professor Tao finally... saw through it?"
"Yes, and I don’t blame Professor Tao. When I learned that Jing Si’s power might shake the monsters inside High Tower, I too thought Jing Si could be the savior."
Bai Wu shook his head slowly as he spoke:
"But now I’m sure that he is just a monster with power, perhaps with a kind heart, but that’s all there is. I will no longer hold any expectations for him."
Wu Jiu nodded, saying:
"Let’s change the subject, talk about these two weapons."
Bai Wu nodded and began to explain the properties of the two weapons according to the notes.
"These are two genuine artifacts, almost indestructible."
"This Knight’s Sword represents Pride in the Seven Sins, while this dagger represents Greed."
The hilt of Pride’s sword might bear a pattern of the sun and moon. The blade of Greed, the dagger, looks like it is covered with a layer of scales."
The genuine artifacts of the Seven Sins.
One is Jing Si’s weapon; the other is the weapon of The First Generation.
When Jing Si originally created counterfeit Seven Sins weapons, his reference was the genuine weapon of the Seven Sins, Greed.
As for the Knight’s Sword, Pride, it was found by The First Generation through revelation after the seven-day catastrophe in Baichuan City.
When The First Generation left Jing Si, and after Professor Tao was dragged into the depths of the Earth by the heart of Jing Si and disappeared without a trace, Jing Si erected a stele and placed two weapons as a tombstone for his best friend.
Bai Wu was not surprised by the lengthy elaboration of Prayle’s Eye, nor by the formidable powers of the two weapons.
What surprised him was... the materials of these two weapons were the same as the Doomsday Puzzle pieces.
"As I am about to discuss the functionality of the two weapons, as a weapon consultant with the responsibility of bearing, I must tell you that the biggest difference between genuine and imitation lies in the material—
their material is Doomsday Puzzle pieces. You can think of the two weapons as entities made up of those fragments."
Even a single Doomsday Fragment already possesses immense power, so naturally, an entity made up of those fragments would be even more potent."
However, Prayle’s Eye’s introduction to them was rather simple—
"The Greedy, insatiable, human hearts unfulfilled, like snakes swallowing elephants."
Every attack has a chance to absorb part of the opponent’s power, whether it be their basic combat statistics or some special abilities."
It’s worth noting that everyone has a limit to endure, and once it’s surpassed, ingesting too much will lead to backlash.
Just like a python swallowing a stag, ultimately being killed by the stag’s antlers from the inside."
Thus, the abilities gained through Greed need to be "digested," or they will backfire and burn the wielder."
The abilities of Greed bear a striking resemblance to the Ten Thousand Phantasmal Bodies. Seeing this weapon’s abilities, Bai Wu could feel its power.
It was nearly a top-ten Sequence weapon.
The other weapon, Pride’s introduction, was also quite special—
"The Proud, obstinate and self-reliant, isolated without support."
After reading the detailed description, Bai Wu understood the specialty of this weapon.
Utmost Pride makes it impossible to collaborate with others. Once used, the wielder will find themselves in an isolated state.
When the realm of Pride is expanded, all forms of attack that are not from oneself will give the opponent a boost.
But all personal attack effects will be greatly increased."
This means that if Pride is used, friends fighting the enemy would inadvertently benefit the enemy.
But if one has no friends and is in an unsupported state, Pride can bring about a tremendous increase in power.
The two weapons of the Seven Sins had distinct characteristics, and Bai Wu was curious about what abilities Sloth, Lust, Gluttony, and Wrath would have.
For things he couldn’t understand, Bai Wu didn’t overthink them. He was prepared to give the dagger to Wu Jiu, but Wu Jiu declined.
"Once you find the genuine artifact of Envy, you may gift me the imitation you have on hand. But until then, you should keep these weapons.
The dispersed Seven Sins might not be fearsome. Although the abilities you describe do sound impressive, they haven’t reached the level of saving the world. Perhaps there are other secrets hidden within them.
Until that secret is unveiled, you should carry these weapons alone."
Bai Wu didn’t insist with Wu Jiu and accepted the arrangement. However, Bai Wu still hadn’t figured out how to use three weapons at the same time.
Wu Jiu said:
"Next, we should return to the High Tower and have a look. We’ve been here for over twenty days; we need to at least find out what exactly has happened outside."
