Free Web NovelChapter 498: Chapter 244: Do You Believe in Light? (2)
At this moment, the familiar scene provoked him, Modus’s sharp killing intent almost bursting out.
Adira raised an eyebrow slightly, a playful curve tugging at his lips, like an audience finally awaiting the start of a grand show. He even leisurely adjusted the strap of his lute, ready to enjoy the drama that might unfold.
Fight! Fight!
I want to see rivers of blood flow!
Ye Mingqiu’s expression remained unchanged, like a mountain covered in eternal ice and snow. He turned around and was the first to walk out of the inn, with Modus and Adira following closely behind.
On the street, the crowd, both fearful and curious, formed a spacious semicircle.
In the center, a few soldiers dressed in the kingdom’s tax officer uniforms, yet behaving like bandits, were cursing in the filthiest language while swinging iron-covered wooden sticks, violently beating a mother and her son.
The mother was in tattered clothes, thin as a rake, using her body to shield a boy who seemed just over ten years old.
Her silence and resilience seemed to enrage the soldiers, whose beating grew more ferocious. The sticks hit her back and head, producing bone-rattling dull thuds, staining the snow red with blood.
"Damn! Peasant!"
"Can’t even pay your taxes, yet you dare glare at me!"
"Beat you to death, you pauper! Let’s see you act tough!"
....
Modus clenched his fists so hard they cracked, his knuckles turned white from the force, a rush of blood surging to his head. He was almost stepping out to tear those hyena-like soldiers apart.
However, his steps ultimately stayed rooted to the spot.
’In saving them, yet still wanting the world to meet its end, what does that make me?’
’A selfish hypocrite?’
’Do I have the right to save these people?’
’To save them only to bring them new despair?’
Modus sighed deeply, his arms wilting as though they had lost their strength, filled with sadness and longing. He turned his head, his gaze falling on Ye Mingqiu ahead.
Attempting to see what choice this "once hero" would make now.
Ye Mingqiu simply watched silently.
He watched as the mother was beaten until her nose and mouth bled, her eyes gradually dimming; he watched the soldiers obtain a twisted pleasure from their violence; he watched the crowd around, eyes numb or filled with fear.
He also watched the boy protected beneath the mother, from initially trembling with fear, to crying in sorrow, and finally, those tear-filled eyes sparked with a weak yet stubborn flame—that was hatred, unwillingness, and a desire to burn all the injustice before him to ashes.
Perhaps he would never forget, being shielded by such a frail body, looking through blood occasionally dripping down, hair dyed white from toil, through sleeves torn and then mended, arriving finally upon those faces.
Just like.... Modus once was.
Long after, the soldiers, tired from beating, laughed and left, glancing back at the dying mother as if discarding trash, swaggering away.
They didn’t really care about a few copper coins of tax, only enjoyed the rights and violence.
The crowd quickly dispersed like the tide, afraid of getting involved in any trouble.
In the middle of the now empty street, only the dying mother remained, and the boy under her, emitting despairing whimpers, though burning with flames in his eyes.
At this moment, Ye Mingqiu moved.
He slowly stepped out from the shadow of the inn’s entrance, approaching the boy, his tall figure casting a shadow.
He knelt down, looking at the boy’s eyes, washed by tears and anger, softly asking:
"Do you believe in light?"
The boy abruptly raised his head, his face mixed with blood, tears, and extreme sorrow and urgency:
"What light? My mom is dying! Save her, please, I’ll do anything if you can save her! Anything..."
He spoke incoherently, his voice choked, desperately grasping at the last straw of salvation.
"Only you can save her."
Ye Mingqiu’s voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable force.
"Me?"
The boy was stunned, his face full of confusion and helplessness.
Ye Mingqiu leaned closer, his deep eyes locking onto the boy at a very close distance: "I saw it, the fire in your eyes. You want to resist them, resist this world, right?"
"I... I didn’t..."
The boy instinctively denied, a weak fear of facing insurmountable power.
"No, you do!"
Ye Mingqiu’s low shout was like a thunderclap, he suddenly reached out, grabbing the boy by the collar, pulling him to his face, their foreheads nearly touching. His eyes at such close range were like two black whirlpools, as if intending to draw out everything from the depths of his soul.
"In this world, light and hope do exist!"
"As long as your belief and desire to resist are strong enough, the Lord of Light and Shadow will cast down their gaze, granting you the power of salvation and resistance."
"You want to save your mother?"
"You can, by igniting your belief, fueling your anger, transforming your unwillingness and resistance into firewood, letting it blaze within your heart!"
"Then, gain power, control the power, use your own power to save her!"
The boy, shaken by the unknown information, his reason told him it was false; if the Lord of Light and Shadow truly existed, the world should not be like this.
But...
His heart said: To hell with reason.
The boy bit his lip, choked out: "But.... What if I can’t..."
"Then watch her die."
"See it with your own eyes, and regret it in the future."
Ye Mingqiu’s voice was as cold as iron, cutting off any hope.
