Toba observed the gray-haired man in front of him.
It has known him for a long time, but it cannot be said to know him well. It had always believed that this man's abilities were not commensurate with his status among the immortals, but now he looked even more decadent. It wasn't that he looked embarrassed on the outside, after all, this was supposed to be a new body, but a certain kind of fear lingered around him, causing his mental strength to completely fail.
It chewed on the frightened man's words. That was completely unexpected. This is such a strange thing. The immortal man it imagined should appear in front of it in an offensive posture, but the result is fear. That disappointment slowly extinguished its anger, leaving only deep hatred and contempt.
"I know what happened at that time." It said boredly, "The slicer was made by neural simulation, and you can't separate the individual emotions and memory parts from a thinking system. You chose Copying them all - of course that would turn it into a whirlpool of thought, wouldn't it? The people you executed never thought of revenge on you? And what surprises you now about that? That bitch is That's right. You and Wes were both stunned by the hallucination."
"It's not an illusion," Kimo said. "If you really experience it...no illusion can transcend the limits of physical perception. It's more real than our reality. If we can't hide in reality, it will find us."
"it?"
"The thing that let Weiss go."
"Aha, space monster." Toba said, "What? Are you even telling this joke? I'm not going to give you a long lecture like that bitch. I'm just asking a few simple questions: If there really is such a thing Thing exists, why should it pay attention to you? And if it represents some damn cosmic spirit, what does it need a slicer for? It could just create a more perfect thing on its own, right? Just to remind you, Cowards, we guys are nothing to the universe. Don’t take yourself too seriously.”
"I have a kid," Kimo said.
"What?"
"I have a child," Kimo said again. This is indeed new news.
Toba thought about the past. He doesn't remember this. But there's nothing surprising about this. If Kimo had fathered offspring with any woman who lived on land, or if he had made some more crude copies using machines, the process would not have left any traces on him. It's easy to hide, and there's not much risk involved.
"No, no." Kimo denied, as if reading his thoughts, "Not after, but before. Before the slicer was activated. I have an unprogrammed child who lives with her mother. Together. I didn't get a chance to actually meet her...just hear that she existed."
"What a good father, isn't he?" Toba said.
"I did something wrong." Kimo said quickly, as if he didn't want to mention this part. "I should have cared about these problems earlier...but by the time I intervened, it was too late. There are many procedural problems. Or obstacles in life, I can solve them, but at the time I really didn’t expect..."
"I don't care what you did wrong," Toba said. "Leave your repentance to someone who cares."
"She's a spiritualist."
All Toba's eyes were focused on his lips. Kimo's lips trembled, but he continued: "She is a spiritualist, and she is among the largest group. I only realized this very later... I checked the list, and There are execution reports. I have to be very careful because relatives of spiritualists are put on the watch list. Her mother is responsible for the data management in this area, so I think she may have tampered with the matching information. I was not Found it, but that is not safe. I want to confirm this, so I can only take my time and check it bit by bit. When the splitter started, I was doing this in the document room."
There was a little reaction from his audience. More than one, even the immortal cat in the distance had its ears raised high. But it was standing very far away, and it was uncertain whether it could hear this confession. Only those beautiful jade-like cat eyes were brighter and sharper than usual. It is watching for new pedestrians at the crossing.
"What a pity." Toba said without emotion, "It's like if you had known about this earlier, you would have tried to save her. If you really did that, I think the person standing in front of me today would be It's another guy. Zabi or his son, they have a good relationship with that bitch."
"I was chosen here for a reason," Kimo said eagerly. "When the slicer was activated, I saw them all. The dead ones were talking and singing to me from behind the walls... I listened. Got to her.”
"You don't even know what she looks like."
"Yes, yes, but I knew it was her. You didn't need to meet to know that. I was terrified, but I knew it was her singing. That's talking too. I think that's what people do to death. She was talking to me and me alone. For years after that I asked other people what they saw when the slicer was activated. They might not have asked I told the whole truth, just as I didn't tell them. But I was the only one who met her. And that should have been impossible. She had no way of knowing I worked there while she was alive."
"This has nothing to do with her." Toba said, and it was disgusted to find that his tone was getting closer to Ji Xun's. There was nothing he could do about it. He had been with the bandits who had sneaked into the Holy City for too long, and he would get the taste of a pretentious bandit.
But it still has to go on: "It's you, idiot. The slicer responds to you. You want to see your child, and it fulfills your wish. Do you want to hear her forgive you herself? Or scold you. Are you going to stop? That’s just your one-man show anyway, so stop pretending.”
"She gave me an order," Kimo said.
"Telling you to live without worrying about her?" Toba sneered sharply.
"She told me to wait for an arrangement," Kimo whispered. There was no need for him to control the volume like this. On this desolate wild path in front of the computing center, not even an insect exists. But he still muttered at the softest volume.
"One day we have to return here." He whispered, "We have to give an account of our affairs. We didn't do anything wrong... we didn't do anything too right, but we didn't do too wrong either. We don't have the ability at all. Do something too right or too wrong, child. All our efforts mean little. She asked me to leave in order to return at the right moment. I think she had her own agenda, and yes, she asked I take away an Endless Bell. It must be for her own plan. We are just a link to the end. But let it be... let it be. She promised us an ending, in At some appropriate time. I agree. We may all die badly, but if we can make any difference... your mother was the best choice. She acted. Big mistake or... Great job, that at least brought us back here.”
Toba was already confused. It listened carefully to Kimo's every word and set aside the impulses of prejudice and hatred long before it was halfway through. It can be said that it typed these words word for word, but it still didn't understand what Kimo wanted to say. It's not either/or, standing on this side or that side, it's like being scared to death, and it's like being full of hope.
"What do you want?" it asked warily, "What is the purpose of your coming here?"
"I wonder..." Kimo replied shakily, "I wonder if there's anything we can make up for."
Toba could have said a lot in that moment. Outright curses, or devious taunts, it's masterful at both. It is feeling disgusted to the core. How can a person pretend that nothing happened after committing evil acts. Want to make amends. No. That's more disgusting than stubbornness. People who commit evil to the end believe they are right. And the person trying to make amends undoubtedly knows that he or she was wrong and wants to be forgiven. I want to pretend it never happened. How is that possible? How is that possible? It is about to speak out of rage. But at this moment, the immortal cat jumped up from the wall. Three shadows came in at the intersection.
"House Zero!" a white winged wild animal shouted. There was also a horned woman and a man, and they all suddenly jumped out of the intersection. For a moment, Toba thought that they were all pursuers sent by the House of Ethics, but these three people passed directly between it and Kimo and rushed to the door of the computing center. They ran as fast as the plague was chasing after them.
"That thing is coming!" Toba heard the animal shouting, almost breaking through the gate when he shouted. In its consternation, it wants to stop them - crossing borders is deadly, as is the city's inhabitants.
But it didn't come in time. A fourth shadow appeared at the crossing. It felt that the dark green clouds in the sky suddenly became lower and pressed tightly on top of its head. Darkness filled the air. At the intersection, the black shadow should be a large and thick black trench coat, with a weird lizard head peeking out from above the high triangular collar. The fourth visitor looked directly at it.
Their eyes were about to meet. Tuba suddenly forgot everything. Its hyphal structure. its life memory. Its rage. It seems to have fallen into a gray and slow world. The shadow grew like branches of a tree, claws reaching out towards it.
Just then Kimo suddenly knocked it away.
He pushed it back, placing his entire body between it and the fourth visitor, completely interrupting the line of sight on both sides. Toba began to slide back, and it saw dark green clouds twisting around Kimo's cheeks, forming a dirty and dark spot. After the light spot rotated gently in the air, Kimo completely disappeared into the howling wind before the storm.
