The Thrill Is What Matters

"Passengers may transfer to Line 3 at this station..." It was nearly eleven o'clock at night, yet the transfer station's passenger traffic remained ridiculously heavy. Commuters clutching briefcases cast an exhausted pall over the subway. It seemed the labor laws in the Nation of Stars were poorly enforced—even with the New Year approaching, people still had to work. However, once the train began moving, the chattering clamor brightened the subway cars again; after all, tomorrow was a holiday. Emerging from the mountain tunnel, the train shuttled along elevated tracks, soaring high above the city. Looking out over the neon-drenched steel jungle, despite being in a cramped carriage, Yaxiu felt no discomfort at all; instead, he gradually relaxed. Nothing soothed an overworked commuter's heart like the comforting hum of everyday life. "There's a super delicious griddle place down there," Yaxiu said, pointing toward a commercial street below. "The portions are huge, though. I can't eat much on my own. If we still have time tomorrow before leaving, let's go have a meal there. I'll share a table with you, and no matter how much we order, none of it will go to waste." Rose twitched her nose and furrowed her brow. "I feel like you're teasing me." The corners of Yaxiu's lips curved upward slightly. Just then, footsteps sounded behind them. Turning around, he saw a burly man with a backpack push through the crowd toward the rear car. Glancing at the long backpack, which looked like it held fishing rods, Yaxiu took Rose's hand and slipped soundlessly through the crowd. Rose followed him quietly, and the two stopped at the vestibule connecting to the second-to-last car. Pulling her against the wall, Yaxiu scanned the carriage and leaned close to whisper in her ear, "Seven people. Those seven have firearms in their backpacks." Yaxiu hadn't specially trained for this, but having wandered through the Void Realm for so long, charging through iron and fire, he had grown keenly attuned to unknown threats in unfamiliar surroundings. These seven men had hidden firearms inside their packs; he could practically smell the alluring scent of gun oil wafting from them and hear the subtle clatter of bullets. Rose took a glance. "It's Saijiluo and Flores." "You know them?" "Among the partners recommended to me by middlemen, I met those two and worked with them once," Rose said. "Their work was sloppy, though. They caused enough trouble that the police department was mobilized. After settling the final payment, I never hired them again." "What are they doing fully armed?" "Probably carrying out a massacre inside Clock Tower Square Station, then slaughtering their way out into the square," Rose said. "After all, Clock Tower Square Station is the one with the heaviest foot traffic." "Huh?" Yaxiu paused, startled. "Why would they do that?" "The city of Canaan disappeared, and the capital, Jiashi, suffered the catastrophe of the golden rain, with casualties exceeding one million. Combined with the economic downturn and class conflicts, public resentment is boiling across the country. Ambitious figures who hold power and authority believe the era of democratic government is coming to an end, and they want to accelerate that process," Rose said calmly. "A massacre would clearly plunge the government into chaos." Yaxiu blinked. "You know an awful lot about this." "Because I was present at every one of their meetings," Rose said flatly. "I just didn't know who they would hire." "Meetings?" "Yes. In the past, to grow your assets, I had to use certain measures from time to time to suppress other factions. Later, they conceded defeat and took the initiative to ask what I wanted, offering to step aside and never interfere. I didn't feel like notifying them individually, so I gathered them together to inform them directly whenever something came up," Rose explained. "I rarely spoke, but they often reached agreements among themselves. After Canaan was destroyed, their discussions grew increasingly frequent, as if they wanted to officially intervene in regional politics." Yaxiu was completely dumbfounded. *My assistant went and founded an all-powerful secret society across the entire country behind my back, and every kingpin in the underworld is her defeated lackey?* "Can you stop them?" "No." Rose looked at him strangely. "Why would they listen to me?" Yaxiu rephrased the question. "Can you foil their plot, then?" Rose pondered for a moment. "I can, but why would I? It has nothing to do with us." "Just consider it an order from me." Yaxiu glanced at the seven undercover mercenaries in the carriage. "Can you terminate their mission?" "You really love meddling in other people's business." Rose knitted her brow and shook her head. "I can't terminate it. Even if I were to disrupt their plot, it would take time to maneuver—at least five business days." Yaxiu nodded, rummaged through his backpack, and pulled out a short sword. "Good thing there was no security check, or I'd have to go barehanded... Then again, if there were security checks, they wouldn't have made it onto the train in the first place, and I wouldn't need to fight." Rose's brow furrowed deeply. "I advise against trying to stop them. Getting off early and calling the police is the better choice." "Since I've seen it and I have the power to resolve it," Yaxiu said, "why shouldn't I do it?" "Is this why you're saving the Stars?" Rose asked. "You're not like the sorcerers in my memory. You love meddling in other people's affairs. Is my understanding of sorcerers mistaken?" Yaxiu glanced at the destination display. There were still several stops before Clock Tower Square, so he was in no hurry. "What's your impression of sorcerers?" "Selfish, insatiably greedy, cowardly in the face of death, and totally unscrupulous." Rose said, "You told me sorcerers created this world to hunt the Prime Angel, and then destroyed this world to hunt the Prime Angel. They loom high above, ruling over the fates of others, competing and slaughtering one another as if everyone were an enemy. "That's why I've always thought sorcerers are a wretched breed of creatures. "Yet you're willing to put yourself in danger to save the Stars, even if it means offending the most powerful sorcerer," Rose said, somewhat bewildered. "And now you're willing to risk getting hurt to fight mercenaries just to save strangers you don't even know, when you don't need to do this at all and gain nothing from it... You confuse me. "Or is my understanding of sorcerers wrong, and you are what a true sorcerer is?" Yaxiu thought about it, then chuckled. "First off, your impression of sorcerers isn't wrong. The vast majority fit your description. If you ever run into a sorcerer in the future, treating them as bad guys and staying on guard will never steer you wrong." Rose asked, "So you are one of the rare exceptions?" "No." Yaxiu shook his head. "I'm part of the majority too. Every single one of those adjectives fits me. I'm just as selfish, just as greedy, just as afraid of dying, and just as unscrupulous." "Then why do you meddle?" "It looks like meddling to you, but to me, it's just my own selfishness and greed," Yaxiu said. "I don't think I'm meddling. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't get involved, nor would I blame myself, because I did nothing wrong. If I didn't have the strength, I couldn't get involved, nor would I blame myself, because I genuinely couldn't do it. "But I possess power and authority, so I will wield them where I see fit. "I am saving the Stars for many people, yes, but even more so, I'm doing it for myself," Yaxiu said calmly. "There is nothing more shameful than letting one's own power go to waste. If you carry a sharp weapon and never use it, how are you any different from a Lalafell?" He glanced at Rose and added, "I'm only saying this to you, so don't tell Niya or Feili... Even though I don't think the Divine Lord of Stars is right, I don't think she is wrong either." Rose looked somewhat surprised. "She created the Stars and destroyed the Stars in pursuit of supremacy, but whether that pursuit is right or wrong isn't for me to judge," Yaxiu said with a shrug. "For all I know, helping the Prime Angel escape might trigger an even wider catastrophe. "Perhaps there were better choices, but when we make our decisions, we can only choose the best option available at the time. The Divine Lord of Stars hunting the Prime Angel, and me preserving the Nation of Stars—both are just that. "Despicable and shameless, insatiably greedy, abusive of power, utterly unscrupulous—these are certainly labels pinned on sorcerers. After all, when it comes down to it, sorcerers are just a bunch of thieves parasitizing the Void Realm," Yaxiu said. "Yet none of those are a sorcerer's most defining trait. "What matters most," he said, looking at Rose, "is that once sorcerers possess wings of the void, they believe no chain should ever bind them. Their souls are as light as goose feathers, their lives as resilient as wild weeds. They swim across oceans and traverse continents, and the blazing, brilliant ambition in their hearts never goes out. "Whether chaotic or orderly, good or evil, these thieves known as sorcerers all walk the path of chasing their own miracles. No sorcerer will squander their power and authority; they will reshape the world according to their own will. "Because they can, they will. "And so, sorcerers can forge Hell, just as they can reach Heaven." Throughout his travels, Yaxiu had entertained many questions about the world of sorcery. The greatest of them was why the six Divine Lords had created six nations with vastly different social systems. At first, he had thought the six nations were back gardens for the Divine Lords, yielding endless streams of resources. Later, he thought the six nations helped the Divine Lords strive for higher levels of power—for example, the power of faith reinforcing divine miracles. Now, however, he felt the previous conjectures were probably all correct, but the birth of the six nations must have also carried the Divine Lords' expectations. They had the power to create a nation matching their imagination, so they did. Otherwise, it was hard to explain why different nations were so thoroughly steeped in the distinct styles of their Divine Lords: the Astral Canopy, the Gospel God, the Senluo Dreamscape... The Divine Lords had spared no effort in investing in their realms. As for whether they harbored good or ill intentions, that wasn't worth debating. For instance, if the Divine Lord of Stars benevolently favored humanity and thus exterminated all other races, while the Blood Moon Overlord malevolently exploited all living beings yet allowed other races to endure, then to humans, the Divine Lord of Stars was good and the Blood Moon was evil; but to elves and other races, the Blood Moon was good and the Divine Lord of Stars was evil. Good and evil existed only within social relationships, but the Divine Lords to ordinary beings were immutable rules against which none could rebel. Did sunlight, rain, or the earth possess any concept of good and evil? "Sounds like sorcerers are just thieves who steal authority and squander it without restraint," Rose remarked. "Exactly," Yaxiu nodded in agreement. "Perhaps it's my own romanticized view as a sorcerer, but I see the world as a tree. Without sorcerers, this tree would grow and wither naturally, and all living beings would spend their quiet lives beneath it without miracles. "The existence of sorcerers is like a saw cutting into that tree. Though it moves forward at times and backward at others, it always cuts deeper." Rose asked, "Won't that saw down the tree?" "If the tree falls, we'll have the lumber to build a home." Yaxiu winked. "We're almost at the next station. Do you have a way to drive off the other passengers?" Rose tapped on her phone several times, nodded slightly, and then calmly asked, "If you get hurt, it'll still hurt. Do you really want to take the risk?" Yaxiu looked at her in surprise, his lips curling up, amusement dancing in his eyes. "Pain doesn't matter. "The thrill is what matters." When the train arrived at the next stop and the doors slid open, every fire sprinkler in the rear carriage suddenly activated, drenching the passengers. Naturally, everyone scrambled out through the doors in a panic, cursing at whoever was smoking on the subway. The mercenaries hesitated for a moment. The last car was the staging ground for their operation, so they ducked into corners out of reach of the spray. Soon, however, they noticed something was wrong—the carriage doors closed ahead of schedule, and the security shutters between their car and the car ahead slammed shut. They were trapped! Only a masked young man was locked in with them. They watched him draw a short sword from his sleeve, his ill intent laid completely bare. The mercenaries exchanged glances, pulled firearms from their backpacks, and leveled them at him, snarling with hatred, "Kid, you screwed up and locked yourself in with us, didn't you? Dare sabotage our mission? We're not letting you die easy." "Wrong." Yaxiu dodged the bullets with casual ease, the gunfire grazing past him as if tracing his outline. Casually swinging his blade through the storm of bullets, he drew a flash of splattered blood! "I'm not trapped in here with you," Yaxiu said, a ruthless smile playing on his lips as he looked at the thugs whose courage had already begun to crumble. "You're trapped in here with me."