A Cruel Wish (Continued)

The scarred man instinctively retaliated, but felt as if he had struck a sturdy rubber band. The force was rebounded, and he turned his head to see what had grabbed him. He was immediately startled.

"You... you... you... you're a monster!"

It turned out that it was Liu Qingqing's arm that had grabbed him, and Liu Qingqing was standing in the middle of the stairs, about five or six meters away from the door.

The scarred man didn't believe that any martial arts technique could make a person's arm grow to five or six meters long. The fact that his arm could suddenly grow half a foot longer was already the result of arduous training. Even if you separated the ulna and humerus in his arm and connected them end to end, you might not be able to reach that distance.

The other human traffickers who were captured were also terrified when they saw this scene, and they lost even the last bit of will to struggle or resist.

Si Ming went upstairs and rescued the children who were locked in the room. The children were about three to six years old, and each of them had obvious bruises on their bodies. When they saw Si Ming, they did not shout or scream. When Si Ming told them to come out with him, they all followed obediently without saying a word.

Clearly, the traffickers used various methods to keep the children quiet and obedient—even the most naughty and disobedient child would quickly quiet down after being slapped for every word they uttered, and wouldn't even dare to cry.

Why... why would you do such a thing?

After seeing the children, Xie Xiaomei questioned the traffickers, "When you kidnapped these children, did you ever think about how worried their parents would be? A mother would be devastated if she couldn't find her child."

Upon hearing this, Si Ming sighed inwardly. In Xie Xiaomei's heart, "Mom" was finally no longer a synonym for fear.

But the scarred man retorted defiantly, "Who cares about them? What do their lives have to do with us!"

"You can't do that! Everyone is trying their best to live their lives, whether they're happy or sad... Don't ruin their lives without your permission."

The scarred man chuckled, "You little brat, you think you can reason with us? Let me tell you, our consciences have long been eaten by dogs. Since you've caught us, we'll admit defeat. Don't try to talk to us about morality and mercy; Laozi haven't bought into that stuff for ten years!"

Xie Xiaomei asked, "Do you have children?"

"What, you bunch of righteous little heroes, you want to implicate your families too?" the scarred man laughed loudly. "Laozi know that being a human trafficker is hated and a sinful act, so I sent the child away a long time ago, even changed his surname. You won't be able to find him."

He thought that saying this would anger her, but Xie Xiaomei looked relieved and said, "Great, that way the child won't know what you're doing."

"..."

Xie Xiaomei lowered her eyes and said sadly, "No child doesn't want their parents to be good people, to be heroes. If they knew their father was a big bad guy, they would be very, very sad... You're right not to tell him."

"..."

The scarred man opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything. His body suddenly slumped, and he almost fell to the ground, as if all the strength had been drained from his bones, leaving him looking utterly dejected.

Si Ming sighed again, reached out and patted Xie Xiaomei's head, and said, "Let's contact the police. We still need to find the child's parents."

After handing the child over to the police, Ying Zhou left first, while Si Ming, after giving his statement, drove Liu Qingqing and Xie Xiaomei home in silence.

Only when they saw Liu Qingqing's house did Xie Xiaomei speak, "I only have one day left..."

Before Si Ming could offer any words of comfort, she said, "I can vaguely sense it."

Liu Qingqing asked, "Are you scared?"

"... Um."

"You said at the beginning that you wanted to finish quickly."

"Is that so?"

Xie Xiaomei tilted her head and recalled for a moment, then laughed self-deprecatingly, "It really is like that. I never imagined that every day afterward would be so happy."

Si Ming, "The fact that you are living a fulfilling and happy life proves that my efforts have not been in vain. This is the best compliment for me."

"Yes, these past few days have taught me something: if I can live happily, that is an incredibly wonderful thing."

After saying this, Xie Xiaomei emitted a faint starlight from her body. Although it quickly disappeared, Si Ming and Liu Qingqing both noticed it and understood exactly what it meant.

"Auntie, we're back."

Xie Xiaomei happily pushed open the door and entered.

"You're back a little early. I haven't finished making dinner yet. Please sit down for a while." Auntie Liu's voice came from inside the house.

"I'll set the table," Xie Xiaomei said, quickly running inside.

Watching her retreating figure, Si Ming, "I suddenly have some doubts. Was what I did the right thing?"

Liu Qingqing asked, "Why do you say that? Wasn't she very happy?"

"I once asked Yu Shuying to use her Mind-Reading Technique to uncover Xie Xiaomei's wish. Do you know what it was?"

Is it a search for maternal love?

Si Ming shook his head and said, "Back then, she thought her mother was a terrifying being. She didn't even have an understanding of maternal love, so how could she possibly beg for it?"

"What exactly is that?"

"She wanted to know the meaning of life."

Liu Qingqing paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "I understand. She suffered a lot before, couldn't see the light, and didn't understand the meaning of life. It's normal for her to have such a wish. What you did was to help her find the answer, and now it seems she has found it. Why do you doubt yourself?"

"Because once her wish is fulfilled, her life will end... When one doesn't understand the meaning of life, one can live; once one understands, one will die—what an irony! Is it more merciful to die without any regrets, or is it more meaningful to die with regrets?"

Si Ming paused for a moment, then said, "Imagine an iron house, utterly without windows and impossible to break down, filled with many people sleeping soundly, soon to suffocate. Yet, they die in their sleep, unaware of the sorrow of death. Now, if I were to shout loudly, waking a few of the more conscious ones, forcing these unfortunate few to endure irreparable suffering and confront the cruel reality, do you think I would be doing them a disservice?"

Liu Qingqing thought for a moment, then shook her head and said, "I don't know, but there's one thing I'm very clear about: there's no going back. Since we've already come this far, we can only keep going and can't turn back."

"Yes, there's no going back..."

Si Ming took a deep breath, slapped his face hard with both hands to clear his head. "It's better to do something and then regret it than to regret it later. And now is not the time to regret!"