When Liu Lan heard that I had decided to stay, she looked somewhat disappointed.
But she quickly adjusted her mindset.
She did want to leave Phantom Sea, but only if I took her with me. If I did not leave, she had no way of leaving either.
Even the conditions proposed by the other side said as much.
She wanted to persuade me, but I had already made my stance clear beforehand.
She smiled awkwardly. "Actually, I'd considered that you might not agree to their terms, which was why I wanted to learn more about them."
How could I not understand what she was thinking? She had wanted me to read that book in the hopes that I would back down when faced with the difficulties.
When the enemy was too powerful, when we were no match for them at all, perhaps I would choose to give up.
But I simply could not give up.
After all, this concerned countless lives throughout Phantom Sea.
I could not ignore them like the system did, even if, in the end, they were merely lines of source code.
I had interacted with them. At least in my eyes, they were living, breathing people. In Phantom Sea, they truly existed.
"You're the island lord, and you're even a member of Phantom Sea yourself. If you leave at a time like this, you'll surely feel guilty too, won't you?" I asked. She sighed. "Perhaps. But is there any use in what we're doing? You've seen the Great Barren Tribe People before. You should know very well what they're capable of, right?"
I spoke calmly. "There are things a man must do and things he must not do. Many times, even knowing there is a tiger on the mountain, we can only charge up it. Once