I Just Want to Take Everyone Like Me With Me

"Bang."

Lai Er was thrown into the warehouse, startling the children inside, who looked at him with panicked faces.

Then, Tuo Lei, his head covered in blood, quickly walked to Lai Er's side, raised his foot, and viciously kicked his body, cursing, "You damn bastard, are you satisfied now, huh? Tell me, you mutt, are you satisfied now!"

Lai Er remained like a puddle of mud, showing no reaction.

Ha Luo immediately stepped forward to stop Tuo Lei. "Alright, alright, don't actually kill him."

"So what if he's killed? After doing something like that, do you think this guy can still live?"

"Of course he can't live, but he can't die tonight," Ha Luo reasoned. "Don't forget his identity; the proper procedures still need to be followed."

Tuo Lei calmed down, remembering that Lai Er also had the identity of a reserve Gold Merchant. Indeed, he couldn't be killed on the spot. At least, they had to report it to headquarters and notify the Gold Merchant who gave him the Seed of Covenant.

"Pah!" Tuo Lei spat viciously on Lai Er's face. "Just you wait, I'll kill you tomorrow morning!"

With that, he turned and left, leaving only Ha Luo and Lai Er, along with a group of cargo.

Ha Luo first glanced at the "cargo" in the warehouse. Seeing that no one dared to make a sound, he slowly walked forward and squatted in front of Lai Er.

"Tell me, why did you have to do this?" Ha Luo said calmly. "Your wife is gone, your son wasn't saved, and now you've thrown yourself away. Was it really worth it? You could have had a better life, but you gave it all up with your own hands."

Lai Er didn't respond. His eyes showed no signs of life, as if he were dead.

With a "click," a cigarette was lit by a flame and then placed by Ha Luo in front of Lai Er's mouth.

"Think about it carefully," Ha Luo said, standing up to leave. "Think about whether all of this was worth it."

Just as Ha Luo was about to leave the warehouse, Lai Er, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke, "It was you, wasn't it?"

Ha Luo stopped. "What?"

"No outsider has ever visited my village. For so many years, it's only been you! Not even the Contract Land knows its location!" Lai Er stared intently at Ha Luo. "Only you knew, you sold this information... it was you!"

Ha Luo turned to look at Lai Er, and his previously indifferent eyes once again showed a cold glint.

"You really are an ungrateful whelp," Ha Luo said slowly. "I didn't want to strain our relationship too much. If you don't die tomorrow, we could still cooperate as before, but it seems that's unlikely now."

"You..."

Before Lai Er could finish speaking, Ha Luo lunged forward and kicked him in the abdomen.

"I was the one who brought you out! If it weren't for me, you'd be with your family right now!" Ha Luo, having completely dropped all pretense, no longer wanted to act. His eyes were filled with murderous intent. "You ungrateful wretch, not only are you ungrateful, but you dare to lay a hand on me... Aaaah!"

Ha Luo cried out in pain because Lai Er had bitten his calf.

"You son of a bitch, you're really a dog!" Ha Luo kicked Lai Er's back of the head with his other foot, forcing Lai Er to let go. "Fine, since you want to know so badly, I'll tell you. Yes, I sold the location of your village, and it was five years ago, the moment I brought you out... No, that's not right. To be precise, those village locations were my objective, and you were just an ignorant wild dog I brought out along the way to achieve my goal!"

Lai Er let out a pained whimper. With his mouth full of blood, his voice was shrill and muffled.

"Are you satisfied now? What crap about changing destiny, what crap about proving your family wrong... Let me tell you, the only one who's truly wrong is you!" Ha Luo roared. "Do you really think you and your family are the same as us? In my eyes, you and your family are just a bunch of monkeys who can wear clothes! I gave you a chance to pretend to be human, but that doesn't mean you actually are! All of you, without faith, without a past, and without a future, go to hell!"

Ha Luo's final kick directly broke several of Lai Er's ribs.

Lai Er vomited blood in large mouthfuls, finally exhausting all his strength. He collapsed limply like a puddle of mud, no longer moving, but the anger in his eyes had not yet subsided.

Ha Luo was also panting heavily, and it took him a while to recover. He then glanced at the terrified children in the warehouse and, as if struck by a thought, he smiled.

"Speaking of which, I also took a peek just now. Your child was sent to Rhine, right? And if I remember correctly, you were also in Rhine a month ago and encountered a convoy like this."

Lai Er's pupils rapidly dilated, which Ha Luo naturally noticed, and his smile widened.

"It seems I guessed correctly; your son was indeed on that transport... Heh, how interesting. In that case, does it count as you personally sending your son to..."

"Ha Luo!!! Cough, cough, cough..."

"Heh, it's no use shouting here, no matter how loud you are," Ha Luo said calmly. "I think you should feel fortunate. At least your son never knew what kind of person you truly are."

This statement completely drained Lai Er of his remaining strength. He lay limply on the ground, not making another sound until Ha Luo left.

The warehouse immediately fell into a deathly silence. The children, who had been afraid to speak, still dared not approach Lai Er in his pool of blood, as if he were no longer a person but a corpse, waiting to rot.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally managed to utter a muffled sound.

"Why... did it turn out this way?"

The children exchanged glances, unsure if Lai Er was talking to himself or to them.

Only Bai Wei knew that he was talking to himself.

So Bai Wei also slowly spoke, "Which part are you referring to?"

"Everything..." Lai Er said hoarsely. "I don't understand... What did I do wrong... I just wanted a better life, I wanted to prove to my family that I was right... That's all, but this world... it's unfair to me, truly unfair."

"Where is the unfairness?"

"Everywhere," Lai Er whispered. "People outside... are born with vast skies, fresh air, a past and a future, but we have none of that, we can't even imagine it."

"Is that unfairness?"

"Isn't it?"

"Then, according to your logic, what about these children you call cargo?" Bai Wei said. "They do have vast skies, fresh air, and what you call a past and a future... at least they should, so are they being treated fairly?"

Lai Er's eyelids twitched. "That has nothing to do with me. Even without me, they would still be like this."

"Then who does your unfairness have to do with?"

Lai Er was stunned.

"You can't just complain about unfairness when disaster strikes you," Bai Wei said. "That's the greatest unfairness of all."

Lai Er opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to retort, but he didn't know how to begin.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally spoke as if he had found an answer: "If that's the case... then I'm even more in the right..."

"Is that so?"

"The whole world is like this, everyone is like this," he said, as if trying to convince Bai Wei, or perhaps himself. "Then why blame me? This is... the world's fault, not mine! What can I possibly do alone?!"

The last half of his sentence was almost a hysterical shout from Lai Er, but because his mouth was full of blood, it wasn't clear. To outsiders, it sounded like the ramblings of a dying man.

Only Bai Wei could understand what Lai Er was saying. He calmly waited for Lai Er to finish venting before speaking leisurely, "Yes, it's almost impossible for one person to change the world. Even if you were a good person, you might still end up in this situation because this world is just like this, rotten to the core."

Seeing that Bai Wei actually agreed with him, Lai Er was a bit dazed at first.

He had expected Bai Wei to mock him, curse him, or even "teach" him, like the legendary gods guiding their followers.

But Bai Wei had agreed with him.

The legendary Visas, an existence comparable to the Gods, also agreed with his statement that "this world is rotten to the core."

Lai Er thought he would be happy, that he would feel liberated, but he wasn't. He only felt an indescribable sorrow and despair spreading in his heart.

Just then, Lai Er heard a rustling sound. He looked up and saw two children holding a basin of water, cautiously approaching him.

Lai Er heard their deliberately hushed voices.

"Do we really have to help him? He's with those people."

"But he's dying. Let's at least give him some water."

"...Alright."

A brief exchange, yet it made Lai Er's body stiffen.

The two children tried to feed him water, but Lai Er kept his mouth shut tightly, refusing to accept it.

One child said anxiously, "Why aren't you drinking? You'll die if you don't drink."

The other child replied, "We'll die even if we drink."

"But what if?"

...What if?

"Why do you insist on leaving with him? He's lying to you!"

"But what if it's true?!"

Lai Er's lips parted, and the water slid down his throat, cold and piercing.

"Is this enough?"

"Mhm... it should be."

After feeding him the water, the two children quickly left. They didn't say anything more to Lai Er. Being able to save his life (in their eyes) was enough.

Lai Er stared blankly at them.

"Do you remember what the world you knew was like five years ago?" Bai Wei asked again after a moment of silence. "You couldn't see the sky, couldn't smell fresh air, people only lived to forty, with no past or future. Those were your exact words. But did you know what the outside world was like back then? Why, based solely on the word of that Black Merchant, did you dare to walk out of that never-ending yellow sand? Weren't you afraid he was lying to you, that there was no better world outside, but a worse place, and that leaving your home would only lead to eternal damnation? Didn't you ever consider that?"

Lai Er opened his mouth.

"Of course you did, but you did it anyway," Bai Wei said. "Because you gambled that what he said was true, you gambled on that 'what if.' In your eyes, that 'what if' was worth sacrificing everything for. So why didn't the you of five years ago accept fate, but the you of today did?"

Lai Er's breathing gradually deepened.

"I'm not blaming you for anything. Not everyone can walk that path, but how can one not admire those who can?" Bai Wei said. "Just like your son will surely be proud of the you from five years ago who bravely broke through the yellow sand, won't he?"

Lai Er fell silent.

Although his breathing was still heavy, like a damaged instrument, compared to the previous disorder and agitation, he was now exceptionally "quiet."

He was quiet for a very, very long time. So long that the two children began to wonder if he had died and hesitated to check on him. Finally, Lai Er spoke.

"My son..." he asked softly, "Where is he?"

"Lyra," Bai Wei said. "A place that's in disrepair, but still holds some hope."

"Ah, Lyra... I know, I know."

Lai Er closed his eyes gently. He didn't ask Bai Wei how he had saved his son, nor did he make any requests. He just kept repeating, "I know," like a broken record.

After a while, he slowly opened his eyes and asked, "Are you Visas, or the 'tongue' they speak of?"

"Does that question matter to you?"

"It matters a lot," Lai Er said. "If you are Lord Visas, then I can make a wish to you."

"A wish to see your son?"

"No," Lai Er said. "It's something else. You once promised me you would lend me your power."

"Even if it's power at the cost of your life?"

Lai Er didn't speak, but his silence was an obvious affirmation.

"After using it, you'll never see your son again," Bai Wei said. "Is that still okay?"

"I no longer have the face to see him," Lai Er said in a low voice. "I've wronged my wife, my parents, and my son... so I want to do something."

"So you want to save all the children here?"

"No." Lai Er shook his head, then looked at the Black Merchants outside the warehouse and said, word by word, "I just want to take everyone like me... with me."

Bai Wei was silent for a long time, then he laughed.

"Alright."

This chapter, written as a confessional, wasn't good, I know. But after two days of struggling, this is all I could manage. I feel the setup wasn't sufficient. This arc has too many plot threads to weave, causing Lai Er to lack the extensive development of previous arc protagonists while still needing to follow a similar path, which is quite frustrating. As a result, he's become a rather flat, functional character. In hindsight, a character transformation like this would require at least 200,000 words, similar to Ulu's arc in the first volume, and that focused solely on one individual. Deviating from that path is problematic. Fortunately, Lai Er's initial design was always that of a supporting character, so this doesn't affect the overall plot of this arc.