I Only Wanted to Take Everyone Like Me With Me

With a "bang".

Lai Er was thrown into the warehouse, where the children were awakened and looked at him with panic.

Then, Tuo Lei head covered in blood, strode over to Lai Er's side, raised his foot and viciously kicked him, cursing, "You fucking bastard, are you satisfied now? Huh, tell me, you bitch, are you satisfied now!"

Lai Er, however, remained completely unresponsive, like a lump of mud.

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

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

"Of course he won't survive, but he can't die tonight," Ha Luo advised. "Don't forget his identity; the necessary procedures still need to be followed."

Tuo Lei calmed down and remembered that this guy was also a reserve Gold Merchant. He couldn't kill him on the spot. He had to report it to headquarters and then notify the Gold Merchant who gave him the Seed of Covenant.

"Pah!" Tuo Lei spat viciously in Lai Er's face. "Just 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 goods.

Ha Luo first glanced at the "goods" in the warehouse, and seeing that no one dared to speak, he slowly stepped forward and squatted down in front of Lai Er.

"Tell me, why did you do this?" Ha Luo said calmly. "You lost your wife, you couldn't save your son, and now you've ruined yourself. Is it really worth it? You could have had a better life, but you've given it all up yourself."

Lai Er did not respond; there was no sign of life in his eyes, as if he were dead.

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

"Think it over carefully." Ha Luo got up and left. "Think about whether it's all worth it."

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

Ha Luo stopped in his tracks. "What?"

"No outsiders have ever been to my village. You've been the only one here all these years! You don't even know the location of the Contract Land!" Lai Er stared intently at Ha Luo. "Only you know that you were the one who sold this information... it was you!"

Ha Luo turned to look at Lai Er, his previously indifferent eyes now filled with coldness.

"You really are an ungrateful bastard," Ha Luo said slowly. "I didn't want to make things too awkward between us. If you're still alive tomorrow, we could work together like before, but now it seems unlikely."

"You..."

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

"I'm the one who brought you out here! If it weren't for me, you'd be joining your family by now!" Ha Luo, having completely abandoned all pretense, was no longer willing to play dumb. His eyes were filled with murderous intent. "You bastard, not only do you not know gratitude, but you even dared to lay a hand on me... Ahhh!"

Ha Luo screamed as Lai Er bit his calf.

"You fucking dog!" Ha Luo kicked Lai Er in the back of the head with his other foot, finally making Lai Er release his grip. "Fine, since you're so eager to know, I'll tell you. It's true, I sold the location of your village five years ago, right after I brought you out... No, that's not right. To be precise, the location of those villages was my real objective. You're just a reckless stray dog I brought along on the way!"

Lai Er let out a painful whimper, his voice shrill and muffled as his mouth filled with blood.

"Are you satisfied now? What bullshit about changing your destiny, about letting your family know they were 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 kind of people as us? In my eyes, you and your family are nothing but a bunch of dressed monkeys! I gave you the chance to pretend to be human, but that doesn't mean you're actually human! You bunch of people with no faith, no past, and no future, go to hell!"

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

Lai Er vomited blood, finally exhausting all his strength, and lay limp like a rag doll, no longer moving, but the anger in his eyes still hadn't dissipated.

Ha Luo was also panting heavily, and it took him a while to recover. Then he glanced at the children in the warehouse whose faces were full of fear, and suddenly thought of something and smiled.

"Speaking of which, I just peeked at it too. Your child has been sent to Rhine, right? And if I remember correctly, you were in Rhine a month ago, and you also encountered a similar convoy."

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

"Looks like I guessed right, your son really is on there... Heh, how interesting. So, does this mean you personally delivered your son there..."

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

"Heh, no matter how loudly you shout here, it's useless," Ha Luo said calmly. "I think you should feel fortunate that at least your son will never know what kind of person you really are."

These words drained Lai Er of his last bit of strength, and he collapsed to the ground, not uttering another sound until Ha Luo left.

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

He didn't know how much time had passed before he finally managed to utter a sound.

Why... why is this happening?

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

Only Bai Wei knew that he was talking to himself.

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

"All of it..." Lai Er said hoarsely, "I don't understand... what did I do wrong... I just wanted to live a better life, I wanted to prove to my family that I was right... that's all, but this world... is unfair to me, really unfair."

"Where is the unfairness?"

"It's everywhere," Lai Er said softly. "People outside... are born with vast skies, fresh air, a past and a future, but we have none of these, we can't even imagine them."

Is this what they call unfair?

"Isn't that... the case?"

"Then, according to you, what about these children whom you call commodities?" Bai Wei said. "They do have vast skies, fresh air, and what you call a past and a future... or at least they should have them. But is that fair to them?"

Lai Er's eyelids twitched. "This has nothing to do with me. They would have done the same thing even without me."

"Then who is responsible for your unfair treatment?"

Lai Er was stunned.

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

Lai Er opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to refute something, but didn't know how to start.

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally spoke as if he had found the answer, "If that's the case... then I'm even less wrong..."

"Yeah?"

"The world is like this, everyone is like this." He seemed to be convincing Bai Wei, but also convincing himself. "Then why blame me? It's... the world's fault, not mine! What can I do alone?!"

Lai Er almost screamed the last half of the sentence hysterically, but because his mouth was full of blood, he didn't speak clearly, and to onlookers it sounded like the babbling of a dying man.

Only Bai Wei could hear what Lai Er was saying. He calmly waited for Lai Er to finish venting before slowly speaking, "Yes, it's almost impossible for one person to change the world. Even if you really were a good person, you might not be able to avoid this ending, because this world is just like this, rotten to the core."

Lai Er was initially stunned when he saw that Bai Wei had actually acknowledged him.

He originally thought that Bai Wei would mock him, scold him, or even "instruct" him, just like a god in legends guiding believers.

But Bai Wei accepted him.

The legendary Visas, a being comparable to the Gods, also acknowledged his statement that "this world is utterly rotten."

Lai Er thought he would be happy and feel relieved, but he was not. Instead, he felt an indescribable sorrow and despair spreading through his heart.

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

Lai Er heard their deliberately hushed voices.

"Do we really want to help him? He's in cahoots with those people."

"But he's dying, at least give him a drink of water."

"...All right."

A brief conversation caused Lai Er's body to suddenly stiffen.

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

A child said anxiously, "Why won't you drink it? You'll die if you don't!"

Another child responded, "Even if you drink it, you'll die."

"What if?"

... What if?

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

"What if it's true?!"

Lai Er's lips parted, and water slid into his throat, icy and chilling.

"Is this okay?"

"Hmm... that should be fine."

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

Lai Er just stared at them blankly.

"Do you remember what the world was like five years ago?" Bai Wei, after a brief silence, spoke again. "You couldn't see the sky, you couldn't smell fresh air, the average lifespan was only forty years, there was no past or future—those were your exact words. But did you know what the outside world was like back then? Why did you dare to leave that endless desert based solely on that black marketeer's words? Weren't you afraid he was lying to you, that there was no better world outside, but a worse place, and that leaving your hometown meant certain doom? Didn't you think about that?"

Lai Er opened his mouth.

"Of course you thought about it, but you still did it," Bai Wei said. "Because you were betting that what he said was true, betting on that 'what if,' and in your eyes, that 'what if' was worth everything. So why didn't you accept your fate five years ago, but you did today?"

Lai Er's breathing gradually became heavier.

"I'm not criticizing you. Not everyone can walk that path, but how can you not admire those who can?" Bai Wei said. "Just like your son will surely be proud of you five years ago when you dared to venture out of the desert, won't he?"

Lai Er fell silent.

Although his breathing was still heavy, like a broken musical instrument, he was now unusually "quiet" compared to his previous disorder and irritability.

There was silence for a very long time, so long that the two children began to wonder if he was dead and hesitated whether to come and check on him, when Lai Er finally spoke.

"Where is my son..." he asked softly.

"Lyra," Bai Wei said, "A place that is in ruins, but still holds some hope."

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

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

After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes and asked, "Are you Visas, or what they call the Tongue?"

Is this question important to you?

"It's very important," Lai Er said. "If you were Visas-sama, I could pray to you."

"I wish to see your son?"

"No," Lai Er said, "It's something else, something you promised me: to lend me your power."

Even if it's power at the cost of lives?

Lai Er didn't speak, but he clearly acquiesced.

"I'll never see my son again after using it," Bai Wei said. "Is that alright?"

"I have no face to see him anymore," Lai Er said in a low voice. "I'm sorry to my wife, I'm sorry to my parents, and I'm sorry to my son... so I want to do something."

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

"No." Lai Er shook his head, then looked at the black market dealers outside the warehouse and said, word by word, "I just want to take away guys like me..."

Bai Wei remained silent for a while, then smiled.

"Can."

I admit my mistake; this chapter isn't well-written, I know. But after two days of polishing, this is all I could manage. I feel the groundwork wasn't laid enough. There are too many plot lines to cover in this volume, resulting in Lai Er not having the storylines of previous main characters, yet having to follow the same path, which is frustrating. So, he ends up as a flat, uninteresting character. It seems that such a character transformation would require at least 200,000 words like in the first volume about Ulu, focusing solely on one person; otherwise, it wouldn't work. Fortunately, Lai Er was initially intended to be just a plot device, so it doesn't affect the overall plot of this volume.