Reason Arc: Compassion

It could not be speculated about.

To personally shape a pitiful, desperate girl into a hateful yet emotional demon.

To send her to that person's blade, then show him her past.

You pitied her? Hahaha, she was killed by your own hands!

This was God's malice. The moment Gu Yan appeared, God had turned the Herrscher of Reason into a pawn, just to remind him—

The Herrscher of Possession is beyond my control, but you are within my grasp.

But was that really the truth?

Was it over?

The thought had only just appeared when Gu Yan suddenly felt something flow into his body through his arm. In an instant, the pain swallowed his reason.

Pain!

It felt as though his skin had been sliced open by a blade, then someone had torn the wound apart with their bare hands, exposing gleaming white bones before separating flesh and bone bit by bit.

A physical transformation from the inside out.

"Urgh!"

Gu Yan forced his eyes open. He was already in another scene. The girl was being tormented by pain, firmly restrained on an operating table.

Her nervous system was extremely sensitive. As a result, the pain she suffered was dozens of times worse than normal, and she had an unusually high resistance to anesthetics. Unless the dosage was lethal, they were difficult to make effective.

Gu Yan was experiencing the same torment.

No, that was not all. The suffering of the flesh was only one part of it. The fear and helplessness were the most terrifying things. Tied to the operating table, with her body at the mercy of others, the girl's despair drowned her. She even wished she could die immediately.

Would someone please save her!

Gu Yan wanted to shout, but the pain ravaged his reason. Everything he said and did was isolated from the girl's world. No one knew. No one cared.

He truly experienced this despair.

"Let me go, let me go..."

The girl's pleading voice came from her mouth, but her feeble voice went unheard.

Except by Gu Yan.

He, too, struggled amid the mingled pain and despair. As an excellent bystander, he naturally had to experience it firsthand.

"How is it? Is it working?"

"Not so quickly. There haven't been enough sessions, and they haven't lasted long enough."

"It doesn't matter. The test subject is alive and well. We have plenty of opportunities!"

The pain gradually faded. The girl had been tortured unconscious and awake so many times that he had lost count.

The surrounding scene shattered again, and Gu Yan finally had a chance to recover.

No wonder she was so afraid.

The girl's figure appeared again. There were no lights around her, so it seemed to be nighttime, when she should have been resting.

"You've been watching from the sidelines this whole time, haven't you? Please, save me!"

Gu Yan was startled. He did not understand how he had been discovered, but he soon realized that the girl was not speaking to him.

Then who could it be?

He looked around but saw no one. Yet, relying on their shared senses, he still found that presence.

"I'm so scared. Please..."

The boundless consciousness was like a profound cosmos, yet it descended here with incredible gentleness. Invisible hands brushed away the girl's unease and fear. She could not see it, but its presence filled every corner.

It was omnipotent.

There was no sound and no movement, yet the girl was certain that it was God—the true God.

She wanted to tell God about her suffering, but God already knew.

She wanted to describe her fear, but God saw through everything.

So God descended here to tell her that she need not be afraid. It was all over.

She was no longer a test subject, but God's representative.

Honkai, Herrscher...

The girl closed her eyes and accepted the immense amount of information. God even connected part of its thoughts to her.

Gu Yan had a premonition. When this pitiful girl opened her eyes, everything would change. She would become a terrifying existence, but in exchange, she would escape her current hell and no longer be desperate.

Perhaps for the girl, this was a good thing.

The surrounding scene vanished once more. Gu Yan suddenly grew flustered. It seemed he only knew of her suffering, but not how to address her or how to find her...

Should I call her Gu Ji? Would she know?

She definitely wouldn't, right?

After all, he had not been able to help her at all.

After all, he did not even know who he was anymore.

He was merely a bystander.

His senses gradually faded, and Gu Yan once again left the scene.

But the surrounding scene did not shatter. The girl still had her eyes closed. Soon, her eyelashes trembled, and her eyes opened.

Indifference filled her eyes, while an aura that made people want to submit spread across the space.

"Gu Ji? Why did you choose that name?"

A trace of confusion appeared on the girl's face, but no one answered her anymore.

When he awoke again, Gu Yan immediately pulled himself together and tried to find "Gu Ji."

Very soon, he found her—or rather, she was standing right before him.

She really was different now.

"Gu Ji" stood atop a skyscraper, looking out over the city, which was filled with ruins. No one knew what expression she wore.

A gentle breeze stirred her long hair. Her light-blue eyes seemed to glow. Gu Yan could tell that she no longer felt pain or fear. Now she could do whatever she wanted, and no one could harm her again.

But her hands were already stained with blood—the blood of innocents.

Was it because of that god?

Gu Yan did not know how to judge it. Perhaps he had no right to judge it at all. At this point, he did not even know what he was.

There was no doubt that God had helped "Gu Ji," and "Gu Ji" was repaying God.

Right or wrong? It was impossible to say.

Gu Yan was only a bystander.

But he thought that if he had to endure all that again, and God descended because of it and ordered him to kill and burn, he probably would not care about right or wrong either.

At that moment, the girl was indifferent—indifferent toward life.

Like her, he could hear the wailing, sense the despair, and even feel the girl's reverence for God, that fanaticism.

Why?

Once again, he raised the question.

He did not understand. He truly did not understand.

Why had someone so pitiful been forced to this point?

She was such a beautiful girl. She should have been walking down the street, drawing countless admiring gazes.

Yet this world had persecuted her into this state.

Although no one thought her pitiful and everyone regarded her as hateful,

Gu Yan knew that this girl had once been helpless and desperate. Why did she not deserve to be treated well? Why did she have to die in a laboratory in despair?

This was not fate. This was injustice!

Just then, "Gu Ji" seemed to sense something.

Gu Yan's emotions grew excited as well. He felt it—he felt it. The girl was happy!

Because of a possible... younger brother?

What was a younger brother?

Gu Yan did not understand the meaning of the word, but he could judge from the girl's emotions.

Just knowing that he existed made her this happy? He must be someone very important to her.

He did not know that the person was himself.

"Morr! Come with me to Jinshan City."

The girl soon left, and the surrounding scene shattered once more.

Gu Yan shook his nonexistent head slightly and let out a soft sigh.

I hope she can be a little happier.

Through their shared senses, he personally experienced her life from "Gu Ji's" perspective. As a result, his understanding of "humanity" had been reduced to that of an abuser.

Perhaps to God and to "Gu Ji," there had never been any innocents.

But...

The Gu Yan in reality had stood firmly on humanity's side and killed "Gu Ji."