Knocking Open Your Mind
A Hai didn't open his mouth, but his expression answered Xu Huo. That was indeed the case.
"Then you're pretty impressive," Blondie said, giving him a thumbs-up. "You reacted more strongly than all those Outer District Players put together."
They were at the exit on the other side of the temple. Some of the Players who had come out before them were pale or looked grave, but Xu Huo was the only one whose eyes and nose were bleeding. According to the Goddess Cult, this proved that Xu Huo was far more "evil" than the other Players. Otherwise, why would he have received such severe punishment?
"Have you seen other people who were punished?" Xu Huo ignored blondie's teasing and asked A Hai.
"I have." A Hai nodded. He'd seen it on television: people went into the Temple of Inquiry and came out in floods of tears, constantly repenting. After admitting their wrongs, they joined the Goddess Cult and became its most devoted followers.
"Then do you think I'm bleeding because my sins are too great, or because I refuse to repent?" Xu Huo asked. "If it's because my sins are too great, then with the Goddess's vast divine power, why couldn't she make me see the error of my ways like the other believers? If it's the latter, since the Goddess can see the evil in my heart, why didn't she simply kill me when I refused to repent? Why did she only make my eyes and nose bleed?"
"Was she incapable of doing it, or did she intend to leave me a way out?"
"If she was incapable, then she isn't omnipotent. So is her judgment of 'sinners' necessarily correct?" If she wasn't omnipotent, then of course she wasn't omniscient either.
"But if she