The Balance (1)

"I... I need you to infiltrate that old bat's circle and kill him, for the family!"

Pationa said nothing. She merely gave her adoptive father a gentle look before leaving the secret room where he had kept her locked up for more than a decade.

Behind Pationa, Chris's body trembled silently.

For the sake of his family, he had given up the most perfect piece in his collection, the one he had treasured most in his life.

Compared with Chris's silent heartbreak, Han Mingxuan had a different headache.

He looked at Sevatar, whom Curze had brought over. The boy was under far too much mental strain.

He might even snap at any moment.

Ordinary psychological intervention could only make him forget the feeling temporarily; even deep hypnosis couldn't resolve it.

"Uncle, I..."

Han Mingxuan said nothing, merely placing a cup of warm water in front of him.

"I know this is cruel, Sevatar." Han Mingxuan looked at Sevatar, the future Prince of Crows.

If the young Sevatar hadn't been standing right in front of him, Han Mingxuan couldn't have imagined that the legendary First Company captain of the Night Lords could be so despondent now.

"Sevatar, I didn't think this through. I simply thought correcting your gangster mentality would be enough."

Han Mingxuan's initial thinking had been simple.

A child had to be raised from a young age, just as a tree had to be nurtured from a sapling.

Besides, when a wayward boy like Sevatar turned over a new leaf, it was worth more than gold.

But he had forgotten something.

If someone who had always lived in darkness returned to the light, inner self-judgment and emotional rumination were unavoidable.

On top of that, what he was doing now could easily send him sliding to the opposite extreme.

"Uncle, what should I do?"

Sevatar's eyes were bloodshot, and negative emotions churned openly in them.

Han Mingxuan thought for a long while, then finally asked Curze to get a balance scale.

He put the scale on the table and looked at Sevatar. "Sevatar, forget everything I've taught you. Starting from the actual state of this planet today, I'll ask and you answer."

"Yes, Uncle."

"What did you think after you gained knowledge?"

Sevatar's eyes shone without restraint, with the light of a new ideal.

"I wanted to save the people on this planet."

There it was. It seemed that was where the problem lay.

"Was it worth it?" Han Mingxuan asked.

"Yes! Uncle, you said everyone is born equal, and everyone has the right to live."

"But... but, Uncle..."

Han Mingxuan looked at Sevatar. He was an idealist in a dark world.

An honest man turned outlaw or convict could easily go to extremes, but wasn't the same true of a delinquent who became an honest man?

And this boy seemed to be stubborn.

He treated Han Mingxuan's words as if they were inviolable laws.

"Forget what I said and think like a gangster. Was it worth it?"

"No."

Those words applied to the vast majority of people on this planet.

"I did teach you that everyone is born ordinary, and everyone has the right to live."

"But Sevatar, there's something I've never taught you."

Sevatar said nothing, merely looking at Han Mingxuan in surprise.

"What is a human being?"

"A human being must stand tall and upright, Uncle. You taught me that."

Han Mingxuan shook his head. "A human being must stand tall and upright, yes, but what is a human being?"

That was right. What was a human being?

What was a human being like?

Were the civilians on Nostramo human beings?

In the eyes of the nobles, they were expendable resources, and the Adeptus Mechanicus saw them the same way.

Especially under Quintus.

Did the nobles and officials of the Middle Hive and Upper Hive count as human beings?

They dressed splendidly and lived respectable, elegant lives, yet what they did was like the work of devils in the mortal world.

Were they human beings?

"Do you remember the first thing I taught you?"

"I do. Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. I'll never forget."

Sevatar stopped abruptly as he said that.

That was right. Uncle had taught him from the very beginning: what was a human being?

"Human nature is inherently good. Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness-anyone who has one of them is a human being."

"Is human nature really inherently good?" Han Mingxuan asked, watching Sevatar quietly.

Curze watched the scene before him, pondering as well.

"Big Bat, is human nature inherently good?"

"Heh, don't be ridiculous, stupid boy. In this hellhole called Nostramo, there are only villains."

"I never thought Sevatar would have such a weak side. What a pity."

"Is that wrong?" Sevatar looked at Han Mingxuan, his eyes full of confusion.

If human nature were inherently good, Nostramo wouldn't be in its current damned state.

"Is human nature inherently evil?" Sevatar asked himself.

If human nature were inherently evil, then he was a born villain. But why, after Uncle had taught him, did his conscience leave him conflicted and tormented while carrying out missions?

Was human nature good or evil?

"Think carefully, young man. This is very important to you and to the entire Legion."

Han Mingxuan looked at Sevatar.

This legend of the Eighth Legion.

Han Mingxuan could have explained it to Sevatar and helped him understand a few things.

But Han Mingxuan couldn't do that.

Since transmigrating here, Han Mingxuan had looked through a great deal of information.

In the end, he had discovered that he was an ordinary mortal through and through. Even his so-called psychic talent was so slight as to be negligible.

If an ordinary person's psychic projection in the Warp was an abstract stick-figure drawing,

then his own projection in the Warp was a blocky character from Minecraft.

As a mortal, Han Mingxuan knew that whether he died peacefully of old age or met a violent end somewhere in the universe, he was certain to die.

But... what about Curze?

His Warp Essence, and the prophecy through which he guided himself toward destruction.

Before transmigrating, Han Mingxuan could have made fun of it without a care.

But now, watching Curze gradually get onto the right path, Han Mingxuan still couldn't set his mind at ease.

For no other reason.

Simply put, he had been a teacher.

Just as a doctor wanted to save lives and heal the injured, and a lawyer wanted to uphold justice, he, as a teacher, wanted to teach and nurture people.

He had finally managed to teach Curze to act like a human being. What if Curze was led astray after Han Mingxuan grew old and died?

Curze was not only his adopted son, but also his student.

So Han Mingxuan had come up with a plan.

Sevatar and Shen.

Yes, that First Company captain and the last conscience of the Eighth Legion.

He wanted to make the two of them into Curze's demon-suppressing rulers.

If Curze ever showed signs of madness, he hoped Sevatar and Shen could bring him back.

Shen was calm by nature, so Han Mingxuan wasn't worried about him. Sevatar was the one he needed to temper.

There were things he could teach Sevatar directly, but if Sevatar figured them out for himself, he would remember them for the rest of his life and never go against them.

"Uncle... the... the scale. I... I want that scale."