Chapter 199 Moon Shadow
What gave rise to the world?
Is there another unique primordial entity?
Pipa had heard the story of Pangu creating the world.
A giant wielded a battle axe, splitting the chaos, making the sky what it is, and the earth what it is.
Therefore, he exhausted all his strength and finally collapsed.
After the giant fell, his body underwent a tremendous change, giving birth to an important part of this world.
The breath transformed into the wind and clouds of the four seasons.
The sound transformed into thunder.
The two eyes represent the sun and the moon; the left eye represents the sun, and the right eye represents the moon.
The four limbs then became the four cardinal directions of the earth: east, west, south, and north.
Skin, blood, and sweat transformed into the vast earth, the flowing rivers, and the rain that nourishes all things…
According to this theory, the world originated from chaos.
But isn't the reason why chaos is called chaos precisely because of its chaotic and disorderly nature?
If that's the case, how could a giant wielding a battle axe have existed beforehand in pure chaos?
If a giant arises from within chaos, then there must be a distinction between a center and an edge. Since such a distinction exists, it means that order has been initially established. How then can such chaos be considered chaos?
Moreover, why did a giant appear at exactly that exact moment, neither early nor late, and with a single axe stroke end the chaotic state that had begun at some unknown time?
It felt as if it were saying that Chaos had erased itself from within by relying on its own consciousness.
That's so strange...
To the loquat, this was no different from seeing a hungry snake biting its own tail and swallowing it piece by piece until it finally devoured itself completely.
—It seems absurd no matter how you look at it.
Loquat has witnessed people eating each other.
We started by eating different kinds of food.
Later, they began hunting them like fish, insects, birds, and beasts.
Later, some people became so hungry that they cut off pieces of their own flesh to fill their hunger.
Even with the help of others, the amount of one's own body that can be consumed is extremely limited.
Because wounds are easily infected and fester, and in cases where people lack food, clothing, and proper treatment, they can even bleed to death.
Thinking of this, Pipa's head began to throb slightly again.
strangeness……
He probably never had the chance to witness such a scene, but the image of humans cannibalizing each other, even eating their own flesh, naturally surfaced in his mind.
Those scenes, filled with blood, distortion, and unbelievable cruelty... even the fleeting glimpses were enough to make him shudder and feel nauseous.
If loquats still had normal physiological responses, they would probably have vomited them up immediately.
— But he didn't.
The brutal scene lingered in my mind, not only visually but also aurally.
Even with your eyes covered, you can still see...
Even if you cover your ears, you can still hear it...
Those things that he could pretend not to see while he was alive now seemed to be etched under his eyelids and into his eardrums.
—There's no escaping it.
What he tried to escape with death was not only returned in full, but also with interest.
The loquat curled up into a tiny ball in pain. Its hands and feet were tucked up, and its head was held to its chest.
It is said that fetuses maintain a similar posture in the womb.
Strange... Where did you hear that from?
when?
What location?
Who told you that?
—I have absolutely no recollection of it.
This confusion deepened the loquat's inner pain.
He imagined the giant who created the world...
He thought that perhaps the giant had struck with that axe because he could not bear being bound in the boundless darkness and silence.
Unexpectedly, he collapsed from exhaustion and fell into another form of bondage.
Forced to open their bodies, they used their fragmented flesh and blood to bear the weight of countless living beings in this world.
Their joys, sorrows, and happiness.
Their greed, anger, ignorance, and foolishness.
Like a mother forced to give birth, even after the umbilical cord connecting flesh and blood is severed, she is still bound by the umbilical cord called maternal love.
With just one glance, as if bewitched, one gently lifts that wriggling pink ball of flesh with sweaty arms, replacing blood and flesh with milk, continuing to nourish this life that has been devouring them for the past few months.
What a great, yet blind, love.
Yes, you must admit that this is a loving offering, not a parasitic relationship in the conventional sense.
By cloaking the victims in a sacred guise, it seems possible to erase the fact that they were exploited.
Selfless maternal love, selfless deity...
Is it truly real, or merely wishful thinking on the part of humanity driven by its own needs?
[So... does that mean God really can't have a heart?]
The voice of a young boy, seemingly drifting from an unknown time and space, carried a humble tone of earnest inquiry and a slightly disorganized, hurried air.
The sound made it seem like they were rushing up from behind.
The footsteps stopped, and in the brief silence came quiet observation and anxious waiting.
Then, there was a slight disturbance in the air.
The person nodded slightly, adjusted their glasses, and spoke in a gentle and patient tone.
It's not that God cannot have a mind, but rather that humans don't need God to have a mind.
Is this...so?
The boy, still in a daze, subconsciously replied, not noticing that he was stuttering. He didn't know if it was because of academic confusion or the other person's unexpectedly friendly attitude.
Yes, because having a heart means having bias, it means that in addition to one's religious duties, one will also have one's own desires and visions.
The most common example is the gods in Greek mythology, or more accurately, let's call them the gods.
In terms of both appearance and mindset, those gods are not fundamentally different from humans; they are simply endowed with the power of thunder that ordinary people do not possess.
Their actions were no different from those of the humans they despised. In fact, because of the divine power bestowed upon them by heaven, they indulged their desires even more recklessly.
In this situation, humans and gods are actually in a competitive relationship.
The Protoss, relying on their power, occupy an absolute dominant position and use this as a basis to redistribute resources.
Faith is a risky pursuit. Even the most devout believer can be cruelly mocked and plundered due to God's whims.
Ah... in this way, humanity becomes very pitiful.
The boy couldn't help but murmur aloud, and then a very soft laugh was heard.
He was taken aback, thinking it was his imagination, but he did indeed catch a glimpse of the curve of the other person's lips.
Oh no... I think I said something really stupid without realizing it.
[You have great potential.]
【What? 】
I mean, junior brother, you have the potential to become a 'god'.
Upon hearing this, the boy couldn't help but feel confused. Judging from the tone of the voice, the other person seemed serious. But the idea that he had the potential to become a god seemed like nothing more than a joke.
So... is this a sarcastic remark about his overestimation of his abilities?
As soon as the words left his mouth, the boy regretted them somewhat—as for pitying humans, he himself was clearly just one of them.
To say something pitiful sounds like something said from a high place, looking down on everyone except oneself; it is indeed a bit arrogant.
So that's how it is...
As fellow human beings, aren't the people in front of us also, without our knowledge, included among those who deserve pity?
No wonder the other party made a sarcastic remark.
—Really.
I finally mustered up the courage to go up and strike up a conversation like I did just now, but I messed it all up.
It would have been better to just do it from the beginning...
The boy was secretly regretting his actions when his hair was gently touched.
An indescribably pleasant scent gently brushed past my nose, causing a slight itch.
Before he could react to what had just happened, he heard a laughing voice coming from above.
It's a butterfly.
--Butterfly?
The boy looked in the direction of the sound and, in the dazzling, almost dizzying warmth of the spring sun, he actually saw a butterfly taking flight.
The butterfly fluttered its wings and slowly flew out of the window. Perhaps because it was backlit, the boy could not see the butterfly's true color until that small shadow disappeared outside the lush green window.
The boy was stunned for a moment, because he hadn't expected that he hadn't noticed how close they were just now.
【Thanks? 】
【You're welcome. 】
Compared to the younger man's somewhat reserved expression of gratitude, the response from the other party was noticeably more natural and fluent.
The former became even more bewildered as a result.
She even began to regret her rash actions, realizing she shouldn't have taken the initiative to strike up a conversation... She knew all along that she wasn't good with words and was completely clueless about social interactions.
Even so, after listening to the lecture, I still made an impulsive choice in a moment of irrationality. As a result, I've ended up in this embarrassing situation, which I guess I deserve.
Just as the boy was hesitating about how to end the conversation as naturally as possible, he ran away without looking back from this place that would probably become a scene that would haunt his past.
A voice rang out, neither too close nor too far: "Want to go have lunch?"
"ah?"
"It's already lunchtime. Let's grab a bite to eat together if you're free."
"ah?"
"Haha, is having dinner with me that scary?"
—Is there?
Of course not.
Simply being with this person was enough to make the boy feel helpless.
And we'd eat together and stuff.
The boy, who was used to being alone, almost always ate at his own table and rarely even shared a table with someone else, let alone being invited like this... well, you could call it an invitation.
In short, the boy seemed to have no reason to accept it.
However, there was also nothing worth saying in refusal.
In her dazed state, her body had already responded: "No...nothing like that. I'm very...happy."
—Sure enough, when I got excited, I started stuttering again.
The boy thought with a hint of despair, "Could I be any more humiliated than I am now?"
“I’m very happy too.”
An unexpected answer.
The boy's hand, hidden behind the documents, twitched slightly, and his palm was already damp.
He looked up at the face with some uncertainty; it was the first time he had looked directly at the other person up close.
That fair, glowing face looked the same as it did on stage... just as beautiful. But as the boy got closer, he noticed more details he hadn't seen before.
For example, the beauty mark at the corner of the other person's eye, a small red dot, so vivid it looks as if it had just been lightly dotted on with the tip of a pen dipped in cinnabar.
For example, the color of the other person's two eyes is not exactly the same.
Instead, one is deep and the other is shallow.
The darker one is pure black, without a single impurity.
The light-colored pupils had a faint, ethereal blue hue, instantly reminding one of some extremely precious jade or gemstone.
Perhaps because they were wearing glasses, at first glance one wouldn't notice the difference; one would only feel that their eyes appeared extremely focused and profound when looking at people.
Especially when reflected in the sunlight outside the window, it looks like fireflies scattered on the lake surface hidden by trees.
The flickering light is quite beautiful.
Suddenly, the boy remembered the legend of Pangu creating the world. After completing the great task of creating the world, Pangu collapsed from exhaustion, and his limbs and bones transformed into the myriad things in the world.
Among them, the eyes are used to represent the sun and moon.
The scorching sun was too intense an image for the boy.
The moon, ever bright and clear, silently illuminates all things in heaven and earth, and feels even more similar to the person before you.
One pair of eyes, two colors.
One is the bright, flawless moon in the sky, and the other is the hazy moon reflection in the water.
The boy was drawn to those eyes, which held varying shades of light and dark, as if he had fallen into a shaky dream.
so……
Does love at first sight really exist in this world?
The boy used to scoff at this, thinking that all love at first sight was essentially just a beautification and embellishment of lust at first sight.
So, he later realized that he was probably just lustful at first sight.
The person you're attracted to happens to be showing you kindness.
It would be difficult for anyone to refuse directly.
The boy not only didn't refuse, but plunged headlong into it. Was it greed, lust, wishful thinking... or simply because human nature is inherently like this, unable to resist temptation, let alone the deliberate seduction disguised as innocence?
The answer is no longer important.
Because the boy later offered his heart without hesitation, even eagerly, never considering that what the other person wanted was never someone's heart.
Their fate was already clear from the very first moment they met, in that seemingly mundane yet truly clumsy attempt at conversation.
The boy at that time did not know that what he thought were jokes and teasing were actually very serious statements.
—Because that person never likes to joke, and would never joke with him.
The closest the two ever came to joking was probably when the other gave a noncommittal chuckle in response to the boy's confession.
The boy thought they had a tacit understanding, but it was just that person's clumsy attempt to appease him.
Unfortunately, he believed it.
Unfortunately, he discovered it too late and missed the best opportunity to extricate himself.
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