Rusted Sword
How a Bullied Person Becomes a Bully
This is a question that people don't want to think about deeply.
As a detective, the Memory Master doesn't always get to take on major supernatural crime cases. In order to keep the detective agency running, she occasionally takes on ordinary commissions, many of which are related to school bullying.
Her clients include parents of bullied persons as well as the bullied persons themselves. There was once a child who seriously wanted to retaliate.
This is what he said: "I can find a teacher, a lawyer, or a psychiatrist, but I find you because I know you are different from them."
"They call you a memory master, a solver of complex cases, a cleaner of evil, and a gray area scavenger."
"You must have a way. Everyone says you have a special way."
The Memory Master did not stop him, but told him the price he had to pay: "Bullys are bullies because their brains are different from normal people."
"They lack empathy, have abnormal emotional regulation, and cannot inhibit their impulsive emotions. They are more like animals than humans."
"If you want to take revenge on the bully, you must become an animal like him. You must constantly recall the scenes of yourself being bullied, scold that weak and incompetent self, and doubt and deny everything about yourself."
“When you want to escape from these pains, you must regurgitate the horrible memories from your stomach, savor them carefully again, and use the memories as a rusty sword to cut yourself again and again.”
Patting the little client's head, the illusionist said gently: "The wound will never heal after being cut repeatedly by the rusty sword."
"Your brain will form a pathological channel, similar to a sinus in medicine. When this sinus connects to the cavity of the soul, you will successfully become an animal like those bullies."
The young client slapped her hand away: "It doesn't matter, it's just becoming like them."
"Not exactly the same. They are born with it, and you are acquired. You were once 'normal', and one day you will want to cure this sinus."
"How are you going to clean the wound then? Use a scalpel to cut off all the necrotic tissue. You don't have a scalpel, and you don't even have a rusty sword."
"What do you mean?" her client was emotional. "You mean I don't hate them enough?"
......
The illusionist forced himself to pull himself out of his memories and forced himself to focus on the notebook.
She couldn't help but recall the little client, probably because the young Liu Tianyi didn't have a qualified rusty sword, and Wanting's existence made it impossible for her rusty sword to take shape forever.
So, the Memory Master couldn't understand how Liu Tianyi became a bully in college.
Starting from October 30, 93 in the new calendar, although the two continued to exchange secret letters, the content was obviously less than before.
This is easy to understand. Zhao Wanting and Liu Tianyi have become the most annoying pair of weird friends in the class.
Freaks can only talk to freaks, freaks have no other friends, freaks hang out together every day, and there is no need for secret letters.
Liu Tianyi even suggested stopping the secret letters, she wrote.
[Wanting, I've thought about it. Why don't we just stop writing letters? It's so troublesome. Can't we just talk about it face to face?]
Wanting replied.
[Even between the best of friends, there are always some things that cannot be said face to face. Besides, we are so much like the super-powered agents in anime.
I also want to invent a secret code that only we know. Recently, when I was collecting homework in the morning, ** would come to my place whenever she wanted. She must have discovered our secret code and wanted to take it out and read it in front of the class. 】
They had previously scolded the girl who issued the card in a secret letter because she read aloud the birthday card written by a classmate from the next class to Zheng Song.
Liu Tianyi suspected that the person who wrote the greeting card really liked Zheng Song, and gossiped about it a lot.
The teacher and students of Huanyi showed some interest, and quickly flipped through the pages, and really found what they called the "secret letter".
December 17, 2004 in the new calendar, written in blue handwriting by Wanting.
【OW`EHZ&GNAY5EIX-GNEN!NAK3GNIM)IAB*AB YNW IS SJB】
...There's really no sense of accomplishment in cracking this kind of ciphertext. The Memory Master turned the page with a sluggish face.
The first sentence is nothing more than reversing the pinyin order of each word and then separating them with letters or numbers. It translates to "Is it clear if I write it this way?"
The latter sentence may be written out of exhaustion, and even the so-called ciphertext is not even bothered to use, and the English plus pinyin abbreviation is used directly, "YNW is a psychopath."
As for YNW, she must be the girl with the hairpin. The two kids only dared to curse her together in the secret message.
The Memory Master guessed that it was the abbreviation of YOU-KNOW-WHO. After watching Harry Potter, the two gave the girl with the hairpin the same nickname as Voldemort.
After reading almost the entire thin booklet, the illusionist had no idea why Wanting committed suicide by jumping off a building and why Liu Tianyi became a bully.
At present, it seems that this is just a daily routine of junior high school students, and the bullying led by the girl with the hairpin has only remained at the level of verbal ridicule.
If nothing unexpected happened, this pair of good friends would support each other through the difficult junior high school years, enter high school together, and even be admitted to the same university.
This kind of friendship in times of adversity is precious. In the limited memory of the illusionist, she has never had such an enviable friendship.
Turning the notebook further, I found an exquisite and expensive greeting card. I pushed the card open along the cleverly designed folds, and I saw three-dimensional Christmas trees and mistletoe standing up layer by layer, forming a miniature Christmas cottage.
The Memory Artist found rusty electronic components in the interlayer of the greeting card, indicating that this was a musical greeting card, the kind that could play Christmas songs when opened.
There is a brief blessing on the greeting card.
【Wanting, Happy Christmas! My biggest gain this year is making a good friend like you. I wish you are happy every day!
good good study, day day up!
The rest of the words are written on the letter paper, please open it when you get home!
What is that? Is it some kind of secret code? The Memory Master stared at the childish cursive English and slowly realized that it meant to study hard and make progress every day.
It was not easy for Liu Tianyi to get into university, she sighed sincerely.
After flipping through a few pages, he could not find the letter paper. The Memory Master picked up the eraser and chalk, ready to go back to six years ago, but was interrupted by Heige who suddenly barged in.
"You are here!" Heige was very surprised, "Come with me to watch the play!"
How did the Withered Dynasty taint him? The illusionist frowned imperceptibly, racking his brains to find a reason to refuse.
Before she could come up with a reason, Heige made an impassioned invitation:
"This is not just a play, it is an invitation of the soul, an emotional resonance, a vivid dream, with the king of kings at the top..."
The memory teacher quickly realized that she could no longer let him stand at the door and talk incessantly, so she walked down from the podium and tried to pull Heige into the classroom.
Halfway through the walk, the Memory Master stopped in astonishment. Heige didn't come alone, he came with a group of people.
The group of people were like cockroaches hiding in the cupboard, hiding in the blind spot of her sight, spying on everything with their trembling slender tentacles.
They realized they were discovered and started talking in low, fragmented voices:
"That's her, the protagonist who irresponsibly fled the scene."
"If she doesn't want to go back with us..."
Heige held the memory master's shoulders with both hands, and his eyes were pleading: "You will go to the play with us, right?"
The others looked at the Memory Master with empty, dark eyes, quietly waiting for a positive answer.
"Of course." The Memory Master looked back at the notebook on the podium and took the initiative to step into the circle of people. "Let's go now."
Heige seemed relieved, but he didn't understand why he did this. He walked blankly beside the illusionist and followed the crowd to carry her to the old auditorium.
We have to find a way to eliminate the influence of the Withered Dynasty on the entire school, starting with Brother Hei.
The Memory Master thought calmly: The Withered Dynasty cannot affect me, is it because I am a player who does not belong here, or is it because of Liu Tianyi's body?
This is a question worth thinking about. If the answer is the latter, then Liu Tianyi must have encountered the same situation as her before her death.
It's not exactly the same - Liu Tianyi will definitely struggle with the muddy memories of Wanting and the horrific reality that all the teachers and students in the school are about to die in a drama.
With this doubt, the Memory Master came to the old auditorium again.
This place was very different from the last time she came. Half of the auditorium was filled with audiences, and there were inexplicably several actors on the stage wearing blank masks, who quietly became part of the scene.
The two leading actors stood on a movable stage that was found from somewhere, surrounded by blank masks dressed in aristocratic costumes, and watched an opera singer's performance from a high position.
The last time he came here, the illusionist only watched the beginning of the first act and fled away in shame.
Now in the second act of the show, Morningstar, son of Gaia, has fulfilled his wish to become the King of Kings, and sits in the theater as the troupe reenacts the conquests of his youth.
The Memory Master took a quick look at the subtitle screen.
【Act 2: Sans Souci Opera House
The Morningstar, the King of Kings, smiled and talked with Meleagro.
Opera singer who plays the young Morning Star: "Even if you threaten me like this, I will not commit suicide!"
"I can die by sword, assassination, or torture, but I cannot die by suicide. I am the Morning Star, son of Gaia, and one day I will be crowned king!"
King of Kings: "Look, my friend, does he have some of my charm?"
Meliego: "Your Majesty, you are the king of Worryfree City, the master of the Land of Nothingness, and the controller of the Place Where the Dead Do Not Bury. You have long transcended reality and time, making Worryfree City the center of countless capitals. Please tell me why you care so much about a young actor."
The King of Kings: "He is the son of a noble family, so he should be respected by me."
Meleagro: "I gaze upon you, sire, as I have since before the light was born. There is one thing I do not understand - what is the difference between a child born to a noble and one born to a commoner? Please explain to me, sire."
King of Kings: "You are an omniscient person, how can you not understand the truth? It's because you are also a selfless person."
Meleagro: "Your Majesty, I have a disciple named Sisyphus, born to a shepherdess, whose wisdom is no less than -"
King of Kings: "Hear me, my friend, my servant, my beloved. I wandered alone that day through the mists, not with you in my quest."
The illusionist secretly pulled Heige to the left corner of the stage. The quarrel between Meliegro and Morning Star echoed in her ears. She pretended to have a long conversation with him: "Why are you obsessed with this play?"
Heige stretched his neck to look at the stage, but unfortunately he couldn't see anything because of the speakers. He answered absentmindedly: "No reason."
"Withered Dynasty is a meme that will drive you insane and even lead to suicide."
"Don't talk nonsense, the King of Kings is the supreme king." Brother Hei walked away.
"I have a question about the withered dynasty that has troubled me for a long time."
Heige's attention was drawn back, and the illusionist said:
"The title of the play, The Withered Dynasty, sounds like an ominous name given by later generations, not like the code name that a prosperous king like the King of Kings gave to his own court. The word "withered" foreshadows a bad ending."
"In that case, why do you worship the King of Kings? How do you know that He is a wise king?"
It is easier for him to accept the truth by reasoning through logical loopholes than by telling him the truth directly.
Because the human brain tends to maintain its own cognitive consistency, the thought storm of logical reasoning can easily make people feel the satisfaction of "I think, therefore I am", making the conclusions of reasoning more credible.
Heige was stunned for a moment, and then he murmured a prayer as if it was logically self-consistent: "King of kings, Lord of the Decline..."
"Okay, okay, I get it. You knew he was worthy of respect through prayer." The Memory Master's wrist ached slightly.
"...The shadow of the king is long, and the night is low."
"That's enough. I know you can justify yourself, but!" the illusionist asked loudly, "How did you come to the old auditorium and discover the play?"
"Of course it's because...I came to find you." Brother Hei hesitated.
"Why did you come here to find me? How did you know I was in the drama club?"
"Didn't you tell me?"
"It's impossible that I told you." The Memory Master said, "Because Liu Tianyi is two-timing and dating Du Ziming behind your back."
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