Absolute Choice 9

by Pear Lands In The Autumn Spring

  There were only two possibilities to the answer which had a two-choose-one question.

  Even if one answered with one's intuition, there was a fifty percent chance of being correct.

  In order to let the conversation continue on at a greater speed, saying the answer that immediately flashed in her mind would be the best choice, but this time, Dawn was not in a hurry. Instead, she began to seriously contemplate over the question.

  To be able to hear his voice and his thoughts was obviously good.

  But that was not enough to satisfy her. She needed too many things, and once she needed it, she would not be easily satisfied.

  Only listening and pandering to him was not 'chatting'.

  Now, it was her turn to transmit her voice!

  "First, the teenager is real, while the imitation that was a replica of the teenager can be considered a counterfeit. It can be said that one is real and the other is fake. Second, the teenager gave a helping hand to the people in suffering is no doubt an act of goodness, while the replica does not have a will of his own, so the goodness he does is only purely mimicry. Therefore, the teenager should be named 'Good', and the imitation should be called 'Pseudo-good'. That is probably the answer that makes most logical sense."

  Dawn suddenly wished to move back a distance and see the expression and eyes of the boy, but she knew that doing so at that moment would be 'against the rules', so she could only forcefully curb her impulse.

  "So, is that your answer?"

  Shi Xiaobai said gently after a moment of silence.

  A smile could not help but suffuse across Dawn's lips because Shi Xiaobai had used an emotionless tone to ask his question. It was one that she was extremely proficient at, and it was obvious that he did not wish for his voice to reveal any effective information.

  What a strict examiner.

  She gradually shook her head and said softly, "Although it's the answer that makes the most logical sense, it is not my answer, nor could it be the real answer. That is because 'Good' that pursues logic happens to be nothing but 'Pseudo-good'.

  "Yea."

  Shi Xiaobai grunted slightly and whispered, "Continue."

  Dawn nodded and slowly said, "Although the teenager lent a helping hand to everyone, the reason why he did so was because of the curse of the Creator. He was doing good only in order to avoid pain to himself. Although he was doing good, the motive was for himself. That is no doubt a form of pseudo-goodness.

  "The imitation is different. He did not have his own will, and he was simply replicating the teenager's actions. Lending a helping hand to everyone was a part of his existence, and his actions were out of instinct. There was no complication for personal gain, so he is the purest of pure good."

  "The teenager is Pseudo-good, while the imitation is Good. That is my answer!"

  After providing her answer in one breath, Dawn immediately pushed Shi Xiaobai out of her embrace and reached out her hands to hold him by his shoulders. At the moment she opened up a distance, she leveled her eyes with his.

  Indeed, that pair of black eyes were still as bright and dazzling. Although it should be like a black night sky, it was shimmering with the luster of stars.

  "Well, is my answer correct?"

  Although she could tell from his expression that she got the answer she wanted to know, she was eager to get actual confirmation.

  Shi Xiaobai looked into her eyes for a moment before suddenly grinning. "At the beginning, This King answered the human in such a manner. You gave an identical answer like This King."

  Dawn was not surprised about the correctness of the answer, but when she heard the outcome, she still felt somewhat happy. She could not explain if she was feeling happy because of her correct response or if it was because she had the same answer as the boy.

  Eh, the answer is correct?

  Dawn suddenly thought of something and asked, "After you gave your answer, what did the human say in response? Is our answer correct?"

  Dawn keenly noticed that Shi Xiaobai had mentioned that their answers were the same, but he did not directly answer her that her answer was correct or not.

  Indeed, Shi Xiaobai's expression suddenly turned serious as he looked deeply into her eyes and said, "That human did not give an answer, but instead questioned This King."

  Dawn asked in surprise, "Questioned you?"

  Shi Xiaobai paused slightly, as though he was preparing the mood for the discussion. After that, he said words that were pregnant with meaning, "The reason why the imitation can purely do good is because it does not have his own will. It can't think for itself. The teenager lent a helping hand to everyone but is called Pseudo-good because the good he does benefits him. His starting point is for himself, but the root of the reason was that the teenager possesses his own will. He knows how to think for himself. The difference between Good and Pseudo-good actually has to do with the motives behind the good-doer being self-serving or not."

  "Then, as a question, can humans with their own will be able to pursue pure goodness?"

  "Humans are not machines. They have their own wills. It is impossible for them to be selfless even if they do good at the cost of their own interests. That is because he or she can receive a psychological fulfillment, and psychological fulfillment is also an interest that serves that person. It's just the sacrifice and exchange of physical interests for psychological interests."

  "For example, a teenager sacrifices his life to save a hundred people. Why would he do so? That's because in his mind, 'saving a hundred people is 'greater than' saving himself'. After his own thought processes, he comes up with a choice he thinks is most right. By doing so, not only is he doing it for the hundred people, he is also doing it for himself, because the person who made the choice was himself. Of course, there exists the thought of 'saving himself' but he eventually acts to 'save a hundred people'. Under such situations, his choice was clearly forced and not out of his own intentions. However, looking at it from another perspective, he had already made a choice between 'acceptance' and 'resistance'. His actions are still part of his own intentions!"

  "In the aforementioned description, it is impossible for humans to do pure good because humans have their own will. Humans can make choices, and the choice itself is an act that would serve oneself! Therefore, the 'Good' of humans cannot be called 'Good', but 'Pseudo-good'!"

  "Pseudo-good is called pseudo, and when the 'pseudo' is greater than 'good', it is actually distorted into 'Evil'! When humans do something to satisfy their will in the name of doing good, proselytize one's choice as Good, then 'Good' will become a weapon to conceal 'selfishness'. Wouldn't that change it to 'Evil'?"

  "Think about it, if the teenager was lending a helping hand to people in suffering because of the curse, and if one day, he encounters a sufferer that cannot be saved or redeemed, he would constantly endure the pain of the curse. But no matter how much he tries, he is unable to save the person from the abyss of suffering. Then, with saving ineffective, what would the teenager do to stop his pain? The teenager could very likely kill the sufferer that cannot be saved to save himself! That's because when 'Pseudo-good' is forced to its extremes, it can unbridledly become 'Evil'."

  "There is good and evil among people, but how is it to be distinguished? It is impossible for humans to do pure good. Most of it is pseudo-good, but even if it's pseudo-good, it's just a question of degree of evil."

  "Then, can good and evil really define the actions of human?"

  "Does the concept of good and evil have any meaning to humans?"

  "Is good and evil a prison for the 'original sin', or it is restraining one's self-centeredness?"

  "Although Your Majesty is the King that created good and evil, here's a question. Was what Your Majesty created really good and evil?"

  Shi Xiaobai's expression turned mixed and complicated. When he reproduced every question, it was as if he was not only recounting a story from his memories, but also questioning himself once again.

&nbs
p; He used a long silence to end 'that human's' monologue and looked into the ice-blue eyes silently for a long period of time. Shi Xiaobai sighed and said, "That is what 'that human' questioned This King with the question that only had two options. It was also 'that human''s...last words."

  Dawn was slightly surprised as she asked, "You killed him?"

  Shi Xiaobai slowly shook his head, "It wasn't This King. It was good and evil that killed him. Although good and evil is not life, it is an eternal law that transcends life. They were created by This King and they have no thoughts. They abide by the rules but somehow accidentally possessed a 'personality'. It was surprisingly furious regarding 'that human's' choice of sowing discord. Therefore, his existence was completely wiped out."

  Dawn could not help but smile, "A law with 'personality'? That's a very fresh and interesting way to put it. If I'm not wrong, you do not think that that human's questioning was sowing discord. In fact, you generated doubts about the laws of good and evil, to the point of 'revising' it. Therefore your position as King wavered. Is that it?"

  Shi Xiaobai's eyebrows pricked up slightly before he said with a nod, "Yes, you guessed right. But This King never expected you to so quickly understand what This King is talking about and also be able to analyze its profound meaning. It's a joy chatting with you."

  "Likewise."

  A smile suffused across Dawn's lips. At that moment, she clearly looked like a handsome boy, but the way she smiled had the youthful charm of a girl. She had always looked deadpan and treated everything coldly also to perfectly hide the fact that she was a female in disguise. But in front of Shi Xiaobai, she had lost all her defenses and opened up her heart. Of course, she would not mind revealing the emotions she had strictly sealed inside her.

  However, the smile did not last for very long as Dawn's expression suddenly turned solemn. She looked into Shi Xiaobai's eyes and said seriously, "I'm only a person listening to a story and should not have too many comments, but since it's a 'chat', I think I shouldn't hide my true thoughts. Honestly, that human's questions are very interesting. The questions in rapid succession seem to be reasonable, but could it be that there were other reasons for you to question the laws you created by you?"

  "That human's question does stand on reasonable grounds, but it's actually simply resorting to sophistry as justification. It is obviously not enough to use the words good and evil to define complicated human nature, but isn't it a bit forced to question if good and evil has any meaning to its existence for humans?"

  "Regarding the teenager's hypothesis of going from 'Pseudo-good' to 'Evil', it is after all just a hypothesis. It is a problem of probability. It can only be said that there is a high probability that the teenager would kill the unredeemable sufferer to save himself from pain. But there is an extremely small probability that the teenager will eventually bear the pain but not give up trying. At this point, it can be certain that the teenager's 'Pseudo-good' has sublimed to pure 'Good'."

  "Humans do have their own will, but against the various choices in life, they can make their choices of their own free will. This is obviously considered an action in one's self-interest. But if they are forced to make a choice that goes against their will, their own will cannot be carried out as they wish. 'That human' said that when forced, one can make the choice of 'acceptance' and 'resistance', and that being forced is also a 'self-centered act'. Isn't that expanding the concept of 'self-centered acts' and exaggerating the existence of 'self-centered acts'? Wouldn't the definition of 'selfishness' become too all encompassing?"

  "In summary, I believe that a part of the human's questions are worth contemplating over, but it's not sufficient to waver your will. I believe that for me to be able to see something amiss with it, it must also mean that you can see it. Therefore, I believe that the reason why you are doubting the laws of good and evil is not as simple? Or could it be..."

  When Dawn said to that point, she suddenly came to a halt. In fact, she wanted to say, "or could it be that you fabricated a story in a rush so you did not think of the loopholes?". But in order to continue chatting 'happily', she decided to silently agree that whatever Shi Xiaobai said was real. There were indeed many parts of the story that could be faulted on, but if one questioned the story itself, there would be no end to the debate. She wished to understand Shi Xiaobai's thoughts through a chat, and not understand Shi Xiaobai's ability to engage in a debate.

  Of course, by directly pointing out the loophole in Shi Xiaobai's fabrication of the 'questions posed by that human', she was actually trying to see how fast Shi Xiaobai's reaction speed was. When his fabricated story was exposed as having several loopholes, how long would he take to think in order to fix the loopholes?

  But what surprised Dawn once again was that Shi Xiaobai had responded the moment she finished her words.

  Shi Xiaobai said with a smile, "This King has underestimated you. This King never expected that you were not only listening to the story, but you were standing from the point of view of god to consider the story in such a clear manner. What you said is right. It was not so simple for This King to question the laws of good and evil. In fact, after 'that human' died, This King traveled to the human world on a whim. To This King, who is a supreme existence, the human world was like an ant's nest, a place he would never step foot on. But after this trip to observe the human world, This King realized that he had committed a grave error."

  "In the human world, This King saw many illogical situations. A child that steals food for his starving mother was considered a 'scoundrel' and was beaten to death. The cruel punishment of slashing a murderer and putting him up on a pole to die from exposure is deemed by people as a 'good act'. As an act of pity, a rich young lady gives a beggar a few pieces of gold, causing the beggar to attract trouble because of his wealth. Not only was the gold stolen away by thugs, the beggar was also crippled. The rich young lady's 'benevolence' was actually an 'act of evil'. In order to satisfy his ambition, a king instigated a war causing countless of deaths. If the invasion were successful, it would be deemed as a grand act of 'good', but if his invasion failed, he would be cursed for ages as a 'savage king'..."

  "There is no end to such unreasonable matters. Good and evil is frequently distorted and misunderstood in the human world. It even goes as far as confusing right from wrong. Although judgment of good and evil needs to consider the viewpoint of the judge, but the biggest problem is that the viewpoint of the majority becomes the true definition of good and evil. And no matter if the viewpoint of the minority is 'right' or not, their viewpoint will be distorted into being 'wrong'. Good and evil is governed by 'strength', so whichever side is 'stronger' is the side that is 'good'."

  "The original understanding This King had of humans was that of inferior beings in a lower plane of existence. But it is because humans are inferior beings that result in their requirements and desire to be much higher than superior beings. Their requirements and desires result in their nature being even more complex than gods and demons. This King, who had been focused on superior planes of existence, never noticed this. Although the good and evil created by This King is more suitable for gods and demons, it is far from sufficient for humans."

  "Why did 'that human', who worked hard to cultivate for millennia allowing him to go from a mere human to an existence that transcended gods and demons after all sorts of trials and tribulations, choose to come before This King and ask such questions that ended up 'courting his own death'?" Why was he willing to risk questioning good and evil despite the possibility of him being killed by good and evil? The reason why he would do so was because the laws of good and evil was not only the imprisonment of 'original sin' in the human world, but shackles for 'self'. To humans, strength is the source of good and evil."

  "He loved humans deeply, but he also hated humans a lot. But he was helpless when it came to changing the present situation, so instead of saying he was questioning This King, it would be better to say that he was using his life to implor
e This King."

  After Shi Xiaobai said that, he took a deep breath as though he was cherishing the memory of that great human who was willing to bring destruction on himself. It also seemed like he was sympathizing with the contradiction of good and evil in the human world.

  Dawn fell into a daze for quite a while when she finished hearing his monologue. She had underestimated Shi Xiaobai's reaction speed and even more so, she had underestimated Shi Xiaobai's ability to fabricate a story. After hearing the full story, she was surprised to suddenly feel a sense of repression, as though the story was true. Although concepts like the 'King of kings' and the 'laws of good and evil' were so exaggerated and fake, she could not confidently determine if the story was real or not.

  Was it because he had perfected his story in an extremely realistic manner?

  Or was his acting extremely realistic? That look of him cherishing the memory made her feel like she was looking at a former monarch who was questioning his creation of good and evil.

  Or was it because she understood the ugliness of human nature too well that she felt that the story he fabricated and the reason behind it resonated with her?

  Dawn suddenly felt her chest turn heavy, as though something was blocking it. She took a deep breath and said, "That is not the fault of good and evil, but a problem with human nature. Human nature is like that. As humans, questioning human nature is equivalent to questioning ourselves. The only thing we can do is to work hard to exercise restraint in the face of darkness, but there is no way we can change the darkness of human nature."

  Yes, that was her understanding all along.

  She was unable to change the good or evil nature of anyone. The Patriarch was the instigator of Project Orphan. He was the mastermind behind her being thrown in the uninhabited island for three years, but the Patriarch had treated her like his very own granddaughter. He had given her the best of everything, and had compensated her with the best environment for growing up as well as the brightest future.