"—No need to bury it, just burn it, you can shoot it."
Shen Zhuo lowered his eyes. The dark void was silent and the only sound he could hear was his own steady breathing.
“… No last words.” After a while, Rong Qi repeated with interest.
Rong Qi's hand holding the gun was as steady as a rock. He was pondering something. After a while, he said, "It's okay. I've given you five minutes. Since there are no last words, let's talk about something else."
"… "
"You have been hiding the truth about your ability to evolve. At first, it was because you subconsciously remembered the words your mother left before she died. Later, it was to protect the false appearance of HRG's nuclear deterrence from being exposed, right?"
Shen Zhuo remained silent, his face pale and cold.
"If my guess is correct, HRG is not only not a talisman for humans, but on the contrary proves that evolution is the inevitable direction of history. All evolvers can use HRG to safely leap a second level. There is even a genetic interferon suitable for evolvers to inject that has been successfully launched, right?"
Shen Zhuo said wearily: "I won't trade HRG with you. If you want to kill me, just shoot me..."
His voice suddenly stopped.
Because Rong Qi stood up, the muzzle of the gun moved up from Shen Zhuo's throat bone and pressed heavily against the junction of his neck and jaw, forcing him to raise his head further, and the cold pressure of the muzzle of the gun pressed against his throat.
"Don't be impatient. The five minutes are not over yet. Answer me a question first."
"… "
Rong Qi looked down at him, and for the first time in so many years, he looked at this face that he had seen since childhood so carefully, with a gloomy and complex light flashing in his eyes:
"In human civilization, the hatred caused by the destruction of the characters called 'parents' by matter has a lifelong impact, which is insurmountable, and there is no way to resolve it. No matter what you do, it is irreversible. Is this really the case?"
The muzzle of the gun at his throat loosened slightly, and the sudden rush of air made Shen Zhuo choke and cough. For a moment, he felt nothing but absurdity.
A war criminal who was cruel, cunning, had killed countless people and was about to drag all of humanity into an endless abyss. Before he shot the enemy himself, his last question was actually this.
Shen Zhuo found it absurd and a little funny, but he was already extremely tired. He barely stopped coughing and took a breath, then leaned back in his chair.
"I never try to guess what others are thinking, Rong Qi. What exactly do you want to ask? Just say it directly."
Rong Qi, however, did not find anything absurd or funny. He just stared at him from top to bottom, and his steady voice penetrated the void: "If Shen Ruzhen and his wife had not died 23 years ago, what would happen if you met me again now?"
Shen Zhuo raised his eyebrows, his eyes filled with undisguised mockery:
"Kill me first, then shoot yourself. If you're lucky, maybe you can be reborn 23 years ago, kneel down in front of all the first-generation researchers, kowtow a few times, and then commit suicide without saying a word..."
"If you meet me in the underworld, you will know what the situation is like."
Rong Qi stood there for a long time without saying anything, and finally sighed after a while.
"Shen Zhuo, sometimes I really feel that your heart is made of stone."