Feeling a little tired and confused, Zhou Ze threw away the cigarette butt, hung his coat on his shoulders, and walked on the dim path following the guidance of the street lights.
The back view is stretched very long.
At the exit of the park, there stood a white-haired old man in a neat suit. He stood upright and meticulously, like an old poplar standing firm in the desert.
One glance was enough to tell that the old man was the kind of person who had extreme, even perverted, requirements for his body shape and attire.
Zhou Ze didn't look at him, but continued walking on his own way.
The air was filled with the smell of watermelon paste, a little sweet and a little greasy. This smell made Zhou Ze feel a little uncomfortable, because the watermelon flesh is red, which made Zhou Ze think of many unpleasant images.
"Sir, are you feeling down?"
The old man took the initiative to follow Zhou Ze's pace, lagging slightly behind by half a body length, just right.
"A little bit." Zhou Ze replied.
The two people continued to walk forward, following each other step by step, forming a peculiar similarity.
"Sir, is it because of the monkey
Or, for the contaminated baby?" the old man asked.
Zhou Ze didn't answer and continued to walk forward slowly.
When he reached the traffic light intersection, Zhou Ze stopped and waited for the green light.
The old man also stopped.
"There is no right or wrong in this matter." Zhou Ze replied.
“Is there no right or wrong?” The old man repeated, and then asked: “But everything has its pros and cons, and it is natural to distinguish right from wrong.
The monkey is a good monkey, and it does even more good things than the so-called good people among the people.
You admit this, right sir?"
"So, what you mean?" Zhou Ze took out another cigarette, shielded the wind with his hand, and lit it, "I did something wrong?"
"After several rebirths and several years of hard training, in the end, all your efforts failed because of the person you saved. How would you feel if you were in his shoes?" asked the old man.
"I will be very angry." Zhou Ze answered straightforwardly, without even having to think about it.
“What comes after anger?”
"If I have the chance, I will kill his entire family." Zhou Ze exhaled a puff of smoke.
"Sir, your logic is very coherent," the old man commented, "but you prevented it from taking revenge. Even after you learned the truth from it, you still killed it yourself."
"Yes."
"Do you think you did the right thing?" the old man asked again.
"I've said before, there's no right or wrong in this matter." Zhou Ze shook off the ashes from his cigarette. "Even if we take a step back, the child is innocent."
“According to what you mean, if the monkey had simply chosen to take revenge on her husband, you would have understood;
You'll probably not stop it, won't you sir?"
Zhou Ze was silent.
“But the husband killed the monkey and took its brain because he wanted his wife to eat it to cure her infertility.” The old man reminded, “So, the cause and effect seem to be attributed to the monkey and the husband, but the real source lies with the monkey and the baby.”
"Can cause and effect be calculated this way?" Zhou Ze asked.
"I calculated it, doesn't it make sense?" the old man asked.
"According to your calculations, you can calculate that it was because of the meteorite hitting the earth that the dinosaurs became extinct, and then new species appeared, and then apes appeared, and then humans and monkeys appeared, and then this tragedy occurred.
Therefore, the cause and effect must be attributed to the meteorite."
"You are sophistry, sir." The old man's tone seemed to have never changed, very calm, as if he was simply discussing the issue with you.
"I am a human." Zhou Ze pointed to his head. "I am standing on the human side. I think I can't let an alien hurt humans in the hospital."
"You are not a human, you are a ghost." The old man reminded again.
"This time, it's your turn to quibble."
"Haha." The old man smiled.
The green light is on.
Zhou Ze took a step forward and the old man continued to follow.
A young man in ragged clothes,
An elderly man in formal attire,
The two people were on the ground, leaving only a shadow.
"In the end, something went wrong with the child." The old man continued to speak in a calm tone that made people want to stab him. "It seems that at this time, we can sigh: God has his own way of life, who will be spared?"
"I never think that children should be held jointly responsible for the mistakes made by adults."
"In ancient times, there was the law of collective responsibility, which means it had its reason for existence," said the old man.
“Now that it’s been abolished, that means it’s better off not existing than existing.”
"Sir, you pity the child, but who will pity the monkey?"
"You can go to Huaguo Mountain and ask his ancestors."
"So, in the final analysis, it is still the theory of group supremacy, which is nothing more than an extra layer of protection over regional discrimination and racial discrimination."
"I have a piece of bread in my hand. This is my dinner today." Zhou Ze spread out one hand, indicating that he was holding a piece of bread.
"Then what?"
“Then when I was about to eat this piece of bread, I suddenly remembered that in some poor areas of the world, there are still people who don’t have enough food to eat and are so hungry that they are skinny.
So I couldn’t bear to eat this piece of bread, and was willing to starve with them, or even starve to death together.”
"Sir, I think your irony is not very appropriate." The old man shook his head, "Can you think that the monkey is a beast? What it has done in the past thirty years is more like a human being than most so-called humans."
"Okay, let's change the example.
There was a luxury car next to me and expensive red wine and caviar in front of me, but I thought of the people on the earth who were starving. I couldn't bear to eat, so I decided to starve with them and starve to death with them.
If you eat such good food and drive such a good car, someone will point fingers at you and scold you, saying that you should donate the money you use to enjoy yourself to people in poor areas. "
The old man stopped, as if thinking.
Zhou Ze didn't stop and continued to move forward.
Finally, the old man came over.
"I'm still curious as to why you wanted to stop it."
"What do you think I should do?"
"Just pretend you didn't see it." The old man replied, "You are a ghost messenger, the guardian of the underworld's rules in the living world. The reason why the referee is respected is because of his neutrality. Once you become both a referee and a player, the game will collapse."
"I don't understand what you mean." Zhou Ze stopped and looked at the old man, who was dressed so formally that he wanted to go up to him and wrinkle his suit.
"The meaning is very simple. The two examples you gave earlier were nothing more than trying to show that you were just making the choices you wanted to make during that period of time. The questions I asked just now were just the chatter of outsiders."
"I thought you didn't understand."
"I understand. You are a good person." The old man repeated, "A good 'person'."
From a human perspective, this is indeed the case.
"So, you came up to me on purpose just to give me a definition?" Zhou Ze looked at the old man, his ten fingers still burning with pain, "I didn't know that after picking up that thing, trouble would come so quickly."
Before, the little girl said that she was an incandescent light in the dark night, but now Zhou Ze feels like he is a incendiary bomb in the dark night.
The old man shook his head and said, “I am not a problem to you. In fact, I am a servant left by the master, and you have just inherited the master’s identity card.
Because of this, my seal was lifted, I woke up, and then found you. By the way, I observed you for a while. "
"I found a good thing and I want to give it to an old man?"
Zhou Ze showed a smile.
“Should I say one more thing:
Don’t look down on the young and the poor.
By the way, I would like to sigh again, how horrible is this
This seems more appropriate.”
"I don't understand, sir," the old man said bluntly.
"Read more." Zhou Ze reminded.
"Okay." The old man nodded solemnly, "I'm grateful for your advice."
Ahead, they encountered a red light and stopped again.
"Sir, since you have inherited your master's ID card, you have naturally become my new master." The old man said, and at the same time, he bent down and saluted Zhou Ze.
Zhou Ze stood there, looking at the old man.
Today is such a rich day.
He picked up a certificate, killed a monkey, and even an old man appeared and said he wanted to recognize him as the owner.
Zhou Ze was not overjoyed, he just felt a little troubled. He couldn't figure out what the purpose of this old man who suddenly appeared was.
"The master once gave me something to tell his successor." The old man continued, "Of course, this sentence is for you, and also for me, a servant.
"explain."
"If his successor is a good person, then..."
"puff!"
There was a sound of a sharp object piercing the body.
Zhou Ze lowered his head in astonishment.
He saw the old man's hand pierce directly into his chest.
So straightforward,
So abrupt,
He wasn't even mentally prepared.
Slowly, Zhou Ze's feet left the ground. The old man raised his arms and Zhou Ze was lifted up by him.
Under the dim street lights, Zhou Ze could clearly see the blood on his body flowing down the old man's arm, staining half of the old man's suit red.
"The master said that if his successor is a good man, he should kill him and wait for the next one."
The old man still said these words calmly.
He's not killing people.
It's like throwing away garbage.
It's like a picky chef choosing his own side dishes. If he doesn't like it, he will just throw it away and replace it with a new one.
And Zhou Ze was the trash that was thrown away for no apparent reason.
Blood kept flowing, and the broken nails on Zhou Ze's ten fingers grew back. But before Zhou Ze could make the next move, the old man pierced through Zhou Ze's palm and suddenly exerted force.
For a time,
Zhou Ze felt tremendous pain in all his limbs. His body was convulsing and he was completely unable to fight back.
“I’m sorry sir, a minute ago you might have felt that today was your lucky day because you got something you really wanted.
I don't know if you have noticed the fuzzy white spots under the two columns of name and position on your ID card.
You might think that hidden beneath the white spots is the owner’s name and position;
In fact, it is true.
But there is more to it than that.
And the names and positions of the eight successors who came before you."
The old man continued calmly.
“They…they…are…all…good people?”
Zhou Ze opened his mouth, blood kept flowing out from the corner of his mouth. He felt like a salted fish hanging on a tree branch.
Slowly, wait for it to dry.
"No, sir, you are the only good person among these nine people," the old man replied.
"Then why... why... they... died too..."
"Because when I asked them if they were good people, they all felt that answering 'yes' seemed more advantageous."
The old man tilted his head slightly, showing a bit of helplessness.
"Then,
They are all dead.”