Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!-Chapter 2181: Cracking Open Your Mind

A Hai didn’t speak, but his expression answered him, it was indeed like that.

"You’re really something," Huang Mao gave a thumbs up, "So many Outer Zone players put together don’t get as big a reaction as you."

They were now at the exit on the other side of the Divine Temple. Although the players who came out one after another also looked pale or solemn, none of them were bleeding from the eyes and nose like Xu Huo. According to the Goddess Church, this proved that Xu Huo was far more "evil" than the other players; otherwise, how could he receive such severe punishment?

"Have you seen anyone else punished?" Xu Huo ignored Huang Mao’s teasing and asked A Hai.

"I have." A Hai nodded, he had seen it on TV. People would enter the Inquiry Hall and come out full of tears, constantly repenting. After admitting their mistakes, they would join the Goddess Church and become the most loyal believers.

"So do you think I’m bleeding because my sins are too deep, or because I’m unwilling to repent?" Xu Huo asked again, "If it’s because my sins are too deep, with the Goddess’s vast powers, why can’t she bring me back like other believers? If it’s the latter, since the Goddess can see the evil in my heart, why doesn’t she just kill me when I refuse to repent, instead of just making my eyes and nose bleed?"

"Is it that she can’t, or does she plan to give me a way out?"

"If she can’t, does it mean she isn’t omnipotent, so is her judgment of ’sinners’ always correct?" Not omnipotent, and certainly not all-knowing.

"But if she knows I’m a villain and still lets me go, wouldn’t that bring a bigger crisis to Purple Lake City? After all, I might kill people in a fit of rage when I get out. Wouldn’t that mean she is letting me harm her believers?"

A Hai was stumped by these questions and after several attempts finally said in a small voice: "Maybe the Goddess thinks you don’t deserve to die."

Xu Huo gazed at him without making any comment on this statement.

A Hai involuntarily lowered his head and said again: "If the Goddess thinks... you don’t deserve to die, then you might not be such a bad person."

"Haha!" Huang Mao suddenly walked over and patted him hard on the shoulder, "Since even the Goddess thinks that, it means we’re not bad people. In the game world, players must have killed people, and not all the killed ones were bad. Some might just be pitiful people struggling for survival."

"So that’s the case." A Hai seemed to sigh with relief and apologized to Xu Huo, "I misunderstood you earlier."

"But speaking of that, since the Inquiry Hall is meant to discern good from evil, why do I recall past events?" Huang Mao wondered, "It was a bit thrilling and awkward, but it didn’t involve right or wrong, right? I survived because of my loud voice and the nearby patrols passed by. That man-eating girl ran away and didn’t know where she went."

"In the Inquiry Hall," Xu Huo said faintly, "what is queried may not only be your morality, but it might also be probing your mind."

Mental Interference requires a process, the more difficult it is to interfere, the longer the process. Entering five Satellite Cities and then into the Holy Land Divine Temple might be such a process.

"This is also a process of conflict and compromise," he said, "To pass the stage, you have to enter the temple. The first stage demands basic respect. Those who lack basic respect tend to have strong rebellious tendencies, which increases the difficulty of interference."

"But without going in, you can’t pass, so either the players don’t pass, or to pass, they must first convince themselves, at least to enter the temple calmly for worship."

"Convincing oneself to actively worship plays right into their hands, doesn’t it?" Huang Mao found it a bit difficult, "And this is just the first temple. What if by the time we reach the fifth, we’re brainwashed into complete submission in the Holy Land Divine Temple?"

The thought made him shiver, "No way, even Advanced Players can be brainwashed to such a degree?"

Xu Huo pointed to his face, where faint blood traces remained at the corners of his eyes.

Huang Mao immediately leaned in and used a prop to muffle sound, "Did you see the Goddess?"

"I can’t say it was the Goddess, but it must have been something real." Otherwise, the Time Force wouldn’t have held, nor would there be burn marks left, "But the other side likely did want to kill me."

If not for the Time Ring working, his chances of making it out in one piece seemed slim.

"As long as it’s something concrete, it’s fine." Huang Mao sighed with relief, "If it were some invisible and untouchable ’God’, clearing the stage would be so challenging. I don’t want to stay here my whole life."

"Oh no," he suddenly remembered, "We haven’t found the Divine Envoy, who will give us a stamp?"

"This is the mark of the Divine Envoy." A Hai quickly raised his hand, revealing a new floral pattern on the inside of his forearm.

Huang Mao quickly turned his hand over to look, his was an eye pattern. Then he saw Xu Huo with empty arms and slapped his thigh, "Oh no! The first stage brainwashing worked!"

In fact, there were quite a few players who weren’t "stamped," but previously someone had tried to go to the Holy Land directly without going through the Satellite City. Of course, they couldn’t enter the temple, so they had to get the Divine Envoy’s mark from the Satellite City Temple.

"I’ll ask around to see what patterns others have." Huang Mao glanced around and then walked away.

"You should wipe your eyes." A Hai offered a handkerchief, but Xu Huo didn’t take it, saying instead: "This blood won’t clean off anytime soon."

Before coming here, he had been heavily injured, his Spiritual World hadn’t fully recovered, and he had almost crashed in the Inquiry Hall from too much information earlier. Even now, his head ached fiercely, and until the influence of Psychic Power was entirely dispelled, his eyes wouldn’t return to normal.

In fact, his vision was still blurry, like covered by a layer of fog.

A Hai mistakenly thought he was angry about his suspicion, "I’m really sorry about earlier. Even though you’re hurt, you were willing to take me to Purple Lake City, but I... I’ve only seen a few people on TV who’ve been through the temple, and I don’t know if everyone is like that. It’s my fault, please don’t be mad."

"You’re not the only one who thinks that way." Xu Huo said faintly, "When you came out, did you notice the way the other believers looked at me? That indicates my situation is rare for them too."

A Hai was speechless for a moment, feeling that no words were suitable, and finally asked: "So are you a good person or a bad person?"

"What do you think?" Xu Huo asked in return.

"In the days I’ve known you, you haven’t done anything bad. But about the past, I don’t know." A Hai answered cautiously.

"The past, what does it have to do with you?" Xu Huo took a sip of Potion, then said, "I can’t speak for others, but I think I’m a good person."

"Oh." A Hai replied softly. At this moment, Huang Mao returned, bringing two companions with him. One was marked, and the other, like Xu Huo, made the trip in vain.

"I have to go in again, are you coming?" the player asked.