Heartbreaker

Chapter 108 The Declaration of Liberty

Douglas had no idea what he had done wrong seven years earlier when Wash Polu was shaking with anger and questioning himself aloud, clutching the transcript in his hand.At that time, the other party still had the whip marks of punishing monks on his back, and the unkempt Vash Polu became an annoying existence in the monastery.

Like a slow-growing sin in the shadows.

"You said you would show my article to your advisor." Vash's eyes were bloodshot, and the corners of his mouth drooped like he was about to cry. "Now, what is this thing, Douglas?"

Douglas was completely taken aback by the opponent's explosive|powder barrel-like temper.The radiant Vash is his friend, and the unruly Vash is his friend, but what about this crazy, spitting and dirty monk?

He hardly knew "Wash Polu."

Douglas tried his best to keep calm under his friend's angry eyes, "As agreed, I will hand over your thoughts to my mentor, Bishop Baldwin."

"Bishop..." Wash was in a daze when he heard the name, and tremblingly said, "Mr. Baldwin...you became his student?"

"That's right, a real student."

The dirty monk sat on the ground with empty eyes, "Then I should congratulate you..."

"No, Vash," said Douglas, watching him. "Let's talk about your article, Vash. What's the matter with you?"

"This is not my experience at all!" Talking about his crystallization of thoughts, Wash Polu is crazy and cute, "Someone changed it in a mess, superficial and exaggerated, and even put my name on it! Don't tell me You did it, Douglas!"

"I did it," said Douglas, stinging from exhaustion and ennui, "and it was praised by Baldwin's mentor. Wash, the bishop said, as long as you keep at it and write a few articles like this in a row, it's very easy." Soon you will be promoted to monk."

Vash said angrily, "I don't!"

Douglas stared at his friend, "Don't you want to be personally guided by Bishop Baldwin to become an excellent priest or monk?"

"If you can become a monk or a priest with such a boring thing, and still feel complacent and think that you are pretty good, then you are just a bunch of idiots!" Vash Polu was furious, "Including you!"

"Don't talk too impulsively, Wash." Douglas said, "I used to have this idea too, but then I found that there are not as many idiots in the world as we think. Everyone has his own aspirations, just because of different positions and needs. , There is a difference between choice and pursuit. Just like you, your ambition is to write great thoughts. For many people, they want a higher status, more wealth, and even supreme power... "

Wash Polu said, "If you want to tell me such disgusting things, please go back. I don't have your friend!"

That last sentence seemed to stab a thorn in Douglas' heart.The young monk immediately raised his voice, "Vash, you are unreasonable. Without me as a friend? No matter what happens, I have never said such a thing to you!"

Wash said angrily, "Isn't it, Douglas? When I approached you at first, I just thought you were different from those stalkers! You have your own thinking, a backbone that won't be frustrated, and a strong will! So I respect you, love you, and admire you!"

"But now you have changed, and I don't even know you anymore!" Vash Polu stood up abruptly, his dark pupils staring at the friar who turned green and white in front of him, "Don't think that I was a monk in the monastery. I don’t know anything when I try to become a monk. Douglas, dear friend, I have been paying attention to you. I see that you have written one article after another with superficial thoughts, which are praised by those stupid priests. Haha, really Ridiculous, I could have written those thoughts when I was ten years old! And you have received honors and praises for them, made your way to the top, and even became a student of Bishop Baldwin!"

"That's what I deserve." Douglas said, looking at his friend emotionlessly, "I don't know what you took me for at first, but I can tell you definitely what 'truth', 'Dignity' has no interest. Also thinks those things you're after are worthless."

If it was a few months ago, maybe he would not refute his friend so categorically.Vash has had enough of the taunts and sarcasm of others, so why would he goad him on purpose?

But since that day, when Baldwin led him into that secret place, the boy's heart seemed to be swimming in the temple in the clouds.Douglas once thought that he was a dull and boring person, but after seeing "that creature" behind the glass curtain wall, he couldn't help but rushed forward, his eyes widened, and there was a rare longing in his eyes.

an undead.

"Actually, we have been secretly studying the creature 'undead' since a few years ago." Baldwin told him, "It is said in ancient books that undead have eternal life, healing ability and powerful attack power. If we can study them thoroughly , may change the course of history, Douglas."

Since then, Douglas has made up his mind that he must become a student of Bishop Baldwin, have a higher status in the church, and get permission to participate in this secret research.

He racked his brains, and for the first time he took his record seriously, like treating a few stepping stones that can make him rise step by step.As for the articles he has written, he has never dismissed them, even though they are regarded as the supreme words by others.

Anyway, it's just a "trading item" and doesn't have much value.

He understood clearly in his heart.But today, facing the questioning and contempt of his friends, he felt a burning anger in his heart, which was hard to contain.

For the first time, he said something stupid that shouldn't have been said and was soaked in too many emotions.

Wash Polu was clearly offended by his last words, "You say what I'm after is worthless?!"

"Isn't it? Things that only bring you pain and fatigue, what's their value?" Douglas looked calm, but his heart seemed to be filled with waves.When he is angry, he is not like many people who are confused and ugly.The angrier he was, the clearer his thinking was, and the meaner his words were, hitting the nail on the head.

"Don't tell me what kind of soul satisfaction you got from those thoughts that no one cares about. It's all your self-deceiving fantasy. If you are really satisfied, will you live like you are now complaining about others? The former monk You are the only one among them who is still standing still, you cannot get the approval of everyone, you cannot get the evaluation of others, you can only wait so humblely for me to read it alone!"

"Why don't you dare to admit it, Wash. Admit that you look so sad and lonely, that you are jealous of me being a student of Bishop Baldwin, and that what you pursue is worthless in the eyes of most people!"

"You can't blame anyone for the way you are now—anyone who understands you or doesn't understand you can only blame yourself!"

At that time, Douglas clearly saw that the hard barriers under his friend's eyes were disintegrating layer by layer, but he just couldn't control himself and persistently used the spikes to accelerate the peeling off of the barriers.

"You said that most people are stupid, haven't you thought about it——you are just a fool in the eyes of others?"

Whoa!

The sound of paper tearing woke him up, and Douglas was dazed. He saw Wash Polu take out a stack of messy manuscripts from his arms with trembling hands, and tore them into pieces in front of him.

"This is what I wanted you to see..."

The other party tore up the manuscript numbly, and choked up with anger and sadness, "It's just some self-deceiving fantasies... worthless!"

The trial monk with cloudy eyes tore several blank papers into shreds one after another.

"I admit that I am really jealous of you!" Vash roared in grief, "Because I was once like you, being sought after by everyone's praise and applause! Now I can see clearly, but I am still Extravagantly expect the approval of you priests and monks!"

"Yes, this is my sin! I am too greedy and impetuous. This pain is the burden on my path of seeking the truth. But you ask me to say, it is wiser to enjoy the emptiness that is sought after, It is more worth sticking to this neglected fulfillment..."

Douglas could not utter a word.

"I can tell you--"

The disheveled monk stood up staggeringly, and left with tears streaming down his face amidst the debris on the ground.

"My answer is always the latter!"

****

Vash, I'm sorry.For so many years, I have always regretted it.

It never occurred to me that your thoughts were worthless, never.Rather, they are my beloved intellectual crystallizations.I have read every article of yours no less than ten times, and I can recite every paragraph of yours backwards.

It's just that the church will never approve of you, and you will never be changed by it.

And what could I do then?Like a lost dog, secretly pick up the fragments of your thoughts, glue them together piece by piece under the light, analyze and read over and over again just like many years ago.

Since then, I have made up my mind, since this narrow place cannot accommodate you, then I will create a free and broad place for you that only belongs to you.

I waited many years for this.For myself and for you.

But you chose to forget me after all.You remembered many people and many things, but you forgot my name and denied our friendship.

Am I doing something wrong...

"Wash..."

The Chaos Stone behind the white-robed bishop was breathing turbidly, and his tumor-shaped body expanded and contracted.Douglas was bound by spreading tentacles, and his body was covered in sticky blood.

His vision was empty, except for the sad eyeballs on the Chaos Stone that could not stop crying.

"Ariel, what's the matter, teacher?"

Several white-robed monks hid in the corner of the secret room, looking at the appearance of their mentor tremblingly through the solid glass wall.

Elio poked his head stiffly with the tip of his pen.The Chaos Stone undulated its bloated tumor like breathing. Even after witnessing this terrifying scene dozens of times, the young monk still felt almost suffocated.

"I thought you knew. The teacher said he..."

what--! !

A high-pitched cry escaped from the mouth of the white-robed man. Douglas twitched a few times and fell to one side, as if unconscious. A deep bloody hole was stabbed in the back of his heart by the tentacles!

The monks in white robes turned pale with fright, seeing the sarcoid suddenly rising from the ground and rolling towards the door like a chariot!

"teacher!"

Several monks screamed, and ran out from behind the glass wall, following the traces of the sarcoma.Elio frowned and looked at the bloody marks on the ground, grabbed the others, and said in a deep voice, "Go and see the fainted teacher, I will follow the Chaos Stone."

He is the most senior of this group of monks, and no one refuted his words.Elio walked out the door along the bloodstains, saw the dark red line meandering to the corner of the maze, and then there was a strange noise.

click... click...

The white-robed monk swallowed nervously, thinking that the sound was like the chewing sound of a ferocious beast.He held his breath, moved his toes to the corner, and poked his head out——

Immediately he saw the most terrifying scene in his life!

"Crack - click - Gudong..."

The bright red Chaos Stone waved densely packed tentacles, held up all kinds of broken limbs, and stood among the corpses on the ground, gobbling it up!Every time it swallows a severed limb, its body will expand a circle.The more limbs it swallows, the bigger the Chaos Stone becomes.

Oddly enough, Elio called out at that moment, "Teacher?!"

Click.

As soon as the Chaos Stone stopped chewing, the side with four eyeballs embedded turned around, staring quietly at Elio.The eyeballs of sorrow above that were weeping faintly, but the difference was that the yellow eyeballs representing joy also began to weep, washing away a large amount of sticky blood clots.

"teacher……"

Elio stepped forward in disbelief, reaching out to touch the pitted surface of the Chaos Stone.When he saw the white-robed monk, the tears in his four eyes suddenly stopped.They stared at him together, calm and steady, as if searching for something.

"Teacher." Elio pretended to be calm, "Did you succeed?"

The four eyes turned leisurely, and the focus was locked on the face of the monk in white robe.

[No tears. 】

【No feelings. 】

[Can be swallowed. 】

In the next second, the blood-red tumor of Chaos Stone opened a huge mouth, roared, and fell towards the top of Elio's head!

****

I put a black hairpin into the lock, and carefully explored the delicate structure inside. Soon the bolt retracted, and the door opened.I walked down the stairs in the dark, and found the glimmer of light in the dark corridor.

"Squirrel Cage" The room of the doctor on duty.

Through the crack of the door, I saw the pig's head stretched, and he was hanging his white robe on the wall.I kicked the door open, and in the astonished eyes of the pig, I smiled and said, "Good night."

"Go meet Satan!"

With a clatter, I threw a piece of steel skin at the top of Doctor Pig's head, causing his head to bleed. "Ow!" The wild boar screamed, twisted its face, rushed towards me with blood-red eyes, and punched me on the bridge of the nose!

I used the steel skin as a shield, and couldn't help sighing after seeing the raised fist marks on the metal surface.These livestock are indeed wild boars that have been transformed into human bodies, and even steel skins can't do anything to them.

"Hey, buddy, come on." I squeezed my knuckles and showed a grin, "Let me see what you can do!"

We flung ourselves together and wrestled endlessly, collapsing the bookcase and table legs, and the white paper, quill pen and ink bottle on the table splashed all over the floor.Doctor Pig pushed my face away with all his strength, for fear that my teeth would crush his pig's head.I punched him three times in the stomach, twisted his shoulder like a steel ingot, and heard the harsh cracking sound pleasantly.

"Game over, man."

I twisted his neck to expose the fragile blood vessels, and cut him with the steel piece hidden in the sleeve, which immediately made his blood spurt.

I laughed, "You deserve it!"

He stared at me with wide eyes, clenched his fists tightly, evidently unwilling to die.Warm blood splashed all over my face.I wiped the blood off my side cheek, and sneered at the pile of corpses, "Lemon Bone Spur is not an upright person, remember that."

I picked up the deformed steel skin, grabbed the low stool with one hand, and kicked the door open.Steel skin stood in front of me, and I stepped on the low stool and blew a long whistle.

The building is extremely quiet tonight, there are no messy breathing and whining sounds, probably they all heard the sound of me fighting with Dr. Wild Boar just now.

It's just that I didn't expect that the winner would be me, a mouse in a cage.

In just a few minutes, the hustle and bustle merged into a stream and spread on all floors.A faint blue flame flashed in the darkness, flowing through every room.There was a snap from the door lock, the sound of the bolt being opened.

"God, what happened to that movement just now?"

"...Could it be the secret to 'get out of here' as mentioned earlier?"

"I thought it was some silly prank!"

"Are we really going to escape? If the doctors find out, they won't let us go..."

Hearing those whispers filled with panic and cowardice, I impatiently picked my ears, and smashed the steel skin to the ground a few times.Fortunately, among the negative crowd, there are always some brave and optimistic guys who dare to bang their heads against the stone wall. I can see their ecstatic eyes and eager hands and feet through the shadows.

Standing in front of the big iron gate, I shouted to the noisy crowd, "If you don't want to attract hordes of wild boars, please be quiet, everyone."

The messy movement still didn't get better. I flicked the steel piece on the head of a fool who was staring at the two eyes and gesticulating at others, which immediately caused the person to scream in pain.

The noise died down quickly.

Before I could breathe a sigh of relief, one person asked, "The mysterious person who secretly told us to leave here before, is that you, sir?"

I raised my eyebrows, "It's me. Don't you think I don't look like me?"

The man said hostilely, "What makes you boast, sir?"

"Why?" I said, "I just killed a pig. Little mice."

People may be dissatisfied with my joking attitude, but in fact they don't know that I just want to mock them.The old man's hoarse voice sounded, "Sir, what we want to know is, do you have a practical plan for taking us out of here?"

"Plan?" I sneered, "Just kidding. There are more than 100 people gathered here. What plan can I have to take so many people out at once?"

This time it was a blast.Those patients, who at first cowered and held their hands in their hands, are now filled with righteous indignation, as if it was a heinous thing that I had no plan to take them out.

"You lied to us!" someone yelled. "You should pay for your bloody trick!"

I sneered, "You guys dare to yell at me, why are you willing to be a mouse when you face pig doctors?"

Someone said patiently, "Sir, what exactly do you want to do. We don't know, please let me know."

"What I want to express is very simple." I said lightly, pointing to the gloomy iron gate, "Although I suggested whether to leave here, I will not be responsible for the safety of any of you when you leave this gate. It is up to you to escape." It's your own choice, if you want to stay here, I won't force you to leave."

"I feel that you are not children anymore, you can be responsible for your own choices—even if you sacrifice your entire life."

Dear friends, if you think that I will speak out and inspire everyone at this moment, you are very wrong.I'm not a hero, I'm not a brave man, I don't have the talent to speak or stir up people, but I'm just a desperado who is not afraid of death and wants to go out for a walk.

"Freedom" must always be fought for with one's own hands, even if one's head is broken and bloody.Those who do not understand this are not qualified to pursue its beauty.

My calm tone aroused the stunned reaction of most people. They twittered together, like a flock of birds pointed at by bows and arrows without knowing it.

"This is crazy!" Someone panicked, "If we go out with this kid in a moment of madness, maybe we will be in bad luck!"

I agreed, "Yeah, maybe the brains have to be knocked out by wild boars."

Someone yelled, "Think about it, guys, are we really going with this reckless guy? He doesn't even have a plan. Maybe this is a ploy to make most of us scapegoats so we can get away with it." Walk."

"This statement is really sexy and charming." I laughed, "Then you stay here and be a needled mouse for the rest of your life."

Someone has already crashed.Judging from their sighing expressions, I guessed that they really pinned their few hopes on me at the beginning, hoping that I could give them an effective oath so that everyone can escape here happily.

Too bad I don't do stupid things like that.Only children like to swear promises.

"Listen." I said calmly amidst the noise of the crowd, "I won't say that you will have freedom at your fingertips when you walk out of this door. I won't say that you will have a new life when you leave the rat cage."

Disputes and noise gradually subsided, tired and desperate faces turned to me, quietly listening to my every word.

"I only know that the road is far away, the future is dangerous, life is fragile, and dreams are short. Now that you have fallen to this place, you must all know what the outside world looks like."

"We never walk on the road of hope." I said indifferently, "We just struggle in the quagmire of despair, that's all."

There was silence.

"Then, now." I put the blood-stained steel skin on my shoulder, looked into their eyes, and paused word by word, "After recognizing this cruel reality, some people still want to leave here and move on ?"

****

At first, there was no sound.

I waited patiently for a quarter of an hour, and in the viscous flow of time, a hand suddenly stretched out—it was a young but thin guy with shining black eyes.

"I choose to leave, sir." He said, "Even if I die on the way to escape, at least I don't regret that I don't even have the courage to take the first step."

There was a moment of silence at his words, and a short while later, there were sporadic raisings of arms again.There are men and women, with the same light shining in their eyes.

The same as Barbara, the same as the disabled three brothers, the same as Popolo.

"We have to leave here too." Those voices became louder and louder, driving away the gloomy sight of the dark night.More and more people raised their hands, like a surging wave, smashing the invisible barrier solidified above the rat cage.

"Even if I die, I want to leave here!"

"That's right! What is death? It's better to die than to live here every day, and it's better to go out and fight!"

"We're leaving!"

"We're leaving!"

"We are not afraid!"

"We never back down!"

……

I don't know who came up with the slogan, and for a while, the experimental subjects in the rat cage raised their arms and announced in unison.Their eyes were full of courage to face death as home, and their frail bodies stood upright, like winter cypresses and pines standing upright in the cold wind.

Amidst the continual uproar, I heard the roar of freedom.

"That's right." I grinned, "If you don't abandon freedom, freedom will not abandon you either."

With a bang, the bolt and chain of the iron door were shattered by the faint blue light.The heavy iron gates are like the wings of a bird, slowly extending to both sides.

The sky is full of stars tonight, and the bright white moonlight falls from the sky, sprinkled on our only way out, sprinkled on everyone who is astonished, like a gurgling spring, guiding us to the distance.

Luo stood outside the door, gathered all the power of the undead, and floated to my side.

"Now, guys." I tossed the steel skin and stomped it under my feet.

"The escape begins."

The author has something to say: the countdown to the end of the fourth volume!