Night World Players

Chapter 69 Gray's Choice
The shining lights were not as hot and dazzling as Gray had imagined.

Instead, it is clear and bright, with a slight warmth.

In the clear firelight, Gray felt that the severe coldness that had been shrouding the depths of her soul was slightly dispelled.

"Brother Luster..."

"Don't you want to kill me?"

She uttered a silent murmur.

"Why would I want to kill you?"

The boy's whispers were heard in the firelight.

"Because... I have brought disaster to this world and to everyone around me."

"Only by killing me can these disasters stop."

"Moreover, this is also a way to pay back the lives of the old mayor, the uncles and aunts in Dongshui Town, and the many people I killed..."

There was a slight tremor in Gray's voice.

Evil monsters should be killed by the messengers of justice.

This was a law that she had heard from fairy tales, bards' stories, and many other places, and it had been imprinted in her mind over and over again.

And in the past Dongshui Town, in those countless May 5ths that repeated over and over again...

The shore guards who hunted her down verified this law, which seemed like the truth of the world, time and time again.

It seems like an irresistible fate.

"So, do you think that as long as you die, you can atone for the sins of those who have passed away?"

"If that's the case, it's a really arrogant and mean idea."

"So arrogant that he actually thought that death... was the most severe punishment for himself."

For some reason, there was a hint of coldness in Rast's voice, no longer as gentle as before.

"Death, is that an arrogant thought?"

There was a hint of confusion and bewilderment in Gray's voice.

"of course."

Luster's words sounded faintly.

"You have within you a power that is powerful enough to interfere with time and rewrite fate."

"It's just that you in the past knew nothing about this, and could only mobilize it unconsciously at the moment of emotional breakdown."

"It is precisely because of this great power that you have been able to survive disaster after disaster and live to this day without any injury."

"But fate's gift is fair, and the price has already been secretly marked."

"The disasters and pollution that befell you time and time again, taking away your home and the lives of those around you, and the spying and coveting of the evil gods, are the price of this power."

"So...Gray, do you understand?"

"From the beginning to the end, what you carry on your shoulders is not just your own fate... but the weight of the fate of thousands of others."

The boy's words became slightly more mellow.

"I was once in a similar situation to you, going crazy and wanting to die, wanting to destroy myself."

“But then I understood.”

"Trying to end everything with death is the simplest, but also the most tasteless and selfish approach."

"Carrying the weight of other people's lives on your shoulders...is always much more difficult than simply seeking death."

Last opened the cylinder of his revolver and loaded an ordinary brass bullet into it.

Then he closed the cylinder and listened to the click of a bullet being loaded into the gun.

"To be honest, I did have the intention to kill you, after I realized that the power of time and fate in you was uncontrollable."

"Even if you have no subjective ill intentions, the power you possess is too dangerous...Sacrificing an innocent person in the subjective sense in exchange for the safety of thousands of other innocent people is a decision that the shore guards should make when necessary."

"But, in you, I see some possibilities."

Luster paused for a moment.

"Those pollution and disasters do not pose any threat to you. On the contrary, under the influence of the power called "fate" in you, these pollution and disasters may even become your help."

"You could have just ignored all of this and pretended nothing had happened. After the destruction of Frozen Water Town, you continued to wander to the next place."

"But you still rejected it all again and again."

"You trapped yourself in the illusion of the past, but also confined the pollution of the "Red Moon" here, and never let it leak out to harm more gathering places."

"This is the choice you make to follow your inner voice and protect strangers you have never met."

"Gray, do you remember my answer to you when you asked me if I could become a shore keeper?"

Gray was stunned for a moment, then she recalled.

"Brother Rast, you didn't give me an answer at that time."

"You told me not to say these words until I truly understood what the shore watchers represented."

"That's right." Rast nodded slightly.

"But now, in you, I see possibilities."

"It's not just to keep myself alive, but to protect others... the possibility of becoming a shore guardian."

"So, I'm willing to give you a chance."

"An opportunity to choose your own future by your own will."

The boy threw it lightly with his left hand.

Gray reached out her hand subconsciously, and the next moment, she felt her palm sink.

The revolver loaded with live bullets fell silently into Gray's hands.

Gray looked up subconsciously and met Luster's dark eyes.

"Or continue to deceive yourself and indulge in the fantasy of Frozen Water Town."

"Or maybe you can regard yourself as an inherently evil being, like in the stories in the books, and kill yourself in the name of imaginary justice, and be free from all worries once and for all."

"Or, choose the most difficult path."

"Admit the sins you have committed, and also admit your own weakness and frailty...carry the weight of the lives and souls of those innocent people who have passed away because of you, and walk towards an unforeseeable future where the end may be death."

"It all depends on your choice."

The revolver in his hand was extremely heavy, and the gun body shone with a luster like an iron moon.

Gray looked at the revolver, struggle and confusion flashing in her eyes.

My own...choice?
It was clearly midnight, but the light in the distant direction suddenly became bright, piercing the gloomy sky.

The light is flowing.

The light is converging.

Like the morning star, the fierce and clear light illuminates the long night of darkness, stirring up dazzling whirlpools in the night sky.

Even the twisting and wriggling red moon was eclipsed by the rushing light.

The light was so dazzling, but it was like a meteor that penetrated the sky, brilliant yet fleeting.

In that fleeting dazzling light, Gray suddenly remembered something.

Because it has been repeated too many times, the memory has been subconsciously forgotten by myself.

He was a shore keeper named Foden, the first shore keeper she had ever met. He looked like a sloppy old man.

He was not as smart and capable as the later shore guards, with clear division of labor... Instead, he looked a little weak, and even had a hint of uneasiness and fear in his eyes.

His attitude towards the residents of Dongshui Town was also different from that of the people guarding the shore later.

It wasn't an interrogation or questioning with a clear goal and no nonsense... it was just a simple chat, and he even used his own superpowers to fold some small toys for the children of the mayor's family.

After the blood moon appeared and the uncle named Ford did not kill Grey after noticing her abnormality, he did not kill her.

Foden merely touched her head.

Then, he turned around and controlled his not-so-mighty-looking metal weapons that were pieced together using "origami magic", walked into the bloody fog, and never came back.

Therefore, even if Gray forgot her memories of the past cycles in the later cycles...but in her subconscious, she still retained a fondness and concern for the Shore Watchers organization.

It is precisely because of this favorable impression towards the shore guard organization that she tries to contact those foreign shore guards again and again in the cycle.

Then, in the process of being hunted down again and again, he fell into the cold and dead despair again.

until--

Rast's appearance.

The feeling he gave to Gray was the same as that of Uncle Foden.

They are not the ones who are chasing Grey. They are clearly shore guards, but they seem to be just playing this role. They are outsiders who will do anything to leave Dongshui Town.

Rather, it is truly as the name of "Shore Guardian" suggests.

It's not about "killing", it's about "protecting" something.

So, at this moment.

In the radiance that shines like the morning star.

There was no more confusion or hesitation in the girl's bright green eyes.

Gray made a decision.

For the first time since she was born, she made a decision based on her own will instead of drifting with the tide of fate.

Click.

Click.

Around Gray, the mottled time slowly peeled off, shattered, and fell like wall paint.

……

PS: There was one chapter missing yesterday, so I will make up for it today.

(End of this chapter)