The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

"So, in the years when the Lord of Glory sat on the throne, the supreme law of all the heavens and worlds was duality?" To make it easier for the other party to understand his question, the believer tried to choose some easy-to-understand words to organize her language. "In the simplest terms, it means that some people are born good and some are born evil. This has nothing to do with their later experiences, their thoughts, their actions, or their behavior. The only thing that determines good and evil is their birth?"

“That’s right. Under the law of binary opposition, the origin of all things corresponds to their camp. The only difference is that they are good people who follow the rules, good-natured people who are too nice, and good people who don’t follow the rules, as well as,” Miss 77 nodded in reply, “bad people who follow the rules, bad people who are too nice, and bad people who don’t follow the rules.”

"Has anyone stood in the middle?" the believer tried to guess.

"No, there is no neutrality. In the world of the Lord of Light, there is no neutrality, no gray area, only black and white, good and evil. Good people do good, and evil people do evil. It is clear at a glance."

The believer pondered for a moment, then unconsciously snapped her fingers and asserted, "That's not right."

"Hmm?" Number 77 made a slight nasal sound, seemingly unsurprised by his reaction.

“He, the Lord of Glory, has set a rule that is not right.” The believer, combining her own flexible moral bottom line, easily discerned the asymmetry in the seemingly fair and just binary opposition rule. “Leaving aside how arrogant it is to determine good and evil camps based on birth, even if he can absolutely and fairly divide the world into good and evil, the latter half of this rule still has ambiguity, which is what I think is unfair.”

Even if rewarding good and punishing evil is a principle that upholds justice and is worthy of praise, the so-called "good people who do not follow the rules" and "evil people who do not follow the rules" are by no means equivalent. The latter is just a synonym for chaos and madness, while the former has a lot of room for maneuver and can even be said to be the most convenient camp. You should know that throughout history, how many injustices have been disguised as good, not to mention that the power to judge good and evil itself is in the hands of the good people.

The believer unconsciously shook her index finger and continued, “Think about it, I was born into a bad family. One day, I was walking down the street when a big, bearded man with a radiant, holy light descended from the sky and pointed at my nose, saying, ‘Boy, you were born sinful and your bones are rotten to the core.’ I asked him why he made such a judgment, and he pointed back at himself and said, ‘Because I know everything.’”

“Very vivid, I mean very lifelike.” Miss No. 77 seemed to have considered her words for a moment. “When I first started as a devil, I was in a similar situation. Apart from Hell and a few other cities that have been officially declared as corrupt by Heaven Mountain, I couldn’t go anywhere, let alone go out to do business.”

"Didn't you ever think of fighting back? If someone jumps in my face and starts babbling on about how I was born sinful and rotten to the core, and that they know it all, even if it's a holy, bearded man, I'd skin a lynx alive!"

"Of course they fought! A bloody war! The White-haired Ones of Heaven and the Demons of Hell, two fire-born forces from the same source, fought for tens of thousands of years at the junction of the two-dimensional passage, until even the brains of dogs were spilled. In the end, it indirectly reinforced the supreme law of the binary opposition of good and evil, as determined by the Lord of Light. Later, both sides realized that neither side would benefit from continuing to fight, so they pulled in a lower world called Thranheim to wage a proxy war. The big shots sat on the chessboard, each supporting a native species, agreeing on the rules of the game, and whoever was the most powerful would be obeyed. After that, Heaven and Hell temporarily calmed down. But all of this happened before I went to Hell."

"I vaguely heard you mention that you came from humble beginnings, from the lowest rungs of society, so you weren't born a devil." The believer recalled the earlier words and asked curiously, "So, it means that devils can be created later in life?"

“Of course, the oldest transformation ritual comes from the bloodline erosion of the Demon Lord. As the source of all sources, the first generation of Fire Children created by the ancient Creator, their bloodline is an irresistible gift to any species, but also a poison. Moreover, some of them, or some of their offspring, are keen to spread their bloodline throughout all known multiverses. In fact, these immortal monsters have spent a lot of time practicing this without any restraint. As a result, their non-pure-blooded offspring are now scattered all over the world, beyond any trace.” Number 77 pondered for a moment and chose a more subtle way to reply. The facts she described were obviously not as elegant as her wording, so much so that at the end, she coughed to indicate that the other party should not misunderstand. “Uh, my situation is rather special.”

"If it's a rather private topic, then please forgive my intrusion." The believer wisely chose to change the subject.

"Wait, it's not what you think. I mean, there are actually quite a few lower-level demon conversion rituals. Although they call themselves demons, they have no blood connection with the original batch of children of fire. This also results in their limited lifespan and the fact that they can only do some minor tasks. So nowadays, the so-called 'devil' is more of a 'profession' than a race. In short, it's a combination of both."

“Oh, for example, those sheep-headed guys just now. When I got back, they were talking about ideals, life, and the future with a client who also looked strange. They even called themselves merchants who sell dreams.” Xin Nu’s lips twitched. Recalling the scene just now, he could only nod and comment, “Their business skills are too professional.”

"Actually, they're alright. These little guys are descendants of Grand Duke Agares, one of the seventy-two demon gods of Hell. Although their lineage is somewhat thin, they are still considered legitimate members of the regular army, much better than someone like me who joined halfway through," Number 77 corrected his assessment.

"But their branch numbers are ridiculously long, stretching for eighteen blocks. Your number 77 is clearly much higher up than theirs, isn't it? How can you still claim to be a latecomer?"

"I'm a self-taught person, and I got this number 77 through connections."

"What?"

Do you remember that friend I told you about who also came from humble beginnings but later became an extraordinary person?

"The one that's all sparks and lightning?"

“Yes.” Number 77 nodded. “Although I haven’t had any close contact with him since I came here, over the years, through visiting various lower worlds, I have pieced together some of the truth about why I ended up here.”

"Emmmmmm, are you sure you need to tell this to an outsider like me? We've only known each other for half an hour." The woman's unspoken message was a reminder that the other party's trust in him was a little too much. This really didn't seem like the relationship between a cold-blooded, devilish businessman and a customer waiting to be slaughtered. Instead, it was more like the big sister next door whispering and discussing something with the little devil next door.

"Consider this a return gift for the Coke you bought me. Besides, you seemed to have made a somewhat impolite misunderstanding just now. To make things smoother in the future, I think it's best to clarify some things as soon as possible." Number 77 gave him a disdainful look, then explained, "You can think of it this way—I used to work as a bodyguard for an old boss. Besides protecting him from being bothered by Xiao Xiao, I would occasionally do some dirty work for him. The rest of the time, I could enjoy my life without any worries. Until one day, I met the guy I just mentioned during a holiday trip and got involved in his messy affairs. Later, he completed his revenge, ascended to immortality, and left behind a mess. As the price for his ascension, all the worlds below the outermost layer where the Child of Fire lived, especially those beings like my old boss, became his food. He devoured everything."

"Excuse me." The believer gestured to stop the other's rambling narration, feeling a chill run down her spine. She rubbed her temples as if in phantom pain. "There's a paradox here. I'll just believe you for now—in the distant past, there once existed a terrifying monster that devoured all the worlds below it when it ascended to immortality. So why are you still alive, as a contemporary? Even if you didn't die, shouldn't you be in its stomach?"

"So, what follows is my conjecture. I can guarantee the authenticity of the previous part 100%, but of course, if you young people don't believe me, that's fine with me. The rest is some verified information that I've collected among the Fire Children over the years." Number 77 waved her hand to indicate that he shouldn't be impatient. Clearly, she was pleased that she had piqued his curiosity.

"Well, I'll reserve my opinion on the previous part for now. Please continue." Because the secrets involved in the conversation were too vast, the woman unconsciously used honorifics during the conversation to show that he was equally serious.

"Firstly, His ascension destroyed the binary opposition law that the Lord of Light had promoted for tens of thousands of years at its root, and the chaos and disorder that represented the gray area also resurfaced. As its most far-reaching impact, the proxy forces supported by the Heavenly Mountain faction in the world of Thranheim were almost overthrown by the Hell faction."

"Secondly, despite the grand scale of the ascension ceremony, in which all of the outer realms were sacrificed, the Children of Fire did not immediately find the new god. In fact, when they arrived at the outer realms, they found the lower realms functioning normally."

"This is too illogical, unless He ate it, vomited it up, and then ran away." The believer rolled her eyes, barely suppressing the turmoil in her heart.

"Actually, that's what I think too," Number 77 replied, his lips twitching, seemingly also imagining that scene.

"awesome."

"This is not without basis. Although all the factors at the time seemed to be encouraging Him to become an evil god who would destroy the outer world, I have known Him for a long time and I know what kind of person He is. If it was under those circumstances, when He realized what He had swallowed to successfully ascend to immortality, if He still remembered her, then the subsequent restart of the lower realm and His disappearance would be reasonable."

After she finished speaking, Number 77 sighed sadly, as if recalling a distant past, the details of which were so poignant that she no longer wanted to bring it up and just wanted to put the matter aside as soon as possible.

"Later, years passed, and the world of the Fire Children remained the same. Except that the collapse of dualism and the rise of chaos brought the proxy war between Heaven and Hell to a near balance, which forced the Lord of Radiance to merge his crown into the royal bloodline of the Earth Children in order to regain the absolute advantage of the Heaven Mountain lineage. However, compared with what happened on the outside later, these were just minor episodes."

"Hmm, what happened outside?"

The believer was delighted to have unraveled the ancient secrets of the Thrandheimer's royal coronation, the greatest gain he had received so far from the devilish Miss No. 77. Both Joshua's and Salome Reinhardt's accounts had absolute limitations. As the saying goes, those involved are often confused, while bystanders see things clearly. Dealing with these devils outside the game actually helped him clarify the cause and effect. This did not affect his enthusiasm for continuing his history lessons, even though he was worried that listening to too much might prevent him from living a normal life in 2092. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that his worldview was being reshaped. However, his worldview had already been reshaped since he first stumbled into the depths of the Electronic Sea. Dealing with these devils was more like a revelation. Now it seemed that the so-called dark side of the Electronic Sea was more like breaking down the barriers between many lower realms, as the devilish Miss had said. In short, the Electronic Sea in 2092 was a Pandora's box that should never have been opened.

In short, we've come this far, and we've already come this far, so who cares about these things now?

"Later, the Lord of Glory was killed on the spot at his own wedding. As for who did it, I think you can guess. In short, the era of binary opposition came to a complete end. The upper and lower realms ushered in the current era where everything is illusory and everything is permissible. Equivalent exchange has become the new supreme law. The devils have become prosperous, and the angels have thousands of believers. No one in the world judges good and evil based on birth anymore. Everything is judged by the heart and actions."

“A good story. I like the ending.” The believer smiled and gently applauded the storyteller, sincerely praising him, “Judging good and evil by what one does is much more reliable than judging good and evil by what one is born.”

"But some people still believe that the dualistic view of the Lord of Light is more suitable for this world. At least He has put shackles on evil, leaving it nowhere to hide, and even preventing it from happening in the first place. But now, it is a result-oriented view based on established facts. They believe that this has indirectly condoned the growth of evil. However, the supreme law is there, and not many people care about these opinions anymore."

After telling her story, No. 77 paused to refill her Coke, sipping it with a cheerful smile. Telling the story of her deceased friend seemed to have put her in a good mood.

"As the saying goes, your position determines your perspective, and I think you devils definitely prefer the current system."

"That's natural."

"So, did your friend ever tell you why you're here?" The believer recalled a topic that had been overlooked and brought it up again, as he was keen to see things through.

"Since His ascension, the lower realms of today have deviated somewhat from the ones I knew in the past. Some worlds have simply vanished, and some people have either disappeared or changed. My current identity can be considered a kind of deviation, but the fact that I've been mistakenly placed in the body of a demon can only be attributed to the karma between that guy and me. Of course, the most tragic one is the world of Thranheim, which was turned into a proxy battlefield. After the fall of the Lord of Light, it became a closed black box, and demons at our level have no way of knowing what's happening inside. Anyway, let's not talk about that. I've been inexplicably talkative today, probably because I've met a rare client with no heinous intentions. What I sense here is—you seem to have really wandered into this place by mistake because you were hungry and looking for a place to have breakfast."

"Yes, I was on my way to breakfast when I inexplicably turned into the business hall of those Agares' offspring, and then I came to your place."

The woman wanted to swear whenever this topic was mentioned, but considering that she had unexpectedly met a devilish lady with whom she could get along, heard so many historical stories about important figures, and even resolved many doubts, her mood had turned from gloomy to sunny.

Number 77 sat back in her designated seat, rubbed her hands together, and put on a somewhat awkward, business-like smile, seemingly getting into the swing of things. "So, where were we? Oh right, you don't want to reveal your name. I understand your concerns. It's understandable to have such a reaction when dealing with people like us for the first time. However, I advise you to let go of this unnecessary psychological burden as soon as possible. First, strictly speaking, you will most likely become my 666th and also my first successful customer. We can help each other and get what we need. Second, when we sign the contract, we must both use our real names, otherwise the contract will not be valid. In short, you can rest assured, after all, I'm not some kind of devil."

“Sure, as long as you don’t cheat me on the terms, I don’t mind doing business with you again. Anyway, you know I don’t have any big ambitions.” The believer also showed a rare smile. The experiences on this “journey away from home” were too bumpy and arduous, making him feel distressed and tearful. In addition, this No. 77 in front of him always gave him a reliable and friendly feeling, which made him feel at ease. So his attitude changed from cautious and resistant to easygoing and enthusiastic. “Besides, I often travel to various realms in the lower world. I inevitably encounter times when I am short of money, and occasionally I will have some unusable gains. Maybe we can cooperate for a long time after this.”

"No problem. Our shop also handles the appraisal and recycling of all kinds of rare items. Let me reintroduce myself. I am Aozaki Aoko, Executive Officer Nobu077. May I ask your name?"

“Alright, my name is Nobume Hearn, and I come from the world of Thranheim.”

Snapped!

Chapter 101 After all, I'm not some kind of demon (Part 2)

Snapped!

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Mr. Hearn had lost count of how many times he had fallen silent for no apparent reason today. This scene reminded him of the ghost stories in his high school classrooms—the classrooms would be bustling with activity, and the students would chat happily until, at a certain point, they would suddenly fall into complete silence for no apparent reason.

In a long silence, he stared at the old-fashioned fountain pen that, after piercing the parchment, still hadn't lost its momentum as it plunged into the aged mahogany tabletop, ultimately perishing in the process, pondering what it would be like if that thing were stuck into a living person's major artery.

It was too terrifying. He ordered himself to stop these wicked imaginings and gave the devilish lady, who had just finished introducing herself, a concerned look.

Show concern for the hand holding the pen.

"Um," he tried to ask, "are you alright?"

Miss Devil raised her head and looked him over again for a moment with a normal expression. She didn't say anything immediately, but after she looked away, her expression became inexplicably gentle and sentimental, and her eyes were filled with humanistic concern for the vulnerable.

She casually pulled out the broken and deformed fountain pen, then bent down to open a drawer and rummaged through it, muttering inexplicably about Mr. Hern's personal life, such as where he lived, how many people were in his family, whether his parents were alive, his current relationship status, his education, and so on.

The first few sentences were easily dismissed by Mr. Hearn's basic linguistic skills, which allowed him to spout nonsense, but the last sentence almost made him lose his composure.

"Go home and talk to your parents about changing the name," Miss Devil said, still rummaging through the drawers, seemingly still searching for her target.

"Huh?" The believer tilted her head, completely bewildered, as if several question marks were floating above her head. The topic was jumping around too much, making it a little hard for her to keep up.

"Having this name will make your life unhappy."

Miss Devil seemed to have given up the search and casually stuffed the drawer back in. She looked up, her eyes filled with pity and sorrow, and spoke in a serious and solemn tone.

Is it really that bad?

"Lost his father before birth, lost his mother in childhood, lost his wife in adolescence, and was destined to be a lonely star in his youth."

"Don't say that, I'm a little scared."

Mr. Hearn felt a chill run down his spine from the devil's mystical tone and compassionate gaze. This situation had nothing to do with science; it belonged to the realm of metaphysics, where words could become law. The fact that it was a devil talking made it even more unsettling and caused him to break out in a cold sweat.

"Stop, stop, stop. I'll listen to you. I'll go home this time and talk to my family about changing my name."

The believer decided to temporarily end the conversation, even if the other party was genuinely offering a well-intentioned reminder. He pulled a clean handkerchief from a small subspace rift and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Then, noticing that the other person was watching him take the things, his eyes narrowed subtly.

The observant woman, adept at sensing the atmosphere, naturally did not overlook this detail. She made a slight guess at the other party's intentions, and then, with the good intention of easing the atmosphere, opened the subspace rift to about the size of a window, directly facing the table where the two were sitting, and asked with a smile.

Do you need a new pen?

Inside the subspace rift, there were about twenty old-fashioned and finely crafted fountain pens, his collection from his past visits to antique shops, a niche hobby belonging to 2092.

"Thank you."

Miss Devil effortlessly reached into the subspace and pulled out a dark red fountain pen. She barely glanced at the pens, her gaze fixed on Mr. Hearn's face the entire time, making him quite embarrassed.

"I'm glad you like it." With the thought that she had said something wrong and caused the other person to lose their beloved pen, Xin Nu felt that being able to make amends for the loss appropriately was a positive step in the process.

"Speaking of which, there's something else I just forgot to mention." Miss Devil took out an ink bottle and, while filling her newly acquired fountain pen with ink, asked casually, "You just killed one of Agares' bloodline offspring, didn't you?"

"Yes, if you mean that sheep-headed guy who tricked me into coming here." The believer nodded, not denying anything.

Not to mention that he had already shown the devil the black goat's head that was about to be swallowed by Shi Yuan when he came back in such a hurry, even if he hadn't given himself away, he was too lazy to lie about the death of such a treacherous commoner who wanted to kill him. So what if the old ancestor on the other side came to his door because of this? He had already done it. If they could talk, they could sit down and talk. If they couldn't talk, they would continue to cut.

Perhaps it was his uprightness that touched the devil on the other side, because in his next words, the other side did not show any hostility. Instead, as always, he followed the devil's principle of equivalent exchange and put forward constructive suggestions.

"Please don't misunderstand, I have no intention of making a fuss over the death of a little guy who dumped bad orders on me. I'm just reminding you as a matter of industry practice that it's best to put up something of equal value as collateral to avoid negative impacts on future transactions due to credit issues."

Equivalent items?

The believer recalled the ram-headed demon who had died on his blade, then quickly shook his head and stopped investigating. He told the other party, with a wry smile, that he was not a professional and lacked the keen business acumen to appraise prices in accordance with market conditions. He did not know the true value of the ram-headed demon, let alone offer any equivalent compensation.

"Wait a minute." The moment the believer finished speaking, a sudden inspiration struck her. She snapped her fingers and asked, "I think I have a way. Didn't you just say that you can recycle rare items here? That means you can actually collect quite a lot of things, not just common valuable items?"

"Of course, Hell still uses the soul-based system. As long as you can provide something of equal value to his soul, even currency will do." The Devil gave him the green light.

"It's too late. I've already disposed of that guy's soul. But thankfully, I can convert his soul into time currency and return it to you. Can you collect time?"

The believer raised her right hand, and a burst of azure-colored flame suddenly appeared in her palm. Within the flame, a small, disc-shaped object was being refined. After a moment, a silver pocket watch wreathed in azure flames appeared in her hand, with silver snakes, one end of the other, forming the outline of the pocket watch.

The woman deftly flicked open the watch cover, and the silver hands remained inexplicably still. In short, this watch was not meant for telling time at all.

Even a pocket watch is merely a form; its essence stems from the individual's power over time and falls under the category of time management.

"Are you ready on your end?" the believer asked, snapping out of her daze, her gaze shifting from her right hand back to the demon sitting opposite her.

But in that instant of turning around, what came into view was an equally dazzling azure radiance.

It was not in the form of flames, but rather a glow of the same color.

In the next few seconds, under Mr. Hearn's silent watchful eye, this devilish lady produced a pale blue pocket watch with a speed that seemed to him no less skillful. It was similar in appearance but served the same purpose.

A feeling akin to meeting a kindred spirit in a foreign land suddenly overwhelmed Mr. Hearn, so much so that he couldn't help but applaud her after she stopped.

"Are you ready? I'll transfer the money to you."

As he finished speaking, the pocket watch in Mr. Hearn's hand showed an illusory hand, which turned counterclockwise about 17 times. He was using a 100-digit range, with one revolution representing 100 years. In other words, this goat-headed devil, once weighed, could be sold for about 1700 years. In any material plane in the lower realm, it would definitely be a big shot.

In contrast, the pocket watch in the devil's hand turned seventeen times counterclockwise.

After everything settled down, the two smiled at each other and simultaneously reached out to shake hands.

"Happy Trading."

"Happy Trading."

The first deal concluded smoothly in such an understated manner.

Mr. Hearn was satisfied with the result. In terms of the outcome, he had neither gained nor lost anything. The account he handed over was an unexpected outcome.

Now, it has been some time since he got lost and arrived here, and the hunger in his stomach has begun to lessen as it gets past midnight.

He stood up and expressed to the lady of the 77th business hall that he had a very pleasant day and wished to see her again sometime. She warmly and politely escorted him to the door of the small, old bookstore. This time, the corridor outside the door was just as it had been before, and at the end of the corridor, one could see the coastal scenery outside Silver City.

It's time to go back. The mess in Thranheim hasn't been cleaned up yet, and he needs to find his way home.

The believer stood at the door, thinking to herself, her heart filled with the melancholy of a stranger.

"KnockKnock"

A warm breath brushed past him from behind, tickling his ears and bringing with it two words that sounded completely incomprehensible to others.