novelraw Chapter 500: His Convictions
Chapter 500: His Convictions
Richard had never been a good man; of that, there was no doubt.
He was the polar opposite of Lu Li—for all of Lu Li’s rationality, Richard was just as mad.
Rationality was Lu Li’s weapon; insanity was Richard’s.
So how would a madman face a trial centered on redemption?
Richard opened the fourth door. A message appeared on the wall: [Your destiny awaits you in the Abyss].
Surprisingly, Richard didn't curse but simply sat down in the chair in silence.
The fourth believer was John Peters. He claimed his brother, Ol Peters, was a ripper who had brutally murdered countless people. He loved his brother and didn't know if he should stop him.
Lu Li, standing beside Richard, already knew the truth.
Richard, inside the trial, wrote, "Go to the police and report your brother." But he didn't pass the note through, instead crumpling it in his hand.
His three previous failures had taught Richard that this fourth trial would not be so simple.At the very least, the answer wasn't lying on the surface.
There was clearly something wrong with John Peters, who sat on the other side of the partition.
Whether by a stroke of luck or something else, Richard had truly caught a glimmer of the truth.
Ordinarily, people aren't inclined to overcomplicate things; events tend to follow a certain logic. But Richard was not like other people. His madness and obsession didn't fully define him. He also possessed an equally mad and obsessive imagination.
[Do not deceive God, for He knows all].
John Peters, sitting on the other side of the partition, took the note. The carved wooden wall prevented them from seeing each other.
"I don't know who you are, a charlatan or a fraud..." After a long silence, John Peters stood and whispered, "But you shouldn't toy with my emotions. My brother Ol and I..."
"Are blood brothers!"
John Peters walked to the side of the confessional, threw open the door, and froze.
The confessional was empty.
"How is this possible..."
With a dark expression, John Peters scanned the cramped confessional, where there was nowhere to hide.
Returning to his seat, he saw a slip of paper fall from the opening in the partition. He picked it up.
[Do you believe now?]
John Peters sat down in silence. "What are you trying to say?"
An unbeliever might still have harbored doubts, but John Peters was a believer—and a madman.
[What do you mean?]
"Don't you already know everything?"
[Your attitude toward God determines His attitude toward you.]
After a moment, John Peters told Richard the truth.
John Peters had met the daughter of Viscount Levais by chance. She had been attacked by a bear as a child, losing part of her face, an eye, and both her legs.
Despite this, John Peters, who possessed the ability to see into people's hearts, was captivated by her pure soul and believed she didn't deserve such a fate. He wanted to become her dark knight, like the hero in the book "The Princess and the Dragon," and take her pain and suffering upon himself. Therefore, John Peters decided to perform a sacrificial ritual to an evil god to restore her appearance and her body.
And sacrifice meant murder.
Lu Li was already aware of this, but John Peters's account filled in some of the details.
"I don't know if you're the God I imagine, but I've told you everything now. What are you going to do?" John Peters asked. It was hard to discern his mood from his voice.
[Are you satisfied with merely protecting someone? And can you truly call that protection?] Richard wrote, his words laced with sarcasm.
"Why do you say that?"
[Even if the girl's body is restored, she'll still be an ordinary person, vulnerable to any danger. Do you think you're protecting her by constantly healing her wounds? You're wrong. True protection is possessing enough power to annihilate anyone who might harm her.]
John Peters froze upon hearing those words. He had never considered that.
Lu Li, too, was lost in thought. As Richard wrote those words, he was agitated, the pen in his hand trembling. If the pen hadn't been indestructible, he would have snapped it.
This meant that what he wrote reflected his own thoughts.
This was what he truly believed.
Richard wanted to obtain the body of the Ancient God for power. If that was for protection... whom did Richard want to protect?
A long-lost relative? A lover?
After a long silence, a hoarse voice asked, "Can you... make me stronger?"
[I cannot tell you my method; no one but me could ever accomplish it... But I believe that you, who can heal others, can also become stronger.]
As Richard wrote the first part of the sentence, he was filled with confidence.
Of course, John Peters possessed such an ability, but he had been unwilling to delve into it. But now, having received guidance from "God"...
"Why are you telling me this?" John Peters asked. This "God" was nothing like the omniscient God of his imagination.
[I am just like you. I want to protect what is precious to me.]
The pen paused in mid-air. Richard had started to write the word "person," but he stopped and left it unfinished.
"You want to protect someone, too?"
[Everyone.]
When Lu Li saw Richard write these words, he noticed him trembling with excitement. It was like a man who had long suppressed his emotions finally letting them burst forth.
These words stunned Lu Li. He finally understood Richard's motives.
He wanted to take the body of the Ancient God to protect humanity!
It seemed unbelievable, yet there was no doubt about it. Richard had simply chosen a cruel, bloody, and merciless path to achieve his goal.
Their conversation continued, confirming Lu Li's suspicions. Richard wanted to be a savior, a new god. He wanted to protect a humanity that was struggling to survive in the wake of the calamities.
He had grown up on the streets, become a gangster, fallen in with the wrong crowd, and been beaten into madness. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he accidentally discovered the body of the Ancient God and passed the first trial.
It was difficult to reconcile Richard's thorny path with the lofty goal of protecting humanity, but at the same time, it seemed that the mad and obsessed Richard was truly capable of thinking and acting this way.
Madmen are capable of illogical, absurd, and incomprehensible actions.
The subsequent trials lost all meaning for Lu Li. Richard was simply trying to prove his convictions.
Lu Li had answered with redemption and persistence.
Richard answered with his faith.
The illusion vanished, and darkness descended once more.
Lu Li waited calmly for the third trial to begin.