"Origin?" Noah was taken aback.
"Perhaps sometimes, the choices our parents make won't please us, nor will they bring us very good results. But in the beginning, when they started thinking about it, it was out of love for us."
Before Mei's words had even faded, the Herrscher's face darkened.
All his previous expressions shattered in an instant, like ceramic masks, leaving only a face tinged with anger.
"Heh..." a cold sneer escaped from the Herrscher's throat. "I thought you would come up with some astonishing reasoning... Raiden Mei, are you trying to say... no matter how many mistakes they've made, they are still our parents in the end?!"
Noah didn't speak, but frowned at Mei, his expression clearly showing some disagreement.
"Of course not," Mei shook her head. "Any mistake should be judged as a mistake. No matter if there's a reason behind it, it shouldn't be favored or sheltered."
"What I wanted to say was not the cause of the matter... but the thoughts in their hearts when they decided to do it."
The Herrscher's expression froze for a moment, his brow furrowed as he looked at Mei.
"Thoughts... is it because they love us that they went to such great lengths to do these things?" The Herrscher's voice was like a suppressed volcano. The suppressed emotions made his voice tremble.
"Is this your defense for them? Raiden Mei, are you too arrogant, or do you think everyone is as easily fooled as you are by a few simple words?!"
A low roar like that of a cornered beast came out. The Herrscher clenched his fists tightly.
"Human thoughts are complex. Do I need to tell you that now?! One thing cannot be driven by a single emotion. The most selfless person has selfish moments, and the most selfish person will also have choices to give up their own interests...
"And you, just like those people, want to find the most glorious emotion from those complex emotions, and then decorate it as a representative, using it to generalize everything?!
"If the [love] you speak of is like ink, where a single drop can pollute an entire bottle of water, then isn't this [love] too cheap, too dirty!!"
After the Herrscher's almost roaring voice, Noah continued.
"You can't expect everyone to have the ability to analyze everything separately, nor does everyone have the patience to dialectically examine every matter.
"90% of the people in this world will only wait for a simple result, because they are not looking forward to the sense of accomplishment after solving a puzzle, but are eager for the effect brought by the answer.
"If the effect is not what they expected, then they will hate the answer along with the question itself.
"And in fact, the very act of getting an answer from someone else is a problem they can't solve, so they can only see the [love] that is pushed out as a shield, and thus hate [love] itself."
Noah's tone was completely different from the Herrscher's, but it was more naked and filled with an unknown malice than the roar filled with anger.
This malice was precisely the answer that Noah had said was pushed out.
That's right... in the hearts of most people, there are no reasonable answers, only the results they like and dislike. Wasn't she the same?
She had the ability to dissect and treat, but not the heart to see things equally. She also had her preferences, her tendencies. And the tendency in her heart was much stronger than that of a normal person.
"I understand..." Mei sighed. But when she opened her eyes again, the firmness in her eyes made both the Herrscher and Noah pause for a moment.
"But... that doesn't mean we should throw away this ability."
"What did you say?"
Mei gently placed a hand on her heart.
"You're right. This is a complex world, an imperfect world. There are too many tragedies that have caused most of the people in this world to fall into the dust...
"But in reality... we haven't fallen into the dust. We have always been here, in this mud. We were born like this, with too many flaws and prejudices."
"But life is not fixed at a certain moment. We have, and only have, the ability to change ourselves. We still have the right to struggle and grow, the possibility of getting out of the mud on our own."
"But that's just a possibility," the Herrscher's voice had calmed down a bit. He looked at Mei and said very seriously. "Talent will lock the growth trend of a seed, and various disasters and dangers will also prevent the seed from growing."
"Not every flower can bear fruit. Failure is the norm of life," Noah added, as peaceful as ever, and as unpleasant as ever.
But at this moment, both of them were exceptionally focused, waiting for Mei to continue.
"Indeed, failure is the norm of life. Success is a distant miracle."
Mei paused, took a light breath, and then calmed her mind.
"But... what if?"
The eyes of both the Herrscher and Noah widened at the same time, just because of these three short words.
What if?
A script quietly took shape...
A distant goal, an imaginative process. Every detail was written out, but it also made one feel that it was extremely difficult.
Throughout, the script was written with one sentence, both inside and out—wishful thinking.
But just like those three words.
What if?
Perhaps in some parallel world, if there really is a parallel world...
Perhaps in that parallel world, I really did make those incredible efforts, and I did encounter those miraculous coincidences. Under the aggregation of various reasons, I really did succeed...
Then... who am I?
The failed "me"? Or the successful "me"?
Yes... the watershed of life began from this moment...
The mediocre believe it is a judgment question, but in reality, it is a multiple-choice question.
What kind of "me" do you want to become?
Perhaps the life that follows will judge your choice as wrong, because the correctness of the answer has never been in one's own hands.
But at least, we have the most basic right to choose.
At least, the moment we make the answer, we don't care about right or wrong, only about the answer in our own hearts.
"So... sometimes, we should avoid these rational judgments and instead focus on our, on human, emotional thoughts to consider our future."
Mei said, and then reached out and grabbed the script in front of them.
Rip—
The script was torn in half before their eyes.
"No need to believe in a predetermined fate, no need to believe in the great hand that pulls all the strings, because—
"God is dead."
Thus spoke Raiden Mei.