Abstraction for a bad world

Chapter 116: Humans are monsters made of cognition
Marina's phone rang.

It was Shirakawa Waka who called.

Yuan Qingzhuo was connected.

The first words he heard were:
"——Renhe Group Site on Ducat Street, come and pick up Millie."

——What is this world like?

"This is a stupid cyberpunk worldview. The upper class is full of vampires pretending to be gentlemen, the middle class is ownerless parts willing to be drained by the city for the rest of their lives, and the bottom class is full of brainless clowns fighting each other. They should have been burned to death long ago."

If it were Yuan Qingzhuo, he would probably say this.

"I don't know. Anyway, they are all good. In short, if there are enemies, kill them all, including the nine clans that are related to them, and if there are any good-looking ones, grab them and fuck them hard, and have a good time first."

If it was Lao Lang, she should have said something meaningless like this, otherwise she wouldn't have thought of searching the treasure chest for the Diou Hi Si to make a splash.

But I am neither Yuan Qingzhuo nor Lao Lang.

My name is Marina.

Just Marina.

Even though I respect them and love them very much, I cannot force myself to agree with opinions that I cannot confirm.

So, what does the world look like to me?
--have no idea.

Maybe it’s because I’m really too stupid... But this is normal, because I have never been to school and I don’t know many words. Sometimes I can’t even figure out addition and subtraction.

If you ask me to say something that can summarize this world, it would be a bit too much to ask.

Marina thought.

However, the only thing that is certain is that my understanding of this world is far, far insufficient.

I have seen evil and I have also seen good. I understand why I have to do things. And when I was about to be completely disappointed with this cold world, I met my own light.

In this way, have we just seen the tip of the iceberg of this world?

Marina felt like she didn't know.

She was so stupid, so stupid that she was only willing to believe everything she saw with her own eyes and heard with her own ears.

"But what if I don't know?"

In the erratic space of consciousness, Marina asked the questioning voice back: "No one has ever stipulated that when I first opened my eyes, I was going to understand what this world is."

"I just need to understand what I want and how much I should pay for it, that's all."

Marina shook her head: "It's too complicated for me to understand."

"Yeah, it's too complicated to figure out... This is what I expected the first time I saw you. Now it seems that I succeeded by accident."

"Although I regret having led you to become a coward who never fights back but only dares to fight back with words, but now that I think about it, isn't this a good thing?"

The figure slowly solidified in front of Marina's eyes, and when she saw the other person's appearance clearly, the "dreamlike feeling" disappeared in an instant.

Marina regained consciousness in an instant.

She exclaimed, "Old Wolf!? Where is this?"

"You fell asleep, and you asked me where this was?" The old wolf rolled his eyes and slapped the dazed Marina in the face twice: "Why do you even need to ask! Of course it's in your own dream!"

Marina was even more confused: "I was dreaming peacefully, but you came in and saw something I shouldn't have seen. What should I do? Are you going against the will of heaven?"

"It's okay to go against the will of heaven, but this last time, even if I want to beat you up, you have to take it and kneel on the ground and say, 'Master Wolf, that's a great beating.'"

Old Wolf crossed his arms and stared at Marina, whose expression changed as brilliantly as a palette. He couldn't help but smile, then said calmly, "Marina, listen to me."

“Man is a monster made of cognition.”

“What kind of person will a person eventually grow up to be, to what extent will his values ​​be shaped, what is his so-called personality… everything about a person is made up of [cognition].”

"A creature with a clear sense of self will begin to receive information from the outside world from the first moment it becomes aware of its existence."

"——Every sentence he hears, every word he sees, every syllable that flows by his ears will be deposited in his soul and consciousness, subtly shaping him into the image expected by the environment."

"And those critical turning points, those big choices that give people growth and frustration, they make the monster of 'man' different."

This long speech made Marina, who was originally very sad, start to yawn: "Old Wolf, are you finally crazy? Why are you talking about so many nonsense for no reason?"

Looking at Marina who looked heartless, Lao Lang was silent for two seconds, then smiled with relief: "When you are alive, you must make choices, Marina..."

Marina rubbed her eyes and looked up.

"Now I have made my last choice."

"——I want to prove that even if I become Marina Vidsothovsky Kodega, I have completed the part of your personality that has been missing since you opened your eyes."

The old wolf hugged Marina tightly, holding her tightly, and said expectantly and calmly:
"Even though you are no longer just Marina, you who are based in the present are different from me who has been living in the past since that day."

"It keeps going in circles, will it ever end?"

Marina twisted her neck, which was strangled to the point of being a little breathless, and after sticking out her tongue, she simply concluded: "In other words, Old Wolf, you are going to disappear, and I will never see you again, right?"

"Well...according to the Tao..."

"Stop talking nonsense, old man, answer me, yes! Or no!"

Marina's voice exploded like thunder, echoing in the boundless space of consciousness.

"Yes."

Lao Lang answered without hesitation.

So Marina fell into an unspeakable silence.

"That's really... a little hard to get used to." Marina looked up at the pure white and sighed a little disappointedly: "I'm almost used to you being my free alarm clock every morning, Old Wolf, and taking my place when something real happens."

The old wolf sneered,

"Don't you still have Yuan Qingzhuo? You two have such a good relationship that you want to spend every day together. What do you want me to do? Be a 24-hour light bulb?"

Marina shook her head, "That's different... I still have Xiao Yuan and you to rely on, but you only have me as a friend. It's different."

Lao Lang said unhappily, "Didn't you say I was done? Why are you still dragging your feet and talking a lot of nonsense?"

"Okay, I won't say any more."

Marina gave Lao Lang a big kiss on the face: "When Xiao Yuan and I have sex, I will also call your name so that you can feel a little involved."

"Come on."

Old Wolf showed an expression that looked like he was sweating profusely.

So, there will be no more nonsense like this.

In the silence, the old wolf merged into Marina's body like a shadow... or to be more precise, into Marina's consciousness.

The farewell ended so simply.

"Goodbye, my friend." After feeling an inexplicable sense of loneliness, Marina gently closed her eyes and said goodbye to the old wolf and herself:
"Goodbye, I wish you have endless meat to eat..."

Marina opened her eyes.

What came into view was Yuan Qingzhuo's frowning face and the phone call he had just hung up.

——Oh, that phone was still mine. It must be because I was still asleep not long ago, so Yuan Qingzhuo answered the call for me.

"what happened?"

Marina asked.

Yuan Qingzhuo, who was standing by, heard the noise and turned towards her, wanting to say something, but in the end he did not say what he wanted to say the first time. He just told her the news on the phone.

"Shirakawa Wakaxia told us to go to Renhe Group on Ducat Street to pick up Millie. She no longer has the energy to send Millie to us in person."

Yuan Qingzhuo handed the phone to Marina who stood up from the bed: "You said to hurry up. If you were slower, she might die and you wouldn't be able to protect Millie."

"Ah, is that so?"

Marina nodded slowly and stretched, outlining her perfect body curves: "Then we really need to hurry and get Millie back."

While she was talking, she easily discovered that Yuan Qingzhuo was secretly watching her out of the corner of his eye. He seemed a little worried, but he was hiding it and didn't dare to say it directly.

It seems that he is worried about the possible side effects after Old Wolf merges with himself?

Tsk, the little man is really nosy.

Marina quickly put on her windbreaker and trousers beside the bed, tapped the floor with her heels, and after making sure her boots were tied tightly, she sat directly on Yuan Qingzhuo's legs.

He raised his eyes in astonishment.

Marina looked down at Yuan Qingzhuo, not giving him any time to react or chance to refuse. She simply grasped his collar with her hands and forcefully blocked his breath.

After a few seconds, put it down.

Marina patted Yuan Qingzhuo's face, who was a little dazed, and stood on the ground. She raised her chin to him and grinned.

"Hey, Xiao Yuan, stop being in a daze. The important thing now is to save Millie."

She looked up at the ceiling, shook her head and thought for a while, then wiggled her fingers in an ambiguous tone, "Those little things about my changes... Later, we will talk about them slowly and carefully in bed, bit by bit, without any details."

After saying this, Marina regained her composure and extended her hand towards Yuan Qingzhuo.

"Now, there is only one thing we need to do quickly - so stop talking nonsense and hesitation."

Yuan Qingzhuo held her hand, stood up, and couldn't help but smile: "I was a little worried at first... but now it seems that you have grown up again."

The extremely proud blonde girl raised her head and chest: "Of course, I'm Marina."

Marina smiled at him, her tone full of indescribable pride and confidence:
"——Marina, the original pure one!"

The next moment, they rushed into the torrent of rain along with the shattered glass fragments, the roar of the boss downstairs and the shotgun.

Shirakawa Wakaka squatted down and held the umbrella in front of Millie, who could only open her eyes.

The bean-sized raindrops hit the thin fabric of the umbrella, causing it to dent and make crackling sounds.

But lying in such a heavy rain, it is impossible to completely block the rain that is constantly blowing in from all directions due to the strong wind with just an umbrella.

This umbrella can only protect the most important parts of Millie.

The rain that was not blocked seeped into the medical bandage that had turned black and red, causing Millie to groan slightly.

It would be great if Shirakawa Waka could use elemental manipulation to form a water barrier to block the rain falling around Millie.

It's easy and requires almost no effort.

But Shirakawa Wakaka no longer has any energy left.

Not at all.

Now it was a luxury for her to even be able to breathe normally and let the air flow through her body.

The dirty rain water settled in the lung cavity, and the edges of the organs were exposed to the air, and were simply fixed by Shirakawa Waka with ice needles.

The burning pain spread throughout every nerve in her body, and was amplified a hundred times by the inexplicable spiritual energy, torturing her will.

But actually, it doesn’t matter.

Shirakawa Wakaxia took Millie and fled, and finally they reached the Renhe Group, expecting someone to pick them up as usual.

——All that was left for her was a burning ruin.

It was not a field of corpses or a river of blood, but rather a charred ruin with white smoke sizzling out of it as the rain washed it.

It was as if everything had already ended.

What the fuck.

Baichuan Ruoxia suddenly felt very bored.

She lowered her head and spoke to Millie, whose breath was gradually weakening as time went by: "Millie, I can only help you so much. If you still die, it's just your bad luck."

"Ms. Shirakawa..."

Millie pursed her lips with difficulty.

From the moment she woke up, all she saw was Shirakawa Wakaka running away with her. However, no matter how powerful, cruel and ruthless the chasing enemies were, she never suffered any harm from them.

Even if Shirakawa Wakaka was injured, had her arm broken, and was on the verge of death.

Even though this petite but extremely strong girl almost died because of her, she herself had never been harmed by the outside world.

Millie didn't know what could make her do this for someone as worthless as herself.

But the only thing she was sure of without a doubt was that Shirakawa Wakaka was her savior.

She lives because of Shirakawa Waka.

So Millie endured the pain that increased with every word she spoke, and thanked Baichuan Ruoxia intermittently: "Thank you...you..."

"There's no need to say thank you. Just save your energy and keep living. It's more useful to me."

Shirakawa Wakaxia picked up the long sword she had placed on the ground with her only remaining right hand. Her indifferent eyes reflected the woman walking towards her at the end of the road.

The guy who answered the phone said that he and Marina would be here in less than ten minutes.

——Less than ten minutes?

God damn it, how long will it take?
Half a minute or nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds?
Wait, wait, and fucking wait some more.

The endless wait.

She clicked her tongue unhappily, and the blood in her mouth splattered like free ketchup, staining the water red before being quickly diluted.

"That's enough..."

(End of this chapter)