The villain's way to tame the protagonist

Xin looked at Anser who was familiar with the situation and was a little curious: "Mr. Devil, have you had this dream many times?"

"What do you think?"

Without even turning his head, Anser said, "I have never had meaningless dreams. When I was immature, I could neither control my emotions nor harness my power. The dreams I created under these circumstances... it would be more appropriate to call them a form of self-torture."

After the despair that almost completely destroyed Anser that day, he had different nightmares almost every night. Just as Anser said now, those dreams were not just illusions constructed by thoughts. For Anser, they were unavoidable torture and a fate that he had to face.

"That is to say, for Mr. Devil, such a dream should be very private... But Mr. Devil did not drive me away."

Xin, who followed Anser closely and never moved more than 20 centimeters away from him, tilted his head slightly:

"I'm very happy, Mr. Devil."

Her eyes were bright and clear, without any joking tone, but it was this kind of innocent gaze, coupled with such straightforward words, that made them so lethal.

Anser paused slightly, looking slightly moved, but when he turned around, he spoke in doubt and said something very vicious:

"Do you have the ability to feel happiness, Miss Xin?"

"..."

Xin was stunned for a moment. Before she could answer, Anser continued to walk forward and said, "Although pleasure and happiness sound very similar, in essence, the kind of 'happiness' you mentioned is more delicate than simple pleasure... Does your personality support you to have such delicate emotions?"

Xin didn't say anything. This was the first time she was speechless since she appeared in the dream and handled it with ease.

Because she had heard similar words from the bishop many times - you shouldn't have such emotions.

We shouldn't have emotions, but who can give up emotions? The saint in the past might be able to do it, because she only had the Supreme God and the Supreme Assistant in her eyes, but now... she has swallowed the forbidden fruit under the snake's trick. Just like Hydra is unwilling to give up wisdom, how can the blank doll be willing to give up the hard-earned emotions and give up... everything the devil has given her?

Xin would feel pain at such words...and it's right to feel pain, because pain is reality.

Because you really are incapable of such delicate emotions, Miss Saint, you just want to escape the painful reality by indulging in saving me.

"Roar--!"

A giant dragon descended from the sky, but before it could even raise its head and roar for a second, Anther shot its head off.

Unlike the swamp monster that collapsed after being shot, the dragon's shattered flesh and skull turned into a pouring bloody rain. This bloody and eye-catching scene seemed to make people remember this scene firmly and engrave the meaning of this death in their hearts.

But I will never run away.

If you pull the trigger with such determination, even if the chamber is empty, you can still fire the bullet that kills the dragon.

He wiped the hot dragon blood from his cheek expressionlessly, watched the dragon's body fall to the ground with a bang, and stepped forward on the corpse of the loser.

Anser found that he could always find reasons to hate Xin, whether it was his blind reverence for God in the beginning, or his weakness in not wanting to face his fate now.

But in the end, she would always become the person she liked, so it didn't matter.

"...Mr. Devil."

"Ok?"

Anser and Xin came to a staircase made of pure flesh and bones. When Anser stepped onto the first step without hesitation, Xin, who seemed to have recovered from Anser's cruel words, spoke softly:

"Exquisite happiness means... I will be happy because Mr. Devil is 'tolerating' me, right? Why does Mr. Devil think that I won't have this kind of exquisite happiness?"

"Does this require a reason?" Anser raised his eyebrows slightly. "It's just like a fish can't flap its wings and fly no matter what, right?"

Xin is not a fish, but she is not...human either.

Anser stepped onto the ladder of flesh and blood and climbed up step by step.

Xin would be happy in Donggang because she could defeat Anser, and would be jealous and even out of control because of Anser's cruel exploitation and abandonment of her. In this jealousy, she would crave Anser's attention, even if it meant exploitation or torture.

She has emotions, but these are the most primitive ones. Not to mention humans, perhaps even animals have them. This is absolutely normal, but that's all.

That's why Ansel never thought that Xin would fall in love with him. It's not just because it's too simple, but also because she simply doesn't have the ability to do so.

Just like a child's dependence on his parents is only out of instinct, there is no so-called love in his ignorant mind; the same is true for Xin. In essence, she is just relying on Anser, and the so-called salvation is still not out of self-satisfaction. After all, Anser always knows her -

...No, that's not right.

When Anser was really lost in thought about some problem, he would never show anything unusual. He continued to climb up, but that elegant and slender figure appeared in his mind.

Marina...she was with Xin at that time.

In the training process of Xin, the only variable that is difficult to control is Marina.

She seemed to have picked a few times when she was not with Xin and talked to Xin alone, and each conversation seemed to have had a huge impact on Xin. So this time... what did she take this opportunity to say to Xin?

Xin's current attitude and thoughts...turns out they were instigated by her.

Anser was puzzled at first as to why Xin had such a strange idea, but if someone provided the idea, it would not be surprising. However, if this was the idea that Marina provided to Xin, hoping that she could work hard towards this goal, then...

That means, in Marina’s eyes, my only weakness is... the need to be loved?

Marina also makes mistakes sometimes? Or, am I really...

"But Mr. Devil."

When Anser's thoughts shifted in a certain direction, Xin seemed to have figured something out, but she lowered her eyes slightly and was unexpectedly calm.

"I don't feel like it's not real, I don't feel like I... don't understand that kind of happiness."

"That's obviously... a very simple thing."

She whispered softly, her fingertips lightly touching Anser's fingers: "As long as I can help Mr. Devil, as long as..."

At the moment when their fingers were about to touch, Ansel suddenly pulled his hand away. Xin paused and a gloomy look appeared on his face.

She seemed to still be a little sad.

In fact, Ansel had been paying attention to Xin's emotional changes. He suddenly realized that perhaps things were not as simple as he thought.

If it was Marina, the guidance and intervention she could provide to Xin would definitely not just be to let Xin use that kind of thinking to escape reality - because Marina knew that Ansel hated such weakness and incompetence, and would not accept the so-called "love" that came with it.

He had been on guard before, but it was only when Xin's emotions became so vivid that Anser realized that, even if the possibility was not high, Xin might not be expressing such strong emotions completely to escape reality.

...But doesn't this just make you look even more pitiful, Miss Xin?

Ansel didn't look at Xin, and the sympathy in his eyes disappeared in an instant.

Even love needs others to push it forward. You really have never owned anything of your own from beginning to end.

Xin still looked a little sad, but just as she didn't know that Ansel was pitying her, Ansel actually didn't know... what Xin was sad about.

"Stairs like this..." Xin looked at the bloody stairs that led to nowhere and asked in a low voice, "This must have been created by Mr. Devil himself, right?"

"Of course, everything in the dream was created by me."

"I mean, like the monster in the swamp, and the dragon just now."

Xin's toes sank into the sticky flesh and blood. She looked down at her body that didn't fit in with the flesh and blood stairs, then looked up at Anser's back.

"It is the preparation that Mr. Devil made in order to reach the end."

Anser stopped and looked at Xin in surprise: "You are more perceptive than I thought, Miss Saint."

At this moment, the end of the stairs was in sight. Anser slowed down his pace and once again told Xin the origin of the stairs without hesitation - after all, as long as he told it, Xin would imagine that he needed help.

"It is not enough to have the courage to overcome suffering. In order to face the end, you must have strength."

"And this staircase..." He pointed at the flesh and blood under his feet, "is proof that I am capable of reaching the end."

Kill one dragon after another, dismember one enemy after another, cast their corpses into stairs and bricks, and step on all of this to reach higher places, until the height is level with the sky!

"It must be painful... Mr. Devil."

"It's painful again, Miss Xin." Anser looked at her with some amusement, "You always judge the truth by its external manifestations. This is a very bad habit."

Xin stared into Anser's eyes: "Isn't Mr. Devil in pain?"

How many people must be killed, how many times must be destroyed, how long must one be reincarnated in this nightmare, and how much price must be paid in reality before the young Hydra finally has the courage to defeat fear and the determination to trample on everything?

"Why would there be any pain in this? Defeating powerful enemies one after another, climbing to higher ground step by step... This is clearly the most exhilarating scenario, how can it make people feel pain?"

With only one step left, Anser would step onto the platform. The dragons dispersed, and thunder and heavy rain came again. The turbid rain water flowed down, washing away the stairs built at the cost of countless lives, but it could not wash away any bones and flesh, which naturally meant... it could not shake the cruelty and coldness in it.

He turned around and looked down at Xin below. The moment the thunder exploded behind him, he was enveloped in a majestic and solemn light.

"This is not pain, it's proof that I'm alive."

"...I understand. You are not in pain. You are very happy."

As Xin said this, he stared at Anser's calm eyes, as if he already had his own answer.

"I understand." Ansher nodded with satisfaction, turned around and stepped onto the last step.

When reaching the end of the stairs, the scene in front of me suddenly changed into a very open space. The dragons above my head disappeared without a trace, and the thunder and rainstorm became more and more violent. Their symphony was so lively and noisy, but everything in the world seemed to have returned to a cold and silent black and white painting.

Xin could vaguely see five figures in the heavy rain not far away.

"As long as this dream is passed once, it is actually equivalent to the end. I have already defeated it a long time ago, so I don't care whether I can win or not. In addition, Miss Xin wants to help me... Then why don't I leave them all to you, Miss Xin, to solve them, how about it?"

"who are they?"

Xin discovered that those figures seemed to be fighting. The blurriest and darkest figure among them looked like he was fighting one against four. However, judging by his performance and momentum, it was only a matter of time before he was completely defeated.

"Who... it's hard to say." Anser smiled with ease, "Maybe they are just powerful extraordinary people who left a deep impression on me, or maybe they are characters I conceived simply for creative purposes. But no matter who they are, Miss Xin, you should now understand their essence... They only exist for me, to hone myself, and their forms are irrelevant, right?"

Of course, form is important. Anther has never considered telling the truth to Xin right now, but... what he said was not a lie. After all, that death, that ending, was the greatest test and trial for Anther Hydra.

The fight between the two sides has entered a white-hot stage. Although it is only a vague shadow, the momentum created by the battle is extremely terrifying. Countless abilities that Xin has never seen or understood are raging wildly and violently. Even though he is confined in a dream and his expression is very limited, Xin still has no room to intervene.

She is not the master of this dream, so it is impossible for her to end this ending by force alone. What's more... for the master of the dream, this is not a test that can be passed simply by using force.

Everything is just a formality.

Xin didn't know what form this would take, but he knew that this form would definitely make Anser feel painful.

Although Ansel denied it again and again, emphasizing that this dream was a thing of the past for him.

But if Ansher really had no feelings about this dream, how could he dream about it when he was being severely eroded?

Mr. Devil...you are using pain to stop the abyss from eroding you, right?

Because you have endured such pain, and because such pain has not yet ended, you must not lose control before completing your goal. Every time you reach the critical point of erosion, do you do this... cutting your flesh and blood, gnawing at your soul, to stay awake?

But why do you still say that you are not in pain?

Why tell them...that they have never and will never hurt themselves?

Chapter 5: Between Reality and Illusion, Part (K)

"Mr. Devil needs me to defeat them, right?"

Xin stared at the four blurry figures for a long time, and finally took a step forward. She didn't know how to fight, but she condensed the glowing sword that Anser was very familiar with in her hand, and without any hesitation, she slashed out a ray of blazing light.

The dazzling sword light was mighty and powerful, annihilating the strong wind and icy rain, illuminating the darkness and gloom, as if tearing apart the suffocating and depressing space here.

But in the next moment, this radiance that seemed to be able to break through all the haze shattered without any warning, and the pure and surging divine ether broke into harmless light fragments and scattered all over the ground.

One of the figures that had been besieging the dark figure, bathed in a sky full of light, slowly pointed the blade in his hand towards Xin.

Its image was still blurry, but Xin could vaguely tell that it was a woman, wearing close-fitting armor, holding a sword and a shield, a very standard image of a warrior.

"She's the only one." Anser raised his eyebrows slightly. "It seems that they don't think you are worth everyone's attention."

——Of course, this dream cannot be that intelligent.

In order to obtain an absolutely accurate, new understanding of Xin, Ansel had hardly lied and had not deliberately concealed his emotions. He could indeed end this dream at any time, which naturally meant... his control over this dream was absolute.

It was not Gleipnir's bullets that pierced through the monsters and dragons, but his unwavering and irresistible will. After defeating the four nightmares that had made him extremely desperate, even if it happened again a thousand or ten thousand times, Anser could easily end this dream.

He overcame the weak fear in his soul and will, so the dream projected from his soul was naturally at his mercy.

Xin's sensitivity was beyond Anser's imagination, so she could only face the brave lady who had not yet been born alone... Xin didn't know the secret behind this dream, so she couldn't judge the truth of Anser's words. In fact, whether it was four people or one person, there was no difference - even facing Ming Fuluo, who was also not good at fighting, Xin would not have a chance of winning.

To defeat them would mean to overcome Anther's greatest fear.

And in this world... who has ever experienced, who can understand, how desperate the young Hydra was when facing his own end?

The simply-equipped female warrior lowered her body, held the diamond-shaped shield in front of her, and very deliberately made a charging gesture, which seemed easy to dodge no matter how you looked at it.

But this was a fatal illusion, just like her heart, which was colder than steel, beneath her cheerful and lively smile.

Xin was knocked flying...to use the word "knocked flying" might be a bit too optimistic.

She was like a rag doll. Not only her limbs, but even the main body of her body had been twisted and messed up by the horrific impact. The bones and muscles that maintained her body were smashed into pieces when the shield hit her like a collapsing mountain.

The brave Saint Lady was blasted to the edge of space in an instant, causing ripples on the impenetrable soul barrier set up by Ansher, and then fell to the ground like a pool of rotten meat.

"Feeling alright, Ms. Xin?"

Looking at Xin who was so miserable, Anser didn't show even a bit of pity or sympathy.