Kivotos, I was deeply shocked!

"...Teacher, you and Hoshino-san are not related, and you have been together for less than a week, right?" Heifu was silent for a while, and asked in confusion, "Is she...really that important to you?"

“This is what you don’t understand.”

Si Wang shook his head. “For me, the point is not about Kotori Yui Hoshino himself, but about the way you treat Kotori Yui Hoshino.”

Chapter 176: We Can’t Talk

"It's not about Hoshino Kotori herself...but about the way we treat her?"

Heifu paused, and looked at Si Wang carefully with a look that seemed to want to get to know him all over again, "These words... are not what a teacher would say."

On the way here, Heifu had imagined countless possible outcomes of meeting Si Wang.

Perhaps it is a righteous refusal.

Perhaps it was a harsh scolding.

Or maybe it's just a pretense of compliance.

Hei Fu even considered the possibility that Si Wang was a scheming conspirator who was just using Xia Lai and the Federal Student Union as tools to climb up the ladder by borrowing their trust.

But I never expected Si Wang to say such words.

He doesn't mind his actions of harming Kotori Yu Hoshino, but he cares about the way he harms Kotori Yu Hoshino.

Whether as a teacher who cares about his students or a scheming conspirator.

These words should not come out of Si Wang's mouth.

"What's so strange about this? You and those students call me "Teacher Teacher" every day. Do you really think that my name was "Teacher" when I was born?"

Si Wang pointed at his nose and said seriously, "I do have a name called [Si Wang] which sounds quite pleasant."

"..."

The man in black remained silent.

He vaguely understood where Si Wang's contradictory temperament came from.

No, that temperament perhaps cannot be described as contradictory.

Looking at Si Wang who was talking to Pepe in front of him, without any awareness that he was in the enemy's base, Heifu thought unconsciously.

I just put Si Wang into the framework of "Teacher Xia Lai" for myself, which is why I feel that his words and actions are so contradictory and inconsistent.

But if we remove this framework and only focus on Si Wang himself, what about him as a person?

Hei Fu's heart was filled with ripples. He had a hunch that Si Wang might...

Do not!

Si Wang must be the same kind of person as me!

"Cheating others' kindness, trampling on others' purity, tearing others' wounds, and then digging out others' weaknesses to seize others' precious things..."

Si Wang shrugged nonchalantly, "To be honest, this is not a rare thing. It can be seen everywhere in reality. Who knows, while we are talking now, someone may have been defrauded of all his money and is standing on the edge of the rooftop replaying the revolving lantern of his life."

The man in black didn't say anything, but just listened carefully.

But the ripples in my heart were growing bigger and bigger, creating one or two splashes of water.

"Although this behavior is extremely immoral and violates the bottom line of public ethics, and is undoubtedly [evil] if judged by good and evil, you only took advantage of the natural disaster in Abydos and placed a bottle of poisoned water in front of a person who was dying of thirst in the desert. You did not force Hoshino Kotori and the others to drink it, nor did you force them to put their fingerprints on the contract. Even the parties involved knew that the bottle of water was poisonous. She just held on to the fluke mentality of [Abydos has nothing left, what else can they plot besides my life], and pretended not to see the purple bubbles still bubbling in the bottle."

At this point, Si Wang couldn't help but think of Kotori Yui, who had become even more determined despite all the good and bad things he had said to her. He couldn't help but sigh, "From this point of view, you are still adhering to the open and fair [business rules] to do things. Considering that you are not Kotori Yui's biological parents, you don't even have the obligation to stop her from committing suicide."

"Teacher, it's great if you can understand this."

Heifu couldn't help but applaud. "The powerful exploit the poor, the knowledgeable exploit the unknowledgeable, the strong exploit the weak... When humans were still fighting with monkeys for bananas in the trees, this truth was already engraved in our bones. We are not the first to do this, and we will definitely not be the last. This kind of thing will not disappear just because we don't do it. This is the truth of the world."

"No, no, no, I'm just a passerby who happened to pass by Kivotos and got hit on the head by a falling pie. I'm not as smart as you think. I don't understand what you mean by [this point], nor what your so-called [world truth] is."

Si Wang waved his hands repeatedly and tried to explain, "I just don't understand one thing about what you did. If I don't understand it, I won't be able to sleep well at night, so I asked you to meet here today."

"Please speak." The man in black bowed slightly, his expression very sincere, "I will tell you everything I know."

"Ah, since you are so polite, I won't be polite."

Si Wang raised his head to look at Heifu, and asked without any politeness, "You have obviously been planning to take over Hoshino Kotori for so many years, and you know her personality and weaknesses very well. You have at least a hundred ways to force her to submit, if not a thousand. But why did you choose loan sharking, which is the most rubbish, most unskilled, and most unpretentious method?"

Hei Fu's breathing stagnated, his eyes widened in disbelief, and he looked straight at Si Wang.

What Si Wang cares about... is actually this? !

"It's fine if you use such a despicable method. Maybe you have too many schemes and are too busy with work, so you just want to save trouble... But here comes something that puzzles me even more."

Si Wang asked with a puzzled look on his face, "Since the deal has been completed and the person has been taken home, why did you want to find a loophole in the contract and break it at the last minute?"

Although his words were very aggressive, Si Wang's face full of confusion and frown were not fake at all. He was expressing his inner confusion.

"Or do you have a special hobby of watching others fall from hope to despair and finally collapse?"

"..."

Heifu was silent for a while and shook his head. "One of my colleagues may have this hobby, but I really don't."

Si Wang hammered his palm with an expression of sudden enlightenment, "Oh, I understand now. This must be your way of observing, researching, and exploring."

"..."

"Then I'm sorry I can't accept your invitation to cooperate."

Si Wang spread his hands to express his helplessness, "If it was just a simple incompatibility of personalities, I might be able to think of a way to accommodate each other, but now it's a conflict of values, we really can't piss on the same pot."

"...That's a harsh criticism, teacher."

Heifu sighed, but an irresistible impulse emerged in his mind.

Chapter 177 Everything is destined

"Teacher, I don't want to make a deal with you, nor do I mean to threaten you. I just want to discuss with you a "what if"..."

Heifu straightened his back, put his hands together and pressed them on the table, staring at Si Wang intently, "If...if I release Hoshino Kotori now and apologize to her for what I did, can you treat this as an accident, put it behind you for now, and let us get to know each other again from the perspective of strangers?"

"?"

Si Wang looked at Heifu from the side, and seemed to be a little surprised.

"Although I don't know why you suddenly said such a thing, I can feel your sincerity from your tone and attitude. So let's leave it at that."

Si Wang stared at the ceiling light and thought for a while before saying seriously, "I'm going to chop off your head first and then find a way to sew it back together. I wonder if you can still survive?"

"Although I had expected your answer, after hearing it, I still feel a little unwilling..."

After a moment of silence, Heifu shook his head and said with emotion, "If we could have met you ten years earlier... no, five years would be enough. I think we would have become great companions."

Looking at Si Wang who was smiling in front of him, Hei Fu's thoughts could not help but drift away...

There is no justice, no evil...

There is no such thing as kindness or meanness...

There is no goal that must be achieved, nor is there any persistence that cannot be given up. It is just a matter of choosing a lifestyle that does not matter whether it is happy or miserable based on your mood...

Hei Fu couldn't help but sigh again in his heart.

Compared to my colleague who is obsessed with worldly power and strength...

It is you after all. No! You are the only one who can control Arius and touch the truth and the sublime, teacher.

Compared to Hei Fu's complicated and incomprehensible thoughts, Si Wang's attitude was much simpler.

He looked at Heifu, who looked as if he had lost a million dollars, and couldn't help laughing. "Let alone meeting you ten years earlier, even if it was a hundred or a thousand years earlier, as long as we were in Kivotos, I think it would be difficult for me to get along with you guys."

"Why do you say that, teacher?"

Heifu looked a little surprised. "You are neither Xingye-san's guardian nor have any blood relationship with her. The reason you helped her was just because Abydos High School asked you for help, and you happened to be Xialai's teacher at that time, so you lent a hand, right?"

After the previous conversation with Si Wang, Hei Fu had almost figured out Si Wang's character. He was particularly sure of what he would say next. "Rather than helping Abydos out of irrelevant factors such as responsibility, I think you would prefer to work with us who have similar ideas and styles, right?"

"Wow~"

Si Wang raised his eyebrows and looked at Heifu in surprise, "You are really amazing. You actually saw through my underwear in just a few words?"

"Isn't this the difference between us and Hoshino-san?" Heifu put his hands on his chin and shook his head helplessly, "Because it was the [Federation Student Union] that found you first, you became [Xia Lai's] teacher, and then we had to sit here and confront you."

"Well, although there's nothing wrong with what you said in general."

Si Wang nodded unconsciously, indicating that what Heifu said was indeed reasonable, and then he used the nail of his thumb to touch the tip of his little finger and gestured, "But I missed a small key point."

The man in black put down his hand and asked earnestly, "What is the key point?"

"Heifu, although you know that I became Xialai's teacher after the [Federal Student Union] found me, you have never thought about another question..."

Si Wang tapped his head and said with a smile, "The [Federal Student Union] is not my biological mother, so why do they want me to be a teacher at [Xia Lai]... and I want to go?"

"..."

The black suit fell silent again.

The qualifications to become the ruler of Kivotos, the power and authority that no one can match, and the highest-level mystery at the top of this Academy City that even they don’t understand - [Shiting Box]...

There were some things in it that he sneered at, but there were other things... that were beyond his reach.

So Hei Fu never thought that someone would actually refuse Xia Lai's appointment one day.

But Si Wang...does Si Wang really care about these?

Even if you don't ask, the answer will naturally come out from the bottom of your heart.

"Looking at your expression... you really haven't thought about this question." Si Wang shrugged, "But the answer is surprisingly simple. It's just that someone like you who is obsessed with things like [truth] and [mystery] would definitely not be able to think of it."

Heifu couldn't help but ask, "What is it?"

"When I first came to Kivotos, there happened to be a riot. During the riot, I happened to be robbed by three thugs, and then, not so coincidentally, I was rescued by a student who had been following me for a long time."

Si Wang didn't rush to answer Heifu's question. Instead, he showed a reminiscing expression and started with a "little thing" when he first came to Kivotos. "Although it turned out to be a very funny mistake in the end, the team organized by the "Federal Student Union" still "rescued" me from that student in the end."

"So here comes the question—"

"..."

The man in black vaguely grasped something.

Si Wang raised his head and looked at the man in black, and asked slowly, "If you were in that place at that time, and saw a passerby being robbed by three thugs, would you help him? If the [Federal Student Union] didn't give you any reward, but asked you to rescue a passerby who has nothing to do with you from a very dangerous target, would you be willing to take on this mission?"

"..."

In an instant, countless thoughts, countless judgments, and countless explanations flashed through Heifu's mind, but in the end, he just sighed and shook his head helplessly, "No."

"That's right, I can't do it, because I can't do it either."

Si Wang spread his hands, revealing an empathetic expression, "Even if we met ten, a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years earlier, what's the point? As long as we are still inside this Kivotos, as long as there is no sudden brainwashing or other deus ex machina stuff, I will eventually be rescued by the students, and then become Teacher Xia Lai of the Federal Student Union, instead of your so-called like-minded companion in the Secret Art of Numbers."

"...Is that so? That's really regrettable."

After being silent for a long time, Heifu sighed and couldn't help but say it again, "It's really a pity!"

"So do you still have any questions? If not, I'll leave first."

Si Wang stood up, the chair behind him spun away, and he stretched his body lazily, "I'm in a hurry to spank Kotori Yu Xingye's butt."

Chapter 178 Si Wang’s Personal Opinion

"Hmm? Leaving so early, Sensei?"

Heifu stood up with Si Wang and asked in surprise, "You should be going to rescue Xingye-san now, right? Do you need me to tell you where she is imprisoned?"

"...Although the Caesar Group is not on the same side as you, he is still on the front line fighting for you, right? Aren't you afraid that he will cry out when he hears what you said?"

Looking at the black suit that was clinging to him like taffy, with a hint of reluctance to part with him, Si Wang pursed his lips, "Besides, aren't you chasing after something called 'sublime' and 'mysterious'? I guess your ultimate goal is also something very old-fashioned, like becoming 'god' or 'omniscient'."

Si Wang drew a halo pattern on his head with his fingers, and asked in a strange tone, "You who are chasing these things, don't you believe that Hoshino Kotori, who has these [sublime] [mysterious] and [god-like] potential, can break free by himself? Doesn't he have to wait for someone to rescue him?"

"Teacher, I respect your judgment, but I also respect objective facts."

Since he already knew Si Wang's character, Heifu did not hesitate to discuss the life and death of Hoshino Kotori in front of Si Wang. He said very frankly, "Just as you said, in order to ensure that we can successfully harvest people like Hoshino-san one day, whether it is for them themselves or the [mystery] that belongs to the city of Kivotos, we have been preparing for a long time."

"If it's just Hoshino-san's own strength..." Heifu thought for a while and shook his head, "I think it's difficult."

"Well, it seems that we have one less common topic to talk about."

Si Wang sighed with regret and moved the chair behind him away. "Although it's not obvious from my behavior, compared to the cold, hard, and unchangeable objective reality, I actually prefer something more elaborate like "The Belief Is Your Magic"."

"Well, teacher..."

Heifu paused. He did not refute Si Wang's idea, which sounded very naive. Instead, he thought carefully about what Si Wang said and asked, "What kind of heart do you want Xingye-san to believe in and what kind of magic do you want him to master in order to save himself?"

Black clothes...