"Are you saying that Blue Arc is your... son?"
Lin Yilong lifted his head, looking at Mr. Ghost Bell’s drooping scarlet eyes, almost asking him word by word.
Ghost Bell remained silent.
"Mr. Ghost Bell... what nonsense are you talking about?" Lin Yilong lowered his head, chuckling softly, "I didn’t expect you to develop such a sense of humor after not seeing you for two months?"
He rarely laughed. In the two years since losing his father, he had hardly smiled, yet at this moment, the corner of his mouth twisted into an ugly grin. The muscles on his face twitched slightly.
But Ghost Bell still said nothing. Read complete version only at novel•fire.net
Slowly, he removed the metal breathing mask from his face, keeping his head lowered, appearing downcast with a scruffy beard.
Gu Zhuo furrowed his brow and spoke with a somewhat complex expression:
"I should have told you about my son, Gu Qiye, before."
Lin Yilong softly said, "Indeed, but you told me he was a normal person; you also said you were glad he didn’t inherit your superpower gene."
"But that’s not the case. Qiye awakened his superpower several years ago."
"Yes, my son is just like me. After awakening his superpower, his first thought was to investigate the truth of Su Ying’s death, but we chose different paths. I became a criminal, and he wished to join Rainbow Wings, so he became a Mutant."
Gu Zhuo paused for a moment, "He doesn’t even know who to take revenge on, thinking that joining Rainbow Wings would allow him to uncover the truth."
He took a deep breath, murmuring in a low voice:
"That kid is too foolish... he’s really too foolish. How can that be true? He’ll just be used by Rainbow Wings and then discarded like a piece of trash."
Lin Yilong was stunned for a long time, "You’re not joking?"
"Yilong, don’t you understand?" Gu Zhuo raised his head to look at him, "Qiye became a Mutant with the same purpose as you, to avenge his deceased parents."
Lin Yilong remained silent.
"He’s like me?" he mumbled, "Do you mean my enemy has experienced the same things, and I should forgive him? Then tell me, what wrong did my father do?"
"Leaving aside all this, you’ve been hiding it from me all along?"
Lin Yilong looked up at him, accentuating each word in his tone: "Mr. Ghost Bell, in these two years, you never told me even once that my enemy... is actually your son?"
Gu Zhuo shook his head, explaining self-deprecatingly:
"I only learned about this recently. I was shocked myself, after all, there were so many times... I nearly killed my own son."
"So... what do you want to say?"
"I don’t know, I’m just telling you all of this, and then it’s up to you to decide."
"If I say I won’t stop taking revenge on your son, will you kill me?"
Gu Zhuo fell silent, and after a moment, he softly said, "This world is too complicated. Sometimes it’s hard to even cover your ears and pretend to be deaf... but as a father, I want to ask you to put an end to it."
"You’re too selfish to say something like that to me..."
"I won’t kill you, Mulong. But I also don’t know how to persuade you, just like how I can’t persuade myself."
Lin Yilong lowered his head, remaining silent for a long, long time before finally whispering softly:
"You... shouldn’t have saved me."
Gu Zhuo understood, recognizing the answer this young man provided. He sighed deeply, "I knew it wouldn’t be easy to persuade you."
"If you hadn’t saved me, I wouldn’t know about these things, wouldn’t be shaken... at least I wouldn’t have to express gratitude to the enemy’s father." Lin Yilong chuckled, "I am very grateful to you, seeing you as a father-like figure. Without you, I wouldn’t have progressed so fast in these two years, but now you suddenly tell me my long-hated enemy is your son, and expect me to give up revenge?"
He lifted his head, coldly glaring at Gu Zhuo, almost growling, "Stop joking, what does this world expect from me to be satisfied?"
Gu Zhuo sat like a statue on the chair, letting the other pour out his anger, and only after a while did he speak:
"There’s still time... think about it carefully."
"No need to think about it, I won’t forgive him."
"I’m not asking you to forgive him, I just hope... you can forgive yourself."
With that, Gu Zhuo rose from his chair, clutching the metal breathing mask, and slowly walked toward the basement door.
However, just as he pushed the door open, he suddenly heard a weak, hoarse voice from behind:
"What about you... Mr. Ghost Bell, have you forgiven yourself?"
"I can’t forgive myself... perhaps I’ll never forgive myself in this lifetime," Gu Zhuo said, "But you’re different, you’re still young, so I hope you can choose a different path, while there’s still a chance... to turn back: start over with a new identity, wherever that may be, let go of the past, and live well."
With that said, he turned the doorknob and walked out without looking back.
Lin Yilong watched the door slowly close, gasping heavily, while the wounds beneath his bandages seemed to throb with hidden pain.
"Go and tell your own child those words..."
He rasped to himself, suddenly recalling Blue Arc kneeling before him, head hanging low with a dispirited, death-seeking posture.
"He needs those words."
The time was dusk, and a blush like wine colored the horizon, the sun slowly sinking toward the edge of the horizon, and the cicadas’ cries from the trees grew fainter.