'Love People' possessed rationality?
The juxtaposition of those two concepts was so absurd it bordered on magical realism. Lei Ting was momentarily stunned, as was Evenheiler. They both stared up blankly, meeting the gaze of 'The Lover.'
The towering, jade-white figure bowed its head. The 'voice' of this newly descended Great God was neutrally soft, carrying a calm rationality and magnanimity that flowed like wind and clouds through their perceptions.
"...'Love People'?" Evenheiler murmured. As the Great God leaned down to watch him with eyes like lakes of blood, he instinctively moved to step back, but ultimately took a step forward. "The you I know... wasn't like this," he said. Lei Ting knew he must be thinking of something else—because Lei Ting was thinking of it too. "That version of you was more..."
"Mad," The Lover said softly. "I know..."
"You know?" Lei Ting frowned. He was startled by the implications of those words. If The Lover knew from the very beginning that its future self would become a collection of super-powered emotional disorders, why would it allow itself to become that?
The unwritten future was infinite. Did it truly have no chance to change?
Anyone knew that when facing an unknown and shifting future, calmness and rationality were far superior to disordered sentimentality or madness. So...
"...You actively submitted to such a 'fate'?"
Lei Ting’s breath hitched at the thought, even though he didn't truly need to breathe, and the air in the 'Bottom of Spirit' was too thin to support actual respiration. He could feel that Evenheiler felt the same. The two of them watched The Lover amidst the space-time fluctuations that were gradually warping the surrounding area, waiting for a response.
"Perhaps. I do not know... for the 'me' of now is not yet the 'me' who truly makes that choice," the newborn Great God said.
Its 'life' had existed for less than three minutes, yet it possessed a natural, clear self-awareness. Having read through the future even before its full emergence, its gaze was deep and gentle, like an old man who had seen through the vanities of the world after enduring countless hardships, or like a clean mirror.
"But I think..." It smiled, closing its eyes and lowering its head to touch its own chest. "...If I truly accepted that fate, it must be because my self-destruction leads to a better future."
The fluctuations of time and space swayed. In the gloom, the two of them stared dazed at the massive colossus.
It was white all over, surrounded by a dim red glow. That red flowed through the starless dark, pure and soft, as clean as the blood of the righteous described in scripture. But a brighter light emanated from between its jade-white fingers—a beam of light like a sharp sword. It was crimson as blood, steady and eternal, with gold-like ripples at its edges. Within it, something bright, dazzling, and hard as iron faintly existed.
It existed as the heart of The Lover.
Before Evenheiler could register much, Lei Ting suddenly took a step forward. His eyes widened, staring fixedly at the stable gold diffused within that crimson radiance. He looked at its smooth, hard surface and listened to that silent, long hum—and to the contract he himself would sign with it thousands of years in the future.
"......"
Lei Ting was in disbelief.
Darkness pressed in from all sides, and the red light surfaced of its own accord to shield the two of them from the pressure. In his increasingly narrowing final field of vision, he slowly opened his mouth and softly called out that name: "...'Radiant Exemplar'."
Evenheiler whipped his head around, his expression shocked. "What?"
Lei Ting patted his arm, his gaze slowly sliding upward to watch the jade colossus’s eyes, which had not opened again.
"'Radiant Exemplar'..." he said hoarsely. "...It is your heart, isn't it?"
The Lover did not answer. It only smiled. A gentle smile. An unchanging smile.
***
Falling from the azure sky of yet another old era, Lei Ting and Evenheiler did not immediately begin to fly. Instead, they remained in a state of freefall for a brief moment.
A gold and a white meteor plummeted one after the other, both trailing long red comet tails. The friction between their protective energy and the atmosphere caused a blaze to erupt. Within it, they felt the chill of the heights and the heat that dispelled it, lost in deep contemplation.
Both were profoundly shaken by what had just occurred.
They had witnessed fleet warps and the shattering of stars. They had seen tangible jets of energy impact all things, making planets bloom like flowers upon a black canvas. The galaxy seemed peaceful but was actually noisy; a single flash could mean the passing of billions of lives. A moment’s blooming, an eternal end—this was the eternal theme for artists of the interstellar era.
But even so, they were shocked by the truth: the most mad, disordered, and broken human super-powered entity, known for doing the wrong things with the best intentions, actually possessed its own rationality.
Or rather... it once had.
Furthermore, that star of pure rationality had once been its heart—the core that supported its existence.
The 'Radiant Exemplar' was the heart of 'The Lover'... This statement was even more absurd than 'The Lover possesses rationality.' What was even more absurd was that it was actually true.
"I..." Evenheiler suddenly spoke.
Amidst the whistling wind of their descent through the night, his voice rang directly in Lei Ting’s mental perception, just as it always did. A moment later, he fell silent again, until they were only a short while away from slamming into the ground and bringing an extraterrestrial impact to this planet.
"...I’m a little sad, Lei Ting," he said quickly, his gaze aimlessly watching the night sky and the stars. "The Lover’s love for humanity is genuine. It wasn't that mad from the start. This proves its madness was a kind of..."
*...A kind of sacrifice,* he thought.
A kind of... pathetic yet respectable sacrifice, the full scope of which he did not yet know, but the pain of which he understood clearly. A rational, stable being had, for some purpose, physically torn away a part of itself, splitting itself into two different concepts, two independent and powerful individuals.
How much pain was in that? How much sorrow? How many precious things had this individual lost because of it? A complete, rational mind, clearly radiating benevolence and tenderness...
That was every kind of 'love' a 'human' could understand. Yet it had become so broken over time.
Lei Ting closed his eyes and gave his waist a sharp twist. The robes he had brought from the Aegean coast fluttered in the sky. He spun, using his super-powered strength to neutralize the impact of inertia. The beautiful silk whipped through the low-altitude night wind with a piercing crack.
Evenheiler likewise halted his downward momentum. Unlike Lei Ting’s rigid maneuver that lacked any buffer, his precise, elegant, high-frequency energy resonance allowed the force of the impact to scatter outward. With him as the center, a beautiful spray of silver stardust exploded in all directions, the light drifting down like holographic nebula fireworks.
They were in a desert. They landed one after the other on the crest of a sand dune and retracted their surrounding energy. A cold wind whipped past, carrying grit, but it failed to penetrate the Orion skin armor.
"I have to say," Lei Ting’s voice was low, "I... am afraid."
These words left Evenheiler stunned. "...Afraid?"
He looked at Lei Ting blankly, thinking to himself: *Kid, I’ve seen you do so many big things before and I’ve never seen you afraid... and now you say you’re afraid?*
But if Lei Ting said it, he must have his reasons. Therefore, Evenheiler steadied his voice and asked, "Afraid of what?"
"You know that super-powered entities can influence their respective races or organizations, but the reverse is also true—the connection works both ways." Lei Ting sighed. His handsome features looked dark and inscrutable in the deep night of the desert. "So, rather than saying super-powered entities are 'gods' who can manipulate a race, it’s more accurate to say they are merely a tool, a machine, a switch. Or... it has always been the civilization manipulating itself, and the shattering of 'The Lover' was also humanity’s collective choice..."
He looked up at the stars, easily finding the star of the New Solar System. Currently uninfected by civilization, it wasn't actually that far away, happily emitting its light as it drifted through the starry sky along its orbit.
"...If that’s the case, then we aren't exactly the murderers, but we aren't entirely innocent either," he said.
"You’re being difficult again," Evenheiler pointed out coldly. "Can you wake up a bit and stop torturing yourself every day with this logic of self-reflection and self-blame? Do you realize that while some words might sound wise coming from an ordinary person, coming from you, they just sound like an Emperor issuing an Edict of Self-Reproach?"
"?" Lei Ting was startled, immediately snapping out of his previous mood. His eyes rounded in a rare show of surprise. "Emperor? Who are you calling that, Uncle! I don't do that feudal monarchy stuff!"
"Fine, that’s my mistake, sorry... But seeing your reaction, you’ve controlled the Federation for so many years—didn't you have a few guys who wanted to earn kingmaker's merit and try to 'drape you in the yellow robe'?" Evenheiler was a bit puzzled. "That’s not right; that’s exactly the style of those people in the Federation..."
"Some people tried," Lei Ting answered honestly.
"And then?"
"I gave them a month to prepare."
"The result?"
"Then I killed everyone I lured out," Lei Ting said flatly.
As he spoke, he walked slowly along the ridgeline of the sand dune, letting sand pour into his greave-clad sandals. Evenheiler followed behind him, the bright moon outlining their dark silhouettes. The moonlight was as clear as water.
"Humanity finally managed to rid itself of thousands of years of feudalism. As a talent cultivated by the resources of all humanity, I have a responsibility and an obligation to eliminate them," Lei Ting said.
His tied-back black hair fluttered in the night wind, the strands brushing through the air as the wind tangled in their tips. Evenheiler squinted slightly in the breeze Lei Ting blocked for him, saying softly, "You haven't told the whole truth."
"......"
Lei Ting fell silent. For a moment, his expression was solemn, and he said nothing. But in his heart, he recalled his feelings at the time.
Back then, he had just blown up a few more planets and killed tens of billions of people—look how absurd it was, that such a thing could be summarized so lightly with a string of numbers or a few words.
With a heavy heart, he had returned to the capital planet and sat in Drip Garden No. 2202 for two hours. Then, he threw himself into new work: even though most Federation affairs were handled by the Vice Speaker and the Council, as the Speaker, he had work that 'could not be delegated.'
A few days later, while he was correcting a mountain of official documents and transfer orders in the command system, he suddenly received a request for a joint visit from a group of people.
...Half an hour later, his blood pressure had risen slightly at those fellows' roundabout hints.
Don't ask why it was only 'slightly'—you had to realize that was something an ordinary 'S-rank' couldn't achieve even if they risked their life. For him, killing a high-level super-powered individual who seemed like a god to a commoner was as simple as dusting off a stray hair. Moreover, back then, he still had 'Stillness' to control his emotions.
But at that moment, whether through sentiment or reason, he fully realized... there was still too much dust on the table where humanity ate and played, waiting to be swept clean!
Therefore, in his heart, he had cursed those idiots.
*—So you want to play at autocracy in the interstellar era of human civilization, huh? Gotten used to being rulers and the privileged class and want to be real 'nobles,' do you?*
*—Idiots! I’ll scatter your ashes to the winds! I’m a man of my word!*
The solemn-faced Federation Speaker narrowed his eyes slightly. He paused his steps, his deep and tranquil gaze fixed on a bright star on the horizon. After a few breaths, watching a streak of crimson fire flying from afar, he said, "...Fine, I admit, I had a bit of a personal grudge."
Evenheiler smiled with great interest. "Just a bit?"
"Just a billion bits," Lei Ting’s voice was calm.
He watched the fire descend into the desert, exploding into a massive cloud of sand. Kotares, from whom they had only just parted a moment ago, stepped out from within it, his crimson hair fluttering in the night.
With a look of genuine surprise and enthusiasm on his face, along with a perfectly measured sense of closeness, he stepped forward quickly with open arms, then suddenly switched to a handshake. "Good evening, good evening! It’s been a long time since I last saw you two!"
