Absolute Choice

The topic of conversation suddenly became heavy.

However, Shi Xiaobai was not only fabricating a series of ridiculous stories. Instead, he was attempting to express certain thoughts of his.

That was probably an opportunity to go one step further in understanding him.

Dawn suddenly became nervous as she hesitated for a moment before she asked. “What did that human ask you?”

The boy’s head that was resting on her shoulder moved gently once again, but almost without any time needed to think, he responded. It was as if the question that made the King of kings realize his mistake really existed and was not something he made up from a flash of wit.

“The god that created the world and humans cursed a teenager on a particular day. He was cursed to see to feel excruciating pain if he were to see people in suffering.”

Shi Xiaobai began describing the question that changed the fate of the King.

“In order to avoid feeling pain, the teenager gave a helping hand to the people in suffering.”

“Not long later, the Creator made a counterfeit replica of the teenager.”

“The replica did not have a will of its own, but would do the same actions as the teenager. It would also give a helping hand to people in suffering.”

“The Creator gave the teenager and his replica the names ‘Good’ and ‘Pseudo-good’.”

“Which do you think is Good and which is Pseudo-good?”

It was not considered a complicated question, but the moral behind the story was not simple, and what was even more remarkable was the question at the end.

Between the teenager that gave a helping hand to the people in suffering and the imitation who was modeled after the teenager by the creator, which of them were named ‘Good’ and ‘Pseudo-good’ by the Creator?

There were only two possibilities to the answer which had a two-choose-one question.

Even if one answered with one’s intuition, there was a fifty percent chance of being correct.

In order to let the conversation continue on at a greater speed, saying the answer that immediately flashed in her mind would be the best choice, but this time, Dawn was not in a hurry. Instead, she began to seriously contemplate over the question.

To be able to hear his voice and his thoughts was obviously good.

But that was not enough to satisfy her. She needed too many things, and once she needed it, she would not be easily satisfied.

Only listening and pandering to him was not ‘chatting’.

Now, it was her turn to transmit her voice!

“First, the teenager is real, while the imitation that was a replica of the teenager can be considered a counterfeit. It can be said that one is real and the other is fake. Second, the teenager gave a helping hand to the people in suffering is no doubt an act of goodness, while the replica does not have a will of his own, so the goodness he does is only purely mimicry. Therefore, the teenager should be named ‘Good’, and the imitation should be called ‘Pseudo-good’. That is probably the answer that makes most logical sense.”

Dawn suddenly wished to move back a distance and see the expression and eyes of the boy, but she knew that doing so at that moment would be ‘against the rules’, so she could only forcefully curb her impulse.

“So, is that your answer?”

Shi Xiaobai said gently after a moment of silence.

A smile could not help but suffuse across Dawn’s lips because Shi Xiaobai had used an emotionless tone to ask his question. It was one that she was extremely proficient at, and it was obvious that he did not wish for his voice to reveal any effective information.

What a strict examiner.

She gradually shook her head and said softly, “Although it’s the answer that makes the most logical sense, it is not my answer, nor could it be the real answer. That is because ‘Good’ that pursues logic happens to be nothing but ‘Pseudo-good’.

“Yea.”

Shi Xiaobai grunted slightly and whispered, “Continue.”

Dawn nodded and slowly said, “Although the teenager lent a helping hand to everyone, the reason why he did so was because of the curse of the Creator. He was doing good only in order to avoid pain to himself. Although he was doing good, the motive was for himself. That is no doubt a form of pseudo-goodness.

“The imitation is different. He did not have his own will, and he was simply replicating the teenager’s actions. Lending a helping hand to everyone was a part of his existence, and his actions were out of instinct. There was no complication for personal gain, so he is the purest of pure good.”

“The teenager is Pseudo-good, while the imitation is Good. That is my answer!”

After providing her answer in one breath, Dawn immediately pushed Shi Xiaobai out of her embrace and reached out her hands to hold him by his shoulders. At the moment she opened up a distance, she leveled her eyes with his.

Indeed, that pair of black eyes were still as bright and dazzling. Although it should be like a black night sky, it was shimmering with the luster of stars.

“Well, is my answer correct?”

Although she could tell from his expression that she got the answer she wanted to know, she was eager to get actual confirmation.

Shi Xiaobai looked into her eyes for a moment before suddenly grinning. “At the beginning, This King answered the human in such a manner. You gave an identical answer like This King.”

Dawn was not surprised about the correctness of the answer, but when she heard the outcome, she still felt somewhat happy. She could not explain if she was feeling happy because of her correct response or if it was because she had the same answer as the boy.

Eh, the answer is correct?

Dawn suddenly thought of something and asked, “After you gave your answer, what did the human say in response? Is our answer correct?”

Dawn keenly noticed that Shi Xiaobai had mentioned that their answers were the same, but he did not directly answer her that her answer was correct or not.

Indeed, Shi Xiaobai’s expression suddenly turned serious as he looked deeply into her eyes and said, “That human did not give an answer, but instead questioned This King.”

Dawn asked in surprise, “Questioned you?”

Shi Xiaobai paused slightly, as though he was preparing the mood for the discussion. After that, he said words that were pregnant with meaning, “The reason why the imitation can purely do good is because it does not have his own will. It can’t think for itself. The teenager lent a helping hand to everyone but is called Pseudo-good because the good he does benefits him. His starting point is for himself, but the root of the reason was that the teenager possesses his own will. He knows how to think for himself. The difference between Good and Pseudo-good actually has to do with the motives behind the good-doer being self-serving or not.”

“Then, as a question, can humans with their own will be able to pursue pure goodness?”

“Humans are not machines. They have their own wills. It is impossible for them to be selfless even if they do good at the cost of their own interests. That is because he or she can receive a psychological fulfillment, and psychological fulfillment is also an interest that serves that person. It’s just the sacrifice and exchange of physical interests for psychological interests.”

“For example, a teenager sacrifices his life to save a hundred people. Why would he do so? That’s because in his mind, ‘saving a hundred people is ‘greater than’ saving himself’. After his own thought processes, he comes up with a choice he thinks is most right. By doing so, not only is he doing it for the hundred people, he is also doing it for himself, because the person who made the choice was himself. Of course, there exists the thought of ‘saving himself’ but he eventually acts to ‘save a hundred people’. Under such situations, his choice was clearly forced and not out of his own intentions. However, looking at it from another perspective, he had already made a choice between ‘acceptance’ and ‘resistance’. His actions are still part of his own intentions!”

“In the aforementioned description, it is impossible for humans to do pure good because humans have their own will. Humans can make choices, and the choice itself is an act that would serve oneself! Therefore, the ‘Good’ of humans cannot be called ‘Good’, but ‘Pseudo-good’!”

“Pseudo-good is called pseudo, and when the ‘pseudo’ is greater than ‘good’, it is actually distorted into ‘Evil’! When humans do something to satisfy their will in the name of doing good, proselytize one’s choice as Good, then ‘Good’ will become a weapon to conceal ‘selfishness’. Wouldn’t that change it to ‘Evil’?”

“Think about it, if the teenager was lending a helping hand to people in suffering because of the curse, and if one day, he encounters a sufferer that cannot be saved or redeemed, he would constantly endure the pain of the curse. But no matter how much he tries, he is unable to save the person from the abyss of suffering. Then, with saving ineffective, what would the teenager do to stop his pain? The teenager could very likely kill the sufferer that cannot be saved to save himself! That’s because when ‘Pseudo-good’ is forced to its extremes, it can unbridledly become ‘Evil’.”

“There is good and evil among people, but how is it to be distinguished? It is impossible for humans to do pure good. Most of it is pseudo-good, but even if it’s pseudo-good, it’s just a question of degree of evil.”

“Then, can good and evil really define the actions of human?”

“Does the concept of good and evil have any meaning to humans?”

“Is good and evil a prison for the ‘original sin’, or it is restraining one’s self-centeredness?”

“Although Your Majesty is the King that created good and evil, here’s a question. Was what Your Majesty created really good and evil?”

Shi Xiaobai’s expression turned mixed and complicated. When he reproduced every question, it was as if he was not only recounting a story from his memories, but also questioning himself once again.

He used a long silence to end ‘that human’s’ monologue and looked into the ice-blue eyes silently for a long period of time. Shi Xiaobai sighed and said, “That is what ‘that human’ questioned This King with the question that only had two options. It was also ‘that human”s…last words.”

Dawn was slightly surprised as she asked, “You killed him?”

Shi Xiaobai slowly shook his head, “It wasn’t This King. It was good and evil that killed him. Although good and evil is not life, it is an eternal law that transcends life. They were created by This King and they have no thoughts. They abide by the rules but somehow accidentally possessed a ‘personality’. It was surprisingly furious regarding ‘that human’s’ choice of sowing discord. Therefore, his existence was completely wiped out.”

Dawn could not help but smile, “A law with ‘personality’? That’s a very fresh and interesting way to put it. If I’m not wrong, you do not think that that human’s questioning was sowing discord. In fact, you generated doubts about the laws of good and evil, to the point of ‘revising’ it. Therefore your position as King wavered. Is that it?”

Shi Xiaobai’s eyebrows pricked up slightly before he said with a nod, “Yes, you guessed right. But This King never expected you to so quickly understand what This King is talking about and also be able to analyze its profound meaning. It’s a joy chatting with you.”

“Likewise.”