Exorcist's Self-Cultivation-Chapter 426 - : 422, Stick to Oneself (Third Update)
Chapter 426: 422, Stick to Oneself (Third Update)
“I am not me” is a philosophical pseudo-proposition.
Just like the Ship of Theseus that Evil Spirit Du Wei and Du Wei once discussed in a conversation.
A wooden ship sails across the sea, its parts constantly being replaced.
After several years, all the parts of the ship have been replaced, from the deck to the mast.
Then, with this as a premise,
if a new ship is assembled with the replaced parts, is that ship still the original one?
...
If so, then what is the current ship?
From a philosophical perspective, it’s impossible to give a definite answer.
Du Wei does not deny the existence of Evil Spirit Du Wei.
Because he knows that in a way, Evil Spirit Du Wei indeed is his past self.
But he does not deny himself, either.
Thus,
in this dissection room,
Du Wei looked at the Evil Spirit version of himself and slowly said, “A person’s life is like a rushing river, from birth to death, from beginning to end.”
“In this process, emotions, life, decisions, costs.”
“All sorts of things are like the froth on the waves of the river, constantly appearing, or they might be a pebble, a grain of sand, sinking to the bottom of the river.”
“I can’t deny my past, but I also won’t deny my present, nor my future.”
“I admit I am becoming ‘not me’, so I bear it, so I accept it.”
“Change is normal, but what remains unchanged is the self.”
“If one day I become another being, then that being is definitely not me.”
As his voice fell,
Du Wei pointed to his own head, his eyes cold and resolute, not wavering in the slightest.
“I’ve made many plans to kill you, in the open and in secret, we’ve fought countless battles.”
“So I often wonder, if I were you, what are my chances of winning?”
“In the end, I concluded that they are virtually zero.”
“But I don’t like that result, because I have a lover, friends, even a subordinate with mental illness; I have attachments, even if my humanity is slipping away more and more seriously.”
“I am almost unable to experience the so-called love, the so-called friendship…”
“I can only rationally tell myself that I have attachments, that I can’t die at your hands.”
Upon hearing this,
Evil Spirit Du Wei clenched his right hand, the entire Joker Card embedded into his flesh.
Behind it,
there were three wounds, two of them cuts, and one looking like a bloody hole gouged by sharp claws—an act of the Evil Spirit.
The black coat was already stained with blood.
The body that Evil Spirit Du Wei controlled was nearly failing, its lung injuries causing it to cough up blood incessantly.
Looking at his other self, it persisted in walking over.
“So… your plan is… is to die together with me?”
Evil Spirit Du Wei could not understand.
“This isn’t what you should be doing.”
“So-called humanity will only make you weak!”
“Suicide is the greatest cowardice; have you forgotten everything you did to kill that damn beast?”
What Evil Spirit Du Wei referred to was the past revenge.
“You make me furious! How can you be me!!”
It spat out a mouthful of blood, pointing at its other self, blood from the corner of its eyes trailing down its cheek.
It despised this version of itself.
It adhered to everything from the past, clinging to the name Du Wei.
But Du Wei slowly said, “I haven’t forgotten; my plan was to pit those demons, buses, the Horror House, and even the school against you, while I myself would enter here if I could hold out until you died at the hands of those ghostly creatures, I’d leave and take back my body.”
“But plans always fail to keep up with changes.”
“I’d already imagined you as horrifying enough, but I didn’t anticipate I’d still underestimated you.”
“Should I say, worthy of being another me?”
“So, I had to find another way, preparing to die together with you.”
“I hate this world, but I can always do something for those people, those who reason alone tells me about.”
“Even if I handed my body over to you, your nature would drive you to kill Alex, Tom, and others.”
These words didn’t sound like something Du Wei would say.
Evil Spirit Transformation made him gradually lose his humanity, and coupled with his naturally aloof personality, otherwise he wouldn’t only have three friends by now: Tom, Father Tony, and Ryan.
But in reality,
Du Wei is human…
And humans have weaknesses.
He used to disdain everything, but aside from that, he had nothing.
The Evil Spirit Du Wei was even more pitiable.
As long as it didn’t truly take back its body, as long as it was still the Evil Spirit Du Wei, it could only live in the past forever.
At this moment.
Du Wei suddenly took out his cellphone, looked at the first name in the contact list—Alex, and below that, Tom, Father Tony, Slivka, Jon, Mrs. Senna, and those patients who had sought his psychological counseling.
Even the phone number that didn’t exist in reality was annotated with Ryan.
But that was all he could do.
Because here was his consciousness, the phone only existed in his dreams…
Du Wei silently put the phone in his pocket and touched his own face.
He tried to make some expressions.
But after trying, he abandoned the futile effort.
“I can’t find a way to kill you, so I can only perish together with you.”
“It’s time to end this…”
Du Wei’s voice was still indifferent, he looked at his evil spirit self and the body that was already dying, and slowly closed his eyes.
Whoosh…
The lights in the morgue vanished in an instant.
Everything plunged into darkness.
And the Demon Nun who was blocked outside the door, walked in.
…
At this very moment.
Late at night, in New York’s Red Light District.
Tom and Father Tony, arm in arm, were drinking whiskey, leering at the graceful women twisting their bodies on the dance floor.
“Ah, this is the life a man should live! It’s a pity, Mr. Du Wei didn’t want to come, otherwise, if the three of us teamed up, it would have been too amazing!”
“No helping it, my good brother is too decent. I thought he was just pretending at first, but he turned out to be serious, fuck! Sooner or later, I’ll bring him here to experience the ultimate pleasure of the human world.”
…
Elsewhere.
In Furman District.
Alex, wearing an oversized hoodie, browsed through web page images with interest, her hair had been dyed back to silver, appearing even more sharp and edgy.
If you looked closely, all those web page images were about interior decoration concepts.
She had already bought a villa and was waiting for her boyfriend to return from church school to design their new home’s decoration plan.
This was their promise.
…
In Switzerland.
Inside Dusk Bell Church.
Ryan, dressed in a white coat, wearing a stethoscope he’d obtained from God knows where, listened carefully to James lying on the bed, who had long since stopped breathing.
Standing next to him were members of Dusk Bell Church.
They were all bowing their heads silently mourning over the body of James.
But Ryan tilted his head and said, “I think he can still be saved.”
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…
In the psychology counseling clinic.
The Antique Clock hung on the wall, its hands moving continuously, the speed getting faster and faster.
Next to it, in the framed cabinet was Annabelle. It had returned and was furiously banging against the glass door of the cabinet.
Suddenly…
Click.
The hands of the clock stopped.
Then, the hour hand, minute hand, and second hand, from a state of overlap, pointed separately to 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, and 9 o’clock.
A strange fluctuation appeared in the living room.
In the blink of an eye, the entire psychology counseling clinic seemed to come alive, possessing some kind of will.
Black mist instantly filled every corner, the framed cabinet was engulfed in it.
A pale arm extended from the Antique Clock, on the back of the hand was a black pattern of clock hands identical to those on Du Wei.
But it seemed that certain conditions had not yet been met, and the arm could only helplessly retract.
Then, all the anomalies disappeared along with it.
The hands of the Antique Clock started spinning wildly again.
Click-click-click…
The entire Antique Clock was shaking, along with the walls, the house, the ground…
New York City, not situated on an earthquake belt, was hit by an earthquake…
