Elf Archer of Life in Another World

"Does he know who you are?"

Nian Nian turned slightly sideways, glanced at the direction Song Qing had just left, turned back to look at the familiar yet unfamiliar Imperial Master, and asked.

"Maybe he knows, but he won't care."

The Imperial Master said, and a gentle smile appeared on the face that looked exactly like Simil. It had a gentleness that had nothing to do with Simil himself, but also had a strange sense of reality that was far from him.

Those eyes are too calm.

The lustrous and warm pupils in the eyes, just the right amount of highlight, the slightly glassy whites of the eyes, and the clearly visible eyelashes around the eyes. When combined together, only one word comes to mind every year: precision.

It stands to reason that the expressions of every person in the game, whether players or NPCs, including all subtle muscle movements, will be accurate data expressions. Otherwise, we would not hate those guys who read her face without permission every year.

But inexplicably, Niannian only felt that the accuracy shown by this person had a special sense of violation, as if he had accidentally gone too far when imitating a real person.

If the expression is a faithful reflection of the heart, then this person's inner fluctuation will probably always switch between the zero starting point and the perfect end point, and will not be like other people who are undergoing subtle deviation swings all the time.

"Why, are you still angry about what Song Qing said just now?"

The arc of the smile remains unchanged, and even the intonation of the question is so precise that no reference value is needed to measure the error.

In an instant, Nian Nian put Song Qing and his words behind him, and faithfully expressed his heart in words:

"When you were a deer before, I always felt that you looked very human. But now that you have really become a human, why do I feel...that you don't look much like a human anymore?"

The words were very direct, and as soon as they were spoken, Niannian immediately remembered Song Qing's evaluation of her: without thinking. As for whether this was stupidity or recklessness, Niannian still wanted to be tougher for a while.

The curvature of the corner of the Imperial Master's mouth rose slightly, just enough so that Nian Nian could see that his good mood had risen to another level.

"You just care too much about appearance, and most people are like that. When the appearance of others is different from yours, you will persistently look for things that are similar to yourself; and when faced with appearances that are similar to yourself, you will look for things that are different from yourself.

things, and fortunately, human beings can always find results that satisfy themselves, even though the core on the outside never actually changes."

Nian Nian sighed. She just said her thoughts casually, but the topic turned to all human beings again.

Let’s not talk about whether she can represent all mankind, or whether she herself is not qualified as a human being.

"You really like to be reasonable as always." In the end, Nian Nian could only think of this dry response.

The Imperial Master's smile did not change, he raised his hand and looked at Nian Nian:

"Sit down."

Chongshan Ruliu was sitting in front of the stone table, and the candle in front of her suddenly "crackled". Looking at the dancing candlelight, Nian Nian seemed to be waiting for the next spark to explode, and fell into a nervous silence while writing.

The mission target she had been thinking about was sitting defenselessly opposite her, and the surroundings were silent. Not only had Song Qing's footsteps disappeared long ago, but even the attendant who led the way had unknowingly withdrawn from Nian Nian's hearing.

scope.

"Don't you want to ask something?"

The words of the Imperial Master passed through the candlelight between the two, with a burning coolness, making Niannian feel that this person actually knew what his goal was from the beginning.

As if out of anger, Nian Nian quickly found a suitable question:

"Do you know the person named Song Qing just now?"

"know."

Once again, Nian Nian felt that the two-word answer she got was probably synonymous with "stupid".

Nian Nian began to gnash his teeth inwardly and poke Song Qing in the forehead, blaming this man for scolding him a lot before leaving, and his mind was still confused at the moment.

And looking at the way this man smuggled himself into the palace with ease, and there was not even a shadow of a guard along the way, this guy was definitely a bad official who formed a clique and took bribes for personal gain! He was a bad guy with ulterior motives!

Poking and prodding, Nian Nian suddenly thought of the world mission that Jiang Jinse had mentioned in the prison at that time, especially the team of survivors coming from the southern coast, the last step where something obviously went wrong.

Hit by an unbelievable guess, she suddenly raised her head, stared at the Imperial Master in astonishment, and said in shock:

"Could it be?! Could it be that Song Qing helped you enter the palace and let you see the emperor?"

The Imperial Master nodded slightly, and the arc was so precise that he completed the two movements from nodding to raising his head in just one second.

"Why would he do this? What's in it for him? It should also be risky, right?"

Nian Nian pressed her. If Song Qing hadn't been here, she would have wanted to grab this man's collar and shake his brains out.

If he hadn't been so troublesome, there wouldn't have been so many messy things in the game! How dare he say that she causes trouble every year? He is clearly the one who causes trouble the most, right?

"For him personally, what he got was great power, and for the forces he belonged to, what they got was a unique opportunity. That's why he took the risk and secretly brought me into the palace and let me be the wandering prophet.

I stood before the emperor with my identity, and helped me gain the emperor’s trust.”

As expected, the Imperial Master is still the same as when he was a deer in the Qinling Mountains, and his frankness makes Niannian feel embarrassed.

Nian Nian curled his lips and said: "In the end, this person is doing it for himself, and he does not consider the interests of other people in the game. He is selfish! He is indeed a bad person who does bad things!"

"There is such a sentence in my database, I think it makes sense."

The Imperial Master raised his hand and snapped his fingers, and a page of yellowed and old paper suddenly appeared next to the two of them. The paper was stretched, and on the side facing Nian Nian, an invisible pen was writing a line in gorgeous and slender cursive.

Lines of black text:

it may helpunderstand human affairsbe ​​clear that most the great triumphs and tragedieshistory are caused, notpeople being fundamentally goodfundamentally bad, but people being fundamentally people.(Note 1)

"You want to say that that guy is not a bad person, but he is not a good person either?" Nian Nian concluded.

"What I want to say is that from the nature of human beings, there is no need to define good or bad in what he does."

I sigh again every year. I haven’t seen you for a while. Does this guy have a great ambition to be a mentor to mankind?

"And looking at it from another perspective, what I do cannot be defined by good or bad."

After thinking about it, Nian Nian stood up and stretched. He didn't say anything anymore, and just started to circle around the pavilion. While sorting his thoughts with the oncoming night breeze, he picked up Song Qing's words again and thought about them carefully.

She had simulated many possible situations on the way here. Each possibility was designed to increase her chances of escape, because in all the possibilities she imagined, the Imperial Master would die tonight.

In her hand.

She may take action as soon as they meet, she may be in the mood to reminisce about old times, she may take action quickly after a disagreement, or she may regretfully let this acquaintance renew her relationship again out of sympathy.

After all, such an opportunity is really rare, and she has a strong will to not be refreshed and a selfish reason why she cannot be refreshed.

In fact, no matter what she imagined, she didn't think she could escape 100%, so when the palace door closed, she couldn't help but worry a little, and also lingered on the world outside the palace door at that moment.

But now, Niannian suddenly wants to put aside this mission and this guy with unknown nature, Simil, and freely make a choice without being influenced by others.

And if you want to make choices freely, Nian Nian feels that you can only have true freedom of choice after fully understanding the consequences of different choices.

After Nian Nian walked back to the pavilion, the Imperial Master was still sitting at the stone table. Looking at Nian Nian's approaching face, he showed a smile with the same curvature of his mouth as before:

"Are you planning to kill me?"

"No," Nian Nian shook his head and calmly sat back on the stool opposite the Imperial Master, looking directly into his eyes, "I want to ask clearly first, if I kill you here, what will happen to the current situation in the future?

what happens?"

Note 1: From "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman.