Chapter 30: The Angry Group
If they wanted Nexus to stay, he’d stay. If they wanted him to leave, he naturally had no objections either. But before leaving, Nexus still added a few words.
Mark’s kindness toward Nexus was only enough for Nexus to help him this much. If Mark still insisted on being stubborn, then that was his fate, and interfering would be pointless.
"You were never alone. You just locked yourself inside the illusion that you were special. This world is vast, and you’re only a part of it. Carrying everything on your shoulders won’t make you feel any better. Pay more attention to the things around you. The day will come when you’ll realize what you’ve been through wasn’t actually as terrible as you always thought."
To someone like Nexus, who had existed through countless eras, Mark was nothing more than a hot-headed kid who understood nothing about this world.
His perspective was that of an immortal existence. A perspective shared by beings like angels and even demons on this plane.
Had these beings ever died before? Some hadn’t, some had, and some had even died many times. Just like Lailah, who had only recently obtained a human body, she had already experienced death twice.
To mortals, death was terrible, but to these beings, death was also an experience they should go through to complete themselves, if it was necessary to perfect the path that belonged to them.
Bringing it down a level, speaking from the perspective of mortals, what Nexus said wasn’t entirely meaningless.
When you love this world, you’ll also feel that this world loves you. It’s like unrequited love. When you’re in love with someone who doesn’t return your feelings, don’t you still feel happy? The world may never become someone who gives you a passionate kiss, but it also won’t deliberately become something cruel that tramples all over you.
Isn’t it true that when you secretly love someone, as long as they don’t treat you badly, that’s already enough to make you happy? So why expect so much from this world when you ask so little from another person?
When you see everything you’ve gone through as not being the end, then the bad things are nothing more than necessary lessons leading you to your true ending.
Furthermore, when you’re miserable and make your own life worse, does that change the bad things that already happened? No. Nothing changes at all. Negative emotions are how you turn heaven into a hell that only you live in.
"Hahahaha..."
Mark laughed. What an awful laugh it was. Was he angry? No. Sad? Not that either. Happy? Even less so.
He didn’t understand what he was feeling right now. It was hard to describe, but after those unpleasant laughs, Mark felt much lighter.
All this time, he had always believed he had to be the one to avenge his family. He had to destroy Bell’s family. He had to make them suffer just like they once had.
But thinking about it now... if they suffered, wouldn’t they try to get revenge on Mark if he actually succeeded?
That vicious cycle would keep repeating until one side was completely dead or everyone died together. In the end, who would be happy?
Mark? Bell’s family? Or... no one at all?
No matter what the answer was, the road leading to that answer was exhausting for everyone involved.
Looking at Nexus’s back, Mark wanted to apologize, but his legs felt as heavy as lead. The shame kept him from stepping forward.
By coincidence, Nexus was heading toward Mark’s house, making him feel a little relieved. This way, he had time to prepare himself and give a proper apology.
Did I go a little too far?
Seeing Mark quietly trailing behind him, Nexus had this kind of thought for the first time. His perspective had never been that of a mortal, so he basically had no empathy for Mark.
A child who had lost both his father and mother, who had once lived a life of luxury but now struggled just to earn enough for each meal. Looking at his skinny body and pale skin, it was obvious he ate very little, and even then, it was just whatever he could find to survive day by day.
Life had turned a teenager once full of hope for the future into this. If just a few words from Nexus were enough to lift Mark’s spirits, then the one who deserved praise was Mark, not Nexus.
Even though they were no longer walking side by side like before, they just so happened to take the same route all the way to the cheap apartment complex where Mark lived.
This coincidence was a little... Alright, there was no coincidence here at all. Mark’s attitude had changed quickly enough to spark a bit of Nexus’s interest again.
It was just a little disappointing that after walking for so long, Mark still only dared to follow behind instead of catching up. Mark was afraid that if he walked ahead of Nexus, Nexus would choose a different path, so he deliberately walked that slowly.
The apartment complex, usually quiet, was strangely lively today. It was almost like someone was holding a fan meeting here.
In front of Nexus was a group of muscular men, some of them carrying baseball bats or other wooden clubs. Some were standing, some were sitting, but all of them looked completely exhausted.
Their eyes looked like they were about to close from sleepiness, yet hidden beneath them was burning anger.
Whether it was because of some conflict or because they’d been waiting in the dark for so long that mosquitoes had bitten their arms, legs, and faces, swelling them and leaving them furious, was still unclear.
Even though he didn’t recognize everyone, Nexus clearly remembered that nearly half of these people had been standing behind him in line.
The moment they saw someone approaching, the whole group perked up. But when Nexus’s face came into view under the dim lights, every one of them looked as if they had accidentally swallowed a fly.
Everyone here knew Nexus was Bell’s debtor. If they attacked Nexus, it would be the same as disrespecting Bell, so none of them wanted to get into a conflict with him.
The whole group stared at one another in confusion. They had clearly investigated thoroughly and confirmed this was where Mark lived. But how the hell had Nexus shown up before Mark did?