Chapter 395 - 184: Kill

Chapter 395: Chapter 184: Kill

Xu Mo looked at him and suddenly smiled, but there was no warmth in his smile.

"Justice," Xu Mo repeated. "Is justice something you get to define based on your own understanding?"

The man was stunned.

"Did you see me kill anyone?" Xu Mo asked.

"N-no..."

"Then how do you know I’m a murderer?"

"Old Zheng saw it!" the man shouted. "Old Zheng saw it with his own eyes!"

"Did Old Zheng see me fire the shot?"

The man’s mouth hung open, but no words came out.

Xu Mo pressed on, "Did Old Zheng see that the four of them shot at me first?"

Silence.

"Did Old Zheng see them chase me for over twenty minutes?"

More silence.

Xu Mo nodded.

"So, your so-called justice is to listen to someone who only saw the aftermath, chase down a stranger, and drag him back for execution. Is that your justice?"

The man’s lips moved. He wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

Xu Mo watched him, his eyes calm.

"Your justice is built on a one-sided story. You’ve never met me. You have no idea who I am or what happened. You heard one person’s account and immediately decided I was the bad guy, and that you were dispensing justice."

Xu Mo paused, nudging the barrel of the gun forward.

"A justice like that... is worthless."

BANG!

The gunshot rang out. The young man’s body shook violently, then fell limply to the ground. His eyes were still open, his expression frozen between terror and confusion.

The other two men trembled with fear. The one huddled in the grass even let out a sob.

Xu Mo aimed the gun at the second man.

The man looked up, his face a mess of tears and snot, his lips trembling too much to speak.

"Don’t... don’t kill me..." he finally managed to choke out a few words.

Xu Mo looked at him.

"Let me ask you," Xu Mo continued, "There were four of you. Why did only three of you give chase?"

The man froze for a moment, clearly not expecting Xu Mo to ask this.

"O-Old Qi..." he stammered. "Old Qi went back... went back to report..."

"Report what?"

"To report that you might not be a bad person."

Xu Mo’s eyes flickered slightly.

"If he thought I might not be a bad person, then why did you still chase me?"

"He told us not to chase you either, but we didn’t listen..."

Xu Mo nodded.

"Then why did you chase me?"

The man opened his mouth but couldn’t speak.

Xu Mo answered for him, "Because you thought your justice was more important than his judgment. Because you thought your anger was more important than the facts. Because you thought that someone who has killed deserves to die, no matter the reason."

The man lowered his head, not daring to speak.

Xu Mo looked at him, silent for two seconds.

"You know," he said, "if all of you had gone back to report, if you’d given Old Qi a chance to return and clarify the situation, perhaps there would have been another way. Perhaps you would have realized I was wrongly accused, and we wouldn’t be here now."

Xu Mo paused, raising the gun’s muzzle.

"But you didn’t. You chose to hunt me down. You chose to destroy my vehicle, leaving me stranded."

BANG!

The second man fell.

Xu Mo turned to the third man. He was huddled in the grass, trembling uncontrollably. Whimpering sounds escaped his lips, a mix of begging for his life and being scared senseless.

Xu Mo pressed the muzzle of the gun against his forehead.

The man lifted his head, his face covered in tears. His lips moved, and he finally managed to speak.

"Don’t kill me, I’m begging you..."

Xu Mo looked at him.

"I have a question for you."

"Just now, when you were shooting at my car, that young man was yelling, ’Don’t you love to talk all that twisted logic? Come out and talk some more!’ He was talking about me, wasn’t he?"

The man nodded desperately.

"So, what do you think now?" Xu Mo asked. "Is the logic I’ve been talking about twisted?"

The man froze. He opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what to say. His eyes were filled with terror, but also a flicker of thought. He was pondering the question, trying to figure out the answer that would let him live.

"No..." the man finally managed, his voice broken. "It’s not twisted logic... it’s the truth."

Xu Mo nodded.

"Since it’s not twisted logic, that means what I’m saying makes sense. That means I’m not the bad guy you thought I was. You admit that now, don’t you?"

The man nodded desperately.

Xu Mo continued, "So, if I’m not evil, but you attacked someone who isn’t evil, then what are you?"

The man was stunned.

"Are you the evil ones?" Xu Mo asked.

The man opened his mouth, speechless.

Xu Mo answered for him, "According to your logic, anyone who has killed is evil. You just shot at me, trying to kill me. That’s attempted murder. So, you’re evil too."

"You have zero tolerance for evil; that’s your rule. So what should I do now? Should I let you go?"

A flicker of hope flashed in the man’s eyes, but Xu Mo shook his head.

"No, I can’t," Xu Mo said, his voice like ice. "Since you are the evil ones, I have to abide by your rules and eliminate you. That’s the only way for your morality to remain untarnished."

The man shook his head frantically. "No... that’s not it..."

Xu Mo looked at him and sighed.

"You know,"

"I never wanted to kill anyone. I really didn’t. Outside Qinglin Town, I only shot out your tires. When you crept up on me that night, I just knocked you unconscious; I didn’t kill you. I even left you a blade so you could get free. I tried to reason with you, to tell you to go back and investigate."