Chapter 47: Wei Pingsheng's Wish

However, Wei Pingsheng interrupted him:

"You want to become Tao Ran. You want to use the life he traded his own to preserve to save even more lives. In that way, every single person you save becomes a continuation of Tao Ran's life!"

"Only then will you feel better in your heart, won't you?"

Ren Jie gritted his teeth, finding himself speechless, and could only silently clenching his fists.

Wei Pingsheng gave a bitter smile. "You foolish child, do you not know that there is no end to saving people? As long as the demonic calamity exists in this world for even a single day, tragedies will continue to unfold endlessly!"

"Demons are the root cause of all these tragedies. Serving as a Resplendent Guardian cannot curb the outbreak of demonic calamities; we are merely patching up this tattered world."

"Yet, by becoming a Demon Suppression Officer and constantly pressing forward, it is entirely possible to change this world."

"Go and become stronger. Go hunt demons and stem the demonic calamity at its source. That will be far more valuable than being a Resplendent Guardian. Sometimes, slaughter is also a form of redemption!"

"Do not waste your talent..."

Ren Jie shook his head.

"What talent do I have? There are so many people in this world just like me, and geniuses are countless. I am not missed..."

"I do not consider myself special, nor do I dream of becoming some great hero who can save the world. In this world, just as some are exceptional, others are mediocre."

"I merely wish to be an ordinary person, to live well, to steadily get through my simple days, and to protect the people I care about. Is that wrong? Becoming a Demon Suppression Officer is not the only path in life..."

Wei Pingsheng took a deep breath. "Indeed, there is nothing wrong with that. But things in life rarely go as one wishes eight or nine times out of ten. Who can truly say what the future holds?"

"You feel you have no talent and are not unique, do you? Little do you know that everything you possess is something countless people yearn for day and night!"

"Look at those mechanical cyborgs, look at those ordinary people who can only drift with the current, and then look at me!"

Ren Jie was taken aback, staring at Wei Pingsheng in astonishment.

"Uncle Wei? You..."

Wei Pingsheng let out a bitter smile, exhaled a puff of smoke, and turned his head to gaze at the setting sun, which dyed the evening glow on the horizon as crimson as blood...

"I am merely an ordinary person who never awakened any abilities, as ordinary as they come. When I was young, I too dreamed of becoming a Divine Favored, a Demon Pact bearer, or a Genetic Martial Artist, possessing the power to overturn mountains and fill seas, to suppress the demonic calamity and change this world."

"But the god of fate has never favored me. At eighteen, unwilling to accept my lot, I joined the Resplendent Bureau, hoping to try my hand at genetic serums, to take a gamble, full of ambition to achieve something remarkable."

"Yet no matter how much money was poured in or how many needles of genetic serum were injected, I simply could not awaken any ability."

"I thirsted for power, for strength, for that power to change the world, but I had none. I even tried cybernetic surgery and genetic transplantation, all of which failed. For that, I lost an eye and a liver..."

Pulling open his shirt, a surgical scar appeared exceptionally glaring...

Ren Jie frowned deeply:

"So... you became a martial artist?"

Wei Pingsheng sighed. "Yes~ That is the only path left for an ordinary person like me. I trained day and night, studying combat techniques, fantasizing that I could walk this path of a martial artist to the end and forge a unique path of my own."

"But... in the end, it was merely a fantasy. I am too ordinary. I am like an inconspicuous blade of grass, struggling desperately to grow, yet unable to stand out from the vast prairie."

"Unable to see a way out, I once thought of leaving the Resplendent Bureau, but... you know, after staying for so long and experiencing so much, I simply couldn't bear to leave..."

"My life is not just my own; it belongs to my fallen comrades as well. Bearing their unfulfilled wishes, many old folks remain in the squad, each harboring their own reasons..."

Ren Jie fell silent. He had known Uncle Wei for a long time, and the man had often taken care of his family, but this was the first time they had ever sat down together for such a heart-to-heart talk.

Wei Pingsheng tilted his head to look at the sky. "I never married. I had a girlfriend once, but we broke up. I was afraid that if I had attachments and longing, I wouldn't dare to risk my life anymore..."

"Yet after struggling for the better part of my life, I haven't achieved any notable success. But I do not regret it. Even now, I still yearn for power, yearning to change this world."

"I want the demonic calamity to vanish completely; I want all demons in this world to retreat, leaving behind an era of peace and prosperity!"

Ren Jie stared blankly at Wei Pingsheng. As he spoke those words, there was a light in his eyes. Even though he was forty-eight years old, he still poured out his dreams with the spirit of a youthful boy.

Who has not been young?

Wei Pingsheng smiled. "But I've come to terms with it now. After this mission, I'll probably retire. Going out to fish, playing Chinese chess, and chatting idly with the grandpas and grandmas at the neighborhood entrance sounds pretty good too..."

"However... Xiao Jie, you are different. You have talent. You possess the things I only ever dreamed of having. Truly, I envy you."

"I am a blade of grass; the end of my path is visible at a glance. But you are different. You are a sapling. You have the potential to stand out, to grow into a towering tree that can shield the endless fields of grass from the wind and rain, and perhaps even conquer new frontiers for the human race!"

"Do not waste your life in vain. When a person walks this world, they should either do so with a thunderous roar or leave ripples that stir the soul. Do not make this trip in vain."

With that, Wei Pingsheng looked at Ren Jie with expectation and hope, a smile on his face.

Looking at Wei Pingsheng's profile, set against the backdrop of the setting sun, though lean, he appeared exceptionally towering...

This reminded Ren Jie of his own father. In his memory, his father's figure had long since blurred, but Wei Pingsheng's silhouette felt intimately familiar...

"I understand, Uncle Wei. I will think about it..."

Only then did Wei Pingsheng pat Ren Jie on the shoulder.

"You brat... your mouth is truly stubborn."

"Go and use every means possible to become stronger. Justice devoid of a sense of power will only bring despair to those who believe in it."

"You are different from me. The path your Uncle Wei chose has reached its end, but you... you must fly farther than I ever could, understand?"

"If Tao Ran knew all this, that kid would definitely show off to me, saying, 'Look, the kid I saved, isn't he impressive?' Hahahaha..."

"Do not live burdened by guilt. Just like what you told that child back then, if Tao Ran were still alive, he wouldn't want it this way either..."

Ren Jie rubbed his nose and nodded heavily, his eye sockets turning somewhat red.

"By the way, Uncle Wei, speaking of which, there is something I want to ask you. How much do you know about the Class-A demonic calamity in Jincheng ten years ago?"

"I remember ten years ago, you also went to reinforce Jincheng along with Uncle Tao, didn't you?"

That black pendant that had altered his destiny had an extraordinary origin and was likely inextricably linked to the Jincheng demonic calamity from a decade ago!

Naturally, Ren Jie wanted to figure out what had truly happened back then. He had only been eight years old that year; although he had personally experienced that calamity, what could an eight-year-old child possibly know?

His memories were somewhat vague.

It wasn't that Ren Jie hadn't tried investigating before, but useful information was scarce.

At the mere mention of this, Wei Pingsheng's expression turned utterly solemn, a trace of reluctant-to-recall fear dwelling deep within his pupils.