Endless Debt

"Free...will?"

Boluogo looked at Aimu curiously.

In this situation, with an alchemy doll talking to him about free will, Boluogo found it strange, but at the same time he thought it was somewhat reasonable.

This is an absurd and weird world, and everyone should get used to it, whether it is Amu or Boluogo.

Boluogo's body relaxed, like the residual warmth after a bonfire party. Everyone gathered around the bonfire that was about to go out, chatting casually in peace as the darkness gradually swallowed everything up.

"You asked me what impact replacing the Philosopher's Stone would have on me. Regarding this, I really don't know what will happen specifically. I haven't experienced the replacement yet."

The core of perpetual motion runs smoothly. Behind the heavy metal, the bright and pure Philosopher's Stone remains in it, emitting soft light and mobilizing the remaining ether.

Aimu continued, "But I can vaguely guess it."

"Guess what happens next?"

"Well," Aimu was silent for a moment, and then asked, "Bologo, do you think my character is innate, or is it shaped by someone's influence?"

Boluogo did not respond immediately. Regarding this matter, Boluogo knew more than Amu himself knew. For a while, Boluogo had talked about all this with TEDA.

Aimu's character is not innate, she is influenced by someone, and a new life grows out of the shadow of her death.

Because of this influence, TEDA's understanding of Amu is gradually distorted, making it difficult to distinguish the difference between the two.

"Is it Alice?" Boluogo said coldly.

The halo in Aimu's eyes trembled for a few times, and soon stabilized again. She knew that this kind of thing could not be hidden from Boluogo, so she confirmed in a low voice.

"Um."

"I have never met Alice, and the teacher never tells anything about her, but I always feel that I know her very well, whether it is her thoughts, personality, or the way she acts..."

Aimu's voice became intermittent, and she was not sure how to describe the relationship between herself and Alice.

"I'm like...a shadow, Alice's shadow."

"You think you don't have a complete self. It's more like it was born under the influence of Alice, right?"

Boluogo had a questioning tone, but he knew very well that this was the fact. Aimu was affected by the mental projection, and her behavior would continue to move closer to Alice, but in any case, she was not Alice, and she could not Become Alice.

"Yes."

"Do you think this is bad?" Bologg asked again. "Do you think you are becoming someone you don't want to be?"

The atmosphere became silent, and Aimu did not reply immediately. The glow of ether slowly swam under the body. Aimu regained control of his body again, and the stiff alchemy doll made some movements.

"No, I think this is good," Aimu murmured, "Alice is a very good person. I like her and myself like this."

"But if you replace the Philosopher's Stone...you might become another person, right?" Bologg asked.

"I think it's like this. I will be affected by another philosopher's stone and become what that person was when he was alive. It will feel like death."

"Dead?" Boluogo couldn't understand.

"Alice's Aimu is no longer, but another Aimu, just like different models of machines. It is indeed me, but it is not me anymore." Aimu kept shaking his head, "I don't want it to be like that. .”

Boluogo took a long breath and muttered to himself.

"The body remains, but the soul has been replaced."

Boluogo looked deeply at Aimu. There was a dim light lingering on her body, and she reluctantly made some small movements.

Aimu's words were cold, but Boluogo could always feel a hint of sadness from under this cold body.

Aimu possesses a human will and way of cognition, but is bound by a steel body. Now even her inner soul and will are just projections of her own person, as if everything about Aimu was pieced together by others. It is a twisted and deformed body composed of countless wishes.

"Don't think about that, Aimu," Bologg comforted, "free will is too illusory."

"Do you think I have free will?"

Boluogo asked rhetorically, and before Amu could answer, he added, "When you are thirsty, you will want to drink water. When you are sleepy, you will go to sleep. When you are hungry, you will eat."

"Sometimes you feel that it is my ego that is leading all this. Sometimes this kind of self-dominance is actually affected by other things. My suggestion is not to think so much. Life is not easy. There is no need to give in. Looking for trouble yourself.”

Aimu looked at Boluogo suspiciously, "Are you trying to avoid the problem?"

"I'm optimizing my life. Do you think I'm an idler? I have to go out every day to kill demons, sometimes people who kill condensers. I'm always killing people, or being killed, from morning to night. It's late, I cut off from Monday to Friday, it's finally a day off, and I might run into some trouble.

I don’t really hate killing people, or being killed, but sometimes I also want to do other things, such as learning guitar, systematically understanding how to make movies, and so on.

I feel like my life shouldn't just be about hacking and slashing, it's so boring, but I don't have time to do that, and naturally I don't have time to think about all these messy worries. "

Boluogo talked a lot and finally concluded.

"Amu, you are just too idle. When people are idle, they will have random thoughts and doubt their own existence. So you need to do something to enhance your self-identity and make your existence more real."

The halo expanded slightly, much like the spread of human eyes. Aimu found it difficult to accept Boluogo's long speech. She needed some time to process it.

But halfway through the process, she thought of Boluogo's philosophical concept about killing people, and felt ridiculous again. She felt that there was a problem in itself if she thought about it seriously.

The atmosphere became deadlocked, Aimu nodded in understanding, and then Boluogo added.

"Of course, my suggestion is to do something you like. You don't have to be like me. Only when you go out and chop does it feel meaningful."

After Boluogo thought for a while, he realized that he might lead Amu astray, and tried to remedy the situation.

"In other words, you should develop some... hobbies to relieve stress?"

Aimu thought for a moment and asked, "Is your hobby about killing people?"

"No, this is my job. Work and hobbies do not conflict." Boluogo said nonsense.

Aimu laughed, and after a while, Aimu spoke again.

"Bologo, I see her sometimes."

"what did you see?"

"Alice."

Boluogo was stunned for a second. He looked closely into Aimu's eyes as if he didn't understand what Aimu said.

"You said...you can see Alice?"

"Yes, it's like a hallucination. She will appear from time to time and talk to me," Aimu said. "But I think it is just a hallucination. After all, Alice is dead."

"A hallucination?"

"Well, it's just an hallucination. Everyone will always see some messy hallucinations, right?" Aimu replied with a smile.

"Yeah, hallucinations, endless hallucinations."

Borogo recalled what he saw under the ashes, and his mind felt cramped again.

"Aimu, something is wrong with you." Boluogo rubbed his head and said coldly.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just intuition. My intuition tells me that something is wrong with you. You are like a child. Children don't worry about these things unless you encounter some trouble."

Boluogo looked at Aimu and asked, "Aimu, are you in trouble?"

"No, we just suddenly talked about it. I am very curious about it all."

Bologg got close to Aimu and carefully observed her eyes. This was the only communication channel between Aimu and the outside world. Unfortunately, Bologg couldn't see through the layers of steel, nor could he reach the one hidden in his chest. Philosopher's Stone.

"Forget it, have a good rest, Aimu, we still have a long way to go."

Boluogo retreated and nestled in the corner, continuing to endure hunger and pain.

Aimu's eyes rolled, and after staring at Boluogo for a while, another voice sounded, with a bit of anger.

"Are you going to betray us?"

The white hands grabbed Aimu's neck, and the other party tried to strangle Aimu to death with all his strength, but after all, she was just a phantom and could not interfere with reality.

Aimu looked at the guy in front of him. In this desperate situation, Alice was like an angel, wearing a pure white dress and exuding a hazy light, but this angel was furious at the moment.

This is a secret that only belongs between her and Aimu, but Aimu actually shared it with Boluogo just now. Even though Aimu did not tell any key information, this still made Alice feel uneasy.

Aimu was like a corpse, without any reaction. It wasn't that she didn't want to respond to Alice, but that Boluogo was beside her. He was like a sleeping tiger. He seemed relaxed, but the slightest movement would arouse his vigilance.

After getting no feedback from Aimu, Alice turned to look at Bologg. She walked around Bologg like a real phantom without causing the slightest movement.

The anger in her eyes gradually faded away, and Alice seemed to notice something, she smiled and said.

"Is this what you want to do? Aimu."

She came to Aimu's side and held Aimu's face in her hands.

"Oh, look at your pitiful appearance. Is this how you deceived everyone?"

Alice laughed even louder.

"Naive Amu? This is so ridiculous. You are the one full of conspiracy."

Aimu didn't respond, but Alice didn't care about this. She hugged Aimu stubbornly and whispered in her ear.

"Don't forget your wish. If you waver easily, it proves that your wish is worthless."