[Comprehensive British and American] Family Matters

The agreement to gather a big counterattack in a month's time does not mean that within this month, they can hide and live like salted fish.Jason and V are busy in every corner of Red Tomb City rescuing citizens who don't know they are dying.

On the day the Evil Tree started its activities, only people who were near the tree saw what happened, not to mention how many of those witnesses could live to leave the scene to publicize the mutation of the Evil Tree, and how many people would believe it That strange tree will suddenly kill - this also caused many people in the city to become the nourishment of the tree without knowing why, and even when the extension of the tree roots paused, there began to be more strange demons Wreak havoc in the city.

What Jason and V are cleaning up is a group of Empusa (Empusa), a kind of ant-like jaws, the head is huge compared to the body and limbs, and there are a pair of atrophy on the back that can't fly. Demon with wings.It is said that they are like ants not only because of their appearance, but also their habits. They are like worker ants sucking human blood everywhere in the city, and bring the sucked blood back to the evil tree. If you bump into Enpu in "work" Sa, if you ignore them, they will probably ignore you too—a group of low-level demons without much wisdom.

Thanks to Empsa's habit, V can continue to maintain an absent-minded attitude during the battle. Sometimes Griffin, the familiar, feels that his throat is about to burst, and V is like waking up from a dream. Catch up and poke a stick to completely eliminate the demon.

"I have a question about getting along with my family." While cleaning up the demons around him, V seized the opportunity to ask Jason, who was concentrating on shooting fire-breathing bats, and hurriedly added, "Actually, it's not my own." I'm asking this question for a friend."

Fire-breathing bats always come and go in groups. When dealing with one of them, the other companions will spew out pillars of fire that can directly melt the asphalt road. This also prevents Jason from being distracted by V's guilty expression when he asks a question. , can only use the gap between the attacks to reply.

"Say." The fire-breathing bat hit by Jason's three shots in a row turned red all over in the air, and finally exploded into a ball of small sparks. Before the other fire-breathing bats could react, Jason immediately switched targets and continued to attack.

With approval, V began to describe this "complex problem" intermittently.

"The thing is this, my friend's family had some... accidents. So the family members were scattered all over the place, and they didn't have much contact with each other, but many years have passed, and everyone is used to this kind of life pattern. "V raised his cane and pierced Empsa's body, and the demon creaked and turned into powder and scattered.

"Uh-huh." Jason grabbed a fire-breathing bat that was so courageous that it dared to fly low to him, directly put the muzzle of the gun against the burning core of the opponent's chest, and pulled the trigger to detonate it.

"Then my friend found out that he had an adult son who never planned to be a father, so..."

"Please stop first." After blowing up the last fire-breathing bat, Jason turned around, squinted his eyes and looked at V, who had returned to look like a cold and mysterious expert holding a poetry book. He looked up and down for a long time but didn't see anything. Something was wrong, and then he threw out a sentence that made V almost lose his grip on the cane, and directly poked his own instep, "Your friend... I'm afraid you're a scumbag who doesn't care after shooting."

After finally cleaning up the block, on the way back to the temporary base, V was crumbling, as if his body had been hollowed out, which made Jason very worried.

***

When clearing the roots of the evil tree again, V asked hesitantly: "I have encountered such a situation before, the parent-child relationship in the family is not very harmonious, and the father hurt the child because of some misunderstanding... This situation Based on your experience, is there any help?"

The words "inexplicable" were written all over Jason's face. The blade of the big caste cut through the nodules formed after absorbing human blood on the roots of the trees, and the roots shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"No, I said, why on earth are you asking me these questions?" After chopping down a few sections of tree roots, V still looked like waiting for a response, which made Jason couldn't help but slumped his shoulders and let out a long sigh, "First of all, I'm not Psychiatrist, in fact, I often disagree with the psychiatrist."

"Do you think that with the current situation, there are many candidates for questioning?" Holding up his cane, he pointed at the surrounding citizens who were sucked dry by the evil tree, V looked quite sincere and innocent, "Besides, listen to you I mentioned intermittently before that there seem to be a lot of family members, and I guess you have more experience in this regard."

"Then when are you going to admit that you are your 'friend'? You don't have to hide it anymore, your eyes betray you." Jason randomly found a concrete block that looked like it had been smashed to death as a stool and sat down crookedly. Looking at V who was still pretending to be calm, he asked back, "It's okay if you don't want to admit it, but the point is, in this father-son situation, are you the one who was injured or the one who hurt others?"

"Uh, neither...neither?"

"Hmm. Does this injury refer to physical or psychological?"

"It's both, but I think the physical ones are more serious."

"The parent-child relationship is so bad, huh?"

"It's complicated."

V is still trying to hide some things, but Jason plans to let him go for a while.Based on V's knowledge of Dante's family, Dante's self-report, and the legend of the magic swordsman Sparta collected by Jason himself, Jason is almost certain that V is a member of the Spartan family. member.

The family was scattered, and the father was unaware of the child's existence—Dante lived with his parents and brother as a child, without any other relatives.

The relationship between parent and child is not harmonious - they have never been together before, and suddenly a son who is so old and a father who has not even had a ghost for many years will definitely not be harmonious.

The son was hurt by his father, but the physical pain was more significant than the psychological pain—a father who was absent in his life was just a stranger other than blood, so it was natural to be hurt by such a stranger. It is the physical pain that outweighs the psychological pain.

Sparta mysteriously disappeared that year, and his life and death are unknown.No one knew where he went or what he was going to do.If Sparta met V during the process, the two had a conflict...but V claimed that he was not injured...Although it cannot be ruled out that V did not tell the truth, Jason knows that sometimes chasing and fighting will not work Bring good results, especially on such a personal and sensitive subject.

Speaking of which, V is not easy either.Presumably you still long for the warmth of your family, so you came to Dante, right?

No, it is also possible that because of the deep grudge against the Spartans, they hoped that Dante and his big brother, the devil, would fight each other. They would not stop doing two things, so they simply called Nero and let the Spartans stab each other to death. After death, V can reap the benefits of being a fisherman and become the sole heir?

Jason looked at V with eyes full of sympathy and care, and then evaluation and guard. The changes were too fast. If it wasn't for the inappropriate situation, V would have wanted to ask Jason if he needed help.

"So, what is your conclusion?" V decided to ask questions to resolve the embarrassment at the moment, "Is there still a chance for father to get along with his son?"

Jason, who came back to his senses, first cleared his throat, closed his eyes and meditated as if he was thinking about how to speak, before responding after a while: "I think it depends on what kind of person your son is."

V raised his eyebrows in surprise: "Son, not father?"

"Of course it is necessary for the father not to reject it, but I think the most important part is the son." Jason touched his holster subconsciously, "He is the one who was injured, isn't he? If the son decides to grab the father who once hurt If he insists on this point, the father and son want to get along well...it's difficult! On the contrary, if the son ends this matter in any way-whether he wants to go back and beat his father or how to do it, In short, let this matter become a thing of the past, then there is a chance.”

"Judging from the injuries my son suffered, I don't think it's something that can be easily uncovered." V turned his cane, his eyes didn't look directly at Jason, but stared at a point that didn't exist behind Jason, " With such a serious injury, I am afraid it will be difficult for anyone to easily say forgiveness and forgive."

"That's why I said, it depends on what kind of person the son is. To be more specific, whether the son is a better person than the father." Standing up and stretching, I felt a crunch in my spine After the sound of pulling, he relaxed comfortably, "It's difficult just not to hold grudges, and it's even more difficult to forgive, but if you want to be a family, you can't hold this little black account every day, because you never People who are closer to each other cause more serious harm to each other. For example, Dante—may he rest in peace—I heard that his brother stabbed him for three meals before he ran to become the devil."

As soon as Dante's brother was mentioned, V's expression immediately became a little subtle. This kind of change is very subtle. If Jason didn't know what kind of change he was looking for from the beginning, he probably wouldn't have noticed it.

This reaction further confirmed his speculation.

"This is your experience?" V eagerly wanted to change the subject, "Have you ever forgiven your loved ones who hurt you?"

Contrary to V's expectation, Jason, who was quite a master just a second ago, promoted "face it, accept it, deal with it, let him go", suddenly snorted coldly, and said, "You think I look like Is that the kind of saint?"

"Uh, but you just now..." This sudden change of attitude made V feel a little overwhelmed, Jason shrugged, and continued: "What I just said is the basic law that is generally applicable. My family is different, like Every dynasty has that kind of sacred and inviolable symbolic relic, and my family also has it."

Jason reached out to adjust his non-existent bow tie, and for a moment it seemed that he was wearing a suit of well-pressed and well-cut suits: "The believer, the cookie, the cookie, the robin and the bat."

"I don't really understand what you're talking about." V began to suspect that the entire conversation just now was some kind of crazy talk.

Maybe it's because they chose to clean the root of the evil tree today, or maybe it's because the sun, after a gloomy day, is finally willing to stick out of the clouds, and the fine sunlight scattered from the ruins and rubble shines on the place where Jason is standing, like this Humans really... have that kind of profound power that ordinary people don't know.

"That's because you don't know anything about cookie throwing," Jason said.

V nodded knowingly. Although he didn't know what kind of tile-throwing it was, since it was tile-throwing, everything made sense!

"Then how to get this kind of tile?" He humbly asked Jason for advice.

"First of all, you have to find a kitchen with a complete set of baking utensils."

***

A month later, Nero took the mechanical arm built from Nicole and slaughtered a demon with a mouthful of sharp teeth on his stomach, who was full of thoughts about going to grab the fruit of the evil tree with Yuri, and watched V ran out from nowhere and picked up the tail knife while reciting poems.

It is not yet clear how bad the situation in Red Tomb City has deteriorated this month, and Dante does not know whether he is dead or alive. The young demon hunter can only choose to move forward where the enemy who took away several arms .

"If Dante is still alive, we will rescue him together. If he is dead... forget it."

As Nero said, he was about to take a step forward, but V's cane handle hooked his shoulder: "Wait a minute."

The black-haired poet took out a small bag from his pocket and handed it to Nero: "You have just dealt with a big demon, let's have some snacks first."

"Oh, thank you." Unexpectedly, the other party would have such a considerate move, Nero took the bag and tore open the bag, his expression blank for a moment.

The bag should be filled with biscuit-like food, and I said "should" because most of the small lumps of different shapes still have burnt black patches, and Nero dared to swear with his only remaining hand, He saw that the biscuit had a distorted grimace that resembled the red soul stone that demons turned into after they were defeated.

"Don't worry about the quantity, I've done a lot." Looking back, V looked up from the poetry collection as if he had sensed something, and gave Nero a friendly smile.

Nero looked at the bag of "snacks" with trembling hands, and he seemed to have begun to hear the groaning of ghost words "uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu......".

"V, who the hell are you?"

In fact, you were sent by Yuri as an undercover agent!