Little Mushroom

"I am willing to take up arms for the safety of mankind."

"I will try each and every one of my fellow citizens fairly."

"Wrong, but still right."

Polly read the words slowly.

"The Inquisition Oath," he said.

An Zhe was stunned, he had heard the last sentence of this oath before.

After spitting out those two mouthfuls of blood, his body became lighter and his senses gradually became dull. The strong winter wind blew on his face, but it no longer made him tremble with cold. It was a kind of illusory and ethereal, as if he would dissipated in the wind.He supported his body again, leaned against the railing, and looked down at the two badges.

The regular hexagonal emblem is engraved with a pattern, and the mark of the court is two intersecting prismatic cross stars, like an icon indicating the direction on a map.The cross star indicating true north, true south, true west, and true east is slightly larger, and the horns of the southern star are elongated downward, presenting a shape similar to a cross.The northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest dojis are slightly smaller and hidden under the positive dojis.

An Zhe had stared at this sharp-edged shape more than once. The dark silver cold texture, sharp star angles, and straight lines all revealed a breathtaking chill and justice.

Polly's fingers stroked the surface of the cross star, and he may have traced its shape more than once, and the pattern of the badge has been deeply worn.

"Its artwork was drawn by one of my colleagues." In the howling cold wind, Polly looked at the distant night sky: "We hope that the cross star points the right direction for mankind."

"Aren't you... not a fusion scientist?" He whispered.

"I am," said Polly.

His tone was very light, like a sigh: "I am the person in charge of the Fusion faction and the founder of the Tribunal. The Fusion faction is the predecessor of the Tribunal."

An Zhe suddenly remembered that in the long corridor of the trial court, the portraits of each generation of judges and the dates of birth and death were lined up, but the photo frame at the end was taken down, and the names and dates of birth and death were also scraped off. Only a vague letter "P" remains.It was the record of the first judge, but it was erased by later generations for some unknown reason.

The northern base is a place of mixed races. He doesn't know which language the word Polly is transliterated from, but he can vaguely spell out the similar word "polly" in letters.

However, in his impression, the beliefs of the Fusion faction and the Judgment Chamber are completely different. One hopes that humans and monsters can fuse safely, while the other ruthlessly kills all fusion alien species that try to enter the base.The two are completely different, and he was so confused that he didn't know where to ask.Polly said, "That was an accident."

An Zhe had heard many people tell the history of the base. Those calm narrations were like lights with limited light. He held the lights to illuminate every corner of the dark room, so that he could piece together the whole picture of the room.

"Whether the will can be maintained after infection seems to depend only on probability. But we still believe that everything in nature has traces, but our ability is limited, and we have not glimpsed the laws. Our research has been going on, in that field It's getting deeper and deeper, and it's getting more and more crazy." When he said this, Polly closed his eyes slightly, with a faint pain in his expression: "An experimental subject's body split into two halves due to unexplainable reasons. But there is a unified consciousness. Half of them escaped from the laboratory, and the other half stayed in the observation room. Because it seemed to stay there all the time, we didn't find the anomaly in time-the half that escaped caused a tragic disaster. "

An Zhe knew about the disaster, a leech polluted the water source of the entire outer city.

"The outer city is fully exposed. The base must identify the alien species and humans, and eliminate the alien species in time. The fusion faction is the chief culprit of this disaster. However, we are the ones who are most familiar with the differences between monsters, alien species and humans when studying infection and mutation." Lidao.

In an instant, An Zhe understood something. The Tribunal was not a military institution in the first place, it belonged to the Lighthouse.

"All the experimental projects were suspended, the samples were destroyed, and the test subjects were killed, but the base still gave the Fusionists a chance to atone. We set up a trial court overnight, formulated the trial rules, and tried the entire city. In those ten days, we killed half of the base Population." Polly said slowly: "The infection was brought under control, and the purity of human genes was preserved. And later—the trial system continued like this. The catastrophe encountered by the Virginia base further proved its correctness .”

"I have been a Fusionist for ten years, and a judge for four years." Polly said these words slowly, and there was a half-smile on his face, but the smile was more like a silent cry: "My original intention It is to let everyone have a peaceful life, but to slaughter fellow citizens every day. Every day for the past 14 years, my sins have become more serious."

An Zhe said: "But you also protected the base."

"It's not." Polly said, "I kill innocent people indiscriminately every day."

An Zhe defended him: "You have formulated detailed rules, and you will do things according to the rules, and you will not kill innocent people indiscriminately."

Polly's answer fell like thunder.

"There are no trial rules." He said lightly.

An Zhe's expression was blank for a second, he couldn't digest the content of this sentence, and said with difficulty: "No...?"

"To be precise, there are no 80.00% detailed rules for judging different species." Polly's voice sounded like a sigh: "We have used our lifelong research results to formulate the trial rules, from all aspects-appearance, action and thinking, through biological differences in external information Use reflection to determine its type, but there is no guarantee that it is absolutely correct. In fact, the detailed rules can only determine 20.00% of the heterogeneous species. The remaining [-]% can only rely on experience and intuition, and...expand the scope of execution, and would rather kill by mistake , can't let it go."

"The first iron rule of the real trial rules is that no matter what the circumstances, it can never be disclosed to the outside world. We don't really follow the rules. The trial court always leaves room for manslaughter for absolute safety." Bo Li's voice gradually deepened: "When I was stationed at the outer city gate, whenever I executed a life, there was an 80.00% chance that it was a real alien, and 20.00% was knowing that he was most likely to be a real human being, but just to be on the safe side directly Shoot and kill. Among the 80.00% of the alien species, there is a [-]/[-] chance of possessing human consciousness, and a [-]/[-] chance of regaining human consciousness after many years."

His voice gradually hoarse: "I still can't recall those four years."

An Zhe imagined such a scene, and he imagined himself becoming a judge.

He said, "So you left the base?"

"I can't compete with the pain in my heart. In the war between humans and alien species, I failed to persist to the end." Polly looked up at the night sky, and after a long silence, he said: "At first, I was in pain because of killing my compatriots, and later , Even the death of alien species is unbearable for me. I have been with them for too long, knowing that every monster has its own life. I have blood on my hands, and I am a guilty person. Later, I defected from the base with a few colleagues, I came to the Highland Research Institute to continue the research of the fusion school, we accepted the alien species, and I have been atoning for myself all my life. Up to now, 100 years have passed.”

100 years.

An Zhe looked at Polly with a slightly puzzled expression.

Seemingly understanding his doubts, Polly smiled: "I've lived too long."

"In the wild, the most unavoidable thing is infection." Polly rolled up the corner of his sleeve, and there was a black messy pattern on the skin of his right arm: "I was accidentally injured and infected by a member of the institute. I left them before losing consciousness."

"But, maybe because the person who infected me was awake, or because the probability favored me, I woke up." Speaking of this, Polly smiled: "I thought it was only a few seconds, but it has already passed For decades, my consciousness seems to have traveled through time and space for a moment, guess where I am?"

An Zhe shook his head.

"I'm still in the institute." Polly said, "They found me. Even though I was an unconscious monster at that time, they didn't give up. I once protected them, so they also protected me. Emotions between human beings That’s it, you get what you give. In this era, trust between human beings is more precious than life, but I got it.”

An Zhe looked at the gentle and peaceful expression in Polly's eyes. It was only then that he understood why there was such a deep relationship between Polly and the members of the institute.

"I don't regret leaving the base, but I will never forgive my evasion and incompetence." Finally, Polly said.

An Zhe said, "Because you have high moral character."

After thinking about it, he said again: "Because you are too kind."

Polly loves everyone so much, that's why he suffers like that.In peaceful times, he must be a person who would not even be willing to crush an ant to death - such a person would raise his gun to his fellow countrymen.

"Kindness...Kindness is the most obvious weakness of human beings." Polly said: "Kindness to oneself is the starting point of selfish desires, and kindness to others is the cause of wavering beliefs. I can't be completely indifferent, and I am destined not to be a qualified person." Judge."

After the words fell, they were silent for a long time.

Thinking of Polly's words, An Zhe frowned slightly, thinking of someone.

"However, a judge said to me," An Zhe said softly, "The source of the judge's belief is not indifference, but kindness. It's not about individual people, but kindness towards the destiny of mankind as a whole. If you have an unwavering belief in the supremacy of human interests, you will not be shaken."

Polly looked at him and said softly: "How can I believe unwaveringly?"

"If you don't have a heart of kindness for everyone," he said word by word, "how can you dedicate your life unswervingly to the benefit of all mankind?"

An Zhe was stunned.

His fingers hanging by his side trembled slightly, and he finally knew why every time he faced Polly, he could always think of Lu Feng, who was completely different from Polly.

Polly closed his eyes, his voice hoarse: "This is the cause of all the pain of the judge."

"Abandoning humanity, killing innocent people indiscriminately, and finally being executed by the base. Or staying awake and finally falling into madness due to unbearable pain. These are the only two destinations for judges." Polly said slowly: ""Detailed Rules" The moment the formulation is completed, it is doomed that they will not end well."

An Zhe couldn't describe his feelings at that moment, he couldn't breathe, and looked at the cross star badge in his hand.

"If...if there is a judge," he said, "he has been sober for many years, has been guarding the city gate, and his judgment has never been wrong..."

He suddenly understood something, and his voice trembled: "There is no one who doesn't hate him, because other judges only kill dozens of people every year, and he has as many as a thousand. Actually... it's not because he likes to shoot especially, it's because Only by shooting from him can manslaughter be minimized."

He got it, he got it at last.He shivered and asked Polly, "What would he be like?"

Polly's answer was simpler than he could have imagined.

"He's a lonely man," he said.

Something crashed down, and the boulder rolled down and hit An Zhe's heart.

He couldn't speak for a long time, until Polly asked, "What are you thinking?"

"I..." An Zhe's eyes were foggy: "I'm thinking... thinking..."

He was thinking about Lu Feng.

He once thought that Lu Feng was cold and ruthless, and he also admitted that Lu Feng was firm in his convictions.He knew that for the illusory fate of mankind, Colonel Lu would give his whole life.He also knew that Lu Feng would suffer and be lonely, but it was not until today that he realized what kind of unimaginable giant this person was facing that was rooted in his heart.

He once said that he understood Lu Feng, but he didn't fully understand Lu Feng until this moment - the moment when he and Lu Feng were thousands of miles away and would never see each other again.

"I know who the judge you mentioned is. Tang Lan has mentioned it to me many times. If possible, I really want to see him." Polly said.

"He..." Holding the badge tightly in the palm of his hand, An Zhe's tears finally fell, and said: "He has been a judge for seven years and killed many people... Everyone hates him."

"But he is very kind to me," he smiled, but his eyes were hot and the tip of his nose was red. "Actually, he is very kind to everyone."

"You said you were a complete monster," Polly said, "but as a judge, I didn't find the difference between you and humans. Where is the judge?"

"He can't be sure." An Zhe's fingers trembled slightly, and he looked at the mountains in the distance: "When we first met, he let me go."

"Sir," he said, "if the judge lets off a heterogeneous species the first time, will he let it go the second time?"

Polly just looked at him benignly.

"He also let me go the second time, he let me go many times." An Zhe said: "Later, he knew that I was a different species."

"But..." He wanted to say something, but he couldn't say anything. His heart was tightly held by one hand. He wanted to get rid of this inescapable imprisonment, but he couldn't.

"I'm sorry..." He confirmed that he couldn't say a complete sentence at all, and said intermittently: "I...when I think of him, I...want to cry."

Polly took him into his arms: "Don't cry, kid."

"Live," he said, "and you will meet him again."

"I won't meet him anymore," An Zhe grabbed Polly's arm, as if grasping the last straw in the emotional storm. He couldn't stop his eyes from crying, so he could only close them tremblingly Putting it on, resting my forehead on Polly's shoulder: "I'd rather... rather never see him."

"why?"

An Zhe couldn't say anything.

"With me, you can say anything, child." Polly said softly: "Don't lie to me, and don't lie to yourself."

An Zhe's throat choked, and he cried harder.He didn't understand human kinship, but in the face of Polly he seemed to understand it again.He seems to be facing a kind father, a loving priest, or a tolerant God. He kneels in the temple of Jehovah, and he can confess everything like any ordinary person in the world—but in fact, he is not facing any other person or god. , to himself.

"I..." He opened his mouth, trembling from the severe pain all over his body, his mind went blank, he finally crossed the emotional barrier, and blurted out: "I want to see him..."

"I want to see him." He repeated this sentence almost self-defeating: "I want to see him, sir, I want to see him. I don't regret that I left him, but I... I regret it so much."

"I know...I know." Polly patted his back lightly, reassuring him.

"You don't know..." An Zhe said, his words contradicted himself, his emotions were torn to shreds, and sorrow flooded his soul like an ocean. If the ubiquitous pain of longing killed him, he would No surprises.

"I have lived longer than you by several decades, child." Polly said, "You are still young, and there are still too many things you don't know."

"I..." An Zhe looked up blankly. He couldn't refute, and he didn't intend to argue. There was indeed something smoldering in his chest, which he couldn't grasp or see clearly, but he couldn't describe it.

He looked over Polly's shoulder to the endless night sky, and murmured, "I don't know... what?"

dong dong.

During the brief silence, An Zhe heard his own heartbeat, and he suddenly had a premonition that what Polly would say next might change his life.

He heard Polly's breathing.

"You don't know." In the silence, Polly said, "You love him."

An Zhe opened his eyes wide.

In the sky, the aurora is changing, and the dark green light is like a rolling tide, going from the south to the north, dissipating and then reborn.

He trembled violently.

The strong intuition hit his soul hard like a meteor bombarding the surface, and the light reflected everything in this world.He actually didn't know what those three words meant, but he knew it was right.

He was completely stunned, forgetting even his sorrow, staring blankly at the aurora in the distance.Until Polly let him go and gently wiped the tears on his face with a handkerchief.

"But why am I doing this?" he murmured.

Before waiting for an answer, he was involved in another more urgent question.

"Then...then will he love me too?" He looked at Polly almost beggingly: "Will he love me too? I'm just... a different species."

"Did he say anything to you?"

An Zhe shook his head, the relationship between them was terribly short.He said, "But he kissed me."

But he didn't know the meaning of that kiss. On that day, the power of words was too pale, they could only do that.

"You're still alive." Polly said, "Did he let you go?"

"I left him. He has always been a qualified judge. I know he will not let me go." An Zhe said slowly: "At that time, I just wanted to leave him and find a place to die. But his gun Only when it falls into my backpack can I return to the abyss."

"His gun was in your pack?" Polly repeated.

An Zhe gave a soft "hmm", and a faint smile appeared in his eyes: "His things like to leave me in a mess."

Polly Jean's hand was slowly stroking his hair.

"You need to know, silly boy," Polly said, "that the judge's gun never leaves his body. It's an iron law laid down 100 years ago."

An Zhe looked at him quietly, and finally, he bit his lips tightly.

"I don't know," he said, "I really don't know."

"For whatever reason," Polly told him, "he must love you too."

"Will the judge like aliens?"

"I don't know," Polly said, "but I've also lived with many alien species for 100 years-if you think I still have the right to be called an inquisitor."

Looking at those gray-blue eyes that seemed to know everything, An Zhe thought, Polly must know the reason why Lu Feng liked him, but he didn't dare to ask, if Polly didn't tell, there must be his reasons.

Numerous images appeared in front of his eyes. In the gate of the city, a woman who had lost her husband hoarsely cursed him to die. On the square of the supply station, a bullet pierced Du Sai’s head backwards, but she fell forward towards him. .Countless silhouettes appeared in front of his eyes, those hoarse shouts, trembling fear, and love that penetrated into the bone marrow.Countless black shadows rise up, they rush together, stretch out their hands upward, pile up with love, with hatred, with the hatred and fear that they all know each other, push him to the top of the cold wind howling mountain, let him look down This group of creatures.

No one approached him, no one understood him, and those who admired him would rather spend all their wealth to order a fake puppet, and would not take the initiative to say even a word to him.

As for... As for the pity and favor of the judge, that is something no one dares to expect. What kind of creepy fear and unimaginable honor is that?

As a heterogeneous species that is diametrically opposed to human beings, he vaguely expects that thing.And he actually got it.

At least, at the moment when Lu Yan put the gun into his backpack, there was such a second in hundreds of millions of years-in that second, the judge left the pistol to a alien, he Betrayed a lifetime of faith to love him.

Then, like a fairy tale in a children's textbook, when the clock struck twelve, someone returned to the abyss, and someone returned to the base.

Like a sandstorm that is gradually subsiding, the dust settles in the sound of the bell, and An Zhe's heartbeat returns to the normal frequency little by little. He has obtained an unimaginable gift, but he is completely calm instead.

He felt enough was enough, everything was enough.

"If one day, human beings are safe, you can see him." He said to Polly, "Please...please don't tell him that I have been here."

Polly said, "No one can lie to the judge."

"Then tell me, I've been here and gone again." An Zhe said, "I've gone far away. I could be anywhere in the world."

Polly looked at him with tender, sad eyes.

"I really hope God takes care of you," he said.

An Zhe shook his head slowly.

"But I can't love him, and he can't love me." An Zhe said this softly.

"Unless—unless the day comes when the human race falls. But I hope that day will never come." At this moment, a calm calm enveloped him.

Countless translucent white ice flakes were born in the gap between the aurora and the clouds, and they fell down. The silent mountain scenery and night came alive because of the flying everything, and it snowed.

An Zhe stretched out his hand, and the hexagonal snowflakes fell on his fingers. The beautiful shape was gradually lost in the temperature of the skin, and gathered into a crystal clear water drop.

"I have only known you for three months." He said, "But this is my whole life."

The wind became louder, and thousands of snowflakes were blown into the gray corridor, like catkins raised by the spring breeze.An Zhe looked up, and all the past he thought he had forgotten unfolded before his eyes, floating into shining fragments.

The turbulent sea subsided, and the waves and the dark tide stopped surging together. It was neither sad nor happy, he just thought the snow was beautiful.

The joys and sorrows, encounters and partings of his life, like the birth and death of all tangible things in this world, are all fleeting snowflakes.

"Cold?"

"It's not cold anymore."

He remembered the shape of that snowflake, and at that second he obtained eternity.

The aurora illuminates the abyss.

In the laboratory, there was a sudden sound of glass breaking.