Chapter 191: Praise the Hometown
Chapter 191: Praise the Hometown
Because guests were coming, Lu Xin’s family ate rather slowly today.
They sat quietly and silently around the dinner table. Father drank his liquor much slower than usual. Mother picked at the dishes quite absentmindedly. As for Lu Xin, he ate his rice grain by grain. Even Little Sister’s attention was clearly not on the television today; she crouched on her chair, idly stirring and scattering her rice everywhere while constantly turning her head to stare outside.
Lu Xin gradually felt the atmosphere growing oppressive and silently sighed inwardly.
The guests were incredibly rude, arriving late, making the family somewhat impatient.
…
…
“Is it really necessary to go?”
At a bustling street in Satellite City No. 4, a few diners of varied appearances sat at a roadside stall selling small wontons and grilled skewers.
Among them were a young girl, an Auntie in her fifties, a worker with stubble and dirt clinging to his clothes, and a student with a backpack.
Each had a bowl of wontons in front of them, along with stainless steel plates holding slightly charred grilled skewers.
“Why would you ask such a question?”
Hearing the Auntie’s question, everyone at the stall turned to look at her.
The High School Student with the backpack became visibly agitated. Suppressing the anger in his eyes, he addressed the Auntie: “You are already one of us! We are people who have seen this world’s truth! Why would you ask a question like this?”
“Those people, those people are stupid…”
His agitated face held an abnormal distortion. He gestured forcefully in the air: “If you don’t see these people, you wouldn’t understand just how stupid they are… They actually enjoy this! Like walking corpses, obeying those hypocritical rules, they willingly become the hypocrite’s slaves! Even if you tell them what to do, they still won’t listen…”
“They… are so stupid it makes you wish you could peel open his skull and stuff some smart things inside…”
“…”
The Auntie was startled by the High School Student’s outburst, stammering a flustered explanation: “I was just… just worried about you…”
“Why would you worry about me?”
The High School Student’s gaze turned cold and penetrating as it landed on her face, making it hard to meet his eyes.
“She isn’t worried; she’s afraid.”
The middle-aged man who had been quietly drinking a bottle of beer spoke in a low voice, his tone laced with a hint of a sneer.
“That’s right.”
The figure dressed as a High School Student sneered: “She is afraid. But she dares not admit she is afraid. Instead, she disguises it as worry to try and dissuade me… What is this? This is the vilest thing in the world! You won’t even admit your own fear… Just like back then, you would never admit that your daughter being driven to hang herself was all because of your greed…”
“I… I didn’t…”
The woman shaped like an Auntie became frantic, mouth agape, waving her hands weakly.
“That is the truth!”
The figure looking like a High School Student cut her off. His eyes bored straight into her: “Because you greedily demanded bride price from your future son-in-law time and time again, that’s why he broke up with your daughter. Because you wanted to marry her off to someone else, that’s why she killed herself…”
He paused, his voice shifting slightly: “But what’s wrong with that?”
His face took on an expression of someone seeing through everything – composed, confident, and unnervingly calm for his apparent age. Smiling coldly, he continued: “Your husband had no conscience; he abandoned you and your daughter so early and ran off. You raised your daughter to adulthood entirely on your own. Compared to those who abandon their children, you’ve done well enough. You’ve been decent to everyone…”
“Therefore, if Old Zhang next door could demand tens of thousands in bride price for marrying off a daughter, why couldn’t you?”
“The future son-in-law’s family wanted to marry your daughter; what was wrong with giving you tens of thousands?”
“Your daughter didn’t understand because she had no conscience. She fundamentally wanted to abandon you! She could have convinced her betrothed to borrow the money to give you, then they could have repaid it slowly together… After all, she was still young and had plenty of time. Why didn’t she do that?”
“She was selfish! She never thought about looking after you! Always taking others’ side! So…”
He gritted his teeth slightly: “…she deserved to die!”
“Others mock you? That’s only because they haven’t lived your life! What right do they have to laugh at you?”
“And you… why do you punish yourself because of these people’s hypocrisy?”
“…”
The expression on the middle-aged woman’s face, originally flustered and even fearful, gradually calmed down.
She didn’t speak, but slightly clenched her jaw, revealing a bone-chilling coldness.
“The others are the same…”
The High School Student’s gaze swept to the others around the small table. He addressed the young girl: “Wasn’t your best friend really good to you? She shared snacks with you, ate meals and went to the bathroom with you, often gave you gifts, even nice clothes. When your Father was seriously ill, she even helped you pay the hospital fees. So… why did you push her off that building back then?”
The girl didn’t speak, just her expression tightening slightly.
The High School Student pressed on: “Because she thought she could do whatever she wanted since she was rich and beautiful! So selfish! She mocked you for imitating movie dialogue. She laughed in front of everyone that you didn’t even know how to drink coffee. She clearly knew you had a crush on the class monitor, yet she still flirted with him right in front of you. Claimed she saw you as a friend? Ha! In truth, she just saw you as a minion! A servant!”
“Someone like that… What’s wrong with hating her?”
“…”
The young girl bowed her head deeply, then slowly raised it again, a smile spreading across her face.
“And you…”
The figure dressed as a High School Student turned to the middle-aged man nursing his beer bottle: “Why did you poison your workmate?”
The middle-aged man met his gaze, the corner of his mouth suddenly twitching into a smile. “Don’t tell me,” he said. “I’ve never thought I was wrong. That bastard was clearly less capable than me. Just because he got into the city a few years earlier, caught a lucky break, he not only saved up some money, he even found himself a widow in the city… and a pretty one at that… Hah! He just rubs me the wrong way!”
“…”
“Good…”
The High School Student looked at him, a faint smile gradually spreading across his features. Then his gaze swept over everyone present. “In the eyes of others, we are not good people,” he stated. “Sometimes, we even feel uncomfortable ourselves. Why is that?”
His voice lowered, a cold, humorless laugh escaping him. “It’s because others are hypocrites. Their hypocrisy even affects us. This hypocrisy prevents us from being our true selves. Haha… when I set that fire back then, I felt flustered. I felt uncomfortable for a long time… until I realized my discomfort came from these very people…”
“They are exactly the same, yet they dress themselves in layers of pretense. And they use that pretense to mock us.”
“We are all the same people. We all eat. We all shit. So why do they pretend to be superior?”
“We are all selfish, all looking out for ourselves. So why do they act like they uphold justice?”
“…”
As he spoke, his voice grew softer. “They are hypocrites. We are real. We’ve taken off the Mask.”
“So… why should we be afraid?”
“…”
Everyone around the small table looked up at him, whether stirred by excitement or filled with awe was unclear.
“So, if you ask me if I’m afraid… I’ll tell you…”
The High School Student’s face wore an expression of seeing through everything, of holding everything in his grasp. Illuminated by the dim yellow bulb from the neighboring wonton stall, he resembled a young-looking Demon. “I’m not afraid. We have nothing to fear. Because we know the truth of this world. And we can make others reveal it, see it too. So, when we truly start to control this city…”
“We’ll make every hypocrite pay!”
“…”
The expressions of the people at the small table shifted to unmistakable excitement.
“Make every hypocrite pay…”
Even the Auntie murmured the words, then lowered her voice. “But what if it attracts the Guard Bureau?”
“What is there to fear from the Guard Bureau?”
The High School Student sneered. “I know someone might be investigating us right now. But it doesn’t matter. They are just people ruled by hypocrisy. Worthless. And even if we… died… we would only return home…”
His voice dropped to a near whisper, his smile becoming profound and unsettling. “Back to that… real Hometown…”
“…”
Listening, everyone around the stall exchanged silent glances.
After a long pause, they bowed their heads one by one and began to pray softly. “Praise the Hometown…”
“Praise the Hometown…”
“Praise the real Hometown…”
“…”
Following the prayer, the High School Student lowered the hands he had clasped before him. He slowly picked up a skewer of grilled meat. As he started to eat, deliberately mimicking a pose he’d probably seen in some comic book, the eyes behind his Glasses began to gleam with a cruel and feverish light…
“To help the people of this world understand the truth… let them see the real world…”
“…”
“They’re coming…”
Near Moon Terrace in Satellite City No.2, inside a solitary Old Building.
The Little Sister suddenly spoke, her voice trembling.
But it wasn’t fear; it was shaking from overwhelming excitement…
At the dining table, Mother had already set down her chopsticks with poised elegance, a smile that she struggled to contain visible on her face.
“Hoho…”
Father’s laugh was hollow and dry. He downed the remaining wine in his cup in one go. The electric light overhead flickered slightly several times.
“Don’t frighten the guest.”
Mother immediately shot Father a reproachful look.
For the first time, Father wasn’t swept away by the excitement; he managed to rein in his Emotion perfectly.
Lu Xin glanced at his family, reassured. He then slowly rose, walked to the window, and looked out.