Demon Slayer: Upper 0 seems to be a waste

Chapter 217 Three Questions about Life

Lin Guang is actually very good at dealing with lies. He doesn't like lying and he is not specialized in the technique of cheating, but he is very good at dealing with people who are accustomed to fraud. Clumsy lies can be easily identified. If he realizes that the other party is just deceiving him, just wants to make a profit from him, or simply covets him, it is like getting a kind of permission for him. It is a silent signal that means he no longer needs to have any scruples.

He could tear off the opponent's outstretched arm, break a bone in the opponent's body, twist off a leg, and finally just crush the head that wove lies, and everything would come to a perfect end.

That is the price that those with evil intentions should naturally have to pay.

It is the consequence of deceiving him with bad intentions.

As for the other type, the kind of excellent lies that cannot be distinguished, the kind of existence that possesses some kind of talent, as long as it does not conflict with his interests, Lin Guang is willing to believe it.

Humans do not hate lies, they just hate lies that are not subtle enough and will be exposed. In comparison, humans actually hate the cruel truth more.

They like false beauty, like carefully woven lies, and like a future that only exists in an imaginary future.

Lin Guang could actually understand this idea. He couldn't before, but he could now.

Because he couldn't help but look forward to such a future, a beautiful future that existed in his imagination.

Muzan told him about such a beautiful future, so he regarded such a vision as a reality in the future.

Ultimately, everyone likes lies that cannot be exposed because everyone looks forward to a better future.

Lin Guang is used to facing evil like liars. He has seen too many such beings. Not all of them are willing to deceive. Some are more straightforward, but they are still evil.

He realized very early on that there were too many bad people in this world.

I've also gotten used to facing that kind of existence.

So he didn't know when it started, but when the sunlight appeared in front of him, he subconsciously wanted to escape.

Kyojuro is just like that.

How should he face such sincerity?

Lin Guang thought.

It was like a subtle repulsion between like-minded people, or a fear of the unreality of the beauty of real existence.

There are too many bad things in this world. He didn't understand them before, and later he didn't want to understand them, so he always faced them with the original and most honest attitude.

It was as if he had never changed from the beginning to the end.

He was used to facing such evil, such terrible things, used to walking towards others with a bouquet of flowers in his hands, and used to the fact that the flowers would eventually fall to the ground.

So when someone really picked up the flowers, weaved them into a wreath and placed it on his head, he was at a loss.

Obviously, that was what he had been looking forward to, but when it really happened, he became scared.

He also didn't understand why this was happening. He had clearly been looking forward to such an existence and had clearly liked such an existence, but now, even such liking was no longer pure.

This was also one of the things he couldn't figure out.

----

----

Lin Guang is always the one who reacts a beat slower.

Kyojuro had noticed it from the beginning, but it was not a big deal. Rinkou was a child. He could see that even if he was a ghost, even if he had survived for a long time, perhaps longer than all of them, he was still a child. Perhaps this was why the lord felt that Rinkou could still be saved.

Children always have a desire for sunshine and a yearning for freedom in their hearts, and the Demon Slayer Corps is never short of hopeful people.

Since Rinkou didn't answer him, Kyojuro stopped talking. He opened the bag he brought, and inside were neatly stacked cut pieces of wood. They were selected wood and the sizes were calculated. The box next to them contained tools that had been searched for. No matter what the boy liked to use or what he wanted to do, these things provided convenience.

“Just some little things, actually.”

The wood was cut, and the boy's gentle voice was squeezed into the subtle but clear rhythmic gaps.

"Ah."

Kyojuro nodded in response.

"It's not worth worrying about."

The voice became softer.

"Ok!"

Kyojuro cut the corners of the wood and continued to respond affirmatively.

"Even so, do you still want to listen?"

This time the boy turned his gaze towards him.

"Even so, I want to hear it! As long as Rinko is willing to tell me, I want to hear it!"

Kyojuro's response was as firm as ever.

It is hard to say whether the boy figured it out on his own or his persistence paid off. After a brief silence, the boy opened his mouth, and that was the prologue to the story.

"It's something I can't figure out."

What followed was a long story, a really long one, starting from a long, long time ago. It skipped over many, many stories, but it was still a very long story. The boy talked about his past, his present, his misunderstanding, his uncertainty, his confusion and bewilderment.

"Why is that? Why could I spend every day like that before, but now I can't stand being alone?"

The boy lowered his head, holding the block of wood in one hand and a knife in the other. The edges of the block were shaved off, one after another, gradually losing its original shape, but Kyojuro couldn't tell what he was trying to do, or perhaps the boy himself was not sure.

"Hmm. That's a really profound question! But from my perspective, maybe you're not so unbearable to be alone now, Rinkou."

The boy stopped what he was doing because of his words, raised his head, and looked at him with his eyes. His eyebrows were slightly wrinkled, his head was tilted, and his eyes were full of confusion. The long and dull ending tone made that confusion concrete.

"Ok?"

The boy obviously didn't understand.

"Because before, Rinko was alone, wasn't he?"

"What's the meaning."

The overly straightforward explanation was not enough for the boy, who was always a step behind, to understand the meaning of his words. Kyojuro temporarily put down the wood carving in his hand, sat up straight with his back straight, and thought for a while before speaking again.

"Because before, Rinkou only had eyes for himself. You didn't accept the existence of anything other than yourself. You had no friends, no family, no one you cared about, no things you liked, no things you cared about. You simply maintained the state of 'being alive'... Of course, I'm not saying that's bad. Being alive is certainly amazing. But since you haven't died, since you are still alive, since you can witness the sunrise and sunset every day, since you can just stand on this land, it's better to try to do more things, experience more, try more, and make every minute and every second you spend have their own unique meaning. That would be more interesting, wouldn't it?"

Kyojuro rarely used a calmer tone to explain calmly. The boy was looking at him, seeming to understand, or perhaps not. But Kyojuro was not in a hurry for the boy to understand what he was saying immediately.

"Kyojuro is the kind of person who would say something like that..."

The boy's focus seemed to be a little off, but Kyojuro was not at all dissatisfied. He laughed heartily a few times.

"Really? Maybe it's because my father and mother used to say the same thing to me, so I remembered it unconsciously!"

Lin Guang nodded slightly at his words.

"Makijuro is certainly someone who would say something like that."

"So I think Rinkou should be happy about this."

The focus that had shifted was brought back by Kyojuro, and there was a subtle sense of harmony. Kyojuro was not dissatisfied with Rinko's distraction, and Rinko was not unhappy that Kyojuro brought the topic back. The boy just looked at him, and his expression seemed more relaxed than before.

"for what?"

"For the changes you have now."

The boy tilted his head and thought for a long time, but it seemed that he couldn't figure it out in the end, so he spoke.

“Even if it makes me sad and lost, even if it makes me anxious and restless, even if it makes me miserable?”

Kyojuro met the eyes that were looking at him.

"even so."

"why?"

"Because it means that you have gained a lot now, Rin Guang, right? Only when you have gained something will you be sad because of losing it, and only when you care about something will you feel disappointed. Only when you are full of expectations will you be disappointed. In the past, Rin Guang was alone, and didn't care about anything. So you won't be sad, you won't be upset, but you won't understand what true happiness is. But now Rin Guang is different. Now Rin Guang will feel lonely because of being alone, will feel lonely because of leaving friends, will be sad, disappointed, anxious, and even get angry with butterflies. Isn't this great!"

----

Can this be called good?

Is this something to be happy about?

Lin Guang asked himself.

We start to care about what we have and we start to feel sad about what we have lost.

Lin Guang tried to recall what he was like in the past.

He still remembered that he used to be indifferent to everything, that he didn't want to think, didn't want to think why, didn't want to think for what, he just did it when he had to do it, and said what he meant.

He never cared, so he never felt pain.

Because he has nothing, he doesn't have to worry about losing anything. Because he never cherishes anything, he actually never owns anything.

Yes, before he just lived.

But now it’s different. There are too many things hidden in his head and too many people in his heart.

It's like being blind and seeing colors.

There is no way to return to that world of darkness.

He found his own way in the long years. He stretched out his hand, grabbed something, got something, met some people, became friends with some people, and the flowers blooming over the years eventually became bonds.

He was used to having someone around him, so he could no longer stand being alone.

Can this kind of mental journey be called a kind of growth?

He didn't know, he asked Kyojuro.

“Is this considered growth?”

"Of course it counts!"

Kyojuro answered him affirmatively.

"That's a terrible feeling growing up."

Start to gain, start to lose, start to expect, start to lose.

“But it’s also exciting, isn’t it?”

The palm landed on his head. It was a very powerful hand that could cut off a ghost's neck, but it was also a very gentle hand that could make him feel warm.