Second Round of the Family Hierarch Evaluation, part 20 (after battle)

We... lost so many coins... All those coins we collected...

Saude's gonna kill us when she finds out about this...

When the Family Hierarch war is complete...

I suppose you shall return to Daguanyuan.

Yes, I will. Once everything ends... I suppose that is what will happen.

Big brother Baoyu.

Do you... not want to return to Daguanyuan?

Well... I've never given it much thought.

Did you not give it much thought when you left this place, too?

If you don't want to return, then... please express what lies in your heart. So...

Daiyu.

My one and only heart is long gone. I searched and searched, but it was nowhere to be found.

So any expression of my heart has become devoid of meaning as well.

What? What do you mean 'stay away', kid?

Today's the day they're finally revealing venerable Jia Mu's new Bolus! This is what we've all been waiting for.

Please... please listen to me just once. Just today, please?

Is this kid serious? Everyone in the Kong family's scrambling to get the front-row seats to this presentation. You're not making any sense.

I know you're the precious jade of Daguanyuan, but your request is simply too ridiculous.

... I can't... I can't tell you why.

Young master, I'm sorry, but we simply can't do that.

I'm not talking about just us - Master Kong Youjin and Lady Kong Sihui have been waiting forever for this day. You've got no idea how excited they are.

Whaat?

But I'm super excited for today's announcement...

It's gonna start in a few hours, y'know.

... I know. So please...

Please stay as far away as you can from the announcement.

... Okay, I will.

A-are you serious, big sis Daiyu? The adults are gonna punish you big time if y-you're not there...

You're from a bodyguard family, they're gonna -

Eh, it's okay. They'll starve me a few days, big deal.

Listen, Baoyu. I won't go, okay? So...

Stop sulking and smile.

Young master Baoyu, venerable Jia Mu summons you.

We are quite excited about this occasion, Jia Mu.

Everyone in the Kong family has gathered here to witness this unveiling.

I can confidently tell you one thing.

Today will change the course of Kong family's history.

Every soul in Hongyuan will never, ever forget this day.

What a generous and kind thing to say.

Ah... the child agrees, too. I can feel the soft kicking.

I have done the honors of giving you the frontmost seat to the presentation.

You will have the best view out of all to see how this Bolus, created all thanks to your virtuousness, changes the Kong family, Daguanyuan, and Hongyuan itself.

Do you see? We have drawn such a large crowd today.

Dolts of the Kong family, most of them.

They must believe that this Bolus I am to announce today will ensure their family's future.

However, the direction of causality is already set in stone, the cause and effect established, the line between those two points drawn. Inevitability awaits.

Grandma...

Let me out of here... please. Please let me leave.

Little Baoyu, you must stand here and watch all of it.

Do not blink.

Ah...

Our elders will deeply appreciate this act of devotion, this offering I dedicate to them.

Now... plug your ears.

Thank you, family members, affiliates, and friends of the Kong family.

Today, we are gathered here to witness a groundbreaking Bolus...

The kind that has never been attempted before in Hongyuan...

... and shan't ever be attempted again.

This Bolus shall bring us to the beginning of all things - a clean slate.

This is a record of what shall never remain but will never be forgotten. To the Kong family and all its adherents, I wish nothing but the utmost, eternal glory… in the interminable Avīci Naraka.

First, immediately grind and add the ■■■■■ of ■■■■■■ ■■■■■■grass within ■ ■■■■■■■ of harvest from the ■■■■■■;

For ■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■, at the ■■■■■ sight of ■■■■■■■■■, ■■■■■ it before incorporation, but it must be first infused with a ■■■■■■■'s ■■■■■■; as for ■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■, use the ashes of the ■■■■■■■■ dead that has experienced four seasons ■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■, but ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■ must be used to mix the ingredients.

Then, add Whale oil extracted from the ■■■■■ Whale; as for the ■■■■-■■■■■ of a ■■■■■■■, it must first be drawn from the ■■■■■ without making a laceration, ■■■■■ ■■■ contact, and maintain the viscosity level above ■■■.

Prepare a ■■-■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■ less than ■■ ■■■■ after production. Preserve it in a ■■■■■■ prior to pulverization, then inject it at a ■■■■■■■■■■■ equal to or below ■■ ■■■■■■■.

One individual has consumed the Bolus produced with the above procedure.

Repeating broadcast soon.

Is this...? This sounds like a recipe for a Bolus, doesn't it?

But why would they just randomly list off a recipe...?

…!

Agh...!

My... my baby...!

…….

… … ….. … …

…! …!!! …… ……!

… …! ……? ………!

…….

…?

Little Baoyu.

The City is a land of humans, and only humans; but do you know aught of the world beyond its hedges?

I know not the recipe for this Bolus, but...

I know those creatures.

The Outskirts and the Ruins are populated by sapient, sentient beings. Those with intellect and emotions.

And among them are the <ruby=Cuckoospawn Humans>Niaojia-ren</ruby>(鳥鴶人), who possess a notably high level of fertility, reproductive abilities, with excessive potential for violence.

Besides, the Heishou are...

Fuhu, I must be quite rapt with joy to prattle on like this. Well, it isn't as if you have any knowledge on the subject.

Even if you were wiser, what can you do?

You, a thing that need only glimmer on like a precious jade.

Thirteen minutes have passed.

Let us leave now, little Baoyu.

…….

Thus the Kong family falls.

My work here is complete - the rest is yours.

... Help...

Bro...ther... I'm... sorry... I should've listened... to you...

But I was just so… envious… I just wanted to know… what they were gonna show here...

Am I... Am I gonna... am I gonna die?

… … …… …..!!!

So the bastard son of the Jia family has also crawled in here, I see.

It cannot be helped. He has caught the scent of his own slumbering greed, and could not stop himself from tasting what he coveted.

…….

I'm impressed that you managed to survive.

Help... help me...

Now that the cause is firmly established, the effect cannot be altered.

Listen closely. Do you not hear the applause? It started soon after the presentation was complete.

... Oh... I see...

They're not just any monsters... they're not even humans, are they...? That Bolus creates... nonhumans...

Then... they'll be here...

The desire dreamt by Youjin of the Kong family was but an illusory lamplight, the bell that tolled your collective greed to the vast City.

Ha... Ha ha...!

Your defiance is meaningless.

No, venerable Jia Mu. That's not what this is for...

This... is the end...!

At least her final act was wise.

…….

You needn't care for the remnants.

For it shall all begin anew from a clean slate.

P-Please, spare me… I did everything you told me to...

Why are you trembling so much? Where'd the guts to betray your very own Nest go?

The Sweepers will arrive soon.

Wherever there is trash, they'll always be on time to gather it up.

...! N… No… Please…

Ah, you have given me a most wonderful face, so listen well.

It is arrogance to believe that your mere words were what summoned the Head.

In there... a non-human was birthed. Even when the City must not suffer their existence, even when the City permits only humans to live - they were conceived nonetheless.

It has been many years since Hongyuan tasted the fresh birth of the beastmen from the Outskirts...

Your 'Heishou' borrows the biological qualities of the beastmen that live in the Outskirts.

In the olden cases, they were accidental; mistakes born out of ignorance.

But things were different today. The hands that conceived it were guided by a purpose.

She walked a very thin and translucent line for this scheme... She certainly knows how to use her head, doesn't she?

Indeed, it is... admirable in its own way, and... very human.

Human wailings, and inhuman wailings.

This discordance too... shall soon come to an end.

... Won't it? Yes, you. I know you're listening.

…….

You needn't busy your feet to hasten from this place; I haven't the cause to cleanse either of you away.

Well... if you would rather hold your silence, then so be it.

Ah. My two best companions, silence and the metallic scent of black tea.

…….

That chair...

It would be best left untouched for posterity to know what happened here today.

As a remembrance to the Kongs' folly, their humiliation, and a warning against those who would hold the same covetousness.

Big bro, what happened?

Why're you ignoring me today?

…….

C'mon, what happened?

Big sis Daiyu was crying all day outside.

And she's been looking for you the whole time.

Xichun wanted to play with you and big sis Daiyu, but there wasn't anyone here, sooo... I missed you.

…….

... This seems to be the first identified case of using the Head to annihilate a family.

It was a horrible memory.

The vision of the massacre, the screaming and crying of its victims... was partially blurred.

But Jia Mu's overpowering, domineering command, that he must continue to witness all of it...

... held Hong Lu's eye in place, unable to look away from the horror.

…….

I pleaded to every single person I could. That they should stay as far away as they could from this place.

Some of them laughed it off, most of them got angry at me...

But as you can see, nothing came of what I did then. My actions changed precisely nothing.

Something did change.

I survived, didn't I?

But Daiyu, you hated yourself for being the only survivor.

And you soon aimed that resentment, coiled so deeply and painfully, against me, didn't you?

…….

It's not your fault. The flow of one's heart isn't something that can be stemmed.

Wordless tears streamed down Daiyu's cheeks.

I could tell you that I had no idea, or that it wasn't your fault... but it won't mean a thing now.

Had I never seen these memories myself, I... would have hated you for the rest of my life, without a clue as to what happened to you.

You needn't cry.

This story was never meant for you to know. So please, once you leave this place, let time wash this memory away.

But you... could have at least told me... a small fragment, the smallest hint, of what really happened.

This festering hatred, this sorrow I held against you for all those years were... were...

It's okay, Daiyu.

An errant gale came and blew our kites away, ending our game. That's all.

Do not let the wandering winds pave these streams on your cheeks.