Chapter 521 I

"Ka——"

"Wow! I never thought that at this time, you should be worried about the fate and the pursuit of the world snake, right? Hahaha, in this situation, you can still trouble Dr. Mei, the real leader of the former civilization, to interrogate me in person. Should I say... it's an honor?"

Looking at Cocolia's undisguised sarcastic smile, Mei tilted her head and looked at her silently.

Ten seconds, half a minute... one minute... two minutes...

Cocolia's laughter stopped quickly. The longer the silence lasted, the weaker her momentum became in the state of "I am the prey". Not to mention, what she had to face in these few minutes of silence was Mei's eyes without any emotional fluctuations.

Yes, there was no emotional fluctuation. Disgust, ridicule, pity, tension, good, bad, what should be there, what should not be there, ultimately led to nothingness, nothing.

Until the last smile on her lips disappeared, Mei slowly walked to the table, gently pulled the chair open with one hand and put it in the right position, and then sat down with the most gentle movements, and carefully tucked the white coat that was pressed by her buttocks.

"It's coming!"

Cocolia's nerves were instantly tense, and different postures have different meanings in different occasions.

Perhaps in the eyes of a third party who doesn't know anything about the situation, Mei's movements are quite casual and relaxed. But for Cocolia, this small table that is no longer than the stack of arms and no wider than three or four cups of coffee is her last battlefield. Mei's casual movements at this moment can't bring her a sense of security, but instead give her the illusion of watching the enemy complete the pre-war deployment leisurely.

She had to admit that Mei caught her off guard.

She thought that, according to the plan of the World Serpent, with the cooperation of the Gray Serpent, Bronya would be sent to the Eye of the Abyss, and then she would just quietly wait for the Anti-Entropy to imprison her, wait for the World Serpent to rescue her, wait for Bronya to return to the real world with Seele, wait for humans to defeat the Collapse, and then she would get the promised life in the new world.

But she didn't expect that Mei would come to her at this time. Calculating the time, it would take at least two hours for the pursuers of Destiny and the World Serpent to arrive at the Abyss City. At this critical moment, as the person who may have the most comprehensive Anti-Entropy thinking at the moment, Mei did not participate in the formulation of the defense plan, nor did she try to save Bronya who fell into the Quantum Sea, but came to her, who seemed to be completely useless.

That's right, fear comes from the unknown. She is not afraid of Mei, even if the other party was once a leader of civilization, but so what? Didn't her era finally enter destruction?

She just couldn't figure out what Mei wanted to say to her, and why Mei could be so leisurely when the situation was so bad. Is it a disguise? Is it forced calmness? No, Cocolia is very confident in observation, and the confidence exuded by the woman in front of her is deep in her bones. She even feels that she has many flaws if she looks at her for a second...

"Da——"

The sudden sound finally broke the silence. Mei gently threw the large glasses with metal frames on the table, and then crossed her hands and held them in front of her lips. Although her eyes narrowed, the pressure Cocolia felt became greater.

"Please don't get me wrong, I'm not here to interrogate you. I just saw something interesting in you."

Cocolia's mouth corners pulled down.

Haha, how to say it, this kind of polite words really makes people feel embarrassed, at least Cocolia feels so.

The chef raised the knife in his hand and said to the fish on the chopping board: "Please don't get me wrong, I'm not here to kill you, I just want to make you into a pot of food."

It's really disgusting.

Well, at least he didn't lie. After all, it is well known that if you cook someone and eat them with love, it cannot be considered as killing her.

"You don't have to be so nervous, Cocolia. I believe we still have a lot of common topics."

Cocolia's eyes suddenly twitched, and she leaned back, putting all her weight on the back of the chair, and looked relaxed and arrogant.

"Oh? Then tell me."

"Looking at you... I always think of some stories that happened a long time ago, a long, long time ago, so long that the story eventually became a myth, and even the ending was completely changed."

"Oh?"

"God wanted to test Abraham and said to him, Abraham. He said, I am here."

"Old Testament, Genesis Chapter 22?"

"I can't tell, are you also a devout believer?"

Ignoring the ridicule in Mei's words, Cocolia answered seriously:

"I don't believe in that kind of thing. It's just that in my hometown, most people believe in that. There were also priests and nuns in the orphanage where I lived when I was a child. In order to look less out of place, I had to pretend to be religious."

"Oh——"

Mei opened her mouth and nodded gently.

However, she did not seem to catch Kokolia's subtext, but recited the chapters that Kokolia also knew by heart, sentence by sentence, clearly:

"God said, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

"Abraham got up early in the morning, took his son Isaac, split the wood for the burnt offering, and set out to the land of Moriah."

"Puff--"

Mei laughed out loud and spread her hands helplessly:

"Ms. Cocolia, isn't this version of yours a little too brief?"

"I've said it before, I just memorized these things to appear less out of place and not be punished by the priests and nuns. When I grow up, it doesn't matter anymore. Remembering this allusion is worthy of the old man and the old woman. Do you expect me to recite it word for word after twenty years?"

"Yeah."

Mei nodded heavily.

"On this point, Ms. Cocolia, you are really honest. I hope that in the next conversation, you can observe this honesty to the end. Oh, sorry, I accidentally used the tone of interrogation. I'm used to it. My fault, please don't mind."

This guy...

Looking at Mei's harmless smile, as if he was really apologizing to her, a drop of cold sweat slid down Cocolia's forehead. Fortunately, it was covered by her long golden hair. At least Cocolia thought Mei should not notice this.

However, the rhythm of the conversation was completely controlled, but she still didn't understand what Mei wanted to express.

Was she compared to Abraham and Bronya to Isaac?

But what was the purpose of such a comparison? Could it be that Mei wanted to turn her against him? No, this answer was too ridiculous.

It's not that she had no possibility of being turned against him. The World Serpent did not give any instructions for the next step. The moment she pushed Bronya into the Eye of the Abyss, she was no longer valuable to the World Serpent. In other words, she had done everything the World Serpent needed her to do, and it was time for the World Serpent to pay her.

If the conditions were right, she would not be unwilling to suffer less, but what was the point of turning her against him at this time? Cocolia didn't understand what kind of "benefits" Mei could bring by doing this. But other than that, she couldn't think of any other possibilities.

"They came to the place God had told him about. Abraham built an altar there and laid out the wood. He tied his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. The angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, saying, 'Abraham! Abraham!' He said, 'Here I am.' He said, 'Do not lay a hand on the child! Do not harm him at all! Now I know that you are a God-fearing man, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.' Abraham looked up, and behold, a ram was entangled in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son."

After Mei finished speaking, she changed her posture to support her head and signaled Kokolia with her eyes.

Kokolia sighed softly, feeling that her life had suddenly returned to more than 20 years ago, and she had to listen to these annoying stories.

However, at that time, she had no power to resist, let alone the desire to resist. It's different now. Even if she's in prison, she doesn't want to hear anyone chanting in front of her. Besides, she still trusts the personalities of Dr. Einstein, Dr. Tesla, and Theresa. It's precisely because they are too "serious" that they have been at a disadvantage in the confrontation with her for a long time. They have things they believe in. Kokolia doesn't believe that they will hand over the fate of mankind to the remnants of the previous era. As long as they are the ones who make the decision, Kokolia doesn't have to worry about what impact it will have on her if she angers the woman in front of her.

This is much safer than offending the old and ugly nun at that time.

"Actually, you already understand what I want to say."

Seeing that Kokolia didn't answer for a long time, Mei put down her arms and slowly spread her hands on the table.

"Puff... Hahahaha! You don't really want to turn me over, do you? Turn over a person who is worthless to anti-entropy and world snakes?"

Kokolia held her stomach and laughed without any image.

But the first scene was staged again.

Mei picked up her glasses from the table and put them on her face calmly.

Her fingers brushed over the small accessories hanging on the glasses, and the crisp sound of the bell echoed in the small prison room. Soon, this sound became the only sound in this space.

Mei folded her hands in front of her chest, leaned back on the chair, and folded her legs under the table.

"The story of [Burnt Offering Isaac] ended with a perfect ending. Abraham did not lose his son, and he also received the blessing of God. But... Kokolia, when you read this story as a child, didn't you have any doubts?"

Kokolia's head tilted back. She didn't want to pay attention to Mei anymore. She had made up her mind not to pay attention to anything Mei said. But Mei's words seemed to hit a sensitive spot in her heart.

After a moment of silence, she slowly answered:

"How do you question it? I just think Abraham is a fool. What if God didn't prepare a sheep to replace Isaac? Wouldn't Abraham have to kill his own son? Moreover, in the process of preparing for the sacrifice, did Abraham really believe in God? Wouldn't he have resentment towards the God who ordered him to sacrifice his son? Even if the ending is a happy one, wouldn't he have a grudge in his heart? What about Isaac? How would Isaac view the God who asked him to sacrifice himself?"

"Is this what you think of? Very much your style..."

Mei raised her head again, and her words were a little dull.

"Even if you want to turn me against me, you shouldn't use this story as an example. Although it looks similar, the relationship between me and the World Snake is more like a relationship of mutual benefit."

"Oh, really?"

Mei closed her eyes and sighed.

"Cocolia, do you know what I thought when I saw this story as a child?"

"Of course I don't know. But did you have this thing in your era?"

Mei's eyes flashed behind the lens, and she recalled softly:

"Yes, the relationship between the two eras is not that simple. But I have also seen the real Abraham."

"Oh?"

Just when Cocolia thought that Mei was going to start talking about the truth of that incident, she withdrew the topic back to herself.

"When I read this story as a child, I thought - this is ridiculous."

"Ridiculous?"

"You should know that there are two obligations that establish a dialectical relationship for the ethics of God's believers. One is universal ethics, which requires any individual to obey universal morality. Two is faith, which requires individuals to transcend universal morality. God's will must be the ultimate goal of anyone.

"And in Genesis 22, God's command put Abraham in an absurd situation. If Abraham sacrificed his son, he would regret it and return to the world when Isaac died; if Abraham did not sacrifice his son at the beginning, he just obeyed universal morality. Whether to sacrifice or not, it seems impossible for Abraham to exceed his limit. However, faith must transcend the limitations of universal morality. The final solution to this absurd dilemma was that God sent an angel to stop Abraham's sacrifice and acknowledge his faith. Isn't this absurd enough?"

"Ah? "

"Uh... sorry, I seem to be... too immersed in my own world..."

"..."

Cocolia rubbed her temples hard. The woman in front of her was really scary. She only needed to immerse herself in her own world and speak such a long paragraph in the most plain tone to make the listener almost commit suicide.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"It's very simple. I said, I just came to talk to you. To be precise, after meeting Theresa, Einstein and Tesla, I wanted to see what kind of person the woman who once forced them into that situation was. "

Mei said, and stood up again.

Obviously, she has already got the answer from Cocolia, but is this answer satisfactory or disappointing?

"Just for this?"

"Yes, that's it. "

Cocolia obviously didn't understand her thinking very well.

The three views of the two people were too different from the bottom. If it weren't for objective factors that brought the two together, maybe they couldn't even say three sentences.

"Then what? ”

“It’s just a pity, you… how should I put it. Your style of doing things is a bit like Otto’s unscrupulous, but you lack his calmness and overall perspective. And… your weaknesses are too obvious compared to his. ”

“… So, are you investigating this?”

“Well… after all, what my friend wants to see is the resistance of mankind. Not just our generation, but your generation. Then, the leader of this resistance must also be someone from your generation.”

“?”

Mei laughed again, with something in her smile that Cocolia might never understand:

“Do you know, if there really is a God in this world, what response does he expect from Abraham?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know.”

“It’s simple—I ******. That’s the response he wanted from Abraham. "

After leaving behind a swear word that was totally inconsistent with Mei's temperament, she waved at Cocolia and turned away gracefully.

Cocolia was left staring at the fluorescent light in a daze——

"No...what on earth did she mean?" (End of this chapter)