Chapter 20: The Forest is Very Big_1

Throughout his life, Motan has spent nearly two-thirds of his time dealing with various troubles. Half of this time was spent creating them, for himself, his friends, local hooligans, school bullies, hackers going by the code name SUN, but whose real name is Mu You and are nicknames Double Leaf, decent folk, classmates and teachers, beat cops, community committees, and city management... but that last one seems a bit over his head...

Regardless, the phrase "creating trouble" has always followed him around. Most recently, he was given merit for sweating out forty words for an author (scratch that whole sentence).

What I'm trying to say is, this behavior doesn't really burden him. Whether in terms of life quality or moral condemnation, none of the obstacles he put in others' paths ever affected Motan, not even a little bit.

However, the issue is this: for that two-thirds of his life spent dealing with troubles, half was spent with a fondness for resolving them.

We could also phrase this differently—how about "finding joy in helping others"?

During this half of his life, whenever someone faced difficulties or crises, as long as they weren't strictly evil or brought it on themselves, he was always willing to lend a hand, asking for nothing in return. That is, unless those so-called 'rewards' could make the person in question feel a little better about themselves.

Perhaps he wouldn't be kind enough to give money to those lazy, highly skilled, and face-rich fake beggars, but he would be willing to help a boy who made a living by 'recycling' pick up empty bottles and waste paper for half a day, for fear of hurting the humble and fragile self-esteem in others' eyes.

In fact, Motan, who has never been satisfied with the vague notions of morality and law, never felt that he represented 'justice,' at least in the literal sense. Yet he always followed his own principles, helping anyone he deemed deserving, a position that may seem narrow, but often proved more objective than generalized ideas of fairness.

"Have you seen 'The Study in Scarlet'? If it were a real story, I would do everything I could to help Hou Bo. The law may not forgive a murderer, but I would. If the truth meant a good person would be judged and punished for sending two villains to hell, I would rather help him bury the truth forever."

These were words spoken by Motan in a state of 'Lawful Good' to Winter during a casual chat many years ago.

"It's a fair trial, but the problem lies in the fact that law does not offer forgiveness." Winter shrugged. "The detective's job is to reveal the truth. But I never thought you would say something like this. I thought I knew you well."

"I don't know myself as well as you do." Motan just gave a light smile and answered, "I never fancied myself a judge or representative of justice. I just want a clear conscience."

Winter paused for a long time before finally rolling his eyes and saying, "You know what, being friends with you is really exhausting. Just three hours ago, I watched as you replaced dozens of first year high school reference books in the library with illustrated erotic novels, all for a so-called 'kick'....."

"I regret it now; that kind of literature pollutes the minds of young boys and girls too much." Motan replied with a helpless, bitter smile, "Do you mind helping me switch them back?"

"Fuck off!"

...

In summary, although I took a more than one thousand one hundred word detour, I only really wanted to communicate one thing: the current Motan will not be dissatisfied with the frankly pitiful E-class missions before him. After all, for him, even something as trivial as helping an old lady find her lost cat from two days ago has purpose...

He adheres to his own perception of justice, trying as best as he can to stand with the weak, the good, or those who suffer injustice. All he does is for his own sense of justice, judging those who should be punished yet drink happily on the suffering of the innocent. That's enough.

So what if the ones he helps are AI? What if the ones he judges are just data? What does it matter if all of this is meaningless?

It doesn't matter. Really, it doesn't matter.

Standing in front of the Adventurers' Guild's mission board in the hall, Motan had spent about ten minutes looking at the hundreds of E-class missions on the Magic Crystal Screen, contemplating the rich experiences that awaited him.

If he doesn't get kicked offline...

Do not think having a 'quickly query task data' function on the Magic Crystal Screen in a world filled with fantasy elements is inconsistent. After all, although it is not very scientific, it is certainly very magic.

Those who are in worlds filled with swords, fighting spirit, or spiritual energy, who can destroy stars in a fit of anger, and can fly at ten times the speed of light in a minute, yet have to turn over half a day's worth of ancient books just to look up information, are truly bullshit. They're neither scientific nor magical, and not even a bit cultivational...

Anyway, digression over...