Hesitating for a moment, Wen Wen still walked into the cell.
From the outside, the cell looked like a prison, but from the inside, it was a vast study, furnished with over a dozen bookshelves and hundreds of rare books collected by the facility.
Most cells had bookshelves, but they were used for teaching materials and supplementary texts. Wen Wen dared not place such things in his father's cell.
Wen Rui sat in a chair, wearing glasses, and was flipping through an old book.
"You're here, make yourself comfortable."
Wen Wen pulled over a chair and sat down. After a moment of silence, he said, "The Great Sage is dead, the Society of Truth is annihilated, and many others have also perished."
"The world outside has undergone earth-shattering changes. Before you go out, you'd best get acquainted with the current world, if you can go out."
"I said before that I wanted to have a good talk with you, and now I'm here."
Wen Rui raised an eyebrow. "It seems you don't intend to let me out."
"Whether I let you out depends on your answer. As long as you can convince me that you are not a bad person, I can let you go."
Wen Wen tossed a thick folder to Wen Rui, filled with all the things Wen Rui had done at the Society of Truth.
Now that the Society of Truth was destroyed, some of its documents had been unearthed, and many of them made Wen Wen's scalp tingle.
In his pursuit of knowledge, Wen Rui was no less benevolent than the others in the Society of Truth. Furthermore, when the Alliance of Secret Organizations was first formed, Wen Rui had assisted them in many affairs.
"These things, you did all of them, didn't you?"
Wen Rui flipped through it, nodding as he read. The atmosphere in the cell was somewhat oppressive.
After finishing it all, Wen Rui closed the folder and nodded. "Yes, I did all of it."
Wen Wen fell silent for a long time, then asked, "How many of these were forced upon you, and how many were done under the influence of the Society of Truth?"
"I did all of it willingly," Wen Rui admitted with a carefree air, showing no trace of guilt on his face. "You know, the lives of these ordinary people hold no meaning for me. It's better to use them to obtain something more significant."
Wen Wen's forehead veins bulged. After a long pause, he sighed.
"If I let you out, will you promise not to commit any more wrongdoing and live a peaceful life?"
Wen Rui looked at Wen Wen for a moment, then chuckled. "Of course not. Unless you keep a constant watch over me, I will surely do as I please."
A terrifying aura suddenly erupted from Wen Wen. The entire cell, except for Wen Rui and Wen Wen, turned to dust simultaneously.
Originally, Wen Wen could not destroy anything within the facility, but for the current Wen Wen, these were no longer problems.
"Tsk tsk, how fearsome. Do you want to fight me?"
Wen Rui showed no panic, though a flicker of a strange expression crossed his eyes. He could tell that the current Wen Wen was far more powerful than when he had rescued him before.
Wen Wen said angrily, "Why do you say that? You know it perfectly well!"
"If you just say that those actions were influenced by the power of the All-Seeing Eye, or that you were coerced, or even just promise not to do these things again, I can let you go."
"But why are you unwilling to say it?"
Wen Rui looked at Wen Wen curiously. "You mean, you want me to lie to you?"
"Yes."
Wen Wen sighed. The conversation so far was the limit of his personal indulgence.
Within the facility, there were also some turncoats from other secret organizations who had done some bad deeds.
As long as Wen Wen confirmed that their actions were out of necessity and that they were willing to atone for their sins, he would no longer pursue their past actions.
Wen Rui's situation was the same. Although his final plea was driven by personal motives, it also played a significant role in saving the world.
Therefore, as long as Wen Rui claimed that his actions were coerced, Wen Wen could let him go.
Even if Wen Rui was just pretending, Wen Wen would not expose him.
He was confident that he could prevent Wen Rui from committing such acts in the future and threatening others, but Wen Rui, despite understanding Wen Wen's intentions, refused to even go along.
"Since that is the case, then I can only do this."
Wen Wen snapped his fingers, and Wen Rui vanished into thin air. He no longer needed to snap his fingers to do these things now, but the habit remained.
...
Wen Rui opened his eyes and found himself standing on a familiar street.
This was Lugang City, over twenty years ago.
Wen Wen's voice echoed from the sky. "You will live here from now on. At least you will have food and shelter, and you won't harm anyone else."
"There's such a place too. Interesting, interesting..." Wen Rui looked at the familiar street with delight and said, "Perhaps, this is not so bad either."
This was a time-echo of Yuliannu. When the investigators were conducting their investigations, they encountered this place, and Wen Wen preserved it.
Allowing Wen Rui to live here might be a better choice than releasing him into the outside world.
Wen Rui walked through the familiar streets, his heart filled with emotion. He was not a Cataclysm-level powerhouse, so he could not detect the unnaturalness of the time-echo. To him, it felt as if he had returned twenty years ago.
Before, when he was outside, under Wen Wen's near-explicit hints, Wen Rui actually knew that he could regain his freedom by simply following Wen Wen's wishes.
He had already separated from the Society of Truth, and the Great Sage was dead. The mad power that had been within him had also died with him.
Therefore, he no longer needed to use his thirst for knowledge to suppress the madness within him. The current Wen Rui had become a normal person, no longer as twisted as he was within the Society of Truth.
However, he did not answer as Wen Wen wished, because he had grown weary of the outside world.
Without that thirst for knowledge, the outside world would only bring him pain. It was better to stay in the cell.
Moreover, he felt that he owed Wen Wen a great deal and did not want Wen Wen to go against his principles to release him, a sinner.
Yes, Wen Rui's self-定位 was that of a sinner. Apart from the inability to guarantee that he wouldn't do bad things after being released, everything else he told Wen Wen was true.
"From now on, I will start anew here."
Wen Rui's eyes were full of anticipation. He walked a distance in the city and arrived at a detective agency.
In the detective agency sat a young man who looked exactly like him. That was Wen Rui from over twenty years ago. The two Wen Ruis exchanged a glance, and the younger Wen Rui disappeared, while the normal Wen Rui also became a bit younger.
This was the rule of time-echoes. Only one instance of the same individual could exist at a time. Therefore, when Wen Rui appeared, the Wen Rui in the time-echo would vanish.
He sat in a chair, picked up the calendar on the desk, and looked at the markings on it. Memories flooded back like a tide.
"At this time... in a few more days, she will come to report a case. I need to prepare well."