"The importance of having a voice," Shiller poured himself a glass of water and placed it on the table, while Xi Wana's hand, also resting on the table, clenched the bedsheet tightly.
He really didn't want to recall that bizarre experience that changed his life, and he had never spoken about it to anyone. From his perspective, from that moment on, the entire world seemed insane and shattered.
"The living write history; once you're dead, you can only be interpreted," Shiller said. "If you live longer than everyone else, you're the one with the mouth. Can anyone come out of their coffin and fight you over what you say?"
"Of course, there's a premise here; you have to speak effectively, convincing others, and for your words to matter, you yourself have to be useful—respected, even loved, right?"
Xi Wana seemed to understand a bit, and Shiller said with some disdain, "You've planted an utterly uncontrollable time bomb in your eye, relentlessly chasing after even more uncontrollable powers, and then rushing forward like a madman wanting to kill the other person. To an onlooker, doesn't that just look like you've gone mad?"
"Isn't that, as it said, due to your excessive greed for power, a lack of self-control, too easily tempted, so you…"
"Stop talking," Xi Wana interrupted in pain. "I don't know why it thinks that way, I was just suddenly taken somewhere, then someone told me to touch it, and I reached out."
"I don't know what happened; then I heard a roar, saying what you just said. When I was sent back to where I originally was, I was terrified."
"I told my father everything, but he didn't believe me at all; he thought I was a lying child. Anger made him distracted; he got into an accident, lost the ability to walk, and he blamed it all on me."
"But I really didn't know anything; I didn't know how I got there, nor how I came back. I just followed my instincts and told everyone the truth, but not a single person believed me!"
Xi Wana's emotions began to grow frantic, and as he moved, the bandage over his right eye started to turn red. Shiller immediately pressed the call bell, and nurses rushed in.
After a while, the head nurse came in and said to Shiller, "Sir, it's fine for you to chat, but could you let him rest quietly in bed? Also, his mood can't take any stimulus right now..."
"I understand, ma'am."
After Shiller repeatedly assured them, the nurses left, and Xi Wana's emotions returned to normal.
"I think you understand a simple truth, that the more your enemy says you will do something, the less you should actually do it."
"But if I can't gain enough power, how can I get revenge?"
"That depends on what you define as revenge. If you're only doing it for a sense of personal satisfaction, then sure, killing your enemy might suffice. But if you're trying to prove a point, like that he's wrong and you're right, do you think killing him would be useful?"
After a moment of silence, Xi Wana shook his head and said, "But maybe if I killed him, they would realize he made a mistake in judging me, and I'm the stronger one..."
"The stronger evil," Shiller interjected.
"I'm not evil!" Xi Wana raised his voice. "I've done nothing wrong; it's clearly them..."
"So, what's the use of being strong if you're trying to prove you're right, and they're wrong?"
Xi Wana fell silent, but after a while, he said in a low voice, "Isn't it true that only the strong can prove they're right?"
"It also depends on what you do with that great power. Suppose there's a very strong person who kills and arson every day, causing widespread misery. Even if he truly controls the whole country, you'd still call him a tyrant, wouldn't you? No matter how strong, what kind of favorable historical assessment would you expect?"
"And there's a rebel leader, not as strong as the tyrant, but who unites those displaced by the tyrant's actions, and they together overthrow him. Aren't they considered just by most people?"
Even if Xi Wana wasn't wholly convinced, he couldn't refute. He wanted to prove that the person who said he was unworthy years ago was wrong, and his way of proving it was to bring even more disaster.
This indeed could cause the self-righteous old man pain, making him feel that his choice had led to this suffering and maybe would make him regret it.
But Xi Wana knew this wouldn't topple him morally; he would only think he had rightly predicted it back then, regretting only that he didn't take more measures to restrain this malevolent person, rather than reflecting on who was right or wrong, or whether his actions were appropriate.
The spectators would also think Xi Wana was making a mountain out of a molehill, for they didn't know the truth and could only physically feel the destruction caused by Xi Wana. When they were personally hurt, naturally they would see those who rise up against him as just, without caring about the source.
Xi Wana remembered when he grew up and reinvestigated the past events, finally finding a way to The Eternal Eye. When he took The Eye of the Seven Deadly Sins in front of the old wizard, the regret in the eyes of the wizard who fell to the ground was not directed at the younger him.
He was only regretting that he had made a wrong choice that led to today's misfortunes, without any reflection on his past actions.
That look began to linger in Xi Wana's mind, igniting even more anger, resentment, and powerlessness.
He felt that no matter what he did, he couldn't make the other party realize the problem; that damned wizard would always think he was inherently evil and had succumbed to temptation, leading to all this.
"So if you want to prove you're right, the first thing you need is the power to speak," Shiller brought the topic back and said, "And in a society with order, good people, or at least those who appear to be on the side of justice, have a greater power to speak."
"Justice can be in words and deeds, or it can be a flag," Shiller leaned back in his chair slightly, picked up a glass of water, drank, and said, "Think about it, how many of those who claim to stand for justice actually take action, and how many are just posturing?"
"How many people under the banner of justice speak and act without reason, act willfully, only consider themselves and not others, yet always manage to pressure others with morality to escape punishment?"
This was the sentiment Xi Wana agreed with most because he believed the old wizard was such a person. Why should you be right just because you guarded The Eternal Eye for so long? What does your long guardianship have to do with me? The fact that you did one thing right, how does that relate to all the other things you've done wrong?
However, just because he did one right thing and was celebrated, everyone thought he was always right, while those whose lives he ruined were deemed inherently evil, as he said, and it was as if they deserved it.
"Why can't you do the same?" Shiller's whisper echoed in Xi Wana's ear, "If you became that kind of person, or even did better, couldn't you then define him and label him just as he does?"
Again, the whisper of the devil.
"If you became an icon of justice, adored and respected by everyone, convincing everyone to believe what you say, wouldn't you be able to give him a taste of being wrongfully judged?"
Xi Wana felt his back become stiff, unable to rest firmly against anything, as though he was skewered like a fish to be grilled.
"Can I do that?"
"In fact, you've already done so," Shiller said with a smile. "Mr. Xi Wana, you'd better recall, are you really completely innocent in the matter of the body appearing in your yard?"
Xi Wana's Adam's apple bobbed. Of course, he knew he was not; he knew how Piero had died.
His neighbor was a motorcycle enthusiast who liked to speed after police hours at night. In the community, he was a bit more restrained, but that day his luck ran out.
A furious, terrible robber was lurking around Xi Wana's yard, and just as Piero passed by on his motorcycle, he became the unfortunate scapegoat.
Xi Wana witnessed Piero's death, but he did nothing because he hated the Mexican who roared past on his motorcycle at night; he thought he was trouble for their community.
"But who's in trouble now?" Shiller asked.
It should have been him, Xi Wana thought, but now it was that foolish and impetuous Clay.
Of course, there was also the fact that he and Shiller had strong mental fortitude and had conspired to frame Clay, but more so because he was now the respected Dean of Gotham University.
This city needs the name-brand university, and everyone at the university, staff and students, needs him.
That's why Roy was so furious, insisting on making trouble for Clay. Did he really not know that Clay had no reason to lay a hand on him? Probably not, but it's because under the adoration of the university faculty and students, the value of the Dean far exceeded that of a new cop.
Since Shiller knew the secret of his right eye and had the power to take away The Eye of the Seven Deadly Sins directly, he could have killed him, just tamper with the ambulance, and no one would discover it.
But why is he still alive? Because Shiller is also a member of Gotham University, he has many difficult students under him, and the psychology department needs academic awards, so they need a competent Dean, or everyone will face more trouble.
All this was because he had value.
Xi Wana had completely figured it out.
The old wizard dared to treat him that way because he was just an ordinary kid, right? If he was Raven, with an extremely troublesome and dangerous father and a force inside him that could be called a ticking time bomb, would the old wizard dare to speak to him that way?
He wouldn't dare, Xi Wana thought with a wry smile.
If the old wizard had originally taken Raven and Raven told him that his emotional outburst would cause an explosion releasing the power within, not only destroying that dark space, The Eye of Sin, but possibly obliterating the whole Earth along with Universe Space, then let alone touching The Eye of Sin, even if Raven gave the old wizard a slap, the old man wouldn't dare to retaliate, right?
"So, why not?" Shiller asked with a smile.
And Xi Wana looked at the man in front of him, his smile seemed gentle, he looked scholarly and graceful, exuding an elegant temperament associated with academics.
But what he saw that day was not an illusion of indifference and evil.
Is this why Shiller always maintains an advantage?
What a perfect human skin he wears, so, why not?