Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 369 - 015. Meaning?

Chapter 369: 015. Meaning?

"Right!" Someone agreed, "Those bastards from Night Butterfly abandoned that planet twenty thousand years ago to develop their own—yet our people have lived on Corinna for five thousand years! Now that they see the planet reborn from ashes, they want to take our home away from us, no way!"

"Yeah, why should they do that? I’ve seen the news and history. Those Night Butterfly People, why should they take away the homeland that our compatriots rely on for survival? They abandoned their home to wander in the cosmos, and it was us who revived the planet by hand, generation after generation giving their lives there—and now with just one word, they want to take it from us? Why!"

This topic easily aroused the young people’s shared enmity, and calls against the Night Butterfly Federation and for joining the military also arose.

"Really? I don’t think so."

In the midst of the pro-war group, a boy suddenly said:

"Whoever loves to be a soldier can be one; I refuse to go!"

"What did you say? Vick, are you trying to betray civilization?"

"I don’t want to be a Magician. I’ve heard the front line is getting slaughtered fighting with the Night Butterfly Federation. I’m the only child in my family. If I die, my lineage ends."

The boy named Vick, sullen and disheartened, continued:

"You don’t know, do you? We’ve been at war with the Night Butterfly Federation for forty years, and the front line has already conscripted seven waves of student Mages. Even those doing logistics face an extremely high risk of death."

"But our people are being slaughtered, people are dying!"

"Yeah, so what?" Vick shrugged. "War is just one side of the story, right? Who hasn’t slaughtered the civilians on the other side? We have too. Anyway, with just one word from the higher-ups, you little crystals will sacrifice yourselves for them, while the bigwigs make a killing."

"You’re a person from the Crystal Tower Civilization!" Cadfy shouted. "Without the complete and strong Crystal Tower Civilization, anyone can bully us!"

"You don’t know shit; the higher-ups are a bunch of spineless creatures. When the real fighting breaks out, they’ll have emigrated to other civilizations and continue to command you naive youngsters to fight. The more of you who die, the more those higher-ups earn."

Vick sneered:

"I’m not stupid. If danger comes, I’ll emigrate. You don’t really think that the big shots are dumber than a poor kid like me, do you?"

"And then what? Can you escape danger every time?"

"But at least I won’t die for a politician. If politicians want to fight, let them take up the Magic Wand and guns themselves. I’m just a common pleb. If you ask me to go to war, I’m betraying you, see?"

Vick said mockingly:

"There are no heroes in interstellar war. You will die like dust in the cosmos, alone, cold, with no one to remember you. All of this is meaningless; war and civilization should both die. You plebs actually think about saving a group of strangers thousands of miles away. They probably live better than you, have a higher status than you. No offense, but they get reported on daily, yet the media never interviews me. They are not my compatriots."

"What are you living for?"

"Pleasure. Aren’t you the same? Stop being hypocritical about it. Aren’t you just after girls, money, and fame? Otherwise, why would you take exams?"

Vick said:

"There are no heroes in interstellar war. You will die like dust in the universe, alone, cold, with no one to remember you."

His speech was harsh and cunning, fully exploiting the young and inexperienced minds of the students. With a few casual remarks, he silenced the enthusiastic students.

Li Aozi glanced at Cadfy, this simple and patriotic young man, who was shaking all over with fury, his eyes reddened with anger.

"Why would he say such a thing... Our people are suffering, our land has been taken away, why does he feel no shame, and instead takes pride in betrayal?"

Cadfy’s low murmuring was clearly heard by Li Aozi.

Although Li Aozi really didn’t want to get involved in these young people’s mess, but...

Li Aozi glanced at the other young people.

Emotionally, he had no sympathy for either side of the civilizations’ upper echelons; both were ruthless in their quest to prevail, each with their own justifications, and both had committed crimes against the interstellar conventions;

Rationally speaking, focusing on this war also seemed to be of no significance; its greatest purpose lay in providing players with an official tournament map for future competitions—the "Legacy of Corinna."

The Eye of the Galaxy campaign had wounded both civilizations to the core, and from then on, they began to recuperate and withdrew from the war zone.

However, many planets were affected, their surface ecosystems destroyed; sixty billion people died, two hundred billion were left homeless, wandering through space.

The most tragic was Corinna, due to the reciprocal retaliation between the Night Butterfly Federation and the Crystal Tower. The surface was bombarded mercilessly, contaminated with various banned weapons, turning it into uninhabitable wasteland.

The people of the Tower and Night tribes on the planet had been forsaken by both civilizations; as enemies, they had to cling together for warmth and support each other to survive this ordeal.

Then, while supporting each other, they continued to fight, because their hatred persisted.

Fortunately, their days of suffering were soon to end.

In version 3.0, Corinna faced an invasion from the Mechanical World Society; the Tower and Night tribes, who had fought for decades, chose to set aside their hatred to join hands and bravely fight against the invasion from the Mechanical World Society.

Eventually, in version 3.5, Corinna lost one-seventh of itself; the Tower and Night tribes were slaughtered to a man, no one fell into decay to become a citizen, all perished, contributing not a shred of strength to the enemies of the cosmos.

Only, such a heroic death was not reported by any civilization.

Because their mother civilizations were not recognized as legitimate powers.

The universe is so vast, no one cares about the death of an ant or what kind of suffering an illegal planet may endure.

"...If it can be said, the real world, with the same physical rules as the game, then, I should also make some changes."

Vick reveled in his self-satisfied triumph, indulging in the joy of having won the verbal spar.

"In an interstellar war, naturally, no one will remember you," Li Aozi spoke up, slowly saying, "But the thing is, even without the war, no one would remember you anyway."

"You—"

"The person who questions whether the meaning itself is meaningful, his existence itself is predicated on defense. No, defense is meaningful, but you are not; you have negated everything that could have given you meaning—so naturally, there’s no need for you to exist, idiot."

Li Aozi lifted his eyes for a glance at Vick. With the "Bullying the Weak" skill, his high "Charm" was transformed into an equivalent "Intimidation" effect; in Vick’s eyes, he changed from a ruggedly handsome young man into a gloriously armed mechanical tyrannosaurus, its mouth wide open, sending out a terrifying thunderous roar:

"The person who denies the meaning of another’s existence, their own existence becomes meaningless. This world doesn’t revolve around you—but it surely revolves around those who are good to the world. Because the world isn’t stupid, much smarter than you; what the hell are you? Not even checking if you’ve got the capability, yet thinking of spreading everywhere? Do you have the strength for that?"

As a Master of Rune Study, Li Aozi spoke these words with full confidence:

"Since you’re meaningless yourself, do you think throwing you off from here would mean anything?"