My Computer Leads to an Instance Dungeon

"Not just killing me, but destroying my spirit, too?" Tos looked up and stared at Fang Zhen.

Fang Zhen wasn't worried in the slightest that Tos and the others wouldn't understand what he meant. His Mystical Language Talent always translated his words into something his audience could comprehend.

"What, am I wrong?" he asked, walking up to Tos. The gazes of Gwendolyn, Karen, and the others all turned toward them.

The Whig Society was a paramilitary organization. In groups like this—or more broadly speaking, in most groups—the stronger you were, the more weight your words carried.

By single-handedly turning the tide and killing Count Ellick, Fang Zhen had already earned the respect and the right to speak among the members of the Whig Society.

He walked over to Tos and stood looking down at him on the ground.

"Before I killed Ellick, I told you that people like you are easily beaten into submission, but not so easily persuaded," he said. "What I meant wasn't that your theory is flawless. It's that unless you're beaten down first, you won't listen to reason. You need a fist to help you understand."

"And your philosophy? It's riddled with holes. I just couldn't be bothered to argue with you about it at the time."

Tos sneered, clearly unconvinced.

"Then by all means, tell me. Where am I wrong?"

"Humans eat cattle and sheep without guilt. Why is it a crime when non-humans eat people?" Tos demanded.

"In a sense, your observation isn't wrong. There are some similarities between humans killing livestock and non-humans killing humans," Fang Zhen said.

"If I'm right, then how do you propose to destroy my spirit?" Tos sneered.

"I never said your observation was wrong. But your perspective is too narrow," Fang Zhen said, shaking his head.

"Humans can eat cattle and sheep because we stand at the top of the food chain. And what you said about non-humans eating people is, in a way, also a fact. Non-humans are higher on the food chain than we are."

"But in the past, humans weren't just food for non-humans. We were also prey for wolves, tigers, savage beasts, and venomous snakes. So what? Didn't we claw our way through every obstacle to reach the top of the food chain all the same?"

Tos was taken aback.

It seemed Tos had never considered things from this angle.

"I said you were wrong not because I deny your observations. The things you've seen are facts—that's the empirical part, and I don't dispute it. Your mistake is that you haven't chosen the right side to stand on. Your mind is trapped in rigid, metaphysical dogma, and you don't understand an ounce of dialectics."

"So what if humans are currently food for non-humans? You need to remember that you are human, and you should be thinking from a human's perspective! Humanity didn't reach the top of the food chain by hosting dinner parties. Our brave ancestors fought for it, tooth and nail, with every spear and sword they had. You simply chose to betray your own people during a time of weakness. That is the act of a coward."

"I'm not here to debate the morality of one species eating another. In my eyes, this isn't a question of ethics; it's a question of power. It's a world where all creatures struggle for survival. Your place on the food chain is determined by your own strength. Your actions are nothing but an escape, a betrayal of your own people. You've shirked all responsibility. What right do you have to preach any philosophy?"

"If you were a non-human by birth, that would be one thing. But you're human. What were you thinking?" Fang Zhen looked at Tos with a hint of contempt.

He wasn't one to look down on others, but Tos's actions were truly despicable.

'If a guy like Tos had been in the Xia Country of a few decades ago on Blue Star, he'd be a textbook traitor, a collaborator selling out his country. Once Fang Zhen made that connection, he felt it would be a betrayal of his own upbringing not to curse him out.'

Tos was speechless.

"Hmph... Fine. Even if you're right, what's the point of the Whig Society's existence?"

"We've been fighting for so many years, and has anything really changed?"

"What's the meaning in any of it?"

Tos retorted defiantly.

"The resistance itself is the meaning. The existence of the Whig Society *is* the meaning," Fang Zhen said. "When it seems utterly impossible to overthrow a corrupt ruling class, the fact that people are still standing up, still fighting back—that in itself is meaning. That is hope!"

"A man I greatly respect once posed a question: Imagine an iron house without windows, impossible to destroy. Inside, many people are sound asleep and will soon suffocate to death. But since they will pass from sleep into oblivion, they won't feel the sorrow of their impending doom."

"Now, if you shout and wake up a few of the lighter sleepers, you make this unfortunate minority suffer the agony of their inescapable fate. Do you think you have done them a service?"

"But now that a few have awoken, you can't say there is no hope of destroying the iron house."

"A hymn to humanity is a hymn to courage! As long as someone has the bravery to stand up and resist the Eternal Night Council, as long as that courage to fight exists, you cannot say it is useless."

"Even if they fail and achieve nothing for a time, who's to say there won't be hope in the future?"

"A single spark can start a prairie fire. As long as the embers are kept alive, how can you know what twists of fate, what hope, the river of time might bring?"

"And now, hasn't the Whig Society's waiting brought them me, and the Blood Burst Secret Medicine?"

"You are nothing but a weakling who has lost his faith and conviction. A stray dog, panicked and lost, unable to find his spiritual home in this world. What right do you have to stand before me and argue your pathetic theories?"

"You're a joke!"

Tos's face went slack, as if he had never considered any of this.

The expressions on Gwendolyn's and Karen's faces were electric. 'So the Whig Society's existence really is that meaningful?'

Gwendolyn and Karen were among the most loyal members of the Whig Society. One was a veteran Warrior who had been tested time and again in the fight against the Eternal Night Council; the other came from a family of staunch loyalists and took great pride in the Society. But they both knew that some members had grown disheartened over the years, finding it difficult to maintain their fighting spirit.

Unfortunately, the Whig Society was a grassroots organization. Its theoretical foundation and ability to provide ideological guidance were average at best, so they couldn't produce speeches that were particularly inspiring.

But while Fang Zhen had seemingly been criticizing Tos, his words made Gwendolyn's and Karen's blood boil with passion.

Karen was fidgeting, practically scratching at her cheeks, wishing she could take notes to give to her father. This could be used as propaganda for the Whig Society's ideological platform. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Laura's eyes also shone with a brilliant light as she looked at Fang Zhen.

Jorent stroked his beard, nodding again and again. He seemed to be imagining the stunning effect these words would have if he were the one speaking them to educate the unmotivated new recruits.

Tos remained stunned for a long while. Gradually, the crazed light in his eyes faded.

Tos said nothing more, but his earlier arrogant demeanor was gone.

Although he had betrayed the Whig Society, Tos took his ideology very seriously. That was why he had thought himself into a philosophical corner.

After Fang Zhen's verbal onslaught, Tos truly took the words to heart. And as he thought about them, the conviction that had supported him until now began to waver, even showing signs of collapse.

To put it simply, Tos had been utterly owned.

If Fang Zhen's childhood friend, Wang Donglai, had been there to see it, he would have surely given him a thumbs-up and yelled, 'That's my Brother Fang! Not just ruthless, but he'll talk you to death, too!'

Seeing that Tos's conviction was about to shatter, Fang Zhen said no more.

His spirit had been successfully destroyed.

He turned to Gwendolyn. "Tos is one of your Whig Society. What do you plan to do with him?"

Gwendolyn glanced at Tos and sighed heavily. "We'll take him with us. At the very least, we can interrogate him to find out how much information about the Whig Society he sold out."

"There's no need," Tos said, his head bowed and his face ashen. "For five years... every piece of intelligence that passed through my hands, everything I knew about the Whig Society's leadership... I gave it all to Ellick. He sent it on to the Eternal Night Council."

"You traitorous dog!" Karen roared in fury, raising her sword to cut him down.

Tos seemed to have lost all will to live, remaining motionless in the face of Karen's greatsword.

"Fang Zhen was right. I'm a stray dog that's lost its spiritual home. There's no place for me in the Whig Society. I imagine there's no place for me with the Eternal Night Council, either. There's not even a place for me among humanity anymore."

"Gwendolyn, I know you're sentimental and want to spare my life, but there's really no need."

"The Kingdom is vast, but there's no longer a place for me in it. I don't know what side I'm on, or who I am anymore."

"Gwendolyn, Fang Zhen, give me a quick death. Let me end it here. Stop my suffering," Tos said.

Gwendolyn's lips tightened. Tos looked completely serious.

"Alright." Gwendolyn exhaled slowly and raised her Single-Edged Sword.

At that moment, Tos looked up at Fang Zhen.

"I chose the wrong path, Fang Zhen. You were right," Tos said. "I am human, yet I betrayed my own humanity."

"I won't talk about atonement, but as a small repayment for finally making me see the light, I'll tell you something."

"The Eternal Night Council is preparing a great purge of the Whig Society. It will happen within the next forty days."

"Consider this my final apology to you all—as a human, and as a former member of the Whig Society."

"What?" Gwendolyn exclaimed in shock.

And just then, Tos suddenly lunged forward.

PFFT!

Tos had thrown himself onto Gwendolyn's Single-Edged Sword, impaling his own throat.