Chapter Thirty-Six: A Change of Heart

"Tch, all just excuses!" Although he had explained their actions, Zhou Tian refused to accept the worldview that the elf had described. Perhaps, from the elf's perspective, their behavior was justified, but according to Zhou Tian’s own beliefs, no matter the reason, killing unarmed serpentfolk was wrong. No matter how the elves tried to explain it, Zhou Tian could never agree.

Watching the elves repeatedly drive their blades into the bodies of the serpentfolk, Zhou Tian sighed helplessly and eventually turned his back, distancing himself from the area.

"I didn't kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of me. If I hadn't said those words to them, maybe none of this would have happened today." Shaking his head in distress, Zhou Tian, for the first time, began to doubt his earlier decisions.

"Hmm~"

"Who’s there?" Just as Zhou Tian was regretting his choices, he suddenly heard a faint sound nearby. Startled, he cautiously scanned the area and released several small snakes from the Serpent Basin, sending them crawling toward the source of the noise.

With a concerted effort from the snake swarm, the area from which the sound had emanated was soon cleared.

"This is..." Zhou Tian could hardly believe his eyes. When the snakes finished clearing the area, he saw several young serpentfolk huddled beneath a hole in the ground, trembling in fear.

The oldest among them looked no more than eleven or twelve in human years, with the youngest still an infant. What shocked Zhou Tian even more was that, perhaps startled by the earlier noise, the older serpentfolk, desperate to avoid detection, were pressing their hands over the infant’s mouth, praying in vain that Zhou Tian would not find them. When Zhou Tian appeared in their sight, the infant had already suffocated.

Zhou Tian had heard of similar incidents during the resistance war—stories that were shocking to read, but nothing compared to witnessing it firsthand. Before, he could simply sigh in front of his computer and move on, but now, seeing a helpless infant smothered because of his own vigilance, he could not help but feel overwhelming guilt.

As his expression shifted, Zhou Tian knew what he should do: eliminate the serpentfolk children. Otherwise, after today, they would surely become his mortal enemies. But when it came time to act, Zhou Tian simply couldn't bring himself to do it.

Whether intentional or not, Zhou Tian seemed to forget the elves traveling with him in that moment. After struggling internally, he pretended not to have seen the serpentfolk and turned away, leaving the scene.

Feeling the hostile stares burning into his back, Zhou Tian couldn't say whether his decision was right or wrong. Still, at least for now, he did not regret his recent actions. Raised in a peaceful era, Zhou Tian simply couldn't bring himself to kill innocent children.

Yet, though sparing the serpentfolk seemed a trivial act, Zhou Tian could not have anticipated the consequences. That brief moment of compassion would bring disaster upon him.

……………………………

After Zhou Tian left, the elves never asked what had transpired, as if the events had never happened at all. In the days that followed, Zhou Tian and the elves moved closer to other beastfolk tribes, interacting as before.

Though their relationship seemed unchanged on the surface, Zhou Tian knew in his heart that the previous incident had created a rift between him and the elves. No matter how hard he tried to forget, he inevitably began to distance himself from them.

If nothing unexpected happened, after eliminating a few more beastfolk tribes, Zhou Tian and the elves would return to the Elven Empire and drift apart forever, the past becoming nothing more than memories.

But before they could seek out another beastfolk tribe, the Beastfolk Empire found them first.

"How did the beastfolk track us down so quickly?" When the elves detected, through magic, a beastfolk army advancing toward them from a hundred miles away, both Zhou Tian and the elves panicked. While wondering how their whereabouts had been discovered, they began a frantic escape.

Had they eradicated every member of the serpentfolk tribe, the Beastfolk Empire would likely have received the news only after Zhou Tian and the elves had disappeared without a trace. Even if the Beastfolk Empire sought revenge, they would have had a hard time finding them.

But clearly, the Beastfolk Empire had received information. Otherwise, no matter how enraged they were, their response could not have been so swift.

Images of the serpentfolk children he spared flashed through Zhou Tian’s mind. He desperately wanted to believe that their exposure was not the result of his momentary mercy. Yet, given the circumstances, whether he liked it or not, it was almost certain the serpentfolk children had betrayed their location.

"So I was too naive after all! I used to dislike indecisive protagonists when reading novels, but now I've made such an elementary mistake myself." Smiling bitterly, Zhou Tian chose not to share these thoughts with the elves. After secretly resolving himself, he followed the elves in silence, fleeing with all his might.

…………………………………

"I've always wanted to know—what are your names? We've known each other so long, yet you still refuse to tell me. Isn't that a bit much?"

"Do you not know what it means for an elf to reveal their name to someone of another race?"

"What does it mean?"

"Trust. Absolute, unconditional trust!"

Zhou Tian fell silent at those words. After everything that had happened, he was no longer as naive as before. The word ‘trust’ was simple enough to say, but so difficult to achieve. Not to mention others—even Zhou Tian himself, though he got along well with the elves, knew he had never fully trusted them. By the same token, he had no right to ask for their trust.

As Zhou Tian pondered this, a distant elf hurried toward them…

(These chapters serve mainly as a transition. There are related posts in the review section, so I'll address it here. It's unrealistic to expect a normal person from Earth to suddenly become ruthless and decisive. If you were handed a knife and told to kill, very few could actually strike. So these recent chapters are meant to illustrate the protagonist's changing mindset, so it doesn't seem as though he becomes cold-blooded and decisive immediately upon arriving in another world.)