J looked at the D in front of him, and in his eyes there was a deep exhaustion and helplessness.
He quietly stared into D's eyes, as if hoping to see the other person's true thoughts deep inside through those eyes.
However, D at this moment seemed to be immersed in his own world, unable to understand J's painstaking intentions.
"Wake up, stop being stubborn..." J's voice carried a hint of pleading.
Even though he felt disappointed in D's stubbornness, J still didn't want to give up this former friend so easily.
J had always been a kind and sincere person.
Maybe it was because he had never made any friends before meeting Notch, so he treasured friendship even more.
Because of this, he especially cherished the friendship between Notch and D.
It was precisely this sincere emotion that made J seem somewhat conflicted when handling his relationship with D. He wanted to protect this precious friendship, but he also didn't want to go against his conscience.
In such a difficult situation, J often fell into confusion, and in the end, he couldn't take care of either side. He wanted to stand on D's side and try to redeem D, but at the same time he hoped to stick to his moral bottom line.
If it were someone else, they probably would have already decided to cut ties the moment they discovered the sins D had committed.
But J didn't do that.
Instead, he first put the responsibility on himself, believing that it was his own negligence and mistakes that led to the situation now.
So the choice he made was to sit and do nothing when that great war arrived, and then atone together with D.
But by doing this, he only washed away the guilt he felt toward the living beings that D persecuted.
Even though he didn't have any malicious intentions, what he did had no real effect, it was just comforting himself.
And it was because he did this that his situation became even more awkward.
It was an act that pleased neither side.
HIM and the others wouldn't feel grateful to J just because he didn't act. Even if J didn't take action, HIM still sealed him in the void.
And D even less, D had condemned J countless times, asking why he didn't act back then.
So not only did J's actions fail to wash away any guilt, they only made his guilt grow heavier and heavier.
He felt that he owed the living beings of this game world, if he hadn't been trapped in the void, they wouldn't have needed to restore their physical forms, and naturally so many lives wouldn't have been sacrificed.
He felt that he owed D too, if J had tried to interfere with both sides before that great war arrived, maybe things wouldn't have turned out like this.
Because of this, even knowing D always harbored bad intentions, he still refused to give up on D.
You have to admit, J is a person very hard to judge…
He, as a whole, is just like his appearance right now, giving off a sense of contradiction and twisted conflict.
It's undeniable that he really is a good person, and he's not unaware of things.
The reason he always does things that make others confused is really just because he values emotions too much.
Everything becomes harmful when taken to the extreme; valuing feelings is good, but valuing them too much becomes an obsession.
That is also why J has tried again and again to persuade D and still refuses to give up even after failing countless times.
But mainly it's also because all of D's dissatisfaction toward J is kept inside his heart, and D hasn't done anything excessive to J yet.
There's a saying, "Teaching with words is useless; teaching through experience leaves a mark in the heart."
Perhaps only when D truly hurts J will he finally wake up.
At this moment, seeing J's expression, D didn't show much emotional fluctuation; he only felt a little speechless.
Funny to say, J did everything to maintain their relationship, refusing to give up, but D at this moment had already given up.
If the paths are different, the goals are not the same, in D's heart right now, he and J were no longer the same kind of people, and he didn't want to discuss anything with J anymore.
What he needed to consider now was how to restrain the obstacle in front of him.
When he previously sent out the Witherzilla, D actually had a whole plan.
All along, it was D who controlled the power gathered by those consciousness bodies; J basically never interfered much.
So after sending out the Witherzilla, D originally planned for it to gather enough power for D alone to gain a physical form, and then stop collecting.
After that, D would find a way to cut off J's connection with the outside world. When meeting Notch later, he would simply say that J had an accident during materialization.
Then D could completely fabricate a story, letting Notch stand on his side and take revenge on HIM and Xu Yuan.
D had planned everything quite well, but he didn't expect J to refuse to play along.
Not long after D released the Witherzilla, J began to check on the progress of the collection as if he were inspecting work.
D and J were beings of the same level, even if J didn't handle things much, D couldn't possibly hide it from J.
So D's plan ended up failing.
Just earlier, when he saw J gradually gaining a physical form, D also felt dazed. He wanted to give J one last chance, to make J stand on his side, so he asked that question about revenge.
But clearly, that question became the final one that ended their friendship.
Thinking to this point, D fell silent for a moment. He took a deep breath, adjusted his emotions, then pretended to look sincere as he looked at J and said, "I've thought it over carefully. What you said does have some truth in it."
"You know my personality too. Back then, we were the founders of that world… I admit, I really got carried away..."
"After all, I was always a poor kid. I had never stood at the peak of power..."
"As for that previous world, we didn't really understand what was going on. That world had players whose origins we didn't know, so at the time, I didn't think the living beings of that world were actual life."
When he said this, D showed a wronged expression, as if he knew he was wrong, and then continued.
"But that original world, in a certain sense, seems to no longer exist."
"Most of the living beings and players from back then have already dissipated."
"They didn't dissipate because of me."
"So even if I didn't interfere with their lives, they would have dissipated sooner or later, right?"
At this, D looked at J. J was about to refute D's point, but D cut him off.
"The past is already in the past. We each hold our own views; neither of us can convince the other, and there's no need to talk about the past anymore."
"Shouldn't the focus be on what's happening now?"
"Right now, we are living in this world, no different from those living beings who awakened consciousness."
"So I can understand now, they are all vivid, living lives."
"I really shouldn't hurt these lives..."
"As for revenge..."
"You know me. If I say I've let it go, you definitely wouldn't believe it."
"But if destroying an enemy would make me lose a friend, then I don't think it's worth it."
[🥳 New novel guys—"Online Game: SSS-Tier Skills From Scratching Tickets". It is from the same author who wrote "Awoke As a God After Auto-Battling For 100000 Years". Do give it a try and hope you all had a great year.]