The Monk That Wanted To Renounce Asceticism

Bai Wenshui fell silent.

However, Big Ghost and Little Ghost were scared out of their wits. They did not conceal anything and immediately recounted every single evil deed they had committed since they were young. Red Boy found it amusing when he heard them recount about how they pilfered in the beginning for survival, but he fumed when he heard their acts of diving into the water to drown good people.

Since Big Ghost and Little Ghost had confessed the most infuriating truths already, Ghosthead, Mole, and company no longer had much to hide either. All of them began recounting what they had done.

“In fact, we didn’t think of going so overboard in the past. Back then, we really fished out bodies out of the kindness of our hearts.”

“But who knew that fishing corpses would be more lucrative than fishing? We earned two thousand a piece, and it happened to be a flooding period, so many people drowned. We earned money very quickly from fishing the bodies, and that resulted in our warped ideas.”

“In the beginning, we didn’t dare raise the price too much. All we did was raise it by a thousand. Three thousand for a corpse.”

“Later, as we started earning more and more, we wished to earn even more. Bai Wenshui gathered us together and chased the other volunteers away by bullying them. We ended up monopolizing the business of fishing up corpses.”

“We wanted to earn more, but the number of people that die every year is limited. To earn more, we needed more people dead. But first, we raised our prices.”

“By the time we raised them to five thousand, then to eight thousand, we were already satisfied. However, we quickly realized that this was not the limit of what families were willing to pay and that we could earn more from each corpse.”

“Yet as our prices rose, there were fewer and fewer people who dared enter the water. But by that time, we had become accustomed to earning fast cash, and we couldn’t stand returning to fishing. Therefore, Bai Wenshui found Big Ghost and Little Ghost… We didn’t care about our reputation or justice anymore. All we wanted was to earn money.”

“Greed is like a devil. There’s no end to it.”

…

Upon hearing their words, Fangzheng could not help but let out a long sigh. Who was born evil? The birth of an evil person was not always the result of someone growing crooked due to their nature. Instead, a gust of wind could blow and without anything to support them, they would end up warping, turning bad.

Red Boy murmured. “Master, how evil can these people be? Has their conscience been eaten by dogs? Even as a demon, I have never been this evil-hearted.”

Squirrel added. “That’s right. They are too evil. They are worse than the a**holes that steal my pine nuts!”

Fangzheng said, “Evil is like a triangle in one’s heart. Every time someone does evil, the triangle will spin, lacerating their heart and shaving away at its constraints. Once someone commits too much evil, the triangle will spin nonstop and grind away the walls. Finally, the edges will be ground away, leaving a circle. Doing any more evil will no longer hurt at that time.”

“Are such people still redeemable?” Red Boy asked.

Fangzheng vaguely shook his head. Fangzheng did not say whether they were redeemable or not. In fact, he did not know if they were redeemable. He was not a god or Buddha, so there were many things that eluded him as well. In his own opinion, though, these people did not need redeeming.

Seconds turned to minutes, and as expected, these people lived up to their reputation as people who made their livelihood on the water. All of them managed to stay afloat the entire night!

As the sky slowly lit up, people began starting their morning exercises or running by the roads.

Ghosthead turned his head and saw people. He immediately turned excited as he yelled, “Save us! Save us!”

With Ghosthead leading the shout, everyone turned their heads. Upon seeing the living, tears streaked down their cheeks. Humans were ultimately not fish. Regardless of how good they were at swimming, they would find staying in water for prolonged periods of time unbearable. Therefore all of them began shouting. “Save us! Save us!”

There were people running by the banks when they suddenly heard people shouting for help. When they looked towards the river, they saw a group of people floating in the water. They were pleading for help. Without saying a word, people took off their clothes and jumped into the water to rescue them. They also shouted for others to help. Fangzheng identified one of them. His square face was just too eye-catching. He had been the first person to jump into the water back when Fangzheng had arrived. He had ultimately been blocked by Bai Wenshui and had had no choice but to return. Yet here he was again. Just as he had said back then, despite knowing the dangers, he would still risk his life!

He wasn’t a slow runner, and he soon jumped into the water along with a youth. Other than them, a number of people had rushed towards the river. Some called the police while others took flotation devices from nearby stores.

At that moment, the elder who had spoken to Fangzheng previously yelled, “They look like Bai Wenshui, Ghosthead, and company!”

The moment that was said, everyone—be they running, calling the police, or the people in the water—stopped in place!

Ghosthead turned anxious when he saw this. “What are you doing!? Quickly save us! I’m almost out of strength!”

“That voice, it’s really Ghosthead!” Square-face said.

The others exchanged looks with him. All of them stopped their actions and turned back to the river as they sat there, looking coldly at the floating few.

Bai Wenshui, Ghosthead, Mole, Daguang, and company felt their hearts turn cold when they saw this. They felt as though they were being abandoned by the entire world. It was the first time they were feeling this, the rage and hate from the entire world! The people of Twin River City were well known for being kind and heroic. Everyone was a hero, and the amount of times they had jumped into the water to rescue people was too great to count. But today, the passionate citizens of Twin River City chose to watch coldly by the bank. What was the reason? Were they hated to such an extent?

At that instant, the few of them felt depressed. They felt a sense of disconsolation that came from the bottom of their hearts! They could be evil or bad, but they had never thought about the harm their evil brought to others. Nor had they realized how people viewed them. They believed that they had been doing things flawlessly. Without any witnesses or evidence, there was no way to prove what they had done. So why were these people treating them like that? They could not accept it!

Fangzheng nodded slightly. Red Boy, who had long been waiting by the bank, held up Fangzheng’s cell phone. As he walked, he played yesterday’s confession of Bai Wenshui, Ghosthead, and company.

When the people on the bank heard what they had done, all of them fumed in anger! They stood by the bank and pointed at the river, cursing.

“Bai Wenshui, are you even human?”

“The Two Rivers do not have a place for beasts like you!”

“Did a dog eat your conscience?”

“Since times immemorial, there have been stories about farmers and snakes colluding together. Today, no one can save you from retribution!”

“That’s right! You won’t be rescued!”

Squared-face was still hesitant about rescuing them at first. After all, many lives had been lost to them. However, after he watched the video Red Boy played, he turned and left. As he walked, he said, “If such people are allowed to live, only more will die.”

Some people requested for the video, and Red Boy generously switched on his Bluetooth and sent it to everyone. Then, everyone spread it like crazy.

At that moment, a police car drove over.

“There are people drowning. Little Song, go take a look,” the driver said.

Little Song nodded. Just as he was about to get off, a policeman sitting behind them said, “Wait a moment. Look at this. It was shared on my WeChat Moments.”

After the few of them saw it, the police turned around and left!

“Officers, don’t leave! Save us!”

“Save us, or we’ll sue―!” Ghosthead yelled, but he began losing strength and took a big gulp of water.

“Let’s go.” The youth that was having a morning jog got up and left too.