From the Abyss of Stars Part 1

092. Judgment

Ding-dong—

The elevator doors opened, and Qiu Ran rushed out, carrying Nomi's head. Li Aozi followed leisurely, his eyes fixed on Qiu Ran ahead, while his peripheral vision scanned the surroundings.

Even though he knew he had cleared out everyone on the first floor of the shelter, Li Aozi didn't consider caution to be a mistake.

Moreover, he had already encountered a pseudo-human and dared not let acquaintances out of his sight.

"Where are we going?" Qiu Ran asked anxiously.

"First to the ICU, to question Nordley."

Li Aozi kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, staying half a step behind Qiu Ran, not letting her out of his sight.

No matter how careless Qiu Ran was, she noticed Li Aozi's change in attitude and hesitated for a moment before saying:

"Are you worried about me now?"

She phrased it politely, using 'now.'

The implication was, 'You weren't like this before; what's happened to make you act this way now?'

"Is it because of that transformed Calamity Armament—"

"Trust me."

Li Aozi replied tersely.

He didn't want to explain too much. For the human kingdom, knowing about the existence of pseudo-humans was more harmful than the pseudo-humans themselves.

Qiu Ran pursed her lips but didn't say more.

"I don't know what effect that guy had on you just now... I trust you, but please trust me too."

Despite witnessing many incredible things about Li Aozi along the way, he was still just human.

"I'll try."

Li Aozi didn't want to speak too definitively.

He wasn't a genius. As someone whose main attribute was 【Charisma】, Li Aozi wasn't known for his intelligence. He also couldn't immediately distinguish between the real and the pseudo-human.

Regarding the Abyss, he was driven by his hatred for harming babies and his vendetta, which might seem somewhat hypocritical. But regarding pseudo-humans, Li Aozi always harbored a deep resentment.

He once had a great team during versions 1.0 and 2.0, enjoying themselves every day, building communities, sharing funny pictures, and doing quests together.

If not for the trust crisis caused by pseudo-humans, leading to a chain of suspicion and internal conflicts that tore them apart, his connections could have been much better.

Qiu Ran, or rather the entire Azure Star, didn't realize the true horror of pseudo-humans— even if all pseudo-humans were eliminated, the seeds of suspicion and division had already been sown in human hearts.

Everyone could commit crimes and then shift the blame by saying, "It wasn't me, it was a pseudo-human who replaced me; I'm a victim too."

Once people tasted the benefits of such deceit, their moral boundaries were shattered, and all human relationships deteriorated.

Courts couldn't distinguish truth from falsehood, making crime unpunishable. Order and justice became jokes, and non-criminals became the odd ones out— such a society was unfit for space exploration.

In Li Aozi's view, this was more despairing than direct destruction. Such a planet and cultural environment could only produce scum and pure chaotic evil demons.