Three Sins Against Heaven

Dylan Chen and Ryan Ji washed the blood off their bodies at the pond behind the courtyard before quietly pushing open the door to the room. Little Tiger and Carol Yan, who had been anxiously waiting inside, immediately stood up to greet them.

They naturally wouldn't bring Carol and Little Tiger along for such matters, instead keeping them together to prevent any mishaps.

"We won," Dylan said softly, his eyes devoid of any joy from the victory, only filled with deep exhaustion.

Little Tiger didn't understand what Dylan meant, but Carol, who knew about tonight's fight, began to tremble.

"Are they all dead?"

"Yes," Dylan nodded slightly.@@novelbin@@

"But they were all living people," Carol's body shook even more violently.

"Alright, what's important is that we won. Don't think too much about the rest," Ryan said, pulling Carol out of the room and opening the door to the adjacent one. "You've been waiting all night, you must be tired. Go to sleep. It's okay, it's all over."

Ryan watched Carol close the door but didn't return to his own room. Instead, he sat outside her door.

After Little Tiger fell asleep, Dylan quietly opened the door and came out to sit outside as well.

The two exchanged a glance and then fell into a long silence.

After waiting for more than half an hour, Ryan assumed Carol was asleep and finally spoke in a hoarse voice.

"I killed someone."

"Yes," Dylan nodded slightly, "I did too."

"But it shouldn't be like this. We had no grudges, yet we had to fight to the death," Ryan said, covering his face with his hands, his voice beginning to tremble. "Why is there such a place?"

Dylan comforted him, "Don't think too much about it. If they didn't die, we would have. We had no choice."

"I know, I know..." Ryan covered his face, his expression growing more pained. "Dylan, do you know? This isn't the first time I've killed someone."

Dylan was taken aback. "You never mentioned it before."

"How could I tell you something like that without going through life and death together?" Ryan muttered, then gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Do you know how I ended up here? I went to the city to sell mountain goods and saw a bunch of thugs bullying a girl. I couldn't stand it and fought them. There were too many of them, and I accidentally killed four. Although the girl testified for me, saying I was helping her, it was still four lives. I was imprisoned by the authorities. My parents sold everything to bail me out. I originally wanted to take the martial arts exam, but with a criminal record, I couldn't even join the army. Do you know? I came to this place willingly. The Immortal who brought me here said the authorities were nothing to him, and if I followed him, I could achieve great things. I believed him, but I didn't expect him to bring me to such a hellish place!"

Dylan was silent for a long time before asking, "If you had another chance, would you still save that girl?"

"Of course," Ryan nodded heavily. "If I didn't save her, how would I be any different from an accomplice?"

Dylan sighed, "You were born a righteous person. You're not suited for this place."

"And you think you are? The way you're panicking now is just like I was after my first kill. I know you're not a ruthless person at heart; this place is forcing you!" Ryan cursed, then sighed heavily. "The longer we stay in this hellhole, the more indifferent we become to death. I know what we did tonight was for self-preservation, but once there's a first time, there will be a second. I'm afraid that if we stay here too long, we'll become nothing but killing machines."

"I understand," Dylan sighed. "But we have no choice."

"I hate this helplessness. Why can lives be trampled on like this? They were all living people!" Ryan growled.

"You like Carol, don't you?" Dylan suddenly asked.

Ryan was stunned, then nodded. "Yes, I like her. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

"You're willing to do these dirty deeds to protect her, and so am I," Dylan said seriously. "If our hands are stained with blood, Little Tiger and Carol's hands won't have to be. In this place, we're as insignificant as ants. We can't change anything, we can only protect the ones we care about."

Ryan fell silent, then slowly stood up, walked over to Dylan, and placed a hand on his shoulder, looking at him seriously. "I understand. The only thing I'm grateful for in this hellhole is having a brother like you to rely on."

"Me too," Dylan looked up at Ryan, his expression more serious than ever. "I didn't have many friends growing up, so I cherish every one of them. No matter how hard the future gets, we'll face it together."

"Alright, we'll live and die together!" Ryan laughed heartily, his gloom lifting, and gently pushed open the door to go back to sleep. "It's late, you should rest too."

Listening to the sound of Ryan closing the door, Dylan fell silent again, raising his trembling right hand.

As Ryan said, no matter how strong and composed he appeared, he couldn't change the fact that he was panicking inside.

Even though the blood on his hands was washed clean, the feeling of that hot blood splattering on him wouldn't go away, as if it were branded on his soul.

But those were so many lives. He hadn't killed many himself, but those people died because of him.

Yes, he could comfort himself, saying it was all for self-preservation, that if they didn't die, he would have.

If it weren't for his plan, their deaths would have nothing to do with him. Even if half of them were destined to die tonight, everyone could rely on their own skills, the strong surviving and the weak perishing.

But tonight's events were all orchestrated by him. From the beginning, those who followed him survived, while the others died. It was as if he had decided their fates.

No matter how much he comforted himself, he couldn't change the fact that their deaths were related to him.

It was over a thousand lives!

Saying he was guilty of heinous crimes and deserved to die a thousand times over wouldn't be an exaggeration.

But he just wanted to survive, to live and go back. Why did he have to face such life-and-death choices?

He wasn't wrong, and neither were they. The fault lay in being brought to this damned place!

Dylan gently rubbed the copper coin in his hand, his emotions in turmoil.

His mother had taught him to be a good person, but he knew he couldn't do that anymore.

From the moment those young men died tonight, he could no longer be the person he once was.

Since he couldn't be a good person, he would become someone who would stop at nothing to survive!

In this hellish place, he could only use every means to stay alive, to live and see his mother again.

As long as he could go back and see his mother, he would do anything!

We are "pawread.co𝑚", find us on google.

"Mom, wait for me," Dylan murmured, clutching the copper coin tightly.