Hollow Knight: Hallownest

"I always feel like I'm not used to it..."

Badong forced himself to close his eyes, lowered his head and muttered something, but he was unable to fall into the dream that he could fall into in the past after just a moment of relaxation.

This sight, isn't it trying to eat me...

Could it be that I said something wrong?

Feeling the gaze that had been lingering on him, Badong felt uncomfortable all over. He had no choice but to open his eyes again and helplessly looked at Worm who was still sitting cross-legged in front of him, with a hint of pleading:

"Mr. Worm, what have you thought about? If you haven't done it yet, could you please move to another place? I'm used to being alone..."

I can't sleep at all with you here.

In fact, when he finished his last sentence, Worm had already entered deep thought, and all the thoughts in his mind revolved around only one idea.

Should we add fuel to the fire as Badong said?

Yes, Badong is right.

Each god can directly interfere with the development of certain events, even the fate of a certain creature.

However, this kind of interference comes at a price. The larger the scale and the more lives involved, the greater the price to be paid.

Especially in the former case, the number of lives involved in one incident is often countless. Even gods may lose their lives accidentally if they want to interfere.

So he can definitely choose the latter?

Wyrm knew that this was never a choice. When his foresight failed, there was no choice left to save Hallownest.

He must interfere with the fate of the entire Hallownest.

This intricate relationship that stems from one thing represents a price that is much greater than ever before. Even the price paid when the radiation was sealed seems somewhat disgraceful compared to the former.

"Do you think I need to do it?"

Badong was still mumbling to himself, secretly complaining about Cricket Worm's impolite behavior, but his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by this sentence.

Are you finally willing to speak?

But when he lowered his eyes, he found that Worm's gaze had not moved at all, and was still staring at him like a sculpture, which made him wonder if the words he just said were just hallucination.

"Badong, do you think I need to do it?"

Speaking again dispelled his doubts. Badong did not answer immediately, but savored Worm's words first.

He asked, need.

Does he need to do it?

The life and death of the entire Hallownest was just a necessity to him, just like tidying up his robes and kicking away the stones on the road...

True, after all, without him, there would be no Holy Nest.

To him, the two were never an equal symbiotic relationship. If he were alive, there might be a second or third Holy Nest in the world, but if it were the other way around...

"Leave the decision of this issue to me, let me decide the life and death of so many people in Hallownest?"

"Hmm... This feeling is really wonderful. It's as if I have supreme power at this moment. I can decide the life and death of other insects just by opening my mouth. However..."

"I refuse to answer."

Badong first showed a sacred expression, and then quickly responded with a blank expression:

"You are pushing such a big responsibility onto an irrelevant bug. Don't you think your behavior is despicable? I really doubt whether you are the wyrm I met at the beginning."

If the previous Delya had heard this, she would have chopped off his head without saying a word. However, at this moment, Worm did not care about the mocking words he fired at her face, and instead smiled at herself.

"despicable?"

"Do you really think every god is holy?"

Wom's vision suddenly turned dim, as dark as the Nine Nether Spring, and his tone was so cold that it chilled Badong to the bone, but this feeling only flashed by, and his tone returned to normal again.

"The greatness of the gods is set off by the weakness of living beings. In the eyes of the strong, the weak have no place. As long as you are strong enough, everything will be as it should be."

"Just like the Void is about to engulf Hallownest, or I am about to fly away. The weak can only curse this power that is so weak that it cannot be any weaker. They can only accept the facts and cannot make any changes..."

"So what do you want to say?"

Badong then said nonchalantly, "You mean, even if you abandon Holy Nest like this, it's just a trivial choice for you as a strong man?"

"You're asking me to save it."

"No, don't get me wrong. You know that Hallownest means less to me than this tunnel. I just want to help you say what you don't want to say."

That's right, as a god, Wyrm gave birth to an emotion that had never been seen before - entanglement.

He was struggling with whether he should save them or risk his own life in exchange for a glimmer of hope for Holy Nest.

Maybe it's just like Badong said, even if he made the choice to abandon it, he couldn't bear any loss. Compared with the long river of life of a god, everything that happened here was just one or two ripples in it, and it would disappear when it disappeared.

In the long river of his life, countless similar ripples can still be seen.

“There are no two leaves in the world that are alike.”

Seeing that Worm was looking at him again, Badong didn't want to explain anymore, so he just admitted, "Just think of it as me advising you to save Holy Nest. After all, this peaceful sleep is thanks to you. If even my place is swept away by the void..."

As he said this, he glanced at his body which had become as fat as a ball and it was quite difficult for him to move even a step, and uttered a mournful cry: "I can't run away even if I want to!"

"Is it just because of the peace of mind? You are such a bug...give me a kind of split honesty."

Worm smiled and shook his head slightly. Under Badong's expectant gaze, he finally stopped sitting cross-legged, slowly stood up, and began to walk out of the corridor.

When his back was about to disappear at the end of the corridor, Badong couldn't help but shout out out of curiosity:

"So, you've decided?"

He saw the former's figure suddenly pause, slowly raised one arm and then dropped it down, as if holding something in his palm.

Worm left without giving him an answer.

"..."

"Split honesty? What a strange combination..."

Badong muttered twice, closed his eyes beautifully, and began to enjoy the sleep without any abrupt sight.

Ashes as white as snow scraped across the hole in the tunnel, making a rhythmic sound, like a lullaby.

A lullaby to soothe suffering.