The Story of the Fate of the Digital Series

Volume No.11: Moonsea Labyrinth & Many as One (16)

(fourteen)

Zheng Hao, who regained consciousness, looked around the surrounding environment.

What came into view was a blue space like the bottom of the deep sea, and various compressed broken blocks were piled up everywhere in the space.This is the deepest dump in the Moonsea Labyrinth, right?It really lives up to its name.but……

Except for myself and the girl, no one else was around.

"Karen? Are you all right?"

Looking at the silent girl sitting on the ground, Zhenghao tentatively called out her name and expressed his basic concern.However, the girl ignored him.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Seeing that the girl seemed to be in a daze, Zheng Hao raised his voice.

"Ah, I, I'm fine."

Hearing Zhenghao's second questioning, the girl finally came to her senses.She stood up and looked at Zhenghao in embarrassment.

It was a completely different tone from Lucifero's, and the purple pupils replaced the silver pupils, so it should be Karen himself.

"It seems that you are indeed Galen himself. Now we are barely meeting each other for the first time. Do you need me to introduce myself again?"

It is not sure whether Karen remained conscious during the period when Lucifero was possessed. In order to make each other more familiar, Zhenghao plans to say his name again.

"Masahiro, your name is Masahiro Osawa, right? Actually... When I lent my body to Lucifero, I asked to go on a journey with her in a conscious state. Then, in the moon sea labyrinth Among them, we met you and other companions first. So, I have seen what happened to Lucifero and what happened to you..."

Well, Karen is no stranger to herself.

"Well, you are not injured, are you? Although I am the only one who can fight now, if there is no unexpected situation, I will protect you like Lucifero. After all, I am also a hunter of dirty beasts, protecting ordinary civilians from dirty beasts. The injury is also my responsibility..."

Karen is an introverted girl who is not good at dealing with others.

"Ordinary civilian?... Forget it, anyway, I am an ordinary person now, but it's really awkward to be protected by a girl."

Originally wanted to say something, but Zhenghao chose to give up.After all, after losing the authority to biochemically evolve a year ago, I became an ordinary person as a matter of course.

(However, even if she encounters an enemy, she will still use her prosthetic limb as a weapon.)

Taking a peek at Karen's mechanical legs, Zheng Hao remembered Lucifero's fighting style.According to my guess, apart from the so-called 'space replacement', Lucifero should have been using the host's ability to fight.

"..."

Sensing the other person's gaze on her legs, Karen frowned slightly.

"My prosthetic limb, it's quite eye-catching... isn't it?"

"Well, I'll try not to look."

As Lucifero had said before, Karen was averse to having her prosthetic limb exposed.Therefore, Zheng Hao tactfully shifted his gaze.

"It's not your fault. I just don't like being known about my non-ability."

Karen smiled wryly, but did not blame Zhenghao.

"I'm really not used to being treated special by people around me, or being overly cared for..."

"Well, I understand your feelings. Don't worry, I'm not a good citizen, and I won't care about you because of your physical defects. Rather, I need your protection now. Let's act together and try our best to protect you." Join the others."

"Is it okay? Ms. Hunter who is stronger than me?"

Comforting girls is a very troublesome thing. Zhenghao directly ignores Karen's physical differences, treats her as a healthy and powerful hunter, and expresses his request bluntly.Although she was much stronger than herself...

"Ha...Zheng Hao is really an interesting person."

Zhenghao's words made Karen chuckle.

"Now, are you in a good mood? Then let's get out of here first."

Seeing that Karen was in a better mood, Zheng Hao reminded her that it was time to leave together.

Compared with the passages of the Moon Sea Labyrinth, the wasteland can be described as tranquil. Apart from a few filthy beasts with very low combat effectiveness, there are basically no other enemies in sight.

As for Karen's fighting style, it was still dominated by kicking with prosthetic limbs, not much different from Lucifero's fighting style.

Along the way, their journey was very safe.

"Speaking of which, why are you willing to lend your body to Lucifero? Is it because she will fulfill a certain wish for you?"

A little concerned about Karen's reason for lending her body to Lucifero, Zheng Hao asked suddenly.

"Because... I made wrong choices. Because of those bad choices, I indirectly killed my benefactor who went astray, and hurt my friends who have always cared about me..."

Regarding Zhenghao's question, Karen showed a slightly embarrassed expression.

"I'm ashamed. I don't know how to face my friends, and I'm also full of confusion about my future. If I were someone else, I might think that going home is the best choice, but I'm homeless..."

"So, I fled to other countries to live a turbulent life, and had nightmares every night. Until that night, when I was walking at night because of insomnia, I met a boy-like angel Digimon. He told me, His mother is sleeping in my body and needs to borrow my body temporarily..."

"So, that dead brat suddenly awakened Lucifero's consciousness sleeping in your body, right? I don't think you voluntarily lent your body to her at first."

It is easy for Zhenghao to guess the ending.

"Actually, when I first noticed, my body was occupied by Lucifero. At first, I didn't quite accept another soul that suddenly appeared in my body..."

Karen replied a little embarrassed.Sure enough, I guessed right.

"After all, I am a very cowardly, uninitiated person, and my bad state has never been resolved. Therefore, Lucifero easily persuaded me and let me completely get out of the nightmare, pointing me to wait for the matter to end I should go back to my friend; she said everything would be fine and no one would blame me."

"At that time, I was in a mess and didn't want to think too much about it. I thought it would not be a bad choice to lend my body to a capable and powerful being. At least, I could stay awake and feel what happened to her. But I didn't expect that what I had What I know is completely beyond the scope of my cognition, and Lucifero is not as great as I thought..."

Karen lowered her head slightly, her eyes cast a shadow.

"I don't hate Lucifero and the Black Queen, but I know what 'creation' refers to. It's her child... As a mother, I actually wanted to consume that child as a prop. Obviously that child sees She seems to be very considerate of her mother, that's really pitiful..."

"Don't forget, that's Lucifero, a Digimon who claims to be a god. With her cold side, it's not surprising that she uses everything to achieve her goals."

Recalling the bad impression of her parents when she was a child, Zheng Hao felt that she seemed to have imagined her mother too beautifully.Not to mention Lucifero, who has a completely different concept from human beings, and it is even more impossible for her to have the concept of family affection.

"Besides, not everyone can be a qualified parent. Karen, do your parents love you very much?"

From Karen's words and deeds, Zhenghao can more or less guess that her childhood was full of shadows.

"...I have no impression of them..."

After a long silence, Karen spoke slowly.

"Okay, then I'll stop asking."

"What about you, Zhenghao? Do your parents care about you?"

Karen asked Zhenghao back.

"Who knows? From the time I was sensible, my mother was a fragile and depressed person. As for my father, he only cared about his work and ignored his family. My most impression of my parents is that they don't care about their children's psychological shadow. Let's fight endlessly."

Sighing lightly, Zheng Hao revealed his childhood experience with an indifferent expression.

"The father who only cares about work rarely comes home, and my mother is not good at taking care of children. When I was young, in order to reduce the burden on my mother, I always worked hard to do housework and take care of my younger sister. Even so, she was always so anxious. The last time The quarrel was after my mother left without permission..."

"As usual, my mother had another quarrel with my father who just came home. When the quarrel was over, my father, who only cared about his work, still left the house and cried again. The difference is that my mother that day Crying for longer than in the past, she was emotionally broken."

Zhenghao laughed to himself.

"To tell you the truth, I was a little afraid of my mother's collapse at the time. I was afraid and worried. After I comforted my frightened sister and stopped crying, I had no choice but to bite the bullet and care about my mother. Heh, as for her after packing her luggage , completely ignored my sister’s cries, and left the house directly. Since then, she never came back—”

"It seems that I do have high expectations of my parents..."

Zhenghao's words made Karen's expression dim.His own past was actually worse than Zhenghao.

"Then what happened later? Did she return to the children?"

Karen asked next.

"The few days when my parents were not at home, it can be said to be very clean. The only shortcoming is to take care of my sister who always likes to cry. Of course, my mother never came back after leaving. As for contacting my father? Do you think there is little concern Does the family's dysfunctional father pick up the phone from the family? He rarely picks up the phone since Mom is always full of complaints about him."

"But I'm sure that she didn't completely abandon her child. Dad's intuition is always accurate. Maybe he sensed that something bad happened, so he came back earlier than usual. When Dad After learning that my mother left her two children and ran away without permission, the panicked father went to his mother's hometown alone, trying to bring her back. Oh, as for the latter, what he got was the news that my mother died in a car accident."

Zheng Hao's tone was very calm, no different from before.

"It wasn't until later, when I saw a Digimon for the first time and escaped from death, that I learned the truth about my mother's death from my father."

"She was killed by a Digimon, and was eaten alive... Of course, she was not the only victim. For Minecraft, most Digimon that appear in human habitats will cause life to humans Many people have lost their lives because of Digimon. Even now, even if the threat is gradually decreasing, it does not mean that human beings are safe."

"Actually... I didn't like Digimon when I was a child, because they were not good to children. But, apart from Digimon, the humans who are with them are also too much to children."

Recalling the description of the cherubimon and Zhenghao's reasons for rejecting Digimon; Karen seems to see something in common from him, that is, both of them have been persecuted by Digimon.The reason why I lost my legs when I was a child was also caused by Digimon.

"Probably because of a dark childhood, I couldn't see hope. I always thought I was abandoned. Fortunately, the suffering is finally over...Heroes never give up on children oppressed by despair, me and others The child escaped from the sea of ​​misery, and a gang organized by humans and Digimon saved everyone."

"Hey, you must have been imprisoned and abused by a child trafficking organization in the past, right? Could it be..."

For Karen's incoherent words, Zhenghao immediately felt very bad.Although he tried not to look at Karen's prosthetic legs, his intuition told him that the reason why Karen lost both legs must be related to his childhood experience.

"Or worse... I'm very glad that I met my benefactors. Because of their efforts, I don't reject Digimon so much anymore. Except for the benefactor, the Digimon that I have never met should indeed be called a hero."

Karen didn't answer directly, but she didn't deny it either, which just confirmed Zhenghao's guess.

"Okay, I'm not interested in continuing this topic now, we still have to find an exit out of the abandoned yard."

There was no point in continuing, so Zhenghao changed the subject.

"Sorry, my topic seems too depressing..."

For some reason, she said too much, and Karen apologized.

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't affect me anyway."

Zhenghao said with a long sigh.

"It's nice to be quiet once in a while."

After the conversation between the two ended, the exploration work continued——