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This is Faust speaking. |
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What you are witnessing is a recorded conversation between the sixth Sinner of Limbus Company and an alternative version of himself found from a mirror world Mephistopheles has extracted from. |
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The contents of this conversation, under any circumstances, must not leave Limbus Company's facilities. |
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Location: Daguanyuan - Yihongyuan Interior |
LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Mmm... I think Faust's new invention is finally hooking up to this place's internet connection. Allow me to check. |
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The literal mirror, after bouts of static, turns on. On the other end is another Hong Lu, one with a similar bandage the younger Hong Lu of this Mirror World had in his youth. |
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He is also wearing the attire of Kong Qiu... just what happened here? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
What is this... uninvited connection I am getting? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Hellooo~! Can-you-hear-me~?! |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
...Ah. I see. It appears that my visage has been reflected to me by this crystalline device that has willed itself into my dwelling. But my reflection is not accurate. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
It mocks me, this imitation. I shall grant you a moment to tell me who you truly are before I seek you myself. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Don't mess with me like that~! Do you not recognize your own shadow? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
The imitator insists he is me... Perhaps I should walk through this device, assuming it is somewhat incorporeal, and send my Heishou packs to show you the price to pay for your benighted insolence. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Fine, fine, I'll be less vague. Not that killing me would even last long~ |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Excuse me? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
I am you, I insist. But I am not a you that has gone down the same path as you have. Has your Faust told you about technology known as the Mirror? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Ah... A moment, if you would please. |
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The other Hong Lu thinks to himself before recalling what his Mao Adept had told him. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Oh, yes. That intel has been relayed to me. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
So you appear to be me from an alternative branch in my life, is that correct? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Absolutely! As for what this is, this is an invention from my Faust. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
The device you are seeing is what she is calling the "Mirror Mirror", a two way device that allows someone from a Mirror World, or an alternative branch, as you have called it, to talk to a different version of them. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
I was graciously allowed, by her, to test it by contacting you! |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
So I am your... source of entertainment for the night. A transaction of sorts. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Huh? No, no no no, you've got it all wrong. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
I wish to have a dialogue with you. A true, meaningful dialogue. Like how big brother Qiu had given me. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Big brother Qiu? Oh... So he has survived in this mirror world of yours. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Yep! And that's not the only thing different, though I'll wait for you to tell me what goes on in your world before I divulge into the specifics of mine. Unless you want me to explain mine first? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
No, no, I can... I can entertain this dialogue you seek. |
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The Lord of Hongyuan settles into his seat comfortably, almost as if he hasn't been haunted by the inner workings of his mind for the past two decades. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
As you may have surmised... much like how you are me, I am you. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
I am the former Jia Baoyu. Jade of the Jia Family turned Hierarch of Hongyuan... But that word, "Hierarch", it had such a rancid stench. A deplorable legacy crafted by elderly demons seduced by the lure of eternal life. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
But in my "mirror world", that pursuit and all the bloodshed that has come with it is no more. The elders have perished, much like the Board of Directors that had no faith in me as their salvation. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Now, with the twelve beasts under my command... I am the one sole ruler of Hongyuan. The Lord, if you need a word to replace Hierarch in your mind. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Isn't that kind of, like, a dictatorship? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Pardon me? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Don't get me wrong, for City standards, this power play does sound quite normal. But I never saw myself as one to... monopolize power like this. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
It would all feel so tiresome without a team behind me. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
But I recognize that within the mirror, not everything is the same. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
...I will admit, part of this journey had a lot of tedium to it. But it was necessary for the future that had to be built. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
My little sister, Ishmael... If I had not ascended to the seat before she did, the cycle of bloodshed would have bloomed crimson once again here. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Uwah! You mean to tell me that she won the Hierarch seat in your mirror world? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
She did. I am not sure how, as I was not personally watching. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
You did not participate? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Oh, no. I would not dare to give my elders and my grandmother another second of entertainment from participating in that farce of a war. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Much had to be done in the background for my ascension. You had labeled it to be like a dictatorship in your mind, and... |
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The Lord of Hongyuan pauses. With his one good eye, he looks down to the floor, not in shame, but in recollection. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
I will admit one thing. You are not entirely incorrect. But you are also not entirely correct. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
In enacting my changes to Hongyuan, I stopped this District from eating itself alive, but in order to do so, I had to partake in the cannibalism. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
As shameful as this is to admit, when it came to giving the wrathful order to my Heishous to take care of the elders, I felt a halcyon sort of happiness. Joy that only my youth could have ever replicated. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
But what had to be done to Ishmael before that... I could only feel sorrow. If I were only mere minutes earlier, before the Xianhuang Worm entered her brain, perhaps her life would not have needed to be forfeit. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
That explains why you became the Hierarch afterward... Excuse me. Lord. My apologies. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Heh. It is alright. That is still something the chroniclers are getting used to as well. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
...Do you wish to pass judgment upon me for my misdeeds? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Judgment? Me? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
I... I'm in no position to, I insist~ |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
You may if you wish to. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
I could not allow this District to be swallowed by the siltcurrent of the Family Hierarch war anymore. So here I sit, alone, taken in by the waves as the jade-colored water in my eyes slowly turned crimson year after year. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
I can say that my actions were for a greater good all I wish, but my soul tells a different story. It has withered. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Years of my life were taken from me by my own hands the moment I enacted these plans, but it was in service of a better Hongyuan. A foundation that can rise from my inevitable ashes. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Even if I do not wish to harm my own people, they will perhaps still call me a dictator like you have. Maybe even a tyrant. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Truthfully, once I accepted that no good can come from this world without bad, it was easier for me to accept the carrying of this burden. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Wow... You sound quite troubled, don't you? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
A simplification of my struggle, but not an incorrect one. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
I ask you this, Jia Baoyu. In my position... what would you have done? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Would you have been able to slide that sacrificial dagger into your own heart and let your blood spill into your very nation to cleanse it? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
...I don't know. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
To be able to uproot an entire society, that takes a lot of courage... Courage I don't think I would have ever had were it not for the people supporting me this far. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
What had caused you to feel this much fury? Was it the incident with the Kong Family? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Indeed. The pursuit of entertainment sought by the elders had broken my young mind. I torn the jade off of my socket with my own hands... |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
All the blood had spilled onto this bandage. I still feel its sanguine sting. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
I've observed that you still hold it in your eye. The jade that chains all Baoyus to the ravenous Jia Family, the other unholy banners, and the elders that puppeteer them all. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
But you are not burdened by the chains. Your jade seems... a little more dim than mine used to be. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
What has occurred, Jia Baoyu? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Well, firstly, allow me to correct something. Much like you, I have abandoned the Jia Baoyu name to dawn the moniker of Hong Lu. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
While this jade is still in my eye socket, it does not bind me to the elders any longer. I made sure of that with my own shameful actions. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
You? Shameful actions? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
What have you done to classify you for any shame? You, a man in a suit unstained. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Ahahaha, wrong again~... But I shall get to that in a moment. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
For now, allow me to explain what happened in my world on the day you rose to lordship. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
I had participated in the Family Hierarch Evaluations, not of my own volition, mind you. The company I am currently working for required this of me. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Our goal was to get second place in- |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Hang on. You-... You... |
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The Lord of Hongyuan leans closer to the Mirror Mirror. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
You, the great Jia Baoyu, willingly became a pawn in machinations that were not even for your family's benefit? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Uh... yes? You could say it like that. Though being in Limbus Company is a side effect of an order that was given to me by our grandmother. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
I was so used to, like you said, being my family's pawn, that as I went travelling the City, it felt like I was right at home. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Then I went back home, with Limbus Company, and I was told I would participate in the Evaluations in order to get second place. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
After we had done so, with big brother Qiu's assistance, I was able to get back in touch with my younger self... Release some of the emotions that had been held within me all this time. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Big sister Baochai had warned me of a devious plot concocted by some of the families behind the scenes, and I was able to stop Xichun from ascending to the throne with the Xianhuang Worm just in time. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Xichun...? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
The woman I call "Xichun" is your mirror world's Ishmael, for context. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Well, okay, not entirely. I am working with someone named Ishmael, and she happens to have the look and personality of your Ishmael, but your Ishmael is actually a mirror world version of my Ishmael who has taken the role of Xichun. If that makes sense. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
But... why? To what end? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
I have no clue. Faust had mentioned something about a Wishmaker, and the whole thing was just... so baffling. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
But back to the point at hand, to call you out for your devious plot would be hypocrisy on my end. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
I joined the Evaluation without as much as a peep to any of our family members. I ended the dreams of so many brothers and sisters only to subside the responsibility to my little sister. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
And worst of all, I, too, had disobeyed our elders. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Did you witness their lives end by your hands? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
No... But I believe I did something worse. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
I separated Tiekan Temple from Hongyuan entirely. Shi Miyin and the elders are completely walled off from Hongyuan. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
And you've just left them to rot? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Indeed. I don't believe my eye can even record the exploits I go on anymore. They will be watching a broken screen for the rest of their lives as their souls decay from eternal tedium. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
... |
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The Lord of Hongyuan leans back as the LCB variant smiles softly at the recalling. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
It was not a pleasant day for me, but I am at least glad my little sister can rebuild what has been lost from there as the Hierarch. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
...So too was a path opened in your world, I see. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
A path merciful, yet still filled with justice for those who had wronged the citizens of Hongyuan all the same... It really puts my path into perspective. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Hey, don't put yourself down. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Were I to find myself in the position you were in, if I hadn't had such good allies, perhaps my rage would have also overtaken me. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Speaking of which, this is just a shot in the dark here, but does Lin Daiyu still live in your mirror world? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
...She does not. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Oh. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Oh, I am so sorry. I-I didn't mean to- |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
No. ...I suppose this was going to come up at some point. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
She has not been around for a long time now. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Her smile... back then, even if I couldn't admit it, it was- |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
One of the few things that stopped us from losing ourselves completely. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Even when little brother Ling suffered brain death, even when Xiren's mind was modified, even when little Xichun was occupied with her life, Daiyu was there. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Daiyu was always there... And she never gave up on me. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
On us. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
...Losing her had... shifted my mindset significantly. I had done things I did not think I would ever do. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
I had seduced the Xue family's daughter for information, taken advantage of my own elders for riches beyond my wildest dreams, convinced all the Heishou-Xianren to give me their beasts. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
All twelve? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
All twelve. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
But if she were around, she would have... she would have slapped some sense into me. Perhaps quite literally. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
It-... This may be unacceptable to say, but I am almost glad she was not here to stop me. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
What? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
If she were here, like she was for you, I doubt I would have had sufficient enough wrath to be able to forsake my own nature. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Hongyuan wouldn't have changed... It would have persisted even more everlastingly under the four banners. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
It may still do so even in your mirror world, given that this "Xichun" is still a Hierarch and not a Lord. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Are you sure you can trust her with such an opportunity? |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
I... I can. |
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Hong Lu's voice cracks slightly as he says that. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
I can. I know I can. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Xichun isn't like the elders. She never wished to be immortal. She never wished to follow the trends of others. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
You questioned me on how I could look so clean compared to you, yes? I am not. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
I have spilled so, so much blood to get where I am. A year's worth. I have killed and died over and over again. It is by my own manager's good grace that I am still standing. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
But all this blood I spill... it was for a purpose beyond Limbus Company. Beyond myself. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Much like you, it was so my people could one day live lives full of color, full of warmth. Lives without fear of having to fight their own siblings for scraps. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Xichun is the harbinger of that change. Even if I cannot personally spread the warmth to Hongyuan, she will in my absence. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
And perhaps one day, together, we can spread that warmth to the City in its entirety. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
...A useless endeavor to you, I may predict. You even said yourself that good deeds cannot come without bad deeds. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Sure, I may have set Hongyuan up to be in good hands, but it was not without crushing the dreams of others. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Even flames with good intentions are still flames. The fire that comes from my actions will be my fault, and I will accept responsibility of them when they come. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
...You and I are way more alike than I once assumed. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
But you are wrong in one aspect. Your actions will not produce the type of flames mine have. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
I predict that decades from now, there will still be people coming for my head because of what I've done to Hongyuan. You've absolved yourself of a lot of that responsibility. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Maybe I have. Though I consider a bullet meant for Xichun as a bullet meant for me as well, as I will dive in the way before she draws her last breath. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
How noble of you. ...Don't lose that nobility. It is what will keep you sane. |
Heishou Pack - Mao Adept |
My lord, I do not wish to alarm you, but your research on Shin, Mang, and the Psychoments are bearing fruit. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
They are? Excellent. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Oh, is that your Faust? Hellooooooo~! |
LCB Sinner Faust |
They can hear you just fine, Hong Lu. You do not have to shout. |
| LCB Sinner Faust |
Faust, tell your Hong Lu that the Mirror Mirror is going to end its transmission soon. |
| Heishou Pack - Mao Adept |
The Mirror Mirror is going to end its transmission soon, my lord. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
I have heard. We shall continue our prior discussion of what we shall be doing in order to begin the Wing War, then. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
The- ...The what? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Oh, I did not mention that? I am currently utilizing a loophole within the Heishous. |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
I cannot command all twelve of the packs without us facing a danger outside of our own borders, so I am starting a Wing War within my mirror world. |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
But why?! To what end??? |
| The Lord of Hongyuan (紅露) |
Can't tell you. Goodbye~! |
| LCB Sinner (鸿璐) |
Wha- |
|
The recording ends here. |
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Location: Daguanyuan - Yihongyuan Yard |
| LCB Sinner Faust |
Okay, now that I am outside... you are doing WHAT? |
| Heishou Pack - Mao Adept |
Starting a Wing War. Did you not hear my lord? |
| LCB Sinner Faust |
This is why I TOLD you to get in the Gesellschaft group chat. You cannot just be doing this on a whim. Starting a Wing War will have several dire consequences that- |
| Heishou Pack - Mao Adept |
I do not believe in the false matriarch that is Faust. Only my lord shall tell me my path. If he wants a Wing War, he shall get a Wing War. |
| LCB Sinner Faust |
I- ...I genuinely hope The Head bombs your District. I-I am actually hoping The Head bombs you. |
