Title: "Give Me a Reason Not to Kill You"
Date: 2021-06-28 18:21:53
Tags: [Novel]
Published: true
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The man was cornered with no way out.
The assassin stated the request he always made before completing a mission: "Give me a reason not to kill you."
"And if I give you a reason, will you spare me?" The man was already desperate.
"As long as your reason satisfies me." The assassin's tone was emotionless.
"Listen." The man's voice was urgent, as if he had seen a glimmer of hope. "I just got married, and I love my husband. We just adopted a little girl, who is adorable despite her disability."
The assassin seemed uninterested, unzipping his tight pants and pulling out a smartphone, glancing at the time.
"I love them, please don't make my family sad." The man pleaded, noticing the assassin's slight relaxation. Suddenly, the man bent down and pulled out a Taurus M85 revolver strapped to his leg. But before he could stand up, a silenced bullet pierced through his head.
"I am not satisfied with your reason." The assassin spoke to the still trembling corpse.
For ten years, the assassin had always made that request to the target before completing a mission.
For ten years, the assassin had never received a reason not to kill that satisfied him.
As a result, the assassin's retirement ceremony had been postponed for ten years.
During these ten years, the assassin had heard countless reasons.
The most common one was the willingness to exchange a portion or all of their wealth for a way out. The assassin no longer had the patience to listen to such reasons, as there were some things that money couldn't buy.
Another type of reason was tying their own life to the interests of others, such as having an elderly mother at home, having young children, just finding someone who loved them, or causing suffering to many people if they died. The assassin disliked these reasons because he knew that no one could not live without anyone else, and no one was as important as they imagined. Besides, the assassin believed that anyone other than the target was irrelevant to him.
There were targets who constantly begged for their lives, expressing their fear of death, pain, and their desire to continue living. These reasons were simple, driven by the instinct to survive, and they were the assassin's favorite type of reasons. However, they were still not enough to satisfy the assassin, and often made him feel both ridiculous and desolate—why would they do things that risked their lives if they didn't want to die?
There were also those who had unfulfilled wishes, which led the assassin to hear various so-called "life desires." He remembered one target saying that she wanted to visit Casablanca before she died because she had seen a movie and heard a song that made her feel that something or someone in that city was waiting for her. Another target said that her daughter was getting married in three days and she hoped to personally send her off into another stage of life. There were also targets who said their novel was about to be completed and begged for an additional 12 hours. The assassin even heard two targets separately mention that they were still virgins, using that as a reason for their lives being unfulfilled. But the assassin's job was not to fulfill people's wishes.
Of course, the assassin had also encountered people willing to die. Some didn't believe that the assassin would spare them, while others were already prepared for death. The assassin once heard an old man say, "It's unnecessary, just do what you have to do, I won't live much longer anyway." The assassin had seen people who ignored his request and knelt down to beg for forgiveness, saying, "Oh God, please forgive me." There were also people who apologized without knowing who they were apologizing to, saying, "I'm sorry." The assassin had even encountered people who welcomed his arrival and thanked him, saying, "Thank you, I am finally liberated." The assassin had also killed another assassin, who said before dying, "In this line of work, this day will come sooner or later."
Regardless of the type, the assassin was not satisfied and had even started to believe that he would never hear a reason that satisfied him. He would continue working like this until he could no longer work or died at the hands of a target or another colleague.
But he eventually found that reason.
That day, the assassin received a new mission, targeting a self-proclaimed scientist and charlatan.
This charlatan had established a so-called "Reincarnation Cult," claiming that death was not truly the end, but rather the soul's transfer to another world for rebirth. However, the Reincarnation Cult stated, "Unless there is a special encounter, the process from death to rebirth will cause the soul to lose its memories without exception." The Reincarnation Cult also claimed that the cult leader, the charlatan himself, had found a scientific method to retain memories during the transfer to another world. Obviously, to know this method, one had to join the Reincarnation Cult and pay a certain tax. Afterward, they would undergo some tests, and the Reincarnation Cult would hold a ceremony for qualified followers to learn the specific method of achieving memory retention in their own reincarnation.
"It can be said that no two people have the exact same reincarnation method." The target, who claimed to be the cult leader, said to the assassin, who had already understood his intentions. "Some people need to jump off a bridge in a level seven gale, while others must fall onto a ship and die. Some people need to die from a meteorite or an electric car with the letter 'K' in its license plate. So you see, some requirements are lenient, while others are extremely strict and almost impossible to fulfill. For those people, I can only express my regrets, but we will refund the tax they paid. I remember one follower who had to be pierced through the chest by a No. 5 battery in space in order to retain their memories during reincarnation, which is basically impossible."
"What about you?" the assassin asked him.
"I'm fine, I just need to tattoo the character 'Zao' on my buttocks."
"What? A jujube?"
"Not a jujube, but the character 'Zao,' just like the one Lu Xun carved on his desk." The target smiled and said, "I've already tattooed it, so I'm not afraid of death."
Although the assassin had encountered many fearless individuals, this reason was the first of its kind. Even so, the assassin still followed his usual practice and made the request: "Give me a reason not to kill you."
"Because you can't kill me."
The assassin began to evaluate whether he was satisfied.
"You see, even if you shoot me in the head right now, I will continue to live, albeit in another world. I will still have my memories, remembering everything I experienced in this world."
"But in this world, you will be dead." The assassin said, "And I don't know if another world truly exists."
"The question is, do you believe it exists?" The target looked at the assassin with a smile, as if he were a psychologist or life coach.
The assassin felt repulsed because this discussion seemed to be on the verge of a meaningless debate between idealism and materialism, and it would likely end in nihilism, rendering everything meaningless, including the debate itself.
The assassin raised his hand and placed the gun against the target's forehead. "I am not satisfied with your reason," he said, preparing to pull the trigger.
"Don't you want to know your own method of reincarnation?" The target asked the assassin, still smiling as if he himself were not in any danger.
"Oh?" The assassin became interested.
"After all, what if it's true?" The target said, "It won't hurt to know it, even if it's just for two minutes."
"Is it troublesome? I heard there's a ceremony." The assassin always conducted thorough research before a job.
"It's not troublesome, I just need to touch you." The target maintained his smile and raised his hand, gesturing towards the assassin.
The assassin extended his unarmed hand.
The target held it and closed his eyes. He slightly shook his head, and then his smile disappeared, replaced by a look of surprise. He opened his eyes. "Your condition for reincarnation is," the target said with some dissatisfaction, "to kill me."
"Hmm?" The assassin narrowed his eyes, as if he could determine whether the other person was being impulsive even at the moment of death.
"That's right, it's very disadvantageous for me." The target admitted, once again putting on a smile and resuming his demeanor as the cult leader.
"You mean if I kill you, I can retain my memories and be reincarnated in another world?" The assassin felt the need to confirm once again.
"That's right, it seems that today I must die." The target said, "Let's take care of it in the bathroom, it'll be easier to clean up." He pointed to a door behind him.
"Do you really believe what you're saying?" The assassin, however, felt somewhat at a loss, because what if it was true?
"Of course."
"But what if I want to forget?" The assassin said.
"Why would you want to forget when memories are so precious?" The target asked in return, "Having memories from a past life when starting a new world provides great convenience and helps avoid a lifetime of regrets."
"Some lives are better off forgotten." The assassin placed the gun on the nearby coffee table, stood up, pulled down the hem of his clothes, and took a step towards the door. "I am satisfied," he said softly, "with my reason."