Chapter 23 Discussion (1/2)

After hearing me out, Wen Jiubo nodded. “What you said is reasonable.”

“Of course it’s reasonable. Isn’t that common sense?”

“Yeah, it’s indeed common sense. As you said, destroying the world wouldn’t benefit anyone, and the culprit himself cannot escape the fate of being destroyed. It is really hard to believe someone would do such a thing.”

“Of course,” I replied.

“But, if you think about it this way, then what benefits does a murderer get from killing someone?” Wen Jiubo looked at me and asked back.

“Um…”

I was tongue-tied for a moment and then felt that his question was quite funny. Why did Wen Jiubo ask a question with such an obvious answer?

“There are some benefits. All murderers have their own motives.” I gave him an example, “Like a wife killing her husband’s mistress after she finds out he cheated on her, or a person taking revenge on someone they hold a grudge against, or someone murdering another person in order to inherit their assets. There is always a motive to murdering someone. If there wasn’t, who would be willing to kill someone else?”

“But, will the murderer always receive benefits after his actions? I don’t think so,” Wen Jiubo looked at me sharply and questioned. “First of all, although whenever we discuss a murder case, we always say the murderer deprived the victim of his life. However, after the murderer kills someone, he doesn’t get the victim’s life, and killing someone won’t make him live any longer, right?”

I was puzzled. “It’s true, but…”

However, Wen Jiubo interrupted me, “If you want to say that the murderer can gain other benefits like the satisfaction of revenge, or that some disputes can only be solved by murder, I don’t think it’s right. There is a saying that ‘revenge is a never-ending cycle’. Assuming that someone takes revenge by killing their father’s murderer, it is likely that the children of the person he just killed will come for him to take revenge. Consequently, the vicious cycle begins. Therefore, neither the murderer nor the victim gains any benefits from it, not to mention that neither of them will obtain peace afterward. Killing is never a way to solve any problem, no matter how severe the problem is. Have you ever heard of a couple that lives happily ever after, after the wife killed the mistress?”

I frowned, feeling that there was something wrong with his statement. “Even if what you said is right… but as I mentioned, some people would kill their own father in order to inherit the family assets? Those benefits are real, aren’t they?”

“No, not really,” Wen Jiubo said firmly.

“Huh?”

“If it were you, would you kill your family members for money?” Wen Jiubo asked.

“Definitely not…” I subconsciously replied, but I quickly explained. “But not everyone in the world thinks the same way. Besides, I’ve heard that many rich people’s children have very bad relations with their families and their relationships aren’t that close.”

“That’s right,” Wen Jiubo suddenly interrupted as he nodded. “In other words, perhaps only rich children who are not close to their family would murder their relatives for their properties, right? If they have a good relationship with their parents, the chance of murdering their parents is almost zero, right?”

I nodded doubtfully. I had to admit he was right.

“On one hand, those children will inherit their parent’s assets sooner or later after their parents die. On the other hand, if we’re talking about their parents whom they have a very close relationship with, I think everyone would rather decide to take care of them until they pass away,” Wen Jiubo went on. “Moreover, if we assume that the desire for money is bad enough for the murderer to kill his family in order to inherit it sooner, then what?”

“…Then what?” I didn’t know how to respond. “You get what you want.”

“Once again you prove my point.” I was completely confused, but Wen Jiubo looked at me as if he was pleased with my answer. “Even if the murderer kills someone for a huge amount of money, then what? No matter how much money he has, he will spend it all one day, and if the murderer himself is a lazy loser, he will starve to death after the money runs out. If the murderer is a diligent and wise person, he will certainly be able to earn enough money even if he doesn’t inherit, won’t he?”

“No, even if you’re right,” I finally found a point that I could refute with. “in this world, it takes a lot of effort to earn money. If people don’t work, they will have no money to buy food. Everyone needs to work, blue-collar or white-collar. You see, even you have to be an exorcist, otherwise, you wouldn’t have been rich, am I right?”

“No, you’re wrong.”

I didn’t expect that even though I made such a clear argument, Wen Jiubo still refuted without hesitation. I felt a little dumb.

“How? How am I wrong?”