Chapter Ninety-Two: Not Digital Pets, But Digital Beasts

Yet this little Hell Imp Beast seemed completely ignorant, and Feng Xue, unwilling to waste anything, absorbed it without a second thought.

"That’s just too much!" As Feng Xue and Ryuji were preparing to leave, a childish voice suddenly called out from behind. Without a doubt, it belonged to the protagonist of this chapter, Kairen Beast.

"Too much?" Feng Xue tilted his head, looking at Kairen with a curious gaze.

"Digimon are living creatures! To absorb their data just for—"

"Kid, get your facts straight!" Feng Xue’s tone suddenly grew severe, startling Kairen so much that he stumbled back a few steps, nearly collapsing onto the ground.

"We are Digimon, not some ‘Digimon pets’! We are living beings, subject to the laws of nature, survival of the fittest—just like the wild animals in your world. We have our own civilization, our own ways of survival. Don’t impose your pet-owner perspective on us!" Feng Xue’s gaze sharpened. "Do you know how many Hell Imp Beasts like the one today I’ve absorbed in the Digital World? For Digimon, every battle is a fight for survival, a gamble with our lives. If you’re not ready to face life and death, don’t get involved in Digimon battles! Take your partners home and raise them as pets!"

With those words, Feng Xue walked away without looking back. Ryuji, apparently witnessing this side of Feng Xue for the first time, followed with a hint of curiosity...

"This..." Kairen and Jianliang exchanged silent glances; even the usually exuberant Terriermon seemed subdued.

...

"Impmon..." As they walked home, Ryuji suddenly spoke.

"What?" Feng Xue answered, his tone somewhat low.

"Your behavior today was rather unusual," Ryuji remarked without turning her head, as if speaking to herself in the eyes of passersby.

"Maybe so..." Feng Xue nodded. He really had lost his composure, for he realized that, in his current form, killing Digimon was no different from taking human lives.

It was almost laughable: as a traveler who’d crossed three or four worlds, Feng Xue’s hands had never been stained with human blood—a rare thing. Choosing the path of a traveler meant being destined to witness countless deaths and killings.

Feng Xue had prepared himself mentally long ago, but he hadn’t expected it to come so suddenly.

He’d imagined that one day, he might kill a heinous enemy in some superhuman or heroic world, feel sick afterwards, and eventually become accustomed to it after repeated episodes of nausea. Yet, he hadn’t realized that in killing his own kind, he had already slain countless lives without even noticing.

Perhaps it was because, in the beginning, he still held onto a human mindset. To humans, Digimon seemed no different from ordinary animals—kill one, and it’s just gone. Back then, it hadn’t felt wrong.

But after living as a Digimon for nearly a millennium, Feng Xue had subconsciously come to see himself as one of them. Looking back, he realized that all those he’d killed were his own kind.

He had grown accustomed to such slaughter without even realizing it.

A sense of guilt welled up in him for no reason. Yet, he quickly numbed himself with thoughts like "This is the Digimon ecosystem," "This is how Digimon survive." It was precisely for this reason that he felt such resistance to Kairen and Jianliang’s views.

"Impmon... Impmon!" Feng Xue finally realized Ryuji was calling him. He turned suddenly, only to find that beneath her angry exterior, Ryuji’s face held a hint of concern, which stunned him—

"What is it?"

"Impmon is lost?" Ryuji grabbed Feng Xue’s hand. Though clad in a gauntlet, it was still a part of her Digimon body, and Feng Xue could clearly feel the warmth and softness transmitted through her small hand.

"Maybe... Without knowing it, I’ve killed who knows how many of my own kind. I can’t even remember the number. Even if I wanted to repent, I wouldn’t know who to confess to..." Feng Xue vaguely sensed that he was facing the first heart demon of his human cultivation journey, yet he had no way to overcome it. If such trials could be solved by wisdom alone, they wouldn’t be called heart demons.

"There’s no need to repent."

"What?" Feng Xue was taken aback.

"I said Impmon doesn’t need to repent!" Ryuji’s face shone with a resolute light. "Impmon said it himself: this is the way of life for Digi—no, Digimon. Impmon gambled his life as well. That’s an equal wager. Impmon won the right to survive by his own efforts; you owe nothing to those who lost!"

"Is... that so?" Feng Xue voiced his doubt in the form of a questioning affirmation, as an image of a man wearing a black mask suddenly surfaced in his mind—

"Only those prepared to be killed have the right to pull the trigger."

"So that’s how it is!" Feng Xue nodded heavily, perhaps as self-comfort or to affirm Ryuji’s words.

In that instant, Feng Xue felt something loosen within his heart, but upon closer inspection, nothing seemed to have changed.

Only then did he recall that his physical body was not here; this Digimon form was merely his soul anchored in data, much like the torches inhabited by Crimson Denizens.

"Perhaps this is the first tribulation of the heart demon. I didn’t expect the long years in the Digital World to have such an effect. But once I pass this hurdle, my heart will be firm, and I won’t be troubled by it again." Feng Xue gained a bit of insight, but unable to grasp it fully, he attributed it to the discord between his soul and body.

"However..." As if coming to a realization, Feng Xue began to speak but stopped after only two words.

"However what?" Ryuji saw Feng Xue’s face flash through a variety of expressions before settling into calmness. She sensed he had come to terms with something, but startled by his abrupt words, she couldn’t help but ask.

"However, who would have thought that our Princess Ryuji—‘Princess’ already implies royalty, so the title fits—would turn out to be such a gentle young lady!" The solemn indifference on Feng Xue’s face vanished, replaced with a teasing tone.

"You!" Ryuji’s cheeks suddenly flushed, and she ran off, leaving Feng Xue behind.

"To think she still has so much stamina after running all day—Japanese elementary schoolers really are monsters (I’m just an ordinary elementary schooler, says Nanoha)!" Feng Xue muttered to himself, then chased after her...