119: Chapter 119: The Horrific Price That Cannot Be Paid 119: Chapter 119: The Horrific Price That Cannot Be Paid There were two hypotheses in the network era of the future.
One is the ga hypothesis—could there be a possibility that our world is just a virtual reality ga, and we are all NPCs or freeloaders, part of the pay-to-win experience for other players.
The other is the Netherworld hypothesis—could there be a possibility that we are actually all dead and living in the Netherworld, while our ungrateful descendants upstairs have completely forgotten about us, not burning any paper money for us at all.
Of course, these are all jokes.
Science is not a standard, but a thodology for understanding the world, emphasizing that existence is reasonable.
If phenona that current scientific theories cannot explain appear in the Real World, the ignorant will herald the resurgence of spiritual qi, while real scientists will seek patterns, propose various hypotheses, and test them.
The world Wang Yunxiao had traveled to was filled with many irrationalities, even abnormally contradictory phenona.
This irrationality manifests in three aspects.
Firstly, the recognition of the world is extrely chaotic.
The world understood by ordinary people is actually very normal, but as soon as you delve a little deeper into the secrets hidden behind this world, you will find various terrifying, indescribable truths.
What is real, and what is illusionary—the boundary between them is quite blurred.
Wang Yunxiao hasn’t figured out yet what era he is in.
The country hadn’t adopted the Western Calendar, and he could only deduce from the contents of history books and the level of science and technology available that it should be between the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries.
But at the sa ti, there are many perplexing pieces of black technology, like concrete fortifications and aerial warships…
As well as provinces overseas that had never been heard of before, Parrot Island, Hongyan State…
Secondly, the setting of the system of mysterious powers is chaotic.
Based on the various pieces of information gathered by Wang Yunxiao, dostically there used to be a traditional system of powers and various inheritances of Taoism, concepts he was quite familiar with.
Green leaves, white lotus roots, red lotus flowers—masters from the three teachings of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism erged one after another, leaving behind rich tales in various pingshu and local unofficial histories.
There were Kunlun Taoists who left their mountains to experience the mortal world and subdue demons and eliminate evil.
There were monks from the White Horse Zen Sect who traveled widely spreading Buddhist law, universal salvation.
There were scholars from the Yuelu Academy who comprehended the righteousness of the Saint, educating the world.
Beyond these there were heroes and martial arts masters from the Green Forest World, traversing the heavens and the earth.
There were the Mohist school, Military Sect, Strategists, and other major schools, erging one after the other, shining alongside each other.
These had all existed, but in the past few decades, with the developnt and collision of Western and Eastern civilizations, they all disappeared into the mists of history.
Of course, it can’t be ruled out that Wang Yunxiao currently just doesn’t have access to that level of society.
However, Old He had indeed said that nowadays, the Kunlun Taoists no longer co down from the mountains to subdue demons and eliminate evil.
Lastly, there’s the confusion in understanding phenona.
The sa event, different people have different accounts of it.
The sa ghost, different people see differently.
It’s as though everyone sees a different world.
This is very irrational.
If one were to write a novel, simply using “scientists can’t explain it” would suffice to gloss over it.
There are far more preposterous settings out there.
But as people living in this world, we must find ways to research and explain.
Even if it’s just a guess, a hypothesis, it has its reason for existence.
“Matter is the carrier of thought, thought determines the existence of matter.
In other words, if I believe sothing should exist, then it can exist.”
Nurse Liu had explained this concept in class, but at that ti, Wang Yunxiao did not quite grasp it thoroughly.
“In theory, could we bring back deceased loved ones that we have in our mories to the present world?”
Wang Yunxiao certainly understood the value of this truth.
His band of brothers had all lost their families in that catastrophe.
No one could deeper appreciate the pain of life-and-death separation and the hardships they had gone through over the years than they could.
A child with a mother is like a treasure, while a child without is like a weed.
If there were indeed such an opportunity, even if it were the slightest possibility, Wang Yunxiao believed they would stop at nothing to fulfill their wish.
But, what would the cost be?
“The cost is severe,”
Little Gourd lowered his head, saying softly, “After all, the Earth won’t stop turning for anyone.”
“Leaving aside other issues, just to bring a deceased from mory back to the real world, the most basic prerequisite is making its ‘living’ state recognized by reality.”
“In other words, getting everyone who knows the inside story to truly accept this fact.”
“But this is obviously unachievable.”
“No matter how much Dumpling hopes his grandmother could co back to life, we all know in our hearts that his grandmother has long passed away.”
“His thoughts alone cannot defy the thoughts of us all.”
“Unless…”
“you kill all the people who knew his grandmother and were aware of her death.”
“But even so, the one he brings back to the real world would only be the grandmother in his mories, not the ‘whole true person.'”
“Human mory can blur, can revise, and can even deceive oneself.”
Wang Yunxiao fell silent.
This was the cost of knowing the truth.
It was a theoretically possible but in reality, an utterly unsolvable vicious circle.
Even if Dumpling, to resurrect his grandmother, were capable of hardening his heart to kill all his brothers he interacted with daily,
he would still not be able to fulfill his wish, because with so many people dead, soone would co to investigate.
His records would be dug up; his secrets would beco more widely known.
Little Gourd looked at Wang Yunxiao with a worried expression, fearing he might despair and beco stuck in a dead end.
“Big brother…”
“I’m fine.”
Wang Yunxiao chuckled heartily, patted her little head, and comforted, “It’s tough on you to bear such a heavy secret.”
She, like them.
“It’s not tough.”
Little Gourd giggled, “Now the two of us share this secret together.
If you ever slip up, big brother, you know how serious the consequences would be.”
Wang Yunxiao nodded; he certainly knew, not everyone had his firm willpower.
Dumpling, once he knew the truth, might be tornted to the point of ntal breakdown, or to put it bluntly… might utterly degenerate.
But even if Little Gourd said nothing, as long as he continued dealing with all sorts of demons and evil spirits with his brothers, they would sooner or later guess so part of the truth.
The so-called ‘fortune cos with risks’ implies that in this world, nothing valuable can be obtained without paying a price.
Thinking of this, Wang Yunxiao spoke softly to Little Gourd, “From now on, you don’t need to keep these things to yourself.
You can tell all of them.
Should there ever be an issue, you’ll have to trust my judgnt.”
“Okay, I always trust you, big brother.”
Little Gourd swayed her head, nuzzling back and forth in the palm of Wang Yunxiao’s hand.
Her lips gently curved upwards.
Always, always trusting you.
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