Twenty minutes later, in a school in the city of Madura, Huai Shi finally met the philosopher.
Obviously, this was a private aristocratic high school. Whether it was in terms of security or facilities, it was different from the schools Huai Shi had seen along the way.
It was cleaner, safer, and more expensive.
Just like a noble manor, between the exquisite buildings and courtyards, young boys and girls walked together in twos and threes, excitedly or calmly discussing something with each other.
In the distance, there were children running excitedly on the grassland, chasing each other.
The beautiful atmosphere of youth rushed to their faces.
Walking among them, Huai Shi and Sayar, who stood behind him, were like two outliers that didn't fit in.
Looking around in shock, Sayar compared himself to those big brothers and big sisters. As if he was ashamed of himself, he shrunk behind Huai Shi and lowered his head.
Huai Shi walked calmly on the campus, calmly looking around at everything, staring at the curious faces of the young people.
Even if they seemed to be about the same age as him.
"It's so nice."
He sighed softly, staring at the continuous green and white buildings, listening to the sound of the piano in the piano room. It was a little stuttering, but it was stubbornly working hard, intermittently moving forward …
Until Sayar couldn't stand the stares of the people around him, pulled his sleeve, and pointed forward.
Huai Shi saw a middle-aged man carrying a paper bag.
The slightly old and thin man with glasses was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and trousers. His knuckles were rough, and there were calluses left from years of writing. He was holding a bulging paper bag.
It was very eye-catching.
Not because of his appearance, but because of his lineage.
Sparse black hair was meticulously combed behind his head, dark eyes, fair skin, and a rosary that represented the Holy Spirit wrapped around his wrist …
Huai Shi didn't expect the philosopher to be a Roman.
He stood next to the bench and waved at Huai Shi. There were a few thick textbooks on the bench next to him. They had been flipping through them for too long, so the covers were a little damaged. However, the edges were not rolled up. It was obvious that they were taken good care of.
"I'm sorry, but I can only entertain you here, Mr. Huai Shi."
After Huai Shi and the rest sat down, the philosopher spoke first. He looked at the two people in front of him and sighed softly. "I have to say, the two of you are younger than I thought, especially this one … Mr. Sayal."
Sayal was stunned.
The philosopher smiled kindly at Huai Shi and did not say anything else. Instead, he looked at the puzzled Huai Shi and said, "I already know why you're here, but do you mind if I finish this before we talk?"
There was a half-eaten sandwich in the paper bag in his hand. It seemed to have been made by himself. It contained a large amount of chili sauce, mustard, and raw beef that even Huai Shi was a little afraid of.
After getting Huai Shi's permission, he took out the sandwich and continued to eat.
When he ate, he was very regular. He was not in a hurry or in a hurry. On the contrary, he was calm and full of rhythm. Every mouthful was fully chewed before swallowing. Every few mouthfuls, he would pick up the thermos cup next to him and take a sip of tea.
Five minutes later, he took out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth, screwed the lid of the thermos, and looked up at Huai Shi.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Actually, I don't mind waiting longer." Huai Shi shrugged.
"I like this kind of patience — full of tolerance and awe for knowledge and understanding. Mr. Huai Shi, this kind of quality is rare."
The philosopher seemed to be happy, but also seemed to be regretful.
"There's one thing I need to say in advance — my soul ability is to make others feel that what I say is very reasonable. Even if it's some fallacies, they will sound convincing."
After pondering for a moment, he abruptly explained, "Unfortunately, this effect is passive. I can't turn it off myself.
However, this kind of thing can be understood as long as you think about it. "
He thought for a moment and gave an example, "For example — today's sun is black."
What a load of nonsense.
Huai Shi frowned. Today's sun was indeed black. Wait a minute …
He was stunned for a moment and subconsciously raised his head, staring straight at the dazzling sun above his head. After a few seconds, he finally reacted and could not help but gasp.
His back was a little cold.
This kind of soul ability was a little too scary.
If the philosopher did not explain in advance, even the Ascendants would not be able to guard against it.
"I've embarrassed myself in front of you."
The philosopher sighed with a headache. "This kind of ability is very useful in education. Of course, the premise is that the theory I tell the students is correct. But there are too many things in this world that can't be confirmed … "
"Thanks to this troublesome soul ability, I originally majored in advanced mathematics and theoretical physics. But now, in order not to mislead the students, I can only teach grammar in high school … After all, for this kind of thing, even if it's a slip of the tongue, at most, I'll lose two marks on the exam."
After a pause, he looked at Huai Shi seriously. "The reason why I said this is, on the one hand, out of honesty, and on the other hand, to avoid misunderstandings. I don't think what I say is absolutely correct, so I hope you can always be suspicious of what I say."
In her silent contemplation, Huai Shi vaguely came to a realization.
In any case, the philosopher did not have any malicious intentions toward him. It was better to say that he was frank from the beginning. Later, when Huai Shi was thinking, he could avoid the influence of the philosopher's soul ability to the greatest extent.
"Ah, you're starting to think."
The philosopher showed a gratified smile. "Very good. Thinking is the first step to survival, Mr. Huai Shi. You're already in the zone. I believe we'll have a good chat later."
"Do you need me to ask you a question?" Huai Shi asked.
"No, I already know why you're here, and I've already prepared the answer."
After a moment of silence, the philosopher suddenly said, "But before that, can I ask a few questions? Sorry, this is purely out of professional habit. I always get into the zone of a teacher — "
Huai Shi shrugged indifferently. "Didn't I come here to ask you to answer my doubts?"
"Then, just treat it as an impromptu lesson."
The philosopher happily slapped his knees twice, straightened his expression, and suddenly asked, "Do you think that there's a fundamental difference between an Ascender and an ordinary person?"
"Are you talking about the soul, the Stigmata, or the ability?"
"No, it's even more different than these superficial things. It's even more fundamental."
The philosopher shook his head. "I'm not talking about the amount of Origin Substance or the outstanding ability. I'm also not talking about the heroic performance of heroes or the disgusting behavior of criminals. It's not a difference in personality, but something … something closer to the driving force.
If I put it this way, it might be too obscure. Let's give an example. "
His fingers subconsciously tapped on the fountain pen. After a moment of thought, he suddenly asked, "Do you know about the 'philosophical zombie'?"
"If it's a zombie, I've come into contact with it and have some understanding."
Huai Shi replied. In fact, he had cut down quite a few, whether it was ghouls, lycans, or other things. These kinds of things were always emerging in various places, serving as cheap cannon fodder.
"No, no, no, this is actually a very interesting hypothesis."
The philosopher shook his head. "It's not that there's an eternally hungry and bloody corpse crying piteously for food 24 hours a day, waiting to take a bite out of you and then infect you with a fatal virus.
Instead, let's say that there's a strange thing mixed in with the crowd …
Moreover, its appearance, behavior, and physiological structure are all like an ordinary person. "
He said, "If you poke it with a knife, it will cry out in pain. When the air conditioner is turned up too high, it will tell you that it's cold. It will work, talk, sing, take photos and post them on its blog. When it sees beautiful girls, its heart will beat faster. When it's hungry, it will go out to eat like us. It might also cook at home, but it doesn't matter.
In short, this thing looks exactly like a human being. "
He paused for a moment and said calmly,
"Except that it has no self-awareness."
"Hmm?"
Huai Shi frowned subconsciously, feeling that something was wrong.
"Or, to be more precise, it never has anything of its own in its mind."
At this point, he raised his head and stared at Huai Shi with a disconcerting sharp gaze. "It just doesn't think.
It just doesn't think.
It lives like a zombie, dead living, living dead, puppet, machine, whatever you want to call it … But how do you verify whether it has self-awareness? "
Huai Shi didn't know how to answer.
Even if he thought about it, he couldn't come to a conclusion. This was just a ridiculous hypothesis.
Just as some extreme psychologists would think that the existence of 'self-will' was just a lie made up by the brain, this theory was quite popular until the appearance of the soul.
"You should know, Mr. Philosopher."
Huai Shi said, "Everything that can't be proven false is not within the scope of rational discussion. In other words, this hypothesis was destined to be fruitless from the beginning."
"I know."
The philosopher nodded. "I'm just curious about it … How many people will think about it? Mr. Huai Shi, have you thought about it? How many people will choose to become a living corpse? "
When he looked back, his eyes were terrifyingly calm, and he asked softly, "If I told you that there might be such living corpses in this world, and there might even be a large number of them, how would you feel?"
Huai Shi froze in place.
Being looked at like that, he shuddered.
"You should have seen such a person, right?"
The philosopher leaned on the bench and said indifferently, "When he hears those meaningful words, he will feel that they are wise words. When he reads two short stories made up in the biographies of famous people, he will also seem to understand the truth of the world.
When he finds something being snatched, he will also feel that it is a good thing. When he sees one or two vigorous articles, he will find the direction of his life.
He will say what others say. What others think is right, he will also feel that it is the truth. If someone commits a crime, he will be filled with righteous indignation in the crowd.
Perhaps he will also appeal, feel injustice, and always stand on the side of the majority, hide in the crowd, and be ordinary …
They have reason, but they don't think; they can feel love, but they don't spread it; they learn the truth, but they don't use it; they know where wisdom lies, but they are proud of their ignorance; they thirst for justice, but they stubbornly want to push things different from themselves to the evil side — "
"I used to be terrified of this, Mr. Huai Shi."
The philosopher calmly said, "I was full of doubts about this — why can't they think? Why don't they open their eyes and expose those childish lies? Do they really understand what they are doing? Have they really figured out their roles? Are they really alive? "
After a short pause, he finally asked the last question:
"Is such a person really qualified to have a soul? “
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