Chapter 246 Saving Mazao
Fu Feng's words surprised me.
Is the government planning to use this opportunity to acknowledge the existence of the bizarre world to the public?
I think that if we were to ask who the least wants the bizarre world to be exposed to the public eye, the first group that would definitely be the current ruling class.
"It's not going to be that simple all at once. You have to take things one step at a time, and the same goes for announcing the existence of the supernatural world. However, the official authorities at least intend to acknowledge to the public that there are indeed phenomena in society that current science cannot explain, and that these unknown phenomena are gradually spreading throughout society," Fu Feng said. "This will certainly cause considerable panic and accelerate the public's understanding of the supernatural world, but they are probably helpless about it."
"The number of people suffering from amnesia is increasing, and the frequency of strange events is also increasing. Rather than letting certain people with ulterior motives collect all the evidence of the existence of the supernatural world and then reveal it all at once, it would be better for them to admit it themselves first. This way, the backlash against them will be relatively lower."
This follows the same logic as me admitting my true feelings to Asahi first. Since lies are bound to be exposed anyway, it's better to honestly admit you lied than to be pointed at and have your lies exposed. It's unexpectedly annoying that I agree with politicians in this way.
However, their actions were much faster than I had imagined. While it's not surprising that the supernatural world is constantly exposed to the public eye, based on my previous conversations with Zhu Shi, the official forces would have delayed acknowledging the supernatural world for at least another six months. Is this rapid progress due to our naive predictions, or is it due to the social impact of my intense battle with Silver Moon?
"Moreover, the nuclear explosion launched by Silvermoon also had a decisive impact."
Fu Feng continued speaking as if he could hear my thoughts, but his next statement was hard for me to understand: "After all, the number of patients with amnesia might surge as a result. What can they do but admit it first?"
“Wait a minute…” I said, “I don’t understand. How can there be any causal relationship between the Silver Moon nuclear explosion and the increase in the number of patients with Aphasia?”
Fu Feng was taken aback at first, then realized what was happening and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I didn't explain it to you beforehand. There is indeed a very likely causal relationship between these two incidents. Hmm... where should I begin?"
He thought for a moment, then said, "First of all, you should know that the increase in the number of patients with amnesia is similar to the gradual increase in the frequency of strange events; the curve is gradually climbing upwards. The former started four years ago, while the latter is generally considered to have started three years ago, which is the same time as the Fantian incident."
"This statement is actually inaccurate. Strictly speaking, the frequent occurrence of strange events, like the amnesia incident, started happening four years ago. It's just that the curve was still within the margin of error at that time, and it wasn't until three years ago that it began to receive attention."
"The same goes for the Fantian incident. Although it was only three years ago that Luoshan became aware of it as a public event, it had actually been noticed on a small scale four years ago. Or rather, it was noticed by the Great Impermanences and us Great Completion level cultivators. It's just that at the time we didn't intend to make a big deal out of it and wanted to investigate the truth of the incident in secret."
“Four years ago…that sounds like a very crucial point in time,” I said.
At the same time, I thought of myself. My superpowers also appeared four years ago. To be precise, four and a half years, although there was a six-month difference in between, it's a fairly close timeframe. Could there be some hidden story behind this? I wanted to delve deeper, but all I could find was a fog.
"Because of the coincidence in timing, we generally believe that the frequent occurrence of strange events, the 'Heavenly Deception' incident, and the 'Soul Loss Syndrome' incident all share the same origin. Among them, the Soul Loss Syndrome incident is more often considered a byproduct of the former two." Fu Feng nodded. "As our investigation into the Soul Loss Syndrome deepens, and through research combining various occult and scientific methods, we believe that the curve of the increase in the number of Soul Loss Syndrome patients is correlated with the curve of the frequency of strange events. That is, the more strange events occur in society, the more the number of Soul Loss Syndrome patients randomly increases..."
"However, some people have proposed a seemingly unfounded hypothesis that the increase in patients with amnesia is not so much due to the frequency of strange events, but rather to the fusion of the common-sense world and the strange world."
"This hypothesis posits that the more secular society is aware of the existence of the supernatural... or the more ordinary people know of its existence, the more likely the number of people suffering from amnesia will increase. Furthermore, amnesia does not originate from the group of those who are aware of it, but rather appears randomly from the entire society."
“We didn’t take this hypothesis seriously at first, but the official forces seem to have used social engineering and statistics to conduct data analysis and research, and finally regarded it as the most credible theory at present.”
Now I understand what he meant earlier: "The nuclear explosion in Silver Moon will accelerate the public's understanding of the supernatural world, so the number of people suffering from amnesia will increase dramatically... Is that right?"
From this perspective, it seems that the official authorities prematurely announcing the existence of the Soul Loss Syndrome wasn't a good move. However, the existence of the Soul Loss Syndrome would be exposed anyway due to the surge in the number of patients, so perhaps in the end it wouldn't make any difference.
No wonder Fufeng said that rumors might spread in the governance faction because of my battle with Silver Moon. Although I wasn't the one who irresponsibly threw out the nuclear explosion, that battle really had a terrible impact on the increasingly chaotic world, to say the least, adding insult to injury.
"You don't need to feel too much burden. What's more important now is how to solve the increasingly serious cases of soul loss. If this strange phenomenon is allowed to continue, social order will inevitably collapse completely."
Fu Feng, as if he had seen it all before, said calmly, then changed the subject: "So... could Miss Asao cooperate with our research later? Unlike those supernaturalists who disregard the lives of mortals, we, the healers, are very sincerely and urgently seeking clues to cure the Soul Loss Syndrome. Please be sure to provide us with assistance."
Ma Zao had been silently listening to our conversation, but now her eyes showed signs of wavering and change. That old fox, Fu Feng, all that foreshadowing beforehand—it turns out he was waiting for us here.
"Even the Great Impermanence can't solve the Soul Loss Syndrome? I've heard that as long as the Great Impermanence takes action, the mere Soul Loss Syndrome is nothing to worry about," I said.
"That's just a common misunderstanding in Luoshan. Most demon hunters have unconditional faith and blind belief in the Great Impermanence. Only those of us at the Great Completion level can vaguely glimpse the boundaries of the Great Impermanence," Fu Feng said. "The Soul Loss incident is likely a disaster closely related to the frequent occurrence of the Fantian incident and strange events, both of which are phenomena that the Great Impermanence cannot understand. Therefore, the Soul Loss incident is likely also something that the Great Impermanence cannot control. We cannot place all our hopes on the gods."
“As long as Mazao is willing, cooperating with you is not out of the question. However, as her partner, I have one condition that I cannot compromise on: you must first tell me who the Great Impermanence behind the Divine Gun is. If we cannot expose the Great Impermanence who is threatening Mazao from the shadows and find out the truth about why the Great Impermanence covets Mazao, I cannot feel at ease watching your people from Luoshan have deeper contact with her,” I said.
Even the concept of a pacifist is, in my opinion, untrustworthy. Asaho might be hoping for the best and cooperating with them on some research, but that idea is likely largely a manifestation of her misanthropic tendencies.
And perhaps this sounds hypocritical, but it's precisely because Asaho might be the key to curing the Soul Disorder that we absolutely cannot rashly hand her over to someone with ulterior motives. Perhaps Fazheng shares the same thoughts as the Great Impermanence behind the Divine Spear, wanting to kill Asaho for some reason. Just thinking about it is unforgivable.
"I'm sorry, I don't have the authority to tell you," Fu Feng said regretfully.
"Then let's wait until Fazheng arrives before discussing anything further," I said in a firm tone.
"...That's it then." He sighed.
So, we finished looking at the last area of the Fufeng base, and then Fufeng led us back to the residential area. After a brief farewell, he turned and left first. Ma Zao and I went back to our room to rest.
Asa sat down on the edge of the bed, deep in thought, clearly pondering what had just happened. She would remain silent as much as possible in the presence of outsiders, leaving all "diplomatic" matters to me, but that absolutely did not mean she was a doll without her own thoughts, or a tool that only provided convenience.
She must desperately want to save those suffering from amnesia. Saving the world seems like such a distant and unattainable task, while saving those with amnesia seems within reach. She even said that as long as the other party's ultimate goal is to cure amnesia, she would cooperate even if they had ulterior motives. But to what extent does she intend to cooperate? Perhaps she would consider agreeing even at the cost of her own life.
I want to save her. Not just to save her from those who tried to harm her, but also to heal her broken and sorrowful heart. I want to tell her that I am the one she has been waiting for, the one who can accept all her misfortunes and hardships.
And now, I'm finally alone with her.
(End of this chapter)
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