Todd, who was sitting on the throne of the Audience Hall, looked at the report in his hand seriously, and said without raising his head: "You have done this soul experiment nearly seventy times?"

Wayne, who was sitting in the chair, changed out of the dirty robe he had worn in the past, and his appearance was obviously cleaned up, and he said respectfully to Todd: "Your Majesty, after you left the University of Twilight last time, I spent three days sorting out all the data at hand, and due to the space constraints of the report, you are only looking at a part of all the experiments. ”

Todd flipped through the report in his hand and gestured to Huggins beside him. Later, two cups of warm mead and milk wine, along with a plate of fried pastry, were brought to Terrence and Wayne.

"Among your subjects, there are old people and children, as well as men and women. Todd paused for a moment, then continued, "There are all kinds of animals. ”

Wayne bowed his head and said, "Yes, in order to compare the souls of different creatures, whether there will be differences and changes, I have conducted at least ten experiments on each creature to ensure that the data error is minimized. ”

Todd flipped to the last page of the report, read it three times, and finally said, "Your conclusion is really interesting. ”

Wayne rubbed his palms and said excitedly: "I think that at the moment of death, some kind of substance must have been released, maybe that is the essence of the soul." ”

Todd read the original text of the report word by word: "This substance cannot be seen or touched, it can cause certain tiny particles, change their mass and energy, and in a very short time, 'escape' out of the underground chamber several meters deep, and disappear in a fixed direction. ”

Terrence took a sip of mead and couldn't help but complain, "This is simply a fantasy!"

Wayne ignored the old scholar's ridicule, but said seriously: "In my experiments, I found that the more intelligent the creature, the greater the change in mass and energy caused by death. For example, the old man in the immigration area three days ago, at the moment of his death, his body weight suddenly lost three grams, and the magnetic field indicator also showed an offset of ±1.5. ”

Terrence closed his eyes and said with a wry smile: "The weight loss of the body may be due to the evaporation of water in the body, and the deflection of the magnetic field may be due to the metal material." The results of your experiments do not explain the embodiment of the soul at all. ”

Wayne shook his head vigorously and argued, "At first, I thought it was evaporation and metal, but after repeated experiments, I found more and more surprising consistency when all the test subjects died. ”

"The more educated, the older the age of death, and the richer the life experience, the more weight is lost and the greater the magnetic field that is deflected when it dies. From the beginning to the present, the results of experiments by dozens of people have proved this conclusion. In contrast, when an animal dies, all species with the exception of orangutans and apes, which have elementary intelligence, do not cause changes in mass and magnetic fields. ”

Terrence covered his forehead with his hand and said helplessly, "Wayne Dunlop, these don't mean anything. ”

"Wayne, I found your experiment interesting. Todd's words were shocked.

Terrence stared at Todd with round eyes, and stammered, "Your Majesty, you...... You don't really think the results of his experiments are valid......"

Todd waved his hand: "I didn't admit the results of this experiment, I just said that this experiment was very interesting." ”

Wayne straightened up and said excitedly, "Your Majesty! You mean to support my experiment?!"

To his surprise, Todd shook his head slightly.

The king held up Wayne's report and said solemnly, "I invite the two of you to come today, in addition to confirming the data in the report, the most important thing is to talk about the use of humans as test subjects. ”

After listening to Todd's words, Terrence immediately agreed: "I have no objection to using animals to do this experiment, but using humans to do this is a bit beyond the bottom line." ”

Todd's next sentence made Terrence stunned again.

"I am not against human experimentation, but it should be distinguished from animal experimentation, and this kind of experiment, in terms of academic ethics, should have strict premises. ”

Talking about his experiments, Wayne retorted: "I don't understand the difference between the two, if we look at the teachings of the Bible, animals are God's people like humans, and there is no difference in the value of life between the two;

Hearing Wayne's words, Terrence was speechless for a moment, and the latter looked at the tall, thin, and frail scholar, and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

Todd heard the two arguing, slowly closed the report, thought for a moment, and said to Wayne, "Have you ever eaten pork?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, I have eaten. ”

"And what about beef?"

"I've eaten it too. ”

Todd stared at Wayne's eyes and said in an accentuated tone, "What about human flesh?"

The latter was stunned, shook his head and said, "...... No...... Never. ”

Todd leaned forward, "So let me change the question, if you knew that there was a person who loved to eat human flesh, how would you react?"

Wayne frowned, his voice getting quieter and quieter: "I think I'll curse him, even beat him, don't warn others to stay away from this person." ”

"So what would you do if you met someone who loved beef?"

"How? I don't think I'm going to do anything......"

Todd patted the report with his hand and said calmly: "On the path of pursuing the truth, using one's own kind as an experiment, this kind of action touches on taboos, not only from religion alone, but also from the fear of human hearts. ”

Hearing this, Wayne glanced at Master Terrence beside him, and asked Todd, "Your Majesty, we don't understand what you said. ”

Todd recalled that in his previous life when he was in graduate school, in the "Ethics of Science" class, the old professor with white hair talked about the psychological paradoxes of life research.

"Of all the species in the world, only human beings have the most complete intellectual and moral system, and all of this is inseparable from a trait in human beings, which is called 'empathetic' (Latin: empatheia). Looking at Terrence and Wayne, still looking confused, Todd continued: "Empathy refers to the ability of human beings to empathize with the thoughts of others when they engage in social activities, and to be willing to empathize and analyze and deal with problems from the perspective of others. ”

"Let's take what we just said, about animals and humans as experiments. People with low empathy believe that humans should be used as experimental objects for academic research like animals, people with moderate empathy think that animals can be used as experimental objects, but humans cannot, and people with high levels of empathy think that animals should not be used as objects of experimentation, even if they have emotions. ”

Todd looked at the thoughtful looks of several people in the hall, and said softly: "The lower the empathy, the easier it is for people to commit cruel and serious acts to their own kind, although they can more easily access the essence of things, but they are also very easy to arouse public anger, and even attack. ”

At this time, Wayne suddenly made a questioning voice: "The exploration of the nature of life needs to involve a lot of human research. Doesn't this so-called empathy hinder academic progress?"

"That's a good question!" Todd put down the report in his hand, walked between Terrence and Wayne, and said slowly, "Empathy is a double-edged sword for academics. Scholars with too much empathy will inevitably look ahead and be timid when conducting experiments and research, while scholars with too low empathy will abandon all humanity and morality on the path of pursuing truth, and explore the unknown from the perspective of pure profit, which will often lead to disastrous consequences. (e.g. Fritz Haber's mustard gas)

Todd paused for a moment, then turned his gaze to Wayne: "So, the biggest problem for a scholar is how to maintain a relatively neutral level of empathy in academic research and scientific ethics. ”

Wayne from the Middle Ages still couldn't fully accept this kind of thinking that involved the direction of scientific ethics: "What about war? Is it still necessary to uphold the so-called empathy and ignore the technology that may bring about the progress of national strength in the war of life and death?"

Hearing the word war, Todd's eyes dimmed, and he said in a deep tone: "Water accounts for about seventy percent of the human body, do you know how this conclusion came from?"

Everyone present glanced at each other and shook their heads.

"A group of frantic beasts on the battlefield, under the guise of academic research, roasted dozens of people alive to get this result. Todd's eyes flashed with resentment and rage, and scales faintly grew on the skin under his clothes: "War is the ugliest thing in this world, but it is also the most helpless. The daily flooding of death and destruction is enough to turn any human being into a demon......"

Todd stared into Wayne's eyes, "Wayne Dunlop, that's what I want to say to you, too. Our country is at war, but that doesn't mean we have to be evil. Your soul experiment seems to me to be a very valuable subject. But using money to force those who are destitute to betray their deaths and let them die in humiliation and sorrow has touched the bottom line of empathy for the general public. ”

Wayne gritted his teeth, pursed his lips and said, "Your Majesty, I understand what you mean. But as long as it keeps my experiments going smoothly, I don't recommend carrying these stigmas. ”

Todd tapped his temple with the fingers of his right hand, and with a look of hatred, "Wayne, you didn't understand what I meant. What I'm trying to say is that you don't need to use money to force people to participate in the experiment, you can actually find volunteers and get them to join your experiment. ”

Terrence stood up in surprise, "Your Majesty, you mean that someone would volunteer to join this ridiculous experiment?"

Todd nodded: "In the world I know, there are people who are willing to donate their bodies for medical research, and there are people who are willing to donate their organs after death to save those who need them. And now, there are nearly 2,000 scholars in Twilight City who yearn for the truth, and how can no one try to let others record the moment of their death?"

Terrence opened his mouth wide: "Donate bodies and organs? Are you telling the truth? Is there really such an unthinkable thing in another world?"

Todd smiled and nodded, "Wayne, I agree with your experiment to continue, but only if you completely decouple sacred scholarship from vulgar money, and abide by a certain standard of academic ethics." ”

Wayne was embarrassed and said, "But Your Majesty, I'm really not sure if anyone will volunteer to participate in my experiments. ”

Todd returned to his seat, picked up the report with his hand, shook it in the air, and said loudly: "Use your data, use your report, use your academic enthusiasm and pursuit of truth to give speeches and propaganda, tell people that death is not a terrible thing, and the secrets of the spiritual world may be unlocked in your hands!"