Chapter 914: Idealism

Chapter 914: Idealism

"Come here, take a look at this."

Zhao Shuandian, having hammered away at her keyboard for ages, turned the laptop screen toward Li Huowang.

"What do you want me to look at? I don't understand any of this." Li Huowang felt a wave of dizziness just looking at the strings of formulas.

Zhao Shuandian furrowed her brow in thought for a few seconds before looking at Li Huowang and asking, "Are you willing to learn from the beginning? I can teach you. If everything you say is true, then there are perhaps only three possible explanations."

"Why must I adapt to your worldview? Is your worldview necessarily the absolute truth? Why couldn't it be that everything in my worldview is what's real, and yours is the false one?"

"My worldview and yours have collided. Currently, mine is self-consistent, while yours contains contradictions. Shouldn't you be looking for the cause within your own worldview?"

"I won't learn it, and I don't intend to! The situation is what it is, and I've already pointed out the contradictions to you. Believe it or not, that's up to you!"

Ba Nanxu, standing to the side, laughed and said, "Make us adapt to your worldview? Are you trying to drag us into your madness?"

"Shut your mouth." Zhao Shuandian shot a glance at Ba Nanxu, who simply shrugged and sat on the sofa to watch television.

Zhao Shuandian quickly switched interfaces on her computer and created a new document. "Fine, Li Huowang, I believe you. Tell me about your worldview again, and be detailed."

Seeing that Zhao Shuandian truly believed him, Li Huowang took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and began to recount his tale. "Right. It all started at Qingfeng Temple. I was receiving treatment at the hospital at the time, and I had just assumed that was the fake part..."

Over the next few hours, Li Huowang laid out that bizarre and grotesque world for her. By the time he finished, it was already dark outside.

"Eat before you interrogate him further; the food is cold, but I saved you a portion." Ba Nanxu walked over, beer bottle in hand, and spoke to Zhao Shuandian.

"Shh, be quiet for a moment. I need to sort this all out." Zhao Shuandian tapped the arrow keys rapidly, organizing Li Huowang's records.

"Did you save any for me? I'm hungry too." Li Huowang stood up; the hours of talking had finally calmed him down.

"Oh, look, the lunatic knows he needs to eat." Ba Nanxu turned away with a look of disdain.

"Come here, sit down. I saved you a plate." Wu Qi, sitting at the dining table, waved at Li Huowang.

Li Huowang glanced at the contemplative Zhao Shuandian, walked over, picked up the plate of potato and chicken over rice, and began to eat.

By the time he was halfway through, Zhao Shuandian had finished organizing. She carried the laptop over and placed it beside him.

"Li Huowang, I've organized this carefully. Although I want to believe you, I've found that your world is not as self-consistent as you claim. In fact, it is even less consistent than the worlds of others; in many places, it is purely idealistic."

Li Huowang swallowed the chicken in his mouth. "Don't you get it yet? This world isn't normal; it's insane. Nothing that happens here is strange."

"And is your materialistic worldview necessarily the truth? Perhaps our world is equally idealistic, only we haven't discovered it yet." Li Huowang finished his sentence and continued eating.

Zhao Shuandian fell into deep thought upon hearing this. Her fingers drummed against the keyboard with a rapid clatter, as if she were calculating something.

Just as Li Huowang was finishing his meal, her hands stopped. "Alright, you've convinced me."

"Hm?" Li Huowang froze. She believed him just like that? It was far beyond his expectations. Since leaving Qingfeng Temple, she was the first person to believe everything he said, and it felt far too easy.

He had even prepared a rebuttal in his mind in case she disagreed.

"What do you mean? You're convinced? Does that mean our world is truly idealistic after all?"

"In our macroscopic world, no, but in the microscopic world, it exists—and quite significantly." Zhao Shuandian closed her laptop.

"Idealistic?" With his mouth full of rice, Li Huowang looked up at the crystal chandelier, turned to look at the leather sofa on his left, and finally back at Zhao Shuandian's refined face. Nothing had changed.

"Don't worry. Even if it is idealistic, we can still make bold hypotheses and seek careful verification. Thank you for your help; this is a great contribution to my research."

Li Huowang buried his head and continued eating. "You're welcome. What I'm afraid of now is that if the Siming is killed again on February 6th, everything will return to the starting point, and I'll likely have to explain all of this to you again."

"It's fine. If you really can reverse time, we can use you to synchronize information with the version of me from that time. You are a variable."

"Whatever you say, as long as you understand." Li Huowang set down his plate. After thinking very carefully, he said, "Since everything about me is real, some things need to be reconsidered. For example, your 'Elephant Theory'."

"Perhaps the elephant you described isn't spread out, but rather the ivory, the legs, and the trunk are all drawn on separate sheets of paper, stacked upon one another at the same point in time."

"Only that could explain why, when we jump to the ivory of another elephant to solve a problem, we have to revert to this specific point in time to start over when we want to address the trunk."

"That is a possibility. A very unique hypothesis."

"Isn't it even more unique that an elephant like this is still alive?" Li Huowang picked up his chopsticks and shoveled the remaining rice into his mouth.

"It's too early to say. We need more evidence, but regardless, thank you." Zhao Shuandian was about to leave, but Li Huowang stopped her.

"Whether it's your possibility or my hypothesis, how much longer do we have to suffer through this? I'm tired. I'm so tired."

"I cannot answer that. There are more variables now. If you want this to end as soon as possible, you should find a way to help us as much as you can." Zhao Shuandian stood up and walked toward the door.

Li Huowang had finished his meal, but he remained seated, guarding his empty plate, lost in thought.

Though he understood a fragment of the truth, it did little to improve his current situation. If Zhao Shuandian was right, the Siming on the other elephant was still lurking, watching him.

If he couldn't resolve this trouble completely, he would be forced to live with the label of a lunatic forever.

He didn't want that. Now that he finally knew why, he wanted to live properly—to live like a human being.