Alien Knights

Todd, who was sitting on the throne in the audience hall, carefully looked at the report in his hand and said without raising his head, "You have done this soul experiment nearly seventy times?"

Wayne, who was sitting on the chair, changed the dirty robe he was wearing before. He obviously tidied up his appearance. He said to Todd respectfully, "Your Majesty, after you left Muxi University last time, I spent three days sorting out all the data on hand. Due to the limited length of the report, what you read is only a part of all the experiments."

Todd flipped through the report in his hand and gestured towards Huggins beside him. After a while, two cups of warm mead, paired with a plate of fried noodles, were served in front of Terrence and Wayne.

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

Wayne nodded 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 data errors are minimized."

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

Rubbing his palms, Wayne said excitedly, "I think some kind of substance must be released when a creature dies. Maybe that's the essence of the soul."

Todd read the original text of the report word by word: "This substance is invisible and intangible. It can trigger certain tiny particles, undergo changes in mass and energy, and within a short period of time, 'escape' out of the underground room several meters deep, and disappear in a fixed direction."

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

Wayne ignored the ridicule of the old scholar, but said seriously: "In my experiments, I found that the more intelligent a creature is, the greater the change in mass and energy will be when it dies. 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 a ±1.5 deviation."

Terrence closed his eyes and smiled wryly: "The weight loss of the body may be due to the evaporation of water in the body; the deflection of the magnetic field may be due to the metal material. These experimental results of yours can't explain the materialization of the soul at all."

Wayne shook his head vigorously and argued: "At first I also thought it was due to evaporation and metal, but after repeated experiments, I found more and more amazing consistency when all the experimental subjects died."

"The higher the education level, the older the death age, and the richer the life experience, the greater the weight loss and the greater the deflected magnetic field when it dies. From the beginning to the present, the experimental results of dozens of people have proved this conclusion. In comparison, when animals die, except for creatures with elementary intelligence such as orangutans and apes, other species will not cause changes in mass and magnetic field."

Terrence covered his forehead with his hand, and said helplessly, "Wayne Dunlop, this doesn't explain anything at all."

"Wayne, I think your experiment is very interesting." Todd said, everyone was shocked.

Terrence stared wide-eyed, looked at Todd, and stammered, "Your Majesty, you... don't you really think that the results of his experiment are effective..."

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

Wayne straightened his waist and said excitedly: "Your Majesty! You mean to support my experiment?!"

Contrary to his expectations, Todd shook his head slightly.

The king held up Wayne's report and said solemnly: "I invite you two to come today. Apart from confirming the report data, the most important thing is to talk about the use of human beings as experimental subjects."

After hearing Todd's words, Terrence immediately agreed: "I have no objection to using animals for 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 opposed to human experiments, but they should be distinguished from animal experiments, and this type of experiment should have strict prerequisites in terms of academic ethics."

Talking about his experiment, Wayne retorted: "I don't understand the difference between the two. If we look at the teachings of the Bible, animals and humans are God's people, and there is no difference in the value of life between the two. If we use the yardstick of truth to judge, animals contribute a lot of data in academic experiments, why can't humans?"

Hearing Wayne's words, Terrence was at a loss for words for a moment. The latter looked at the tall, thin and frail scholar, shaking his head and sighing.

Todd heard this argument, slowly closed the report, thought for a while, and said to Wayne: "Have you ever eaten pork?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, I have."

"And what about the beef?"

"I ate it too."

Todd stared into Wayne's eyes, and said with emphasis: "What about human flesh?"

The latter froze, shook his head and said, "...no...never."

Todd leaned forward: "Then 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, and his voice became smaller and smaller: "I think I will curse him, even beat him, and warn others to stay away from this person."

"So what do you do if you meet someone who loves beef?"

"How? I don't think I can do anything..."

Todd patted the report with his hands, and said calmly: "On the path of pursuing the truth, using one's own kind as an experiment. The taboos touched by this kind of behavior are not only from religion, but more from the fear in the hearts of human beings."

Hearing this, Wayne exchanged glances with Master Terrence beside him, and asked Todd, "Your Majesty, we don't understand what you said."

Todd recalled that when he was a graduate student in his previous life, in the "Scientific Ethics" class, the old professor with white beard and hair talked about the psychological paradox in life research.

"Looking at the whole world, among so many species, only human beings have the most complete wisdom and moral system. All of this is inseparable from a human characteristic, which is called "empathy" (Latin: empatheia)." Looking at Terrence and Wayne, still looking confused, Todd continued to explain: "Empathy refers to the ability of human beings to understand the thoughts of other similar people during social activities, and they are willing to empathize and analyze and deal with problems from the perspective of others."

"Take what we just said, using animals and humans as experimental subjects. People with low empathy think that humans should be used as experimental subjects in academic research just like animals; people with moderate empathy think that animals can be used as experimental subjects, but humans cannot; and people with high empathy even think that animals have emotions and should not be used as experimental subjects."

Todd looked at the thoughtful looks of several people in the hall, and said softly: "People with lower empathy are more likely to behave cruelly and harshly towards their own kind. Although they can get in touch with the essence of things more easily, they are also very easy to arouse public anger and even attack."

At this time, Wayne suddenly voiced doubts: "The exploration of the nature of life requires 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 academia. Scholars with too high empathy will inevitably be hesitant and timid when conducting experiments and research; while scholars with too low empathy abandon all humanity and morality in the pursuit of truth, and explore unknown things from the perspective of pure interests, which often leads to disastrous consequences." (For example, Fritz Ha. Burger's mustard gas)

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

Wayne, who came from the Middle Ages, still couldn’t fully accept this kind of thinking involving the direction of scientific ethics: "What about war? In a life-and-death war, should we still uphold the so-called empathy and ignore technologies that may bring about national strength?"

Hearing the word war, Todd's eyes dimmed, and he said in a sad tone: "Moisture accounts for about 70% of the human body. Do you know how this conclusion came about?"

All the people present looked at each other and shook their heads.

"A group of frenzied beasts on the battlefield, under the guise of academic research, got this result after drying dozens of people alive." Resentment and rage flashed in Todd's eyes, and scales appeared faintly on the skin under his clothes: "War is the ugliest thing in this world, but it is also the most helpless thing. The death and destruction that fills our eyes every day is enough to turn anyone into a ghost..."

Todd stared into Wayne's eyes: "Wayne Dunlop, this is what I want to tell you too. Our country is at war, but that doesn't mean we have to become evil spirits. Your soul experiment is, in my opinion, a very valuable subject. But using money to force those impoverished people to sell their deaths and let them die in humiliation and sorrow, your behavior has already touched the bottom line of empathy among the general public."

Wayne gritted his teeth, pursed his lips and said, "Your Majesty, I understand what you mean. But as long as my experiment can go smoothly, I don't recommend bearing these infamy."

Todd tapped his temple with the finger of his right hand, with a look of resentment: "Wayne, you don't understand what I mean. What I want to say is that you don't need to use money to force others to participate in the experiment. In fact, you can find volunteers and let them take the initiative to join your experiment."

Terrence stood up in surprise: "Your Majesty, what do you mean, someone will volunteer to join this ridiculous experiment?"

Todd nodded: "In the world I know, some people are willing to donate their bodies for medical research; some people are willing to donate their organs after death to save those who need them. Now, there are nearly two thousand scholars in Muxi City who yearn for the truth, just let others record the moment of their own death, how can no one try?"

Terrence opened his mouth wide: "Donate bodies and organs? Is what you said true? In another world, is there really such an unbelievable thing?"

Todd smiled and nodded and said, "Wayne, I agree with your experiment to continue, but the premise is that the sacred academics are completely decoupled from the vulgar money, and certain standards of academic ethics are observed."

Wayne said in embarrassment: "But Your Majesty, I'm really not sure if anyone will volunteer to participate in my experiment."

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