Chapter 1089: Chapter 1087: No Need to Choose
Watching Rommel’s figure fade away into the blurry night, Richard let out a breath.
Sitting on a stone on the small hill, he showed a serious expression.
He was thinking, seriously considering Rommel’s proposal.
One must admit, Rommel extended his utmost sincerity in "recruiting" him, and the conditions offered in the "recruitment" were indeed tempting.
Rommel’s firsthand account of killing a Golden Ring of the Truth Society without any issues deeply impressed him.
After all, what he had done to the Truth Society was merely to destroy their East Coast division—twice, kill two Silver Ring stewards, and eliminate some Iron Ring members—over a hundred.
Though in quantity, he might have triumphed, Rommel surpassed him in quality—after all, Rommel had killed a Golden Ring—as far as he knew, Golden Rings were rare in the entire Truth Society, not exceeding twenty at the most. Excluding those sent to guard remote places in the deep sea, those remaining on the continent were even fewer.
Of course, this was not a competition, and winning or losing wasn’t important; what mattered was Rommel’s attitude: as long as you are willing to join, the past can be forgiven. As long as you sincerely pledge allegiance, you can atone for your sins.
From this perspective, if the Truth Society was willing to give him an opportunity to excel, he could guarantee to bring them benefits exceeding ten East Coast divisions.
And with the full support of the Truth Society, he would no longer have to work in secrecy, able to conduct various researches openly, resolving some mysteries more efficiently and swiftly. Perhaps many mysteries wouldn’t need exploration at all, being directly answered by the so-called True God.
Simply put, if he joined the Truth Society, it would be a one-plus-one-equals-two scenario, a win-win result.
Rommel wasn’t wrong; the Truth Society is a great organization, with core members of higher quality compared to elsewhere, making them excellent collaborators, assistants, and... experiment subjects.
One must know that members of the Truth Society could be resurrected, so many dangerous experiments wouldn’t require a lengthy step-by-step approach.
Is there still a need to experiment on mice, on dogs?
Absolutely not necessary; just persuade a few "volunteers" and proceed directly with human trials.
In short, the Truth Society could provide him with an environment, resources, technology, personnel, and other support that no other place could offer.
And the price to gain all of this is merely to accept the baptism of light and believe in the True God.
For a moment, he really felt tempted.
But it was only for a moment; after a while, as he calmed down, he silently shook his head in his heart.
Believing in the True God? Accepting the baptism of light?
To be honest, he could accept these superficial things, he could entirely manage a façade with the Truth Society.
But there was one point he absolutely couldn’t endure.
That is, to imprint on the soul a so-called mark of loyalty, rendering him incapable of resistance or questioning.
Throughout, what he pursued was the truth of the world. For this, he had been laboriously exploring from nothing in a scientific manner.
Perhaps the so-called True God, as Rommel described, represents absolute truth, allowing him a shortcut, achieving success without further effort.
There is nothing wrong with that.
The issue is, even then, he must have the ability to say "wrong," to question.
If there really is truth in the world, then it should be allowed to be questioned—if not allowed to be questioned, lacking falsifiability, then it cannot be said to be truth, but superstition instead.
From ancient times till now, all things humans assumed as justifiably proper have changed multiple times.
From the geocentric theory to the heliocentric theory.
From the Earth’s four elements of earth, water, air, and fire, to the Three Laws of Classical Mechanics, and then to the Theory of Relativity.
Only by being allowed to question can truth reveal its true form.
Only by being allowed to question the peculiar orbits of Mars and Jupiter in the Solar System, only by being allowed to question the existence of "eccentric circles" and "epicycles," can we derive Kepler’s Laws, can we understand the appearance of the universe.
Truth fears not being questioned, not debated—the more debated, the truer it becomes.
Conversely, pseudo-science, false truths under the premise of superstition, fear being questioned, prohibit being questioned.
If the True God allows questioning, then believing in Him is inconsequential.
But if the True God does not allow being questioned, and he must believe in Him, it would be equivalent to completely destroying the principles he has always adhered to—science would become superstition, questioning would become fanaticism, the pursuit of truth would become satisfaction in falsehoods.
He would no longer be himself.
He would completely cease to be himself.
Perhaps he would still retain almost all his memories, perhaps as Rommel said, his personality would change only minutely, but that would merely equate to a replica of him—a replica 99% similar—the missing 1% would be his core soul.
Is there still a need to make a choice?
Of course, reject it.
There is no way he could accept the baptism of light, no way he could believe in the True God.
So then...
In the night, Richard stood up from the stone, took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and turned to head towards his dwelling.
...
Elsewhere.
Rommel walked back to his residence.
This was a stone building located in a very secluded corner of Pompeii Town; compared to other stone buildings, it didn’t appear large, but rather more low-lying, only two stories high.
Because much of the building was buried deep underground, and the walls were specially reinforced, one aspect was to insulate against spell detection, giving Rommel a hidden resting area, another aspect was to prevent the residual power of spells from affecting the outside when Rommel occasionally tested spells in his dwelling—this had happened before.
So, Rommel’s dwelling looked a bit like a bunker.
At this moment, Rommel walked near the "bunker" and saw Inogova standing in front of the door.
Inogova saw Rommel returning and quickly greeted him, "Supervisor, you’re back?"
"Hmm." Rommel responded, "Is there something?"
"Yes." Inogova nodded, "I wanted to ask how to handle some situations next? For example, how to arrange the Cheka inspector? What should the attitude towards Wizard Richard be? Also, should the construction work on the new energy system continue?" These are all urgent issues needing resolution.
Rommel thought for a few seconds and gave answers to each: "The construction work on the new energy system, let’s put it on hold for now. After all, the entire project is quite large and isn’t urgent in these one or two days.
As for Cheka, treat him the same as an ordinary steward, try to meet his requests as much as possible. If he has any complaints or dissatisfaction, he can let me know.
As for Wizard Richard... as of now, he is still an excellent member of our organization, allow him to move freely, as long as he doesn’t leave Pompeii. As long as he gives me a satisfactory answer within three days, he will not only continue to be an excellent member of our organization, but will also eliminate Cheka’s doubts, and will be my publicly available successor."
At this point, Rommel paused, and said to Inogova, "Next, I will stay in the residence, unless it’s very urgent, don’t bother me. I want to wait for Wizard Richard to give me a satisfactory answer, at which time, Pompeii will be a new beginning."
"That’s it." Rommel finally said, opening the door and entering the dwelling, then closed the door with a "bang."
Inogova looked at the closed door for a while, said nothing, and turned to leave.
...
