Chapter 287 Jacob's Research

"...Resurrected undead?"

Aiwass was a little surprised.

Because he is a genuine priest - a third-level priest, which is the level of a weaker bishop. There was no way he couldn't tell the difference between the undead and the living.

In Aiwass's vision, both the dwarf Maghammer and Old William were genuine living people. According to them, they all entered Yingjia Village from the swamp, and they were all "resurrectionaries" as the elders called them.

"It is what it is."

The old man nodded slowly, looking at Aiwass with his one eye: "I will tell you this secret because... you are Jacob's chosen successor. And Jacob has a kindness to us that can never be repaid. ”

"I came here just to seek my grandfather's inheritance."

Aiwass bluntly said: "So I need more knowledge, more truth - so please tell me more truth."

"It should be so..."

The old man said softly.

He supported his body with his cane and stood up slowly.

He walked slowly step by step, and with the help of Aiwass, he approached the window sill, staring at the sun in the distance that had risen to the sky at an unknown time.

"Let me ask you a question, Aiwass... You are from the city and a college student. I guess you have a lot better brains than us old guys."

"Excuse me." Aiwass responded politely.

"Suppose there is such a person... After his death, no one saw his body, and no one learned of his death. His body was swallowed up by a swamp somewhere.

"And then, another swamp connected to this swamp spit out another person who was exactly the same as him. This person's knowledge, memory, personality, and abilities were exactly the same as those of the deceased, and his body was also a human body, even The birthmark was the same as the hidden wound. But there was no memory of death. After he woke up... he just thought he fainted and was picked up.

"So, do you think such a person is the undead summoned by the corpse of the former?"

The old squire said slowly.

Aiwass understood everything halfway through.

——This is a classic thought experiment.

It's called the "Swampman Paradox."

Suppose that when someone dies, due to an extremely coincidental reaction, a copy of the person is born that is exactly the same at the atomic level and holds almost all of the memory and knowledge of the person, except that it does not have the memory of the moment of death... And this person After waking up, he immediately resumed his life as if he were dead, continued to read the books he had not finished, and went to work as usual the next day.

So is this person the same person as the person who died?

This reminds Aiwass of the "Eggman" in the game EVE - when a pilot is about to die, the space capsule system will kill him instantly and scan all memories and knowledge with a powerful scan that can destroy the brain. Save it, then use super-light technology to transmit the information to another place, and use the clone to "resurrect" it.

So the person resurrected through this method is still the same person? Or is it a new self?

Aiwass's heart sank.

——Because he immediately thought of himself.

If "Eggman" or "Swampman" is not his true self, then... what about himself?

There's also parts of him that are Aiwass Moriarty, and parts that aren't. He awakened the memory of his past life for some unknown reason, but was that "past life" really him? If only the memory is transmitted, is he still the same person in the past?

And if what comes is a soul, is he still Aiwass?

Aiwass has been avoiding this problem in the past. But now this problem has come up on its own.

"...I can't answer this question."

Aiwass was silent for a long time, and could only shake his head honestly.

He really couldn't give a definite answer - because the question had touched himself. Even if Aiwass gives an answer, it is definitely an answer that is not carefully thought out and tends to fool people.

But even if it was such a hypocritical answer, Aiwass didn't want to give it. Because he doesn't want to treat himself so casually.

"You don't know, and neither do we."

The old squire sighed: “But that’s how they came.

"The first outsider to enter Eagle Point Village through this method was Inspector William. And the person who created this special resurrection ceremony and threw him in through this ceremony...

"That's your grandfather, Jacob."

——At that moment, Aiwass suddenly recalled the promotion ceremony he had just completed.

In that hotel, the young Jacob came into contact with Inspector William. But now it seems that Inspector William's appearance has not changed much from that time...

If this is what actually happened in reality, and it was just the dream that was modified by Weizhe...

That means the real William is probably dead.

Without Aiwass's pastoral care, a dream demon that is about to hatch cannot be dealt with. Not to mention that there is an Earthbound spirit guarding there... Jacob was able to escape and survive to give birth to a child, which surprised Aiwass.

Inspector William didn't look very strong either. He most likely died there.

Because they had fought side by side...or had the other party's permission, Jacob decided to use his corpse to conduct experiments to see if he could be resurrected.

But after resurrection, William had lost the memory of meeting Jacob. So in his words, he met Jacob for the first time after he entered Eagle Point Village.

"After entering the village for the first time, Jacob brought us new population. These outsiders who entered the village through his resurrection ceremony gave the village some vitality. After all, it was not completely frozen in the cold wind."

The old man recalled the past and said slowly: "And after he returned to the village for the second time... he seemed to be busy with something.

"I don't know what ceremony he was preparing, and I don't know what he did. But it was from then on-children began to be born in the village. That was about 20 years ago. "

In this village where time is stagnant and isolated from the world, a pregnant aboriginal appeared for the first time.

It seems that the completely frozen time has started to move again... Although the operation is still stagnant, the frozen waterwheel has finally started to turn slowly.

"...So there are no young people in their early thirties in the village? "

Evans suddenly realized.

It's not because all the young people of that age have died or left the village.

It's because no one has been pregnant since then.

Then, Aihuas also realized another thing: "Doesn't that mean that not many people have died?"

Without outsiders and no newborns, the population will only decrease and will soon become a completely dead village.

But this village has obviously existed for a long time. And you can still see many middle-aged people on the street...

"...Or is it that the villagers' inability to have children is also a thing that happened not long ago?"

Evans asked tentatively.

If the village was sealed forty years ago, it would be understandable. Time stagnated for forty years, and then began to flow again...Young people under twenty years old have now become uncles in their forties, which is right.

The old man just shook his head and didn't say much: "It's not that short.

"We are all Amber people who have sold our souls to Amber and sought shelter; we are all afterimages that have been forgotten by the Sand Clock. Being able to continue to live is already the limit... How can we participate in the ceremony of 'rebirth'.

"Birth is an extremely sacred ceremony. It heralds the birth of a new soul and is the result of the joint action of the nine great ways. It is not worthy of people like us who have lost even our names."

Evans frowned.

Strangers.

Newborns.

What exactly do they have in common...

What is the purpose of the experiment that grandpa did here...

He thought for a long time, but in the end it was Lily who slightly opened her eyes and realized something.

She gently pulled Aiwass and said something in his ear.

Evans' expression paused and he took a breath.

He realized the most outrageous possibility - but what's more outrageous is that that possibility is even the most likely.

"Old man," Aiwass suddenly asked, "those outsiders who 'resurrected' from the swamp... do they have souls? ”

——The Swamp Man Paradox actually has a solution.

Because there is no "soul" on Earth. Precisely because there is no soul, matter or thought can become the pros and cons of the philosophical question of "What is me?".

But this world is different.

This world really has souls - not only that, but in a sense, there is "reincarnation" and the afterlife.

Although it is not a one-to-one reincarnation into the next person after death. Instead, it returns to the world like a recycling machine, and then a newborn is born from the world...but it does have a unique "soul". Its uniqueness is even to the extent that it can make the other party into a ghost to prevent the other party from reincarnating or reaching the afterlife.

On the other hand, , if that person becomes an apostle after death, then he can no longer be turned into a dead spirit. Because the only soul has been taken away.

Unless...

Evans suddenly thought of why he, as a priest, could not recognize that the other party was a dead spirit.

——What is the standard for the priest to judge that the other party is a dead spirit?

He has never thought about this question.

But now, this almost blurted out answer makes him feel creepy.

If time here is stagnant, no in and no out.

——Then where do the "extra" souls of strangers and newborns come from?

The old squire was silent.

He slowly turned his head and stared at Aiwas with his dim yellow one eye.

"Yes."

The old man replied: "They all have complete souls, the same souls as before.

"But in the abyss of the swamp, there is another soul stored. That is their soul before they died."

Aiwas finally confirmed what his grandfather Jacob was doing in Eagle Point Village, and why Noble Red wanted his research manuscripts so much...

——He was trying to copy the human soul.

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