Simulates history, but Chongzhen is the Divine Emperor at the beginning

Chapter 129 Science is dead, God is alive!
【Huh?! Everything burned?!】

After the Pope uttered these chilling words in an extremely casual tone, you were stunned for a moment, and then something gradually occurred to you...

What was the most famous terrorist act committed by the Vatican in the Middle Ages?

[Undoubtedly, it was the persecution of pagans and heretics.]

[Among these acts of persecution, the most famous one is naturally the classic example of burning at the stake...]

Although there has always been controversy over the specific division of responsibilities, with some claiming it was the Vatican's headquarters that advocated for the burning of people, while others claim it was a faction within the church, the objective existence of the burning at the stake has never been controversial.

Among those burned at the stake were “witches” of old, as well as those so-called “devil-possessed.”

[Of course, there were also great scientists whose views were too unconventional at the time... For example, Bruno, this early anti-theological fighter, promoted the "heliocentric theory" and opposed theological classics, which seriously angered the Vatican. The Vatican eventually burned him at the stake, making him one of the most famous persecuted people in history...]

[Thinking of this example, you can't help but have a terrifying guess: Could it be that the current Vatican has carried this skill forward?!]

In the past, only the most famous people were burned, but now scientists are being burned everywhere. Is this the case? Has such people disappeared from the West?

【What hell mode! 】

[Extremely uneasy, you can no longer hold back and ask the Pope directly about the relevant matters: "Why did you burn them? As far as I know, although you hate heresy, you don't go so far as to..."]

“Why can’t it be burned?”

The Pope scratched his head and said, "Could the Prime Minister show mercy to a madman who is doing harm to the world?"

A madman who is harmful to the world?

You were stunned for a moment, then frowned: "What do you mean?"

“Literally…”

The Pope seemed to see your doubts about him and guessed your first impression of the burning incident. With a bitter look on his face, he proceeded to tell you the whole story...

【…】

The medieval Church has always had a terrible reputation, criticized countless times for hindering scientific development, destroying classical culture, and misleading people... In short, its crimes are so heinous that online literature often portrays the Church as a pure villain. Names like "The Church of Light" and "The Church of Justice" are almost clichéd.

[Admittedly, the medieval church was not entirely clean and did hinder social development; otherwise, the Reformation movement would not have been possible.]

[However, to say that it is purely a villain is not correct, because in the development of modern science, the Vatican has actually played a positive role! ]

As long as they aren't "heretics" who openly challenge it, the Vatican will not persecute scientists, but will instead fund their research to a certain extent... This may seem counterintuitive, but it actually makes perfect sense.

[Because the Vatican also hopes to learn more about this world created by "God". The more devout the believers, the more they want to understand "God" and get closer to "God", rather than just kowtow to "God"...]

[For example, Lord Niu was definitely a devout believer, but he also continued to engage in scientific research, and his achievements were immense... and yet these astonishing results did not lead to the Vatican sending him to the stake.]

This is sufficient to prove that the Vatican has a two-faced approach to scientific research: scientific research is permitted, and even funded, but the results of such research must not be anti-theological, let alone openly challenging it!

[This was true of the Vatican in the original historical storyline, and it is also true of the Vatican in the current Lostbelt...] [In fact, until 1644 AD, the Vatican had not carried out large-scale arrests and burnings of "heretics," and it was in 1644 that all the changes and beginnings began.]

From this year on, the Eastern world was shrouded in the dark rule of the God-Emperor, and the Western world also ushered in a "Dark Age." No one knows the specifics, but from this year on, scientists would often suddenly go crazy!

[There were scientists among the public who went insane, scientists employed by various nations who went insane, and even scientists supported by the Vatican who went insane... The more advanced their academic attainments, the more likely they were to go insane, and the more severe their insane behavior would be.]

In their manic state, they would cry and laugh, their expressions dazed. Some would wail, saying their scientific research had angered the gods, and would frantically kowtow and beg for forgiveness, earnestly repenting. Some would curse publicly, "God doesn't understand science!" and "God changes his mind every day!", or commit suicide in public with a grimace, trying to atone for their sins.

This "wave of madness" shocked the entire Western world. Whether it was secular countries or priests in the Vatican, they were all in a state of panic, not knowing what was happening at all!

[Finally, as a last resort, the Vatican reached an agreement with various nations to jointly arrest all scientific lunatics throughout the Western world and reinstated the practice of burning people at the stake to "purify heretics," hoping to purify these lunatics with the burning!]

[After this massive "heresy purge" campaign ran out of things to catch, Western scientists were essentially wiped out...]

The remaining scholars were generally not highly educated, and after this catastrophe, the entire Western world was deeply horrified. The atmosphere of natural science that had finally emerged suffered a devastating blow. Everyone could only turn their faith to the Vatican, hoping that the gods would protect them.

At this time, news of the Eastern True God's advent reached the West, igniting everyone's tension. This led to the Vatican's desire to stitch the image of the Creator True God together with the Divine Emperor and "move the capital" to the Ming Dynasty...

After listening to the old pope slowly recount these past events, you were at a loss at first, and then gradually became thoughtful.

Apparently, the "scientific disaster" that the West encountered was actually brought about by the advent of the God-Emperor. In 1644, not only did Eastern history undergo drastic changes, but even the West was not spared...

But the question arises again: why did Western scientists collectively go crazy?

[What? Facing Cthulhu directly, has your sanity level completely dropped?]

So, with a growing sense of confusion, you asked the Pope, "Did you later investigate the cause of their madness?"

"Of course there is."

The Pope sighed, "When we caught some people with milder symptoms of epilepsy, we also communicated with them and asked them the reasons for their madness, but the answers we received were varied..."

“Some say that scientific research has angered the gods… Some say that the gods change their minds every day and are toying with the world of mortals… Some say that they are cursed by the gods and that the gods are deliberately punishing them…”

“What’s worse, some people even say that science no longer exists and that dark clouds are hanging over the edifice of science…”

"However, although their answers varied, they all described the same situation... namely, the laws of the world have been completely rewritten, even subverted, eliminated, and obliterated. It is no longer possible to summarize and formulate them into science!"

[“To use the words of a seriously ill scholar before his death, this is called…”]

【The Pope gradually grew serious.】

"Science is dead, God is alive!"

……

(End of this chapter)