Scientific Travel

From what he said, it seemed that the decree issued by the emperor was related to him.

"What is your relationship with the old Imperial Advisor?"

"He is my senior brother."

Deng Yin carefully examined Chi Lin's face and couldn't help but sigh.

Although he had gray hair, his skin looked delicate, smooth, and elastic, and his features showed the demeanor of a young man.

Since his senior brother could be called the old national advisor, he must look very old. The senior and junior brothers should be only a few years apart in age.

It turns out that what makes people look old is not gray hair, but the signs of aging on their face.

"Then are you also the Imperial Advisor?" Deng Yin asked. "That doesn't make sense. If it's true, as you say, that you calculated the solution to the natural disaster, why is it all said that the old Imperial Advisor said it?"

“I am not the Imperial Advisor. As long as it is the truth, what difference does it make whose name it is spread in?” Chi Lin frowned, somewhat displeased, and said, “You still haven’t answered my question.”

She didn't answer Chi Lin's question, but instead asked him, "So, the old Grand Preceptor's earlier suggestion to start a war and the inevitable locust plague next year were also things you calculated?"

Chi Lin's question was ignored once again. Although he was dissatisfied, he still answered truthfully, "Yes."

In her mind, Deng Yin envisioned a grand drama about the old imperial advisor deceiving the world and gaining his current status by relying on the predictions of his junior brother, but she did not feel sorry for Chi Lin.

This kind of thing is a matter of mutual consent; he's willing to be the one behind the scenes, so there's nothing for others to say.

After asking her the question she had been thinking about, Deng Yincai answered Chi Lin's question: "I don't have the ability to tell fortunes. The reason why I say that harming living beings is unacceptable is because I never believe that this world can be destroyed by one person."

"Foolish." Chi Lin's voice carried a hint of anger: "You think the people who are killed are living beings, then aren't the people who die because of them living beings?"

"If killing one person can save a hundred, then why not kill them? Besides, now killing one person can save a thousand or even ten thousand."

"Have you considered this? It's not me who wants to kill them, it's the natural disaster that wants to kill them. Even if I let them go now, the natural disaster will still take their lives!"

"You were kind, letting these people live a few more days, but what about those who died because of those extra days? Didn't they deserve to live?"

Seeing that Chi Lin was about to say something, Deng Yin stepped forward and covered his mouth.

"You've only calculated that the natural disasters were caused by people born in the yin year, yin hour, and yin month, but can you guarantee that killing them will stop all these calamities?"

"Don't flatter me. I've never been a kind person. If you dare say another bad word about me, I'll show you right now whether I'm kind or not."

Although Deng Yin did not know how the natural disaster was formed, she knew when it would end.

No matter how many people die, it will only end when all ten natural disasters occur in turn.

Deng Yin released her hand, and Chi Lin wisely refrained from blaming her further.

"I......"

Every event has a cause, and cause and effect are cyclical. As long as the cause is eliminated, the effect will naturally disappear.

But when Deng Yin asked that question, he suddenly became uncertain...

Everything can be unexpected, but if you're afraid of accidents happening, you might as well not live at all.

“I’m not sure,” Chi Lin said. “But if we kill these people, there might be a glimmer of hope. It’s better than doing nothing and waiting to die.”

"Anyway, those people will die if the natural disaster continues, so it's better for them to die sooner, which may give others a chance to live."

"Heh..." Deng Yin sneered as she forcefully bent her knee and rammed it into Chi Lin's stomach.

Chi Lin cried out in pain, clutching his stomach with both arms and squatting on the ground.

Deng Yin looked down at him with disgust and said, "Who do you think you are? You think you can get so many people to die for you based on your own conjecture?"

"Have you become so used to looking down on others that you've forgotten you have no right to make decisions about other people's lives?"

"I have no right?" Something stung Chi Lin; ignoring the sharp pain in his abdomen, he stood up and confronted Deng Yin. "What right do you have to say such a thing?"

"Even if you are a god, what have you done for humanity? Just sell cakes? Ha..."

"You weren't there when the war broke out, you weren't there when the locust plague broke out, and now that natural disasters are frequent, you're here, but what have you been doing?"

"You neither know why natural disasters happen, nor how to make them pass faster, yet you insist on criticizing other people's proposed solutions. I think you... are just used to being condescending..."

"You can't see the suffering of all living beings, nor do you think about how to save everyone. Do you know why those people admire you? They are even willing to rush to buy the same thing you bought once."

“A gold coin, if you exchange it for food, would be enough to feed the entire city for three days. But with you, it can only buy a small cake. Yet people are not only willing to buy it, they are even willing to pay more, not because it’s delicious, but simply because you represent hope.”

“You appeared when people couldn’t tell the difference between humans and animals. Those people are really fools, thinking that you can lead them out of their suffering.”

"Little did they know... that gods don't care about the lives of ordinary people at all."

"Have you said enough?" Deng Yin waited until Chi Lin finished speaking before speaking: "If you've said enough, then it's my turn to speak."

“I am not a god, nor am I interested in taking on the burden of everyone’s lives on my own. You were right about one thing: those people are fools, and I cannot lead them out of their misery.”

"Then why do you..."

"Why pretend to be a deity?" Deng Yin finished the question Chi Lin hadn't asked yet. "Because of you."

"The person I want to save is the person you want to kill."

Deng Yin smiled, but there was no smile in his eyes.

"People like you, aren't you the most concerned with cause and effect?" Deng Yin picked up a strand of white hair from Chi Lin's forehead, his fingertips lightly twirling the hair until it intertwined tightly. "If it weren't for you, there would be no immortal Deng Yin, nor the demon you perceive. If that's the case..."

"Did you create the demon yourself?"

"Stop your sophistry!" Chi Lin yanked the white hair that was wrapped around Deng Yin's fingers, and several strands broke off in Deng Yin's hand from the force.

Seeing the broken white hair, Chi Lin suddenly became very angry. He picked up the straw hat, put it on his head, and said coldly, "I will come back to find you."

Deng Yin grabbed Chi Lin's wrist with great force, and Chi Lin couldn't break free for a moment.

"Just say what you have to say now. I have no interest in seeing you again. Besides..."

"You may not live to see that day."

Deng Yin's malice was so strong it was almost overflowing, and Chi Lin now believed she was definitely not a kind person.