Chapter 595: Please, Just Ask

It's normal for there to be contradictions between the desert and the rainforest—you see, even a once-in-a-century genius from the desert can only trail behind the Grand Sage doing odd jobs; this is the differential treatment due to background.

Under such unfair treatment, it's natural for desert folk to explode at the slightest provocation—they've endured until now, which is already the limit of what desert people can tolerate.

They always say 'my patience has limits,' but they've never fully erupted.

But Paimon still has one question: why didn't the Akademiya directly experiment on the mad scholars instead of sending them to Aaru Village?

[Paimon asked: "Wasn't it the Akademiya that sent those scholars to Aaru Village in the first place? Why do they have to snatch them back now?"]

This question was answered before—it's for 'person laundering'; here, Alhaitham also gives an explanation.

["In this process, one thing changed—that is the scholars' 'identity.'"]

["Initially they were 'scholars,' then they became 'madmen,' next they became 'exiles,' and finally… they turn into 'missing persons.'"]

["An exiled mad scholar is still a human. But a missing person… that's harder to say."]

Alhaitham's words here translate to the meaning of 'person laundering'—simple and easy to understand, even Paimon got it.

Now the readers who couldn't understand before also understood—this is Alhaitham? Though he verbally expresses disdain, when explaining and analyzing, he completely breaks it down thoroughly.

Some intellectual-fetish readers couldn't help immersing themselves in Alhaitham's wisdom.

At first meeting, they thought he was a B King, unapproachable; only now do they discover he's actually quite gentle.

[Alhaitham continued: "You can't find a specific person, so there's no way to infer what happened to them. In other words, 'missing persons' would be ideal resources."]

He calls these people 'resources,' but this isn't his perspective—it's from the Akademiya's viewpoint.

[Paimon asked: "Resources? What use do they still have?"]

How to say this—perhaps send Paimon away first, let her go pick a couple apples or something; the following topic isn't suitable for children to hear.

But Alhaitham didn't care—Paimon asked, so he answered.

[Alhaitham answered: "One possibility is that these people's brains would be used to extract canned knowledge."]

When Alhaitham said this, the illustration's camera focused on Razak squatting on the ground.

But he wasn't the protagonist—he was in the corner of the frame, occupying less than half under the near-big far-small perspective; closer to the frame was some kind of apparatus.

The tubing of this apparatus, from this camera angle, looked like it was inserted straight into Razak's brain—chilling to think about.

["Perhaps because of these reasons, they feel pain, and cry out when it's late at night and no one is watching closely."]

Brain extraction for knowledge—this couldn't help but remind everyone of the previous Flower God's Birthday story.

Compared like this, the Flower God's Birthday actually seems gentle; these scholars' experiences are even more terrifying.

[Paimon scared: "Human brains… no, I don't want to think about it—it's so scary…"]

As expected, Paimon should have been sent away first—this isn't suitable for kids.

What Alhaitham said is already quite conservative; what exact experiments these scholars underwent is known only to the Doctor, the Grand Sage, and others.

As a scribe, Alhaitham knows a lot of information, but about this place, he doesn't know.

As for Razak nearby, either something unexpected happened during experiments on him, or he couldn't resist the temptation and used canned divine knowledge himself.

[Paimon confused: "I'm a bit muddled… so everyone's brain is useful?"]

Of course not—because Paimon's brain clearly has no use.

Alhaitham explained so thoroughly, yet Paimon still looked confused.

Fortunately, the Traveler beside her has a very good brain—just doesn't use it much normally.

Now the Traveler started using her own brain to analyze—are everyone's brains useful?

No, not that; what the Akademiya truly needs are the brains of those who have contacted 'divine consciousness.'

Thinking this way, Razak—this scholar who never communicated with divine consciousness—wouldn't be utilized; he's likely from the 'experimenter' side, just a bad guy.

He's among the ninety percent of scholars siding with the Grand Sage, not even coerced like Setaria; his situation is serious and he hasn't been released yet.

But squatting in prison is already a good ending compared to his original fate.

Back to the story—in the story, sister Lumine stated her analysis:

["The Akademiya needs people who have contacted 'divine consciousness.'"]

The Akademiya wants to use this divine knowledge to help the Balladeer become a god.

But what the Akademiya doesn't know is that all this knowledge actually has 'viruses'; the purest branch on the World Tree now is Nahida.

Just look at her little feet to know how pure—unstained by a speck of dirt.

Alhaitham expressed approval of the Traveler's analysis, then it was Alhaitham's turn to be puzzled.

["I've always been curious—what exactly can knowledge related to gods give them?"]

["What does the Akademiya ultimately want to do by pursuing these taboo things at all costs?"]

Seeing Alhaitham say this, readers suddenly felt smug—one by one showing triumphant, villainous grins.

You don't know, do you? You don't know!! Hahahahahaha, finally there's something you don't know!

We know! Hahaha, hurry and beg the Traveler. Beg her—she might tell you.

Please, just ask.

This is one of the reasons everyone loves reading prophecy books—the joy from information asymmetry!

Even people like Alhaitham and Nahida can have things they don't understand due to information gaps.

But readers under 'god's perspective' have very comprehensive information—at times like this, they get smug.

If it's knowing more than Arataki Itto, there's no smugness, but knowing more than Alhaitham really makes one smug—because he's too smart.

Some readers are rather 'perverted'—seeing Alhaitham so smart, so good at 'acting,' they really want to see him 'eat a loss'; it's precisely because it's rare that they want to see it!

However, unfortunately, readers might not get to see Alhaitham begging—because Alhaitham himself doesn't have extreme thoughts about such things.

And even more regrettably, in the next scene of the story, there's no such smugness.

In the next scene, it's the in-story people who know Alhaitham's plan, while outsiders are kept in the dark.

Now, with one of the few remaining information asymmetries, Alhaitham has no intention of asking—making readers anxious to death.

Please, just ask!!!