Chapter 168: "Redundant" Physics

Chapter 168 -71: “Redundant” Physics

“What is that? And what is the ‘immutability’ behind this ‘change’?” Shao Yiyi asked urgently.

“This might be… a judgment. A reckoning.”

The four of them fell silent. They looked at each other, their eyes filled with confusion and fear.

Yu Xian quickly wrote a question on the paper—”Whose reckoning?”—followed by a large question mark. He then drew a line connecting it to the “Why the Great Flood” question, signaling for Shao Yiyi to ask.

“A reckoning?” Shao Yiyi’s voice was trembling.

“Whose reckoning? God’s?”

“For now… you can think of it that way,” Su Mingyuan said lightly.

“Remember what I told you at the conference? Society’s resources aren’t infinite. When there’s too much redundancy, a reckoning is only natural.”

“So… so this Great Flood is God’s way of carrying out that reckoning?” Shao Yiyi’s lips were trembling.

“Correct. A reckoning for the redundant,” Su Mingyuan’s voice was rational and cold.

Hearing this, a chill ran down Yu Xian’s spine.

‘Limited resources. A reckoning for the redundant.’

‘These words, coming from a bestselling author who studies traditional culture… and being used to explain a disaster foretold by metaphysics, of all things.’

‘What’s more, it sounded frighteningly similar to their own theory that ‘physics is the redundancy’.’

“Then… then what are we supposed to do?” Shao Yiyi asked, her voice choked with tears.

“Uncle, are we supposed to just wait to die? Is there any way to… to escape it?”

“Escape?” Su Mingyuan let out a soft laugh, a sound filled with endless despair.

“A single drop of rain from history can become a flood for whoever it falls upon. In the face of such a tide, an individual’s struggle is insignificant. You want to escape? Where could you possibly go? It’s raining all over the world. In reality, there is no Noah’s Ark, no mountain sanctuary. However…”

He paused, not continuing.

“However what?” Shao Yiyi asked, as if grasping at a final straw.

“Although you can’t escape it, there might be… a chance to make it stop.”

“Make it stop?”

“Yes.” Su Mingyuan’s voice was firm.

“Before the day of reckoning, if we ‘perform the Subtraction’ on the redundant first, perhaps the Great Flood won’t come at all.”

Yu Xian’s heart began to pound wildly.

‘Redundancy.’

‘Subtraction.’

‘Could this ‘redundancy’ he’s talking about be the physicists? Like Professor Gao, Professor Ning, and Professor Shu?’

“Uncle, that redundancy… what is it?” Shao Yiyi asked in a trembling voice.

There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

“Girl, there are some things you’re better off not knowing.”

Su Mingyuan seemed unwilling to continue the topic. His tone became gentle again, but now held a trace of detachment.

“These matters are not for you to get involved in. This rain may be heavy, but as long as enough redundancy is eliminated, the sky… will eventually clear.”

With that, he didn’t give Shao Yiyi a chance to ask any more questions, said his goodbyes, and hung up.

The dial tone echoed in the lounge. The four of them, as if drained of all strength, collapsed onto the sofa, speechless for a long time.

“Eliminate the redundancy…” Shi Zuozhou muttered to himself, his face pale as a sheet.

“When he says ‘eliminate the redundancy,’ he doesn’t mean… killing all the physicists, does he?”

Yu Xian leaned back in his chair, his fingers gripping the pen tightly.

‘Su Mingyuan’s words were actually quite clear.’

‘First, he definitely knows about the ‘Great Flood,’ and he firmly believes it’s an unavoidable catastrophe.’

‘Second, in his view, the root of this world-ending flood is a ‘reckoning for the redundant’.’

‘Third, and most chillingly, he believes the only way to stop this ‘reckoning’ is to proactively ‘reduce the redundancy’.’

‘Combined with the discouragement and warnings Professor Ning mentioned before, the identity of this ‘redundancy’ was becoming terrifyingly obvious…’

‘It was the scientists exploring the frontiers of the universe, attempting to break through the limits of physics.’

‘It was Professor Gao, Professor Shu, Professor Ning, and the countless others like them, all striving in their labs for the future of humanity.’

“Is he insane…?” Shi Zuozhou ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

“Killing people for some vague, ethereal ‘prophecy’ that might not even be real? Forcing these scientists into a corner? What kind of logic is that?! Isn’t that a crime?”

“In his eyes, he probably doesn’t think he’s committing a crime. On the contrary, he might feel he’s working toward a higher purpose, that he’s saving the world,” Yu Xian said, looking at the curtain of rain outside the window.

“If the existence of physics truly will bring about the ‘Great Flood,’ then sacrificing a small group to ensure the survival of the majority… that’s the classic ‘trolley problem.'”

He was reminded of the most classic, and most cruel, thought experiment in the history of human ethics.

A runaway trolley is hurtling down a track. Ahead, on the main track, there are five people tied up and unable to move.

On a side track, there is just one person tied up.

If you are the person standing at the switch, you have the power to decide the trolley’s path.

Do you choose to do nothing and watch the trolley run over the five people?

Or do you pull the lever yourself, diverting the trolley to kill the one person who was otherwise innocent and would not have died?

From a purely utilitarian perspective, five lives are worth more than one. Pulling the lever is undoubtedly the “optimal solution.”

But on a moral level, the moment you pull that lever, you transform from a “bystander” into an “executioner.”