"Are you mocking me?" Annie looked over with raised eyebrows after listening to Richard's words.
"No, I appreciate what you said." Richard shook his head lightly, "I wonder if you realize that there is already some philosophical thinking in what you said. If you had behaved like this more than four months ago, Maybe I’ll take you on as a student.”
"Forget it, I no longer want to be your student." Annie said, "Rather than becoming stronger quickly, I just want to clarify the doubts in my heart."
"I can't help you with this." Richard spread his hands, "What exactly do you want to pursue, you have to ask your heart. In a sense, this world may be fake, and everything in the outside world has no influence on you. The influence is all superficial, and the answers given are naturally not true - the true answers are up to you to think and discover on your own.
Have you heard of such a theory? There is a person named Descartes who believes that the world we live in may be an illusion.
Just like illusions can confuse us, we may be in a huge illusion, and everything we hear, see, and touch is false information fed back to us by the illusion. The people we come into contact with and the communication we have may be fake, and the body we have may also be fake.
It is very possible that we are just a head, or even a brain, soaked in a vat filled with medicinal liquid. Descartes called this kind of speculation a brain in a vat. "
Anne's eyes widened as she listened, not knowing whether she understood or not.
Richard continued: "The most despairing thing about this speculation is that we cannot prove it ourselves. Because everything we do and everything we find may be disguised. The only thing we can regard as true is Our thoughts, our hearts. Just like what Descartes said, 'I think, therefore I am' - when we think about this matter, we can at least be sure that we exist as a thinking subject."
After Richard finished speaking, Anne was silent for a long time. She couldn't help but look at Richard and asked, "Does what you said help me with my problem?"
Richard said: "If you think it is helpful, then it will be helpful. If you think it is not helpful, just pretend you have never heard of it. After all, according to the agreement we reached before, you help me find ores and collect information, and I will help you solve some problems." The little problem I encountered is an exchange of equal value. It’s already a good thing that I saved you, but other than that, I have no obligation to continue helping you in vain.”
"you-"
Anne was a little angry and raised her hand to lose her temper. Suddenly she stopped and realized that she was no longer the young lady who could lose her temper casually.
The hand paused in mid-air for a while, then slowly lowered it. Annie walked slowly out of the alley, saying as she walked: "Okay, you are right. You saved me this time, so I owe you one." I will find a way to return the favor to you."
"Okay." Richard said.
Annie kept walking, walked a few meters, paused, turned around and asked: "I want to ask you now, if according to your previous illusion, what is it that you have been pursuing? You have never doubted that you Is it the wrong thing to pursue? After all, everything can be fake?”
"Actually, what I'm after is how to distinguish between true and false."
"Huh?" Annie didn't understand.
"Imagine this. There was a fish that had been living in a pond without any worries. Suddenly one day, it was thrown into a completely unfamiliar wooden basin. If other fish encountered this situation, Some will slowly accept everything, while others will take the opportunity to dominate in the tub.
And this fish is a bit special. I am very curious about how it was thrown from the pond into the tub. I want to see what the hand is that controls it. I want to see the world outside the pond and tub. What. This is what I'm after. "
Richard said slowly: "Only when the truth and falsehood are determined, then beautiful things have meaning. As a saying goes, 'Beauty and truth are the same thing, so beauty itself must be true'."
"Huh?" Annie didn't understand at all.
Richard chuckled lightly and said no more, "Well, what I pursue is not important to you. What matters is what you want to pursue in your heart. If you really don't know, then Let me give you a kind reminder: make every effort to improve yourself, make yourself stronger, smarter, and better than you are now. If you continue like this, one day, you will know what you really want.
In this process, what you must not do is slack off, and don't stop because of the pursuit of comfort and identity. Then you will quickly be assimilated by the environment you are in and the people around you. Really, you'll lose all your chances. If this world is really an illusion, then you will never be able to escape. "
This time Annie finally understood. She pondered for a few seconds and thought of something. She reached into her arms and pulled out a black metal cylinder.
The metal cylinder was about ten centimeters long and one centimeter in diameter. It looked extremely strong. It was unknown what was inside.
Stepping closer to Richard, Annie said: "Okay, no matter what, I still want to thank you for your help. I know that I owe you a lot of favors and I can't pay them all back in a short time. What's next? , I may still owe more. However, using this thing, I may be able to compensate for part of it."
As she spoke, Annie unscrewed the cap at one end of the metal cylinder and poured out a slender piece of blue-gray ore.
As soon as the blue-gray ore appeared, Richard immediately felt the weak corrosive energy emitted by the ore, which was, not surprisingly, radiation.
Is it nuclear raw material ore
Richard raised his eyebrows and looked carefully. After a few glances, he was sure that it was definitely not the piece of uranium ore he had given Annie before, but a brand new ore that he had never seen before.
"Did you find the origin of the ore I asked you to find?" Richard asked in surprise, which really surprised him. In his opinion, Anne would not discover anything for several years.
"No." Sure enough, Annie shook her head and replied, "I got this ore accidentally from a black market. There is almost no information about where the ore came from. Originally, I wanted to completely find out. I’ll tell you after I get it clear. However, since I owe you so much now, it’s better to tell you earlier.”
"Is that so?" Richard nodded, "Okay then. Although you haven't found the specific origin of this ore, this news is indeed very good to me. So, keep up the good work, I look forward to you The day we actually find the origin of the ore.”
"I hope so, bye," Anne responded.
After saying this, without any hesitation, he screwed the lid of the metal cylinder on, put it back in his arms, and quickly left the alley.
Richard looked at the direction Annie left, shook his head slightly, and took steps to leave.
He raised his right foot, a breeze blew by, and a voice sounded from behind.