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Translator’s Note: I really apologise for the delay of these two chapters’ posting. I was dragged off to celebrate Mother’s Day with my grandma last weekend and this week (and the next two at least) will be INCREDIBLY busy since I have some assignments and projects that need quite the desperate attention. My editor is also MIA for his finals too. Things will return to normal in two weeks, so thank you for understanding!
Chapter 68: Intelligence (2)
A dark passage, a swaying torch, a calm voice.
Yin had been very calm from the beginning until now. Even when the six armored soldiers had died in succession, causing Ai Qian’s face to be ashen with fear and Yue Qiang to feel a bit of panic after the incident, she was still very calm.
“Fear, comes from the unknown.”
“The reason you fear death isn’t because you haven’t died before, but because you did not know what would happen after death.”
“The reason why you fear the situation right now is because you do not know how these six people have passed away. If you know it, then you will not fear it.”
“If as the unknown is broken, then you will have no fear.” Yin said facing towards Ai Qian, “You do not know how these six people have died, and so you thought an unknown, irresistible power has killed all of them. That is why you are afraid. You are afraid that this unknown power will kill you just like it killed these six people.”
“Therefore, if I tell you what this power is, then you will no longer be afraid.”
“Is it very complicated? It is, before you know the answer. But it will not be after you know the answer.”
Yin continued to speak to Ai Qian with an unusually polished explanation, “There is a very, very huge magnet underground. That is all.”
“These six soldiers were attracted to the ground and killed by this giant magnet.”
When Ai Qian heard this answer, he froze on the spot and could not say anything. A while later, he suddenly said, “Are you kidding me? A magnet?”
He laughed really loudly and used a slightly exaggerated expression to ridicule her. He pointed at Yin with his finger and said, “After all that padding, after so many words, you tell me that a magnet killed them. Are you serious?”
Yin was very calm in comparison to to Ai Qian’s exaggerated expression. She did not turn angry because of his taunts and said with an indifferent expression, “Why can’t it be a magnet?”
“That’s my question. How did you come up with an answer as ridiculous as a magnet?”
“That’s because the corpses on the ground are very heavy.” Yin explained, “It doesn’t move when I push it or when you kick it with all your strength. Even if these soldiers were a lot heavier with the armor, something like this should not have happened. Therefore, the only explanation is that these soldiers were attracted to the ground by a kind of force. Ironically, these armors are the latest steel armor, so it is only natural they were attracted to the ground and killed.”
When Yue Qiang heard this, he shook his head on the inside. At first, he thought that Yin had made a huge discovery, but he never thought that he would hear the word ‘magnet’ coming out of her mouth. This explanation was truly without unfounded.
When Ai Qian heard her, he refuted her straight away, “Please explain how this magnet managed to kill them then. Even if it was true that the soldiers were attracted to the ground, how exactly did they die from just this? You can’t be telling me that they killed themselves from the fall, can you?”
“With your knowledge, it will probably be very difficult for me to explain this to you without raising a few examples.”
“I will speak of something easier for you to understand. A carrier pigeon.” Yin said, “A long, long time ago, China had already discovered that carrier pigeons could recognise the way back home over an extremely long distance. It did not manage the feat through memorising road signs, but through sensing the direction of the earth’s magnetic field to determine its path accurately. There is an organ at a carrier pigeon’s beak containing a large number of particles of iron that can detect even an extremely weak magnetic field. For example, the relatively weak magnetic field on the earth’s surface was enough for a carrier pigeon to find its way.”
“The reason I raise this example is to describe how magnetic fields can interact with living organisms.”
“Later on, several hundred years ago, scientists had taken their experiments one step further and observed the effects on a living organism after it was put into an artificial magnetic field that is much stronger than the earth’s magnetic field. The results were shocking. When the strength of the magnetic field exceeds a certain degree, it would have extremely distinct effects on a living organism’s blood circulation, enzyme activity, and the neurotransmitter of a nervous system. A strong magnetic field can cause a living organism to become excited within a certain range, but once this limit is exceeded, it will cause a living organism to fall into coma, and even death!”
“To put it simply, I believe that the reason you feel dizzy, nauseous, and uncomfortable all over is due to the excessive strength of a magnetic field.”
After listening to Yin’s full explanation, Ai Qian thought for a moment before saying, “So, you’re telling me that the force that killed these soldiers is actually a very, very powerful magnetic field, is it?”
“Yes.”
“Not only did this magnetic field attracted the six soldiers’ armor to the ground, it has also killed their brain cells. That is what you mean, right?”
“Yes.”
Hearing Yin’s admission again, Ai Qian let out a cold laughter before asking, “Then my next question will be this: Why are the six soldiers the only ones who were killed by this powerful magnetic field?”
Yue Qiang had also listened to Yin’s full analysis and thus held such a doubt as well. After all, while it isn’t illogical to explain this phenomenon through something as illusory as a ghost, when a scientific approach is applied it was only inevitable that one would run into holes that could not be explained.
Therefore, the hole in this explanation was, why would a magnetic field go round a corner?
Why would the magnetic field kill the soldiers but not them, even though they’re within the same range?
“Of course a magnetic field couldn’t go round a corner.” Yin’s tone was perfectly unchanged, “However, another example is needed for me to answer your doubts.”
“Let me give you an example. If you speak loudly in an empty, moderate-sized room, an echo would be generated. Moreover, if the room is moderately sized, the echo and the original sound may overlay and become even louder than the original sound. The magnetic field phenomenon can be explained through a similar way as well. These armor and helmets that you’ve prepared meticulously for these soldiers also happen to be the direct cause of their deaths. This is because these sealed up metal happen to act as magnetic amplifiers as well.”
“Amplifier?”
“Just like how voices inside a room are amplified, the magnetic field inside a metallic body is greatly amplified as well. The reason you are nauseous and dizzy, but not dead yet is because the magnetic field hasn’t reached a critical limit yet. However, these armored soldiers are different. The magnetic field they endure is so powerful that it had exceeded a human’s limit! That’s why their fates aren’t dizziness or nausea, but death!”
“That is why I said that these soldiers’ deaths are not worthy!”
“They only died because you’ve equipped them with the latest helmets and armor!”
The explanation was extremely lengthy, and if Yin decided to use professional terms they might not necessarily be able to understand her. However, Yin’s explanation was superficial, and her examples were all taken from daily life. Therefore, they’d more or less understood her explanation.
What had felt like a complete joke now felt like a true possibility after Yin’s explanation!
Yue Qiang thought through the entire theory from beginning until the end and almost thought it impeccable until he suddenly found another problem.
He asked, “But why had they died so suddenly? If there really was a giant magnet underground, then the discomfort should be gradual the deeper we journey into the underground, to the point it becomes intolerable. This process must be gradual. So why had it occurred so suddenly?”
“That’s why it’s an amazing trap.” Yin said, “If it’s a trap, then of course it wouldn’t be set in a way that you’d detect it beforehand. Otherwise, how can it possibly be called a trap?”
“Therefore, the magnetism of this magnet must be changeable. When necessary, its magnetism will grown incredibly powerful, but it most cases it is just a normal magnet.”
“I can think of only one object that fulfills this requirement.”
