LRAB Chapter 294 The Solution - The End of Endless Questioning
Chapter 294 The Solution - The End of Endless Questioning
When people encounter things that cannot be understood by common sense, they often neglect to delve deeper into their origins, as if those things that transcend common sense are simply how they should be.
This can actually be considered a form of rationalism.
After all, ignorance always implies courage.
If we cannot regard things beyond our comprehension as part of nature, then when faced with the unknown, we will be helpless and at a loss.
If we were to insist on getting to the bottom of everything we encounter, humanity would have found it difficult to pick up an apple with peace of mind before understanding gravity; before separating hydrogen and oxygen, we would have seen the ocean as an indescribable chasm and refused to cross it; before summarizing the mass-energy equivalence equation, we would have been unable to look directly at the fireball hanging high in the sky; and before fully understanding the nature of Pokémon, these strange creatures, it would have been impossible to establish a bond and connection with them...
It is conceivable that without this selective disregard, the world would not be the way it is today.
This indifference is also widespread in daily life.
Just like when people in the Sinnoh region see Cynthia Champion shining on the field, they are more willing to discuss questions that extend to the future, such as "how many more enemies will she defeat next", "how many more years can she dominate the League", "will her main Pokémon be replaced", and "can she defeat the legendary Pokémon".
But we always forget to investigate in detail how Zhu Lan defeated all her opponents one by one during the ten years she won the championship, and how she gradually achieved such extraordinary strength.
It was as if that person was born to be the league champion, and his duty was to accept people's challenges.
Even when people who don't know the inside story occasionally discuss these things, they only relish the few key battle comebacks. It's as if winning a few battles can turn you into a powerful trainer.
Those who are less attentive will crudely attribute the source of that strength to simple terms like talent, hard work, and luck, and then forget about the whole issue.
It's as if as long as there's an acceptable answer, the complex proofs between the conditions and the conclusion can be completely ignored.
No one will care about those tedious steps.
People's understanding of mythology has always been like this.
This applies not only to the general public, but also to a significant number of researchers.
Ordinary people are always satisfied with knowing the most superficial information, such as "origin".
As long as an authority provides some explanation for the myths and legends, they will accept it wholeheartedly and regard those explanations as topics of conversation that "only need to be touched upon briefly and not investigated in depth," glancing over them in a superficial and vague manner.
Consequently, the long history that mythical creatures lived through, the joys and sorrows they experienced, and the numerous traces they left behind were all swept aside, ignored, and confused together.
For researchers, facing mythology, which is ethereal and where finding substantial evidence depends entirely on luck, even if they don't have to launch a futile assault on the void like Meidan, they still struggle between belief and doubt.
If one is not careful, one can fall into superstition that is no different from religion, and become an inescapable defender of a certain doctrine or theory rather than science.
This makes one sigh – humans are such creatures that they are so indifferent to asking questions!
Just like those popular mystery novels on the market, the puzzles are often extremely elaborate and bizarre, while the final solution is always condensed into a few thin pages.
If one investigates carefully, there are still countless questions that need to be answered, and the unnatural coincidences and accidents have not been fully solved.
Does the reasoning and questioning end once someone reveals the correct answer?
Where has the chain of evidence supporting the logic gone? Is the truth that people seek merely something so easily obtained? And does the so-called truth truly signify the end of everything?
Those who are deeply dissatisfied with this kind of mindset, or those who are unable to be indifferent to this extent, will become battle experts like Cynthia when they start to take an interest in Pokémon battles; and when they start to study Pokémon and history, they will become mythologists like Cynthia.
Ultimately, mythologists and atheists like Meidan are two sides of the same coin.
Neither side can be completely convinced of the theory they hold until they have obtained conclusive evidence.
The difference lies in the fact that, faced with this inescapable self-doubt, the scholars in the Forest Mansion chose to take a risky approach and make the best of a bad situation, while true mythologists would choose to continue, relentlessly, even if pointlessly, and forever pursue the question.
Just as Medan believed that as long as the computer kept calculating until it displayed a meaningful character, the truth of the theory would be completed in the experiment.
Mythologists also firmly believe that as long as they continue to pursue their questions along a logical path—questioning ancient texts, exploring cutting-edge science, conducting folk research, acquiring new knowledge through inquiry, and then using that new knowledge to raise new questions… until they arrive at a crucial question that can be answered solely by human reason—
The long-buried truth, the full picture of history, the origin of the gods, and the origin of the origin of the gods... all these questions can be completely revealed in an instant.
Therefore, when Zhu Lan, a scholar of mythology, stood before this Western-style mansion nestled deep within the Hundred Generations Forest, she felt more bewilderment than most.
In fact, it was this impulse that led the Sinnoh champion to almost recklessly send out Roserade the moment she arrived at the mansion, using "Iai Slash" to clear away all the trees in front of the gate in one go.
—That's certainly not about the etiquette of knocking on doors. To go that far is more like being rude and vulgar.
The Sinnoh champion did that simply so he could see with his own eyes the decorative patterns on the door frame that had been sealed off by trees for centuries.
Unlike decorative details that can be arbitrarily altered by later generations, the wood grain stone carvings tightly wrapped with vines more authentically record the original appearance of history.
Afterwards, through questioning Manager Aying and Hayden, Zhulan learned the reasons and process behind the renovation of the current Forest Mansion.
But this is still not enough. The above observations and information are far from sufficient to truly answer the mysteries of this forest mansion.
Who built this mansion? Why is it located deep within the Hundred Trees Forest? Where did all the other buildings from the same era go?
Why is it that, despite being a two-story mansion, only the attic is designed as a towering spire? And what is the special meaning behind the interlaced spiral patterns on the door frames on the exterior of the building?
And why did this place become a Rotom settlement when the residents of Sinnoh a hundred years ago didn't use electricity? Why did the urban legend of the haunted house circulate?
In modern times, a hundred years from now, if this place is merely a gathering place for wild Rotoms, the Galactic Group that discovered the secret only needs to send people to capture them periodically. Why then is it necessary to be so careful and record it in the confidential intelligence of the Space Energy Development Project?
What was the reason for the construction of this mansion, which was built a hundred years ago? And who left behind the ancient books that were originally sealed inside the house?
And why is this building surrounded by layers of trees, like a cage?
There are simply too many problems, intertwined like trees in a forest. So much so that even if one wanted to unravel them, it would be impossible to know where to begin.
And it was precisely because Zhu Lan, as a scholar of mythology, was unable to completely answer these questions within the limited timeframe unknown to anyone—
Only then did she find herself in a passive situation, fighting against the enormous creature in front of her.
.
"I should have thought of it sooner... no, I already thought of it, but I just couldn't admit it because of insufficient evidence and my pride."
Zhu Lan murmured to herself in a voice only she could hear, engaging in self-criticism.
With a somber expression, the Sinnoh Champion finally raised his gray eyes and looked at the mysterious Pokémon whose "Explosion" move had been interrupted by Gastrodon's ground-based attack.
There is no Arceus there.
That's for sure.
Officer Jenny and Professor Medan had never truly faced the pressure of a legendary Pokémon, so it was quite normal for them to make a misjudgment for a moment.
After all, under the immense pressure of the impending explosion of energy in the basement, one could indeed get the feeling that something was traversing the barriers between worlds...
Add to that the dazzling white light emitted when the "Big Bang" move is charging up, and the atmosphere created by Medan's extremely mysterious experiments, and it's no wonder that people would mistakenly believe that there is some extraordinary creature in front of them.
But beneath the white light there, no creatures were traversing time and space, because what was about to traverse the barrier was not an enemy, but the humans present themselves.
The so-called "barrier that seems about to be breached" is nothing other than the boundary between life and death.
The experience of dying—this is the true nature of Officer Jenny's and others' sense of déjà vu.
It's like the feeling of disorientation you inevitably experience before you're almost hit by a truck on the road.
It's just a simple sense of crisis.
Ultimately, if Cynthia hadn't been there, everyone in the Forest Mansion would probably have died from that ancient Pokémon's morning grumpiness.
No, considering that the earliest alliance organization was established a hundred years ago, according to the classification of historians, the other party can at most be considered a modern creature.
"Sea Hare, well done."
Zhu Lan's clear voice echoed throughout the Mori Mansion.
"Using underground tunnels to draw upon the 'Power of the Earth' is a brilliant move. It seems we don't need to worry about Da Ye's revenge after his rigorous training in the harsh mountains."
To everyone's surprise, just when everyone thought the battle between the Sinnoh Champion and the Mysterious Pokémon was about to begin, Cynthia relaxed on her own.
As she felt the ground gradually calming down and confirmed that the Forest Mansion would not continue to collapse, she jumped down into the pit leading to the basement with a completely relaxed air.
The battle is over.
Or rather, the battle had to end this way.
Among the Pokémon that jumped out of their Poké Balls at the scene, none had the "Damp" ability to stop the self-destruct move.
Therefore, even if they used moves like "Wide Area Defense" to defend against the attack, they still couldn't escape being buried in the ruins of the Forest Mansion.
Therefore, if you want to interrupt the other party's "big bang", Zhulan only has one way to do it.
That is to defeat the opponent before they can use their moves.
Fortunately, the sea hare managed to do it.
The "Trick Room" effect has been dispelled, and Gastrodon, now at normal speed, happily shakes its head toward its trainer, its two small, horn-like tentacles twitching on its head.
Seeing that the Flower Rock Monster had followed the Bamboo Orchid into the basement, it finally felt relieved enough to remove its dust-covered belly foot from the unconscious enemy.
Inside the basement, the white light emanating from the gathered energy had dissipated, gradually revealing the true identity of the giant Pokémon before them.
That certainly couldn't be a creator god who was summoned by electronic data and thus crossed time and space to arrive.