Jacob's Research

"... Resurrected undead?"

Iver was a little surprised.

Because he is a real pastor - the pastor of Third Level, and the weaker bishop is at this level. There was no way he couldn't tell the difference between the undead and the living.

In Iver's vision, both dwarf Magnetic Hammer and old William are real living people. According to what they said, they were all Eagle Cape Village who entered from the swamp, and they were all "resurrectors" as the elders called them.

"It is what it is."

The old man nodded slowly and looked at Iver with his one eye. "I will tell you this secret because... you are the successor chosen by Jacob. And Jacob has a kindness to us that can never be repaid."

"I came here just to seek my grandfather's inheritance."

Iver said bluntly, "So I need more knowledge and more truth - so please tell me more truth."

"It should be so..."

The old man said softly.

He supported his body with his cane and stood up slowly.

He walked slowly step by step, and with the support of Iver, he approached the window sill and stared at the sun in the distance that had risen to the sky at an unknown time.

"Let me ask you a question, Iver... You are from the city and a college student. You must have a much better brain than us old guys."

"Excuse me." Iver responded politely.

"Suppose there is such a person... After his death, no one saw his body, and no one learned of his death. His body was swallowed up by a swamp somewhere.

"And then, another swamp connected to this swamp spit out another person exactly like him. This person's knowledge, memory, personality, and abilities are all exactly the same as those of the deceased. His body is also a human body, and even the birthmarks and hidden wounds are the same. There is just no memory of death. After he woke up... he just thought he passed out and was picked up.

"So, do you think such a person is the undead summoned by the corpse of the former?"

The old squire said slowly.

Iver understood everything halfway through listening.

——This is a classic thought experiment.

It's called "Swamp Man Paradox".

Suppose that when someone dies, due to a very coincidental reaction, a replica is born that is exactly the same as the former at the atomic level, and holds almost all the memories and knowledge of the former, except that it does not have the memory of the moment of death... And after this person wakes up, he immediately resumes his life as the deceased, continues to read the books he has not finished, and goes to work as usual the next day.

So is this person the same person as the person who died? This reminds Iver of "Egg Man" in the game EVE - when a pilot is about to die, the space capsule system will instantly kill him, save all memories and knowledge with a powerful scan that can destroy the brain, and then transmit the information to another place through super-light technology, and use a clone to "resurrect" him.

So the person resurrected through this method is still the same person? Or is it a new self?

Iver's heart sank.

——Because he immediately thought of himself.

If "Egg Man" or "Swamp People" is not his true self, then... what about himself? Part of him is Iver Moriarty, but part of him is not. He awakened the memory of Previous Life for some unknown reason, but is that "Previous Life" really himself? If only the memory is transmitted, is he still the same person in the past?

And if it is a soul that comes over, is he still Iver? Iver has been avoiding this problem in the past. But now this problem has come up on its own.

"... I can't answer this question."

Iver was silent for a long time and could only shake his head honestly.

He really couldn't give a definite answer - because the question had touched himself. Even if Iver gives an answer, it is definitely an answer that has not been carefully thought out and tends to fool people.

But even if it was such a hypocritical answer, Iver didn't want to give it. Because he doesn't want to treat himself so casually.

"You don't know, and neither do we."

The old squire sighed, "But that's how they came.

"The first outsider to enter Eagle Cape Village through this method was William Supervisor. And the person who created this special resurrection ritual and threw him in through this ritual...

"That's your grandfather, Jacob."

——At that moment, Iver suddenly recalled Promotion Ritual that he had just finished.

In that hotel, the young Jacob came into contact with the supervisor William. But now it seems that the appearance of Supervisor William has not changed much from that time...

If this is what actually happened in reality, and it was just the dream that was modified by Weizhe...

That means the real William is probably dead.

Without the Shepherding Method of Iver, a Dream Demon that is about to hatch cannot be solved. Not to mention there is a Earthbound Spirit guarding there...Jacob was able to escape and survive to give birth to a child, which already surprised Iver.

That William supervisor doesn't look very strong either. He most likely died there.

Because they had fought side by side... or had the other party's permission, Jacob decided to conduct an experiment using his corpse to see if he could be resurrected.

But after the resurrection, William has lost the memory of knowing Jacob. Therefore, in his words, the first time he met Jacob was after he entered Eagle Cape Village.

"After entering the village for the first time, Jacob brought us new people. These outsiders who entered the village through his resurrection ceremony gave the village some vitality. After all, it was not completely frozen in the cold wind."

The old man recalled the past and said slowly, "And after he returned to the village for the second time... he seemed to be busy with something.

"I don't know what ceremony he was preparing, and I don't know what tricks he did. But that's when children began to be born in the village. That was probably more than twenty years ago."

In this time-stuck and isolated village, a pregnant aborigine appeared for the first time.

It was as if the completely frozen time began to move again... Although the operation was still stagnant, the frozen waterwheel finally started to rotate slowly.

"... Is that why there are no young people in their early thirties in the village?"

Iver suddenly understood.

Not because all the young people of that age have died or left the village.

But since then, no one has been pregnant.

Immediately afterwards, Iver also realized another thing. "Didn't that mean that not many people died?"

Without outsiders or newborns, the population will only fall but not rise, and it will soon become a completely dead village.

But this village has obviously been around for a long time. And you can still see many middle-aged people on the street...

"... or is it that it was not long ago that the villagers were unable to have children?"

Iver asked tentatively.

If the village was sealed from forty years ago, that would be understandable. Time stood still for forty years, and then started to flow again... A young man under twenty years old has now become an uncle in his forties, which is quite appropriate.

The old man just shook his head and said nothing more, "It's not that short.

"We are all Amber people who sold our souls to Amber and sought refuge; we are all the afterimages that have been forgotten by Hourglass. Being able to continue living is already the limit... How can we participate in the 'rebirth' ceremony.

"Giving birth is a very sacred ceremony. It heralds the birth of a new soul and is the result of the joint action of Nine Great Paths. That is not worthy of people like us who have even lost our names."

Iver frowned.

Outsider.

Newborn.

What do they have in common...

What is the purpose of my grandfather's experiments here...

He thought for a long time, but finally Lily opened his eyes slightly and realized something.

She gently pulled Iver and said something in his ear.

Iver's expression paused and he took a breath.

He realized the most outrageous possibility—but even more outrageous, that possibility was even the most likely.

"Old sir," Iver suddenly asked, "Those outsiders who were 'resurrected' from the swamp... do they have souls?"

——Swamp Man Paradox, actually there is a solution.

Because there is no "soul" on earth. Precisely because there is no soul, matter or thought can become the pros and cons of the philosophical question "What am I?"

But this world is different.

This world really does have a soul - not only does it exist, but in a sense there is also "reincarnation" and the afterlife.

Although it is not directly reincarnated into the next person after death. Instead, it returns to the world like a recycling machine, and then a newborn baby is born from the world... But it does have a unique "soul". It is so unique that it can even make the other person undead to prevent the other person from reincarnating or reaching the afterlife.

On the other hand, if that person becomes an apostle after death, then the other person cannot be turned into an undead. Because the only soul has been taken away.

Unless...

Iver suddenly remembered why, as a priest, he could not recognize that the other party was an undead.

——What are the criteria for a priest to judge someone as undead?

He had never thought about it.

But now, this almost blurted answer made his hair stand on end.

If time here stands still, you can't get in or out.

——So where do the "extra" souls of strangers and newborns come from? The old squire was silent.

He slowly turned around and stared at Iver with his dim yellow eye.

"Yes."

The old man replied, "They all have complete souls, souls that are exactly the same as when they were alive.

"But there is another soul stored in the abyss of the swamp. It was their soul in life."

Iver has finally determined what kind of research his grandfather Jacob is doing while hiding in Eagle Cape Village, and why Noble Red wants his research manuscript so much...

——He is trying to copy the human soul.

Update completed!