From the end of the world

Chapter 48: Impermanence of the Outsiders 2
The Great Impermanence can destroy an entire country single-handedly—

Please forgive my disbelief after hearing these words. Coming out of Zhu Shi’s mouth, in my past worldview, these words were like a piece of nonsense literature in which a national official publicly admitted that “the five permanent members of the Security Council are actually puppets of the Rothschild family.”

Then I came to my senses.

"What size country do you mean by 'entire country'? A small country in Africa? Or an ancient country before the development of industrial civilization?"

"It's the country we are in now." Zhu Shi pointed to the ground.

"Are you serious?" I questioned.

"Yes, seriously." She thought for a moment and added, "I have never actually seen the Great Impermanence fight seriously, but at least from what I have learned in the past, the Great Impermanence can do this kind of thing.

"The Great Unpredictability of history can call for tsunamis and floods, trigger earthquakes and droughts, and other natural disasters such as typhoons. If they get serious, the scale of the disasters will be huge enough to be recorded in history.

“Even concentrated nuclear bombings cannot kill the Great Impermanence, because they either have defenses beyond the common sense of the world, or have an immortality that allows them to come back even if their bodies and souls are completely destroyed.

"In the myths and legends that have been passed down to this day, the prototypes of some gods are actually the Great Impermanence who once brought disaster to the world or brought blessings to a region."

Can cause tsunamis and earthquakes, floods and droughts...

I don't know if what Zhu Shi said is true or not. Although she certainly wouldn't lie to me, is that record authentic and reliable? I don't know much about natural disasters, but at least I know some common sense. For example, the energy scale of a major earthquake that can leave its own record in history is at least hundreds or thousands of Hiroshima atomic bombs.

The same is true for tsunamis or typhoons. Nuclear weapons are hailed as the ultimate weapon of modern civilization and have become the cornerstone for major powers to contain each other and maintain peace. However, if we compare the total energy of super-large-scale natural disasters, they are still far from enough.

It is normal that the Great Uncertainty, which is able to control such large-scale natural disasters, would not be afraid of nuclear weapons.

But this is very confusing. Why does Da Wuchang, who is able to do such a thing, still nominally obey the guidance of the country?
Or to put it more crudely - since this group of people already possess such divine power, why do they still need to build Luoshan? Why don't they build the Heavenly Palace?

Why would they quietly face dangers and deal with anomalies in the world beneath the surface instead of stepping forward to rule the world?

After all, if our country has those people who can literally shake up the world, why are there still those twists and turns in history that are so unbearable?

I threw all my questions to Zhu Shi.

And she showed a helpless expression: "I can't answer you."

"Is this also your Luoshan's secret?" I asked.

"No, it's not like that... Far from being a secret, it's common knowledge among us." She seemed to be choosing her words. "The reason why I don't answer you is not because I don't want to say it, but because all the demon hunters I know, including myself, don't know the answer."

I became more and more confused: "You mean, even Luo Shan doesn't know why he did this?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Why not disclose the existence of demon hunters and monsters to the secular society, and why not become the ruler of this country... We don't know the fundamental reason why we didn't do that."

"Then, if you are not standing on the organization's standpoint, but on your own personal standpoint, why do you think you have chosen the current approach?" I asked.

"Because everyone around me did it, so I followed suit." She answered directly, "After all, I don't have any desire to dominate others, nor do I seek fame and fortune. As long as I can protect innocent people, that's enough."

"This..." I felt as if I was shrouded in doubt. "At least the core leaders of Luoshan knew why they did it. They - the Great Impermanence concealed their true intentions from all of you and forced you to do it. You got used to it over time... Is that right?"

This time, the words she said plunged me into a deeper fog: "That's not the case. The Great Impermanence doesn't know the truth either."

I asked back: "How can you judge whether the Great Impermanence knows the truth?"

"Because the Great Impermanence have been clashing over this matter for the past three years." She said, "Do you remember what I said to you the night before? Luoshan is now in chaos and conflict, and everyone is gradually realizing that what they are doing is not so natural. In fact, they can reveal their true selves to society, become the ruler of this country, and even try to do more."

"What you said is like all the witchers in history have been hypnotized for some unknown reason, and now the hypnosis has finally been broken for some reason." I complained.

She said noncommittally: "The 'hypnosis hypothesis' is also very popular in Luoshan, but it is hard to imagine that even all the great impermanence in history and now can be hypnotized."

I had only said it casually, but I didn't expect that she didn't firmly deny it. So that's why she was so vague when I asked her last time why Luo Shan wanted to hide the truth about the strange existence from the public, because she really didn't know how to explain it.

"Wait a minute, you just said that this is the chaos that has been going on for the past three years..." I carefully savored her words, "Why has this chaos lasted for three years and hasn't ended yet? Can't the Great Impermanence easily conquer this country?"

It's not just this country. If there are no supernatural organizations of the same scale in foreign countries, the Great Impermanence who can manipulate large-scale natural disasters can easily conquer the world even if they want to.

Perhaps I asked a very crucial question, Zhu Shi’s eyes suddenly became very serious.

"Before answering this question, Zhuang Cheng, I want to ask you a question first—"

Seeing this, I couldn't help but concentrate and take her question seriously.

She waited until I was ready before asking her question:
“How do you see the world today?
“How do you view people like yourself who have super powers, and ordinary people who don’t have super powers?

"Do you think that people with super powers are a more superior group than ordinary people? Do you think you should be the ruler of the world, making powerless people submit to you and regard you as a high god?"

After hearing these words, I instantly understood what kind of chaos was happening inside Luoshan.

What she raised at this moment should be a question of stance.

There are probably two conflicting voices within Luoshan at least temporarily now: one voice, as mentioned before, believes that demon hunters should be high above, become gods on earth, and rule over all living beings; the other voice believes that demon hunters should rejoin the existing social system in a relatively peaceful form.

Given Zhu Shi's personality, her thoughts are most likely the latter. And since I want to join Luoshan through her, I should say something that suits her preferences. In other words, this is a political stance and must be taken seriously.

I opened my mouth and was about to tell a lie, but for some reason I felt extremely annoyed by this kind of politically charged question and answer, so I just ignored everything and told the truth.

"Yes, I think people with super powers are more outstanding than ordinary people." I said what was in my heart directly.

This is not something I just improvised.

Since I awakened my superpowers and gradually became stronger, I have repeatedly thought about how I should face the relationship between myself and society if my superpowers never left me. Specifically, can I think that I am more outstanding than ordinary people?

The answer is yes. I am a person with super powers. I have far more violence than ordinary people. I am simply more outstanding than ordinary people.

In the past, people around me criticized me and sometimes said unpleasant things to me. The reason why I didn't use my superpowers to cause trouble to them was that I really couldn't bring myself to do so, and maybe it was because I could kill them anytime and anywhere. It was precisely because I had the upper hand in terms of power that I could look at them with an unusually tolerant attitude.

For a while, I even wanted to imitate the powerful figures in fantasy novels who had the power of life and death, putting on an indifferent and detached attitude and speaking in a light tone.

But I often forget that I have set that setting for myself before. When someone tells a joke or does something funny near me, I can't help but laugh out loud. Over time, I just think "forget it". Even if I really have the power to bully others, I don't particularly yearn for that kind of life.

On the other hand, while coming to the conclusion that "people with super powers are more outstanding", I can't help but have doubts.

Indeed, if another person with superpowers appeared in front of me and claimed that he was superior to ordinary people simply by virtue of his own power, I would also recognize him. Violence is very important. The history of mankind is the history of violence. Since ancient times, those who hold the strongest violence have dominated orthodoxy. No matter how powerful the weapon of criticism is, it is not as good as the criticism of the weapon.

But to be honest, I always feel that this approach is a bit tasteless.

Or, to use a popular saying, "no class". Violence can certainly force everyone to admit their excellence, and can also eliminate all those who refuse to admit it, but that only makes people accept it verbally. I think a person who is more noble than ordinary people should have a certain persuasive power that convinces people. Not only excellence on the physical level, but also good taste on the ideological level.

I also told Zhu Shi the latter part.

The more she listened, the more speechless she became. Finally, she expressed her own thoughts: "... Overall, you still think that people with super powers are more outstanding than ordinary people... Is that right?"

“That’s roughly the case,” I admitted.

"Then why did you become friends with your brother? Isn't your brother also a 'human being of lower status than you' in your mind?" she asked.

(End of this chapter)