Daily life of a teacher in the martial arts department

Nocturne looked at the boss and said, "The woman is going to see Mu Huai Ren."

The boss raised an eyebrow and said, "The prison isn't my home. How can I conveniently send people there continuously? Besides, you're not related to Mu Huai Ren. This puts me in a difficult position..."

Nocturne asked, "Is it really that difficult?"

"...Actually, it's not that difficult." The boss sighed and said, "Go ahead, go ahead."

Nocturne nodded, smiled at Ying Qin Guan and Jiu Yi, and turned to leave.

Jiu Yi felt that he and Ying Qin Guan had missed something, perhaps a very important side story... He was about to ask the boss for some information, to see if he could get some gossip or something, when he heard Ying Qin Guan say from the side: "Alright, let's play cards, what does this have to do with us?"

Upon hearing this, Jiu Yi thought it made perfect sense. He didn't even care about such a huge secret as Wang Qiushui, so why should he care about these things? Let the people who need to worry about these things worry about them. He was just a dean waiting to retire.

The boss sat in his seat, petting the cat, his eyes deep and exuding an air of sophistication.

"She seems to understand something... but wasn't that information given to them by me? I read it too, so why don't I understand..."

"Sigh, am I really useless except for having a few stinking bucks?"

-

Shenxin and Yu Xietian returned to the Yorozuya.

Shen Jiu and Hishimura Tanzaku were actually waiting for them at the door.

With her back to the railing, hands resting on it, Himura Tanzaku smiled and asked, "Have you two made any progress lately?"

Shen Xin and Yu Xietian exchanged a glance, then raised the small blackboard.

"You've come at the perfect time... There has indeed been some progress. Let's go inside and talk."

Meanwhile, inside the dark prison, Nocturne stopped.

Mu Huai Ren...she came here again.

However, it's different from last time.

Although what she found wasn't the truth, it was certainly the closest she could come to the truth.

Inside the Yorozuya, everyone sat on the sofa, and Shinshin held up a small blackboard.

"I've made some significant progress on my end."

Inside the prison, Nocturne gazed at the iron gate and said softly, "Although they are all just speculations without any concrete evidence..."

"However, this conjecture can make most of the irrational aspects of a fear-inducing event seem plausible."

"However, even though I had a feeling about it for a while, actually working backward from this guess and finding that everything matched up, that feeling was truly..."

"You might find it hard to believe, but from Miss Nocturne's and my perspective, this possibility far surpasses the theories of the fear mastermind and the clown mastermind."

"Hehe, Mr. Mu, aren't you going to say anything? That's true. You probably don't understand what the woman is talking about. Actually, she should go find Mu Nandong. But even she is a little confused right now, wondering whether she should tell him about this..."

"First, let me state the conclusion, which is the core of everything, the starting point of my and Nocturne's reverse deduction, and also the most difficult part of this conjecture to accept, which is..."

Nocturne looked at the iron gate.

Mu Huai-ren remained completely silent.

She sighed, feeling a great deal of sympathy for the father and son.

But in the end, she said softly, "Mr. Mu, actually..."

"There is no such thing as fear in this world!"

Chapter Sixty-Four Points

There is no fear in this world!

Both Shin-Kyu and Himura Tan's daughters are worldly-wise and have extremely strong mental fortitude. But seeing this sentence on Shin's blackboard still gave them a jolt.

They exchanged a glance but didn't interrupt Shenxin, because if Shenxin dared to say that, she must have her reasons.

Yu Xietian sighed, still finding it hard to accept.

Shenxin put down the blackboard, quickly wrote a few strokes, and then held it up again.

“Mr. Mu,” Nocturne said, “If outsiders heard this, they might be surprised. How could fear not exist? Of course, because the world’s attention is focused on those two instances where fear came into play…”

["But it overlooks all the irrationalities when fear doesn't work."]

["Let's outline the timeline: 'The Mu family ancestor acquires fear,' 'The Mu family ancestor uses fear for the first time,' 'The second time,' 'Mu Huai Ren goes mad.' I'm too tired to write anymore, so let's just call it A, B, C, D for now."]

Nocturne lowered her gaze slightly and said softly, "Let's talk about the two times when fear came into play later. Let's start with the first illogical point, which is after point B..."

[When did the fear lead to the disclosure of the information?]

Shenxin raised the blackboard, and Shenzhou-9 quickly answered her.

"At point B, after a period of time."

"Yes, it's after a while at point B, but here's the problem..."

“The problem is,” Nocturne said softly, lowering her gaze, “that the Seven Luminaries Empire was weak at the time, and other countries took advantage of that. That’s why they invaded the Seven Luminaries Empire. And the use of fear comes at a high cost, something the Mu family couldn’t possibly be unaware of. If we really face that situation… why can’t we put fear out in the open?”

"At that time, the right thing to do was to put the fear out in the open. Whether others believed it or not, it should have been there. From the simplest game theory perspective, if you put it out there and others believed it, you gained; if they didn't believe it, they would have come anyway, so it didn't matter."

Shinshin's hand speed was so fast that even Hisumura Tanzaku was a little surprised.

"Of course, this is just a supporting argument. There are many points that can be used to refute it, such as 'fear of the assassination of the Mu family ancestors' or 'my intention to hide and perish together with them,' all of which are plausible. So, let's move on from this for now."

"Then there's the second illogical point." Nocturne pulled out a file and smiled slightly. "The boss discovered something very interesting: the Mu family ancestors kept their fear a secret. But after point B, the Seven Luminaries Royal Family actually leaked this information... What are they doing?"

"Sister, why do you think the Seven Luminaries Royal Family would leak this information?"

Shenxin looked at Shenjiu, who hesitated for a moment before saying, "Yes, for deterrence?"

"This is also our guess... Unless the late Emperor of the Seven Luminaries was truly a paratrooper who, upon seeing such a powerful item belonging to the Mu family's ancestor, was terrified and thus spread the news to others to deal with the Mu family. But the probability of that is far too low. Miss Nocturne and I believe... it was intentionally done by the Seven Luminaries royal family to increase their deterrent effect."

"Regarding this point," Nocturne said, emphasizing her words as she faced the iron gate, "the existence or non-existence of fear can both be explained. If fear exists, it means they wanted to hide it before, but now they can't hide it anymore and have to speak it out, but the effect is obviously much worse than speaking it out beforehand. However, it's still plausible. But if fear doesn't exist, then the Seven Luminaries Royal Family's actions are quite intriguing..."

"To put it simply, the Seven Luminaries Royal Family is bluffing! They're pretending to have something incredibly powerful, but why is this particular timing after point B? We'll discuss that later, along with point B, so let's skip it for now."

Nocturne said a lot, took out a water bottle from his bag, took a small sip, and then said softly, "Let's talk about the third point... Actually, the next few points that are not right all lie with Mu Huai Ren. He's the main culprit."

"If fear exists, there are many illogical points in Mu Huai-ren's actions, which we have already discussed. There is only one explanation: deus ex machina. Let's assume that fear and the clown have many abilities we don't know about. Now, let's assume that fear doesn't exist and re-examine all of Mu Huai-ren's explanations."

"Before point D, something happened, or rather, it was this event that directly led to Mu Huai-ren being forced to lead three hundred men to confront an army of seventy thousand. This event was..."

"The late Emperor Qiyao has been assassinated!"

Upon hearing Shen Xin's words, both Himura Dan's and Shen Jiu's expressions subtly changed. Clearly, they had both realized the key point.

"If the fear is truly false, then who should know this secret?"

"Without a doubt, it is the late Emperor Qiyao and Mu Huai Ren, the current head of the Mu family."

"The Seven Luminaries Empire relies on fear to intimidate enemy nations. If fear truly doesn't exist, and is merely a colossal deception, then these two would never allow just anyone to know about it. If I'm not mistaken, the secret of fear should lie between the Mu family and the Seven Luminaries royal family, passed down through generations... But at that time, Mu Nandong wasn't even born yet; even if he were, he would only be a tiny child, so the Mu family..."

"The problem lies with the Seven Luminaries royal family..." Nocturne sighed, "The person who should have known this secret back then, the current Seven Luminaries Emperor, does he even know the secret of fear? It's quite obvious..."

"Clearly, he didn't know. If he had, he wouldn't have sent Mu Huai-ren to face an army of 70,000."

"But," Nocturne smiled slightly, "another question arises: why didn't the late Emperor Qiyao tell this secret to his son, to his successor?"

Shenxin asked himself the question and answered it, then quickly raised the blackboard.

"There are many explanations for this. First, the previous emperor of the Seven Luminaries hadn't decided who to pass the throne to yet. Our current emperor also seized power through force. Second... think back, what was the first thing he did after ascending the throne?"

"His Majesty was far too young and impetuous back then," Nocturne sighed. "He sent you to confront an army of 70,000, proving he certainly didn't know fear didn't exist. So here's the question: from his perspective, he knew you possessed fear, and the price of using fear was madness or death. Under such circumstances..."

"He actually forced you to use fear?"

Chapter Sixty-One: Bearing Humiliation and Heavy Burden

"The Seven Luminaries Emperor at that time acted irrationally. From his perspective, Mu Huai Ren was perfectly capable of trading one for one with him. But he disregarded everything and forced Mu Huai Ren to use fear. Although the Seven Luminaries Empire was in dire straits at the time, and the previous Seven Luminaries Emperor had been assassinated, this action was still very irrational. This easily reveals his character... The previous Seven Luminaries Emperor understood this. That's why he didn't tell him the secret of fear, because someone like him... is just too easy to understand."

He acted impulsively, forcing his subjects to use special weapons that would cost them their lives.

At that time... if we had actually told him the secret of his fear, there might have been problems.

"Then comes the next question." Nocturne paused, as if asking herself, "If fear truly didn't exist, then at that time..."

"Why, Mu Huai-ren, doesn't he go and talk to the Seven Luminaries Emperor?"

Shenxin raised his own question.

Yes, Emperor Qiyao might not have known at the time that fear didn't exist. But Mu Huai Ren couldn't possibly have been unaware, so why didn't he tell Emperor Qiyao?

"Because... he didn't have a chance."

Nocturne sighed and said, "Mr. Mu... you couldn't find an opportunity, could you? The woman went back and looked through the book. At that time, the Seven Luminaries Empire was facing a critical war, with 70,000 troops approaching. The Seven Luminaries Emperor summoned you to court. Naturally, you couldn't reveal the secret of fear then. Because... you wanted to protect the secret of fear and maintain its deterrent power. This reason directly led to your subsequent actions seeming illogical."

Shenxin raised the small blackboard again.

"Clearly, Mu Huai-ren had no chance to reveal the secret in court, and afterwards he set off directly. Those three hundred men... it could be said, were monitoring him, controlling him, and forcing him to use fear!"

"Clearly, Mr. Mu, you are not afraid, but you cannot tell those three hundred men about these things. Because if you do, the secret will definitely be leaked. They have been monitoring you and leading you to the battlefield..."

Nocturne gently stroked her hair and said, "And then, things finally took a turn for the better..."

"How did this turning point come about? I can't really say for sure. Perhaps Mu Huai-ren finally found a chance to escape, or perhaps he saw that he was getting closer and closer to the enemy and knew that if he didn't act soon, he would miss his chance. So he told this secret to a few of the three hundred men and asked them to help him escape..."

"Mr. Mu, you could easily reveal the secret of fear. Although it would enrage His Majesty, he couldn't do anything to you; the facts are right before your eyes. But you'd rather bear the stigma of a deserter than let fear continue to exert its deterrent effect. You want to cultivate a persona of 'cowardice' to cover up the fact that fear doesn't actually exist, and still maintain your deterrent effect on other countries..."

"But... unfortunately, man proposes, God disposes."

As Shen Xin wrote this, he couldn't help but sigh.

Yu Xietian, standing to the side, also wore a complex expression. Mu Huai-ren could be said to have dedicated his entire life to the country, enduring humiliation and hardship, even bearing the stigma of a deserter in order to maintain the deterrent effect of fear. And he had truly come close to success, but he fell at the very last step, and the reason for falling at that last step was...

"No one could have imagined it, no one could have imagined it..." Nocturne stared at the thick iron gate and said, word by word, "Fear is fake... the clown is real!"

The fear is fake! But the clown is real!

"Just as Mu Huai-ren was about to succeed, the clown appeared. Perhaps he had heard of the fear and came to see for himself, or perhaps he had seen through the truth through some means... In any case, he came, and Mu Huai-ren went mad."

“Mr. Mu…” Nocturne shook her head and sighed, “In the end, you still failed. The clown’s perverse sense of humor is indeed exaggerated. In the end, he didn’t even want you to maintain the deterrent effect of fear, and insisted on letting the fear go. Otherwise, even if he went mad, you would probably accept it gladly.”

"According to the boss's investigation, more than twenty years ago, the clown appeared not far from Mu Huai Ren. Mu Huai Ren could only have been driven mad by him. Otherwise, even if he returned to the Seven Luminaries Capital, he would never have said something like 'fear has been lost.' At most, he would have said something like 'the ruler commands the subject to die, but the subject does not wish to die.' But his final action completely rendered all his previous actions ineffective, so I can only conclude... he really went mad."

"The woman thought that day, Mr. Mu, you might not be crazy, but just have something on your mind here. But the boss's investigation did give the woman the final inspiration... Fear really doesn't exist. And you really are crazy. The biggest tragedy of the whole thing is that... fear is fake, and the clown is real."

"To be honest, these are all just guesses from Miss Nocturne and me. If you want me to produce evidence, I don't have much to offer. The most I can provide is the boss's information; he found out that the Joker was in that place at that time... If there were a way to prove that Wang Qiushui was still alive at that time, perhaps this guess would be more convincing... Now, having discussed point D, let's look back at points A, B, and C."