CH 273

Inside the Hongjing Detention Center, the police officers were installing a television.

Lin Chen had agreed to something with Shen Lian, and from the very beginning, he had no intention of avoiding it.

Shen Lian sat with her legs crossed, looking like a lovely little girl, eagerly anticipating the black screen to light up.

“Where was I…?” Lin Chen got a little distracted by turning his head, so he asked suddenly.

Shen Lian raised her handcuffed hands, pinched her thumb and index finger together, pretending to pull out a long thread, but she didn’t say anything.

Lin Chen nodded. “In the beginning, after facing a true moral dilemma, I was lost. To fill my state of ignorance, I read many books discussing the origin of morality and human psychological evolution. But the more I read, the more bewildered I became. The things I firmly believed in, such as fairness, justice, freedom, reason, kindness, and goodness… were they truly existing, or just constructs invented by people to maintain human society?”

He spoke eloquently and didn’t shy away from this experience. In fact, at that time, he believed that in order to defeat the opponent, he must unravel the answers. However, everyone knew that no one could unlock the real answers.

Shen Lian, on the other hand, sat with her arms crossed, her contempt evident in her gaze. Being someone with such strong beliefs, she naturally looked down on the indecisive Lin Chen.

“Some philosophers might choose suicide, probably for the same reason, as the purposeless chaotic state can easily make people feel lost.” Lin Chen placed his hands on the table and casually continued, “In principle, I should have committed suicide too. But one day, I suddenly realized, why do I have to find definite answers?”

He looked at Shen Lian and smiled. “You see, this is where he and I fundamentally differ.”

“Social contract, natural law, collective subconscious, selfish genes… I can recognize and understand many viewpoints, and I also understand the criticisms against these views. Therefore, I am confused, as I cannot find something absolutely correct. But he is different. He is obsessed. He surveys the history of human evolution, finds something he approves of, takes it as a life-saving straw, as the ultimate truth, and instills it in all of you. He desperately needs the recognition of those he considers as his kind, and he even needs the society he rebels against to accept his views. Faced with such a madman, all I, an ignorant and powerless person, can do…” Lin Chen paused and looked at Shen Lian, saying, “All I can do is figure out what he believes in, what he is thinking, and what he is planning in my area of expertise, and then… defeat him.”

The interrogation room was really small, with gray-white walls, and his voice dissipated completely upon hitting the walls. Outside the iron window, the flowing clouds seemed to freeze, and there was not a single sound in the silence.

“Pfft.”

Shen Lian laughed.

The woman looked at him as if watching a pitiful insect. Lin Chen thought it was normal for her to do so.

“He used the isomer of TERN to prove the physiological inevitability of so-called criminal behavior. He used the trolley problem presented to everyone to demonstrate the widespread selfishness among humans. He wants to prove that the morals held by most people in this society regarding matters of personal interest are false and fragile. That’s an obvious motive, but… then what?” Lin Chen lightly tapped his fingertip on the broken tabletop between him and Shen Lian and said, “Even if he proves it, so what? The stable social contract established among people in this society won’t shatter into pieces because of a madman’s game. So until I saw the term ‘balancing game on a tightrope’, I couldn’t understand what he really wanted.” Lin Chen paused, and his expression suddenly froze. “In fact, he is even crazier than I imagined.”

……

Hongjing Municipal Police Bureau, Command Room.

Xing Conglian wasn’t very good at doing this kind of thing, but at this moment, Lin Chen was struggling to break Shen Lian’s spiritual belief. Therefore, he had to take on some other tasks.

He tapped the glass panel and said, “The original meaning of this term is a hypothesis that specifically refers to subtle moments in the evolution of human morality. Let’s take an example. Forget all the concepts about modern society—no skyscrapers, no luxurious living. Let’s go back to Africa 45,000 years ago when anatomically modern humans existed.” He paused and continued, “Yes, that’s right, modern humans just like us.”

Xing Conglian pointed at everyone in the room and said, “We were all together, but at that time, we didn’t have any moral or legal concepts like we do now. We were no different from chimpanzees. If you encroached on my territory or took my woman, I would kill you without any problem. Some theories suggest that it was the selfishness of genes that led to our selfish behavior. Each one of us was a born ‘egoist’ back then. But as time went on, more and more people lived in tribes, and mistakes started to appear.”

“I’m physically strong and capable of arbitrarily killing others, posing a serious threat to your safety. I also have supporters behind me, leading to a confrontation. At this point, the highly respected Minister Shen stepped forward and said that I should be killed. As other members of the tribe, you couldn’t tolerate me any longer, so you united and killed or expelled me and my followers. Those who responded to Minister Shen’s call to confront me were warriors with qualities like loyalty, bravery, and empathy; they are ‘altruists’.”

“Waves of extremists were eliminated, and the tribe gradually stabilized. Stability made the tribe more competitive, which allowed for better reproduction and growth. This is the result of natural selection. The definition of morals gradually solidified through the reproduction of altruists, and rules, laws, and social contracts emerged. This is the group selection theory* of the origin of morality.” Xing Conglian looked at everyone present and said solemnly, “But, is all of this truly the inevitable result of natural selection?”

*Proposed mechanism of evolution in which natural selection acts at the level of the group, instead of the level of individual or gene.

He didn’t give everyone time to ponder. He asked directly and decisively, “Did a dangerous moment exist during the process of human evolution when the forces of ‘egoists’ like me and the forces of ‘altruists’ like you reached a delicate balance? It was a life-or-death moment. Once either side gained the upper hand, society would take on two completely different forms. If you won, society would become what you desired. But if I succeeded, the descendants carrying my genes would lead the entire human society into the abyss I expect.”

With his hands in his pockets, Xing Conglian spoke extremely coldly. “This is the balance on the tightrope—a truly great moment that will determine the future form of human society.”

……

A remote control was placed in front of Lin Chen.

Lin Chen picked up the remote control, nodded to the police officer in thanks, and asked Shen Lian, “So, what is his real purpose?”

He asked and then answered, “I think his purpose is not to immediately create this moment. He has a much deeper plan; he wants to plant a seed of selfishness in everyone’s hearts.”

“This seed is planted in the hearts of the choosers, the abstainers, and even the observers. Through generations of human reproduction, the seed grows and gives extreme egoists like you, who are not accepted by society, a possibility in the future.”

“One day, the egoist population will eventually grow to a terrifying scale, and at that moment, humanity will once again face the balancing game on the tightrope, getting another chance to make a fateful choice.”

“That is what he truly aims to achieve.”