Silent Crown

“No, I don’t have the money to sponsor you.”

Ye Qingxuan shook his head and thought about it. “At best, I can give you around 10,000,000 pounds.”

It seemed as if he had not understood what Newton meant. He spread his hands and said seriously, “There won’t be any more after you’ve spent it all, so you’ll have to start saving a little bit.”

“What, did you steal some pocket change from a bunch of children?” Newton sneered. “Such little money is not even enough to take the first step…”

“It seems like I haven’t made myself clear.”

Ye Qingxuan sighed disappointedly, thrust out his hands and grabbed Newton by the hair, pulling him forcibly up off the floor. His wounds split open, and fresh blood began to pour out.

“Mr. Newton, perhaps your confidence in yourself as researcher and a genius has led you to believe that I am making a request. But that is not the case.”

He smiled coldly at Newton’s arrogant expression. “You have two choices. One: if you work for me honestly, I will let you live, and fulfill any of your reasonable requests. One day, you will have done enough to make up for your crimes, and I will set you free.”

“And the second choice?”

Newton laughed strangely. “Will you kill me? Or torture me? Whatever, go ahead. Do you think that no one has tried that before? Don’t worry, Ye Qingxuan, you won’t be able to do a thing! Or, you could consider changing your attitude and apologize for what you just did. Otherwise, you can lead that pack of fools who rely on rote memorization and do the research yourself!”

“Kill you? Torture you?”

Ye Qingxuan shook his head and sighed. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you live.”

He let go, and Newton dropped to the floor. He took out a few documents and dropped them one by one into his arms. “What if we were to put up a fruit stand facing the Royal Institute of Research? You could make a living selling fruit, and if you didn’t like that, you could always go work on the docks. This document can give you the rights to unload a huge load of cargo, you can start your own unloading business. Or how about this one, a coachman. Ah, driving a coach would be pretty good, but you’d have to learn how to take care of horses. This one’s not bad, you could be a doorman. You could work close by, right at the doors of the Royal Institute of Research, and watch people coming in and out every day. Wouldn’t that be great?”

After he had finished dropping the documents into his arms, Ye Qingxuan looked at Newton regretfully. “Unfortunately, no matter which job you choose, you won’t be able to continue your research.”

Newton was shocked.

Ye Qingxuan smiled brightly, “Newton, I will have people watching you twenty-four hours a day. From this day forward, you will never again touch a single piece of research equipment, not even so much as a screw. Someone will be assigned to check all of your notes. Even your pocketbook will be looked over by six actuaries. Get ready to say goodbye to your past. From now on, you will have nothing to do with this place.”

Newton was silent, and his eyes went cold.

“Don’t worry. As for the teachers, all the research materials that those old fellows left behind, as well as the research transcripts that you hid all over are a bit troublesome. I’ll burn them all, every scrap of paper, every spare part. I won’t leave even the slightest trace. Don’t be sad, I’ll give you some money. Enough to eat and drink, to go to the brothel. Enough to ensure you’ll never want for anything, that you’ll live a full and happy life. How does that sound?”

“Ye Qingxuan…”

Newton raised his head stiffly. His eyes were bloodshot.

For the first time, his deep-seated arrogance had disappeared, and was replaced with anger.

Ye Qingxuan smiled, reached out and patted his cheek. “The giants are all dead, Mr. Newton, you don’t need to stand on their shoulders anymore. Put down your burden, no one will force you to pick it up again. All of that useless talent will be slowly worn away by wine and prostitutes. After a few years, no one will remember you. You’ll just be that old pathetic doorman at the Royal Institute of Research. Occasionally you’ll be able to shake your head at the addictions of the youth while you sweep the floor. Don’t worry, I’ll put an end to every project that you had a hand in. How about I get a couple of officials from city hall to come here and take over? They can start an all-new Royal Institute of Research with their rules and regulations. If I give out a few more titles, people will definitely flock here like birds. Every day there will be unending seminars and business lunches. After two years everyone here will become fat and bloated clerks, dealing with piles and piles of paperwork day after day. You will witness all of this. From the world forgetting you, to everything you love abandoning you…you will witness it all with your own eyes. I guarantee it.”

Ye Qingxuan made these predictions calmly and quietly, and bit by bit took all of Newtons ideals and everything that he had worked so hard for all his life, and trampled them to pieces in the mud.

He was skilled at this, as if the world had once done it to him.

By the end, a ferocious expression distorted Newton’s face, as if he was a wild beast that had been chased into a dead end.

“What’s wrong?”

Ye Qingxuan bent down to study his face carefully. “Are you angry? Do you want to kill me? Or is that regret I see? Or maybe…fear?”

He knew better than anyone, that to someone with Newton’s mindset, neither death nor torture could frighten him. He did not care if he lived or died.

As long as he could do the things he wanted and walk his own path, then he would not even care about the end of the world.

In order to do the things he needed to do, he could not love anyone, not even himself.

These so-called idealists were such cold, cruel things…

To deal with this kind of guy, you did not need to threaten his life at all. Those kinds of threats would be useless.

Judging by everything that had happened up to that point, Maxwell had been far too kind, and had let him fall into a dream of his own making, where he could take whatever he pleased from anyone.

But now he had to wake up.

“It’s getting light out, Newton.”

Ye Qingxuan laughed softly and patted him on the shoulder, bidding him a faint goodbye. “You should get to work.”

He took two steps back and then turned to leave.

But he heard a hoarse scream.

It was Newton.

The stooped old man climbed up off the floor, pulled out the silver nail that had once pierced his own palm and rushed towards Ye Qingxuan.

And then he halted suddenly.

Ye Qingxuan stopped, turned slowly and saw Newton standing stiffly in his original place. He was holding the nail up to his own face, but his hands were trembling. He did not have the courage to stab himself.

He hesitated, delayed…until finally the silver nail dropped from his hands.

He couldn’t do it.

Newton sat down weakly.

He put his face in his hands to hide his desolate expression. He howled hoarsely, shouting until he could shout no more, exhausting his last bit of courage.

Finally, he lowered his proud head.

“Ye Qingxuan, you win.”

“Don’t you think this is despicable?” he whispered hoarsely.

“Not at all.”

Ye Qingxuan shook his head. “This is nothing more than an unfortunate circumstance. Why should you let it trouble you? What’s more, isn’t this the way things have to be? I was merely destroying your fantasy, what is there to be sad about? Once you have woken from your dream, Newton, you can learn to accept reality.”

“I’m already old, I don’t need you to teach me how cruel the world can be.”

Newton wiped the dirt from his face. He raised his head, and his eyes were once more filled with arrogance. “You win. I’ll work for you, don’t worry. As long as you don’t destroy the research that the teachers left behind, and don’t hinder my forbidden experiments, I’ll help you do whatever you want. Even with the formula it took that group of good-for-nothings a month to produce some rubbish. I’ll do better than you can even imagine.” He stopped suddenly, and his tone became more meaningful. “As long as…you can afford the price.”

“Don’t worry, I have more than enough debts as it is. I don’t owe you this.”

Ye Qingxuan laughed softly and pulled out a note that had been torn out of something. He waved it in front of his face. “As for the price, it is completely insignificant when compared with what is going to happen next.”

For a moment, the ripped paper swayed before his eyes.

Newton saw only some blurry schematics, and some bits of formulas, but his heart still twitched involuntarily, as if he had a premonition that something terrible was coming.

He unconsciously reached out to take it, but Ye Qingxuan pulled the torn notes out of his reach. “You should think this through, Mr. Newton,” he said seriously. “Once you read this, there’s no turning back.”

“Pshh, now I have to see it! What is this precious toy of yours?”

Newton snatched the notes without thinking. His eyes swept over the page hurriedly, and his disdainful expression stiffened and his face paled. “What is this?”

Ye Qingxuan said nothing. He merely smiled happily and indicated that he should continue reading.

What was it?

It was poison.

Hermes’s final masterpiece-a poison that would make anyone who was obsessed with research go mad after reading it.

Just after reading a little bit he wanted to read more, even if killed him.

The part that Ye Qingxuan had given him to read was the least significant piece of the whole thing.

But to Newton, who for his whole life had wanted mechanical engineering to break free from being a subordinate discipline to alchemy, to be free of its chains and shackles, and forge its own future, this was already the first gleam of light that heralded a new dawn.

A ticket that led to a new future…

If it had been anyone else, Ye Qingxuan would probably have been loathe to confirm the results on the torn piece of paper, but since it was Newton, he trusted that he would be able to understand the value.

A value that was unparalleled!

It was only a thin piece of paper, but Newton held onto it tightly, reading it for a long time.

Over half an hour passed.

It was as if this piece of torn paper could let him peek through the gate to a new world. When he looked up at the dark clouds, he could see the dragon’s ferocious silhouette among the roaring thunder and flashing lightning.

He scrutinized each and every elegant detail one by one, deducing, deducing, and deducing some more, hoping that he could get a glimpse of the full outline. But it was difficult to see the true essence from just the little slip of ripped paper.

It was only missing a single step.

This feeling of not quite understanding produced in Newton something that he had never felt before: frustration and…craving!

“What is this?”

He raised his head stiffly and looked at Ye Qingxuan. His eyes had become bloodshot without him realizing it. “Where are the other blueprints? There have to be others, there has to be more! Where did you get this? What on earth is this?”

“…the Net of Aether, which will lead us to the gate of a new world!”

Ye Qingxuan laughed warmly, but his tone was like that of a demon waiting for a mortal to sell his soul.

“Do you want it?”