Traveling through time, I'm making pancakes in Warhammer

Chapter 415 Experiment

The Tau are a rising power in the Warhammer universe.

The biggest characteristic of this race is its youth.

Too young to know the cruel face of the universe, too young to still believe in hope.

If the Empire's records of this race are correct, their history from the time they learned to use open fire to the present day is less than ten thousand years.

While most races in this universe have gone through the entire process from rise to decline and are hanging on by a thread, the Tau are still in the rising period of their race.

Howard was very confused about the Tau city that appeared before him.

Because one of the important reasons why this race has been able to develop steadily to this day is that their souls are very weak. The souls of ordinary humans shine far brighter than the souls of the Tau in the subspace.

Therefore, the monsters and demons in the subspace would not have much interest in such a weak soul.

"Why do you have a group of...this?" After thinking for a long time, Howard asked Freya this question in a very inexpressible way.

"You know more than I expected." Freya said, as if she was a little surprised that Howard could recognize the Tau people. However, she did not ask any more questions, but replied:

"About six hundred years ago in the material universe, I stumbled upon them. I had very little contact with this species before, so I spent some time observing them."

Freya took Howard for a walk on the streets of the Tau city. There were Tau, humans, and some opposite sexes on the streets, but they all ignored the sudden appearance of a demon and a human. It seemed that Freya had used some method to hide herself or change their appearance in the eyes of these Tau.

"Their spacecraft lost power and all life-support systems. I was waiting for the moment when the survivors would erupt in civil unrest for a chance to survive, but their performance exceeded my expectations," Freya said.

"Even in the most difficult times, they still maintained order. There was no civil unrest or bloodshed. The survivors were even willing to give up their own lives to let the weak survive. This is very strange."

At this point, Freya glanced at Howard and said, "You know, if the Empire's ships were facing this kind of predicament, civil war would have broken out long ago. Perhaps the victors can add some of the losers' meat to their menu."

"Eventually, they passed my test, and I was convinced that their actions weren't just for fame and glory. So, I rescued them, guided them to land on this planet, and protected them from all the dangers of the outside world. They have been able to reproduce until now. Of course, they are unaware of all this."

"You misunderstood me," Howard said. "What I want to know is, what is your purpose in choosing to shelter them? What benefit can you gain from this action?"

"I don't know." The demon gave a concise answer.

Howard: "..."

"My answer of 'I don't know' doesn't mean I'm doing this on a whim. To be more precise, this is an experiment, but I don't know what the results of this experiment will be... But that's also the fun of this experiment," Freya explained further.

"I still don't understand," Howard said.

At this time, Howard and Freya walked to a square, where Howard saw some of the most joyful scenes since he came to this world.

He saw children playing in the square, human and Tau children running and playing here, other adult humans and Tau exercising or resting, and even people walking their pets.

Only Howard knew how rare these scenes, which were very common in his world, were in this universe.

In the center of the square stands a fountain. The main body of the fountain is a statue of a bird with its wings spread out, and the wings of the flying bird are dotted with nebulae.

There were several lines of text beneath the statue, each containing the same sentence in three different languages. Howard read the Gothic text, which read:

"Eternal tribute to our savior, guide, and merciful Ciri."

This "She-Ra" should be the name given to Freya by these Tau people. Freya has never appeared in front of them in her true form, so these Tau people have retained the most beautiful fantasies about this mysterious existence that saved them six hundred years ago.

"Mr. Howard, what do you think of altruistic behavior?" Freya asked.

"According to some existing theories, altruism is essentially selfishness," Howard said. "When an individual...or an intelligent life form performs an altruistic act, they are essentially engaging in a social behavior with the expectation of benefiting from the altruism of others in the future. If a life form consistently performs altruistic acts but does not benefit from the altruism of others, it is very likely to abandon such altruism and turn to purely selfish behavior...True, completely selfless altruism is extremely rare."

"You said it's rare, not nonexistent," Freya said. "What do you think of this rare phenomenon?"

Howard: "Perhaps it is their inner morality, justice and fairness that determine them to do this kind of selfless behavior."

"Morality, justice, and axioms—are these things that exist objectively?" Freya asked again, "If they exist, where is the evidence?"

Howard: "You don't have to ask me these out-of-scope questions. I know you don't expect to get answers from me. Just keep saying what you want to say."

"Do you think you are the only good person in the universe?" Freya continued to ask, and then she gave her own answer: "Of course you don't think so, so this is what confuses me."

"There's no set pattern to the emergence of so-called 'good people,'" Freya said. "Two people with nothing in common can share the same qualities: morality, justice, and fairness. Someone who's been pampered and loved since childhood can become a noble person, or a villain. The same can be said for someone who's been tortured since childhood. It's quite interesting, isn't it?"

Howard: "Whether it's interesting or not is not the point. I'm even more surprised that you, as a demon, would be interested in this."

"Whether I'm interested or not, this is a real phenomenon, and we know very little about it and don't understand it at all," Freya said. "Just like we don't understand why some life forms stubbornly refuse to return to the Sea of Souls."