Chapter 391: Great Love and Small Love

The voice was like thunder, exploding within Rui's soul. Ye Nan's words were like a bloody knife, piercing through the surface of Rui's morality and stabbing fiercely into the depths of his heart.

"How can it be like this?" Rui's face was as pale as paper, his eyes vacant, his mouth murmuring words he himself did not understand.

"Why can it not be like this?" Ye Nan said without the slightest politeness. "Did you not say there must be love? Did you not say there must be kindness? Did you not say you are very righteous?"

"Then tell me, where is your love, where is your kindness, and where is your righteousness here?"

"Do you know that behind the beef you ate lies a living life? Do you know that the trees feel heartache for the coffee you drink? Have you ever cared about their feelings? No, you have not cared about their feelings, because they have no conflict of interest with you."

Ye Nan spoke a series of accusations from his mouth, pointing his finger at Rui.

"Your love is merely small love, a love mixed with selfishness. You simply do not understand what is meant by great love."

The distinction between great love and small love is something the Chinese understand best. Whether in Daoism or Buddhism, there have been descriptions of this. Although Ye Nan did not understand it deeply, it was the best thing to use against Rui.

In his debate with Ye Nan, Rui had always used love to occupy the moral high ground and then attack Ye Nan. Now, what Ye Nan was doing was using great love to deny small love, using bloody facts to crush his moral high ground.

"My love is merely small love?" Rui looked ahead with vacant eyes, suddenly falling into deep thought. Just as Ye Nan had said, ever since humanity was born, it has been full of sin. Human survival is entirely stepped upon the corpses of other lives. It can be said that humans are the "fittest" in the phrase "natural selection, survival of the fittest."

"But regardless of great love or small love, it cannot change the essence of humanity. It cannot change the cruelty of nature." Ye Nan thought to himself. All the words he had just spoken were used to strike at Rui. However, he himself did not agree with these words. To him, and even to most of humanity, animals are merely their food.

On one hand, they display great kindness, shedding tears for the pitiful animals seen on camera; on the other hand, they are indiscriminate, eating whatever they like. Humans are just like this—contradictory beings of reason and emotion. And they are also beings that are quick to forget.

Rui was thinking about the great love Ye Nan had given him, while The Flash was watching Ye Nan with great interest. Ye Nan's theory just now had interested him greatly. Seeing that both of them had the intention of a truce, he finally could not help but interject: "Great love, small love—I don't understand these, but I am curious: are these theories your own or someone else's?"

"In our East, there is the Buddha who sacrificed his body to feed the eagle," Ye Nan replied.

"Sacrificing the body to feed the eagle—that is truly great love." The Flash stood in awe. Superheroes like them punish evil and promote good, but in the end, it still comes down to that theory: the greater the power, the greater the responsibility. After gaining power, they unconsciously shoulder responsibilities, fighting to save humanity. As for other animals, if they see one that is pitiful, they will help, but they will not interfere too much with the public's way of life.

However, not doing it does not mean they do not respect the Buddha's actions.

"It is indeed great love, but great love is a utopian fantasy. Humans cannot change their habits, just as Hancock will not change his personality because he helps the public. So what I need to do is help him change his environment—that is, to let the public adapt to him." Ye Nan spoke eloquently in front of The Flash. Seeing that The Flash and Rui's philosophies did not seem to align, he immediately developed the idea of reforming The Flash and turning him into his own friend.

"You are doing the right thing." The Flash nodded, considering it an approval of Ye Nan's idea.

As a superhero like Hancock, The Flash also understood something of Hancock's situation, and at the same time, he wanted to help Hancock. If he had leaned toward Rui before Ye Nan said these words, then after Ye Nan said them, he leaned toward Ye Nan.

Just as humans cannot stop eating meat because they protect animals, Hancock cannot change his personality because he does good deeds. If one were to force it, I fear they would only end up battered and bruised.

"It is just that you cannot let the public suffer losses because of this," The Flash added.

"When humanity first rose, in order to make the surrounding animals accept their existence, they did not know how many animals they exterminated, only then driving those animals up the mountains, turning them into their food and pets for viewing. Compared to this, what I have done can be considered very peaceful." Ye Nan shrugged, a smile appearing on his face again. He knew that The Flash had already accepted his theory.

Like other superheroes, The Flash was essentially on Hancock's side. Their thoughts and ideas leaned toward Hancock, who was also a superhero. Therefore, when Ye Nan stood from Hancock's perspective and devised plans for him, it was equivalent to standing in the same camp as The Flash.

The Flash fell silent and said no more. However, his refusal to continue speaking did not mean Ye Nan would not press his advantage. The current situation was that The Flash accepted his idea, which was equivalent to the two having a connection. He happened to press his advantage and use The Flash to do things for him.

"By the way, Flash, just how fast is your speed?" Ye Nan asked curiously.

"Faster than light," The Flash replied.

"Faster than light? Einstein's theory of relativity said that when speed exceeds light, time will flow backward. You aren't lying to me, are you?" Ye Nan asked suspiciously.

In fact, Ye Nan understood that Einstein's theory of relativity was not feasible. Not to mention that in his previous life, scientists had challenged Einstein's theory of relativity through neutrino experiments, and in movies, Einstein's theory of relativity was purely a joke. Although there were not too many superheroes who exceeded the speed of light, there were definitely not none.

The Flash's speed was questioned by Ye Nan. He disappeared on the spot, then reappeared, holding an apple in his hand. "This is an apple I just brought from the supermarket."

He had disappeared for less than a second, not even 0.1 seconds. In the eyes of an ordinary person, he simply had not left, and even Ye Nan almost thought it was an illusion, if not for the apple in his hand.

"Did you just leave? You aren't doing magic tricks, are you?" Ye Nan pretended to know nothing and directly expressed doubt about The Flash's speed.

Upon hearing this, The Flash was not angry. Instead, he continued: "What must I do to prove my speed?"

He knew very well that in the eyes of ordinary people, they could not see him leave because the eyes of ordinary people simply could not capture his speed. In their eyes, they would only see his afterimage, unless he left for a long time.

"I am willing to believe in your speed because you are a superhero, but many people around the world doubt you. How about this: we hold a global competition to let the whole world see your speed."

"And this will not only prove your speed but also build momentum." Ye Nan said to himself: "Hancock needs to use a grand scene to push himself to the whole world. Originally, it should have been a movie press conference. However, the limitations of a movie press conference are too great, and the influence is simply not enough. This competition, however, can make up for the deficiencies in this regard."

The Flash, who originally did not intend to go to great lengths, heard this and immediately fell silent. He pondered for a moment and said: "What do you intend to do?"

"It's very simple." Ye Nan snapped his fingers. "You and Superman will have a race, using the Earth as the arena, holding a long-distance race. At that time, there will definitely be many people coming. Marathons, 100-meter sprints—in front of you, they are simply trash."

"And your speed and Superman's are about the same. I believe this competition will definitely be very suspenseful."

"Superman?" The Flash was not convinced by the Superman Ye Nan spoke of. "If it is combat power, he might be a notch stronger than me, but when it comes to speed, he is definitely not as good as me."

"Legend has it that Superman's ultimate speed is faster than light. You two are about the same." Ye Nan still pretended not to understand anything and asked.

"Although it is said that both are faster than light, there is still a gap. Forget it, let's not talk about this. I agree to your request. You go and call Superman over." The Flash shook his head, clearly not wanting to chat about speed with this 'ignorant' Ye Nan.

"I need some time." Ye Nan laughed. "I need to build momentum, I need to attract the eyes of the whole world. Not only that, I also need to contact other superheroes, such as the Fantastic Four, and so on."

"Other superheroes?" The Flash was startled, and then he began to think. Whether it was other superheroes or ordinary people, it changed the nature of this grand competition. If he lost to Superman, he might never be able to hold his head up in this circle for the rest of his life, so he could not lose.

Suddenly, The Flash made up his mind, deciding that he would use his full strength to have a good competition with Superman, to compare their respective speeds and see who was the number one powerhouse in terms of speed.

"I understand." A voice like a thunderclap was exhaled from Rui's mouth. He, who had been deep in thought, suddenly erupted, actually giving Ye Nan the feeling that this person was also a superhero.

"What do you understand?" Ye Nan, having persuaded The Flash, was clearly somewhat happy, and his tone was also relaxed.

"I understand what is great love and what is small love." Rui said excitedly. "We humans really have too many sins. I cannot change them, but I can stop them, starting from changing one ordinary person after another, until finally changing the whole."

"And I have so many like-minded friends. We will work hard together."

Rui said firmly, his expression unwavering, as if no one in this world could change his mind.

"What?" Ye Nan heard this and almost swallowed his own tongue. He never expected things to develop like this. This Rui actually developed the idea of great love, and even wanted to stop people from eating meat—it was simply the height of absurdity.

However, although he felt Rui was ridiculous, Ye Nan did not laugh out loud, because he felt that laughing out loud was disrespectful to a noble ideal, because he felt that it was good for a person to have an ideal, even if this ideal seemed somewhat whimsical.

"I know that in the East, there are many people who do not eat meat. They are called monks. They are great love, and I, too, want to join them and become a member of great love."

Monks? Ye Nan looked at Rui with a strange expression, wanting to laugh but unable to. Monks were indeed great love, but that was in the past. The monks of today no longer had the perseverance of their predecessors. Perhaps there were still some now, but there were definitely not many. At the very least, the vast majority were carnivores.

"I know you will definitely laugh at me, but I have already decided. No one can change my decision." Rui saw Ye Nan's appearance and thought he wanted to mock him, so he reaffirmed his ideal once again.

"I do not want to interfere with your decision. You have your own freedom, but I want to tell you that those people in the East follow the doctrines of ancient sects. Not only do they not kill, but they also cut off all emotions and desires, and will never marry or have children. You want to join them—are you prepared?" Ye Nan deliberately switched concepts, changing Rui's desire to be with them into Rui's desire to join them, secretly leading Rui in another direction.

For Ye Nan, Rui, who had always wanted to change Hancock's personality, was undoubtedly one of his biggest opponents at the moment. However, because of Mary, he could not personally take action against Rui, so being able to turn Rui into a monk was the best thing possible.

"Cut off all emotions and desires, not marry or have children?" Rui hesitated. He loved his wife very much, he loved his son very much. He could not understand why great love required cutting off all emotions and desires, so he hesitated. But great love filled his mind, and he was almost suffocating.

"It's very simple. Love mixed with other things is not pure love. Pure love should be love for the whole world, and even the universe. All lives, including aliens, etc., should live in peace." Ye Nan drew a big picture, depicting a beautiful new world. "All lives live in peace, there is no more war. They join hands to orderly develop the resources of the universe. And to achieve this step, someone must change their thinking."

"That person is me." Rui said excitedly. "I have decided. I will hand over Aaron to Mary to raise. I believe Mary will definitely not treat Aaron poorly."

"Mary is Aaron's biological mother. How could she treat her own son poorly?" Ye Nan said with a smile, laughing very happily.

"No, Aaron is the son of me and my ex-wife." Rui shook his head. "I am going to say goodbye to Mary. Although I love them very much, I, who have decided to dissuade the world with great love, cannot give up great love because of small love." ===== CHAPTER 392 =====