Don’t raise unruly people in extreme cold weather

Chapter 423 Schopenhauer in Despair
In a villa in the city of Langton, the young Schopenhauer was lying decadently on the sofa, holding a half-drunk bottle of wine in his hand, while a large amount of research materials and a newspaper were scattered on the ground.

For an alchemist who has always been strict with himself, the research materials scattered all over the floor and the wine stains on the materials are enough to show how bad his mental state is at the moment.

If Schopenhauer was in a normal state, he would never allow important research materials to be scattered on the ground and get dirty.

In his laboratory, if an apprentice soiled the research materials, he would be reprimanded at best and severely punished at worst.

In Schopenhauer's own words, knowledge is the cornerstone of an alchemist's path to truth. If you do not respect knowledge, then you are not worthy of being an alchemist.

But at this moment, Schopenhauer himself was too lazy to care about these things.

Because the front-page headline of the newspaper thrown on the ground read "The World is About to Be Destroyed."

The world is about to be destroyed, why bother about so many things?

It is no wonder that Schopenhauer was so decadent. After all, the world is about to be destroyed, so why bother working hard?
In the past, Schopenhauer worked hard and was strict with himself because he knew that with his talents, he could climb to the position he desired by doing so, whether it was academic or power, as long as he was willing to obtain it.

However, now the world is about to be destroyed. Power? Academics? Status? What can these things do to stop the destruction of the world?

Nothing makes sense anymore.

Since everything is meaningless, why bother working hard?
So Schopenhauer, who had always only tasted alcoholic beverages at banquets, drank for the first time in his life without any social activities, and got drunk, completely abandoning all his moral principles and persistence.

The world is going to be destroyed anyway, so sticking to those so-called rules and habits will only make your death look a little more beautiful.

For Schopenhauer, his past life was not what his inner desires had hoped for. It was just the so-called "upper class" determined by society. He longed to live better than others, so he had to work hard to please them.

But now, the world is about to be destroyed, and he no longer has to cater to it all, and can naturally indulge his desires that were originally suppressed and restrained.

"The world is about to be destroyed. It turns out that what Count Brandlis said three years ago was actually true! Those idiots in the Noble Parliament didn't even believe her!" Schopenhauer naturally knew that Perfecto had warned the Noble Parliament about the destruction of the world three years ago. Now that the end of the world has really come, he naturally thought of this incident and felt that the Noble Parliament was really a bunch of idiots.

This also seems to explain why Perfecto massacred the Noble Council a few months ago but was not blamed in the end.

"Perhaps the imperial center has known about this for a long time, and the Earl of the North has been preparing for this?" This thought popped up in Schopenhauer's mind.

In his opinion, given the relationship between Perfecto and Princess Anne, if she was preparing for the destruction of the world, she should protect the royal family from suffering the same disaster.

Perhaps the North was where Perfect built a refuge strong enough to resist the end of the world. When the end of the world came, all the members of the Empire would hide there, and they would be able to survive even if the world was destroyed. But for an ordinary alchemist like him, this was meaningless.

Schopenhauer was not one to underestimate himself, but he was only a minor alchemist in Langton, although he was usually a guest of honor for some nobles and thought he would become a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences before he was forty...

But these were not enough to make him feel that he had a chance to board the ark to escape the doomsday.

"If I had known this, I would have gone to the North to join the Earl! It's too late to go there now!" Schopenhauer felt extremely frustrated and sad. He had considered going to the North to join the Earl when Perfect published the Outline of Utopian Alchemy, but his pursuit of the so-called "upper-class" status prevented him from leaving the empire.

This was undoubtedly a wrong choice. If he had chosen to pursue truth rather than power and status like some other alchemists before, and went to the North to explore the various new alchemical theories proposed by Perfectcot, perhaps he would now have a chance to get a ticket to board the Ark of Doom, instead of waiting for death in Langton in despair like now.

Schopenhauer did not doubt that the empire had a plan to resist doomsday, nor did he doubt that even if doomsday came, there would still be people from the empire who could go to the north and successfully enter the shelter, but it was obvious that he was not on that list, and he did not think he would have a chance to go to the north if doomsday came.

After all, in this situation, the nobles and the big capitalists would definitely flee to the north first, and all the means of transportation would be occupied by them. Even if Schopenhauer had some connections and status, how could he compete with them for the opportunity to "get on board"? Or get an opportunity from the nobles who had "tickets"?
When Schopenhauer thought of this, he could only feel intense despair. He even considered how to end his life decently rather than waiting for the end of the world to come and then die in despair.

To his left hand was a loaded pistol.

This was a gift from a nobleman. It was beautifully decorated and well-made. It used the fixed bullet invented by Perfecto. All one had to do was load the bullet into the chamber and then pull the trigger to fire. It was efficient, elegant, and deadly.

Schopenhauer's hand had already reached for the pistol. As long as he picked it up, he would be able to end all this despair.

However, Schopenhauer was still hesitating, still wavering, or rather, he was afraid of death and he did not have the courage to end it all.

Even when faced with the despair brought by the end of the world, he did not have enough courage to escape by death, but was cowardly and afraid of death.

"Why did everything turn out like this?" Schopenhauer asked desperately, but no one could answer this question.

Just as he took another big gulp of wine and was about to pick up the pistol again, there was a knock on his door. Someone asked outside the door: "Is Mr. Schopenhauer at home? Count Brandelis has called you!"

"Count Brandelis?" Schopenhauer's eyes instantly cleared up. This name seemed to have magical power, making him feel like a drowning man grabbing the last straw.

Schopenhauer quickly got up from the sofa, wiped his face, and stumbled towards the door. Even though he fell, he opened the door immediately and asked the person outside, "Is it really Count Brandelis?"

(End of this chapter)