Chapter 3 Chapter two

Seldon hadn't forgotten Amarel's warning, but he didn't take it too seriously. His fortieth birthday came and went in a hurry—it was a psychological blow to him like everyone else.forty years old!He is no longer young.For him, life is no longer as boundless as the vast unknown wilderness stretching in front of him.Time flies, and he has been on Trantor for eight years.In eight years he would be approaching fifty.Old age is approaching.And his work on psychohistory is not even beginning to emerge. Hugo Amarol talked enthusiastically about the so-called laws, and derived a series of equations based on bold assumptions based on his intuition.But who can test those assumptions?Psychohistory is not an experimental science.Conducting a full psychohistorical research experiment would require populations of several worlds, centuries of time—and a complete disregard for ethics on the part of the experimenters.This was tantamount to presenting him with a problem that was completely impossible to solve, and he resented having to spend part of his time dealing with miscellaneous affairs in the department, so when he was walking home from get off work, he was really depressed.

More often than not, he manages to lighten his mood as he walks through campus. The University of Stirling's high dome gives the impression of being in the open air without being exposed to the harsh weather of a true open air environment.Seldon had experienced this kind of weather when he went to the palace.The campus is lined with green trees and the lawn paths are well-proportioned, making him feel like he is in the old campus on the planet Helicon in his hometown.This is a hypothetical cloudy day, with the sun (of course, no sun, just sunlight) coming and going.The temperature is a little cooler, just a little cooler.It seemed to Seldon that this cooler weather was coming more often than before.Is Trantor saving energy?Or is energy efficiency decreasing?Or (thinking of this, he frowned secretly) or was he himself old and his blood thinned?He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket and shrugged.

Usually he does not consciously recognize the way.His body knows exactly how to get from the office to the computer room and from there back to the apartment, and vice versa.Normally he walks at a leisurely pace, but today a voice penetrated his self-awareness.A meaningless sound. "Jo...Jo...Jo...Jo..." The voice was quite weak and distant, but it evoked some kind of memory in him.By the way, Amarel's warning.The demagogue.Is he on campus too?Seldon's self-consciousness was still undecided, and his legs turned involuntarily, over the low hill, and brought him to the university stadium, where gymnastics, sports, and student lectures were usually performed.

A group of students gathered in the center of the stadium, cheering wildly to that monotonous sound.On the podium was a person he didn't know. This person had a loud voice and a clear rhythm in his speech.However, this person is not Qiao Ruonan.He had seen Qiao Ruonan several times on the holographic TV. Seldon had been concerned about this since Amarol had warned him.Qiao Ruonan is tall and has a very seductive smile.He has thick sandy brown hair and light blue eyes.And this speaker was short, or should I say--thin, with a big mouth, black hair, and a loud voice.Seldon didn't catch what he was saying, though he did hear phrases like "government to the people" and a clamoring response from the crowd.

That was a good thing, Seldon thought, but how was he going to do it—and was he serious at all?He stood on the periphery of the crowd, looking around for people he knew, and at a glance he saw Farangelos, an undergraduate student majoring in supermathematics.The young man was not bad, with fluffy black hair. "Farangelos," he called. "Professor Seldon," Farangelos replied after staring at Seldon for a moment, as if he couldn't recognize the keyboard when Seldon didn't have a keyboard under his fingers.He hurried over and said, "Are you here to listen to this guy's speech?"

"Nothing else, just wanted to see what was making the noise. Who was it?" "His name is Namati, Professor. He is speaking for 'Jojo.'" "I've heard that," came Seldon again to the monotonous cheer of the crowd, the kind that erupted in the crowd evidently every time the speaker threw out a point. "But who is this Namati? I don't remember the name. Which department is he from?" "He's not from our university, Professor. He's from 'JoJo'." "If he is not from our university, he has no right to speak here without a permit. Does he have a permit? What do you think?"

"I don't know, Professor." "That's good, let's take a look." Seldon was about to rush into the crowd, but Fanangelos quickly grabbed his sleeve. "Don't be impulsive, Professor. He's got his goons." Behind the speaker were six lads, standing wide apart, feet wide apart, arms folded over chest, glaring. "Thugs?" "The kind of guy who uses violence when someone wants them to look good." "Then he's definitely not from our university, and even if he has a permit, it's impossible to allow him to bring in the kind of guy you call 'thugs'." - Farangelos, go and call the school security ...even if no one called the police they should be here by now."

"I guess they don't want to get in trouble," muttered Farangelos. "Please, Professor, don't be impulsive. If you want me to call security, I'll do it right away, but you must wait until they arrive." "Maybe I can get this all over here before they get here." He pushed his way through the crowd. It was not difficult, since some of them knew him, while others had seen his professorial epaulettes.He came to the podium, pressed his hands on the surface, hummed lightly, and jumped onto the three-foot-high stage.However, he was not without regrets in his heart. Ten years ago, he could jump up with one hand, and he didn't have to snort.He straightened up.

The speaker had also stopped speaking and was looking at him coldly with wary eyes. Seldon said in a low voice, "Please show your license to speak, sir." "Who are you?" asked the speaker.He spoke very loudly, and his voice carried far away. "I am a faculty member at this university," Seldon shot back in an equally loud voice. "Your license, sir?" "I don't think you have a right to ask." The lads behind the speaker gradually gather around. "If you don't have a license, I advise you to leave this university as soon as possible."

"What if I don't go?" "Well, let me tell you something, the school security will be here soon." He turned to face the crowd and shouted, "Students, we have the right to speak freely and to assemble freely on campus, but this right may be violated. Rip off, if we allow outsiders to publish unaccredited without a license—” A heavy hand fell on his shoulder, and Seldon took a step back.He turned around to find a guy that Farangelos called a "thug." The man said in a thick accent that Seldon couldn't immediately make out, "Get out—quick."

"What good will that do you?" Seldon said. "Anyway, security is coming soon." "In that case," Namati said with a savage sneer, "a riot would break out. That kind of thing doesn't scare us." "Of course it won't frighten you," Seldon said, "because you'd obviously like to see riots, but there won't be any riots here. Get out of here quickly, all of you." He turned to the students again, shaking his shoulders palm. "We're going to be responsible for this, aren't we?" Someone in the crowd shouted, "That's Professor Seldon! He's right! Don't hit him!" Seldon sensed the current coexistence of positive and negative emotions in the crowd.According to common sense, he knew that some in the crowd really wanted to start a conflict with the school security.On the other hand, there must be others who personally loved him, or who did not know him but did not want to use violence against a schoolteacher. A woman's voice suddenly called out: "Beware, Professor!" Seldon sighed, and turned his attention to the burly men in front of him.He didn't know if he could still do it, if his reflexes were fast enough, if his muscles were strong enough, or even if his physical strength was good enough for gladiatorial combat. A thug approached him, taking Seldon for granted.His movements were slow, giving Seldon's aging body the necessary reaction time.The thug stuck out his arm straight again, which was easier to deal with now.Seldon grabbed his arm, twirled, bent, swung it (with a snort—why did he have to?), and the thug flew through the air, largely by his own The momentum was taken out, and then fell heavily on the outer edge of the podium, and his right shoulder was dislocated. This completely unexpected result immediately caused an uproar in the audience, and a sense of pride in the same hatred was born spontaneously. "Kill them, Professor!" cried a voice.Then the others followed suit. Seldon brushed his hair back, trying not to look out of breath.Then he kicked the thug who fell to the ground and moaned off the podium with his feet. "Anyone else want to try?" Seldon asked happily, "Or do you just leave obediently?" Namati and his five accomplices looked at each other, hesitant. Seldon said again: "I warn you. Now the crowd is on my side. If you try to swarm, they will tear you to pieces. - Well, who's next? Come on. One by one." .” He raised his voice as he spoke the last word, and made a small "come here" gesture with his fingers.Everyone burst into laughter. Namati stood there numbly.Seldon slid forward, wrapping his arms around his neck.At the same time, the students climbed onto the podium, yelling, "One by one! One by one!" separating the bodyguards from Seldon. Seldon tightened Namati's windpipe, and whispered in his ear: "If you dare to move and try to break free, I will smash your vocal cords, so that you can only talk to people in a low voice in the future. Once There is a way to do it, Namathi, and I happen to be someone who knows it and has been doing it for years. If you still value your big voice, do as I say. When I put When you let go, you tell your gang of bullies to leave. If you dare say anything else, it will be the last word you say with a loud voice. And if you dare to go back to this school, you will not There will be another good man. I will finish what I have not done today." After speaking, he let go of his hand. Namati said hoarsely: "Everyone, follow me." Supporting the injured accomplice, they quickly evacuated the scene. When the school's security personnel arrived a few minutes later, Seldon said bluntly, "I'm sorry, gentlemen. A false alarm." However, when he left the stadium and continued to walk home, his mood was even more depressed.He exposed a side of himself that he didn't want to expose.He was the mathematician Hari Seldon, not the tyrannical gladiator Hari Seldon.Besides, he thought gloomily, Dors would hear about it, too.In fact, he'd better tell her himself, lest she hear another version that makes things look worse than they really are.I'm afraid she won't be happy.