Under One Person, Engage in Black Technology

Chapter 198 Random Talk
Seeing that Ma Xianhong nodded, Liu Ke continued, "Since it concerns Chen Duo, my conversation with Lao Meng can no longer be called idle chat."

"After all, in a sense, Chen Duo is the 'cause' of all this today."

"These guys... temporary workers, when the board of directors of Na Du Tong ordered them to come to Biyou Village, they set two hard targets: first, capture Chen Duo, and second, destroy Biyou Village."

"Now, the latter has already fobbed it off, leaving only the former."

After saying this, Liu Ke turned to look at Ma Xianhong, his meaning quite clear: he wanted to know what Ma Xianhong's opinion was of Chen Duo.

Upon seeing this, Ma Xianhong understood the other party's meaning. He narrowed his eyes again and asked in return, "...What about Na Du Tong over there? What are their thoughts?"

Liu Ke sighed and said, "The board of directors probably wants to take Chen Duo back first and interrogate her carefully. Of course, if there is resistance, they can 'deal with' her on the spot."

"This is the same as how we treat other upper roots, nothing special."

"However... if Chen Duo is really taken back by the company, the best outcome would be for her to be sent to the Dark Fortress as a subject of research and control."

"Of course, the more likely outcome is... that she will die. Regardless of Chen Duo's reasons or mindset in attacking Lao Liao, killing someone is killing someone."

"Especially since Chen Duo killed... the person who was the best to her in the entire gang. Although Chen Duo might not understand, or even comprehend, the kindness that Lao Liao showed her."

Upon hearing this, Ma Xianhong frowned but remained silent.

Seeing his expression, Liu Ke said, "Chen Duo's behavior today is rather abnormal, and there's no excuse for her avoiding battle."

"If you don't know how to handle this, then don't do it and let it take its course."

"Besides, it was her own choice to have a proper talk with Na Du Tong."

Upon hearing this, Village Chief Ma nodded, then murmured, "A choice, huh..."

……

That being said, Ma Xianhong's decision to talk to Liu Ke after the fight was something Liu Ke was very happy to see.

After all, Liu Ke had been traveling in Biyou Village for over ten days, devising thirteen different strategies, all with the ultimate goal of recruiting Lao Ma.

After finishing discussing Chen Duo's urgent matter, Liu Ke turned to Lao Ma and asked, "So, what are your thoughts on today?"

Ma Xianhong frowned and asked, "What are your thoughts on this?"

Liu Ke smiled and said, "Naturally, it concerns your thoughts on everything that happened in Biyou Village today. Do you think I would ask you... about your thoughts on using that battle armor?"

"Don't worry, it's just a casual chat. You don't need to write a 'reflection.' Just treat it as... a regular interview."

After a moment of silence, Ma Xianhong said, "I don't think... I did anything wrong."

"Actually, before you even let that armor make its move, I already knew I was at a disadvantage and was prepared to be 'captured alive'."

"I want to have a proper talk with the company's senior management, in a calm and peaceful way."

Liu Ke nodded, then asked with some curiosity, "What are you going to talk about? Debate? Initiate a major discussion on whether everyone in the world should be transformed into superhumans?"

Upon hearing Liu Ke's words, Ma Xianhong's face twitched involuntarily. He said, "What you're saying is too exaggerated. There's no need for a term like 'major discussion'."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ke burst out laughing and said, "Hey, how can that be considered an exaggeration? I don't know how good your debating skills are, but what I do know is..."

"Chairman Zhao, who is also the actual controller of NaDuTong, regards the superhumans as an unstable factor. The company allows the superhuman community to become like a jungle, which is essentially to control the number of superhumans."

"The reason why Biyou Village was directly targeted by the company because of the Body Refining Furnace is also due to this reason."

"Perhaps in your opinion, turning everyone into Outcasts, and making Outcasts no longer special, would eliminate the differences in the world..."

"But that touched a nerve with the company—they have always been committed to reducing the number of Outcasts, even if they themselves are Outcasts."

At this point, Liu Ke took out some wet wipes from his backpack, wiped the dust off his face, and said, "Actually, personally speaking, I... am also a superhuman, so I naturally have no discrimination against superhumans."

"However, after careful consideration, I do not support the idea of ​​transforming ordinary people into superhumans."

"Take the current circle of supernatural beings as an example. The Quanxing sect accounts for almost 40% of all supernatural beings."

"So, this means that for every extraordinarily powerful person in the world, there is a 40% chance that they will become a signature 'villain'."

Seeing Ma Xianhong's expression change slightly, Liu Ke quickly waved his hand and said, "I'm not trying to maliciously smear the 'extraordinary group.' After all, whether a person is a bad guy or not has little to do with whether he is an extraordinary person."

"But... perhaps the Inhuman community itself is more unrestrained, similar to 'Gotham.' In any case, after becoming an Inhuman, the proportion of people who choose to ignore the law and morality and indulge themselves recklessly is indeed higher."

"A person with a somewhat wicked personality might just be a 'little rascal' in their ordinary life. But once they become an extraordinary being, the 'little rascal' seems to be carrying 'guns and cannons' and has the ability to hurt others and do evil, and then they become a 'little devil'."

"Your act of converting superhumans is no different from distributing guns and weapons to people. It's not that guns and weapons are bad, but they're useless to good people because they don't need to use them. But they can dramatically increase the destructive power of evil deeds in bad people."

Upon hearing this, Ma Xianhong's expression changed slightly. Seeing Liu Ke gesture for him to speak, he said, "Brother Liu, I disagree with this."

"The superior talents in my village are the foundation for my transformation, but because of this, the techniques that the transformed individuals can use will also be limited by those superior talents."

"Coincidentally, the methods that the current top talents possess are only for fighting enemies, so you will only see that I have transformed a group of 'thugs'."

"But if I have the help of people from the orthodox Xuanmen and Buddhist sects who are of superior aptitude, I can spread the Taoist and Buddhist teachings of longevity and physical health to the world, instead of just using them for fighting and making soldiers." "In the future, the Body Refinement Furnace may even be able to transform other people's physiques without passing on the cultivation methods, thus passing on the qualification of Qi Refining to everyone."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ke first nodded, then shook his head and said, "Old Ma, now that I also know the [Divine Refinement], I naturally know that the Body Cultivation Furnace can indeed one day achieve what you said."

“But… my current disagreement with converting superhumans is not because I don’t trust you, but because I don’t trust ‘humans’.”

"I think my analogy of superhuman abilities to guns is quite apt. You've probably heard the story of the free America and the daily shootings."

"Even take recent events as an example. You know what those supernatural villagers under your command were like yesterday."

"They respect you, love you, and are willing to help you—they're great in every way, except they're unwilling to take orders from you."

"Although I myself am not a practitioner of asceticism, I have to say that the people who have been converted have very poor character."

"This small group... they're considered good people, and you, as the village chief, can't control them. If the whole world were converted, how would you manage the bad guys who would emerge?"

If this had happened a few days ago, Liu Ke would have been refuted by Ma Xianhong, because Ma trusted his villagers.

However, after yesterday's 'social experiment,' Ma Xianhong had to admit that Liu Ke's assessment was not wrong.

Seeing that Lao Ma remained silent, Liu Ke continued, "Moreover, if you ask me, even without considering the social security risks brought about by converting aliens, the company would not agree to your idea."

After hearing this, Ma Xianhong no longer showed too much surprise. He simply sighed and asked, "Why?"

When Liu Ke said that earlier, he was naturally keeping everyone in suspense, waiting for Village Chief Ma to ask that question. And when the expected question came, he said, "Let's take your Biyou Village as an example again."

“There are eighty-eight extraordinary individuals in your village, along with several ordinary people. These ordinary people witness the incredible abilities of the extraordinary individuals almost every day, but even so, not every one of them wants to become an extraordinary individual.”

"And this also means that, looking at the world as a whole, there will be quite a few people who don't want to become superhumans. So what should we do with these people? Your 'universal harmony' is not what they want!"

"On another note, what does it mean for ordinary people who come here because of its reputation and are willing to transform into superhumans?"

"To put it bluntly, perhaps for them, it's just an addictive game of 'becoming an immortal'."

At this point, Liu Ke paused, then said, "Based on this point... Old Ma, have you ever thought about what would happen if everyone in the world wanted to become an Outcast and actually became one?"

Ma Xianhong was a little confused by the question. He hadn't really thought about it before, so he could only shake his head.

Seeing this, Liu Ke just smiled and continued, "Then let me start by giving two... well-known examples in the history of supernatural beings. Europe has a long tradition of hunting witches, and we also had the Northern Wei's anti-Buddhist incident."

"Although in the current world of superhumans, it is generally believed that the cause of these two events is the excessive number of superhumans and the superhuman race's consciousness exceeding the threshold of human consciousness..."

"However, these two events now seem to me to be more complex than they appear."

Liu Ke paused for a moment, then gave a half-smile and said, "The painstaking cultivation of extraordinary people may be for the sake of bravery and fighting, for longevity, or for self-realization. Even if there are other reasons, in the end, it is all for themselves and can only be for themselves."

"Since it is for one's own benefit, one cannot and does not want to stop. It is best to cultivate Qi undisturbed until one becomes a legendary immortal."

"However, human society must move forward. If everyone focuses on cultivating their qi and improving their health for their own benefit, who will engage in production? How can society progress?"

"Everyone's become witches or Buddhists, just eating, not farming, consuming, not producing, how are we supposed to live?"

"The root cause of anti-Buddhist and witch hunt activities is that there are too many people who occupy resources without engaging in production."

Upon hearing this, Ma Xianhong immediately retorted, "Why be so extreme? Even in my small village, we raise pigs and cattle, grow rice and mulberry trees. Even without interfering with or involving the outside world, we can be self-sufficient."

Liu Ke nodded, saying noncommittally, "You're not wrong. This village can indeed be self-sufficient, and even without taxes, they might be able to eat and drink their fill. But isn't that all there is to it?"

"What kind of technical skills can a bunch of 'part-time workers' who are always cultivating Qi accumulate? They only focus their minds on trying to cultivate Qi and become immortals, but can they really become immortals?"

"I remember there are quite a few programmers and civil engineers in your village. They've been working on this project for a while now. Guess how much of their previous skills they used to rely on still exist?"

"Human society has developed to the point where we are warmer, have more food, have advanced technology, and have a booming economy than before, thanks to the wisdom of ordinary people, not to the cultivation of Qi by extraordinary individuals."

"So, in my opinion, if you really turned the whole world into Inhumans, there would only be two outcomes."

At this point, Liu Ke first held up one finger and said, "Firstly, it's a low-probability hypothesis. That is, if Qi cultivation becomes the mainstream, technological development will stagnate, and might even regress."

"After all, isn't it much more comfortable to find a piece of wasteland to cultivate, practice Qi to prolong life, and enjoy a pastoral life than to be a 'riveting' in society?"

At this point, Liu Ke held up two fingers again and said, "The probability is higher for the other two. It's that the methods of the supernatural are cracked by science and technology, and everyone can cultivate Qi, but..."

"The world's resources are finite. In the end, it will all just become a saying: 'If you don't have money, what are you doing cultivating immortality?'"

After saying that, Liu Ke perhaps found it amusing, and seeing Ma Xianhong's disbelieving expression, he said, "Don't you believe me? There's nothing new under the sun! Whether humans are involved in Qi cultivation or technology, their social nature remains unchanged..."

"At that time, the so-called superhuman methods will be just like the knives and guns we have now, nothing more than a means of displaying class, inflicting violence, and 'socializing'."

Upon hearing Liu Ke's words, Ma Xianhong frowned deeply. To be honest, he hadn't really considered these long-term implications.

Seeing that Ma Xianhong's thoughtful expression was getting deeper and deeper, Liu knew that the other party had been confused by his rambling.

He chuckled to himself, then patted the other man on the shoulder and said, "Of course, this is just my opinion, nothing more than a casual remark."

(End of this chapter)