I asked you to write a light novel, but you wrote about living?

The progress of the Fool only proves that a novel is valuable for model training.

But a gubernatorial election represents something entirely different.

"Go on."

"After the campaign book was circulated in Redwood, local voters’ trust in the anonymous revelations, private scandals and intercepted statements that suddenly appeared during the campaign was significantly reduced."

The housekeeper pulled up recent election reports for Redwood State.

"Several media outlets that have long relied on controversial headlines to influence public opinion have been questioned, and the several rounds of moral attacks launched by the two main candidates against each other have not achieved the desired effect."

"More and more voters are demanding full evidence and are refocusing on candidates' policies, resumes, and actual claims."

Lu Chenyuan looked at the three constantly changing support rate curves on the light screen.

Two of the curves that had been steadily rising thanks to media campaigns have seen their growth rate slow down significantly.

On the contrary, the candidate who consistently refused to participate in private attacks saw his approval ratings steadily rise.

Has Yu Huashi ever publicly supported him?

"no."

"Has this election been discussed?"

No related comments were found.

The study fell silent.

Yu Huashi only wrote a novel, but it made many voters re-examine seemingly high-sounding accusations in reality through the absurdity of the novel.

After reading "Running for Governor," voters in Redwood State began to re-examine the revelations and accusations made during the election campaign.

When the way information is judged changes, the votes will naturally change as well.

Lu Chenyuan stared at the election curves for a long time without looking away.

He grew up in the Upper East Side.

He understood, and was more aware than most people, what power truly meant.

A gubernatorial election is never just about a few candidates standing on a stage giving speeches, nor is it just about a few fluctuating data points on the StarNet.

The governor has the authority to make administrative appointments.

It influences fiscal budgets, industrial policies, public projects, infrastructure development, and the allocation of resources for a state over the next few years.

A policy can make an industry prosper rapidly, or it can cause countless companies that rely on old rules to lose their market overnight.

A single important personnel appointment may be linked to dozens of conglomerates, hundreds of interest groups, and an immeasurable flow of wealth.

To gain access to this power, conglomerates invest funds, the media adjust their stance, corporations place bets in advance, and interest groups engage in lengthy and clandestine exchanges behind the scenes.

Countless people have spent years on this.

They mobilized enormous funds, connections, and public opinion resources.

It may not necessarily change the outcome of a gubernatorial election.

Yu Wen only wrote one novel.

He had no campaign team, no interest groups, and no one researching the voters of Redwood State for him.

He wasn't even really involved in the election.

However, "Running for Governor" transcended literary circles and entered public discourse in Redwood State, changing how voters viewed campaign news and indirectly disrupting the original balance of power among the candidates.

In contrast, what the fool learned from it became an unimportant matter.

No matter how much the machine has improved, it's ultimately just a curve in Lu's project report.

But that novel influenced the true ownership of power in a state.

Yu Huashi's writing has become more than just capable of making people cry or laugh.

It began to influence how people understood the reality before them.

When this influence ultimately translates into individual ballots, the words touch upon more than just the reader's emotions.

It touched upon power.

Looking at the three characters "Yu Huashi" on the light screen, Lu Chenyuan suddenly remembered the doubts Yun Tu had raised about him before.

How could someone so young, who had not experienced the era depicted in "To Live" and had not witnessed Fugui's long and cruel life, write about those sufferings so realistically?

This viewpoint has long since become a joke since Yu Wen's live broadcast.

The author, of course, does not need to personally experience everything described in their writing.

Otherwise, those who write about war must have actually been on the battlefield, those who write about death must have died once, and those who write about the starry sky must have personally traversed the universe.

Lu Chenyuan did not agree with Yun Tu's superficial questioning.

Looking back now, while Yuntu's initial questioning of Yu Wen on this issue was certainly untenable, the issue itself was not entirely without merit.

Creation does not require personal experience.

Understanding always needs a source.

Reading, education, life, observation, and the world one has truly experienced.

A towering building must be built from the first brick, and a giant tree must have roots buried deep in the soil.

The same applies to a person's thoughts; no matter how amazing one's talent, it can always be traced back to their past life.

Lu Chenyuan believed he did not lack these things.

He received the best education in the federal government from a young age.

History, philosophy, literature, political science, psychology, and sociology have never been things placed on bookshelves to decorate one's identity.

He possesses knowledge far exceeding that of ordinary people.

It also possesses a vast amount of information that ordinary people could never access in their entire lives.

He was born in the Upper City District and stands at the very heart of the Lu Group.

He knows how the media guides public sentiment, how capital influences the system, and what kind of exchange of interests might be hidden behind a high-sounding statement.

He studied human nature.

Vanity, fear, greed, obedience, anger, and rebellion.

In his view, most people's choices are traceable.

With enough information, one can deduce a person's next move from their identity, interests, and circumstances.

In terms of experience, he may not be as experienced as Yu Wen.

In terms of education, knowledge, vision, and access to information, he could never be less than a young man who came from the 7th slum.

Unfortunately, he didn't win that previous live debate.

Lu Chenyuan originally wanted to use the injustice of fate to make Yu Wen see clearly the chasm between the Upper City and the Lower City that had existed since birth.

But Yu Wen calmly told him—

It is sentient beings who enlightened the Buddha.

It is the ants that hold up the clouds.

Those two sentences still occasionally surface in Lu Chenyuan's mind.

He is familiar with human nature and with power.

He believes he can see things that most people in this world cannot.

But Yu Wen derived an answer from that chasm that everyone could see, an answer that even he could not easily refute.

Now it's "Running for Governor" again.

Lu Chenyuan understood better than the average person what lay beneath the media's facade, and he also understood how much interest and calculation were behind an election.

Even he never imagined that he could use such an absurd novel to gently peel away that veneer of respectability.

What Lu Chenyuan could not ignore was that this novel ultimately transcended literature and touched upon the power structure of Redwood State.

He found it increasingly difficult to understand Yu Wen.

A young man who grew up in the downtown area, with almost no education, and who in the past could not even afford basic living expenses.

Where did he see so many different kinds of lives?

How did I come to understand so many completely different people?

If "To Live" can be explained as empathy for suffering, and "The Little Prince" can be attributed to innate sensitivity, then how should we explain "The Old Man and the Sea," "Take Her Eyes," and now "Running for Governor"?

Suffering, fairy tales, science fiction, satire.

Eastern Region and West Coast...

These should have come from completely different experiences and belonged to completely different authors.

Now they all appear in the writing of the same person.