People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

"Can't I join Kjeragfon?"

Christen was stunned, Ernst was stunned, and even Hinterlaya was stunned.

Christen was surprised that Levy would make such a reversal. Hinterlea was surprised that scientists would be so eager to conduct research in the remote mountains of Shelag, but Ernst was the most surprised.

He was surprised that Sherag had scientific research experience!

Surprised, he immediately waved his hand, refusing:

“Professor Klitschko, I understand your thinking, and I must admit, I do have similar thoughts. But I also have to point out that this kind of thinking is unacceptable. Putting aside everything else, if you came to Shelag, Shelag's current situation wouldn't be able to provide enough material support for the ideas in your mind. Without real-world support, no matter how many brilliant ideas you have, they are just castles in the air. You've read the Russian section, so you should also know that we can't rely solely on our own ideas to conduct scientific research; the results won't meet our expectations.”

Levy and Christensen both paused, then asked in unison:

"what?"

“What I mean is, the current Sherag can’t build a laboratory for you, and many things on this land are... slightly different from what you imagine. If you come to Sherag, your talent might be buried. Staying in Colombia might be the only way to truly unleash your talent and even change the world.”

Levy smiled and said calmly, "Scientists do not despise their own country."

“But…” Ernst was at a loss for words.

It's not that I have any problem with Levy himself. But as he said, where would Scherrager get the resources to support the research of a scientist that even Rhine Lab is vying for?

Moreover, Scherrag did not need a scientist like Levy for a long time, and sending him to Scherrag would easily cause conflicts and trouble.

People are thinking beings, especially adults like Levy. Their complete values ​​are difficult to change in a short period of time, and in Sherag, his values ​​are destined to clash with those of the locals.

Ernst could certainly intervene as a mediator. But what would he do then?

Should we restrict Levy and make him remain silent about everything concerning the Shelag? Or should we restrict the Shelagans and make them fully respect and accept Levy's criticisms and guidance?

As we all know, disputes over interests are not so likely to lead to extreme results. After all, there are no permanent enemies or friends, only permanent interests.

But it is often the differences in ideas, paths, and thoughts—in short, ideological disputes—that easily lead to prolonged antagonism.

Ultimately, distance makes the heart grow fonder.

He could have in-depth conversations with Levy, but he didn't want Levy and Scherrag to develop a deep connection. He also wanted to avoid any future conflicts between the two due to Scherrag's career development.

To put it bluntly, on this cannibalistic land of Terra, Ernst treats every stranger with caution, even if that stranger has the added advantage of being a "fellow countryman".

Who knows if this fellow villager will cheat him, leaving him with tears in his eyes?

On the other hand, the silent Christensen had never experienced such a Waterloo.

Although it doesn't sound very appealing, and is even somewhat superstitious, Christensen is like a scientific succubus, possessing an almost innate attraction for scientists.

Rhine Life Sciences is now full of outstanding talents, and the vast majority of department heads joined the company because they were attracted by Christensen's personal charisma.

Only Levy.

Even though she wasn't particularly interested in financial matters, Christen knew that the terms she offered were anything but low—Rhine Lab would create a separate "Originium Life Science" department for them, making Levi Klitschko the tenth department head (at this point, Dorothy and the Originium Arts Application Department hadn't been established yet). This wasn't just recognition of Levi's research achievements; it also symbolized that Levi's name would become renowned throughout Tremont, and even the entire Columbia and Terra regions, as Rhine Lab grew stronger!

Not to mention the various privileges and benefits one can enjoy as the head of a department at Rhine Life Sciences. With these advantages, isn't it much better than being a beast of burden in Kjerag?

She couldn't understand Levy's thoughts because she had never thought about or cared about the things that shaped Levy and Ernst's ideas and values.

After careful consideration, she proposed a second option:

"If Mr. Levy wishes to join the research at the Dome Research Station as a representative of the Sherag side, we can accept that. But there must be one condition."

“Mr. Levy’s research lab must be located at RheinLife.”

This may sound contradictory at first glance, but Christensen's meaning is actually quite simple.

If you don't want to do it, fine, but a company as big as Rhine Life isn't going to kneel down and beg you to join.

What Christensen needed was not Levi, but rather the byproduct of Levi's research: Originium products (transmitters) that could transmit consciousness.

Since you yourself are unwilling to stay, then your research results must remain!

Rhine Life will support your research, but you will not enjoy the benefits, prestige, and social status that Rhine Life employees receive.

"I hope Mr. Levy will think carefully and make a prudent decision."

Christen said, glancing at Ernst and Levy, then stood up and announced,

"Let's adjourn for now. I think Mr. Ernst and Mr. Levy have a lot to discuss."

Christen is right. Ernst does indeed have a lot he wants to talk to Levy about.

For example, persuading him to accept the first proposal, and then a more ambitious blueprint.

"Comrade, you've narrowed your path, limited your vision, and narrow your perspective! With your talent and ideas, it's a waste to only do scientific research on this land."

"Don't be angry about what I'm saying. Please allow me to tell you a story, and you'll understand what I mean."

"This story takes place in the 1990s, and it's called—the Color Revolution."

Chapter 109 For the country he loved, for Sherag

Levy ultimately chose to join Rhine Lab.

the reason is simple

"The position of head of the Rhine Life Sciences department is indeed an authority in the field. Once my research makes a breakthrough, this authority can be further upgraded and spread to other fields, just like Oppenheimer."

“I understand. If what you say is true, then staying in Colombia is indeed more useful than going to Shelag.”

Levi replied thoughtfully.

To Ernst's surprise, after hearing what is now seen by many as a landmark event symbolizing the failure of the International Gym, Levy did not show much sadness or disappointment.

Failure is normal; no one is immune to failure. If you keep winning, you'll eventually lose everything.

It's not how many times you fall that matters, but how many times you get back up.

This is why the small-time government that always talks about gambling with the fate of the nation lost its right to become a normal country after just one failure, while China has failed countless times from the Opium War to the present day, yet it has still been able to rise again and stand tall.

But Levy still had some concerns:

"Comrade Ernst, if what you say is true, if we don't seize the high ground of propaganda, the enemy will. That's why you, under limited conditions, used the publication of 'Ers' to subtly achieve this goal. But, does gaining a higher social status necessarily mean controlling larger propaganda channels and making a more powerful voice?"

Levy was a scientist, but he also knew that it was almost impossible to sway the vested interests at the top with an ideal or a concept. Ideological propaganda truly targets the common people at the bottom of society, and it is most effective the lower the social class.

His country was able to be established in a time of crisis, not by having a few mentors become the Tsar's bodyguards and impress the Tsar, was it?

In a physical sense, the Tsar was more like a hole-drilling tsar.

“You’re right.” Unexpectedly, Ernst nodded readily, acknowledging the legitimacy of Levy’s doubts. He explained, “But that’s because the national circumstances were different. In Tsarist Russia at that time, various social contradictions had accumulated to the extreme, the State Duma’s reforms were stalled, and the setbacks on the front lines triggered the revolution.”

"At that time, everything within the country was in chaos: the army was in chaos, the government was in chaos, and the people's thoughts were in chaos. There was no absolute authority that could stand up and speak out to unite the people around it against other ideas and propaganda."

"But look at Colombia today, at Trimont today, do they have those conditions?"

No matter how harsh life is in the frontier, how cruel the inhumane human experiments are, or how awkward it is for the infected who are recognized by law but rejected by society, none of this can deny that Colombia is thriving today!

It is virtually impossible for an ideological revolution to occur in a stable and powerful country.

Unless that country has accumulated many potential crises internally, and it recklessly abandons the high ground of thought and public opinion.

That was something he brought upon himself.

Don't you see that even its biggest enemy, the United States, never expected that the seemingly normal Soviet Union would suddenly collapse, so much so that the thinking within the country has not been able to shift to this day, and has maintained a purely Cold War mentality?

"In this world, there is only one kind of ship that leaks from the top, and that ship is called a nation."

"Never take things for granted, and never assume things are right just because you take them for granted. In the short term, raising social status and expressing liberated thinking are forms of confrontation that may not be very effective. But if you keep doing this in different ways for ten or twenty years, its impact will be beyond your imagination."

Although the Chinese people have now recovered and begun to oppose those public intellectuals who actively brainwash the people or have become brainwashers themselves, the effects of this theory are gradually becoming apparent.

Leaving China aside, even in the West, our beautiful country has been using the tactics of public intellectuals and leftists to control its people for decades, leading to extreme social division and chaos, which is evident to all.

"The weapon of criticism cannot replace the criticism of weapons, but no matter how much criticism of weapons there is, we cannot give up the weapon of criticism."

Ernst stated frankly.

Abandoning the latter, an ideology without the backing of force will only become a victim of brutal repression. But abandoning the former, and blindly believing that the power of weapons can replace ideological education, has already been demonstrated by countless bloody examples…

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

“I understand, comrade,” Levy said, his face darkening.

It has to be said that if one hadn't gotten to know Levi's personality to some extent after getting to know him, his somewhat "villainous" face paired with that gloomy expression would really give the impression of a mastermind plotting a conspiracy.

"It is extremely difficult to launch an armed revolution in a powerful country with a stable government. Using ideology as a weapon and wielding a big stick in the realm of national spirit is indeed a low-cost and high-return approach."

Ernst nodded in satisfaction, and at the same time offered his fellow countryman from a different time a piece of golden advice he had heard from a media friend in his previous life:

"In the information age, the essence of the information war is not who reveals more truths, but who spreads fake news faster. Truth or falsehood is not important; the key is to have sensational moments, to understand what the masses care about and what they enjoy, and on that basis, to be fast."

This is different from Levy's ideas.

But that's because in the past, the speed and impact of information dissemination were on a completely different scale compared to the information age.

In the past, government statements wielded far more influence than those of a single media outlet, and due to limitations in information access, maintaining government credibility was infinitely easier than in the information age. Therefore, even if the government's conclusion on a matter was incorrect, its absolute informational advantage allowed it to become the accepted fact in the minds of the vast majority.

For example, if 1+1=2 is a newly discovered piece of knowledge, before the information age, the government could use its own channels to announce to everyone that one plus one equals 0. Even if a newspaper or an individual gave the correct answer, the lie would not be exposed.

Because most people can't buy newspapers, and half of those who can, don't read them. Of those who do read newspapers, half don't care about math at all, and of those who do care about math, half won't bother to explain the correct answers to everyone, and they can't do it anyway.

In the information age, the roles of government and media have been reversed.

The media spreads information without restraint, and the information can be delivered to even an ordinary farmer through the internet. When the channels for obtaining information are greatly broadened, rumors such as one plus one equals zero are easily debunked.

Conversely, the government has become the one that needs to debunk rumors. In fact, because rumors spread so quickly, it's not uncommon for it to be so easy to spread a rumor while exhausting the efforts to debunk it.

This is also a result of the changing times brought about by the development of productive forces, which has led to changes in the social environment and rendered theories that were once considered "truths" inapplicable in the present era.

For the first time in his life, Levy experienced what it meant to "learn more from a single conversation with a wise man than from ten years of study."

Although Ernst was ahead of Levy's era, it may have been by much more than a decade.

"Speaking of which, I've been meaning to ask you, Comrade Ernst."

Before returning to the Rhine Building to inform Christensen of his final decision, Levy asked,

"Your thoughts and actions are different from those of my motherland, and according to you, my motherland collapsed at the end of the 20th century. So, what country are you from?"

When faced with this question, Ernst paused for a moment, then nodded.

"I am Chinese."

A glimmer of hope shone in Levi's eyes. The middle-aged man, who came from another world but was not from the same hometown, looked at Ernst with anticipation.

He didn't ask the question, but Ernst already knew what he wanted to ask.

He nodded solemnly.

"Thank you, I didn't call you comrade wrong."

Levy turned around and walked resolutely toward the towering Rhine Building.

Ernst stood alone at the door, watching his figure disappear into the elevator, remaining silent for a long time, until Hintelia came to his side with a newly printed job advertisement.

"Boss, take a look. I consulted Ms. Yara, the head of personnel at Rhine Life. Is this style alright?"

Ernst withdrew his gaze and thoughts, lowered his head, and stood beside Hinterlea, who was holding a job posting and asking him questions.

He smiled.

Indeed, now is not the time for sentimentality. He also has things to do.

He took each step steadily, for the country he loved, for Shelag.

Chapter 110: I didn't lie, I just didn't tell the truth.

"Scherrag joins forces with RheinLife to launch the second phase of recruitment!"

"Do you want to be a participant in national policy? Do you want to make a name for yourself in a foreign court and showcase your talents? Do you want to experience the high-welfare, high-salary benefits of a civil servant?"

"Welcome to Room 302, Building B, Rhine Life Headquarters. Welcome, Kjerag!"

"(Recent graduates will be given priority)."

Ernst read through the entire job posting bit by bit, especially the HR message to be published on the job market website. Then, looking up at Hintley's expectant gaze, he reluctantly replied:

"Better than the first time."

To be honest, this is the truth. Although this job posting is also somewhat adorably abstract, it's definitely more normal than the first one, which at first glance looked like a scam from northern Myanmar.

They explained the situation clearly, announced the job openings, secured Rhine Life's endorsement, specified the location, and even crafted a seemingly appealing message to attract applicants. Everything appeared perfectly normal, even excellent.