Chapter 155: The Meeting
"What exactly happened? I was certain I'd gripped a solid object, not a mass of gas. How could it suddenly dissipate into thin air after just a few seconds?" For the next two days, Bai Mo holed up in the experimental facility's basement, ceaselessly pondering this question.
Unfortunately, with no sample left in his hands – the object he'd desperately extracted having already vanished into the wind – he was unable to conduct any experiments. All he could do was speculate endlessly. Regrettably, the available information was far too scarce, and he accomplished nothing these past two days.
"Reporting, Vice Director Bai. As per the higher-ups' arrangements, the Ghost King entrenched in Tianzhou will be eradicated in one week. Its remnants, once slain, will be transported back to the Institute's headquarters for further processing. Furthermore, the leaders have instructed me to inform you that in two days, a special vehicle will escort you to the Yonghe Hall in Ziliu Sea for a meeting, the primary topic being the Contribution Point System."
As Bai Mo continued to agonize, a military officer arrived at the experimental facility to deliver this news.
"After all, it concerns the exploration of our future path, and the threat of dozens of nuclear warheads still looms over their psychological baseline. I suppose I'll go to the meeting; they said it's related to the Contribution Point System."
He closed the notebook that chronicled his cultivation and thought processes, then resumed his study of bio-computing.
"Bio-computing has two primary directions: the former utilizes DNA to construct quaternary computers, while the latter employs protein molecular switches for binary computation. The organization behind Black Crow appears to specialize in human modification technology; it might be worth investigating if any relevant data could be traded..."
After devouring the relevant theoretical knowledge with his terrifying learning capacity, he retrieved a sample that had been preserved in the freezer for several months, taken from the "deceased" De Bu Luo Yi. He intended to conduct some preliminary research, as this sample contained what appeared to be an activated gene-lock-like structure, seemingly connected to the DNA molecular computer he sought to explore.
He began experimenting on the sample, applying the various processing techniques he had freshly assimilated from the thought crystal...
"Next, in accordance with the tournament's rules, the format will revert to the most brutal knockout stage."
"The eight contestants, forged through the crucible of elimination, will compete in seven matches over the coming week. The quarter-final matches will conclude on the first day, followed by two days of rest. The semifinals will then proceed, and this very weekend, the ultimate championship battle will unfold right here! Let us eagerly await!"
Through another round of pervasive publicity, the martial arts tournament once again seized the focused attention of urban populations. In contrast, the villagers who, during the agricultural off-season, once idled away their time watching television or playing mahjong, continued to venture into the various mountain forests daily, tirelessly striving to collect spirit energy fruits. For them, watching the matches was mere entertainment; seeking these fruits was life itself.
"He Laifu was an ordinary farmer from Shannan Province, nestled deep within the inland."
"A few months prior, the village Party secretary, accompanied by two armed soldiers carrying a box of wristwatches, organized a small meeting for them. Most of the meeting involved playing a video, which Laifu, having spent his entire life toiling in the fields, didn't comprehend much of."
"He essentially didn't grasp anything about the 'exchange system' or 'Contribution Point System' discussed in the video. All he retained was that as long as he wore the watch on his wrist, he could exchange the number displayed on it for that many hundred-yuan notes, that people everywhere were willing to purchase them at this rate, and that on the first day of every month, this number would increase by ten."
...
"Many people like Laifu, though perhaps unable to grasp the deeper meaning of Contribution Points, now understood that simply by bringing the strange, wild fruits harvested from the deep mountains to the young man in the village holding the scanner, the number on their watch would tick up, and they'd receive an extra hundred at month's end."
...
"A monthly welfare income equivalent to one thousand Huaxia Coins per person was, without a doubt, a momentous boon for the vast number of families whose annual income barely reached a few thousand Huaxia Coins."
...
Bai Mo rarely attended high-level gatherings within Huaxia. However, since this particular meeting was primarily convened to discuss the Contribution Point system, as its de facto administrator, he felt compelled to attend.
Organisationally speaking, as the Vice Director of the Huaxia Spirit Energy Research Institute, he was, in fact, a top-tier senior official. Yet, owing to his extreme youth, and to avoid any potential controversy, his name was consistently absent from all public promotions.
He sat at a table with Cheng Mu and several others, all poring over an article discussing the impact of the Contribution Point System. Unusually, it didn't delve into the system's merits or drawbacks from a macroeconomic policy perspective but instead dissected its effects on the majority of ordinary people through the lens of a common farmer.
"When the policy of issuing ten Contribution Points per person per month was first implemented, over half of the economists actually voted against it," Cheng Mu remarked to Bai Mo with a smile.
"Yet you still pushed it through."
"They all vehemently argued that with an additional monthly distribution of Contribution Points, amounting to over a trillion Huaxia Coins, inflation would spiral uncontrollably."
"I hadn't paid much attention. It's been quite a while since I concerned myself with money. But from my perspective, the ultimate outcome ought to be an increase in consumption, while simultaneously acting as a disguised form of wealth redistribution from the rich to the poor."
"Promoting consumption, I can grasp that. But robbing the rich to help the poor?"
"The relatively affluent strata, eager to keep pace with the changing times, will undoubtedly expend vast sums through the system to acquire more cultivation knowledge and resources. Frankly, the cost of these things is utterly trivial compared to their exchange price. The money issued, through that 'scissor difference,' predominantly ends up back with us," Bai Mo stated without reservation.
"With so many people present, aren't you afraid of provoking everyone's resentment by saying that?" Cheng Mu was equally direct.
"Among those assembled, is there anyone who genuinely cares about money?" he retorted. "One coin per jin of Spirit Stone, or ten thousand coins per jin of Spirit Stone—would you truly care?"
"In other words, through this Contribution Point system, vast amounts of wealth are being transferred from the middle and affluent classes into your hands, and then a small fraction is distributed to the poor via monthly payments?" Cheng Mu quickly grasped the crux of the matter.
"More precisely, it's being transferred into the hands of knowledge creators."
"What are your plans going forward?" Cheng Mu calculated. Within the Spirit Energy Research Institute's research team, there were already over a dozen high-tier ability users. If this trend persisted, they, who could acquire immense resources through the Contribution Point system, stood a very high chance of surpassing his own circle in terms of absolute power. The precarious balance currently maintained would inevitably collapse.
"It's nothing more than a race. We exchange knowledge for power, and you exchange wealth for power. The only competition is who can exchange faster." Through the light emanating from them, a visible manifestation of their worried moods, Bai Mo deduced what the others were thinking and promptly articulated his own thoughts.
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