Chapter 397: Compromise
"You think, how did the Destiny System come about?" Bai Mo countered, looking at the assembled crowd.
"How would I know!"
"Now you do." With his teasing remark, dozens of streams of light emerged from Bai Mo, imprinting themselves onto their avatars before anyone could even react.
"What is this!"
"Damn it! How can something affect the main body through an avatar!"
"Welcome to the Destiny System temporary port. Authentication valid for 157,679,999 seconds remaining. Initial survival points: 100, initial moral points: 100, initial contribution points: 0, temporary ID is..." An emotionless, mechanical voice resonated within their bodies.
......
"Your temporary port is valid for five years. Starting today, everything related to the system will disappear exactly five years from now."
"We'll just follow your orders, why do you have to add a system like a dog collar?!" A few rebellious individuals were extremely displeased with the voice that occasionally resounded in their minds.
"Who exactly is that Dong Fang Sa, who could actually prompt these two siblings to find me in Tianhai..." His thoughts suddenly shifted to another point. "And he just happened to leave Huaxia before my blockade was completed."
However, he quickly dismissed that question. More immediate and important matters awaited Bai Mo's attention.
"Can they be saved?" Someone voiced the question that concerned everyone the most.
Those who had been consumed by Spirit Energy flames, more or less, had some connection to the individuals standing before Bai Mo; many were their relatives, close friends, or even trusted right-hand men.
Although, in the face of absolute violence, they had abandoned the idea of resisting to the bitter end and chosen to compromise, they still needed confirmation regarding the safety of these confidantes.
"We'll go by the criminal law. The upper limit is life imprisonment, the lower limit, like yours, is five years. I'll sentence them based on whatever I calculate; there will be no reduced sentences, no medical parole. Once their sentences are served, I will be responsible for reshaping their bodies from their souls," Bai Mo said in a joking tone.
Yet, no one actually took his words as a joke.
"Are you going to force them all to their deaths?" After recalling various relevant statutes, Cheng Mu understood clearly that very few of his subordinates would likely emerge alive.
If everything were truly sentenced according to the laws of the Huaxia Federation—where, on average, a bribe of one hundred thousand Huaxia coins earned a year's imprisonment—tens of thousands of people would probably rot in jail.
"Even without me, do you think Chen Bo and the others wouldn't want to act?" Bai Mo cast a glance in Chen Bo's direction.
Chen Bo offered no explanation, maintaining his thoughtful expression.
This group, who had risen from young military officers, much like the Dao Academy faction originating from the lower and middle strata of society, had indeed once held fervent ideals of eradicating social corruption and darkness.
Unfortunately, the reality was that their fervor didn't last long. Their subordinates quickly adapted to the new environment. As a group of power parvenus, their desire for illicit gains was actually far stronger, and their methods even more brazen.
To genuinely eradicate corruption, one must first purge the black sheep from among one's own ranks; otherwise, it would inevitably devolve into mere factional struggle.
But this deeply entrenched practice had become so pervasive that no matter how many subordinates they replaced, it couldn't change the fact that power breeds corruption. There were simply too many of them; if they were all cut off at once, the country would instantly grind to a halt.
For various reasons, they all ultimately chose to compromise, capitulating to this problem of corruption that countless benevolent individuals, wise monarchs, and ambitious rulers had failed to solve over thousands of years, from antiquity to the modern era.
"I just want to ask one thing: how do you plan to govern this country? I know you're immensely powerful, but it's impossible for you to keep watch over every single person every moment." Yun Jie was more curious about this particular point.
Even if Bai Mo was overwhelmingly strong, strong enough to instantly kill them, no one believed that he alone could replace the tens of millions of administrative personnel and perform all their duties.
In terms of combat prowess alone, each of them could utterly destroy a city, but to single-handedly replace tens of thousands of management personnel at all levels, from top to bottom, and thoroughly govern every facet of a city, was an almost impossible feat.
From economic development to urban planning, from public order to pollution control, from attracting investment to maintaining urban appearance—behind every problem, there were countless matters that required handling.
If they were to personally handle everything, with their minds generally operating at the "hundred-thought" level, the absolute limit of what they could manage would likely be a small town of about thirty to fifty thousand people, at the cost of dedicating no thought whatsoever to cultivation and working twelve hours a day.
And this merely concerned the structure of the Federation government. Beyond that, there were vast numbers of companies and factories, with the livelihoods of untold millions inextricably linked to them. The volume of daily affairs generated was equally staggering; to manage everything completely would simply be a nightmare.
What's more, what had vanished was not merely the upper echelons of a single city, but virtually all administrative personnel across this superpower, spanning tens of millions of square kilometers.
Thus, no one could comprehend what Bai Mo truly intended. If he simply aimed to destroy the Huaxia Federation, his current method was far less efficient than just indiscriminately carpet bombing everywhere...
"You'll know soon enough," he did not answer.
"When their sentences are completed, can you guarantee to reshape their bodies for them?" Someone raised another query.
"No guarantee. Don't try to reason with me."
......
"One final reminder: your work begins tomorrow." With that said, he directly expelled the others' avatars and resumed his own affairs.
"What on earth does he want to do? Doesn't he know that so many people disappearing simultaneously will absolutely cause widespread social panic?"
"It won't just bring panic; even social order will collapse."
Several former high-ranking officials, on their way back, had already foreseen the impending chaos, but sadly, they were powerless to reverse it.
Anyone who had raised their right hand and stepped into this meticulously set trap almost instantly vanished, one after another, in front of the others.
"Daddy, what's wrong?" A little boy cried out, staring at the middle-aged man at the chairman's desk, whose expression had suddenly turned painful and contorted.
But before he could even utter the words "help me," the middle-aged man's entire body began to spontaneously combust, Spirit Energy flames erupting from within him, engulfing him at a terrifying speed.
A few seconds later, only the child remained, sobbing uncontrollably, terrified by the sudden tragedy.
Similar incidents occurred in various other locations. Countless individuals who had previously raised their right hands in support of Bei Di'en—and whose names had been privately recorded by the behind-the-scenes masterminds—spontaneously combusted in rapid succession, not a single one escaping.
The immense panic caused by this even far exceeded the Spirit Devourer virus that Gaia had unleashed before.
PS: Recommending a book written by a group member, "The Pseudo-Girl Familiar of Another World," by Common World Salted Fish (why are there so many authors named Salted Fish recently).
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