Chapter 503: The Anomaly
"Why? Why can't the natives of this world be roused?! Do they not have even the slightest desire to change the status quo?"
In a secret gathering point deep underground, several young people sat together, drowning their sorrows in drink while complaining to each other about the lack of progress in their grand cause.
"Everything else is fine. They're willing to accept literacy education and basic arithmetic, but as soon as you mention anything about reform, they immediately become very strange, as if they've seen something utterly repulsive."
"Exactly. The look in their eyes gives me the feeling that it's just like someone with trypophobia seeing a lotus seed pod—it's practically a genetic-level revulsion."
"Don't want to hear it, don't say it, goodbye. The triple-threat of disgust."
After three rounds of drinks, someone started cracking jokes.
"I think there must be something wrong here. Living at the bottom of a feudal dynasty like the Wei Dynasty, it's impossible that they don't have even a shred of desire to rise up... Back in our ancient times, didn't we have the saying, 'Are kings, nobles, generals, and ministers born with a different kind of seed?'"
"In this world, kings and nobles truly *are* born with a special seed. The laws of the Wei Dynasty explicitly state that no one not of the Council's Bloodline Houses is permitted to hold office.
At best, commoners can become an unranked petty scribe; it's absolutely impossible for them to become part of the system.
"But the more desperate a society is, the easier it should be to mobilize the masses."
"Perhaps they've just gotten used to it, who knows."
"Thousands of years without the slightest progress, with most people still living in dire misery—such a backward system shouldn't be allowed to persist!"
"Well said!"
"Cheers!"
"Hiccup..." A burp shattered the passionate atmosphere, but it was quickly ignored by everyone.
......
Over a year passed, and the various teams from the Ark successively launched their plans. However, they discovered to their great dismay that their Manghuang Realm 'teammates' were truly difficult to lead!
No matter what grand undertaking they wished to achieve, it was impossible without mobilizing the broad masses.
For those who planned to follow the strategy of 'farming to ignite industry and sweep all before them,' it was essential to cultivate a large number of technical personnel and an industrial populace to support the underlying production system. Otherwise, relying solely on a small team of transmigrators, industrializing society would be a pipe dream.
Yet, to the transmigrators' dismay, they found that while the commoners they taught became literate, understood basic arithmetic, and could work as factory laborers, they invariably insisted that the current society was the best, that the Bloodline Houses rightfully ruled everything, and that they themselves should rightfully obey.
As for questions of social reform, they always avoided discussing them.
......
"This constant resistance is too much to bear; they must have been brainwashed." In the past two years, Lu Yuesheng had finally experienced firsthand what it meant for ideals to be beautiful, but reality to be cruel.
The group from the Flame Alliance, who enjoyed stirring up trouble, playfully agreed to support Lu Yuesheng in her endeavor to overthrow the Bloodline Houses and establish a new order after she joined their alliance. They even unanimously pushed her to the forefront, making her the overt leader of the uprising organization.
However, at this point, they encountered the same problem as the other teams—they simply couldn't mobilize the common people!
When she had been doing business in Hanluo City previously, she had never encountered such a problem. Various promotional concepts allowed her to easily defeat competitors and open up the market, and some small commodities and innovations from Earth were deeply popular with the locals.
But now Lu Yuesheng found that as soon as she touched upon the subject of the Bloodline Houses' rule, if she so much as put forth a few new ideas, these people would immediately switch to a different personality, becoming quite strange.
She had never imagined that she would encounter such a difficulty, or that people's personalities could shift so rapidly.
"It's simply the ultimate version of 'Don't Discuss State Affairs'..."
"Mere speech control definitely couldn't achieve this level, let alone the fact that we've been here for so many years and never heard of anyone being arrested for speaking out of turn." Lin Yanyang also sensed that something was amiss.
"The Wei Dynasty's Bloodline Houses seem completely unconcerned with commoners' opinions."
"Conversations among commoners also seem to never touch upon politics!" They suddenly discovered this anomaly.
"Mr. Wu, what do you think is going on?" Lu Yuesheng posed the question to Bai Mo, who was sitting in a corner, habitually studying Twilight Fire.
Half a year ago, he had "emerged from seclusion" from his "telescope," then concealed the character "Bai," and had since wandered among the others using the name Wu Sheng.
"Collective impression distortion?" Hearing Lu Yuesheng's question, Bai Mo set down his sword and softly spoke his thoughts.
As for this person whose identity and origins were a mystery, and who rarely spoke on normal days, the members of the Flame Alliance had always kept a respectful distance from him. If he hadn't claimed to be from the Ark, and if his manner of speaking hadn't clearly carried an Earth-like style, coupled with Lu Yuesheng's inexplicable trust in him, they certainly wouldn't have allowed Bai Mo to participate in their gathering.
"You mean someone distorted everyone's inherent impression of this matter?"
"If politics were equated with excretion, no normal person would discuss it further." Bai Mo said abruptly.
"Is that even possible? That's utterly fantastic!"
"Thinking about it carefully, it doesn't seem entirely unreasonable..."
"Vice-Leader, have you gone mad too?!" The young man next to Lin Yanyang looked on the verge of collapsing.
"Brother Wu Sheng's analogy is just a bit unique. Let me give a different example. In our ancient Huaxia, sex was indeed a topic related to everyone, yet one that everyone was unwilling to discuss much.
If there truly existed such a powerful being capable of distorting human minds, and they used the power of culture to guide the status of politics in the Great Wei Dynasty to be equivalent to the topic of sex in ancient Huaxia, it's possible they could achieve this." Lin Yanyang explained with a straight face, seeming to have been led down the same train of thought by Bai Mo.
"Ancient people indeed avoided discussing sex..."
"And normal people truly don't casually discuss topics related to defecation..."
"Can't you guys think of something normal?! Like a mind imprint or something!" The young man, his face a picture of despair, loudly shouted his thoughts in an attempt to save the rapidly derailing conversation.
"That's also quite possible. Disregarding all reason, with belief being everything, all commoners could have been imprinted with a mind imprint from birth, making them firmly believe that only the Bloodline Houses can save them."
"But if that were the case, there shouldn't still be a very small number of people supporting us." Lu Yuesheng raised her doubt.
Although the vast majority of people persisted in their existing views after hearing her propositions, a very small number were still persuaded by their ideals and joined the uprising preparation team. This seemed to create a contradiction.
PS: Recommending a book, "Welcome to the Flop Squad"... a book with a unique "flavor" in every sense of the word.
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