Chapter 569: Tao
"This truly is a paradise for us shut-ins," Lin Yuedong stretched languidly after their playful banter.
"No need to go out for work, a messy den that doesn't need cleaning, no annoying relatives rushing you to get married, and you can even eat just once a day..."
Thanks to the rapid development of virtual reality technology, a considerable portion of work could now be completed entirely in virtual offices. Many people no longer needed to go to traditional workplaces.
Through the Destiny System's network link, one could enter a virtual office to meet with colleagues simply by closing their eyes. Most daily tasks could also be accomplished in the virtual world.
Ubiquitous and thoroughly modified microorganisms served as the medium for energy intake for the similarly modified humans.
Energy from sunlight was stored by these microorganisms, entering their bodies through respiration, and then diffused throughout the body via a special resonance method, directly synthesizing adenosine triphosphate for the body's use.
This skipped the process of plants generating organic matter through photosynthesis and then humans digesting and absorbing it, greatly reducing energy loss from intermediaries.
Of course, this only made people feel not hungry; in reality, components like proteins and inorganic salts were still lacking and needed to be supplemented through eating. However, it had already saved the entire society over sixty percent of its food consumption.
...
"Even if you butchered me, there wouldn't be much meat, so what's the point of raising me?"
"Why exactly do we have such good lives?" The perpetually well-fed youth, once again the philosopher, began to ponder this serious question.
He often wondered why this country's welfare was so excessively good. Compared to a lifetime of worry-free living, things like personal wealth limits and all inheritances being confiscated after death felt too illusory.
In this rationing-based society, most luxury goods had ceased production, making it impossible to even spend money. As a self-proclaimed shut-in, he had never even considered having a next generation, let alone an inheritance.
"Those rich people back then had so much money, but their actual consumption in a year was still so little; they couldn't spend it all in ten lifetimes.
The rest was spent on investments, making money roll. But what was the meaning of this endless money-rolling, continuing until death, other than making the numbers bigger for themselves?
Was it money that forced all who claimed to possess it to labor their entire lives for its proliferation, or did people actively strive their whole lives to earn money?"
Having lived in the Land of White since his student days and having barely experienced the era where capital power dominated everything, Lin Yuedong's entire value system leaned towards the new society.
Thus, he found it difficult to comprehend why, ten or twenty years ago, in the era when he was still a true youth, some people would do anything for money.
...
"Have you heard of the Holy Progenitor Faith?" Ni Lu asked after a long silence, hearing Lin Yuedong's question.
"I think I saw something about it online, preaching some 'unity of all things' theory, saying everyone is part of the God Body and so on. It was quite popular online for a while. It's strange the Destiny System didn't ban it."
"Their explanation is that all things should inherently be one. Would you mistreat your own arm?"
"Of course not, I'm not a pervert who likes to abuse myself."
"You look pretty M-ish to me. Your browsing history is full of 'being stomped on' pictures," Lin Xianglan chimed in, delivering a timely jab. r\AN}0{BEs
"..."
The atmosphere became awkward for a moment.
"Ahem, according to the Holy Progenitor Faith, our Destiny System is precisely the framework of the God Body, which is why it treats us, who are also integrated into the Destiny System, well," Ni Lu continued.
"But wasn't the Destiny System announced to the world by that one person back then?" Lin Yuedong still remembered that declaration that challenged the entire world, and he still remembered the June snow.
"He also became part of the Destiny System."
"So, the leader of the Holy Progenitor Faith is definitely him, no doubt about it."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I am also a Holy Progenitor follower."
"..." Lin Yuedong had already lost count of how many times he had been speechless today.
"I know what you're worried about. We never force others to believe," Ni Lu gently embraced the young man in front of her, letting his head bury into the curves that had just grown on her body.
As a microbial pan-consciousness, she could change her physique at will, like a mass of water.
"Received empathy invitation, do you agree?" Lin Yuedong, suddenly "submerged" by water, received an invitation from the other party.
"Agree."
As countless sensory messages transmitted, he "saw" the world through Ni Lu's eyes. It was an ineffable sensation, as if he had gained billions of eyes out of nowhere, observing everything around him from countless angles.
Even a wisp of air, in this state, would transform into an unimaginably vast atomic nebula, and he himself was constantly falling towards the center of that nebula.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!"
In just a few seconds, Lin Yuedong found himself lost within it, even experiencing the illusion of dizziness from lack of oxygen.
There was simply too much visual information to process; his brain instinctively activated its protective mode.
"Let him go!" Lin Xianglan snatched her brother back, desperately shaking his body, trying to wake him from his nightmare.
"He'll be fine. I merely showed him the tip of the iceberg of the true world."
"Iceberg my ass! I knew he was screaming!" The little cat demon cursed indignantly. If it weren't for their good relationship usually, and the fact that she truly couldn't beat that slime, she would have had the impulse to go up and smack it.
...
"Xiao Lan, I'm fine," Lin Yuedong said, having woken up. After restraining the little cat that wanted to bite "someone," he gave Ni Lu a deep look.
"I have a question. If I had continued to fall just now, what would have happened in the end?"
"You would have completely lost your self, becoming a Holy Spirit of the Holy Progenitor Faith, truly becoming one with the God Body."
"So, your faith in the Holy Progenitor Faith isn't that loyal, then?" Lin Yuedong asked pointedly. He had heard something amiss in Ni Lu's words.
"We are not a traditional religion in that sense, nor do we have any fanatical beliefs or proselytizing desires. To put it in a way you can easily understand, the God Body is more like the Dao described in traditional Huaxia culture.
All things in the world are part of the Dao."
"That's too mystical," Lin Yuedong found it difficult to accept these explanations for a moment. As someone who had grown up in an atheist society, he was naturally wary of anything that claimed to be a religion.
Especially from history books, just a few years before his birth, the theocratic empire of Maysuo had just been annihilated by the Huaxia Federation in a single war.
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