Chapter 691: Personal Value
In the Nine Provinces, at Sumeru Mountain, the fragrance of fine tea wafted through the air.
Borrowing Wuzhi’s body, the Dao Ancestor was reminiscing about the past with the Confucius Sage.
“Back when I died, my soul left my body and was just about to head to the Underworld, I saw Human Sovereign Jiang standing beside my corpse. At that moment, I was utterly astonished, never imagining that there could be a person in this world whose depth even the Qi Observation Technique couldn’t fathom.”
“This person’s strength surpassed everything I had ever known.”
“At that time, I knew there was still hope for the future.”
“The hope I spoke of wasn’t that Human Sovereign Jiang could defeat the Immortal Realm and the Heavenly Dao, but that he might be able to oppose the rule of destruction, travel to the Convergence of Possibilities, and eliminate the rule at its source.”
“Dao Ancestor, you are most familiar with the rule of life evolution. Do you also not know how exactly Human Sovereign Jiang cultivated?”
The Dao Ancestor shook his head. “The rule of life evolution describes levels very clearly. There is simply no such realm as the Mahayana Stage, let alone his ability to create something from nothing and produce spiritual energy himself. This doesn’t conform to the rule of energy conservation.”
“Regardless, there were no victors in that battle. Don’t think that because you survived to the end, you can consider yourself the winner.”
The Dao Ancestor reminded the Confucius Sage, “At that time, we only knew the first method. Your and my persistence, viewed through the lens of that time, was wrong. The Buddha was right.”
“Now, the Buddha has gone to the Underworld, and you remain in the world of the living, merely due to good fortune.”
The Confucius Sage bowed respectfully in thanks.
The Dao Ancestor didn’t dwell on this topic too much. “However, I truly never expected that when Emperor Shun asked me to convey a message to you, hoping you would spread your teachings across the heavens, it was to research the second method.”
The Confucius Sage also recalled the days of spreading his teachings across the heavens. “Speaking of which, when I was researching morality, I believed that as long as everyone was honest and spoke from the heart, morality could be achieved.”
“For this purpose, I selected a world and inscribed the ‘Truth Decree,’ making the people of that world answer all questions and always speak the truth. Originally, I planned to visit that world after some time to see the results. But then I encountered the internal strife within the Immortal Realm. I fought with the Buddha for nine thousand years, and I have no idea what state that world is in now.”
…
The three of them walked along the street, eating ice cream while sorting through the information they had gathered in this world.
“Several thousand years ago, when the Truth World was still an agrarian civilization, people fought for power and profit, and lies ran rampant.”
“Where power was greater, lies were more numerous. When imperial authority reached its supreme, unparalleled peak, princes vying for the next throne would scheme against each other, even resorting to weaving enormous lies.”
“Right at that moment, immortal traces appeared. People discovered they could no longer tell lies. When asked a question, they had to answer. For a time, society was in turmoil, and people were filled with fear and anxiety.”
“Stability maintenance meetings held by officials at all levels nearly turned into exposé sessions. Contradictions intensified completely, shifting from covert struggles to overt, open conflicts.”
“After nearly a century of social change, society finally tended towards peace, and people gradually figured out how to live.”
“People discovered there were many benefits to only telling the truth. Schemes and mutual calculations decreased significantly, and efficiency greatly improved.”
“Officials would no longer brush them off with excuses. Government offices everywhere became exceptionally transparent. Commoners finally understood just how severe bureaucratic formalism within the government was.”
“After several dynastic evolutions, the feudal monarchy was overthrown. The self-deceiving concept of the ‘Son of Heaven’ was gone, replaced by a parliamentary system of open deliberation.”
“Simply asking a council member, ‘Did you truly become a council member considering the interests of the masses?’ could determine what that council member was really thinking.”
“This ensured the purity of the parliamentary system.”
“In the new era, besides the parliament, another important concept emerged: Personal Value.”
“According to a world survey organized by the parliament, the results revealed that the essence of humanity is not the pursuit of equality, but the pursuit of profit.”
“In other words, most people want to climb upwards.”
“The greater the social value you create, the greater your Personal Value. The greater your Personal Value, the more privileges you enjoy.”
“Based on the Personal Value calculation formula, people are precisely divided into three, six, or nine grades, with one hundred as the benchmark.”
“Those with the highest Personal Value are the Council President, followed by council members and conglomerate CEOs.”
“Just as we saw, when conflicts arise between people, the government subtracts their Personal Values.”
“The social value of an ordinary person is one hundred. Once it falls below one hundred, it means entering the lowest stratum of society. Because everyone else is at one hundred, and you alone are below it, people can rely on their higher Personal Value to bully you wantonly, and you dare not resist.”
“The method for calculating Personal Value is performed by the Truth World’s largest quantum computer, ‘Gaia’.”
“The Gaia computer has established a vast and precise social model. This social model updates in real-time. To calculate someone, it extracts that person’s personal information and examines how much fluctuation they generate.”
“The amount of fluctuation is their Personal Value.”
“In a sense, the Truth World has achieved the unification of personal value and social value, realizing the ‘order’ that Emperor Shun spoke of.”
“Everyone together establishes the order, and everyone follows it.”
The three of them marveled, feeling this world was truly novel. The social structure of the Truth World was different from any world they had seen before.
“The crime rate has significantly decreased. Investigation methods have become purely about interrogation and inquiry.”
“Research institutes no longer see incidents of people seizing credit for scientific achievements. Research efficiency has increased.”
“Government efficiency has improved. There is no phenomenon of administrative neglect or laziness. When asking the government about matters, you won’t get evasive responses like ‘you must trust the government’ or ‘we are all following procedure.'”
“With less scheming and internal strife, various social institutions have been streamlined, freeing up more energy to enhance productivity.”
“However, correspondingly, the people of this world, in order to increase their Personal Value and social status, will stop at nothing, moving towards another extreme.”
“Merits offset faults. To be able to make mistakes freely, people desperately contribute themselves.”
“The Truth World takes human desire, pulls it out, and lays it on the table, openly proclaiming that people live for profit, and that morality and shame are all nonsense.”
Those with a Personal Value exceeding two hundred could decide the life and death of an ordinary person. This privilege was simply outrageously large, and everyone wanted it.
“It’s just a pity, how easy is it to exceed a Personal Value of two hundred? An ordinary person toils their whole life, merely fluctuating between one hundred and one hundred and fifty, after all, everyone is laboring.”
“Dedicating a lifetime, toiling a lifetime, yet ultimately remaining just an ordinary person.”
“If one’s natural talent is slightly higher than an ordinary person’s, then they can hover between one hundred fifty-one and one hundred ninety-nine.”
“Two hundred is a hurdle. Without special means, it cannot be reached.”
“And these special means are all held in the hands of those whose Personal Value exceeds two hundred.”
As they spoke, the three arrived at the Personal Value Calculation Center of the Gaia Research Institute.