Chapter 865 - 282: Absolute Opposition, the Wishkeeper Cheng Long!

Chapter 865: Chapter 282: Absolute Opposition, the Wishkeeper Cheng Long!

"Is it because of the Inspector’s identity?"

"As long as you clearly understand that." Liu Bi’s tone grew increasingly serious, "If you were just an ordinary researcher, no one would say much. But you’re an Inspector, so you must understand this line cannot be crossed."

He paused, his gaze as sharp as a knife, "If today there was an Infected Body standing in front of you, and your first thought isn’t how to resolve it quickly, to eradicate it, but rather how to exploit it for profit, to achieve your own goals, then you really need to think hard about whether you deserve to be this Inspector."

"So, back then you and my father parted ways because of this?" Cheng Ye shifted the topic, speaking with intention.

Liu Bi’s expression darkened, and he turned to look at the ceaseless flow of the White Water River, the wind on the river surface lifting the hem of his clothes.

"Brother Long was just like you back then, abandoning the bottom line that an Inspector should uphold, that’s why I chose to part ways with him and didn’t participate in that final major event."

He took a deep breath, his voice carrying a distant air, "I told you, the first time I took you on an outing I would tell you everything, and now it seems, it’s time for you to know the truth of those years."

"Your grandfather, Cheng Wu, was an extremely extreme person. For his ideas, he could completely give up all material pleasures, living like an ascetic. Do you know why he specifically chose Stone Province to build Shelter City back then? It was all his initiative!"

Liu Bi opened up slowly, uncovering the dust-covered past, "He believed that human desire disrupts rationality. Driven by desire, people endlessly seek possession, resulting in countless conflicts with nature and society."

"He thought that if we could cut off these unnecessary desires, people could spare more rationality to do more important things. That’s why he chose Stone Province, where the land is barren, yet self-sufficient; there are no rich resources that would breed greed, nor is there a luxurious atmosphere that would nourish avarice. Back then, while other places in the Wasteland were still fighting for food, even breaking out in wars between Shelter Cities, Happiness City had already implemented a perfect planned economy."

"In the city, residents didn’t have to exhaust themselves over food, nor did they fight to the death over rations. Everyone’s quota of Nutrient Paste was fixed, and by completing more tasks, they could earn more quota. No longer hungry, with the obsession with food fading from eating Nutrient Paste, the freed-up rationality could be fully invested into combating the Infected Body, building the shelter system, and researching survival methods."

Having said that, he asked without turning his head, "Do you think he succeeded?"

Could it be that the location of Happiness City was entirely orchestrated by Cheng Wu?

Cheng Ye was momentarily stunned, not because of Cheng Wu’s great power, but because the original intention was so subversive to common understanding.

Was it really because crops couldn’t be grown here, that it could suppress people’s desires?

He pondered for a moment, lightly shook his head, then immediately nodded, "I suppose it was successful. In this barren land, Happiness City, without relying on agriculture, developed into a leading Shelter City, going much further than those that guarded fertile lands."

"Yes, it’s this initial success that step by step pushed him into an extreme abyss, from which he could never return."

Liu Bi lightly sighed, his tone filled with deep lament, "The inspection station was Cheng Wu’s second masterpiece. He fundamentally believed that the system of self-examination within humanity was inherently ineffective, that people could never break free from the shackles of selfishness, which is a weakness etched into human nature that has never truly been eradicated."

"The chaos during the Great Expansion era, I remember clearly to this day."

"There were those who, in order to keep infected relatives alive, would become executioners, luring innocent strangers to feed to those monsters; some Shelter Cities even trampled moral boundaries by deliberately releasing infection sources, using the knife of disaster to dismantle opposing forces; in the black markets of the expansion zones, there were merchants engaging in the taming of Infected Bodies, feeding them small amounts of the virus to turn them into weak yet mobile infected bodies, then dispatching them to dangerous areas to seize resources on their behalf."

"Wherever the infection source reached, it wasn’t long before it turned into a wasteland or a crumbling city; the fire of civilization humanity had preserved over thousands of years seemed on the verge of being extinguished completely. It was at this time that the inspection station emerged."

"The first generation of Inspectors only harbored hate in their hearts, hate for the infection source, hate for the Infected Bodies; it was this pure hatred that supported them in building the entire framework of the inspection station."

"Once the framework was established, the duties of the Inspectors gradually solidified. Every Inspector must fight the Infected Bodies to the last moment, regardless of whether they are family or foes and regardless of how much profit could be gained from them; any hesitation is a dereliction of duty, any deviation from the path necessitates immediate departure from the position."

He paused, then added, "It is precisely because of this iron law that the model of the Happiness Inspection Station was able to be promoted, and eventually imitated by other Shelter Cities. In fact, many Shelter Cities had infection screening stations back then, but people recognized the Happiness Inspection Station as the original. The core of this lies in Cheng Wu’s theory: the Inspectors he trained could perfectly uphold the line of ’absolute opposition,’ which allowed residents to truly trust the inspection station."

At this point, Liu Bi suddenly turned his head, raising a new question, "If a highly valuable infection source were placed in front of you, destroying it would only require one shot, but bringing it back for research would require many sacrifices, including the lives of several colleagues. Tell me, what would you do?"