Chapter 836: Tit for Tat
Fortunately, the people of Dragon City at this time were still very ambitious.
They did not feel like they had reached the end of the world war in their previous life and had been besieged on all sides.
After half a century of cruel war, the people of Dragon City had become valiant and respectful of martial arts. From enterprises to the military to the people, the color of iron and blood was extremely strong.
With the prestige of a great victory, the argument of “marching into the depths of the Other World” quickly took over the absolute mainstream.
The argument of “guarding Monster Mountain Range” could not possibly win the general public’s favor.
As for how to march and who to march on as the main body, there were many completely different views. Everyone was tit for tat and no one wanted to give in at all.
Just as Shao Zhengyang once told Meng Chao, the problem of choosing to expand outward with a mega corporation as the main body or with the Red Dragon Army as the core needed to be urgently solved before Dragon City entered the next stage of development.
“Corporations are the most scientific, reasonable, and superior organizational structure in the millions of years that human civilization has developed!”
Meng Chao saw some supporters of the sun never setting theory on the Internet and advocated in this way, “Corporations are the most groundbreaking, most enterprising, and most efficient organizations that can plunder and utilize resources to promote the development of science and technology as well as the expansion of civilization. Corporations gather human wisdom, courage, perseverance, and farsightedness… all the best qualities found in the elites of mankind.
“From the moment that a corporation is born, it faces an endless stream of competition. Therefore, the corporation never resists. It even looks forward to the competition cheerfully, hoping to carve out a bloody path through a sea of blades. In the end, the weak and small corporations will fall, and the strongest corporation will push our civilization to the peak with the leadership of the strongest human elites!
“Back in the Earth era, the empire on which the sun never set drove invincible war chariots forward during the Industrial Revolution, conquering the four seas and crushing everything.
“At the same time, the eastern civilization nipped the corporations in their infancy. Holding on to what was left of them, they sealed themselves off and grew old. They missed the most important revolution, the great voyage, the great discovery, and the great conquest in the history of Earth’s civilization. That led to three hundred years of decline and sorrow!
“Friends, the era we are in today is very similar to the early days of the great voyage on Earth. Dragon City’s civilization and the empire on which the sun never set also have countless similarities. This is our destiny. No, it is our mission!
“Shouldn’t we learn from our predecessors and grasp the rare opportunity presented by the Other World’s ‘great voyage era?’ Under the nine mega corporations’ leadership, shouldn’t we spread the brilliance of Dragon City’s civilization to every corner of the Other World and build a new, even greater empire on which the sun never sets?”
That theory was very controversial.
The “big nine’s” performance during the zombie crisis, the overthrowing of the Blood Alliance’s cruel rule, the Monster War, and a series of survival battles could also be said to be Dragon City’s mainstays.
Therefore, many citizens supported the theory of the sun never setting and believed that the “big nine” would definitely lead Dragon City’s civilization in opening up a wider world and creating greater glory.
However, the small and medium-sized enterprises that were gradually developing, the rising Red Dragon Army, and the newly-advanced experts who were unwilling to let the peerless experts monopolize a large amount of rare cultivation resources, also gradually gathered together and unified their thoughts in a life-and-death battle. They accumulated friendship and even forged an unbreakable alliance of interests.
They also straightened their backs and formed their own voices.
“Indeed, the historical experience of the Earth era tells us that when companies develop rationally and compete in a healthy way under the supervision of the highest authority, they can truly promote the strength of the country.
“However, if companies shake off or even destroy higher-level regulations, ignore fairness, only focus on efficiency, and act out a game of the law of the jungle, vicious competition, and abnormal expansion under the banner of free development, ultimately allowing companies to stand above everything, it will be of no benefit to anyone, even to the companies themselves.
“After a hundred years of glory, the so-called empire on which the sun never set finally fell and returned to its original state, turning into the tiny country that was shrouded in mist and raining.
“Even the successor of that empire, the ‘country at the top of the mountain,’ which was ten times more powerful than the empire on which the sun never set in its heyday, gradually gave way from the interests of the public and country to the interests of the corporations and selfish interests of the few people who controlled them. It was due to the theft by the corporations’ highest authority. In the end, the glorious business collapsed in just a few decades.
“The rise, glory, and decline of the two empires all proved that corporations, especially corporations that were in private hands, especially corporations that were in private hands and possessed tremendous military power, were definitely not the good news of a civilization!
“After all, conquering the Other World is not the goal. It is not to plunder and utilize the resources of the Other World efficiently either. Using these resources to build our civilization and even the entire Other World into a more prosperous and beautiful place so that all Dragon City citizens can enjoy the benefits of development and expansion is the goal.
“If we conquer the Other World for half a day, the mega corporations will receive more and more resources, expand more and more, and the divine-level champions will become stronger and stronger, but the ordinary citizens will still live in the dark and narrow slums, with monsters entering the water as the main source of spirit energy. They won’t know how to awaken their extraordinary powers even if they train for their entire lives. What’s the point of such conquests?”
This was considered rather polite.
There was something even more blunt and straightforward. “In the past few decades, the Survival Committee that’s controlled by the nine mega corporations has made countless promises to the citizens. They promised that we would have a more spacious residence, a more dignified job, and a more equal status. Our children will also receive more training resources. As long as they are willing to work hard, they will definitely have a chance to become superhuman.
“However, the realization of all these promises is still far away.
“Whenever ordinary citizens had doubts that the Survival Committee, which is controlled by the nine mega corporations, would shift all the responsibility to the monsters.
“‘Because the Monster War is still going on and all the resources have to be invested in the war, the citizens have to tighten their belts, wait, and so on…
“‘Because the monsters often invade Dragon City, we are unable to build a more spacious residence and provide more jobs…
“‘Because of the high pressure of the war, Dragon City is always on the highest alert state. Only the brains of superhumans can support the high-efficiency and high-intensity operation of the Survival Committee. Therefore, superhuman members of the Survival Committee are in the absolute majority.’ Among the ordinary citizens who occupy more than 95% of the total population of Dragon City, there are only a few ordinary people members who are like mascots.
“At the same time, the scale of the nine mega corporations continues to expand, and the powerhouses of the nine great families has increased as well. The gap between their food, clothing, shelter, and cultivation resources and the ordinary citizens grows larger… It’s as if only the ordinary citizens endured the suffering caused by the Monster War, while these so-called ‘great families’ enjoyed astronomical war dividends in some ingenious way!
“Now, the Monster War is over.
“It has ended with our victory and countless spoils of war.
“We cannot help but ask, when will the Survival Committee, which is controlled by the nine mega corporations, be able to fulfill its promise?
“When will the Survival Committee be able to improve the living environment of ordinary citizens on a large scale and create jobs with more value and dignity?
“When will the Survival Committee pay attention to the education of the children of humble families and ensure that they have the same probability of awakening extraordinary power as the children of wealthy families?
“When will the Survival Committee be able to self-reform, reduce the number of members from mega corporations and the nine major families, increase the proportion of ordinary members and military members, and make the highest decisions in a way that’s more considerate of the interests of all classes and groups in Dragon City?”
Some people even introduced themselves. “I am from the Home Party. In Dragon City, where the Colonization Party was the absolute mainstream, we were the absolute outliers. We were often misunderstood and even slandered, thinking that we were cowards who only wanted to hide on Monster Mountain Range and had no fighting spirit at all.
“But what I want to say is that the Home Party has never opposed expansion. We just want to understand the meaning of expansion first.
“What if the expansion of Dragon City is just to raise the level of the Deity Realm experts by one or two levels, to make the enterprises of the Deity Realm experts bigger, to make the families richer, and to allow the children of the Deity Realm experts to raise more pets and feed them fatter steaks.
“The lives of the ordinary citizens, on the other hand, are not the same. Instead of enjoying the benefits of expansion, they have to bear the price of expansion. If they have to face the fury of the Other World’s natives, if they have to turn into a pile of bones in the depths of the Other World thousands of miles away, if they refuse such expansion and become part of the Home Party, shouldn’t they be the most rational choice for ordinary citizens?
“Always remember, my friends, when someone raises his arms and shouts, ‘we should conquer the Other World at all costs,’ you must think clearly whether you are included in the ‘we’ or ‘cost.’”
Such discussions could be seen everywhere on the Internet and on the streets.
Even when one went shopping on the streets, one could hear the butcher waving his pig slaughtering knife and talking loudly.
This was an era where the winds and clouds were surging and people were trying to save the country.
If one did not worry about the country and the people, they would simply not be able to keep up with the trend.
In the beginning, everyone could still maintain their rationality and calmly discuss Dragon City’s future path.
As their words became sharper and sharper, continuously poking at each other’s sore spots, everyone’s anger rose. Rational discussion gradually turned into a storm that swept the entire city.
The eye of the storm, “should the Land Enclosure Decree be suspended or upgraded?” seemed to be relatively calm.
Nevertheless, a scandal that was very likely to shake the foundations of the nine mega corporations was detonated, causing a public uproar.