Chapter 695

Chapter 695: A Shocking Sight

Jiabang Empire, a secret prison in Jingdu City

With Qiu Weidao’s arrival, and with the increased attention from the Jiabang Empire, more and more members of the evil way were captured. Some of these evil beings had not harmed anyone, but they were caught through investigations.

"Senior Qiu, now we have caught over three hundred people, but only around ten of them have committed serious crimes. Most of the others have not committed any serious crimes. Some of them have a dark power to suck blood, and they buy blood from supernatural beasts to absorb. Even though it’s not as effective as a cultivator’s blood, it’s cheaper than regular medicine.

Some people have a dark power to steal others’ spiritual power, but they are too scared to kill. Instead, they secretly practice within their family, absorbing the spiritual power refined by other family members. Senior Qiu, what should we do about this?"

A high-ranking officer from the Jiabang police said to Qiu Weidao, "Over three hundred people have gone through the first round of interrogation, and the results left him stunned. There are so many dark paths, but are they truly evil?"

In his opinion, not all of them are evil. Out of these over three hundred people, ninety percent are honest or poor individuals. They aspire to advance in their cultivation to improve their lives, yet they are afraid to harm others. They are even cautious about breaking rules, which makes him feel compassion towards them.

Qiu Weidao was already aware of the interrogation results, which also surprised him. In his understanding, cultivators who turn to dark paths would only do so if they had better prospects. Otherwise, they would not be able to resist temptation. Yet, this was the unexpected outcome.

"What do you think would be the best way to handle this?"

"According to the law, they have not committed crimes and should be released without charges. However, the dangers of these dark paths are significant. The other dozen or so criminals are beyond count."

The person continued, "The remaining followers of the dark path don’t deserve pity because they often target those close to them, sometimes even their own family or loved ones. They are entirely deserving of punishment."

"Let’s do this then, investigate the source first. Once we have traced it back, I will erase this segment of their memory."

"Does the senior have this ability?"

"This ability is not very powerful, but it takes a lot of energy. Back then, I also rose up from humble beginnings and can empathize with them. We need to resolve this quickly. If other senior brothers come to handle it, they wouldn’t be so troublesome – they would just kill them directly."

Qiu Weidao said, he was a lucky one in the era of cultivating immortality. He was born as an ordinary person and climbed his way to a high position. He still had some sympathy for these poor people. If others came, just a few hundred ordinary people, they would be killed without hesitation.

"Yes, senior, I understand. We have located those spies, and we will soon capture them."

The person immediately said, this might be the best outcome. He knew he had to seize the opportunity, otherwise, with the indifference of some cultivators, killing a few hundred people really wouldn’t matter much.

·······

"The case of evil sect has been solved, aren’t you happy?"

In Haigang City, Cao Ying entered from outside the door and saw Lin Jiang staring at a document. After glancing at it, she spoke.

Qiu Weidao has been in Jiabang Empire for some time now, taking a lot of elite core members with him. The progress is very fast. The case of the evil sect is not only in Jiabang Empire, it involves other countries as well, including Huaxia, because it involves spies.

After some time of investigation, many spies were caught, and various countries have started to enact new laws officially banning the spread of these evil techniques.

"Little Ying, how about we play a little game?"

"Sure, what game? Do you want some alcohol to liven it up? I’ll go get some."

"No need, it’s just a role-playing game. If back in Yunzhong City I hadn’t adopted you, you would just be an ordinary person without any special talents, not joining the Zhonghang Sect…"

"No need to say more, I know what you mean. It’s about the evil techniques case, right? I will practice those techniques."

"Yeah, I was just daydreaming and thinking, if I were them, what would I do. My answer is I would also practice the evil techniques. This world is already cruel. You exploit me, I exploit you."

Rich people are born rich, except for Spiritual Root which cannot be controlled, everything else can be obtained easily. A civilian aircraft is now priced between five hundred thousand to five million Huaxia coins. A few days ago, I saw someone flaunting wealth with over a dozen aircraft in their yard, while ordinary workers earn less than ten thousand coins a month, and the unemployment and poverty rates in the Huaxia Federation are very high.

Even in this strongest country of this realm, Qiu Weidao told me that in the Jiabang Empire, at least tens of millions of people rely on government assistance to survive. But this assistance can only maintain the most basic living conditions.

Nowadays, it’s different from the era of cultivating immortality and ancient times. Back then, people were not enlightened, communication was difficult, and when you were poor, you just stayed poor. But now, they know about the prosperity of the world. We are all human, why should some live lavishly while others are in poverty.

The gap between rich and poor can’t be solved by using evil methods. It’s a very serious problem. We shouldn’t waste our energy and resources on internal conflicts.

Lin Jiang admitted that he had focused too much on supernatural beings and outer space in recent years, almost forgetting about the humble people down on earth.

"You ask me, my answer is, I don’t know. But whatever you decide to do, I will support you unconditionally."

Cao Ying said she truly didn’t know how to deal with complex social issues. She didn’t want to solve the problem herself, but she would give Lin Jiang her unconditional support in whatever he chose to do.

"Actually, I’m not sure how to handle this, as the social contradictions are very serious. For example, a company’s profits come from the surplus value of its workers. If you take the surplus value, it’s exploitation. If you don’t take it, the company’s motivation is undermined. Many bosses risk their lives to start a business. If they can’t make money and have better choices than ordinary people, who would start a business, right?"

"You are right about everything, but I don’t understand this matter and can’t answer you. You should ask your advisors about it."

"I asked them already, but I wasn’t satisfied with their answer."

"It’s too complicated, I don’t get it."

Cao Ying slipped away quietly. She didn’t want to get stuck in this dilemma.

After Cao Ying left, Lin Jiang shook his head and cleared his mind. He knew he was a complicated person with conflicting traits. Despite living many years, he should have been a cold and ruthless ancestor cultivator, not a loser. But Lin Jiang was afraid of becoming heartless, as it would make him lose himself.

"Artificial intelligence, start recording."

"Recording has begun."

"Document the report, send it to Huaxia Official to implement policies quickly, restricting the wealth gap, improving the living standards of ordinary people, strengthening their rights, and increasing efforts to combat cultivator crimes…"

"Recorded, currently converting to official document."

"Add more records, send a copy to my businesses, urging major corporations to allocate funds to my charity organization to help those in need as much as possible."

Lin Jiang, feeling very wealthy where money was just a number to him, could afford to donate to charity. Perhaps it was just a gesture of goodwill to comfort himself.

The artificial intelligence quickly transmitted Lin Jiang’s intentions, and he received responses. Standing up, he gazed out the window, lost in thought about how he, as an ordinary person in this era, could elevate his class through means and ways.