Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 818 - 63 Questioning

Chapter 818: Chapter 63 Questioning

"Teacher Jing, Happy New Year."

"Oh, Director Xiang! How did you find time to visit?"

"It’s the New Year, so I came to see you, sir. Also, I’m no longer the Director. I’ve left the system. I’m now in business, started a company with someone..."

...

In that moment, Jeanne seemed to fall into light. It was a torrent of emotions bursting from her "instinct," which also brought forth a flood of memories.

The birth of Tumor Xiang Shan was facilitated by the advanced functional areas of Jeanne’s brain, preprocessing Xiang Shan’s memories, then importing the processed results into the lower functional areas using surgically implanted artificial neurons, while also injecting drugs into the lower functional areas to induce neuronal mutations.

All the memories obtained by Tumor Xiang Shan were actually preprocessed by Jeanne’s "senses." She had at least encountered all of Tumor Xiang Shan’s memories once.

However, the suppression of the hippocampus by electronic devices ensured she wouldn’t have too deep an impression of it.

The birth of Tumor Xiang Shan bypassed this restriction.

And now, Jeanne was also stirred by the anger erupting from Tumor Xiang Shan’s heart... and the strands of other emotions under that anger, which also brought forth other memories.

...

"Hmm... This matter isn’t hard to handle. After all, I still have some face to save. How about this: next Wednesday or Thursday, make yourself available for a day. I’ll take you to have a meal with my cousin. You probably know who he is, and you’ll have an idea of what to bring... Never mind, I’ll emphasize it. Just cater to his likes; don’t bring overly valuable things. It’s not a big deal. If you are overly generous, people will wonder if you plan to stab them in the back. Just show your intention."

"Ah... how embarrassing..."

"No. We can skip these formalities between us. Skip it."

The person leaned close to Xiang Shan, patting his shoulder, "We’re on the same side."

At the end, the person asked Xiang Shan a question: "Now you’ve got your platform set up. Starting this year, you’re ready to openly work on your own, right? There’s one question I’d like to ask you. Do you think the organization you’ve set up for your ideals should prioritize doing the right thing, or should it prioritize its survival?"

"Is it necessary to choose? Can’t we have both?"

"Unfortunately, you might not be able to have both. There’s no such easy deal in the world. Wanting both might end up with neither."

"Then how should I choose?"

In that moment, Xiang Shan might have felt a tinge of panic.

"I can’t tell you the answer. Because throughout history, whether choosing the former or the latter, there are precedents." The person said with a sigh, "If so many sages haven’t solved the problem, how could there be a standard answer?"

An organization founded for an ideal, if too loyal to the ideal, might fall apart before achieving it. After all, the organization must first survive to have the opportunity to further realize its goals.

But if survival is pursued at all costs, the organization might stray further and further from its original goals.

"There surely must be a balance between these two. ’Compromise’ and ’having boundaries’ are principles you taught me..."

To adhere to ideals and then vanish in the darkness.

To cross boundaries and become the evil you oppose.

These are all cautionary tales.

"Go figure it out yourself." The person waved with a smile, "But at least you’ve matured a bit. Back in thirty, you might not even think of seeking connections..."

.........

"I sometimes feel like everyone’s living in a world of indulgence... That guy David has developed a habit of collecting antiques. Even the old junk from the former Red Alliance, he’s willing to spend big money on..."

"Jeanne" slowly stood up, "Xinyu boasts about being a child of a poor family, having nothing to talk about with those luxurious folks. But in reality? She even goes so far as to acquire tech company stocks aiming to ’open up all this company’s products’, then openly meddles in operations—perhaps still under my name. She’s actually hinting to those investors that I’m involved. How extravagant is this hobby? She’s the only one in the world who can afford to play like that. What did I do... Just because the world believes I’m good at managing anything, her indiscriminately meddling could end up boosting stock prices instead..."

"Let me think... what was Yog’s hobby again? Nia... Anyway, one is more willful than the next. More and more absurd. They think they’re just throwing out money..."

"Have they ever realized what supports those outrageous actions? Truly absurd. I’m one of them myself... In my spare time, what kind of recklessness am I engaging in? Using donation agreements to have the Pope and patriarchs and the like come before the camera to listen to my rants..."

"Jeanne" walked step by step toward Li Zheyuan, "But... why is it that to enjoy the power and authority in your hands, you must trample on those weaker than yourself to achieve it?"

Li Zheyuan felt as if he fell into an icy cave. He screamed, "Xiang... Xiang Shan... why... no, this is acting... you’re acting out my thoughts, aren’t you, I would never—ahhh!"

Xiang Shan grasped his head.

"Director Li... That unusual personnel change and slight financial discrepancies back in ’56 were just the beginning, right? I thought it was ’just ordinary embezzlement,’ and because someone spoke up for you, I just lightly let it go under ’record error’ and ’document irregularities’—thinking back, you were playing big even back then..."

"Just because you didn’t dare tell me you had a secret with your assistant... Wow, you didn’t even think going to the sidelines was my leniency in fostering wrongdoing? If you were a public servant or a manager in another company, what would happen once such a scandal was exposed..."

At this point, Li Zheyuan resigned to his fate, "Damn it... it has to be exposed! A normal person, discovering someone they know doing such things, would more or less help cover it up, right? Isn’t that how the world works? As long as we have a unified front... these things... these things..."

"And, it wasn’t like this in the beginning..." Li Zheyuan finally broke down crying, "At first, that guy surnamed Zhao promised to help me arrange the woman’s matter... As normal... as usual. He helped me cover up, and I resolved some trivial issues for him..."

"But, the more I did... the more terrifying it became..."

"However, in the end... in the end..."

"You will kill me!"