Clockwork Bride

Page 78

He's not Karen. Big companies won't treat him gently.

Karen understood this perfectly well, and couldn't help but frown. She hadn't anticipated this hidden layer in the matter and was completely unprepared for it.

So, taking this opportunity, Hayden quickly explained the two strategies Abigail had told him, which he hadn't had a chance to discuss before. There was nothing to hide, and these were sufficient to justify his actions.

“So there’s one thing I need to know, Karen.”

Hayden spread his hands, his words, expression, and actions all revealing his honesty.

"Can you tell me why you have a bad relationship with your father? We can't decide on our next strategy without understanding your family situation."

He knew this was something Karen would never want to answer, or even talk about.

But Karen knew that Hayden was right.

So the silent stillness lasted for a long time.

Then Karen sighed deeply, closed her eyes, and said, "Hayden, have you ever considered any hypotheses to explain why I had conflicts with my parents and wanted to be independent from home?"

"I only considered the simplest possibilities."

Hayden answered with a frown.

“Your parents are evil, and you have a conscience, so you fell out with them, and so on. But I always feel that this is not quite right, it seems to be just a clever explanation rather than the truth. Moreover, since you were known for your martial prowess among the young gods before the age of ten, you should not have given up martial arts because of that. Thinking about it this way, this explanation does not make much sense.”

If Karen rebelled against her parents because they were too evil, why didn't she simply learn from the protagonists of some martial arts novels, practice martial arts diligently, and find a way to fight back and drive down her evil parents?

Good and evil have nothing to do with force.

However, Karen's actual choice was to abandon martial arts and her own talent in combat techniques, and instead go on to study alchemy and potion-making, developing her own unique magic related to flowers.

This shouldn't just be a matter of capitalists' conscience, right?

"You even know about my childhood martial arts training?"

Karen gave a wry smile and put her hand to her forehead.

"Actually, until I was twelve, I really liked and loved my father. Even my mother... I didn't dislike her."

Mother? Come to think of it, even though Hayden knew that Karen's father was the Peacock King, he hadn't asked her who her mother was yet.

Karen, unaware that Hayden was not fully aware of her family situation, continued speaking on her own.

"Although my father is the HR director of the Mitra Group and is usually very busy, he still cares about me. When I was a child, I hoped to live up to my father's expectations and become an excellent martial god and war god in the future."

She spoke calmly and in a detached tone.

"Did you know? When I was ten years old, I could kill a frost giant with my bare hands."

puff

It took Hayden a lot of effort to hold back his spitting out.

"But you eventually gave up and stopped pursuing that path." He quickly followed up, "There must have been a key turning point, right? Could you elaborate?"

Karen looked like she'd rather bite her tongue off than speak—but she did anyway.

"...When I was twelve years old, one day, both my parents happened to be free, so my father took us down to the surface to hunt in the wasteland outside the city."

She closed her eyes and sighed.

Coming down to the ground? Hayden immediately understood; Kallen was, after all, a true heiress—she probably literally lived in the heavens as a child. The truly wealthy class, the gods in the heavens, often resided in near-Earth orbit or even outer space. As the Dark Witch once said, the gods of the new era dwell on Mount Olympus, Asgard, and the celestial realms—places high above on a physical level.

"That wasn't the first time I'd seen the ground, but it was definitely the first time I'd seen the wasteland outside the city, and to be honest, I was terrified."

Extreme dizziness and horror.

This was how Karen felt when she was twelve years old, first seeing the desolate, earthly landscape and stepping into the rest of the planet. People wore heavy acid-rain-proof coats and respirators, not the solemn robes or skirts of the heavens. Scattered pollutants and garbage were piled up everywhere. The air was thick with a pungent odor. Not to mention, the atmosphere on Earth was clearly not as bright and cheerful as inside the orbital space station.

And most importantly, the people who suffer because of these polluted lands.

"During that hunting trip, my father led me to defeat a land dragon. Even with my strength at the time, I couldn't defeat that dragon alone, but it had been severely affected by the pollution of the wasteland, and its body was covered with strange mutated organs, making it difficult to use as material."

Karen said dryly,

"So my father only took its dragon egg, telling me that because the dragon race was powerful, the egg could be purified and used. The body was dumped in a desolate town near the hunting grounds, and people took it. The townspeople there asked my father if they could use the dragon's body."

That was also the first time Karen had ever seen those humans living in the wasteland, struggling to survive and prolong their lives.

She hailed from the celestial realm beyond the atmosphere. There, even breathing the air could strengthen the body and increase power. The gods enjoyed the essence of the sun and moon every moment. With their advanced medical magic and divine power, they would not truly begin to age until they were four hundred years old, and as long as they had money, they could live forever.

However, this earthly land, severely polluted by industry, presents a stark contrast. Forget about increasing strength; survival itself is a challenge. Toxic and harmful pollution erodes the health and lives of all beings every moment.

Today, the people of these desolate towns are even willing to process and utilize heavily contaminated dragon carcasses as materials in order to earn as much money and resources as possible for survival. This will undoubtedly further harm their lives.

"At that time, I asked my parents why they couldn't do something to improve the situation."

“My father possesses the divine power to destroy all poisons and diseases, and He can not only eliminate poisons, but also bestow the nectar of life. As for my mother… well, if not cure, she can at least eliminate pollution.”

"When my mother heard my question, she looked at me strangely and asked: Why should we care about these people? They're all going to die anyway. It's enough for us to take care of our own family matters."

噫

Hayden was finally taken aback—no wonder Karen disliked her mother. What was wrong with this mother?

“My father wasn’t that dramatic. He just paused for a moment, and then told me that it was something the bigger picture wouldn’t allow.”

As Karen finished speaking, her face finally contorted slightly.

“If Father uses his divine power here to destroy the pollution of this town and the surrounding land, and bestow upon them the life-saving nectar, he will need to rest for two or three months to recover his strength. During this time, the benefits he can create in other places will be reduced, and he may even be attacked by other gods.”

"Similarly, large companies actually possess many of the most advanced and greatest magical techniques that can achieve similar or even better results. However, if any company first consumes its rarest magical materials on purifying environmental pollution, it will lose some of its strength to compete with other companies. Other companies will then take the opportunity to grow stronger and steal the hard-won achievements of the former."

Hearing her say this, Hayden finally understood.

Involute

To put it bluntly, it's actually a competition among large companies.

“My father tried to comfort me by saying that one day the gods would start purifying the environment and controlling pollution. Because in any case, it is something that everyone ‘must’ do, something that benefits everyone. Companies are dragging their feet now, just to wait for the first big company that can’t hold back any longer to start doing it.”

Karen said, letting out a cold laugh.

"When the first major corporation can no longer hold back, the gods will be able to reach an agreement that ensures they don't suffer losses and work together to purify the natural environment. So we just need to wait. After all, we have unlimited lifespans. And we can live high in the heavens."

What kind of involutionary competition is this?!

Hayden had witnessed the miserable infighting among the middle class over the past six months and thought he was quite worldly-wise, but he was still stunned.

This capitalist logic is absolutely absurd at the micro level. But when all the absurdities are put together, it seems so logical.

"That was when I realized that I didn't actually want to inherit the family business at all."

Karen gave a self-deprecating laugh, but her eyes were icy cold.

"How much longer do you think the world will have to wait before large companies reach their limit of infighting and become so complacent that one company finally has to start addressing environmental issues? How many more people will suffer from disease, hunger, and poisoning?"

I'm afraid no one can answer that question.

"So, Hayden, although it has been a trouble for you to make this trip, I'm afraid your best strategy is unusable."

"Since the supreme gods of capital have ultimately come up with such an irresponsible best answer, then even if I share the technology of [Dream Flower] with other executives and share the profits so that they can purify environmental pollution at a lower cost—they still won't do it. You only need to look at [Blessed Pure Land] to know."

The Pure Land of Blessings, a technology for uploading consciousness, was once a technology that could be used to improve the world.

However, after considering how to make more money, the Mithra Group instead used the Pure Land of Blessings to exploit the lower and middle classes.

Similarly, while Dream Flower's technology is remarkable, it doesn't reduce the cost of environmental purification to zero. And since there are costs involved, some people will consider profits.

“Those executives will absolutely not share the technology of [Dream Flower] with the world. They will inevitably charge high fees through [Dream Flower], create a few places that look like paradises, and make a living from [Dream Flower].

Finally, Karen let out a very heavy sigh.

"So I can't work with those company executives no matter what."

"Because in the hands of capitalists, [Dream Flower] is destined to fail in improving the world and will only become a weapon for companies to continue to pursue profits."

086: Not an enemy

Have you heard the story of the shepherd?

A traveler asked a shepherd boy what his plans were for the future. The boy said he wanted to herd sheep, earn money, get married, have children, and then let his children herd sheep again.

Some people might feel that this contains a tragic element of going around in circles, that such a life lacks meaning, and they might even lament that the shepherd boy doesn't know how to think.

But is that really the case? In reality, how many modern people, urban dwellers, have a life meaning that is not much different from that of the boy who herded sheep—getting married, having children, and letting their children maintain their current lifestyle?

Aside from those desperately trying to climb the social ladder, most modern people probably think this way: whether middle class, upper class, or high-ranking figures, everyone hopes their descendants will inherit their social status and maintain their current wealth and class. Climbing higher is ideal, of course, but at least they shouldn't fall.

This is the significance of bloodline and class continuity.

Now, Hayden finally understood.

All of Karen's anger, all her resentment, all her attitudes toward life, her celibacy that made her angry at the mention of "having children and getting married"—it all stemmed from her aversion to something.

"The gods of capital sit in the heavens, controlling and governing everything in the world."

"As a result, the best conclusion they reached about this polluted and poisoned land, and the most reasonable way to deal with it, was internal strife and stagnation."

"Since this irresponsible answer is the work of the gods, why should I inherit and perpetuate this karmic burden?"

This is the source of Karen's anger.

So Hayden suspected (though he could only suspect) that she probably didn't really hate her parents.

Karen was probably just too disappointed in her parents, especially her father.

If you put yourself in their shoes, it's not hard to understand—if your father were a wise and powerful man, once an invincible war god who dominated the world, but now he has become a scheming and calculating corporate person... how would you feel?

It was probably around that time that Karen realized that martial arts couldn't save the world. Even if she mastered martial arts to the level of her father, the Peacock King, she would at best be nothing more than a war slave controlled by capital.

In the entire system that serves to increase capital value, even the capitalists themselves are nothing more than puppets of capital.

From an economic or game theory perspective, these capitalists' actions are actually quite reasonable. Capitalism expands profits in two ways: one is to make the pie bigger, and the other is to eliminate competitors through internal competition... Everyone knows that theoretically, making the pie bigger together is better, but eliminating competitors is definitely faster and more lucrative! Innovation, technology, and development are all less profitable than exploiting people.

As for win-win cooperation, it's completely unnecessary! The market is only so big; all businesses that grow large become zero-sum games. Any so-called symbiosis is just failing to achieve a monopoly. If the winner takes all, who needs cooperation?

Human desires are never satisfied.

"Oh dear, this is really troublesome."

So Hayden frowned after hearing Karen's words.

"If you don't trust your parents or other company executives, then neither of those strategies will actually work."

Abigail's strategy for him wasn't bad, but now it's impossible to follow.

This means Hayden and Karen will have to face the Great Sage, the Joyful One, alone without the support of other gods.

To confront a true...god of capitalism!

"It's not as scary as you think."

Instead, it was Karen who offered him words of comfort.

"My shop is located in the city center, specifically the downtown area of ​​New Asia, not some low-end residential area. The security level here is the same as that of luxury residential areas like the Elegant District. If someone were to use force here, the rapid response forces of a large corporation would be dispatched within minutes to subdue both sides, and there's even a possibility that the Vajra God might appear."

"As long as Huanxi Tian isn't out of his mind, he wouldn't dare to attack this shop directly with force. At most, he'd resort to some dirty business tactics, and the only time he could command a demon to attack would be outside the city. Do you think I'd really be afraid of that elephant?"

Karen let out a cold laugh as she said this, giving a glimpse into her past as a militant.

Frankly, Hayden wasn't as confident as she was. One of the top executives of the world's largest corporation could be quite frightening when he resorted to underhanded tactics, but at this point, Hayden had no time to hesitate. It was only a matter of time before Huanxitian was overwhelming them. Every second before the other side launched another attack had to be used as fully as possible.

"If we really want to fight against a god, we must gather all our strength together."

He wasn't going to hide it anymore; there was nothing to hide anyway.

“That’s right.” Karen nodded, a hint of curiosity in her eyes. “So what do you plan to do?”

So Hayden made a list of all his current combat strength and skills, as well as other miscellaneous items, and showed it to Karen. The more Karen read the list, the wider her eyes widened, and she eventually became somewhat stunned.

Meanwhile, Hayden guarded the paper like an eagle, making sure no unseen hand reached in and snatched away the secrets.

"You... how did you accumulate so much in just one year... no, never mind, there's no point in worrying about that now."

Then Karen shook her head, coming back to her senses.

"By the way, it seems that most of your powers revolve around... Miss Angela's power."

As Karen finished speaking, she glanced at Angela, who was standing not far away, seemingly enjoying herself. Her voice sounded more thoughtful than curious.

Hayden shrugged: "Otherwise, how could I have suddenly come up with so many great inventions in a year?"

What he could show Karen this time were basically the various potions he had developed over the past year, as well as byproducts of Angela's aura. Aside from that, there were some new spells and technologies he had acquired after the [Bo Xun] incident, such as Alastor's sympathetic hacking technology, and several transformation spells, etc.

Even Karen couldn't help but marvel at Hayden's recently developed Phoenix Potion. For a moment, she didn't seem like someone worried about an attack from the enemy gods, but rather a true alchemical researcher.