Deceitful Game

Chapter 300 I Could Have Endured the Darkness

The human heart can wear down.

Fatigue, failure, pain, despair, hatred, depression, arrogance...

The accumulation of negative emotions can gradually cause a person to lose their luster.

In this world, not all dreams can burn forever, just as not everyone remains a child forever.

Mingpo believes that Ai Shiping and Gao Fan still remember their past lives, and that they are determined to rebel against the company... and that they will not betray him.

However, they will certainly not be as decisive and resolute as they were when they first stepped forward.

Back then, Mingpo also mentioned to Ai Shiping that he wanted to destroy the dream of the deceitful game.

Ai Shiping at the time undoubtedly agreed.

Just like... Shen Yiqi.

But now, Ai Shiping is explaining to Mingpo that "the game of deception is indestructible" and "the existence of the game of deception is normal." Perhaps it is because of the more direct and painful war that he has accepted this painful cycle of reincarnation.

Mingpo wouldn't blame him.

After all, Mingpo did not experience with him the "war that ended all wars".

He himself couldn't guarantee... that if he had the same experiences as Ai Shiping, he wouldn't have ended up like him. Now the world is completely peaceful and unified, and people above the central district maintain a relatively stable life. Although to Mingpo, this world is like shit, to Ai Shiping and Gao Fan, who have experienced countless years of war, people being able to live peacefully is already a blessing. The ever-changing timeline has been fixed, and even ordinary people have the dignity to maintain their "uniqueness and existence."

Their lives will never again be arbitrarily altered because of the past; their determination, efforts, hatred, and love are all real.

In this world, there will never be another world-scale war. Past cultures and races have all merged together, and languages ​​have been unified once again. All the arduous work has been handled by non-human intelligent beings, and all disasters are prevented by time agents who have traveled back in time before they occur... Although the achievements obtained through paradoxical technology have not been 100% reflected on ordinary people... even if it is only 1%, life is already far, far better than it was thirty years ago.

Their basic needs for clothing, food, shelter, and transportation have been met.

Food, clothing, warmth... these have all become widely available at extremely low costs.

The levitation vehicle invented five years ago is now so cheap that even people in Central can afford it if it's just for transportation. And even outside of the Longevity Sector, which is known for its biomedical technology, as long as you can afford it... or at least sign a long-term labor contract of ten to twenty years, even someone like Mingpo, who has an "incurable terminal illness" caused by damage to his soul, can be forcibly saved.

If we exclude the restrictions that require everyone to work and prohibit resignation and job hopping...

The standard of living in Central can even be considered comfortable and affluent.

As for things like personal information being sold, chat logs being eavesdropped on, and having a built-in glitch in a prosthetic eye, these are not a big deal for ordinary people. As for the fact that everyone carries a debt that they may never be able to repay in their lifetime... there's a saying that goes, "the more debt you have, the less you worry." If a person gets used to it, they won't even feel the existence of the debt.

Or rather, it's precisely because technology is developing so rapidly in this world that many heinous acts have become meaningless. Because the essence of crime is efficiency.

Murder is the most efficient way to escape; robbery and theft are the most efficient ways to make money.

If you could earn dozens or even hundreds of times more money than robbing a bank by simply clicking a button, who would be willing to risk robbing a bank?

This era no longer needs to capture people for organ transplants or blood extraction, because the technology of the higher beings is far superior; there is no longer a need to capture people for mining or as slaves, because they have non-human sentient beings that are better performing, cheaper, absolutely loyal, and highly customizable.

The most inhumane thing is probably "mining".

Although the executive department occasionally takes action to kill traitors who betray the company; although agents will travel from the future to the present to kill people who will cause disasters or significant losses in the future;

Mingper and his colleagues call this society cyberpunk simply because it is indeed very cyberpunk.

But actually... there might not be many "punks" in this society.

More accurately, it should be classified as a "dystopian" fantasy.

This is precisely why Ai Shiping and Gao Fan are both somewhat confused.

"The game of deception that has been documented throughout history has been running for at least five thousand years."

Gao Fan said softly, "But this world... just kept running in this chaotic and makeshift way. Deceivers kept trying to change history, but eventually, they would be killed by the game or other deceitful people. When all the people of an era were dead, the survivors could definitively determine that history."

"No matter how many times it has been changed, people only perceive it as a single time."

"Myths, legends, and history are thus intertwined, and few people know the true history. Deceivers exist beneath the surface of the real world, operating generation after generation. No one knows how many bugs have occurred in between... and many of these bugs may have existed even before written records appeared, so I think... this has already become part of the 'rules of the world.'"

"And the world today is already the most stable version. The impact of the deceptive game has been reduced to a minimum, and people's lives are relatively stable. With further technological advancements, we will eventually find the technology to completely eliminate pollution and transform the planet."

Gao Fan is not against technology.

Or rather, having experienced all of this, he actually believes that the Big Eight were right.

The number of top-level charlatans should be kept to a very low level, just like it was before 2000.

besides……

They also use incentives to restrain those at the top who deceive the world, making them maintain restraint in their understanding of history;

By delegating authority to non-human, intelligent entities to directly control the top-level board of directors, the government ensures that power is adequately exercised and supervised; and through internal management and oversight, it ensures that the rule of the eight giants remains effective and stable.

By using special agents to eliminate all unstable factors in their infancy, prevent all chaos from occurring, and stop the current history from being altered by wild charlatans who "mine" by kidnapping charlatans and constantly obtain new technologies through lotteries, the benefits of the charlatan game are fed back to the whole society. Through these fed-back technologies, people's living standards are improved, allowing people to survive well even living in mid-air. By establishing Central and the Spire, the healthy gene pool is isolated from the polluted earth, buying enough time.

To prevent this from failing, they also sent more than one spacecraft into outer space to explore the way...

All of this is interconnected.

If we wait another hundred years, until all of this group of people have died out, history will be completely solidified.

Even without fangs, history can still be forcibly anchored.

"……I see."

Mingpo looked at Gao Fan and nodded slowly.

Although Ai Shiping and Gao Fan are close friends who have gone through thick and thin together, their positions are clearly not entirely aligned.

Ai Shiping harbors strong hostility towards Shen Yiqi, but Gao Fan, on the contrary, believes that Shen Yiqi has no problems.

"Even the worst order is better than chaos. At least that's what I think right now."

Gao Fan sighed and stated his opinion clearly: "I know you may be disappointed in me, brother... but I can't lie to you."

"So what are you thinking? Just leaving it like this?"

Mingpo said, "If that's the case, you didn't need to come looking for us, did you?"

"I just feel that the company can do better."

Gao Fan pointed to the ground beneath his feet: "I think what's really meaningless is the spire."

"The existence of the spire is entirely due to the influence of class consciousness from the old era. The survivors of the war back then hadn't figured out what they wanted the spire for, but they just felt that 'their descendants cannot live with ordinary people who did not participate in the corporate war,' and they wanted privileges. But they themselves did not know what the meaning of privileges was."

"Now, under the supervision of non-human, sentient beings, there are no privileges whatsoever. What is the point of the spire's existence... or rather, what is the point of the company's board of directors' existence? Are they just going to live in luxurious houses and enjoy a 'paradise' environment where even the internet can only be accessed via a local area network?"

"So I think... the collar is still meaningful. If it can't completely destroy the Deceitful Game, then it can at least guarantee a minimum level of stability. Mining is also meaningful. It can indeed give us feedback at a very fast speed... If it's fast enough, we can even save the Hive people before they die."

Gao Fan's gaze was resolute, yet tinged with a barely perceptible hint of confusion: "But I believe these technologies that can benefit society are useful. At the very least... they shouldn't be so easily taken back."

"But I don't think so."

Ai Shiping shook his head: "I don't think the company has any reason to exist."

"It's too capitalistic, Xiao Fan. Most of the production in this world has already been handed over to non-human intelligent entities, so why can't we also hand over power to them?"

"This is a new world, and the only reason it exists in the form of a cyberpunk-style 'Big Eight' is because the ultimate victor of the war is called the 'Chinese Chamber of Commerce.' Led by Shen Yiqi, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce seized the final fruits of victory and, together with the Noble Blood, established the rules for the new world's operation. Why were they able to make this decision? Because they had the most survivors; they had two demigods combined."

"But doesn't this just prove that they sacrificed the least? Why are the opinions of the victims ignored, while cowards gain power? Didn't the charlatans start the war in the first place so that they wouldn't be discriminated against or exploited?"

Ai Shiping said in a clear voice, "I think this is obviously unfair."

The "Divine Comedy" argues that charlatans and ordinary people are one and the same, and that we can return to our daily lives—that's our original desire. We simply need to live in an equal world… Since the arduous and dangerous work of this world has already been entrusted to non-human, sentient beings, why can't the exercise of power be given to them as well?

"Is it that they can't do it well? Rather, it's more accurate to say that they should be able to do it better and more fairly than humans."

"So, you also want to keep the New World?"

Mingpo confirmed, "It just needs modification?"

"Hmm. But Xiao Fan and I have a different opinion... I think it would be better if the Deception Game could be destroyed." Ai Shiping was slightly more realistic than Gao Fan. He crossed his arms and said coldly, "The collar can't be effective forever. The more technology is leaked, the more likely it is that people will be able to unlock the collar. If more and more Deceptionists unlock the collar, the agents might not be able to stop everyone in time, and more and more people will know or figure out the 81-second rule."

"Once these charlatans who operate in the cracks of history grow in number and begin guerrilla warfare... the world will descend into chaos once again. And this time, there probably won't be a war that can solve everything."

"As for technology... enough is fine. We're better off without that kind of bad civilization, like 'brain mining.' Even if we could develop land in outer space or even other worlds for colonization, wouldn't conflicts and contradictions still arise?"

"only……"

Ai Shiping hesitated for a moment: "But I think it's unlikely to be possible."

They both looked at Mingpo.

Ai Shiping asked, "And what about you, Amber? What level do you want to achieve?"

"...You don't want to go back to 'that' 2026, do you?"

Gao Fan hesitated for a moment, his brows furrowing unconsciously.

What if I say "yes"?

Mingpo countered with a question.

The three remained silent for a while.

Ai Shiping finally spoke, saying softly, "I don't agree."

"The war has already begun, and the sacrifices have been far too many. I don't want all of this to be in vain..."

"Sunk costs are not involved in major decisions."

"That's not how it is!"

Ai Shiping was somewhat annoyed.

He also didn't quite understand Mingpo: "The world we experienced was a version that had been repeatedly modified by other deceivers. We just became the deceivers in that version; it's no different from the world we live in now!"

"If we're talking about family, we encounter our own family in every timeline. They all love us..."

"Then why... does it have to be this one?"

Upon hearing Ai Shiping's words, Mingpo was stunned for a moment.

He subconsciously looked at Gao Fan, but when he saw Gao Fan's gaze, he instinctively looked away, avoiding Ming Po's stare.

"...So that's how it is."

Mingpo murmured softly.

He suddenly understood why Ai Shiping and Gao Fan were so opposed to the decision to reset time and space...

It wasn't a lust for power, nor a change of heart, nor a desire for pleasure...

It's because of love.

...because in this new timeline, their families are still alive.

Mingpo subconsciously forgot that Gao Fan and Ai Shiping were both orphans in their previous lives.

If Mingpo wanted to reverse time and go back to the past...

That would mean giving up the family they now have and accepting their resurrection. Since they became deceivers after that, if they were to use the power of time to resurrect them, they would become a paradox.

Only if the entire timeline were reversed, and they arrived in the next cycle with their memories intact, could this impossible wish be fulfilled. Or perhaps, Mingpo subconsciously wanted to return to a worse previous version because his own father was still alive in that version, and was even a high-ranking official in the Chinese Chamber of Commerce…

"I could have endured the darkness if I had never seen the light..."

Mingpo murmured softly.

Once he understood, he stopped being angry.

"...Let's put the dispute aside for now."

After a moment of silence, Mingpo's tone softened.