"Mr. Mayor, a crowd of over a hundred protestors has gathered outside. Are we sure we don't need to respond?"
"Respond to what? A mob of rabble-rousers. We're buried in problems, and they have time to protest? Get the police department on the line and have them arrest all these agitators!"
"But sir, they're just gathering. It's a legal protest..."
"Legal or not isn't up to them to decide! What legal protest? This is a public disturbance! Do I have to teach you how to do your job? If you can't even handle a small thing like this, what are you even good for?"
A fist slammed onto the desk, and the office fell silent. The thick, soundproof glass windows blocked out the noise from outside, but the faint chants of the protesters could still be heard.
"Mayor, I believe the people have a right to express their opinions. Arresting them won't solve the underlying problem." For some reason, the mayor's assistant didn't leave immediately. Instead, he looked at the mayor and spoke calmly.
The enraged mayor, however, paid no mind to his assistant's tone. He simply threw the file in his hand to the floor. "Are you deaf? If you don't want this job, then get out. Listening to the people? How do you think you became my assistant in the first place? If your family hadn't pulled strings with the higher-ups, you'd be nothing!"
"..." The assistant froze, then fell silent.
Seeing that he had nothing more to say, the mayor couldn't be bothered with him any longer, already plotting how to get rid of this naive fool once the situation blew over. After all, some things were like ancient trees: lush and leafy on the outside, but with a tangled, gnarled mess of roots underground. The smart ones simply traded favors, desperately sucking up nutrients from the soil. Only idiots would try to break through the dirt, reach for the sunlight, and speak for the earth.
The mayor didn't notice that the assistant's once-lost gaze had cleared, as if he had passed through a thick fog, and was now slowly becoming resolute.
"They're right," the assistant said. "Rotten roots provide no nourishment. They only leech away the nutrients that rightfully belong to the crown. If civilization is to continue moving forward, the rotten parts must be cut away."
"What are you talking about?" The mayor looked up, about to unleash another tirade. But when he looked at his assistant again, all he saw was a pair of golden eyes.
...
Meanwhile, at the headquarters of a global telecommunications conglomerate, an employee burst through the door of the control room.
"Director, report! Our servers in Northern Europe are under an unknown attack!"
"Can you find the cause? Get someone on it, now! The global Schicksal press conference is about to start. We can't have any problems!"
Before he could finish, the door was thrown open again. This time, the employee who entered was drenched in sweat. "Director, it's a catastrophe! It's not just Northern Europe! Half a minute ago, our servers in East Asia, South Africa, Australia, and other regions were all hit by an unknown virus. At this rate, the entire global network will be affected in less than ten minutes!"
"Are you kidding me? In all my years in this industry, I've never heard of a virus that can spread globally in an instant. I'd sooner believe this is sabotage from another carrier than a computer virus."
The director's suspicion wasn't unfounded. Although the internet is virtual, the transmission of network signals doesn't happen out of thin air; every signal is the result of data exchange between massive server hubs. To so accurately pinpoint and directly connect to their servers, and to breach their firewalls in such a short time, the culprit had to be either an inside traitor or a rival company.
Unfortunately for them, the power of the Herrscher of Corruption far exceeded humanity's current understanding of networks. Forget firewalls; it could invade even an air-gapped LAN. As long as an employee at the base station was carrying a cell phone, the virus could use its electrical signal as a springboard to infiltrate the system.
In just half a day, the world's internet fell silent. No matter what the various carriers tried, the virus born from the Herrscher's power moved like a ghost, taking over the global network at an unimaginable speed.
"Does rebooting the servers work?"
"I'm afraid not." The servers were rebooted again and again, but administrative control was gone, as if it had fallen into a deep sleep.
Just as everyone was at their wits' end, someone noticed that while all other networks were down, a website called "The Obsidian Concord Forum" was still operating normally. At first, people thought it was just a simple message board, but as more and more users logged on, they discovered that the forum's data section contained a massive archive of sealed and classified information.
"Vacation Island Member List," "SA...0928 Trial Transcript," "Military Procurement Ledger..."
Vast amounts of seemingly unrelated files were jumbled together, leaving many confused. But as time went on, the truth behind these events was gradually revealed.
Some discovered that their parents' deaths were no accident. Others found that the person convicted in a trial was not the true perpetrator. But most of what they found were endless records of exploitation and oppression.
"If you choose to be meek and submissive in the real world to protect yourself, but you don't even dare to speak the truth online, then the privileged will only become more ruthless."
Once the seed of doubt breaks through the soil, it grows with incredible speed. Ren had used the power of Corruption to grant people a brief chance to know the truth. Now, the prayers welling up from their hearts would spontaneously converge into the will of a thousand.
No one is born to suffer. When you are struggling to move forward under a heavy burden, you should realize that someone else is enjoying a peaceful life at your expense. The refugees suffering from war are the result of political games. The children abandoned in slums are the result of class exploitation. Toiling day after day with no hope of ever getting ahead is the result of capitalist oppression.
What people needed to see was not just their immediate suffering, but the oppression from a higher level—the invisible wall known as social class.
"Since ancient times, humanity learned to huddle together for warmth. They formed tribes to snatch food from the jaws of wild beasts. Because of this, throughout our long history, people living together have been willing to take up arms to defend their homes and nations against invaders, even at the cost of their own lives."
"The development of civilization is accompanied by conflict, but teamwork is the true anthem of civilization."
"But what if, in that first tribe, there were a few individuals who exploited their companions' trust? They used the group's strength to hunt the most food. But after obtaining it, not only were they unwilling to share, they used the food they held to exploit their own kind, forcing them to work for them."
"They expanded their power and seized control of the narrative. Whenever their fellow tribesmen wanted to go out and hunt, they would be forcibly stopped. As a result, their own food stores grew larger and larger, while their companions starved to death one by one."
"In the long run, the tribe's development would stagnate. No one would be willing to work together, and civilization would naturally fail to advance. When the food in the granary finally runs out and the starving companions grow in number, the tribal civilization will ultimately be submerged in the torrent of time, becoming insignificant dust."
"A rigid class system will only lead civilization to ruin. Only through unity and cooperation can we write the true anthem of humanity."
Someone posted this passage on the forum. And so, from all corners of the globe, like-minded individuals gathered on this small forum, together raising the curtain on the theater of a thousand souls