If there was a place where people had no pressure to survive and all material enjoyment could be easily satisfied, then what would people choose to pursue?
The answer is obviously the pursuit of spiritual satisfaction.
However, spiritual contentment itself is an all-encompassing concept.
Pursuing the power to control others and demonstrating one's authority is a kind of spiritual satisfaction; pursuing a tacit understanding that can understand each other with just one look in an intimate relationship is also a kind of spiritual satisfaction; even pursuing the ultimate sensual experience, constantly passing through Stimulating to fill one's empty heart is also a kind of spiritual satisfaction...
And in the City of Sages, this is a place where harming each other is prohibited, the concept of personal identity is abolished, and people are not allowed to establish long-term and stable relationships. To a large extent, the only way to achieve spiritual satisfaction that people pursue is endless exploration of the unknown.
"Here, every citizen can find a suitable topic according to their own interests. And we will provide everyone with the resources they need to research the topic - whether it is computing power or something else - the Japan God Bureau will Collate the research results every once in a while and integrate them into... yes, integrate them into a scientific and technological blueprint."
Seeing the surprised expression on Jiang Zhou's face, the woman whose skin was covered with gold powder said with a smile.
It doesn’t matter whether the topic has practical significance, because discoveries and inventions that are meaningless today may bring extraordinary achievements tomorrow; it doesn’t matter whether the topic is reinventing the wheel, because even if the existing conclusions are finally reached, Depending on the research path, the process itself can also bring new enlightenment.
After losing the shackles of the physical body, human thoughts can fly freely here.
As a scholar, Jiang Zhou must admit that this kind of place is definitely a paradise for theoretical research - of course, it is limited to theoretical research. Without actual experimental verification, the reliability of the creations produced here may not be guaranteed.
After all, the base construction program also has its limits, just like the performance of a virtual machine running on a computer cannot exceed that of the computer itself.
But even so, this scene is tempting enough...
"So, what is your final answer?"
Seeing that the other party was deep in thought, the woman urged him to ask.
"If I choose to become a citizen here, will the database here..."
Just in case, Jiang Zhou asked carefully.
"Become a citizen here, and the database of the City of Sages will be completely open to you - you will be able to browse all the information at will, and have access to print permissions here. Based on this, you can choose the direction you are interested in. , start your own research topic.”
The woman covered in gold powder replied.
Jiang Zhou had to admit that he was a little moved.
In such an identityless city, searching for Charon's horse is undoubtedly a time-consuming task. In this case, I might as well take advantage of this opportunity to take out all the valuable things in the city's database.
After all, the wool that comes in vain will become white if it is not sheared.
"If that is the case, then I would be more than happy to become a citizen of the City of the Sages."
After a moment of silence, he finally gave his answer.
…………
"Then finally, you are welcome to join our cause and become one of us."
After the negotiation ended, Jiang Zhou reached out to Shen Lan as the end of the conversation.
Regarding his words, the other party was obviously stunned for a moment, and then smiled bitterly:
"What you said is right...I didn't say that I wanted to join the Icarus Liberation Front. Don't mistake the nature of our cooperation. This is just an alliance of convenience based on common interests."
But in response, Jiang Zhou shook his head and had no intention of taking back his hand:
"It doesn't matter whether you are doing it in the name of Icarus or not, or even the reason why you do it... The key is that your actions have actually helped our cause. In my opinion, at least for the moment. You must belong to one of us."
Seeing the old-fashioned look of the young man in his early twenties in front of her, Shen Lan couldn't help but laugh out loud, and then she immediately covered her mouth when she realized that this was damaging to her image.
After calming down her emotions, Shenlan still had a helpless smile on her face and shook her head:
"You are really good at speaking. You put me on the 'pirate ship' with just a few sentences... It seems that Erwin did not find the wrong person. Maybe you were born to do this."
Having said that, Shen Lan solemnly shook hands with Liao Qi.
"Anyway, I will send the person responsible for the connection later. I hope everything goes smoothly. Oh, by the way..."
She let go of her hand and took out a glittering certification card from the handbag she carried.
Jiang Zhou recognized the logo on the card at a glance. It was the logo of Theseus Freight Company.
"I almost forgot. You said before that you wanted me to help you book the storage service of Theseus Freight, right?"
Shenlan asked. The authentication card in her hand represented her status as a gold member of Theseus Freight Company.
But this is not surprising. As the former leader of underground intelligence in the resettlement area, it would be strange if she did not have the highest-level membership status of the largest smuggling channel.
Seeing this, Jiang Zhou nodded and said:
"When the time comes, I hope you can take me there with you to select the designated storage warehouse - I remember that gold members seem to have this privilege."
Shenlan nodded first, indicating that he would help with the arrangements, and then asked with some confusion:
"But why is that? If you are just purchasing services, there is absolutely no need for you to come to me for help, right?"
Because we plan to take this opportunity to visit the warehouse and steal a multi-purpose printer from a certain storage room.
Jiang Zhou complained like this in his heart, but he used the words he had prepared before:
"Generally speaking, this is indeed the case. In fact, the former team leader is also a senior member of Theseus Freight Company. But the incident that happened at Theseus Warehouse really made us... no longer welcome by this company. ”
He was telling the truth - because of the previous battle with the company's disciplinary force in the warehouse, Icarus was now on the blacklist of Theseus Freight Company. Although it is not to the extent of completely prohibiting business transactions, the deposit and other restrictions that need to be paid are quite annoying.
In this case, it becomes a justifiable reason to find a trustworthy person to help open an account and store the organization's important supplies.
From Deep Blue's perspective, this could be regarded as a sign that the Icarus Liberation Front, or at least Liao Qi and Booker, trusted their partners.
Or to put it more conspiratorially, maybe the strategic materials they want to store are just a cover in itself - the point is to prove their sincerity in cooperation in this form.
With such random thoughts, Shen Lan didn't consider the possibility that the other party planned to go to Theseus's warehouse to steal things - after all, except in movies, few people in reality would make the idea to rob the vault when they were short of money.
So Shen Lan nodded and said:
"Then when you have time, let's go and see it together."
Jiang Zhou looked at the other party's slightly touched expression, and a certain sense of guilt that was unique to him after he had deceived someone crept into his heart.
…………
After sending Shenlan away, Jiang Zhou threw himself on the sofa and let out a long sigh of relief.
"I feel like I'm not suitable for this..."
Looking up at the mottled ceiling in the cheap rental house, he murmured to himself.
"But you did a great job."
A familiar voice came from somewhere in the room.
"who?"
One second, Jiang Zhou was lying lazily on the sofa, but the next second, he had jumped up, fully prepared for battle.
The "Scorpio" high-energy pulse pistol thrown on the coffee table flew to his hand accurately through magnetic field control.
Not only that, but then, several weapons hidden in secret corners of the rental house were also controlled to float around him - the safety guards of the long-range weapons were automatically opened one after another, and the triggers were about to fire; as for the melee weapons, they were floating in the distance away from him. It's within easy reach, making it easy for him to use and replace it at any time.
Jiang Zhou pointed his gun at the location where the previous voice came from, and said in a threatening tone:
"Who exactly is there?"
Although the sound came from that direction, in Liao Qi's perception, there was no one there.
Whether it's visible light, infrared vision, or even his magnetic field perception... all detection methods show that there is nothing there.
The voice sounded just like Booker's, but in this day and age, that didn't mean much.
There are so many ways to disguise your voice alone.
Maybe Jiang Zhou's exaggerated movements scared the invisible guy. The guy was silent for a few seconds, and then said in a tone that seemed to be a little scared:
"Do you usually keep so many weapons at home? In short, you should calm down first. I am now two meters directly in front of you. Next, I am going to remove the disguise of the 'Hyena Armor', so don't I fired the gun when I was excited..."
As the words fell, a mosaic-like distortion occurred in front of Jiang Zhou's eyes at the position described by the other party. Booker, wearing bright silver armor with black edges, appeared in front of him like a puzzle piece.
(End of chapter)
