Chapter 519
Power and Politics
Chapter 519 Power and Politics
night.
Lin Sizhi was in the outdoor area, lost in thought.
Qin Yao sat on the single sofa next to him and said, "Zheng Jie and I have decided to leave on the last day."
"Otherwise, you'd be so bored all by yourself in the community."
Lin Sizhi smiled and said, "It doesn't matter to me. Compared to being in a lively atmosphere, I sometimes prefer to be alone in peace and quiet and think about things."
"Thank you anyway."
Qin Yao hesitated for a moment and said, "How about Zheng Jie and I stay? The thought that Community 17, which was the final winner in the last stage, has fallen apart and only you, Attorney Lin, are left makes me feel very sad."
Lin Sizhi looked at her, smiled and shook her head: "There's no need."
"The New World is only suitable for a small number of people. The vast majority of others will suffer and be imprisoned here. There is no need for them to stay."
"Although this arcade has been very generous in giving all of our community the opportunity to leave the new world, it is still an exception on a whole: no other community has had such a good deal."
"Because the arcade still needs to lock most players in, imprison them in this place, and provide a gaming experience for a small group of people."
“I don’t think this ending is ‘falling apart’ for Community 17. Why can’t it be a ‘perfect exit’?”
He paused slightly, then continued, "For you, leaving the new world is the perfect completion of the game, a safe exit."
"It's like a game that has been completed. Although there are still in-game coins and equipment in the account, and perhaps a few unfulfilled goals and achievements, they are ultimately just virtual data in the game."
There's no need to feel any attachment.
"What matters is the experience itself."
"For players like me, the game also has the option of 'multiple playthroughs,' which may result in similar content being repeated, or it may become completely different."
"But in any case, for a 'multiple playthrough player,' whether the equipment from the previous playthrough is carried over is not really important."
"Traveling light suits my habits better."
Neither of them spoke for a while, they just sat quietly, looking at the night sky in the distance.
"Excuse me, gentlemen?"
Qin Yao looked up and saw Li Renshu.
Lin Sizhi nodded: "Of course."
Qin Yao helped Li Renshu move the single sofa next to her a little to make it easier for her to sit down, and then asked, "By the way, Renshu, I haven't asked you yet, are you planning to stay?"
Lee In-sook didn't give a clear answer right away, but eventually shook her head: "No, I guess not."
"Actually, before this, I was quite confident in my political abilities."
"Before 'Tarot Game', I was quite satisfied with my status in the community and the achievements I made in building the community."
"But now I know that it was all an illusion."
"What I did was actually meaningless."
Lin Sizhi shook her head: "That's not entirely true. "From an outsider's perspective, summarizing what happened in the past three months, I think the community building aspect was just as fascinating as the arcade games."
"You did a great job, don't be too hard on yourself."
"As for your eventual realization that you were being sidelined by Cai Zhiyuan and that you were powerless to change it, there's nothing you can do about it."
"Because Tsai Chih-yuan is also a top-tier political player, on par with you, but at the same time, he is stronger than you in terms of game planning and breaking the deadlock, and he also has the advantage of being a copycat, which is why this result occurred."
"From a purely political perspective, you haven't lost too much. You lost in other areas, which are beyond your control."
This surprised Li Renshu: "Attorney Lin, you think the community building part is 'wonderful'? I originally thought you would look down on these small things."
“In the past, when these kinds of topics were mentioned, you never spoke much. Even if you understood some of the unspoken rules and hidden intentions, you never stopped or opposed them.”
Lin Sizhi shook her head: "I'm not participating because I want to be an 'audience.' I don't think this is a trivial matter."
"Qin Yao, let me ask you a question. What do you think 'politics' is?"
Qin Yao thought for a moment: "I know! I specifically looked up the relevant books and definitions in the book section."
"Politics is the behavior of governance by a political entity. Its core is the distribution and use of power, and its purpose is to maintain social order, promote public interests, and protect citizens' rights."
After a moment's thought, Lee In-sook said, "To me, politics is about adjusting the distribution of interests among different groups to optimize the mobilization of resources across the entire group."
"In other words, it is about determining which group are friends that can be won over and which group are enemies that must be confronted, ensuring that the interests of friends are protected and their potential is unleashed; depriving enemies of some of their interests, but skillfully keeping them within a range that does not cause turmoil."
"It can also be described as seeking common ground while reserving differences, making more friends and fewer enemies."
Lin Sizhi nodded: "Yes, you're all right, because politics itself doesn't have a particularly clear definition."
"However, I prefer a more colloquial way of saying it."
Before discussing the concept of "politics", I would like to talk about "power".
Some say that "power" is violence, but that's not accurate. "Power" is actually a kind of "strong control" over others. Forcing someone to drink at a dinner party to test their obedience is a manifestation of power; forcing subordinates to take the blame for you at work, even if the subordinates know the situation is serious, is also a manifestation of power.
“If a person cannot force certain people to do certain things, then he does not have power; conversely, the more people he can force and the more things he can force others to do, the greater his power.”
"But in reality, power is often not achieved through pure violence; more often than not, it is built on fantasy."
"Because there is no 'power that can sweep away everything' in the real world, the violence that a person can obtain on their own is extremely limited, and if they want to upgrade their power, they must form a group or an order."
"You only truly have power when most people recognize that you have it."
"Whether your attitude is benevolent or malicious, whether the system you ultimately want to build is to protect the rights of everyone or to control everything for yourself, it requires a specific process."
"And in building this system, everything you need to deal with, everything you do related to it, is politics."
Lin Sizhi paused slightly before continuing, "Therefore, I believe that the concept of politics is not actually related to the number of people."
"Politics exists in everything from a small group of three to a country with hundreds of millions of people. Although the forms of expression may be vastly different, their essence is the same."
"The manifestation of political consciousness and political ability does not depend on the number of people involved in political activities, but only on specific behaviors."
(End of this chapter)