Chapter Eighty-Eight: The Sharp-Tongued Teacher

"I'm sorry," Chen Ziang said with a bitter smile. "I don't think Michie Nishikawa can be called stupid."

"She's merely a victim of the current animal-rights movement and of irrational laws, wanting to break the status quo but lacking any good method, and so she ultimately walked the wrong path..."

"Hold on." Xia Qingyu cut him off, frowning as though to say, "What are you talking about?" After a long pause, she asked, "Can you explain to me what you mean by animal-rights movement?"

"Animal-rights movement is... protecting animals..." Chen Ziang tried hard to explain, rummaging through his thoughts for a moment. "Forget it. You... Qingyu, you explain it."

"The animal-rights movement is a product of individual atomization," Xia Qingyu said with a sigh, her expression shifting to one of why must I even explain this. "It is also an inevitable social current at this stage."

"People in the old era were like molecules, bound together by bloodlines and clans. Such a structure was not conducive to centralization or the integration of resources. So after entering the atomic age, the elite class transformed the lower strata into atomized individuals, satisfying their various needs with an immensely abundant supply of material and cultural goods."

"They didn't need to meet face-to-face because there were social tools; they didn't need to go out because there was microblogging and short videos... As needs at every level were satisfied, human interaction decreased sharply, and naturally they began to lack recognition from their own kind."

"In terms you can understand: they don't care about other people, whether the other person is some country bumpkin miles away or the neighboring family next door. As long as they're not familiar, they don't care. That is what individual atomization is."

"What people call the animal-rights movement places animal protection above the interests of others. It is not because they care more about animals, but because they do not care about strangers. Stray cats and dogs can be fed and petted, whereas those fellow citizens they do not know are, to such atomized people, nothing more than a cold concept."

"Of course, the animal-rights movement has absolutely no logical connection to Michie Nishikawa's tragedy, not even a strained one. I am very disappointed in you, but considering your intelligence, I can give you another chance to phrase it."

Chen Ziang was speechless for quite a while. After some thought, he said, "All right, let me correct that. Michie Nishikawa's tragedy came from the irrational Ecological Protection Act."

"Correct." Xia Qingyu nodded faintly.

Chen Ziang breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear her add with a sly tone, "After all, I already gave you such an obvious hint. If you still couldn't understand it, perhaps you'd need an intelligence test. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Qingyu." Chen Ziang silently repeated several times that he should not argue with a woman, then asked earnestly, "Can you explain it? I mean, the logical connection between this Ecological Protection Act and Michie Nishikawa's stupidity, or whatever it is?"

"The Ecological Protection Act." Xia Qingyu gave a dry laugh, though the meaning behind her smile was closer to mockery. "It was enacted during the reign of the second governor, Shi Jintang. It was one of a package of agreements signed after negotiations with the elves, so that the Houtianyuan sector could join the Federation Interstellar Trade Alliance."

"Tell me, how do you evaluate Shi Jintang?"

"Uh, according to textbooks, academia, and popular opinion..." Chen Ziang had finally learned to be clever; knowing that no matter how he answered he would be ridiculed, he simply quoted others' conclusions. "Governor Shi Jintang was the greatest governor in the history of the Houtianyuan sector. He brought us a soaring national economy, prosperous modern urban circles, and the happy lives everyone enjoys today."

"That is someone else's conclusion." Xia Qingyu looked at him with the gaze one would reserve for an idiot.

"I know it's someone else's conclusion," Chen Ziang argued. "You asked what I think... I haven't seriously considered it, so I can only cite the public view."

"Fine." Xia Qingyu pressed a finger to her brow, wearing an expression that said, "Well, that's all you are capable of." "Shi Jintang, my evaluation of him is..."

"The original sinner."

Chen Ziang: ?

"Michie Nishikawa was not the first victim, nor will she be the last." Xia Qingyu said coldly. "The calamity that destroyed Houtianyuan began with Shi Jintang."

"Isn't that a little exaggerated?" Chen Ziang said with a strained laugh. "At the very least, during Shi Jintang's tenure, the rapid rise in national power and the booming economy were obvious..."

"If you lived in a very poor slum," Xia Qingyu interrupted irritably, "and led an extremely difficult life."

"Then your mother borrowed usurious loans from the gangsters next door, putting up the house, the furniture, and everything you owned as collateral. Your quality of life improved at breakneck speed, and then your entire family believed that this was your mother's achievement..."

"Stop, Qingyu." Chen Ziang felt the topic growing ever more dangerous. "This can't be said!"

Of course he understood Xia Qingyu's analogy: the package of agreements Shi Jintang signed with the elves in order to join the Federation's interstellar trade alliance had, in fact, handed over control of every aspect of society to the elves.

But this was not a topic that could be spoken aloud! With Governor Shi Jintang's lofty reputation among the people of Beiji City, if Xia Qingyu's conclusion ever appeared online, by the next day there would be box after box of razor blades and rotten eggs sent over.

"There is nothing unspeakable about it," Xia Qingyu said with a sneer. "I come from the Shendu sector."

"But my registered home is in the Houtianyuan sector," Chen Ziang said helplessly. "Qingyu, you speak as a citizen of the empire and feel wonderfully satisfied, but when the forty-meter saber comes down, it will pass through your body and kill me too."

"Coward." Xia Qingyu mocked him. "Anyway, Michie Nishikawa wants revenge, so we'll create an opportunity for her."

"In half a month, it will be the day of Shi Jintang's passing, and a memorial ceremony will be held at the Houtianyuan Historical Memorial Hall."

Leaning back comfortably in her chair, she said lazily, "We'll focus on publicizing Shi Jintang's achievement in introducing the Ecological Protection Act, lure Michie Nishikawa here to disrupt the ceremony, and then kill her... that's all."

"Brilliant!" Chen Ziang flattered her. "Flush the snake out of its hole—why didn't I think of that?"

"Yes," Xia Qingyu sighed. "I wonder why not a single one of you in the entire department can think of such a simple method?"

"Or is it that your prolonged contact with the mysterious side has already shattered what little reason you once had, leaving you completely warped and ruined? Or perhaps you never had any reason to begin with, and I was foolish to expect too much from you?"

Silently repeating, She can catch Michie Nishikawa, Chen Ziang swiftly calmed his rising blood pressure and said expressionlessly, "Should I notify the department agents to hold a meeting?"

"Two in the afternoon," Xia Qingyu said, closing her eyes and nodding. "Also, bring me an eye mask."