The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 470 - 260: The Ancient One Stews into Soup, We Desire to Become Light!
Chapter 470: Chapter 260: The Ancient One Stews into Soup, We Desire to Become Light!”’Light’?” Jiang Shu repeated, somewhat puzzled.

Although he could understand that this ”light” probably referred to someone who could save Lonely City, he was a bit surprised as to why Wolf would use such a metaphor.

”Yes, light,” Wolf nodded, then his expression turned solemn, his voice carrying a hint of dignity and solemnity, ”I swear, I voluntarily join the Social Sequence of Lonely City, willingly becoming a police officer of Lonely City, performing my duties diligently, upholding justice, and remaining forever loyal to the law and the people. I promise, to resolutely fight against all evil forces, to be brave and tenacious, to fear no sacrifice, to bring all criminals to justice. I am willing to become a beam of light for Lonely City, to eliminate the darkness in every corner. Oath-taker, Wolf.”

Jiang Shu nodded silently, maintaining respect for Wolf at this moment; this must be the oath that police officers of Lonely City take upon joining the force.

Being able to always keep these vows in mind, to carry them through in one’s actions at all times, Wolf was certainly fit for the position of Police Chief.

”What a pity that such ’light’ is all too rare,” Wolf’s expression returned to normal. He had been a police officer for twenty years and was well aware of the intricacies involved with addictive drugs.

Whether it was pharmaceutical companies, underground forces, or even issues within the Social Sequence itself, as long as one aspect had problems, the issue of addictive drugs could never be resolved.

And Jiang Shu also hesitated before retorting, ”With such advanced technology in Lonely City, can’t they develop some kind of cure?”

”Cure?” Wolf laughed and shook his head, yet the smile held no warmth, ”There’s no such thing. That would just be switching to a different addictive substance. All cures have the potential to be abused into new addictive drugs. In the past, pharmaceutical companies, in the pursuit of profit, advertised so-called cures extensively. They kept silent about the addictive nature of these cures, silenced those in the know, and eventually caused a new round of substance abuse. Within just a few years, tens of thousands of addicts were created, tens of thousands of people with acquired disabilities.”

”Is that so?” Jiang Shu also slightly furrowed his brows. In a modernized city like Lonely City, the situation would only be more terrifying than what Wolf described.

”That’s right. After that, there were several similar incidents, just more clandestine, hence their greater destructive power,” Wolf said gravely, recalling events that occurred during his tenure, his involvement in many searches giving him clear insight into the situation. ”In the end, Lonely City enacted laws that prohibited the development of related drugs, conclusively blocking that path.”

He shrugged his shoulders, his tone full of helplessness, ”While the original intent of that path was good, it was hard to ensure whether it was righteous scientists or profit-driven capitalists walking down it, and in fact, it turned out to be vampire capitalists, those who would do anything for money, sacrificing public health... quite normal. So now, that path has simply been sealed off.”

”There’s no way left at all then?” Jiang Shu’s face darkened slightly. He, too, despised those substances that turned people into inhuman beings, but it seemed that Lonely City truly couldn’t rely on technology to change the situation.

From this perspective, until the general quality of mankind improves, advanced technology only brings misfortune.

There was a prior theory within Lonely City addressing this issue, the conservative faction of the Social Sequence, which opposed too rapid technological advancement.

From their point of view, for every three parts of funds invested in the development of material technology, at least two parts should be invested in the development of the human spirit.

Otherwise, the advancement of technology and human spiritual civilization would be misaligned, and most of the time, this misalignment would only create misfortune and disaster.

This was also a very sensible theory, but it was not the social mainstream, not now, nor likely in the future.

After all, the mainstream of Lonely City society is...

Profit-driven.

”There is a way,” Wolf responded to Jiang Shu’s question, seemingly sensing Jiang Shu’s inner aversion to the darker aspects, and with a sense of camaraderie, he half-jokingly said, ”If someone could consolidate all of Lonely City’s underground powers, like an underground God or something. I’m talking about a true emperor, not some capitalist creation for profit-making. Anyone who dares to abuse drugs would get their due, even if Tang himself abused drugs, he’d dare to storm the police station and slap Tang twice, then drag him off to the rehab center.”

As he spoke, he found himself amused, so he laughed and continued jesting, ”Under such stringent rule, it wouldn’t take two years to completely ban drugs, no one would dare buy them from the pharmacies, and those hidden pharmaceutical companies would stop making them. Who would do something unprofitable? Make a bunch just to consume themselves? If so, just barge into their homes, slap them twice, and send them off to rehab.”

However, suddenly, Wolf realized Jiang Shu wasn’t laughing. Jiang Shu’s expression was quite serious, a look Wolf had only seen when he was pondering a case or Magic, so Wolf blinked in surprise and asked, ”What are you thinking? You don’t actually want to become some underground emperor, do you?”

”Of course,” Jiang Shu regained his light-hearted demeanor, ”Just wait, and one day I’ll storm into the police station to beat Tang up and then have you pull off my boots and grind the ink for me.”

”What? Pull off your boots and grind the ink?” Wolf didn’t understand the reference and was stunned again.