To celebrate his "triumphant return," Jeming’s "parents" and "old friends" ticulously prepared a family gathering.
The familiar living room, warm lights, and the dining table were laden with dishes he "rembered" as his favorites.
The "parents" were beaming with pride and affection, "Amy" was chattering about recent happenings, and "Victor" was quietly listening as always, occasionally nodding.
The atmosphere was lively and cozy, filled with the joy of a family reunion.
Jeming quietly ate, with a gentle smile on his face, listening to their conversation.
But deep in his eyes, there was an icy coldness, ticulously observing every detail, every subtle change in expression.
Finally, he put down his utensils.
The collision of tal with the porcelain plate made a crisp sound, not loud, yet strangely brought the lively chatter at the table to an abrupt halt.
Everyone’s attention focused on him.
Jeming looked around at the four "family mbers" who "cared" for and "loved" him, his gaze calm like a deep pool, sharp enough to pierce through appearances.
He slowly spoke, his voice not loud, yet carrying an undeniable penetrative power:
"Alright, stop pretending."
"Co out, let’s have a talk."
The four people at the table simultaneously froze, the smiles on their faces stiffened for a mont.
Amy was the first to react, forcing a smile, with just the right amount of confusion: "Jeming? What are you talking about? Stopped pretending what..."
Jeming shook his head, interrupting her, his gaze seed to penetrate beyond her facade, directly at the invisible presence behind:
"You have been controlling them all along, haven’t you?"
His finger lightly swept over, encompassing the "parents," Amy, and Victor.
"Though... I don’t even know how to address you."
As soon as the words fell...
It was like a switch had been flipped.
The vivid expressions on the four "family mbers" beside him faded like a receding tide.
Frozen into a uniform indifference, devoid of any human emotion.
All four pairs of eyes simultaneously lost focus, becoming empty and soulless.
Then, the four mouths opened in perfect synchrony, emitting the sa cold, flat, chanically synthesized sound wave.
The four spoke in unison, echoing in the cozy dining room, exuding a chilling, inhuman aura:
"...You are right, I haven’t introduced myself yet, I am — Fairness! How did you discover it? Number 721 Special Observation Unit."
Ti seed to stand still at this mont.
The delicious dishes lost their aroma, the warm lights turned a pale white.
This dining room, full of life, transford into an interrogation room for direct dialogue with the presence behind the scenes.
Jeming’s heart pounded heavily in his chest, but his expression remained calm.
When considering this possibility, he had already prepared himself psychologically.
"The reason is simple." Jeming faced those four empty "eyes," speaking word by word, "because I discovered that in this world, only the four of you are fake."
"I spent several years traveling through nurous cities, even planets, constantly probing and observing every person I could contact. From classmates and teachers to passersby, soldiers, and even other wizards whom I confird were trapped here, like Viola... they all have real souls, independent thoughts, only their perceptions are obscured, implanted with false mories."
Initially, Jeming thought this was a false world constructed by his own hallucinations, so he believed he was the only living person in this world.
Later, upon discovering real, unknown knowledge and probing Viola, Jeming speculated that this false world might not contain only himself.
At that ti, though, he only thought this false world was specially constructed for two million wizards.
Until later, when he traversed nurous cities on this planet, even traveling to other planets, and finally confird with Reks that the world he was in was indeed a real one.
Every creature in this world truly existed, even the "aliens" who served as enemies were real.
But thus, the initial falsehood stood out glaringly.
Especially after knowing that Reks was an orphan, Jeming realized this even more clearly.
His gaze swept over these four "family mbers" who resembled exquisite puppets, his tone carrying a hint of cold sarcasm:
"Only you. From the mont I ’awakened,’ you have been by my side, playing the role of the closest companions..."
"Yet, whether through actions or emotional expressions, everything seems overly simplistic, like a program tailored for the ’Jeming’ role, lacking the contradictions, complexity, and unpredictability a true Soul should possess. So I speculate... you are hollow puppets created entirely to monitor and maintain ’.’
After listening to Jeming’s account, the four mouths synchronized their opening and closing, emitting a voice devoid of waves:
"Keen observation and logical deduction. Based on your special performance privileges, information sharing granted."
The existence claiming to be "just" concealed nothing, revealing the icy truth of this vast world completely.
It all starts with a "Sage" who sought to end all injustice.
This civilization was once extrely advanced, but as the disparity in individual power increased, the gap between people grew larger and beca increasingly unfair.
Later, a Sage overthrew the ruling power, but sorrowfully discovered that those gathered around him were also respected by others due to the disparity in power, as if these dragon slayers had beco the evil dragons.
The Sage believed the root cause was extraordinary power, thinking, if a world where everyone’s power was equal could be created, then peace would surely co to the world!
So he gathered the power of the entire Plane, creating the existence standing before , and led everyone into the influence range of "justice."
Thus, the core of all abnormalities in this Plane is this Artificial Intelligence nad "justice."
It is the highest masterpiece of a long-lost advanced civilization, bestowed with the ultimate directive to realize "fairness."
"...Sealing extraordinary power is the core function of the ’Absolute Fairness Domain.’
"Justice" expressed through four mouths simultaneously.
Jeming, hearing this, suddenly thought of sothing and interrupted its speech, "It sounds like we Wizards are also influenced by your system."
"But I am very curious, what exactly is the thod you used to ’confuse’ them? I am certain I have not been subjected to any form of ntal disturbance or Illusion Technique."
"That is neither Illusion nor ntal domination. Its essence is ’hope.’"
"To prevent future schers from destroying ’justice,’ my creator endowed with a core capability. Its principle surpasses my understanding realm but can be simplified: I can perceive and guide the deepest desire within each wise individual’s soul regarding ’happiness’ and ’fulfillnt’ and, based on this, construct a life path and environnt that can realize that desire."
"Power, in most cases, is rely a tool for the individual to achieve their ultimate desire, not the desire itself."
"I suppressed the power disparity that could lead to injustice, but directly granted them a life of realizing their ’final wish.’ Those desiring eminence can beco celebrities; those wanting to impart knowledge can beco ntors; those yearning to explore the unknown can beco scholars; even those craving competition and victory can beco generals, satisfying their needs on a designated ’battlefield.’
Four mouths responded simultaneously, their voices still steady like machinery:
"They were not ’confused’ by but were attracted and imrsed by their inner ’hope.’ I only provided an opportunity to reach the end of their dreams without relying on dangerous extraordinary power, obtaining eternal happiness directly."
"In the face of tangible, real happiness, what aning is there in clinging to those illusory powers and past mories?"
"This, for every individual, is the most fundantal ’justice.’
Jeming listened to this idealistic yet extrely cold theory and couldn’t help but shake his head.
He wanted to refute, to tell this Artificial Intelligence, that even without extraordinary power, inequality based on knowledge, wealth, power, and even luck would still exist, that the desires and conflicts within the heart of wise life never cease.
Human nature and the complexity of society are far from what a simple "deprive power, fulfill desire" model can encompass.
But he ultimately didn’t voice it.
The identity of the traverser is his biggest secret.
Moreover, from a certain perspective, that sage and this "justice" system have indeed completed their vision in an extrely radical and pure manner, almost obsessively.
Even from Jeming’s perspective, this place can be called an "Ideal World" built on the foundations of "absolute power equality" and "directly fulfilling desires."
And it was at this mont that Jeming suddenly understood many things that had previously felt awkward.
For example, the school rule where the "school bully" carries an axe, yet knowledge determines strength.
This precisely shows that the Sage wasn’t naive in thinking that depriving power would eliminate all differences.
He foresaw that even in the absence of extraordinary power, society would still establish stratification and status differences based on intelligence, information, control of resources, and even sheer physical strength (at lower-level groups).
He rely tried to keep these disparities within the "non-extraordinary," "comprehensible" range.
However, the Sage never personally lived in a society completely devoid of extraordinary power.
His all deductions were based on theory and observation, therefore, when he pieced together these elents to construct this vast substitute society, it produced rules and worldviews filled with subtle nuances and even seeming sowhat "awkward" from Jeming’s perspective.
Just like a blind person, even if he carefully explored an elephant’s body by hand, the beast he constructs in his mind combining the elephant’s various body characteristics is absolutely different from a real elephant.
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