"Yes, Supre Magician."
Everyone let out a sigh of relief together, so even slumped into their chairs in exhaustion. The reason was simple: although they were elites, they were not the decision-makers of the civilization. They would have to report back to their big bosses, and the phrasing was a problem.
If they said it was serious, the big bosses might have a stress reaction, and if sothing really went wrong, the Supre Magician might not spare them. But if they said it wasn’t serious, and trouble did arise later, they would take the bla.
Since the Supre Magician was willing to take the bla, that was the best outco. At worst, they could bla their misunderstanding of the English language. After all, humans were a niche civilization and it was normal to mishear a word or two.
"Now, tell how you’re going to conduct the review work," Strange said again.
The people below had a brief discussion in low voices, then sent soone to explain. He said, "Personnel for the functional departnts are appointed by us, so there’s no shirking or questioning. But the executive agency is a big problem, as those civil servants never like reviews and will certainly have many objections."
Strange, however, held out One Hand and said, "I’m asking how you plan to conduct the review work, not how you’ll get all the reviews approved. I want real opinions, the views of everyone in the interstellar council on this environntal review. Do you understand?"
"Oh, I see," the person looked enlightened and said, "Then just post it online."
"What?"
"Just find soone well-inford and post online saying the interstellar council is going to conduct an environntal review, that way we can see the most genuine reactions. If soone goes after the person who posted, then they probably agree with it. If soone informs their civilization to conduct self-checks, then they definitely disagree."
This left Strange sowhat bewildered. He asked, "Why?"
Another person said, "People who want to block the news usually support the policy because they want it to proceed without early leaks causing trouble. But those who don’t block the news and take advantage themselves generally don’t want the policy to go through, so only they can benefit, leaving others in the dark."
Strange was a bit speechless, so he said, "We need to follow official procedures and can’t use such ans."
The person who spoke earlier hesitated before saying, "So you want to use official thods?"
"Yes, how do you generally conduct it officially?"
"We usually post a paper on the announcent board in the first-floor lobby, stating that we’re about to begin so review work."
"Then what?"
"If you want everyone to agree, have those who disagree co to your office; if you want everyone to disagree, have those who agree co to your office. This usually gets you the result you want."
Strange held his forehead and said, "I don’t want to manipulate opinions; I want genuine opinions. Can’t you create so voting website with official ans?"
"Do you want genuine opinions or the opinions of the Three Great Empires? If it’s the latter, then a website might work." The director spoke very tactfully.
"This can’t work, that can’t work, what exactly should we do?" Strange’s patience was running out.
"We need to study this back ho," another director said, "We may be able to give you an answer tomorrow, is that okay?"
Strange was unwilling but had no choice, because he couldn’t really beat them up, so he just waved and said, "Dismissed."
Back in his office, Shiller was already waiting for him. Strange pulled out a chair, sat down, and sighed deeply, "These interstellar council people are really useless, they can’t even figure out a way to collect opinions for a review."
"Do you really think they can’t figure it out?" Shiller asked.
"Are they deliberately going against ?" Strange squinted his eyes. He thought about it and was sure that was the case, which made him even angrier.
Shiller, however, shook his head and said, "From your perspective, it’s certainly easy to handle this work, since you are the Supre Magician and the interstellar chairman. Who would dare disobey you? But for your subordinates, there’s an insurmountable mountain."
"The Three Great Empires?"
"Exactly, emphasizing genuine opinions to them is like telling them: ’You need to confront the Three Great Empires, break their monopoly on opinion within the interstellar council, escape their control, and truly achieve freedom of speech and smooth governance.’"
"Uh, is that what I ant?" Strange also felt a bit awkward.
"Of course. You’re a human, from your viewpoint, wanting genuine opinions cannot an the opinions of the Three Great Empires. And didn’t they finally ask you?"
Strange thought about it; indeed, the last director did ask if he wanted the opinions of the Three Great Empires, and he denied it. It sounded a lot like emphasizing that this opinion-gathering cannot be controlled by the Three Great Empires.
But considering the current state of the interstellar council, achieving this is very difficult. And these people claid they could give him an answer by tomorrow morning; thinking of this, Strange was also a bit nervous.
"Oh no, I might have ssed up," he said, "They won’t go and fight the Three Great Empires, will they? That would cause trouble, wouldn’t it???"
"Yes." Shiller gave him no hope, stating very certainly, "Trouble is bound to happen, but don’t you think that’s a good thing?"
"After all, they’re not part of the human race, I wouldn’t be heartbroken if they suffered losses, but if they can’t deal with the Three Great Empires, wouldn’t that also hurt my reputation?"
"You must trust your subordinates. They’re not foolish and certainly wouldn’t confront the Three Great Empires head-on. These folks are full of crafty ideas. Moreover, you can completely use this incident to see who’s truly loyal to you and who intends to brush you off. First filter out the central subordinates, and the subsequent work will be easier."
"You an I still have to figure out who’s sincere?" Strange was in a state of helplessness. He said, "I don’t have Mind Reading Skills; I can’t tell, so you go, watch them for , see who’s working hard and who’s trying to sit on the fence."
"If I go to watch, what will you do?"
The two of them stared blankly at each other.
"Alright, I’ll just fill out this quarter’s psychological evaluation," Strange said helplessly.
Shiller took out the psychological evaluation form and placed it in front of Strange with a smile, saying, "Yes, Supre Magician."
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