Cyber Era Witch-Chapter 72 - 55 Intelligence

72: Chapter 55 Intelligence

72 -55 Intelligence

The smart table screen is a relatively popular piece of furniture, as people continuously pursue higher resolutions and larger screens, which ultimately led to the development of smart desktop technology, turning the entire table into a display screen with impressive browsing effects.

Farosa stood at one end of the table, absorbing knowledge with rapt attention, astonished at humanity’s interpretation of the world!

According to the official encyclopedia, phenomena such as the sunrise, the motion of the stars, and the ebb and flow of the tide were not the miracles of gods but the result of a series of planetary movements, captivating Farosa.

Modern “corporations” are indeed very skilled at deception.

Had I not seen with my own eyes Zenith rising from The Great Abyss in the east, I might have believed this whole narrative.

Farosa reflected on what she had seen after arriving on Archipelago Continent.

Zenith, the strong figure from an external race, managed the motion of the sun, exchanging it for the privilege to exist in this world.

Zenith leaped upward, using its heat to boil the sea, waving its arms toward the sky, rousing the sun from its indolent state, thus bringing daylight to the world—a miracle visible to the naked eye, yet people chalked up the sunrise to the rotation of the planet.

Something must have happened in this past millennium, as not only the revered deities themselves have disappeared but also other external races and the Ancient Mystics, is it merely due to the reversal of the witch-human relationship?

Perhaps…

Farosa asked Xu Yang how to open the drawing platform, then began to sketch on the screen.

“What’s this?” Xu Yang looked puzzled at the strange symbols Farosa was drawing on the table.

The symbols roughly resembled four star points arranged from top to bottom.

“The Four-Star Chart,” Farosa pointed out the pattern on the image, “I learned it while serving in the Church, it is the foundation that supports the entire world.”

Xu Yang silently observed the painting as Farosa explained.

The entire chart consisted of four patterns resembling star points.

The topmost star point represented “the world of the stars,” which in Xu Yang’s understanding, was the galaxy.

The second star point was “the gods,” which Xu Yang didn’t understand too well, as the corporations had sealed off related information.

Before meeting Farosa, he only knew that gods were great powers venerated in ancient times.

The third star point was “the witches,” and the fourth signified “humans.”

“Such is the order of the world,” Farosa indicated, “From top to bottom, we are located within the world of the stars, with gods supreme above all, witches qualified to manipulate and inherit magic power, and reigning over humans, but now it’s completely reversed.”

“It turns out humans bear three great burdens; it’s about time for a turnaround,” Xu Yang said.

“What are you talking about, order is good,” said Farosa, a tad annoyed, then she flipped the image over, “Now look, it has completely changed.

Humans are at the top, supreme above all, suppressing the witches.

The witches are cut off from the gods.

At the bottom is the place we live in, a star within the world of stars, which humans are now interpreting at will.”

“What’s wrong with exploring nature?”

“No, power comes from mystique,” said Farosa, “The less you understand something, the more you fear it.

And if the mystery fades, the power fades with it.”

“…I see.”

Order was distorted, so everything was collapsing.

Farosa thought to herself.

“That’s also why the Forest Master has fled to the distant polar regions,” Farosa gazed northward, “The clearer humans see, the weaker the power of the Ancient Mystics becomes.

In the interpretation of scholastic philosophers, this practice is called ‘demystification.’

So where does a witch’s magic power actually come from?” Xu Yang pondered an essential question.

“I don’t believe in human interpretation,” Farosa shook her head, “I’ll just tell you how we understood it back then—witches bear the mission of connecting the world of stars to the ground beneath our feet, and each witch’s power corresponds to a star in the sky.

Did you know?

Each witch’s power is unique, and not until the previous witch passes away, followed by years or even centuries of waiting, will another witch emerge with the same power, because it takes time for the starlight to shine here again.”

Xu Yang then looked up the modern interpretation of magic power, which stated, “There is still much that modern science can’t explain.”

In comparison, Farosa’s explanation seemed more elaborate.

“The Corporate Alliance doesn’t want us to understand things,” said Xu Yang, “They have pre-established a way of understanding the world for us.”

“That’s why we need to read more.” Farosa kept switching pages to absorb knowledge, “The first lesson I learned at the Church was acceptance, learning to see issues from others’ perspectives.”

But obviously, only my understanding is the most correct, Farosa mused to herself.

One day I will make everyone obey me, what’s the use of such fanciful thoughts.

As she surfed the web, Farosa inadvertently clicked on a video—in the midst of a half-destroyed city, a bunch of ragged and freezing citizens burst out waving bricks and guns but were easily blown to pieces by a fighter jet’s bombardment.

She noticed that this video had particularly many comments, with negative ones accounting for nine out of ten.

“What is this about?” Farosa didn’t understand.

“A struggle that took place 100 years ago,” Xu Yang was quite familiar with this history, “In Lundinium of Taixi Continent, the entire city’s population responded en masse to oppose the sixteen-hour workday, but they were slaughtered by the troops dispatched by the Corporate Alliance.

The incident had a significant impact, and it was after that the workday was reformed to the twelve-hour system we have today, which is hailed as one of the Corporate Alliance’s great benevolences.”

Farosa looked down again, and as the special effect shots changed, the video content shifted from the massacre in the city to a model sketch of an advanced fighter jet, followed by the advertisement for Black Fire Innovation Company—”Black Fire Innovation, the world’s finest military hardware, the ‘Sky Dominator T4’ maker that quelled the Lundinium Uprising, now introduces the ‘Sky Dominator T10,’ a potent tool to protect your private assets.”

“They’re quite proud of themselves,” Xu Yang shook his head, “A negative review is definite.”

“Using a history of human massacre as a selling point?” Farosa found it bizarre.

“This is the online world, where everything is deconstructable,” Xu Yang explained, “The most magical thing about the internet is that nothing is serious.

No matter how earnest or intricate something is, once it’s online, it will be stripped of order and rationality and turned into oversimplified, entertainment content, without any lower limit.

The bottom line becomes the rice line, starting line, median line, meridian line, and date-changing line.”

“The resistance of humans…

just like when people surged through the barrier before.” Farosa remembered the time when they had breached the No.

1 Junction.

“I’m just as angry as they were,” Xu Yang sighed, “I miss my parents, even though I’ve never seen what they look like.

The company destroyed their health and drained their life force.”

“Literally, I want to see the sunlight again.” Farosa was fed up with being stuck underground, “This is also the fault of the company.”

“Because you have no identity, and you are a Witch, it would be best if we could have a company of our own control, to somehow get you an identity,” Xu Yang said, “Otherwise, you would never be able to move about in the sunlight.”

“And then there are our own kind who serve the company willingly and sink into degeneracy.” Farosa thought of Witches like Pan Ruiyi who groveled to humans.

“They’re not our real enemies; they’re bound by their own jobs.

If we only focus on the Witches employed by the companies, then we let our most dangerous enemies off the hook.”

“What is that?”

“A monster wrapped in layers, with each company as its shell.

What truly resides inside is called Capital, the primal driving force behind all corporate actions.

Capital seeks to increase its own value, so like a parasite, it urges its host to continually seek opportunities to strengthen itself.”

Capital drives technological progress but also ensures that humans will forever suffer.

“Slaying such a monster requires a fine weapon,” Farosa said.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than they each thought of a suitable weapon in their minds.

For Xu Yang, that was called “the Masses”.

If a past major action could change a sixteen-hour workday to twelve hours, then another one might secure an eight-hour workday, right?

For Farosa, it was “Ancient Secrets”.

I will make Them an offer they can’t refuse.

There are billions of people in this world, and perhaps by consuming the blood and souls of one or two billion humans, Their power can be restored, allowing Them to return to the world stage, to cleanse the world with the fire and blood that I adore.

Humans are too unruly and have trouble learning their lesson.

Moreover, bringing back those vast and ancient lives would make this world even more fascinating.

After lunch, Xu Yang wanted to check on Farosa’s progress in her online learning, but he found that her attention had shifted from understanding the secrets of the world to short videos.

The booming electronic synthesizer music rang through the room, hurting Xu Yang’s ears, as the melody of a popular song played on repeat.

Farosa swayed her body, watching videos from around the world with relish.

Without restrictions, without any rules, to cater to tastes, the content of short videos was nothing more than men and women wrestling, or they were filled with pranks and comedy.

Farosa had never heard such rhythmic music; the continuous thumping was far more shocking than the gentle tunes of the primitive instruments of the past, and the accompanying video contents were particularly interesting.

While she didn’t quite understand some of the meme videos, nor did she care much for the simple male and female content, there were plenty of human fail compilations and quirky clips from around the world, and she understood the humor in them.

The platform used algorithms to predict what Farosa would want to watch next, continuously pushing easily understandable humorous videos.

Lying on the table, Farosa watched video after video without blinking, many of them with projection functions.

She stood in the marked spot as if she were in the video itself, thoroughly engrossed, forgetting even to eat.

“Why are they hitting their heads on the ground?

Why does the title say ‘Try Not to Laugh Challenge’ when the people inside are giggling foolishly?

Why does everyone have such weird expressions?

Too, too funny.

I want to record one and upload it too.” Farosa couldn’t stop scrolling.

Xu Yang didn’t know what to say for a moment.

“Humans really are…

the ultimate jesters,” Farosa said with a laugh, then continued swiping her fingers on the table, searching for the next video.

This was the happiest she’d been since awakening.

And what does that make a Witch fooled by jesters?

Xu Yang shook his head; he couldn’t wound her pride.