Chapter 253: The Failed Idealist
Joric's projection remained silent for a moment, his black eyes seeming to pierce through time and space, gazing at something deeper.
When he spoke again, his voice remained steady but carried an insight bordering on compassion. "Your answer corroborates my observation." His voice held a texture akin to a sigh. "Fifty years of lurking and plotting, yet you never broke through the fundamental proposition of 'Destruction' versus 'Construction'.
"Your spirit of resistance is worthy of affirmation, but this resistance remained at an emotional level and failed to ascend to rational construction."
He paused slightly, allowing the profound meaning of his words to settle. "You keenly perceived the exploitative nature of corporations but failed to deeply analyze the historical inevitability behind it—the profound contradiction between human social organization and the level of productivity development in a resource-limited world.
"You yearned to destroy this system, yet you ignored that any stable new order must be built upon three basic pillars: a complete theoretical system, meticulous institutional design, and a social mobilization mechanism capable of condensing consensus."
Joric's gaze seemed to pass through Yorinobu, looking toward a more distant place. "History is not short of idealists like you. They overthrow the old order with passion, but because they lack a clear blueprint for building a new world, they ultimately either plunge society into deeper chaos or inadvertently give birth to new forms of oppression.
"Your program of action, in essence, remains at the stage of that angry youth from fifty years ago—obsessed with the pleasure of 'breaking,' yet lacking the necessary cognition and preparation for the difficulty of 'establishing'."
This analysis advanced layer by layer. Every sentence was like a precise scalpel, dissecting the psychological defenses Yorinobu had meticulously built over fifty years.
He spoke no more, merely staring blankly at the projection before him, his face gradually turning pale.
Those questions he had deliberately avoided, those doubts that flashed past in the dead of night, were now presented so clearly before him, leaving him nowhere to hide.
Joric's final words echoed in the silent observation room: "Destroying an old world requires courage, but building a new world requires wisdom. And you seem to have focused all your energy on the former."
A long silence congealed in the air.
Yorinobu lowered his head, looking at his scarred hands as if searching for answers in those wounds.
When he looked up again, the stubborn light in his eyes had dimmed, replaced by a fatigue that cut to the bone.
"You're right." His voice was hoarse, as if he had exhausted a lifetime of strength. "For fifty years, I have been like a lonely gravedigger, digging the grave of Arasaka day and night.
"I was so focused on every shovel of earth before my eyes that I forgot to think about what should be planted on this land after the grave was dug."
The corners of his mouth pulled into a bitter arc. "Facing the behemoth of Arasaka alone, I had to pour all my heart and soul into how to dismantle it, how to evade its pursuit, how to find cracks within its system.
"Every plan took years of layout; every action could lead to eternal damnation. Just keeping the faith from extinguishing already exhausted all my strength."
Yorinobu's gaze became distant, as if traveling back to those lonely days and nights. "When you live constantly under the shadow of a beast, careful even with your breathing, it is indeed hard to have spare energy to conceive a complete future.
"My vision, my pattern... in this asymmetrical confrontation, they were squeezed until only 'confrontation' itself remained."
He let out a long sigh, carrying the weight of half a century. "Thinking about it now, perhaps I had unknowingly become a prisoner on another level—a prisoner confined by my own obsession."
This confession was heavier than any words spoken before.
It was not merely an admission of his own limitations, but a heartbreaking truth discovered by an idealist reflecting on a lifelong pursuit: In the process of wrestling with the dragon, he himself had partially lost the ability to soar in the sky.
"Your candor is valuable." Joric's voice remained calm, but with less of the previous detachment. "You have shown me the most typical dilemma of an idealist—being too focused on fighting the beast to remember the thousands of troops that should have been standing behind you."
He leaned forward slightly, his gaze torch-like. "For fifty years, you poured all your effort into how to dismantle the fortress of Arasaka, yet you ignored a most fundamental question: Why were you always fighting alone?
"You saw oppression, felt injustice, yet failed to condense this scattered anger into a common force.
"You lacked a vision that could resonate with all the oppressed, a banner worth following that transcended mere destruction."
"Because of this," Joric's voice carried the sharpness of insight, "you could only ever be a lonely rebel, not a leader capable of guiding change.
"You chose the hardest path—shouldering the weight of the entire world alone—yet forgot that revolution has never been a one-man enterprise."
These words were like a precise scalpel, peeling away the shell Yorinobu had built for himself over fifty years layer by layer, forcing him to face the truth that had been hidden all along.
His loneliness did not stem entirely from environmental oppression, but more from the limitations of his own vision.
He was too focused on the confrontation with Arasaka to remember to ignite the fire in the hearts of others.
Yorinobu stood frozen in place, Joric's words echoing in his mind.
Unexpectedly, he did not feel offended. Instead, there was a relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
It was as if a weight carried for too long was finally unloaded, allowing him to re-examine his obsession-filled life from a brand-new perspective.
"So, 'Sage'," Yorinobu raised his head, looking at Joric's holographic projection with a complex gaze. "For me... this failed idealist, how do you intend to dispose of me?"
"Dispose?" Joric's projection shook his head slightly, his tone carrying a near-absolute objectivity. "Your past serves sufficiently as an analytical case study. Your future, however, might offer another kind of value."
He paused briefly, as if retrieving information, then stated calmly, "Here, the entity maintaining the city's operation is an Artificial Intelligence named 'Administrator'.
"It is responsible for assessing everyone's capabilities and placing them in positions where they can maximize utility to maintain the stability and data output of the entire social system. You, too, will be incorporated into this system."
As his words fell, a hidden door on the side of the observation room slid open. A Servitor, simple in design and precise in movement, walked in silently, stopped beside Yorinobu's stretcher, and waited for instructions.
"It is worth mentioning," Joric's tone seemed to undergo an extremely subtle change, carrying a hint of imperceptible guidance, "that the core personality template of this 'Administrator' is built based on the data of your half-brother, Kei Arasaka."
He did not leave Yorinobu much time to digest this shocking information, continuing, "Perhaps, in the process of working with 'him,' you can re-examine everything you obsessively fought against for the past fifty years from a completely different perspective.
"Under the arrangement of the 'Administrator,' you will engage in concrete work. This will allow you to more directly contact and understand the specific individuals you once vowed to save but ignored in your grand goals."
"As for those unfinished thoughts regarding 'toppling' and 'destruction'," Joric said finally, his gaze seemingly piercing Yorinobu's soul, "in the 'aftermath' where the old shackles are shattered, you will have ample time, through concrete practice, to ponder the questions you had no time to think deeply about in the past—for example, what is true 'Construction'."
With that, Joric's projection dissipated silently into the air, just as it had appeared.
Yorinobu leaned alone against the cold alloy chair. Joric's words echoed in his mind—"Kei Arasaka," "Administrator," "Concrete Practice," "Construction"... these words wove together, impacting the mindset he had solidified over half a century.
He no longer needed to exhaust his mind to destroy Arasaka. A massive sense of emptiness assailed him, but beneath this emptiness, there seemed to be a faint hint of... new possibility?
To understand the order constructed by the "brother" he never truly understood? To contact those living individuals he claimed to save in his slogans but had no time to care for?
The Servitor emitted a soft prompt tone, signaling him to follow.
Yorinobu Arasaka, the former imperial rebel, took a deep breath. He allowed the Servitor to push his stretcher, moving toward the unknown "aftermath" managed by his "brother."
This time, perhaps he would no longer be just a destroyer.
(End of Chapter)