2200 Side Story: Fantasy Journey 41
However, for a certain someone who still needed trillions of experience points to graduate, this was a small amount.
By a conservative estimate, it would take more than 10 to 20 incidents like this one.
It was understandable that Arthur hadn’t become a teammate. This guy acted silly, but he was a little wary of people.
It was unrealistic to become teammates right away after one mission together.
Master Wayne? If Luke succeeded, that would be a miracle; if he didn’t, that was normal.
In any case, the ruined town on this wide plain had turned into a strange and magnificent botanical garden, which lifted everyone’s spirits.
The capes on Luke and Master Wayne’s backs fluttered in the breeze.
The residents who had escaped after the defensive dome was destroyed looked at the ‘flower town’ with complicated feelings.
The view was beautiful, but the houses in the town were changed beyond recognition and were no longer liveable.
At the very least, however, they had escaped during this huge event, and were much luckier than the residents of the same town who had died at the hands of the Parademons.
Luke noticed their expressions.
Back home, he and Tony had set up a rescue foundation specially to provide aid. It seemed that this place could also do with one?
People like Master Wayne subconsciously became paranoid when someone acted too friendly with them.
Conversely, doing something good to help others was an easy way to increase their good impression of a person.
Helping regular poor people was something a lot of people did, not just Luke, so Master Wayne naturally wouldn’t think much of it.
Helping those who suffered losses specifically from a battle between superhumans might pique Master Wayne’s interest.
However, a few years had passed since Superman’s battle, while the incident with Doomsday a few months ago hadn’t caused much damage to the city, so Luke never had a suitable opportunity to do anything.
Sensing that everybody was in a relaxed mood, he immediately said in a low voice, “This view is beautiful, but I don’t think Russia will let those people live here anymore.”
Stumped, everybody turned around.
Luke said, “Although it was Steppenwolf who caused this, ordinary people probably wouldn’t know. Do you think we’ll cop the blame for this?”
Everybody could guess the answer just by thinking about what happened to Superman.
Master Wayne’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t want to become like Superman.
Although he couldn’t be considered a law-abiding citizen in Gotham, his target was gangs and villains; ordinary people were seldom implicated.
“What do you want to do?” he asked.
Luke said, “Set up an aid foundation which specializes in cleaning up the aftermath and help affected civilians with life matters like medical treatment and employment.”
Barry could only think of examples based on his own understanding. “Like unemployment benefits?”
Luke shook his head. “That’s raising lazy pigs. Dealing with the possible consequences of a battle is one thing, but we won’t bother with anything else. A person’s life is ultimately their own business. You can’t rely on other people forever.”
Master Wayne agreed. “Okay, we’ll discuss it when we get back.”
Luke nodded and turned to Diana. “Rich lady, are you in too?”
The battle goddess rolled her eyes at him, but agreed. “Sure.”
Arthur scratched his head. “I don’t have any money, but you can contact me if you need anything.”
Luke nodded. “You might not have the money, but you’re putting in the effort. Saving people in the ocean is itself a good thing. Don’t worry about it. Victor doesn’t have to fork out money either. His Internet skills are more useful to us than money.”
The Justice League had just been set up, and had yet to start on these things.
But Luke had been guiding online public opinion for decades, and was very familiar with this process.
Victor didn’t need a keyboard to go online; with just a thought, he could stay on top of public opinion. Maintaining the Justice League’s reputation online would be a simple thing.
As long as they could suppress the most extreme opponents and magnify the voices of their supporters, online public opinion would never be one-sided.
As long as public opinion wasn’t one-sided, the public wouldn’t be able to force the Justice League to explain itself.
Superman had previously been forced into a tight spot mostly because he wasn’t in the mood or was unwilling to deal with this sort of thing.
Otherwise, he could have gone into the ocean or underground to look for lost treasures with his X-ray vision and turn into a multi-millionaire overnight.
Luke didn’t have high moral requirements of himself or other people, as long as innocent people weren’t hurt.
So what if he manipulated public opinion? Even if he didn’t do it, the financial groups would.
They could impart the spirit of consumerism so that those at the bottom enjoyed themselves with no thought of the future.
Or, they sowed discord between men and women.
Between a female multi-millionaire and a man who made 100,000 dollars a year, who wielded power? When soliciting funds for an election campaign, would the money not be accepted if it was from a woman?
In the end, most problems in the world could be attributed to economic issues, or rather, to interests and resources.
Most people argued over things until their faces turned red. Actually, this was bait thrown out by the upper echelons to ‘draw fire.’
For example, if a husband didn’t make enough money to buy his wife luxury goods, he didn’t love her.
Most people at the bottom weren’t aware how luxury goods had become synonymous with ‘love.’
The slogan ‘diamonds last forever’ was a masterpiece of this sort of manipulation.
Worthless things were dressed up as ‘love,’ and then… sold at a high price.
It was the same for all luxury goods.
It didn’t affect the lives of the rich to spend this bit of money.
The ordinary people at the bottom thought that they could be like the rich if they bought these things, but they never thought of how the prerequisite for being rich was… to have money, not to use luxury goods.
If economic pressures turned into gender and marriage issues, how many people would still have time to ponder the underlying cause that was class stratification and exploitation?
In any case, it was easier to argue with your spouse than to attack the upper class.
So, what Luke was doing was pretty much guiding people toward good and promoting positive energy. He had a clear conscience.
Barry raised his hand weakly. “Then, what can I do?”
A few days ago, he had still been a super naive kid. At most, he just ‘pushed’ bad guys away.
Luke had a good impression of this new teammate who looked a little like a combination of his little brother Joseph and his future brother-in-law Pietro. He patted Barry’s head with a smile. “Don’t worry. As long as you follow me, you will never have the regret of wasted years or shame of petty accomplishments.”
Master Wayne frowned. “That’s… Nikolai Ostrovsky, right?”
Luke, the heir of socialism in his previous life, shrugged. “At the very least, his words make sense. Also, aren’t they very appropriate for this occasion?”
Hm, this had indeed been Nikolai Ostrovsky’s homeland 30 years ago.
Barry was stumped. “Is this Os whatever sky famous?”
Luke said, “Don’t worry about it. The point is that he wasn’t wrong.”
Barry nodded. “Okay.”
Luke patted his head again. “Good luck. I have faith in you.”
Seeing this, Master Wayne grew a little paranoid. This guy had hit on the battle goddess and roped in Barry at the same time. Hm, it seemed that Victor was also very interested in the foundation.
No, he had to increase his involvement and investment in this foundation! He immediately made up his mind.
Master Wayne actually knew very well that compared with righteousness and fighting crime, it was rescuing the innocent that was most likely to give people a sense of identity and satisfaction.
Otherwise, why would so many bigshots separate themselves from their corporations on the surface and not hold any positions, but make high-profile public appearances at charity events?
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