Vitalik's Sci-Fi Novel "Snow Moon" Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Meldan, Viridia · 3724 Harvest Moon 8

Gladias pulled back the curtain and stepped into the booth. By now he was quite familiar with the style: a table, a decorative lamp, two flowers at the end, an air filter tucked into a corner of the floor.

Delvort was already seated inside.

"So how are the Guardian meetings going?" Delvort asked.

"They're interesting," Gladias replied.

"I'm really surprised. We shouldn't be intervening so much in everything. We should have fewer rules. I'm not the only one who's raised this idea. It feels like nearly half of the new Guardians have the same thought in their hearts, and they're bringing it up as proactively as you'd hope I would."

"So at least some of them don't want you to be taxed for every bad word in a song, and don't want micromanagement of five different types of accessibility features for every house or apartment you build?"

"I mean, I don't think it's that bad right now. We don't make people fill out all the forms like they do in Ingelvoll. Taxes are just another variable people need to keep track of, along with electricity bills. But even so, I think the Guardians understand we have to be reasonable, not overly prescriptive."

"Do they make their case well?"

"Usually better than I do. Guardians in their second and third years tend to be more skeptical of this kind of thinking, and more traditional in their views. Especially when it comes to Zhego or the Arctic threat."

Delvort sighed. "These things have been propagandized for decades. Honestly, the Arctic people haven't done themselves any favors; everything they've done, their drone patrols near Red County, even Ephelion's speeches, always rubs people the wrong way."

"Yes, some people think they're planning some kind of more serious sabotage against Red County."

"Do you think they'll carry out more serious sabotage?"

Gladias thought for a moment. He didn't know in his heart, and although he didn't expect anything to happen soon, he worried the answer might be yes. But he also knew that if he admitted this to Delvort, he'd get a long lecture trying to impress upon him how biased his sources of evidence were—and all of this was before he'd even told Delvort about the time Sera met Zey and Bai in Liberty City.

"Probably not."

"So do your best to convince them not to worry."

A robot came in, bringing Gladias water and a salad, and Delvort a cup of tea and a rectangular nutrition bar.

The two quietly drank their beverages and ate.

They chatted for a while longer, and about twenty minutes later, Gladias stood up.

"Sorry, I'm going out to have dinner with my family."

"Of course you should, family comes first!" Gladias walked out and began making his way through the tunnels of Great Plum Harbor toward the exit.

About ten minutes through the tunnel, Gladias emerged onto a small path above ground. The tall gates of Great Plum Harbor were directly ahead. Gladias passed through the turnstile and returned to the mix of greenery, glass, and steel of Meldan's commercial district.

Gladias turned right and began walking toward his home.

His watch rang.

Moff→I've been keeping an eye on Delvort, we should talk.   71256

Gladias whispered into his neckband, then opened a call with Moff.

"What's going on?"

"He was a bit more careless than usual this time," Moff said. "I followed him to his next meeting. It was with another Guardian. I got the adjacent booth, and I could hear through the vibrations in the wall."

"Wow, the booths at Great Plum Harbor are that much worse than the ones the Guardians use?"

"Yes. I don't think enough people know the difference yet."

"We've been using those booths for conversations for months..."

"Indeed... well, now we know."

"Anyway, the other Guardian is also involved in the hardware openness issue, but not in the same discussion group as you. He fully supports Delvort's proposal."

"And then?"

"The entire conversation was about strategizing how to persuade the other Guardians in that group to agree with his position."

"Delvort is pushing very aggressively, and he seems to really care about this. And, together with you and the other Guardian, he's managed to establish connections in both discussion groups on the same rule. The whole point of separating the discussion groups was to force everyone to think independently; now both groups are taking cues from the same person!"

"In any case, I believe the whole thing is more organized and deeper than we realized."

"Next time you talk to Delvort, I think you should demand some answers."

"What do you think this could be? Some kind of organized political effort to make Viridia more like Liberty City, but without the part where they care about opposing the Arctic people? So, it's not just one person believing in this cause—there might be some kind of whole network behind him?"

"I'm curious too."

Gladias stepped onto the bus.

He sighed.

"I'll think about it some more. I'm going home now, to have dinner with my family. The kids are home today."

"Yes, please do. And—take care."

Gladias got off the bus and began walking toward the restaurant. Wearing a privacy robe, walking quickly, he was drenched in sweat under the scorching sun.

A few minutes later, he arrived. Sera and the four children were already seated at the table.

"Surprise!" Sera exclaimed. "This time we got here before you."

A smile spread across Gladias's face. He was happy to see the children again. It had been two months since he'd gone to their home that night, and they had been away from his and Sera's home for half a year.

Gladias put aside his thoughts about Delvort and Moff, deliberately focusing his attention on his family.

A few minutes later, a robot slid up to them, delivering food to Febric and Hreda.

"How did your math exam go?" Sera asked Hreda.

"Ninety-six percent," Hreda answered.

The expression on Sera's face immediately turned to worry. Asking Lily would be more awkward now, she knew. She had originally planned to ask her later, but for now she just congratulated Hreda.

Lily's gaze dropped, looking at the table in front of her.

The robot slid up to them again, delivering food to Zven and Lily. Zven eagerly took his. Lily didn't move.

Gladias took Lily's food and placed it on the table in front of her.

Lily slowly began to eat, saying nothing.

The table fell silent. They ate slowly while watching the Hailis professional match playing on a nearby screen.

Suddenly, the Hailis match was cut off, replaced by a completely different broadcast. An image of Lord Ephelion appeared on the left side of the screen, with multiple blocks of text on the right.

The Egalitarian Dead Hand and the Path of Power

Everyone is equal, schools, posters, songs, and everything in Viridia tells you.

Perhaps not Jiegu—but that's exactly why Jiegu's taxes were elevated to Tier Four in last year's audit.

No one is better than anyone else, and if you dare claim one person is better than another, you will immediately be seen as evil by Viridia and expelled.

But this idea has a fundamental flaw. If one person cannot be better than another, then it also means one person cannot be better than their former self. Denying the possibility of hierarchy and vertical differences between people, denying the existence of traits that everyone agrees are good but only some can truly achieve, thereby also denies the possibility of self-improvement.

Don't think that the idea of goodness and success having multiple dimensions can save you from this. Even if it could, in all the dimensions that matter, some people perform better and others perform worse.

Stop looking to society for answers, stop looking to Viridia's institutions for answers, to make life fair. Life is unfair—and it shouldn't be fair. Embrace competition. Today, you may be weak. But you have the capacity to become strong. Don't believe the lie that "you are enough as you are." But do believe one fact—you have the capacity to become strong. Seize this opportunity. Become stronger. Become so strong that you will later look back at your former self with shame.

And find other strong people who will help you on your journey toward greatness. Not those who love you unconditionally—that is a slow-burning poison, like sweet candy. But those who give you love when you win and cold-shoulder you when you lose. Those who give you both motivation and restraint. You are not excellent because you are human, but because you can win. Only then can you train your mindset to love victory and reach your true potential.

In this regard,

Lord Ephelion

Consul of the Arctic Empire in Viridia.

Gladias quickly scanned the message, looking around. Sera had already gotten up from the table and was trying to figure out how to unplug the screen, even before the restaurant staff themselves got there.

Febric and Hreda continued eating. Zven watched the message on the screen curiously, his thoughts jumping between paragraphs, occasionally shifting his attention to Sera's attempts to turn off the screen. And Lily just stared at the message.

Finally, the screen went dark.

The family was silent. Febric pulled out his handheld device and began his school studies. Lily took out her device and began tapping away vigorously. Gladias couldn't see what she was doing, though she seemed to be playing some kind of game.

The family ate quietly. Five minutes later, Lily's face suddenly lit up and she cheered silently to herself. She put down her device and ate with the family. Despite starting her meal later than they had, she still finished before the others.

3724 Harvest Moon 9

Gladias opened the barrier and stepped into the booth. The other Guardians had already arrived.

"Good to see you again, Number Six!" Number Thirteen called out.

"Wait, how did you know I'm Number Six?"

"Just instinct. Probably some subtle detail in your body language—as they say, ninety percent of our communication is subconscious."

"Ugh, it seems even with covered faces, speaking through neckbands, and randomized AI voice output—though I still can't tell who among you is male and who is female—these physical privacy tools still have their limits. Good to see you, Eighteen."

"I'm Number Thirteen!" Thirteen replied. "Seems like for you, maybe only thirty percent of communication is subconscious."

"By the way, I'm female. I suppose it's fine to say that—it only reduces my anonymity by a factor of two."

"Anyway, this is our last meeting before we have to vote on this assessment standard in about two months."

"Do we have a proposal?"

Zero looked up.

"I've drafted an amendment," he interjected. "Remove all preferential tiers for military, surveillance, and counter-surveillance products under the openness tax assessment standard. These products are unconditionally rated at least Tier Three."

"Counter-surveillance too?"

"Of course. It's all part of the same zero-sum game."

Eighteen began to speak.

"I still think you don't understand the Arctic threat at all. They have a technological advantage. This is not a symmetric game. If everyone has to manufacture their own technology in these areas, then the Arctic people win."

"Come on! They won't attack. Since drones were invented, they've had drones buzzing around in different places for years. They won't start doing anything crazy in Red County, alright?"

"You really think so?"

Gladias looked around the room. His body language reading ability really wasn't strong. But as far as he could tell, the other three tended to favor removing military, surveillance, and counter-surveillance from the hardware openness rules, with "Thirteen" in the middle, and only "Eighteen" and "One" opposed.

The previous day's conversation with Moff had planted doubts in his mind. Previously he had been more open-minded; now, he was beginning to think it might be better not to change this standard this year. He thought quickly, trying to steer the situation in a more favorable direction. After about half a minute, he had a plan.

"I just have an idea."

The others turned to Gladias.

"We don't have to decide right now. The vote is still two months away, isn't it?"

"Correct."

"Eighteen, what time frame do you think the Arctic Empire would make some kind of move to carry out more serious sabotage against Red County?"

"Definitely less than two months."

"First, I recall you also believe we should take the Arctic people seriously as a threat. What's your timeline?"

"Ten to twenty days, maybe a month. Nothing too dramatic, but we'll see some form of sabotage. It might be reported as a major accident—that's always how these things happen."

"So how about this? Of course, this is non-binding, just a preliminary idea. But let's all wait two months and see what happens. If there's no attack, then we'll all be more inclined to accept Zero's amendment. But if there is, then we keep things as they are, or even increase the distance between tax tiers."

Zero muttered something under his breath, somewhat dismissive, but said nothing. He clearly didn't like being constrained like this. But he couldn't come up with any argument to counter Gladias's proposal.

Eighteen seemed to have a similar reaction. Like Zero, he didn't like being constrained either, but he had to admit he couldn't think of a better way to break the deadlock.

"So let's leave it at that."