Chapter 1681
Chapter 1681 - 1677: Life Bank
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7 min read
The way of life and death, the most direct verification point is always the battlefield.
Just as the unscrupulous merchant seeking the highest profit often takes advantage of the war, looting during the fire, to directly exchange your Everything for "hope of survival" with yellowcakes for gold.
Intentionally or unintentionally, Lu Ping’an encountered the greatest temptation in his life, and perhaps, the biggest trap on the path of a professional.
A step forward, and he could transform into the Tree of Life that absorbs countless lives to grow, easily surmounting the bottleneck of ninth-order, with countless hopes and despairs nurturing that Tree of Life destined for heaven.
"...But, I dislike it."
Lu Ping’an, still chose to refuse.
He doesn’t like the "everyone for me (referring to himself)" approach to singular wealth, preferring "everyone for themselves, everyone for their families"....such pure sacrifice void of the self, Lu Ping’an dislikes.
However, as a "Trader", Lu Ping’an cannot ignore these prayers, these needs.
"God of Redemption, please help me...."
Lu Ping’an is just an eighth-tier, he can hear mortals’ prayers to him and can respond within a certain range because he possesses some Divine Power and traits of a Deity,
But, he has a buddy who is a deity.
".....The contract is established."
The cold contract is the most affectionate alliance.
The alliance between Deity and mortals, perhaps just for a moment, or perhaps destined to be long-term....As an existence of the God of Redemption, he needs a contract to constrain his actions.
The God of Redemption can hear the cries of the Blade of Desperation from the whole world, but his power is limited, he is not the only God of Redemption, and it is impossible for them to save everyone.
Especially now, as the whole world plunges into despair, they, ineffective, strengthen and weaken in cycles...there’s always someone yearning for their redemption, yet always unresponded, hope and despair repeatedly battering, naturally resulting in mortals’ disapproval of this God Series.
"I will provide the seeds of knowledge and power, allowing them the possibility of entering the Land of Trade...."
This is one part, Lu Ping’an and the God of Redemption have formed an alliance.
If someone cries out for redemption, the God of Redemption will trust them with the way into the Land of Trade and guide them with Divine Power.
The targeted mortals will visit Lu Ping’an’s Earthly Divine Kingdom "Trade Forest" in their soul form, gaining the possibility to trade in that Holy Land.
Granting redemption to the hopeless...neither Lu Ping’an nor Senior Brother An can do it, but giving redeemers the chance to save themselves is possible.
And since Lu Ping’an is using the Divine Power of the God of Redemption, he can do even more.
"Adding rules, ’insurance’ and ’inheritance’...."
Even Lu Ping’an himself cannot arbitrarily modify his own World’s Reason, but according to the "Finance" rules, he can control so much more.
Mortals fight and struggle, risking everything for a chance to become a strongman who saves themselves.
And then, they die.
According to the prior "contract," their lives undergo bankruptcy liquidation by Life Bank, and in most cases, it’s highly profitable...the Courtyard enhances those lives, actually increasing their Life Value, so even after evolution, it’s still possible to extract value from their post-bankruptcy liquidation.
Life and Death is a cycle, as long as the earth never loses, the cycle of life and death on the land concludes, ultimately enriching the floating earth of the Courtyard, achieving that increasingly perfected new world.
This is undoubtedly a buff to Lu Ping’an...but Lu Ping’an plans to reject this kind of "profit."
[New rule ’Life Insurance’ added, a compulsory obligation; every Trader must regularly pay a certain service fee and designate a ’beneficiary’, who will receive a certain percentage of ’Life Compensation Fee’ when your life comes to an end.]
This is mandatory, not for profit, yet it equates to Lu Ping’an cutting off his own revenue.
It’s irrelevant to bankruptcy liquidation. As long as someone dies, a payment will be made in compensation, and its expenditure will be paid from the increasingly substantial common income of the courtyard.
[New rule ’Inheritance’ established: It is a mandatory obligation. Each Trader can designate one to three successors, who will inherit your property (Note: This is after undergoing bankruptcy liquidation and after taxes are deducted).]
[If no successor is designated, the first direct bloodline (children) to arrive at the Trading Land will automatically inherit within six months from the closure of the trader’s account.]
Lu Ping’an, proactively relinquished a part of his benefits, allowing them to enter the cycle of the "living".
This time, the rules of the Trading Land didn’t benefit Lu Ping’an; on the contrary, they were clearly weakening him.
Yet, he faintly felt that he had taken a significant step forward, his "Rule" becoming increasingly perfected, ever closer to the true World’s Reason.
Just as in reality there are two kinds of Central Banks: those that serve the nation and its people, for the whole country’s economy, and those that serve capital, for investors and the big capitalists.
Reality is quite helpless; the latter actually outnumber the former, but it’s my turf, my rules, so Lu Ping’an’s Life Bank has its own understanding.
The Life Bank, in Lu Ping’an’s view, was never meant to be a big capitalist that crazily devours everything around it, but rather should be an operator of social finance Order, a protector of the Life Points he constructed, a backstop for the Trading Land and Traders.
"It should operate for the strength of the whole, not just for its own strength, hogging all the benefits it operates."
So, Lu Ping’an amputated an arm from himself, rejecting a path similar to Chris’s.
Just as Chris herself said, "self-interest" is an instinct that is an irresistible animal nature, but humans can think, they can use reason to restrain this "instinct".
As for the outcome? Lu Ping’an could only take it one step at a time.
"After all, I had long embarked on a road without reference..."
And the two new rules were immediately transmitted to every Trader that held a Name Card.
Some were surprised, some ecstatic, but most people couldn’t understand... They didn’t know why Lu Ping’an would voluntarily forgo profits, giving up the invisible revenue he could’ve quietly pocketed (the proverbial ’coffin money’).
However, things unfolded beyond everyone’s expectations.
The effect came very quickly.
Another battlefield’s Phoenix Fire turned into smoke, a despairing control-loser choosing to ignite their own Life.
But something bizarre happened, the red Flame next to him didn’t have time for sorrow and in the next moment, suddenly surged manifold in brightness.
Father and son teams entering the fray has become the norm, and this time even grandfathers and grandchildren... Numerous Powers of Life condensed on the living, those Life Points could not be completely inherited, part turned into Life Source Force, and another part even reduced to a lower grade Life Energy.
But on the battlefield, this lower grade of Energy is even easier to absorb!
The figure in flames, once again transformed into a Fire Phoenix, this time the intensity, at least four or five times the original.
However, the immense gap in strength meant it still only blossomed for a few seconds.
But where those sparks flickered, another Phoenix rose, this time even brighter... Sparks flying across the battlefield, the sacrifices no longer had to worry about what they left behind, and the successors would not step back.
"I, seem to have created a monster..." This scene left Lu Ping’an a bit dumbfounded, it exceeded his own calculations.
"No, you are the monster," and Chris, offered the world an early assessment.
— End of Chapter 1681 —