The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 4439 Prelude to Darkness (Twenty-Four)
“That’s right, madam. There was no alien invasion at all. It’s just a lie fabricated by the government to control the people! They’ve been planning this for a long time, which is why they forged this artifact to pave the way for their next evil plan. Their goal is to make everyone believe in aliens, so that they will have to tremble under the government’s control…”

“Stop,” Diana stopped him, then said, “Who’s trembling?”

"Of course, they're ordinary people. They're hiding at home like frightened birds..."

“What about the people in the tent area?” Diana looked at him and asked coldly. “When you were in power, did they have homes to hide in?”

"What are you talking about, ma'am?" The mayor looked shocked. "We're talking about a major government conspiracy..."

“Yes, your government is upright and honest, without any conspiracies. But it just means hundreds and thousands of homeless people will die this winter,” Diana said, lowering her eyes.

“That’s their own doing,” the mayor said. “There are tens of millions of good citizens in the metropolis. Why don’t you think about them? Why should they be under the control of a strong government and have no freedom?”

For the first time, Diana realized what it meant to have a pointless argument. She even felt that if she listened to the other person say another word, she would feel so disgusted that she would vomit. But she was holding back her anger and managed to refrain from punching the other person.

"That's right, there are no homeless people in the city now. But is that a good thing? Without distributing food to them, how can the children participate in community service? Without them to test drugs, how can new drugs be developed? Without corpses, medical students can't even practice. Do you want the doctor who treats you to be a greenhorn who has never even done an autopsy?"

"They can't cope with the competition in society, so they end up homeless. But even waste has its value. If you optimize all the extra products on a production line, it may cause other production lines to stop operating. Society will eventually become more and more bloated and unhealthy. This is a completely short-sighted act."

The mayor spoke with great enthusiasm, "Human society develops through competition. If there were no competition, and everyone could live a good life equally, how would we develop? Only when everyone wants to avoid being eliminated and everyone strives to move forward will society become better."

"This is precisely the biggest flaw of a strong government that I've been talking about. They insist on providing a safety net for those who are eliminated. Do you think they'll be grateful? These people always expect three times what you do; ten times what you do; and if you don't give them anything, they'll curse you and even vote for the opposing side!"

"When others in society see that such scum can live well, they will naturally feel resentful and won't bother to work hard. Everyone will follow their example and lie down on the street, waiting for someone to take them in. There will be no one in the factories, no one in the offices, and society simply won't function. When that happens, if people can't buy products or get services, won't they be the ones blaming the welfare providers?!"

"Therefore, the welfare measures for the homeless established by our new president are absolutely wrong! Taking so much tax money to support these lazy people, is that fair to those who work hard and earn more money?!"

“Every social class and every group should have a voice. Madam, if you speak for the homeless, then I should speak for my own social class. The fact is, the Kent government is sacrificing the interests of the majority of the country to benefit a small minority. This is wrong!”

"Moreover, he used such despicable tricks to forge artifacts and fabricate lies. Even if he becomes president, his position is illegitimate. We should stand up and expose them, giving the people the truth. This is what a righteous person should do!"

Diana was even starting to admire him. She had only heard of him before, but never seen him in person, or at least not up close. Politicians were truly masters at distorting the truth; they could even make the dead seem alive.

This sounds reasonable, but it's actually complete nonsense. Let's start with the first issue: social development. It's a complete reversal of cause and effect. He means that if everyone lives a good life, society won't develop. But he forgets that the purpose of social development is for everyone to live a good life; in other words, a good society is one where everyone can live a good life. If everyone is unable to live a good life, it's a cold, cruel, and dark society—the most stagnant and lowest form of society.

Then there's the question of the causes of homelessness. The homeless who are eliminated by society aren't a problem with the homeless themselves, but a problem with society. Greed, shortsightedness, and stupidity stem from insufficient education in society; their taking advantage and lack of morality arise from a lack of material resources that prevent them from developing good manners. Society can only provide them with insufficient resources to cultivate morality. If you throw those elegant elites into an environment where they might starve if they didn't act recklessly and take advantage of others, they would turn into ferocious monkeys just like them.

The question of whether taxes should enrich the rich or the poor is a classic example of misrepresentation. It's not that taxes enriching the poor harm the rich, nor is there any question of harming their interests. For centuries, protecting the poor has been protecting the rich. If you make life unbearable, people will make it unbearable for you. Even in the United States, a place devoid of revolutionary conditions, the Boston Tea Party sparked the Revolutionary War. Ensuring a stable life for the poor is the fundamental way to protect the rich.

In short, people with no basic understanding of sociology are easily swayed by such rhetoric. But who was Diana? She lived through two world wars, lived for so many years, and had a very profound understanding of human society. Such words simply cannot fool her.

The mayor kept emphasizing a strong government. But Diana knew perfectly well that a strong government was a false concept. Because for an individual, the government is always strong.

Does the mayor mean that their government wasn't a strong government? Then why did those homeless people choose to remain homeless instead of rising up in rebellion and storming into the Capitol to demand that members of parliament listen to their democratic opinions?

If they do that, what will they get in return? Isn't that also violent repression? And isn't that also a strong government?

It's not that the regulations are excessive or overly strict. The problem is, their administration also had its share of regulations. Building a shelter at your own expense required community approval and certification; they could have over a dozen inspectors a day, and the draft regulations and legal details restricting shelters could fill a book. Isn't that just over-regulation?

However, Diana was too lazy to argue with him. It's impossible to change the mind of this kind of person; their thinking only goes in one direction. Whatever you say to them, they can always circle back to the same topic and start repeating themselves endlessly. They often suffer from memory loss and become extremely aggressive at the slightest provocation. If scientists studying Alzheimer's had studied them sooner, they might have already cracked the disease.

“Enough of this,” Diana interrupted them, then said, “What do you want me to do?”

The mayor cleared his throat and said, "Madam, as you've probably realized, there's no way to prove you didn't steal the artifacts. So, for your own sake and to let the public know the truth, you have no choice but to expose their conspiracy!"

Diana gave another cold laugh. So this was what they were waiting for. But it wasn't surprising; they'd gone this far, what else could it be?

“How can I expose them?” Diana asked, pointing out the window. “You mean those three nails were made by humans, that humans could drive them into the earth’s crust so deep that even Superman couldn’t pull them out?”

"That thing might indeed be an alien creation, but it was launched by humans!" the mayor shouted. "They found it and deliberately launched it to Earth to scare humanity!"

"Congratulations, you're right," Diana thought to herself. It really was true. But the problem was, precisely because the plan was so insane, the truth seemed so absurd that no one would believe it.

“Then let me ask you, where did they find it?” Diana even smiled slightly. “Something this big can’t just be picked up like that. Even the Himalayas probably couldn’t hide it.”

"They...they found it on another planet! They might have used an alien spaceship left behind on Earth to pick up these things on other planets." The mayor wiped his sweat and said, "That's possible, isn't it?"

"So which planet did they find it on?" Diana asked again.

"Who knows? Maybe they just happened to come across a planet with this thing, but nobody was there, so they picked it up. Or maybe some alien had an accident and it fell off their spaceship. Anything is possible."

Diana sighed deeply and said, "Is this an exposé, or just siding with someone?"

"what?"

"You mean, not only are there crashed alien spaceships on Earth, but if you fly out in an alien spaceship, you can find an alien city every three steps and an alien traffic accident scene every five steps, and you can easily find such powerful things? According to your logic, the government would need to be three levels stronger, otherwise how would it deal with the surrounding enemies?"

"Uh..." The mayor started wiping his sweat again.

He looked in one direction with pleading eyes. Diana looked in that direction; she knew there was someone in the room. But at this point, wouldn't they reveal their true identity?
The door slowly opened, and the figure that stepped out startled Diana. It was a child, who looked to be around ten years old. More importantly, his face bore a striking resemblance to Bruce's.

Diana immediately realized that this was probably Bruce Wayne's son, Damian Wayne. He had also been resurrected.

“Wonder Woman,” Damian called her name. “You know what this is all about, right?”

"I don't know what you mean."

"This was all a conspiracy orchestrated by Batman. In order to control the world, he fabricated a Martian invasion and used those three nails that current technology couldn't remove to plunge the world into a new Cold War..."

Diana broke out in a cold sweat on the spot. Young Wayne was nothing like that idiot mayor; if he'd inherited even a fraction of his father's abilities, he probably wouldn't be getting away unscathed today.

Moreover, judging from his tone, he genuinely knew something—accurately stating the mastermind and ultimate goal. More importantly, he didn't discuss ideologies, but simply revealed the truth.

“You need evidence to back up your claims.” Diana, having lived for so many years, wasn’t afraid of a child. She said calmly, “What good would that do Batman? After all, the president takes 96% of his taxes.”

“He doesn’t care about money. He’s a fool who’s obsessed with saving the world, and he’d give up everything for it, even his own son.” Damian said to Diana, “You’re all working so hard for him, but you don’t know if he’d save you if something really happened.”

Diana frowned and said, "Why should I let him rescue me? I'm an adult capable of acting independently. It's my freedom to decide where I go and what I do. I'm also capable of taking responsibility for my own choices. If I relied on others for everything, I would be dead long ago."

"So you dared to come here today because you think I won't do anything to you?"

Diana laughed in exasperation and said, "What can you do to me?"

Damian remained silent, only clapping his hands. In the room he had just left, several security guards were escorting a man out. Diana looked up and met those blue eyes she had longed for.

Sorry I was a little late today because we had guests at home.