Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

Noldrei didn't explain the reasoning behind the birth of marriage in the future.

If marriage in modern society was a reproductive relationship born from a foundation of economic equality, then marriage for the people of the future was a paradoxical social norm meant to prevent oneself from being replaced.

By granting each other absolute control over their "lover," they constructed a relationship of "absolutely irreplaceable" love.

Just as Noldrei had said, through the construction of this absolute power dynamic, they achieved an "absolutely irreplaceable" love. In the society of the future, individual relationships like family were inherently in opposition to the collective masses.

Noldrei had no desire to reveal the reality of this future marital relationship to the people of the modern era. The humans of this age were not yet capable of accepting the suffering that came with such absolute power.

Compared to the existential nihilism born from a world where everything was replaceable, the pain of being genuinely controlled had, paradoxically, become the most craved and desired thing for the people of the future.

Only through this "need to be needed," born from the control of real power, could a person find an anchor for their own existence.

Tesla had actually already begun to grasp this feeling of "needing to be needed" through the exercise of her own power. But she instinctively believed this was a personal emotional issue, an option she was free to choose for herself.

As a man from the future, what dark corner of the human psyche did Noldrei not understand? A little trouble with emotional matters was nothing he couldn't handle.

Faced with this outcome, the only solution was to further accelerate social development, making social centralization more prominent and completely crushing individual needs.

Others might not believe it, but the only reason Noldrei didn't say this out loud was that he felt it would be too pitiful for Tesla.

He did subconsciously treat humans who hadn't grasped the values of the new humanity as monkeys, but for those who were on the cusp, he instinctively recognized them as his own kind.

And towards his own kind, Noldrei would show compassion. At the same time, just as Tesla had said, Noldrei believed this path was a mistake.

The only reason he was letting humanity continue down it now was because the problems created by primitive industrialization were even more mistaken, forcing him to first come up with solutions to resolve those conflicts.

Tesla was silent for a long time before she spoke. "I don't think that's right. The pursuit of an emotional marriage must be for the sake of seeking that 'irreplaceability.' If that feeling is lost, if one's lover goes astray, the first reaction wouldn't be to help and correct each other, but to immediately abandon them and find someone new."

"But if that's the case, why would humans even love each other anymore? Wouldn't that mean losing the very meaning of being human? If it's just for reproduction and mating, I think even we individuals can achieve that on our own, can't we? Why must we continue to be tormented by this suffering?"

It was unclear if it was due to her increasing control over her own biological genes, but this no-nonsense scientist was actually showing a bit of chaotic thinking. It was a terrifying mindset that prioritized emotional experience, regardless of reality.

By constantly emphasizing these topics, she was asserting her own power to Noldrei.

But for now, at least, Tesla still retained a rational, materialistic view of society. She hadn't fully "progressed" to an incomprehensible level.

If even the Herrscher of Thunder devolved into that kind of frenzied, maternal life form, this planet would most likely be a lost cause.

"Tesla, you've asked a question that is difficult for me to answer."

Noldrei genuinely didn't know how to explain the construction of an "irreplaceable relationship."

Since the dawn of intelligence, the power of love that humans have ceaselessly pursued has been constantly produced like an exploited driving force.

From family and clan to nation, culture, religion, economics, and politics, an endless series of powerful systems of material production have been constructed, all of which oppose the concept of the individual "lover."

Resolving the conflict between the needs of humanity and the need for mutual love—this near-paradoxical clash of paths was the truly oppressive part of the future.

Tesla had never imagined there would come a day when she could stump Noldrei. She vaguely sensed the difference between what future people and modern people focused on.

"Then do you people of the future not feel moved by the act of sacrificing for something, or for someone? Even for immortal beings like you, you would still be moved by such a display of life's will, wouldn't you?"

Tesla tried her best to reconstruct the values of future people in her mind, but the reality was still a far cry from what she imagined.

Noldrei shook his head. "No. The moment a person needs to sacrifice their life, their actions have already been completely solidified. It is a path they have concluded from their own experiences and thoughts. To the people of the future, it's an inevitable outcome. We all consider it a matter of course. No one would be moved by such a situation."

It dawned on Tesla. In the course of social development, the people of the future had lost the ability to be moved by the sacrifices of others.

In other words, humanity had transformed "sacrificing for others" into a normal need, classifying it as something to be taken for granted.

And what Noldrei was fighting against was precisely this absolute predicament faced by the people of the future. The "primitive people" he spoke of still retained this "power of emotion," not yet having normalized it or taken it for granted.

Tesla was silent for a long while.

She asked, "If you believed that your sacrifice could complete your mission against the system that commodifies life, would you also consider your sacrifice to be something you should do as a matter of course?"

Noldrei nodded in agreement. "Correct. That is precisely my personal demand on society."

But Tesla knew, based on what Noldrei had just described, that many people in the future thought the same way he did.

Yet even with so many people thinking this way, they had failed to achieve their goal. This was enough to show just how rotten the future had become.

When everyone believes that self-sacrifice is a natural demand, that common way of thinking and acting will construct an incomprehensible social dilemma, one that will cause the struggles within society to exist in a state of unending chaos.

The fearless people of the future were left with only the painful experience of this endless struggle.

If Otto was the first to understand and deduce the cruel predicament of the future through mere fragments of information from its people, then Tesla, today, through this heart-to-heart conversation, came to know the true despair that the people of the future had to face.

"Then marry me! Trust me, even without the power to mutually control each other, you can still have an 'irreplaceable' and excellent helper! I will absolutely not let the future turn into such a cruel place!"

Tesla felt that this was her future mission. She was instantly filled with ideals and fighting spirit.

Noldrei stared at her in astonishment, like a modern person looking at a woman from a feudal era accepting her fate as a concubine.

He said, moved, "Tesla, you've finally touched me with your meager wisdom. I just finished describing such a cruel future, and you've stepped right onto the original historical path I was talking about."

Tesla, right now, was just like the people of the future who believed their sacrifice was a matter of course.

She's a good person, but when it comes to solving the problem, she's utterly useless.