Honkai: Man(Sludge) From Future

After subtly dismissing Ms. Fu Hua, Rita stealthily made her way to Noldrei's room.

They had arrived in Sapphire City (Shanghai), lodging in separate rooms.

As such, Sirin could only stare in puzzlement at the now-empty space beside her in their room.

It suddenly occurred to her that Noldrei's hotel room was, indeed, a king suite.

The thirty-something girl thought she might be overthinking things. Noldrei definitely wasn't that kind of guy, but Rita could very well be that kind of bad woman.

Tears welled up…

"Wait, why am I even upset?"

Sirin decided she was just being paranoid. It wasn't like she was being NTR'd. Why should she care?

With that thought, Sirin drifted off to sleep, a contented smile on her face.

Before dozing off, she also posted a photo on her WeChat Moments of their bed, now without Rita in it, captioned: "Business trip! My gorgeous roommate's sharing a room with the creepy boss. They even pretended to book a twin room, just for show! Gag me. 🤮"

Sirin tapped send, opening the eyes of her friends and family with this bit of juicy news.

Rita, naturally, wasn't part of Noldrei's family group chat. Her reasons for seeking out Noldrei were purely professional.

"Why?"

Rita needed to understand why Noldrei was deceiving Fu Hua. In her opinion, Fu Hua was a pretty straightforward, honest person. There was no need to take advantage of her.

Noldrei had clearly dug a hole for Fu Hua, and for someone trying to dismantle outdated ideologies, he was paradoxically reinforcing Chinese nationalism.

"Chinese nationalism benefits us," Noldrei stated, giving Rita an unexpected answer. She hadn't imagined he'd say something like that—that he actually saw value in such a potentially xenophobic ideology.

It was hard to believe.

Noldrei elaborated: "If viewed through the lens of shared regional culture and religion, nationalism can be progressive. But within a fractured and chaotic human society, it's often regressive because it emphasizes internal rights and responsibilities while neglecting external ones. It's a classic form of isolationism and divisiveness."

"To determine someone's true ideological leaning, don't focus on their impassioned slogans or actions. Instead, look at the conservative choices they consistently make, specifically, who they believe will remember and carry on their sacrifices and contributions."

"You've dedicated yourself to the world, sacrificing your youth to fight against the Honkai. Do you think anyone will continue your work? Perhaps. That's the result of the Valkyrie training you've received. You accept it, acknowledge its validity, and even assume others share this belief. This ideology serves your personal and collective best interests."

"But what if we narrow the scope of that sacrifice? For example, a Chinese Valkyrie warrior contributes and sacrifices for the Honkai cause in the Far East. Would she expect her sacrifices to be remembered and continued by the people of the Far East? No. Similarly, if she sacrifices for her fellow Chinese? Would she believe she'll be remembered and honored?"

"The truth is clear: the political entity that can ensure lasting recognition and widespread acceptance, making the underlying ideology replicable, is the one that can truly perpetuate that ideology."

"I'm dismantling the Far East's political structure because the people there have no other ideologies to embrace. Offer them an olive branch, and they'll be grateful. But China, North America, and Europe are different. Their political structures still wield significant ideological power. Otherwise, how could they extract resources from their own people to support Schicksal and Anti-Entropy?"

"Before I arrived, the Far East Branch was even funded by Schicksal HQ! They couldn't even afford to maintain their own operations!"

He seemed genuinely annoyed by this, feeling like he was unjustly filling a bottomless pit.

Noldrei's explanation cleared up Rita's confusion. For him, the conservative forces in North America, China, and Europe were actually stronger.

In the Far East, he didn't need to work with the local conservatives; he could directly dismantle them to achieve his goals.

Rita nodded thoughtfully. "So, you're saying… if we forcefully intervene, the locals won't appreciate it or see us as spreading new ideologies or social systems. Instead, they'll perceive us as enemies disrupting their peaceful lives?"

"No, no, Rita, you misunderstand," Noldrei countered, shaking his head. "I'm deliberately slowing things down to give the Chinese locals time to absorb the technology and ideology. Otherwise, we wouldn't face a simple clash of arms. Instead, Gene-ism would manifest its ruthlessly efficient exploitation of the old society, turning the locals into little more than lab rats, further fueling their resentment towards Gene-ism."

"Ah?!"

Rita stared at Noldrei in astonishment. After carefully considering his words, she immediately understood what he meant.

Just like the Miao and Yi minorities surrounding China, or China facing Western powers, when old and new collide, people from the old era face the most brutal aspects of the new era, not the good.

During periods of social expansion, those from the old era have no voice in the new era.

No wonder Noldrei was choosing this approach to rule the Stigma-infused forces in China.

'Does this mean he's actually… a good guy?'

Rita was surprised by Noldrei's reasoning – holding back out of concern for preventing exploitative efficiency and thus choosing to cooperate with the local conservative forces.

She was curious. After all, the Far East was generally improving, and people had more choices when it came to education. It didn't seem like the highly exploitative state Noldrei described.

At least compared to the old Far East, the Academy City was a paradise for newcomers.

"What kind of… exploitation would occur?"

Ms. Rita wasn't sure. She hadn't imagined such a scenario. Although she had seen and done a lot in the underworld, the worst things she could think of were concentration camps and massacres.

She couldn't immediately conceive of something even more terrible.

'Is the worst-case scenario something where you can't even die if you want to?'

"Rita, you need to understand a reality. The most painful time in any new social system is for those who enter last. They pay ten, a hundred, a thousand times more than their predecessors to catch up."

Noldrei pulled back the hotel curtains, looking down at the bustling crowd below.

"What do you think those people will do then?"