Chapter 1193 Prisoner's Dilemma
The concept of superiority and inferiority among the harpy people is so absolute—
Once Chief Ero confirmed that Aiwas was the King of the Winged Ones, he immediately gave up all his previous thoughts.
She knelt obediently, just like the harpies who had bowed before her, attempting to demonstrate her piety and loyalty with an almost humble attitude. Only after Aiwass helped her up did she return to her previous seat.
Erlo finally spoke and told Aiwass the most precious thing in the desert - intelligence - without reservation.
"Although people refer to the forces opposing the Good Lord as 'rebels,' they are not actually a unified organization. Their ideologies, combat capabilities, distribution, and even ethnicity are completely different. Strictly speaking, the Dry Water Army can be considered an unorganized organization.
"For example, the largest rebel group near Holy Spring City is called the 'Primitive Cult.' They are united by a certain religious affiliation, honoring the will of their leader. Their hostility toward the Good Master isn't particularly strong... or rather, they simply hope to form a semi-independent organization like the Serpent Man Temple through slavery. They worship the Rock God, stay away from cities and all civilization, and don't even communicate verbally, living a carefree life like wild beasts.
"And near Wanyu City, known as 'Tens of Thousands of Joys,' the 'Blood Eater Gang' has formed. It's an extreme human supremacist armed group. They rescue and recruit large numbers of human slaves, roaming around the oasis by plundering resources from other races. They have also infiltrated a large number of free people into the gang, secretly providing them with resources within the city.
"They didn't oppose the Parthian system itself, but rather sought to plunder a 'city that belonged only to humans.' They even captured foreign slaves and sold them to slave knights, or purchased and robbed some, using and punishing them at will. They would even demand that those who joined the gang eat a foreign child alive in public to prove their determination not to treat foreigners as their own kind."
Erlo's introduction to the "Blood-Eating Gang" was obviously more detailed.
Apparently, the Harpy is also on the Vampire Gang's menu.
In response to Aiwass's question, Erlo nodded without hesitation and said, "I have a son who was caught and eaten by them.
"—If I had the chance, I would hang them up and tear them apart. I would feed their flesh and blood to all my compatriots who had their families taken away from them."
As the chief, Erluo did not waver in this matter: "Even if you stop me, I will definitely do it."
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. That's what should happen."
Aiwass nodded slightly.
He then asked, "What about Paradise City and Hassan?"
"The organization near Paradise City is an offshoot of the one Hassan once led. They don't have a clear name... but people call it the 'Red Hand Faction.'"
"Is it the 'Red Hand' that corresponds to the 'Flame Fist'?"
Aiwass asked.
Er Luo shook his head slightly: "Not entirely. Mainly because their ideas are... rather extreme.
Hassan sees the Good Lord as an antithesis, symbolized by the opposite of water, fire. Those who join the Red Hand are essentially avengers whose families have been destroyed by the Good Lord and his minions. They are determined to destroy these cities, no matter the cost.
"Free men who obey the will of a benevolent master are seen by them as puppets and slaves. Even free men are never truly free. It is only freedom kept in captivity by a benevolent master, like sheep kept in a pen versus sheep free to roam in the pasture."
Erlo said so.
Aiwass was a little surprised.
——So you knew those sheep were raised by others and not wild?
And Erlo continued: "Just as a slave is the property of his master, if a slave commits a wrong, he must go to his master to settle accounts... Some things can be forgiven by punishing the slave, but there are other things that the master must pay the price for.
"Because slaves are the property of their masters. From this perspective, it's impossible to get slaves to fight against their masters, or even to get them to stand between them. Some insurgents and rebels would righteously rescue slaves, only to be betrayed and sold out by the slaves... Even the most righteous rebels rarely survived."
Hearing this, Aiwass nodded.
That's true.
His ritual teacher, Ibn, had experienced something similar—he had saved someone, only to be betrayed by the very person he had saved. Even Zhu Tang had experienced something similar before… After all, in the minds of most slaves, the Good Lord was invincible and unshakable, a natural existence like the foundation of the world, a great being like a god that could not be shaken or harmed.
They knew how hard life was for slaves. Following the rebels might lead to death if they failed, but betraying them once would grant them free citizenship and substantial wealth.
There was no cost, no risk—as long as they had their intelligence, the Good Lord could easily wipe out the rebels. Even with just the coordinates, ritualists and curse casters could launch ultra-long-range strikes, blasting the area until no one was left alive, and then sending the knights out to clean up the battlefield without any problem.
And there will certainly be more than one slave who will be saved.
If one of these slaves betrayed, the others would die with him; if multiple people betrayed, the second and subsequent ones would receive almost no reward.
——Evans knew that this was a classic prisoner's dilemma.
According to Aiwass's knowledge, the prisoner's dilemma generally has two completely different solutions.
When experiments are repeated over time, people eventually become more inclined to cooperate. If multiple people participate in an experiment, they tend to cooperate with those who choose to cooperate. As people become more familiar with each other, those willing to cooperate will be chosen by others.
This is the power of "morality" and "kindness".
That’s how civilization came about.
However, if people know in advance and both parties are clearly aware that such an "experiment" will only be conducted once, they tend to choose to betray.
On the one hand, this is because they don’t understand each other, are wary of each other and don’t trust each other; on the other hand, it is also for the sake of “stability”.
The more tense, scarce, and dangerous the environment is, the more likely people are to choose something certain—just like choosing 50,000 with a 100% chance of winning or 100,000 with a 50% chance of winning.
Although the mathematical expectation of these two numbers is the same, people without money are more likely to choose the former, while people with plenty of money are more likely to choose the latter.
When the slaves were captured and then rescued, they were in a very awkward situation.
Once they were discovered, they would be executed - because the collaborators of the rebels were also considered rebels, and the rescued slaves were also considered their collaborators. Therefore, any slaves who were asked to cooperate by these rebels would often choose to betray under pressure, which was naturally "human nature."
After all, even the slaves themselves did not want slavery to be abolished.
How can you save others if you can’t save yourself?
"...Thus, the Red Hand chose the most extreme course. They gave up on freeing the slaves and on recruiting their allies from among the freedmen."
Chief Erlo said slowly, "'Since the freemen are the slaves of the good master, then harming the freemen also harms the good master.' That's their thinking."
“…Indeed.”
Aiwass was silent for a while, but finally sighed and nodded in agreement.
To a good lord, his inhabitants are his property itself.
The benevolent leaders are like playing a business simulation game. They must sacrifice some people regularly to obtain water resources. The more people they sacrifice, the more water resources they have, and the more water resources they have, the more people will be attracted to settle here... This is like the "residential houses" in those business games.
Therefore, the more people hoard, the larger their wealth base will be. Personal wealth can accumulate at an incredible speed, snowballing like crazy until it eventually becomes a meaningless number.
"And what the Red Hand does is simple..."
Er Luo also took a deep breath, obviously quite afraid of these lunatics: “That is to ignite the flames.
"Burning down the oasis with fire will destroy the water source. As long as people can't live here, nature will flee.
"Only when the Benevolent Master's true asset—their people—is harmed will the Benevolent Master feel pain, become enraged, become hysterical... and only then will his true flaws be revealed. Any rebellion beyond this is nothing more than childish pranks and play to the Benevolent Master."
"You mean..."
Aiwass's eyes widened.
He realized a terrible possibility.
Not finished yet meow——
Well, I can only forget about yesterday and take a day off. I’m still writing the second update and will post it around 2am in the morning. You can read it tomorrow when you wake up!
(End of this chapter)
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