Be a Good Person?

Lin Li turned around to look at the ten-year-old blond boy. Instead of the anger or disappointment Andrade had imagined, the man wore his usual gentle smile and spoke in a calm tone:

"Family, school, region, society, nation, ethnicity—everyone carries different labels and is categorized into various groups. Weak individuals use these labels to distinguish friend from foe, coalescing around them to form powerful organizations that protect their interests from encroachment."

"You learned to use lies to protect your interests by observing adults, and you also learned to recruit individuals with the same labels to form an organization to elevate your own status."

"You did well, just as I did when I was here all those years ago."

Andrade was surprised. He had not expected this legendary, kind, and generous young tycoon to have done the same things as him back in the day. The panic in his heart vanished, replaced by a strong sense of being understood.

It was not the joy of maintaining a fake image of a good child, but the happiness of having his true self recognized by another.

Lin Li reached out to ruffle the boy's soft golden hair and continued, "However, you haven't done well enough."

"Pure egoism and one-sided lies can bring obvious benefits, but as the leader, you will become the direct target of hatred for those you dominate."

He stood up and pointed at the boy with the injured leg. Andrade looked confused, so Lin Li patiently explained:

"You display your cruel side to everyone. It's fine while you are in power, but once an opportunity arises, all that hatred and fear will transform into fuel for revenge."

"If a kind-hearted staff member were to discover your actions and expose them openly, what kind of situation do you think you would face?"

Andrade realized the truth after a moment of thought. If just one credible adult exposed the facts, his actions would be laid bare before everyone, and the bullied children would finally have the courage to tell the truth.

He shook his head and said, "But, sir, my friends will speak up for me. The one-sided words of those broken freaks won't affect me much. The adults will just treat it as children playing around and, at most, give me a lecture."

Lin Li shook his head and said to the boy, "This is what I want to teach you: will your friends really stand by you? How many of your friends have personally committed those bad deeds?"

Andrade's eyes flickered; he began to understand Lin Li's point. As the ringleader among the children, he often personally bullied the others to maintain his image of strength—just like the ball he had thrown today. This display of force and aggressive aura won him the awe of the other children, ensuring they dared not defy his authority.

Yet, no matter how strong he appeared, he was still weak compared to adults. If his friends pushed him out to be the scapegoat, all those bad deeds would be pinned entirely on him.

"You will become the bad child in the eyes of adults—a liar who bullies the weak—while they will be seen as poor children forced to follow your orders against their will. From then on, you will become an outcast even worse than those autistic children. Everyone will loudly condemn your violent behavior, and the deceived adults will view you as a disgrace, because they will never want to admit they were played for fools by a ten-year-old."

Andrade, who had been somewhat defiant, finally understood completely. All his authority was built upon the adults' indifference toward him. The moment a stronger adult appeared, the children who feared him would turn around and drive him into the abyss.

The boy finally felt fear. He had only been enjoying the sense of domination from the bottom of his heart, never realizing that this seemingly powerful authority was fragile enough to be shattered by a single poke. With hope in his blue eyes, he asked:

"Sir, my shallow wisdom cannot compare to yours. What should I do?"

Feeling the tangled thoughts in Andrade's mind, Lin Li smiled slightly and said, "Learn altruism. Do not constrain others with violence and fear; constrain their hearts with moral shackles."

He squatted down, picked up an ant from the grass, and placed it in front of the boy. Andrade reached out to take it, looking at him with confusion.

Lin Li pointed at the ant and said, "Do not view yourself merely as the strong one among the children in the orphanage, taking it for granted that you should oppress and dominate the weak. Practicing this law of the jungle will one day lead to you being oppressed by someone stronger. You must broaden your vision to the entire society and the stage of all humanity. Now, tell me, how should you face the entirety of human civilization to protect your own interests?"

Andrade stared at the ant. It was only a few millimeters long and would die with a light squeeze. He was the same in the face of human society; there were countless individuals and groups with far greater power than his.

He began to think about the methods of the two most powerful organizations in the world, the Hong Alliance and the Commercial Alliance. No matter where he was, his current behavior would not be accepted by mainstream society. Just as he knew in his heart that it was wrong, this very recognition of right and wrong was the constraint that human civilization's morality placed upon him.

Finally, he spoke with hesitation, "So, should I try to be a good person?"

Being a good person meant sacrificing one's own interests to help others; this answer was the exact opposite of the starting point of "protecting one's own interests."

Lin Li nodded and explained, "In fact, when you recruit able-bodied companions, you are also protecting your self-interest through altruistic behavior. Sharing benefits with companions strengthens the organization, which in turn allows you to better acquire future benefits—this is what is called reciprocal altruism."

"And in society, family-run businesses formed by blood ties—parents, children, relatives, and friends—are also organizations built upon kin altruism."

After hearing these explanations, Andrade felt a sense of clarity. He had only learned certain adult behaviors by instinct; now, he finally understood that all social organizations were created because they contained various forms of altruistic behavior.

Lin Li summarized, "Humans possess wisdom, and wisdom brings lies. Everyone has hidden thoughts deep in their hearts, and no one can be sure if others will cause them harm. This suspicion and fear of the unknown cause endless harm between individuals."

"The purpose of the law is to constrain this individual uncertainty, using the overwhelming power of the military to prohibit certain behaviors, allowing people to communicate peacefully and eliminating endless suspicion."

"Knowledge spreads because of this, and civilization prospers because of this. Viewed from the perspective of human civilization as a whole, pure altruism will be one of the ultimate forms of humanity: 'I for everyone, and everyone for me.'"

Andrade nodded in agreement, then shook his head. He countered, "That's impossible. Just as you said, sir, humans are born to lie; this suspicion can never be eliminated. Pure altruism would only turn me into a penniless fool with nothing but a reputation, and even that reputation would be stolen by others."

Lin Li looked at the child before him. He did not agree with the future vision described; in his mind, he scoffed at such a purely altruistic society.

He maintained a facade of humility only because he wanted to leave a good impression on this young tycoon and learn how to use altruistic behavior to fight for his own interests.

Reaching out, he took the ant from the boy's hand. It was still struggling; lacking wisdom, it had only the biological instinct to survive and felt no despair at facing a human millions of times stronger than itself.

With a light squeeze, the ant lost its life. Lin Li said to the boy, "Yes, as long as there is still the unknown in the human heart, as long as lies and suspicion exist, a pure 'good person' will only become a delicious meal for the few. Everything they have will be carved up until nothing remains."

"I for everyone, and everyone for me"—this grand and beautiful wish would only ever be a propaganda slogan for the powerful.

They enjoy the fruits of the majority's labor and donate a portion of their money to charity to display their noble sentiments. All the fruits belong to them, while the people who planted the trees can only play in the mud at home, watching them perform their generosity in public.

Andrade recognized the reality of the world: all altruistic behavior is ultimately self-serving. The selfish devour the selfless, turning all their flesh and blood into their own nourishment.

That is why everyone likes a good person. Being a good person means being magnanimous, meaning selfless giving, meaning that perhaps one can also hide in the crowd and secretly bite off a piece of them to satisfy one's own interests.

The ultimate society Lin Li spoke of could never be realized in such a human civilization. As long as there is one person who breaks the rules and successfully steals the fruits of others' labor, the selfish desire in everyone's heart will be infinitely amplified.

Destruction is always harder than creation. A single selfish person can cause a beautiful world created by the selfless to collapse in an instant, and like a chain reaction, it will ignite the malice hidden deep in everyone's heart.

Lin Li said to Andrade, "However, besides the fear of others, humans also have a yearning for beautiful human nature. Both good people and bad people like 'good people,' because it means harmlessness, and it means safety."

"Therefore, appropriately display your generosity and magnanimity. Show sympathy and care for the weak. Do not rely solely on fear and authority to force others to submit to your domination."

"Human nature is like a spring; the harder you press, the stronger the rebound, and the more determined their inner will to resist becomes."

"Leave the acts of displaying power to your friends, and give appropriate care to the weak. The object of their hatred will no longer be you, the leader, but those who directly harm them."

Andrade understood completely. In this way, compared to his friends, he would be a helpless leader who had to bully others due to his friendships. The children who had their snacks stolen would compare his small acts of kindness to the malice of others and, instead, feel gratitude for his small gestures of help.

He responded with excitement, "This way, even if the adults find out, they will only reprimand my friends. I will still be the innocent, good child, and they might even praise my generosity and helpfulness."

The contradiction had not disappeared; it had simply been shifted onto his friends. Andrade could enjoy his power while maintaining his image as a good child, which allowed him to escape the crisis of being discovered by the adults.