"That sounds like a decent probability, but there's one crucial problem that your proposal, and those put forward by the others before you, have neither solved nor faced head-on."
Wan Lan looked at the four of them. "The conflict between ordinary people and Awakened will persist until it finally erupts one day. Have any of you thought about solving that problem?"
The four frowned and remained silent.
Seeing this, Wan Lan sighed.
"You're always thinking about delaying Doomsday, looking down on the entire Present World from above. You all think Soul Creation can provide tremendous assistance, and the River of Forgetfulness can provide tremendous power.
You want to strengthen armaments to resist Calamities, establish new institutions, and bring in new forces. But has anyone thought about what those souls branded with Believer Marks actually want?"
Wan Lan watched them. The wandering souls of the River of Forgetfulness watched them. The people busy at work in the Present World watched them too.
They wanted an answer from them.
If individual will didn't matter, then what was collective will for?
Some interests could indeed be sacrificed for the greater good, but wasn't the point to meet the needs of more people?
Ordinary people had nowhere to turn, while the pressure on Awakened soared. The former wanted to help but lacked the ability; the latter proceeded with extreme caution.
The living lived in fear, and the dead could find no rest either. The information gap between the two sides kept widening, and misunderstandings kept mounting. A rift everyone could see was forming between them.
Yet no one faced this problem head-on.
"Because it's too difficult to handle, you take it for granted that you can turn a blind eye? When you look at the world from on high, shouldn't you also look at