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Chapter 1060: What Should We Change First?
Chapter 1060: What Should We Change First?
First, let's increase the average lifespan by half... just half?!
"Can't we do a little more?"
After flipping through the small booklet in hand, the Cancer Director, who had been mostly silent, finally spoke up:
"Even if we can't push the average lifespan to the maximum, half seems too little... how about two-thirds?"
"Technically, it's possible, but given the current situation at the Bureau, the likelihood is practically zero."
Leon, who had been prepared for this, flipped through the Mirror World to find the second booklet and distributed it to the directors. He then patiently explained:
"According to the conclusions of the Fourth Thrush Research Institute, the main reasons for the low average lifespan in the present world are roughly twenty-seven in number. The top four are poverty, hunger, war, and large-scale epidemics.
Following those are various diseases, natural disasters, abnormal events, water and air pollution, and high infant mortality rates, among others. Many of these issues are not isolated, and addressing just one or two won't significantly improve the overall average lifespan... oh, right."
At this point, Leon paused briefly before adding:
"It's worth noting that our Bureau's suppression of abnormal events is quite effective. The severity of problems caused by abnormal events ranks eighth, right between large-scale natural disasters and environmental pollution.
However, this booklet only considers normal circumstances. Extreme cases like the one where Ophiuchus Director wiped out an entire country are mostly erased by the Illusion Can, making it impossible for the Fourth Thrush Research Institute to include them in their statistics. If these were counted, they would likely be among the top three."
"..."
So... are we this ineffective?
After hearing Leon's words and seeing the special note next to "abnormal events" in the booklet, the directors couldn't help but smile bitterly, beginning to doubt what they had accomplished in their lives.
They had dedicated their lives to the Clean-up Bureau, and even to humanity, facing life and death countless times. Yet, their most basic and crucial "job" seemed to be only marginally adequate, even becoming one of the main reasons for the decline in average lifespan.
"Alright, no need to say more..."
Leaning back in his chair, the Scorpio Director closed his eyes and looked up, appearing dejected:
"I understand your point. We old folks always thought we were doing a decent job, at least enough to justify our positions, but in reality..."
"But in reality, everyone has done a pretty good job, even outstanding."
Seeing the directors' dejected expressions, Leon realized his words might have been a bit harsh. After some thought, he tried to comfort them:
"The initial purpose of the Clean-up Bureau was to ensure human survival, so our focus has always been on abnormal events and defending against outer gods, with minimal interference in other areas. We don't have a hierarchical relationship with the Twelve Kingdoms, which naturally limits our influence.
Regarding abnormal events, the Twelve Kingdoms and numerous city-states have a combined population of over a billion, but we only have a few thousand cleaners. Each cleaner is responsible for the abnormal events generated by 270,000 people, making it impossible to achieve perfect control.
For comparison, even the Thousand Sails Sea Nation, which has the poorest medical conditions in the Twelve Kingdoms, has an average of three doctors per 10,000 people, which is 81 times the number of cleaners per 10,000 people.
Given this, the Bureau's ability to control abnormal events to the current extent with such limited resources is quite commendable."
"So... what do you plan to do?"
By this point, Taurus Director, who knew Leon best, had a good idea of his intentions and asked with a furrowed brow:
"Are you still planning to break the barrier between the present world and the 'abnormal,' bringing the Clean-up Bureau to the surface and risking the contamination of ordinary people to facilitate a massive expansion of the sub-bureaus?"
"Additionally, we need to intervene in the Twelve Kingdoms' situations to some extent."
After adding this, Leon looked around at the silent directors and spoke sincerely:
"I know this proposal goes against the Bureau's principle of secrecy and violates our agreement with the Twelve Kingdoms. However, you've seen the current state of the present world. If we have the ability to change it, why shouldn't we?"
"This isn't about whether we should do it, but whether it will make things worse..."
Virgo Director sighed:
"The Bureau has had similar ideas before, and some have tried to influence the governance of the twelve royal families, but the results were not good...
While the Twelve Kingdoms have significant governance issues, their semi-spontaneous ruling systems are more established than ours. Taking over and making forced changes often makes things worse, even leading to national-level abnormal events.
One of the most tragic outcomes was even more severe than the Ophiuchus Erosion. The Leo Sub-bureau and other nine non-zodiac sub-bureaus were almost completely depleted. After several such lessons, we adopted the current non-interference model."
"So my idea is to 'intervene' rather than 'take over.'"
Leon, who had thought about this, would not speak rashly without a plan. He responded calmly:
"Our goal is not to take over the governance of the Twelve Kingdoms without preparation, but to use our strengths to address specific issues that, even if they go wrong, we can still rectify."
"Rectifiable issues? What do you mean?"
"Hunger, poverty, war, natural disasters, and large-scale epidemics."
As he spoke, Leon, noticing the directors' somewhat speechless expressions, took out a third booklet and distributed it. His eyes gleamed as he continued:
"First, the hunger issue. According to the Fourth Thrush Research Institute, the current overall food production in the present world is more than sufficient, not only covering the consumption of the entire population but also leaving a surplus of over 40%.
Countries like the Verdant Nation produce more food than they can consume, while countries like the Frozen Expanse Nation and the Thousand Sails Sea Nation, which are relatively poor or unsuitable for agriculture and livestock, rely heavily on imports or even raids to meet their needs. Therefore, the core of the hunger problem lies in resource allocation.
If we focus on this, the food supply is already sufficient. Even if we make mistakes, we can still rectify them. At worst, we can use storage or transportation anomalous items and send a large number of cleaners to physically carry the food to where it's needed. It shouldn't cause any major issues."
"..."
This solution is... quite practical, but if there's a safety net, it might be worth a try?
(End of Chapter)
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